The Australian reports Newspoll has Labor’s lead back up to 57-43 after two fortnights at 55-45. No figures yet provided to back up its headline “Costello wanted as leader”. Hat tip yet again to James J.
UPDATE: Graphic here. It shows Peter Costello’s rating as preferred Liberal leader up to 41 per cent from 23 per cent in April (wrongly labelled in the graphic as April 2007), Brendan Nelson up from 15 per cent to 18 per cent and Malcolm Turnbull down from 25 per cent to 24 per cent – bearing in mind that 19 per cent has been freed up because Julie Bishop and Tony Abbott were not included in the question this time.
UPDATE 2 (31/7/08): Further attitudinal polling, including the finding that the Prime Minister is 3 per cent less experienced than he was six months ago.
UPDATE 3: Suggested Newspoll question format for next time: Is Rudd experienced? Has he ever been experienced?
Has Cossie gone off in search of the Holy Grail of Hammocks…………..the Spine Hammock (which also has an inbuilt silver platter for leadership invitations)
Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:35am AEST
“Federal Treasurer Peter Costello says he does not know why people get concerned about politicians meeting members of controversial Christian sect the Exclusive Brethren.
It has been confirmed that Prime Minister John Howard met senior members of the group in his parliamentary office two weeks ago.
The secretive sect, which does not allow its followers to vote, has previously been linked to funding and advertising campaigns supporting the Liberal Party.
But Mr Costello has told Southern Cross Radio that there is nothing wrong with politicians meeting the group.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/22/2011667.htm
Maybe this is why Tip has been silent recently. His past utterings have come back to haunt him.
Rudd should to to Nelson what Howard did when Crean was leader – completely ignore him. If Nelson is leader of the opposition at the next election Labor will win 110 seats.
“Maybe this is why Tip has been silent recently. His past utterings have come back to haunt him.”
That’s be a long list..
Poor old Brendan. Now he has the Pineapple Party circling him. He just can’t take a trick.
[He said he still supported a federal merger of the parties.
“I’m on the record, as you know only too well, of believing that it is in the broader interests of the non-Labor side of politics for there to be a merger of our two parties,” he said.
“It is entirely a matter for our organisational leadership and we also are awaiting the report from John Anderson on the options facing the National party.]
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/no-regrets-over-qld-merger-nelson/2008/07/29/1217097232310.html
203 ShowsON – good advice. Rudd needs to help Nelson get to the eleciton. Last thing the ALP wants is for him to go down like Downer – imagine how Australia would be different if it had been Downer v Keating in 96.
Steve 205 – Quite right. I could not have put it better.
Anderson has handed his report to the National Fibbers already, so Brenda is Fibbing, its just that they will not release it for another 3 months because it will take that long to read. 🙂
Looks like the right wing nutters in the Liberal party just got rolled; I suppose we have to wait for the story in the Australian to settle down for while before one can be sure. Perhaps there is hope for the Liberal party after all, I doubt there is any hope for the Australian.
I think that after all the champagne cork popping in Brisbane over the weekend we’ll see a ‘Borg for Canberra’ push starting from tonight. Hope the Liberals in Canberra are in tip top shape for a brawl because their petty leadership battles are about to get overshadowed by the Northern menace. They should tap the Member for Maranoa on the shoulder and convert Springborg into a small fish in a big pond.
Steve 210 – very wise.
Grog & Steve
a SIXTH July Brenda CC policy emerged on th 7.30 Report tonite right from Brenda’s lips , actualy the SIXTH followed 30 seconds after th 5th
so in th intersts of clarity for our fathful Brenda supporters here , we should recap
1/ ETS to start in 2012 , without any conditions
2/ Australia cannot implement ETS without a commitment from the rest of the world
2/ ETS to start “sometime” , after China & India committ to a “timetable”
3/ ETS to start “sometime , after China & India make “committments”
4/ TODAY , the claytons “whatever” CC policy : asked if the latest policy was any different to the coalition’s existing stance, he said: “Well, there are some particular…. look, there are a couple of changes in it.”
5/ TODAY on 7.30 report “Australia must move ahead with an emissions trading scheme, but insisted that it ‘must be informed’ by what the “Major Emmitters” throughout the world choose to do”.
6/ 30 seconds later TODAY on 7.30 Report , asked what happens if the Major Emmitters choose to do nothing , do we not introduce an ETS
‘oh yes we will still introduce an ETS , um sometime , um when its appropriate and reesonable responsible to do so , but the cost of carbon would need to be low’
We all thought Hoaratio’s Hornets couldn’t be topped , but Brenda has taken CC toa new level of clarity , even live internet news servise cann’t keep up with Brenda’s positions
A good point from Jack the Insider.
{More troubling is the Coalition’s vote. The Liberals primary vote is down four points from last year’s election; the Nats down a point and on a two-party preferred basis, the Coalition is a whopping 14 points behind Labor.
The Coalition has 13 seats that sit on margins of 2 per cent or less. If yesterday’s Newspoll results were realised in a federal election, the Coalition would be flat out getting a cricket team together in the new parliament.}
The National’s vote should hold up fairly well at the next election which would make them a good chance of being the “Senior” member of the Coalition.
