The latest Essential Research survey has Labor’s lead down from 58-42 to 57-43, remembering that this is a two-week rolling average which was half conducted before Malcolm Turnbull replaced Brendan Nelson. Also included (just from the last week’s sample) are various questions on leadership and one on industrial relations (45 per cent think the government moving “too slowly”).
The wild card in Oz politics is the economy. Turnbull at least looks like someone who might have some ideas, so if the economy tanks, you can expect the Libs to be competitive. NSW is also going to be a drag on Rudd at the next election, whatever he does.
If the economy stays solid Labor will increase its majority by a reasonable amount, and Turnbull will be lucky to keep his job long enough to fight the next election.
TP
you are being sarcastic?- “unless he gets some pretty strong help from the media.”
most of the msm are a faction of the fiberals
I think talcum has the smarts and following tonites performance I expect his profile to continue to rise
BTW the public aint into smears anymore ala scores etc,I think they are looking to someone they like (rudd) as opposed to someone they looked to for direction (howard).
Talcum senses this and accordingly is out to make himself a “man of the people”
[Talcum senses this and accordingly is out to make himself a “man of the people”]
an uphill battle if ever there was one
Dario
objectively-Is rudd anymore a “man of the people” than turnbull and if so,where are the differentiators?
I voted for Rudd and still support tintin 100% but I personally would never presume him to be a “man of the people” yet turnbull has a certain charisma that seems to make him more personable IMHO.
Immediately after the election I had hopes for Turnbull as a future Liberal leader because he immediately accepted that Workchoices and other things from Howard were dead and burried. Seemed like he would bring them back to the center.
But his tactics so far have been fairly dismal, the same old opposition and negativity for its own sake and this awful ‘I am good’ habit. And it seems he will be a permanent prisoner of the right who it seems have quite a few numbers. It appears they would undermine Turnbull if he looked like moving to the left, even if he became popular. And I think the right dont mind self destructing in order to keep everything to the right.
If he is able to recover that awfully low level of trust people have in him (I still find it surprising it was so strong) he still needs to be able to develop meaningful policies and be able to sell them. He is not a good salesman that I have seen, on the contrary he comes over as not believable. He will need a fair bit of help from the media to manufacture some characteristics he really doesnt have.
And I certainly wouldn’t be under estimating Rudd – he pulled off a magic trick last election and had the master electioneerer Howard total beaten and down trodden. Not that anybody would under estimate him.
As I ponder the reporting of the press gallery glitterati on the brilliance of Turnbull and the imminent defeat of Rudd I wonder if this is a consequence of their having generally consistently got the reality of last years polling movements so wrong. Maybe it is not just the Coalition who seem to think it was just some technical error in vote counting or a mass momentary madness among the voters that brought their Government to a momentary halt. Maybe the press gallery, in a form of denialism of their failure in their professional punditry, are basing their current predictions on a form of wishful thinking. This is not to say that they are all Coalition supporters, but that their egos need the massage that sucess of the Coalition at the next election would provide. ie it is easier for their egos if, having predicted the miraculous escape of Howard for all last year and being proved wrong, a return to Government by the Coalition at the earliest possible moment must now be predicted and hoped for.
The danger of this for Turnbull is that the scenario is, on the current evidence, unlikely to pan out this way. Journalists being infallible will not accept that there was a flaw in their forecasts and so will look for a scapegoat. Guess who? Turnbull will be vilified for losing an election that the press gallery had prematurely declared “unloseable”. They will hound him from office, assisted by the hard right of his party and those of the Coalition who had (have?) swallowed the line that the Rudd Government is definitely a oncer.
[objectively-Is rudd anymore a “man of the people” than turnbull and if so,where are the differentiators?]
No I think Rudd comes across more as a bureaucratic nerd, but that was exactly the right type of leader that was needed to push out Howard by not scaring the horses on the economy. Let’s be brutally honest… the current government is in its first term so they are going to have to be pretty damn awful to get voted out in two years time. I’m not sure Turnbull going for the ‘man of the people’ mantle is particularly smart… I mean he’s seen as arrogant and untrustworthy in the polls after only just getting the job!
