Ricky Muir

[BHDOGS]

he needs to be kicked in his balls then his face a war on two fronts.

[Lotte]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

Didn't he go AWOL for a few months too? Dunno anything about this dude, but if it was me, I'd be stomping at the gate wanting to get in... Once your in that line of work it's gravy train for life, he needs to put in the hard yards now if he wants his chance to drop the snout in the trough like the rest of them.

Nope. Keith Littler put him on lockdown and refused to let anyone from the media see him - due to infighting between state and national braches. Bloke's a nut case, and the fact he (and a few other nutcases) are party leaders, is really scary.

As for putting in the hard yards, that's a little hard to do, when you have to work full time to feed a family of 5 (or is it 6?). No money from this role until July, leaves little time for him to be able to prepare. Poor bloke is definitely a puppet though, and he'll be used as the fall guy when it all goes to ****, even though Keith/Clive have their hands working his mouth.

[Lotte]

Originally Posted by ozpacman

Lotte he was voted in eight months ago. Surely that is time enough to prepare a few lines for a media interview.

He went on a trip to Boston with his mates and Mike Willesee, one would think that there would be a fair chance that if MW and a camera crew were tagging along there just could be an interview on the cards?

I know you think I'm being a bit harsh with my ********* attitude and all but mate, this is politics and he's the one who has chosen to enter the game. I know he's a newbie but there's no excuse for not being able to provide a plausible response to those few questions MW asked. They were pretty basic let's face it.

Are we to believe he's done no media at all since he was elected? If he hasn't then he's wasted some very valuable media development opportunities, and those advising him need a swift kick in the backside.

I have a fair bit to do with media as part of my job and one thing you never do is go into an interview devoid of subject knowledge.

Russ

I've heavily emphasised that part. He hasn't done any media stuff (see above post), it's not him. It's Littler. His lack of preparation I would put down to littler as well - the whole party is a ******* joke at the moment. They were before the election as well.
And as someone else has already stated, apparently what went to air was the stuff pre to actual interview (ie the standard prep/practice/warmup parts).

[Focused]

Originally Posted by rdmr

What this screams to me is that Senator elects, whether they be Ricky or anybody else are on FAR TOO MUCH money. For an entry level job they should be on $50,000. Once you have done several years service and you have proved to be competent you will go to a higher level of pay.

Disagree. For the amount of training most of these guys have done and the amount of work they have to do (ie. 12hr days, 7 days per week, have their own private life thrown onto the front page of the paper) then I'm OK with them earning 6 figures.

It's the way the world works. Work hard in school, work hard in your 20s and enjoy the rewards later. If you do nothing in school and then start a drop-kick job in your 20s, don't complain when you're still doing that drop-kick job in 40 years. BTW This last paragraph isn't aimed at you in particular. Just the overly-entitled bogans that spend their nights on the interwebz complaining instead of bettering themselves at night-school like others do...

[Iggle Piggle]

Balance of Power?

He should have asked in what context - getting it off the line without bogging down or lighting up the rears, or lifting just the right amount in a long sweeper (in which case a true visionary would go up a gear and floor it instead of lift).

[ozpacman]

The poor bugger. I think he's probably gone into it with some good ideals and probably a genuine desire to make a difference, however Palmer & Co will just use him up.

Politics can be a cruel old game when it's all said and done - no matter whose side you look at.

[Nikked]

I always take TT/ACA stories as total truth with no biased agender...

[EBII Fairmont]

Originally Posted by BHDOGS

wow 200,000 thats tax payer money well spent we have a budget emergency apparently but can waste that money on this useless twat for the next four years not to mention the free trips and free car and everything else they leeches suck of the tax payers while the rest of us eat dirt.

$200,000 over the next couple of years is nothing in comparison to the $12.4bn being thrown away on American aircrafts for our air force which have computer glitches. Yet our economy is apparently up the *****. Where does any of it add up???

[Trevor 57]

A lot of individuals (independents) in Parliament have made a real difference in Parliament, look at the 3 that sided with Gillard, those blokes were pretty smart, I bet they were novices when they first got in

Brian Harradine is another name of some merit, although I didn't always agree with some of his stuff

For all you criers of all things foul, did you know that OUR Constitution makes NO mention of Parties - just saying, the whole of Parliament is meant to be a group of local members getting stuff done

[Wretched]

Novice or not he is an adult, he chose to get into this career and has had ample time to get prepared.
He's not a child and should know what it is he is getting into. If he doesn't then he should have been using the grey matter between his ears and not just relying on it to stop his head from caving in; getting out there in his spare time and soaking up all the experience of other parliamentarians, understanding the game, practicing delivering speeches and getting to know the ins and outs. Understandable it will take time to get really into it but for god sake, how hard would it have been to understand the balance of power and be able to express it on TV.

