The Honourable Member's position becomes untenable

The Hon. Karen Paluzanno, Member for Penrith is gone.

She was installed into the state seat of Penrith by the NUW's mad NSW secretary Derek Belan in 2001, replacing Fay Lupo of the Ross Free do-nothing generation of suburban right wingers in NSW.

Belan's range wars in the NSW ALP are part of his ambitious strategy to take over the TWU members in the logistics industry (what used to be known as the trucking industry, but now includes warehousing and some rail).  They did it at the Pura Milk factory in Penrith, and god knows, the Transport Industry sure is disorganised outside of Concrete, Armoured Vans and private bus companies.

Belan's other good mate is The Hon. Paul Gibson, MLA for Blacktown. The tip is that Gibbo will give way for John Robertson MLC, Mr Your Rights At Work. Robbo then descends from the skies in 2013 and saves us from the unravelling mess that is the Baird government, or so the story goes.

A byelection in Penrith now would make Bass look like a mild murmur (all you psephologists out there can Google "1975 Bass Byelection", it will keep you amused for hours).

My tip? She gets kicked out of the ALP [In breaking news since this was written, that's precisely what Walt Secor...err, Kristina Keneally has done.] and sits as an Independent before quietly shuffling off to be a radiologist, as she has claimed before. 

Paluzanno actually used to be a teacher of children with difficulties, something that is well needed in this community. She was a Member of the Teachers Federation when she attended the 2004 ALP National Conference. She won preselection for Penrith in a deal that saw the intellectual colossus that is the Hon Dianne Beamer, Member for Mulgoa, selected for the adjacent seat.

Two stories about Paluzanno:

My mate Lee, a blackfella from Penrith, texts me in the weeks before the March 2007 Iemma state election, the last one. Paluzanno not keen 4 my vote. Lee had walked past her outside Penrith train station three times trying to get the flyer she is handing out to commuters. She ignored him each time.

Later in 2007 Iemma and Costa are trying to force electricity privatisation through at the behest of the NSW Treasury and ratings agency Standard and Poors (the ones that rated CDOs as AAA). Campaigners are encouraging people opposed to the privatisation to make an appointment with their local MP to press the issue. Paluzanno told a lovely old couple from Leonay that she "would have to check with the union" before she could say how she would vote on the matter.

She meant the NUW, but either way it's not a good look.

I wouldn't want to be the bloke who tipped the bucket, Tim Horan. He certainly isn't inside the tent pissing out. I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up again. He has admitted that revenge was at least "in the back of mind" - as pure as the driven snow. The office juniors caught up in this are desperately trying to lump it all on "Honest Tim" Horan.

What a useless situation.

It's bloody sad that an area that is so desperately in need of good representation because of the many problems that afflict it will probably end up with Stuart Ayres, Liberal candidate for Penrith

Barry O breathed out when he got onto 2UE. "My office was audited last year and the good news is we got a clean bill of health," he said. Which sounds alarmingly like "they didn't catch us this time".

Certainly, Paluzanno is unloved and won't be missed (read comments).  but there is one way out for the ALP in Penrith: Greg Alexander. lA good Catholic boy from St Dominic's Kingswood (Before he was poached from the Christian Brothers). He grew up in Cranebrook when it was still bush. At least then Penrith's next do-nothing MP will be well known.

Kristina should get onto Georgie Boy Pell and put the squeeze on Bucky Alexander's eternal testicles.

The Micks are good at that sort of thing. I know. I used to be one.

Rupert Loves Kristina

A funny thing is happening in NSW. The News Limited stable is having a love affair with the latest ALP Premier Kristina Keneally.

Witness this

Simultaneously, over at the thinking right wing lunatic’s newspaper, the Australian, Liberal opposition leader, Barry O’Farrell is getting beaten about the head and neck for being, well, Barry.

A Canberra media source has suggested that Rupert likes to back winners, and perhaps News see Kristina as a winner.

An alternative reading may suggest that there’s a contra deal going on here. If so, what is News Limited getting for their gushing coverage? It’s a scary thought. Time to bury the silverware.

There is a genuine liking out in the community for Keneally. Her ‘li’l ole me’ routine is working a treat; as is the super-mum thing. The less said about the MILF factor (although it has to be acknowledged) the better. All of it is bullshit of course, but the public enemy number one running Kristina, Premier’s Department head Walt Secord (who did the same job for that equally talentless fluff, Bob Carr), at least has something to work with this time.

It’s not just News either. The Parrott was in on the act, reminding his listeners on Monday January 18 what an intellect Miss Ohio was, and how she bikes to work, performs miracles, etc. etc.

If News Limited think Kristina can survive it’s also assuming the ALP is going to survive, which is not beyond the realm of possibility, just beyond the realms of sanity. Maybe they’re just happy that Hamlet of Macquarie Street, Nathan Rees, is gone? Whatever it is, it sure is weird.

The psephologist’s psephologist, Antony Green pointed out that Rees received a similar (though marginally less impressive) bounce [link] when he ascended to the right hand of Joe Tripodi. None of that bounce flowed through to improving the ALP’s vote though and in the end he was bumped, along with his minder, Graeme Wedderburn, who was proving to be a looming problem come the ALP senate preselection.

So News, and Alan, may want to be careful. Preferred leader polls are always a beauty contest and have little to do with voting intention. Keating was preferred Prime Minister right up to election day in ’96 – and that ended up with the ALP wandering the streets crying “bring out your dead”.

Likewise, the primary vote numbers in the poll that prompted the WE LOVE KRISTINA headlines still has the ALP lying in a ditch with flies buzzing around its eyes.

She is also stuck with a team that is the end result of three generations of nepotistic inbreeding. None of those jokers have had an original idea since the Golden Palace in Sussex Street last changed it’s menu back in 1984.

What will be of greater concern for the Tyke Keneally will be the release of the attempted papicide, Mehmet Ali Agca.

Kristina is a good Catholic Girl – Quiet up the back! – and must be terrified at the thought of the guy who tried to kill the pope, who has God’s mobile number on speed-dial, being welcomed back into society, a la Denis Ferguson.

Ole Memsy is loose on the streets of Ankara, offering to kill Osama Bin Laden and declaring himself Messiah.

Such delusional antics prompt an idea that Mehmet is fine material to be the next Premier of NSW. Bob Carr is living proof that Mehmet wouldn’t be the first character the major parties have thrown up who came with his very own Messiah complex.

(Methuselah would like to declare that he is a former altar boy, and as such will have three Bloody Mary’s and a How’s Your Father as penance.)