I think people do strongly accept Rudd as a man of the people and accept that he is a nerdy bureacrat that tries hard to communicate with them.
That is born out in those personality ratings.
Turnbull -v- Rudd
Down to Earth 36% – 67%
Down to earth is not something you would automatically say of Rudd since he speaks the way that he does – but I think people allow for that and accept that he is really trying to communicate with them and to be honest with them. The take him as genuine.
Turnbull’s rating is much lower and I reckon shows that he will have trouble getting his message across.
Honest
Turnbull -v- Rudd
23-53%
There it is again. People accept that Rudd really is trying to do his best and trying to tell them how it is. They don’t think he is telling them b/s
Arrogant
Turnbull -v- Rudd
56% – 25%
Arrogant is not neccessarily bad. But Rudd’s low rating is surprising. But it shows people really have come to accept the nerdy bureaucratic Rudd for who he is and accept that he is genuine about what he is doing.
Turnbull is seen as twice as arrogant. Depends on what type of arrogance it is they ascribe to him. Is it ‘I am good let me tell you’ arrogance or a natural unintended arrogance from a gifted person. I suspect there is a lot of self agrandising arrogance being seen in Turnbull.
Turnbull is no doubt aware of all these things [Hewson reckons he would be] and thus the efforts we have seen to try and manufacture a different Turnbull through the media.
Those three items together though indicate people think that Turnbull is not a likeable person. But as it is only a few short polls that have said these things I guess we shouldn’t read too much into them. 🙂
Earlier in the year the media kept on going on about how the honeymoon was really over – but not in the context of the polls, they [milne i think it was?] intimated the media were going to give Rudd a hard time. And sure enough from about April they went totally negative on Rudd and tried taint his character in various ways. It was premeditiated and for no other reason than to bring down Labor ratings.
I think its great that people say things like… “the nerdy bureaucratic Rudd for who he is”
I don’t accept for a second that’s what he actually is, but I’m very impressed that he got people to believe it.
Smart Guy, that geeky Mr Rudd (just don’t tell anybody) 😉
Oh I think he is a nerdy bureaucratic type but and lot more besides. He didn’t cause Howard nightmares without being a very sharp and strategic thinker with a load of ego and determination.
His personality is that of a nerdy bureaucratic type. Behind the scense he is demanding prima dona with a rough temper. People are aware that along with his public personality he is also a highly intelligent person.
He is no charismatic Hawke.
But people dont mind that he is a nerdy bureaucratic type that doesn’t speak their language. In fact there is probably a certain comfort in it.
Nothing smart about saying you have smoked dope now days. That is very old hat and stuff all care about it – who hasn’t tried it once?
Like his Vaucluse rented apartment this is Turnbull trying to impress with a non silver tail background.
Thomas,I agree with you.I have always found Turnbull to be exceedingly smarmy and or creepy.On the other hand my sister, who married into the landed gentry thinks he is very charismatic.I did a quick poll of women I know and all of them said there was something “off” about him.
Well, substance abuser that I have been (and still am sometimes) in my life, I’ve only ever smoked dope a handful of times. Didn’t like the effect. Tried uppers just once when I was a kid. Nothing else. That’s it for my drug-taking life. Was always around dope smokers until I was about 35, but never got into it myself. It was something about not being able to remember the beginning of a sentence by the time I got to the end that unsettled me, and turned me off it. So, as far as my experience is concerned, it’s eminently possible to be around drug takers and not indulge, without being dishonest about it.
I got into QANDA last night as Turnbull was stumbling over the homelessness question, using the fact that the Matt Talbot hostel is in Wooloomooloo (inside the Wentworth electorate) and that somehow or other this meant he was in sync with the homelessness issue. I thought he was embarrased by the question and fluffed his lines on it.
But so many of the questions were about his wealth, you could hardly blame him for dodging around the issue, or even getting sick of it.