Nerves or not, this is his career, he chose it, he chose not to prepare and this is the result. You cannot be blaming Palmer or AMEP's president entirely, Muir can go on his own bat and prepare.

I remember jumping into my role as a project manager from an engineer, for the weeks proceeding that, even months (while the role was being finalised) I was a sponge to the more experienced PMs and other senior management, getting to know the ins and outs of the organisation from that level, who to talk to about what and who not to rely on, etc. It helped my transition a lot.

[zipping]

You guys do realise that Ricky Muir may have got through some of the questions before stuffing it up. The editing potentially makes him look bad/worse. Believe me my first time in front of a camera with a seasoned journalist was tough and I stuffed it up so have sympathy.

What he tried to do is sound like a politician if you noticed Jacky from Tassie didn't bother that was the way to go.

Also lol at he chose to be a politician more like he fluked a 100,000/1 shot he never expected. Even the Libs/Labs really struggle for half decent politicians. Plenty of duds they put up.

Its fascinating how the political class/media are so desperate to tear him down. That said by joining PUP he brings added attacks.

[iCat]

This is an email from AMEP I received in response to the Sunday Night Program:

"Australian politics has long been seen by those in power as their God-given right, and those outside the “inner sanctum” are not welcome to participate.

This is the same sentiment portrayed by Mike Willesee on the Sunday Night program, attempting to show the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party Senator-elect Ricky Muir, along with members of the Palmer United Party, of being unworthy of taking their seats in Parliament on 1 July.

First and foremost we need to remember one thing – Senator-elect Ricky Muir has never claimed to be nor portrayed as anything other than an every-day Australian. The fact that nerves got the better of the Senator-elect when being interviewed by one of Australia’s best-known and toughest current-affairs reporters was no reason to portray him in such a negative way. In fact, very few every-day Australians thrown into a similar situation would have fared any better; this does not in any way imply that Senator-elect Muir is any less capable than the over-groomed politicians currently warming seats in any of Australia’s parliaments.

It is unfortunate that, of the hours of footage available to the shows producers and editors, they elected to use only the tape which normally would have ended up in the bin – had they not been out to discredit those concerned. In short, the show was little more than an attempted character assassination.

It is true the Senator-elect has no previous experience in politics, and he has a lot to learn – but so did everyone from the Prime-Minister down when they first became politicians.

If those in power and the media choose to belittle the incoming Senator, so be it; but they need to remember that what Ricky Muir brings to the Senate is the experience gained from working hard for a living, of struggling to support his family on minimum wage, of hurting every time a new tax is introduced, of understanding how-far removed other politicians are from the reality of life in “every-day” Australia.

Ricky Muir will earn his political stripes; he will become more polished with time and experience; and he will be doing his best to make a difference for those ordinary Australians of whom he is one.

Remember, too, that Senator-elect Ricky Muir is not alone on this journey; he has the support of millions of like-minded Australians; he has the support of the motoring community and the motoring industry; and like all politicians, he will be surrounded by the best-possible team of staff to advise and guide him through the minefield of politics.

In short, Senator-elect Ricky Muir will be doing everything possible to best-represent the people of Australia. It is time to move away from the media sensationalism, biased reporting, and unfounded criticism. It is time, instead, to focus on what is possible for motorists and every-day Australians over the next six years. It is everyone’s democratic right to have an opinion, and mine is to give the bloke a go – that’s the Australian way…"

Personally, I tend to think that this fellow has had 8 months to get his act together....

[nstg8a]

An hour long interview cut down to 4 minutes... Maybe in that whole hour this was all he did wrong?

[cheap]

Message to the AMEP

Ricky is a simpleton (there is no point in not calling him for what he is). No amount of time, money or training will alter this.

Ricky's skills are commensurate to his career he was in a happy state of equilibrium whilst working in a saw mill.

Ricky lucked in, through a broken senate electorate voting system. He is exactly like an average Joe Smoe winning Powerball and pretending to be someone he isn't. The senate voting system needs to be fixed because Australia deserves better than Ricky.

Ricky answering questions with YES, NO or can you repeat the question again are not satisfactory. Unfortunately Ricky's dazed blank looks accurately reflect what is going on in his head.

Ricky's new position of "power" has attracted all sorts of people helping him, these people have wrenched the steering wheel from Ricky, he is clearly not in charge of the steering. An eminent crash awaits.

Since the election, Ricky has had ample opportunity to get up to speed with what it means to be a senator, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that Ricky would have been prepared for the Willesse interview, instead Ricky throughout the interview came across as being TOTALLY CLUELESS. If however as the AMEP claims that Ricky is able to able to spontaneously articulate his points of view, then by all means show the evidence!