Just ripe for a complete takeover by the “Pineapple Party”. lol
in th interests of Brenda’s clarity , thought it was appropriate to hav two number 2/ ‘s
So the Libs are now “Waiting for Cosso”.
No doubt the Libs and Nats will continue their divisive debate, Nelson will pretend he has an ETS policy and the liberal faithful will pine for a JH return.
Just like Bob Hawke in the ACTU days intervening at the right moment to induce a settlement, Costello sits on a lounge chair, umbrella drink in hand, just waiting for the call up from the Australian public to rescue them from their Labor induced depression.
What if Cosso doesn’t turn up?
You could write a play about it.
“What if Cosso doesn’t turn up?”
Santo Santoro will.
212 ron. I missed 7:30 Reporrt tonight. You’re kidding right?
Great question to ask him though – you would think he might have anticipated it a bit better.
Andrew Bolt’s blog on the subject – quite funny really, as he reacted to Maiden’s intital report… then quickly did an update, and claims it’s the Costello compirmise, and that Rudd will end up doing it too (I guess so he can later claim Rudd is really only doing Liberal policy – in light of the last two weeks a totally pathetic arguement).
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/brave_bold_but_can_the_liberals_now_stay_united/
215 GG – the great review of Waiting for Godot could well apply to “Waiting for Cosso” – Nothing happens, nobody comes, nodoby goes, it is terrible”.
And no doubt this line from the play got a run in the Lib shadow cabinet today:
“We’ll hang ourselves tomorrow (pause). Unless [Cosso] comes”.
If you want to get a feel for how Blindeye is handling climate change response policy have a look at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ckX3CRTSB0
GG
“What if Cosso doesn’t turn up?
You could write a play about it.”
In stage plays , they always have a double , Believe Dolly has been practising
GG @ 215:
Macbeth.
Yes of course Labor is genius, Liberal are d.ckheads and the popular will demands the abolition of anybody opposed to Chairman Rudd thought.
Yada Yada Yada!
Nelson is on two strikes in about as many days. First he got rolled on the Pineapple Party and then done like a dinner today. So when will king hit number 3 poleaxe him? Is tomorrow’s party room meeting too soon for someone with half a brain (if they still have anyone that qualifies) to slither the political knife through Brendan’s ribs? Will he wake up tomorrow realising he’s blown it big time and do the deed himself?
The poor git sure is living in interesting times! They should sell tickets
Of course GG a few plays/ novellas could be written about the Court of Chairman Kevin.
I suggest the following reading/viewing list:
Power without Glory
Midnight in Sicily
The Candidate (Robert Redford version)
Bob Roberts
etc etc
ESJ, Brendan’s done enough for Labor all by himself. Rudd’s getting a very easy ride lately.
Don’t cry ESJ
Grog, thanks for the link to the Bolter Blog.
Having an enjoyable read of the posts but was gobsmacked when I came across this one. Some of them must be indulging in too many “alcopops” me thinks.
{Excellent news. This is a gold-plated, sure-fire election winner. And it’s a remarkably similar position to that advocated by me and others a few days ago and which I emailed my MP about, as I expect others did.
This will likely result in Liberal government in every state and at the federal level in 3 years. Maybe even the ACT.}
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/brave_bold_but_can_the_liberals_now_stay_united/
Tearms of boredom Dario, Tears of boredom.
Once again BB,
Where’s the beef in the ETS?
Its kind of like the painless root canal that’s being proposed. I remember similar claims about the GST.
ESJ @ 224
“The Man Who Would be King”?
Scorpio
#213
Make a good point of the Libs primary vote down 4% , th LCP primary seems static at about 37% to 38% for months now , with Newspoll variances reeely being slight movements/moe differnces in the vote for th ALP , Greens or ‘others’
This underlying low static primary vote for th LCP leaves them in no mans land
.
PS/ Newspoll continues to overstate th LCP primary votes in th 2007 result by 0.3% and understote th ALP by 0.1% , do not know why but why shoulf the Loberals look better than they dod in 2007 ?
lol, winston.
How about “A Man for all seasons”?
229 ESJ, it’s not as if no modeling has been done, just not the final Treasury modeling. I can remember reading modeling from ABARE last year they modeled heaps of different scenarios. The beef is there if you look in the right places.
ESJ
Funny you should mention Midnight in Sicily. I’m just finishing Boss of Bosses, about how Bernardo Provenzano saved the Cosa Nostra after Falcone and Borsellino were assassinated.
It’s making me wonder whether John Howard might try to make a comeback…
234 It would be funny if he got rolled in the first attempt by the ‘Joh for Canberra insanity only to be thwarted by the ‘Borg for Canberra’ madness in his last hurrah.
Meanwhile, deep in the jungle…@ the horses for courses convention…
CC Petals & Brendan Buriers Inc; a rain check; ‘it’ will go the same way as this; Kev’s Klassic Klaytons: A rewind…
‘his accusation this week that journalists have misinformed the public over counter-terrorism cases and undermined the judicial system is his shameless hypocrisy.