It’s pretty clear Turnbull is able to get down and dirty with “ordinary folk” (e.g. the story about the egalitarian showers at the Bondi Icebergs), and that’s probably a good thing in his favour. It struck me that he has a sort-of dual personality. When he gets up to move a censure motion his voice changes, as does his demeanour, and he becomes the barrister again, the silvertail with an apparent born-to-rule attitude. I don’t know which Turnbull is the real one.
One thing I do know is that he’s probably smarter than many of his shadow front bench and on Labor’s front bench for that matter. He has a very engaging personality and gets on well with a wide range of people. However, I think he realises there’s a lot of hard work to do to get the party back into shape, and that he’s playing to the denialists in the Liberal Party – for the moment – to try and get their spirits back up and a few points back on the polls. Eventually though, he’s going to have to do some solid policy work, get rid of the deadwood, and quit the grandstanding. He’ll have to convince his party that this is the only way to go, too. That’ll be the hard part. Most of them still sincerely believe a mistake was made last November and that all they have to do is hold on for a year or two and the world will catch up with them.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has turned uot some interesting figures today.
[‘Although the Australian Government has consistently been the largest single source of funds over the period 1996-97 to 2006-07, its funding share has declined in recent years. The peak was 44% in 2000-01,’ Mr Goss said.
‘For public and private hospitals combined, the Australian Government’s share of funding peaked at 45% in 2000-01 and has fallen every year since then to 40% in 2006-07. Over the same period, State and territory government funding increased from 35% to 42%,’ he said.
For public hospital funding alone, the Australian Government’s share through the Australian Health Care Agreements (AHCAs) peaked at 40% in 2000-01 and has fallen to a 33% share in 2006-07. The State and territory government share of public hospital funding on the other hand rose from 45% in 2000-01 to 52% in 2006-07.]
http://www.aihw.gov.au/mediacentre/2008/mr20080926.cfm
scorpio @ 671 –
From this article, it is clear that Mr Paulson hasn’t a clue what is happening and what to do about is.
I was a bit concerned before. Now I am really worried. This joker is being compared with Rumsfeld, Chaney & Bush.
Oh, dear. And there was Turnbull on AM yesterday telling us: the world is lucky to have Hank Paulson as US Treasury Secretary right at the moment.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2008/s2373734.htm
Imagine how much worse this would be if the world had run out of luck and Secretary Paulson had fallen under the proverbial bus last week!
Of course Turnbull’s judgement may be clouded by: “I’ve worked closely with Hank. He was the chairman of Goldman Sachs, the senior partner when I was a partner of the firm.”
Wonder what they worked closely on? Bundling up low-doc loans?
Perhaps time to crawl into the financial bunker and hope a General Wenck manages to break through! 🙁
BB,
It’s hard for the Liberals not to be aware of the Mathew Tallbot Hostel in Woolloomooloo,
as their State Party HQ, 104 William Street, sits right on top.
Also on their door step is a famous transvestite pick up place.
margaret @ 716 –
as their State Party HQ, 104 William Street, sits right on top.
Also on their door step is a famous transvestite pick up place.
You haven’t seen Dolly hanging around the front lately flashing the fishnets by any chance? 😉
Sorry, 140 William St.
Mayo,
these girls are have standards, Dolly”s way past it.
More lightly-substantiated conjecture from Dennis Shanahan, man of the people who can sense the slightest nuance of public opinion:
[… it’s likely (Rudd’s) fall in popularity in the polls has a fair bit to do with the growing sense that he’s not concentrating on daily issues that affect working families and all the other groups to which he appealed before the election.
Voters are starting to detect a problem with his style of leadership and are instinctively sensing a problem…]
This is written in the context of Rudd’s trip to New York. Shanahan is on it with him. There is little mention of the agenda of the trip, what was accomplished and so on. All there is is criticism of the fact the trip was undertaken.
I think even Shanahan realises that there hasn’t been too much pressing back here that needed Rudd’s personal, on-site attention. He’s talking about perception (one of his favourite subjects). Not for Dennis an analysis of facts or figures, or goals achieved. He only wants to tell us about what other people think, more accurately: what Dennis thinks they think.