Ricky's maiden speech to the senate should be a ripper, just remind the speech writer not to use words with 2 or more syllables.

If the AMEP truly cares for Ricky they would protect him from the pool of sharks he now find himself in, the AMEP should admit that it was a mistake and let him return to the saw mill, he could go on to an episode of "Bogan Hunters" because that's where he truly belongs.

[Maka]

Originally Posted by bungarra

Talking to a friend at Seven, MW's agenda was to make Ricky and the others look like fools and a lot of editiing was done to arrange the effect.

The parts you saw about Ricky were supposedly pre to recording but got included at editing level to suit the agenda of Seven, Kerry Stokes and Mike Willessee.

Of course Mike Willessee has no bias given his son is the Chief od Media for Joe Hockey abnd they use the Willessee family company to do up their ads. Even Social media is decrying the bias shown by Channel 7 and Mike WIllessee who never declared his connection to the Liberal Party.

An agenda was set and the agenda was met.

Highly plausible in this day & age unfortunately, just highlights the fact that you cant trust everything you read, hear & see in the media on face value alone!

cheers, Maka

[noflac52]

Ahh this internet is a wonderful place!

A place where anonymous people who don't have the guts to put their name to what they say taking cheap shots at someone who has the guts to put their whole life on show where the trolls can tear them apart. The trolls must have such a lack of power and influence in their real lives that they think they can make themselves feel better by tearing someone down all the time keeping their anonymity. Real brave!

I actually feel sorry for you.

[noflac52]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

yo on the ball tonight *******

see what i did there....

Yeah I did!

That's the irony of it!

You made yourself look like one.

[cheap]

Now its the "trolls" picking on poor old Rick (boo hoo).




Of course anyone providing Ricky the benefit of the doubt, or this being a Willesee conspiracy, they could offer some evidence of him not being "out of his depth" then please do so.

<chirping crickets sound>

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by noflac52

Yeah I did!

That's the irony of it!

You made yourself look like one.

are you rickys dad

srs

[nstg8a]

I don't see the need to tear him down based on one arguably bad interview.

How about people give him a chance to see what he can do before tearing him to shreds straight away.

A lot of jealousy involved I think.

[iCat]

Don't know about jealousy, but perhaps expecting him to be 100% proficient. IMO i think he should have been better prepared for his first interview, and it's obvious he is way out of his depth. But give him time to find his feet. He really is at the mercy of the puppeteers working him at the moment.

[ltd]

What I find amazing in this thread is the overall naivety of those prepared to give this guy a fair go. First of all, if this interview was only made from spliced footage to make this guy look bad then why hasn't the AMEP been screaming for the release of the other footage, or had lawyers beating down the door of channel 7 for defamation and misrepresentation, as we've seen with Chris Kenny suing the ABC? The answer is simple, all of the interview was like this and unfortunately, no amount of coaching in the immediate sense will solve this.

Secondly, the fact that this guy only managed to secure around 500 votes from a population of 22 million and will hold the balance of power is as scary a thought as Julia Gillard in a neglige carrying a box of rubbers.
Regardless of the limits to his intelligence, this man will control the future of our nation not unlike Rob Oakshott and Tony Windsor, where personal agendas and hatred rode roughshod over the good of the nation - part of the reason as to why Australia has been run into the ground over the last 6 years.

Like it or not, Palmer is a buffoon and senators like Ricky have gravitated to this moron simply because Palmer was paying for his election.
Whilst some think Palmer is an inspiration, he is clearly unfit to hold office. His companies are all in the toilet (like his nickel mine), his alleged wealth is all fictional (just ask some of his staff still unpaid at Coolum) and he has delusions derived from movies that he likes such as Jurassic Park, Titanic and others. I have met Clive (spelt backwards evilC) several times and he is for want of a better description certifiably insane. What you saw in the interview is what he is - sleep deprived to the point of psychosis brought on by acute sleep-apnea.
His economic credentials speak for themselves and reflect on his personal finances such as - "we should lower taxes by 15%, pay for the NDIS and give 80 billion more to health". "Where's the money going to come from Clive?" - "It will pay for itself". Great, so lower revenue by 100 billion, then borrow another 160 billion to pay for more welfare: Net result, minus 260 billion per year (so in 4 years we accumulate over a trillion dollars of debt) - what a genius.
Jackie Lambie thinks the banks should have all their profits taken in a tax and send $1300 to every citizen - really comrade? Maybe bypass the gulag on your way to the Kremlin you idiot.
Dion Wang is in denial to the point of not knowing where the money is going or went, and the Chinese government wants their 12 million that Clive used to pay for his election ads back.
Frankly, the Palmer circus is just that - a circus, and with their role as to determining the future of our nation deserves to be put under as much pressure as the buttons on Clives shirt.
That channel 7 and Willesee have done an interview showing how our electoral system failed and elected a bunch of complete idiots unsuitable for the challenge that lay ahead of them is just the beginning. We as a nation will be poorer for these idiots getting power.

