ABC TV is reporting Senator Fielding, the Family First Senator, will vote against the Migration Bill. Barnaby Joyce, the National Senator, refused to commit one way or the other on the ABC Insiders program, making him look like a wishy washy grandstander (to be expected I guess).
My estimation of Fielding will certainly rise if this news report is correct. By contrast, if between now and then Howard gets him to shift, his name will forever be associated with the passing of this legislative travesty.
One of the Insiders 'commentators' (who comes across as a paid mouthpiece for the Liberal Party) made the point that dissident Coalition politicians taking a 'moral' stand did not imply those supporting the legislation are immoral. I beg to differ. The Migration Bill smacks of immorality and low rent political opportunism to appease Jakarta (as a trade off for warehousing asylum seekers)and to dog whistle the politics of fear and intolerance that gave Howard a victory in 2001.
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