[If there is a good reason for Rudd to travel then he should do so, put his case and rely on the support of reasonable people who will accept a reasonable argument.
But if he appears doubtful as to why he’s overseas and not in parliament or in the Labor Party caucus room to deal with his colleagues, then the suspicion he’s living out a diplomat’s dream will take hold.]
These “reasonable people” would presumably include political editors of national daily newspapers, but they prefer to carp on about “perception” and “suspicion” in the minds of the uneducated, forgetting that arguably it’s their job – if anyone’s – to do the educating. Fat chance of that with Dennis Shanahan on the job, I suspect.
Dennis argues that Rudd should stick to the original reason for his trip to New York, planned months ago, and then “reasonable people” would accept it in the spirit of bi-partisanship. He doesn’t seem to consider that if, even if serendipitously, another good reason for being in town when the economic fate of the world is being sorted out pops up that this shouldn’t be added to the agenda and the justification for the journey. No, Rudd should stick to a dry mention of world poverty, an address to the UN and some meetings regarding our clean coal plan as his sole reason for being in the Big Apple. Then, I suppose, Dennis could rip into him for waffling on about long-shot, long-term issues instead of getting down and dirty with world financiers and doing his bit for the Australian economy. “Hello? Mr. Rudd? There’s a world crisis on and you’re here to waffle about coal? Gimme a break!”
I wonder whether Rudd was supposed to ignore the financial crisis altogether so that “reasonable people” could flay him alive for neglecting the interests of the country that he leads when he had the chance? This article is Dennis’s pseudo-sophisticated, high-intellectual mash up of the Daily Telegraph’s shit sheet campaign to get the words “Kevin-474” on the lips of Bundy Coke boozers across the nation.
The basic tenet of Shanahan’s article is that Rudd is being defensive and that the circling sharks sense something is terribly wrong with a globe-trotting PM. this is bad form, shows he’s weak and will be a oncer etc.etc. It’s all in those little pieces of paper he shuffles around his desktop, nightly.
Well gee, Dennis, he’s being defensive because he’s being attacked by partisan hacks with an axe to grind and who, “owning Newspoll”, think they have a special insight into the minds of the Australian voting public.Just like all the other times, eh? The “Old dog” and the “Sausage Sizzle”. Remember that? Or the “Rudd is too close to China” syndrome? Maybe we can even resurrect the several dozen times the “honeymoon has been over”?
As far as I’m concerned, if Rudd can answer his critics by pointing out extra opportunities that have cropped up since the trip was planned, then good on him. Just perhaps it was good luck for us the trip was on in the first place. Maybe you’d like to write about that, rather than nit-pick about parochial “perceptions” you claim to understand, with hardly any evidence presented – for years – to support that dodgy contention.
While you’re at it, if all you can do is whinge, and it’s a total crock, send your bloody ticket back next time before you go.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24402636-17301,00.html
I notice that AM ran a fluff piece on Turnbull using last nights stuff. To be expected of them now days. Turnbull would probably get on fine if he were part of the Labor party where his politics might more easily sit, though we are yet to see the whole of it. Interesting to read his childhood piece getting down on Menzies and Liberal governments.
In addition to his public perceived personality problems, namely honesty and not being in touch, he has to try and live in a party that had 41 not wanting/liking him. He wont be able to act on Climate Change, Gay rights, killing Workchoices or running with the Republic because his own party on the whole is against those things. And he is going to have that problem with a lot of policy. If they want to have a chance of success they will have to let him have a free hand as Labor did Rudd and that will mean a lot of policy they do not like. I can’t see them doing it.
Dennis is suffering from a cultural cringe – what are we doing out in the big wide world, doesnt Rudd know were are not good enough for that, nothing out there for us, and he should be looking after the corn and chooks back home.
Sounds like Dennis got on the wrong plane and has ended up somewhere else if this is the only stuff he can come up with, sitting in the central location of world events and where the world is waiting to see what happens. No pulitzer prizes for Dennis. That Dennis fails to focus on the major events and the purposes behind the trip reveals him to be exceptionally irresponsible, small minded and a poor journalist. I guess the pain of losing Howard and Costello still hurts him, the greiving isn’t yet over.