[Cashie]

Our political system has failed us by allowing someone a senate seat on 0.51% of the primary vote.
Watching him was embarrassing, not being able to explain what "balance of power" means, explain the "aftermarket industry" etc is inexcusable.
Those bagging others for bagging him should know we as voters have EVERY right to comment on his performance, he does (or will come July 1) represent us (an potentially hold the balance of power). I just hope he can politically mature in 4 weeks.
Also, Clive Palmer (and his party) is scary, not just from watching that interview, mark my words, this party will not be remembered in a positive way regarding Australian Politics.
And no, I probably couldn't do a better job in an interview with Willesee than Ricky did, but I also wouldn't on a whim throw my name in the hat for a senate seat either.
He's drawing $200k a year of taxpayers money for 6 years, I expect him to earn that money from day 1.

[noflac52]

I've got absolutely no objection to bagging someone for failing to deliver when the time comes but this bloke hasn't been given a chance yet.

People are judging him on one interview and an ACA program when he was elected.

The fact that people will form a judgment about someone based on two sensationalist media programs says more about their gullibility than it does about Ricky Muir at the moment.

[Trevor 57]

Our last political prisoner, Pauline Hanson has jumped to Muirs defence, whilst I didn't agree with a lot of Hanson's policies, we live in a democratic society and everyone is entitled to have a go

All you people picking personally on Muir should vent your anger at the system that got him elected not him personally

I wonder how you would all go getting interviewed by Willisee then watch as they only put to air the bits that make you look bad, a similar thing has happened to me and it aint' that nice

[mcflux]

"Those who live in Upper Houses should not throw poo"

[Stefan]

HAHAHAHA That has got to to be up there with "please explain"

It seemed like he was about to cry at one point.

[bungarra]

Originally Posted by Cashie

Our political system has failed us by allowing someone a senate seat on 0.51% of the primary vote.
.

The system isnt broken, it was set up to prevent minor parties in the early 80's which included the Greens, People for Nuclear Disarmament, The Communist Party of Australia, Australian'sagainst Immingration Party etc form gaining balance of power over the big two.

The Greens worked th esystem as did Independants like Xenophon. The problem is, everyone elese has worked out the system and everyone is gettign upset as the three majors are now feeling the pain of their derived system.

This is why the LNP, ALP and Greens ar busting a gut to reform the system, they do not want avaerage Aussies reviewing the system, they want party people who will do as they are told and not always in the best interest of Australia and its people. Good luck to Ricky, maybe he will prove the doubters wrong.

Professional politicians have created the financial mess we are in, maybe non professional politicians is what we need.

[Grunter]

Crikey says: Muir and Palmer put democracy to the test

To watch senator-elect Ricky Muir being interviewed by the Seven Network on Sunday night was to experience a rare moment of raw, unwatchable embarrassment as he struggled to answer even the simplest questions about the federal political arena he will enter in three weeks' time.

Muir has no experience as a media performer, and no political background. He has entered the Senate by fluking his way in via a voting process that is best described as something between a lottery and a democratic rort. He is, moreover, in every way the antithesis of the polished, professional politicians we see every day, who speak constantly but rarely say anything of substance.

Muir, in contrast, had little to say but his performance spoke volumes -- about his unpreparedness. This performance from a man who will shortly be one of the most important people in the country in terms of implementing the government's legislative agenda was deeply concerning. Once in the Senate, the pressure on Muir will be far greater than that applied by a TV interviewer asking about common-or-garden political terminology.

There's a segment of the electorate that traditionally likes anti-politicians, that prefers inarticulate authenticity over the bland on-message non-communication of professional politicians who have been working on their image since their time in student politics. We're supposed to like the idea of ordinary people disrupting the ritualised and stultifying political games of Canberra. But with the responsibility of power comes an obligation to communicate how one intends to use it. And so far, it's unclear what senator-elect Muir will do with his power other than implement the will of Clive Palmer.

http://www.crikey.com.au

My thoughts. I don't know the bloke personally, and don't need to. But the day he nominated himself, he became PUBLIC fair game, and he has to suck it up good and bad. Zero sympathy to the situation he's placed himself in and it's a big kick in the nuts to those that voted for him.

Sad part is that Rick Muirs’ interview, made more sense than any I’ve heard Clive Palmer do. Perfect match if the potential results of their upcoming power in the senate weren’t so impactful.

[ray38l]

Its a good thing having rick Muir and palmer party in politics. both labor and liberal will be trying to find dirt on rick because he is a threat to the 2 party system.
he has as much right to be there as everyone else. he was elected under the current system fair and square.