Jullia Gillard apponts former gold-medalist Nova Peris for NT Senate

[Grimecraft]

Jullia Gillard has shunted aside long-serving Senator for the Northern Territory, Trish Crossin in favour of Olympic gold-medalist, Nova Peris.

Peris, if she wins, will be the first Aboriginal to be counted amongst the numbers of Federal Labour senators.
She is also the first Aboriginal candidate to be put forward by Labour in a winnable seat.

There are several things I find odd about this whole thing. Firstly; Ms Peris isn't even a labour party member yet and secondly the entire thing smacks of desperate politics, it's a very see-through move by Labour to canvass Indigenous votes and hoping to take them from the Coalition.

The Coalition has had several senators of Aboriginal descent while Labour has had...erm...none. Despite claiming to be the party that supports Aboriginal rights. Late last year we saw Gillard striking at Abbotts, female voting base and now they are attacking his support in the minorities (however small that may be, I'm not really sure of the demographics of Coalition voters)

Anyway, this is a good move for the Aboriginal community in furthering it's political voice, but the whole thing smacks of desperate and corny politics by Gillard to me.

Discuss.

source: Front page of the Canberra Times 23.01.2013

or for an online source: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/nat...-1226559073672

[Yoda Twin]

Jullia Gillard has shunted aside long-serving Senator for the Northern Territory, Trish Crossin in favour of Olympic gold-medalist, Nova Peris.

Peris, if she wins, will be the first Aboriginal to be counted amongst the numbers of Federal Labour senators.
She is also the first Aboriginal candidate to be put forward by Labour in a winnable seat.

There are several things I find odd about this whole thing. Firstly; Ms Peris isn't even a labour party member yet and secondly the entire thing smacks of desperate politics, it's a very see-through move by Labour to canvass Indigenous votes and hoping to take them from the Coalition.

The Coalition has had several senators of Aboriginal descent while Labour has had...erm...none. Despite claiming to be the party that supports Aboriginal rights. Late last year we saw Gillard striking at Abbotts, female voting base and now they are attacking his support in the minorities (however small that may be, I'm not really sure of the demographics of Coalition voters)

Anyway, this is a good move for the Aboriginal community in furthering it's political voice, but the whole thing smacks of desperate and corny politics by Gillard to me.

Discuss.

source: Front page of the Canberra Times 23.01.2013

or for an online source: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/nat...-1226559073672

While the process Gillard has gone through to make the appointment is a tad controversial, people are most definitely overreacting in calling it racist etc etc. Executive appointments, like judicial appointments, are made with a considerable amount of factors to be considered. People are crying out that merit and capabilities must be the only factor to be considered, but when you have a field of hundreds of potentials to pick from, merit just isn't enough to distinguish between the top contenders. Other factors can make the decision a lot easier, and I don't see a problem with them being considered.

[Dr Zoidberg]

It's not the first time Labor (or the Coalition for that matter) have parachuted celebrity candidates into seats. Labor did it in the 2007 election with both Maxine McKew and Peter Garrett. The Coalition did it in 2010 with John Alexander (ironically in the seat of Bennelong, which McKew had won in '07 to oust Howard). So we really shouldn't be surprised by the tactics.

That said, if I was the sitting Senator and I hadn't planned to retire at the next election, I'd be mightly pissed about being replaced by a celebrity candidate; especially after 15 years in the Senate.

[Burnum]

There are several things I find odd about this whole thing. Firstly; Ms Peris isn't even a labour party member yet and secondly the entire thing smacks of desperate politics, it's a very see-through move by Labour to canvass Indigenous votes and hoping to take them from the Coalition.

That's how Liberals got the Indigenous vote in the first place by putting indigenous candidates, some of whom were vocal opponents of the Liberals before they asked too rune, against white candidates. Also, the Liberals pretty much abandoned their policies when dealing with Indigenous voters, by promising them heaps of .

[Misery]

There was a chance that labour would loose this seat, hence PM is putting a candidate that has the greatest chance of winning it.

I support decision completely, anything to keep right winger, religious nut Abbott out of the big chair.

[Dr Zoidberg]

There was a chance that labour would loose this seat, hence PM is putting a candidate that has the greatest chance of winning it.

I support decision completely, anything to keep right winger, religious nut Abbott out of the big chair.

Except that it is a Senate seat. It will have no bearing on who takes the House of Representatives, and whether or not Abbott becomes the next PM.

Way to fail at the most basic understanding of our political system....

[Genius of the Restoration]

I think it's a good thing. The current Labor preselection process hasn't seen a single indigenous senator come from the NT, despite indigenous issues being a such a big deal there with at least a quarter of the territory's population being indigenous. If finally getting an indigenous senator, and a woman at that, requires the PM to endorse a famous athlete then I'm okay with it. Crossin only won her seat by a narrow margin against Pat Anderson, herself indigenous, in 2001. So it's not like there haven't been attempts to get an indigenous senator; they've just been beaten at the preselection level. I don't mind that Gillard circumventing that happens to coincide with good politics (looks good for Labor + Crossin supported Rudd) because I think it's about time Labor had an indigenous senator.

[Burnum]

Labor just can't win in NT without indigenous candidates, especially with the intervention hanging around their necks.

Fyi, I supported the plan laid out in the report, not the intervention john Howard created as bandaid solution. Who likes sexual abuse of children? Something had to be done.

[Slaytaninc]

Hey, it's better than some random lawyer that hasn't done anything.