Turnbull is likeable in certain circumstances. That has been established on several occasions, including last night. He’s not a total silvertail toff. His huge money pile is more than even yer ordinary well-connected Sydney High boy could expect. So he’s a self-made man into the bargain. Someone who knows how to strive for success and to achieve it. He;s mingled with ordinary folk, and could probably hold his own as well in a pub in Sefton as in a high-class bar in Double Bay.
But that’s not enough. Remember, there was once a “Packer for PM” campaign too. Successful businessman, turned a big inheritance into a multi-billion dollar empire. Turnbull should know about Kerry’s faults, and why the campaign fizzled out.
Malcolm has a propensity to crash and burn, after reaching dizzying heights, like a brilliant skyrocket. There’s a lot of the “maverick” about him, the supreme opportunist. Balance this against the slow-and-steady Rudd, doing it by the numbers, invoking process in place of personality. That’s where I think maybe Turnbull is the right man at the wrong time. What we need now is a lot of planning, not brainstorming. We need someone who stands a good chance of making every post a winner, rather than going for broke and doubling up the bet each step of the way.
The Libs have a sense of panic in their heads that if they don’t get back this time, they’ll be in Opposition for years. Turnbull may give them hope that the dream of instant reinstatement to office has a chance. There’s no-one else to lead them, anyway, so they have to go with the flow. But that doesn’t mean the knives aren’t being kept sharp and at the ready for the first time he falters.
Just heard a couple of listener emails read out on ABC sydney 702… on the subject of Rudd’s trip.
The common question was, “So now it’s all over, what great crisis happened here that Rudd would have needed to be home to solve?”
Answer (from both): nothing.
It’s only the hot-heads that will hold onto the K-747 thing, I believe. Turns out the country was run quite well without the “control freak” nedding to tweak the dials and turnthe knobs personally. If this gets out, it might prove dangerous to the “active management” role the opposition claims is the only way to do it.
As each day passes, I am becoming more in agreement with Adam.
It is a total wast of time & emotional energy reading the pap that is now being dished up in the News Ltd rags.
After having read that pitiful rot from Shannahan this morning as well as a number of other News Ltd articles, I am convinced that the MSM are bent on a strategy of total self destruction.
Most of these articles seem to be written so as to provide an avenue for twisted right wing trolls to sprout their venom and Lib talking sheet points as widely as possible in the comments sections.
One can read the same comments in virtually every article and they have almost totally taken over on most ABC on-line sites.
The campaign being waged against Rudd and his Government is getting close to the level of hysteria. What’s it going to look like closer to the next election.
To keep a semblance of sanity I think it would be better for me to not read any of this pap altogether. I think I should just stick to the blogs and take up knitting.
It’s a pity that Fairfax don’t put out a national daily in competition with the Australian. From where I sit, it seems as though they are far more balances and insightful in their reporting than the News Ltd rags.
In comparing this artical in the Age with Shannahan’s dribble in the Oz, there is no comparison.
[Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has set out his prescription for international governments and markets to deal with the global credit crunch as he winds up his three-day visit to the centre of the financial meltdown.
Mr Rudd flies out of New York on Thursday evening local time after addressing the United Nations General Assembly, whose annual forum has been overshadowed by the credit crisis afflicting the United States.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Rudd set out his plan to tackle the problem.
For the moment, the best global community could do was to support the US government’s $US700 billion ($A841.25 billion) rescue package designed to stabilise financial markets.
“In the short-term what is necessary is for the world community to get in behind the government of the United States in the proposal that is currently before the United States Congress,” Mr Rudd said.]
http://news.theage.com.au/world/rudd-has-fix-for-world-financial-crisis-20080926-4o96.html
In reading an article such as this it is clear that if Rudd can establish himself as a clear, logical thinker, with a credible standing on the world stage, that he is in a enviable position to be able to influence international events & policy not only for the betterment of the people he represents in this country, but internationally as well.
