Women Rule as Clover Claims Victory

Clover

Poor Alan Jones. The shock jock claimed a short time ago that 'these women are wrecking the joint' but it's only going to get worse for the radio host.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has been re-elected for a further four years in council elections after receiving over 51% of the vote.

This will be Clover's third term as the Independent Mayor and seals her popularity with the diverse electorate of Sydney with 5 seats on the 10 seat council. Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's sister Christine Forster (right) won a seat on the council for the Liberal party.

Anna Bligh

The Greens have picked up one seat which probably means Moore will be able to push ahead with her plans to 'green' Sydney with her promotion of villages and more bike friendly streets.
 On the minus side for the studded dog collar wearing Mayor is that she must now divest herself of the State seat she also holds under new rules introduced by the Coalition state government. This will mean a fiercely contested by-election will be fought by the Coalition and Labor.

The Shuttle's pick : Labor will most likely pick up the seat with a high profile candidate imported from Queensland : former State premier Anna Bligh. Watch this space !

Going Out In Style

One guest who hit the red carpet at last week's world launch of the new musical Dr Zhivago-A Musical was the American born and accented New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally.

 Immaculately dressed, tall and elegant Keneally is one politician the camera does not do justice. She is extraordinarily beautiful and charismatic in the flesh, And that is one reason that despite the unpopularity of State Labor, Keneally has spent the last year visiting every electorate in the state to press the flesh.

As the Shuttle accurately predicted 6 months beforehand, Kristina was elected by the Labor Caucus as Premier in December 2009. Although she has become highly popular in the top job, that popularity isn't translating into percentage points for her ruling Labor Party which is expected to be defeated at the polls in 5 weeks time although the rumoured Coalition landslide is highly unlikely. While Labor languishes in the polls at anything from 23 to 27 %, Kristina stills comes in at just under 50%.

At a televised election debate with Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell this week the audience overwhelmingly declared the unflappable Keneally the winner by far.

 A party in power for 13 years was bound to suffer from the tiredness factor and although media speculation at the time was that it would be Keneally's role to stench the flow of blood from the coming defeat. there have been more concrete plans in the wings.

Born in Las Vegas and brought up in Colorado, Keneally cut her political teeth as an intern for the US Democratic party working for the Colorado Governor. When she emigrated to Australia with her Aussie husband in 1998 she joined the Labor Party and after being elected to the state seat of Heffron in 2003, her rise has been meteoric albeit quietly in the wings. Those granite jawed men who run the party had their eyes on Keneally from day one and marked her out as leadership material.

Brought into Cabinet on the strength of Emily's List that promotes greater numbers of female politicians, Keneally joins the growing list of Labor Party women who are going places.

Now with Julia Gillard as PM , Quentin Bryce as Governor General, a state Governor in Marie Bashir and with QLD premier Anna Bligh's approval rating soaring 35 points since her handling of  the flood catastrophe, when Kristina Keneally is re-elected to her seat at the end of March it will be for a short time.

When the country goes to the polls in the next general election in 2013, expect Kristina Keneally to be standing side by side with Julia Gillard as a star candidate.

When have we ever been wrong ?

Floods, Cyclones and Lavish Dinners

One glamorous guest at the Lavazzi calendar launch on Monday evening in Potts Point was hotelier to the stars, Terry Schwamberg.

Terry Schwamberg

Terry owns a few boutique hotels here and there along with some luxurious houses you can hire by the night or month-Paris, Byron Bay, Bali, Palm Beach , the Amalfi Coast, and some of Queensland's most beautiful tropical  beaches and of course, the Medusa Boutique Hotel just near Kings Cross-a favourite with Hollywood movie stars filming at Fox Studios including Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen during the Star Wars trilogy and Keanu Reeves who called it home for a few months.

Terry reports that one of her Bedarra Island beach huts was borne aloft by the terrifying Cyclone Yasi and vanished in the wind as it swept through QLD twelve days ago. But fortunately that was the only damage and considering the island was in the eye of the storm she reckons she got off lightly.

Sadly business will preclude her from attending tonight's Rose Bay Flood Relief Fundraising Dinner at the Rose Bay Promenade to aid victims of the dreadful floods that preceded Yasi. 750 guests at $1000 a head with food prepared by Michael McMahon's Catalin and other prominent chefs. It should be something quite amazing. Providing the weather holds.

Bedarra Island

Also raising funds for flood and cyclone victims in Queensland were 400 prominent businessmen at the Hilton Hotel last week at a lunch hosted by the Hon Bruce Baird AM , chairman of the Tourism and Transport Forum and sponsored by Qantas.

Anna Bligh

Guest speaker was the QLD premier Anna Bligh who through adversity in her home state has surely resurrected a faltering political career with her approval rating jumping a whopping 35% . There are whispers that a Federal Parliamentary seat now beckons.

Anna's heartfelt speech at the lunch , just as she has delivered on several TV news broadcasts, some that were  screened on the BBC has impressed all with her ability to empathise with the flood victims. Watch out Julia Gillard. A competitor is on the horizon.

                                                      

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In the interests of always bringing Shuttle readers the latest in gossip and innuendo with the knowledge that today's tittle tattle is tomorrow's news, we can report the latest  rumblings in both state and federal politics.

Our mole disguised as a Qantas trolley dolly reports on a conversation overheard on a recent flight from Melbourne to Sydney between two very senior Labor Party identities who know what's what and whose tongues loosened as the Chardonnay was sipped.

If Prime Minister Julia Gillard has Anna Blair already breathing down her neck, party heavies have given her just six more months to impress the electorate. Should she fail and the axe falls-Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten, former union heavyweight is waiting in the wings with a lot of support.

And it's not so rosy for Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. The very strong mail out is that Shadow Treasurer, the large and cuddly Joe Hockey is ready to takeover, sooner rather than later.



Joe Hockey

Not that Joe will around for long. Step forward- Malcolm Turnbull, the man who would be king and as predicted by the Shuttle many moons ago, will finally claim the crown.

Stateside-when ruling NSW Labor is swept aside in 5 weeks and the ever so nice but dull state Liberal leader Barry O'Farrell who could surely win a gold medal with his Olympian efforts at boring an audience witless becomes premier, he shall remain for 12 months which is about how long Coaltion heavies figure it will take NSW voters to realise they have elected a dud of Titanic proportions. Which takes us to March 2012-the Ides of March and all that as knives come from all directions aimed at Barry's ample back.

In his place will be the member for Manly, the clever, young and good looking Mike Baird, co-incidentally the son of former MP  Bruce Baird, host of last week's flood lunch.

That gives Mike 3 years to consolidate the Coaltion's 10 years of power to come.

You have been warned !