And his call for a media commentary blackout on the reporting of these cases until all legal avenues have been exhausted raises the question: on which hilltop does Keelty stand when he makes such demands of Australia’s robust democratic institutions?
In Keelty’s ideal world there would have been no public scrutiny of the Mohamed Haneef case, which collapsed spectacularly after the AFP and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions made crucial mistakes — mistakes that were revealed by the media. The Indian-born doctor was charged last July with providing a mobile phone SIM card to a terrorist organisation. The charges were later dropped because of lack of evidence.
Let’s refresh our memories over key events. There was the incorrect assertion that Haneef’s SIM card was found in the exploded jeep at Glasgow airport. This claim was used to support the ongoing detention of Haneef.
First Keelty tried to blame the prosecutors and then he tried to blame the British police for providing wrong information — a mistake the British police say they corrected before Haneef was charged…
When charges against Haneef were finally dropped, Keelty tried to blame the DPP, saying police were obliged to charge Haneef on the prosecutor’s advice. The DPP presses charges based on evidence put forward by the police.
Last year Keelty attacked the media for making police investigations difficult and he savaged Haneef’s barrister, Stephen Keim, for leaking a transcript of the AFP’s interview with Haneef. Everyone’s to blame but him.
Then in a speech to the Sydney Institute this week, he attacked media manipulation of public sentiment, acting in the defensive manner of someone who believes he has no case to answer. The AFP has many media spokespeople and they all want to spin the news their way.’
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/sushi-das/2008/01/30/1201369225528.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Goodness! And then…
‘Kevin Rudd says he has absolute confidence in Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty’ OZ Feb. But wait…
‘The Legal Services Commission, which ruled yesterday on Mr Keelty’s complaint against Mr Keim, sided with a new investigative report describing the Crown’s handling of the bogus terrorism case against Dr Haneef as “shambolic”. Hedley Thomas and Cameron Stewart | February 02, 2008
There’s more…John Clarke & Brian Dawe, Yes Minister & Monty Python pump the dead parrot & continue…
‘The truth behind the Mohamed Haneef affair will remain shrouded in secrecy after the man heading the inquiry declared much of the information he has seen cannot be made public…
• “The government accepts Mr Clarke’s decision as sensible approach to progressing the inquiry’s important work in fully examining the facts of the Haneef matter and reporting to government,” the spokesman said.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/haneef-inquiry-judge-classifies-info-off-limits-20080728-3m8e.html?page=-1
“The horse flu inquiry was given Royal Commission powers – our national security and our human rights cannot be any less important than the health of our horse industry.”
Someone said amongst the fofloling…as the chief dot joiner in an heroic savemyarse with pique maneuver ventured…
‘there were no grounds to believe former terror suspect Mohamed Haneef posed a security threat.’
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24097152-12377,00.html
Ah, Sushi & Hedley…come back. Hey & bring ‘Kev’ with you.:)
Grog #217 & Scorpio #227
if you go back to my #212 listing 6 Brenda CC policys including 3 today , th interpretation iin th Bolte link you provided , has now added a year now being “2012” instead of “sometime” as listed in CC policy number 6/ that he said on tonights 7.30 Report
224 ESJ you do realise Bob Roberts is about an ultra right winger?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pf5vkae9EA
Steve
“be thwarted by the ‘Borg for Canberra’ madness in his last hurrah.”
is this what is holding cossie from making a challenge ?
237 Ron, it was interesting the ducking of the last question here by Nelson too.
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2318136.htm
Yes Grog, there’s a little more to it than that though.
239 Ron see 205. Springborg is meeting Nelson for dinner tonight and lobbying party room members tomorrow to take the LNP as a national party. It’s not stopping Cossie but it will complicate life for Nelson, the Pineapple Party will just steamroll over the top of him like they did with Brough if he is not careful.
#215 – [Costello sits on a lounge chair, umbrella drink in hand, just waiting for the call up from the Australian public to rescue them from their Labor induced depression]
GG – This calls for a song of the Napoleonic proportion:
Remember when you ran away
And I got on my knees
And begged you not to leave
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=hnzHtm1jhL4
Well yes, but the politics is the main focus – great cameo by a young Jack Black as a Roberts wannabe bte.
The Candidate I can see a bit better.
Power Without Glory? I doubt you can make a case for a John Wren type controlling the ALP at the moment.
Well Grog defos law prevent further comment on that point dont they.
Steve
#242
You’d think Nelson had enough problems without getting involved at this sensitive time with th pineapple party wanting a National LCP The pineapple Party may also develop a new ETS policy !
Didn’t stop Frank Hardy…
{is this what is holding cossie from making a challenge ?}
Ron. No backbone more like it!
ron, the Pineapple Party don’t have policy just a ‘general direction’ or somesuch weasel word. They are just a divide and conquer of conservative forces outfit. I doubt that they will win an election anywhere but they will create havoc on a scale that only the Queensland Liberal Party truly appreciate.
Nelson ought to be a member of the gymnastics team for the Olympics, he’s done so many backflips and somersaults lately!
It’s a pity parliament isn’t sitting right now, I’d love to watch Rudd/Swan/Tanner savage these turkeys in QT.