This sort of analysis is too far over the heads of the likes of Shannahan, Bolt, Milne, Albrechtson, Pies & company. A good way to describe them is nothing but Liberal trolls.
[Mr Rudd is proposing that meetings of the G20 and IMF within the next month provide the platform for the international community to set out a long term reform agenda for financial markets.
The basic agenda had already been developed through the Financial Stability Forum, of which Australia was a part.
“The challenge now is how do we translate that reform agenda into action,” Mr Rudd said.
“The G20 is an important gathering of economies and together represents some 85 per cent of the world’s banking systems. The G20, therefore, must, as a matter of urgency in the period ahead, meet to reach agreement on this reform agenda which has already been in outline there from the Financial Stability Forum.
“The G20 must then present its agreed outcomes to the meeting of the International Monetary Fund.”
Mr Rudd said using these two meetings was the most appropriate way ahead for long term reform.
“These two sets of meetings are about to happen in the next month or so. The way forward is to use these two sets of meetings … to arrive at agreement and a timetable of agreement for the long term reform agenda,” he said]
http://news.theage.com.au/world/rudd-has-fix-for-world-financial-crisis-20080926-4o96.html
Turrnbull is so out of touch in comparison with Rudd that it is almost unbelievable that the News Ltd hacks can sit back and spruke the pap that the Liberals & their supporters are repetitively sprouting through every avenue available.
This Kevin 747 nonsense that Rudd should remain home and twiddle some nonexistent “dials” or whatever to save us from catastrophe is just so unbelievable that even the rusted on LNP supporters must have their tongue in cheek when they sprout it.
The other thing that all this assumes is that the electorate at large are actually tuned in and paying attention to anything at the moment. I don’t think that’s the case. IMO when a new government is elected the electorate basically tunes out almost until the next election unless there are some major disasters that occur. The only ones who do tune in are the die-hard supporters of the previous government that are still sore about having lost the election that they are desperate to tear down the incoming one… but in reality noone is really listening to them.
There is also a certain jealousy among those News Ltd reporters. They will not admit that Rudd is intelligent capable and better than those opposite. They hate Rudd’s success and obvious and easy eclipsing of Howard. They are of course eternal supporters of the Liberal party but they have a little spite towards Rudd.
Like others I don’t read any of the murdoch papers though I might check to see what headlines they are running, if I can avoid it and only check the ABC to see what line they are trying to run for the Liberal party.
But I think it is instructive that despite a 18 month long continuous and intensive campaign against Rudd the ABC and Murdoch media have only just begun to make some inroads into his ratings and polls. And I think that is they had nothing to work with – the Liberal party being so incompotent and on the nose. Turnbull is there last great hope – and you can bet they will promote him long and hard.
How much more interesting our papers would be with a bit more ownership diversity. Anyway Rudd should just ignore them and get on with his program.
Hey Ruawake (611)
Thanks.
I agree with your second sentence; I just don’t think Brough is either indicative or important to the outcome. His major achievement thus far is consistently being on the losing side and as I’ve stated before, I cannot understand the fascination with him.
I’m not commenting on the movement of the dollar, just the news cycle, the quality of economic analysis and our general involvement in OUR supposed democracy.
I’m not quite sure just how low the standard of reporting can go at the Oz, but they are determined to find out. I think they are getting a bit ahead of themselves here though.
[IT’s the burning real estate question for waterfront-obsessed Sydney. If Malcolm Turnbull becomes prime minister, would he follow John Howard and Kevin Rudd and make Kirribilli house his Sydney residence?
The Opposition Leader has had plenty of opportunity to study the alternative across Sydney Harbour.
Unlike Mr Howard or Mr Rudd, if Mr Turnbull decided to shift from the eastern suburbs to north of the harbour, it could reasonably be considered a downgrade.
According to those in the know, Mr Turnbull’s Point Piper mansion is worth almost twice as much as Kirribilli on a square-metre basis.
Kirribilli may have sweeping lawns, but the Turnbull manor has a jetty.
Kirribilli is a 19th century Gothic-style cottage with steeply pitched gables and archaic fretwork. Mr Turnbull’s eastern suburbs house is a mansion with access to a secluded beach.]
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24404398-25658,00.html
And they finish with this.
[Of course, he has to lead the Liberals to victory first, although the question naturally arises: if he became PM, would he be willing to slum it for the sake of tradition?
According to Mr Turnbull’s minders, it’s way too soon to say.
“We predicted this would come up, but not this soon,” a spokesman said. ]
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, PM Kevin Rudd is meeting with influential leaders & financial heads and getting VIP treatment from the world media as someone who “does” have influence on the world scene. Unlike our pitiful lot.
[ UNITED NATIONS, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Tuesday the global economy needs a U.S. financial bailout to be enacted quickly and the proposed plan in Washington was a “good and strong” measure.
Rudd said he had met officials from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the World Bank during a visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly and had discussed the financial turmoil roiling world markets.]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7821689
[UNITED NATIONS, September 23 — Not only would the $700 billion bailout being debated in Congress benefit non-U.S. institutions, it emerged Tuesday at the UN, the details of the bailout are being negotiated with other governments. Inner City Press asked Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd which of his country’s companies stand to benefit from the bailout as designed and clarified by the Treasury Department’s factsheet.
“Our Treasury and Central Bank are discussing with their American counterparts the full and final details of the package,” Rudd answered. Video here, from Minute 10:32. Rudd then said he was “reserving comment” but that “we welcome” the bailout.]
http://www.innercitypress.com/un1bailout092308.html
That is of course another step in the promotion of Turnbull – get people to imagine him as being PM thus trying to legitimise him.
Shannahan seems to have a “Dr Jeckle & Mr Hyde” persona. It appears that he sometimes writes a reasonably balanced article for the front page to cater for the intelligentsia and fair thinking people who keep up to date with issues and writes a totally different type to appeal to the intellectually handicapped RWDB’s who can reinforce each others ignorance & prejudices in the comments section.
[In the last two days Mr Rudd has met representatives of Wall Street financiers, the US Federal Reserve, the New York Federal Reserve and the World Bank and urged Republicans and Democrat senators and congressmen to accept President Bush’s proposed $US700 million bailout of financial markets.
“Unless as a community of nations we rise to this new challenge our future is bleak indeed,” Mr Rudd told the UN General Assembly in a 20-minute speech just before leaving New York.
He did talk about climate change and told the UN general assembly Australia wanted to bring together the best researchers and the best technology in a global initiative to develop technology to extract carbon emissions from coal-fired electricity generation and store them underground because the world “can no longer afford to delay”.
In recent days Mr Rudd has put a new emphasis on clean coal technology as part of his climate change strategy and is seeking to reassure investors and coal exporters that his emissions trading scheme provides assistance for energy-intensive industries, which will be hit by putting a price on carbon emissions.]
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24405391-601,00.html
When compared to this absolute tosh.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24402636-7583,00.html
The next quetion will be that what would Turnbull do with the money if he got a Noble prize and, would he accept a nighthood from the Queen being a republican and all. And is he putting too much demand on himself donating so much blood to the red cross, and will the children in Ethiopa be able to cope if Turnbull is called away to be PM.
Knighthood
Thomas Paine, I think we should brace ourselves for a continual barrage of this type of rubbish.
The determination of the right wing MSM to bring Rudd & his Government down will know no bounds.
If, in the long run they are ultimately successful, they may not be quite so happy with the result.
It may well be as Kerry Packer said, “there is nothing there”!
What a pity they can’t sit back a bit and support Rudd in bringing the country up to the 21st century and set in train the policies badly needed to ensure the country’s ongoing prosperity and development.
Instead, they seem to want us to go backwards towards some wonderful nirvana that supposedly existed in the past.
I watched Kevs UN speech and was impressed by his statemanship and intelligence. I also had a look at Bush (dazed look as he read prepared speech) and the French pres (who squarked and waved his arms around a lot)
A year ago i never thought i’d say these words again, but God it’s good to be an Aussie and feel some pride again instead of shame.
I think “nighthood” is more appropriate.
saw this headline and thought the Rodent had got a new gig as B3. lol
‘John Howard appears on ‘Pajamas TV’
“Former Prime Minister John Howard has done few interviews in Australia since losing the election, but popped up this morning for an interview in an unlikely place – an online TV network called “Pajamas TV”.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/john-howard-appears-on-pajamas-tv/2008/09/26/1222217479871.html
He’s looking crook isn’t he?
No 738
If the MSM was supporting Rudd, they would be open to legitimate claims of pro-government bias.
[If the MSM was supporting Rudd, they would be open to legitimate claims of pro-government bias.]
lol It never stopped them in Howard’s day GP!
[If the MSM was supporting Rudd, they would be open to legitimate claims of pro-government bias.]
They were certainly guilty of that up till 24th November last year.
[Pajamas TV is a relatively new online TV network, and features appearances from popular US bloggers including Michelle Malkin and Glenn Reynolds.]
Hey, William, you should see if you can get on there too as a “popular Aussie blogger”.
First interview in New Yorke of Australian PM, Kevin Rudd.
“Hi, my name’s Kevin, I’m from Queensland, Australia and I’m here to help”!
What kind of PJs was Howard wearing? Shorty ones with dinosaurs on them?
Been out for a few hours on a trip to some customers and a consequent visit to the bank (depositing, thankfully) and was pleased to see that “it wasn’t just me” when reading Dennis’ Umpteenth Epistle To The Terminally Confused.
This whole K-747 thing has been so parochial, so small-minded as to almost defy belief. If we want to stay a small, insignificant little backwater, then staying at home to “do battle” in Question Time with a bunch of interjecting, points-of-order-raising sore losers is it.
I suppose, out there in suburbia somewhere, there will be someone who has swallowed this crap that only Coalition Prime ministers can meet world leaders and address the UN, or even offer some solutions to global crises, and that Labor PMs should be stay-at-homes, in their office at 9 sharp, into the House for some political pummelling, and back at their desk it’s cleared. I guess the odd angry punter in a mortgage-stressed household with a passel of kids and Granny in the back of the Tarago will be convinced that Rudd is just doing what he does for the sheer exilhiration of going “O-S” on a free holiday while they’re in petrol queues trying to save 5c on a Tuesday arvo. There may even be a small cadre slow thinkers believe that if Rudd had stuck solely to climate change and clean coal, in a week where the world teeters on the edge, centered in the city which he has travelled to, then that would be forgiveable, even reasonable, but to amend his itinerary is out of the question and a sign of weakness.
What Shanahan sees as Rudd on the “defensive” I see as explaining to the population just what he’s on about. when you have a go at them on their blogs, they reluctantly agree that THIS trip was necessary, but that its original purpose wasn’t. Somehow or other we’re supposed to digest that hair-splitting nuance and nod in unison.
Apart from the parochial nature (someone above accurately called it a “cringe”) of their whole angle of attack, the criticism of the trip is rooted in the alleged illegitimacy of the Rudd government. It’s a symptom of their belief that Rudd is not legitimately entitled to do anything that John Howard didn’t do (viz. the endless comparisons of overseas diaries we’ve had for days now). Further, he doesn’t seem to be entitled to add more emphasis to Foreign Affairs, especially in areas other than going to war alongside the US, than his predecessors. No, the agenda has been set: you’re either off visiting the troops, the Queen or Bush’s ranch, or you’re full of yourself and your own self-importance.
That’s what I haven’t liked about this whole charade (put upon us without the slightest iota of polling on the subject, just the hunches of a few News Ltd. hacks): Rudd has no business governing. He’ll only muck it up. Better to stay at home, mow the lawns, empty the mailbox and do a little damage as possible until the rightful owners come home and set up house again.
Wasn’t “Pajamas TV” that kooky right-wing neocon web site set up to counter the “liberal bias” of the MSM? Got lampooned years ago as a complete joke. If Howard is appearing on it then that’s sinking pretty low. Associating with those Pajamas fruit cakes is quite revealing of where he actually stands.
Morgan 57-43, Rudd PPM 55-30
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2008/4322/