The latest Morgan face-to-face poll gives Labor its best result since April: a 61-39 two-party lead, up from 58-42 last week. Labor is up three points on the primary vote to 50.5 per cent, the Coalition down one to 33.5 per cent, the Greens steady on 9.5 per cent and “others” back down to 4.5 per cent after a spike to 6 per cent last week. Some quick ones while I’m away:
• The New South Wales ALP has taken a possibly unprecedented move in banning state MPs from seeking federal preselection. Nathan Rees claims this is to prevent unnecessary by-elections – a believable motive for the state government – but is also being interpreted as a move to “stop state MP’s tarnishing the Rudd government”. Phillip Coorey of the Sydney Morning Herald reports “rumours that the state ministers Joe Tripodi and Paul Lynch have been eyeing off the western suburbs seat of Fowler, while the former police minister Matt Brown has been linked with Gilmore”.
• Phillip Coorey of the Sydney Morning Herald reports a “growing sentiment” in the New South Wales Labor Party that Belinda Neal should retain preselection for Robertson, due to sympathy over her husband’s misbehaviour together with the fact that she has “worked hard” and “kept her head down” since the Iguana’s incident.
• Andrew Landeryou of VexNews reports Victorian Liberal chatter that “controversial Baillieu faction honcho” Bruce Atkinson faces a preselection threat in his Eastern Metropolitan upper house region. This threatens to boil over into an “open slather” that could equally threaten Atkinson’s first-term Eastern Metropolitan colleague Jan Kronberg.
spend money + time…..!!
75…..BH….Posted Sunday, September 6, 2009 at 1:50 pm | Permalink
“…… I reckon Insider’s reputation goes further into freefall with that bloke on it …”
Certainly true for me BH. I would rather do the gardening than endure his bile.
It might be tempting for the Libs to run with the ‘look at NSW Labor, it’s the Federal government’s fault’ but it would also be extremely silly.
Firstly, it would alienate voters in all the other states, who are inclined to resent the idea that Australia=NSW in some pollies’ minds.
Secondly, it would suggest that federally, Labor is doing so well that you can’t lay a glove on them.
Oh dear, their ABC’s attempt to create another storm” for the Govt has backfired.
[The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) says discoloured water seen west of Darwin is not an oil slick.
The ABC filmed a substance resembling an oil slick in the Timor Sea, 120 kilometres west of Darwin, two days ago.
There were concerns oil spilling from the West Atlas rig off the Kimberley coast had spread close to the Darwin coastline.
However AMSA says investigations have proven the substance in question is a natural phenomenon, likely to be coral spawn or an algal bloom.
A spokeswoman for the authority says oil leaking from the rig would have dispersed naturally before it got anywhere near the Northern Territory coast]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/06/2677873.htm?section=justin
John Howard is apparently in hospital after a bad reaction to anaesthetic from the dentists.
On the way home from our Sunday drive this arvo listened to ABC news, they said Turnbull was having to defend his use of state and not federal politics in the Bradfield bi-election.
They also had Rees giving it to O’Barrell with both barrells (excuse the pun) over his slagging off of ICAC.
Sky news just said Bob Brown will back up Turnbull’s call to stop the stimulus by demanding a senate inquiry into the matter. I can’t even stand the sound of his whiney voice anymore, the G20 must be wRONg according to him, idiot!
The AFL in Brisbane could not beat the Rugby in the Ratings,bet both the RU and the AFL were glad there was no NRL on last night or they both would have been belted.
SNIP: Barely comprehensible but possibly defamatory and in any case off-topic comments deleted – The Management.
How can the Bradfield byelection be a referendum on the NSW ALP if no Labor candidate is standing?
But let the Liberals blow resources that marginal seats will be deprived of in the real 2010 election campaign!
[
John Howard is apparently in hospital after a bad reaction to anaesthetic from the dentists.
]
Did the dentist use “Truth Gas” instead of “Laughing Gas”? 😉
Oh no! Rudd is entertaining Commies now! Hold the front page of the OO! 😉
[Mr Rudd will meet the general secretary of the central committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nong Duc Manh, and a high level delegation at the RAAF Fairbairn base in Canberra.
They will be guests at an official dinner at Parliament House on Monday night hosted by Mr Rudd.]
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/pm-to-meet-senior-vietnamese-officials-20090906-fcmb.html
Vera! welcome to the realisation that the Australian Greens oppose nearly everything that a Government does.
So now the Greens want the Governemnt to stop spending interesting considering most of the remaining spending is for School buildings and Public Transport projects but yeah who ever thought the Australian Greens supported Schools and Public Transport.
[So now the Greens want the Governemnt to stop spending interesting considering most of the remaining spending is for School buildings and Public Transport projects but yeah who ever thought the Australian Greens supported Schools and Public Transport.]
Someone should point this out to the Tossed Salads next time they demand more funding of State Schools and Public Transport.
Hypocrites.
This does not look like the Greens are anti-stimulus.
http://greens.org.au/node/5048
John, sounds like you’ve got a bad case of “feeling inadequate” old boy. Two states versus 4 in the popularity stakes.
mexicanbeemer
It’s Rudd and Swannie’s fault that an agreement wasn’t reached at the G20 meeting re exec pays too, according to the Greens
[The failure of the G20 nations to reach a consensus on executive pay is the fault of the Australian government and Treasurer Wayne Swan, the Australian Greens say.
Asked about the failure of the G20 to reach an agreement on executive pay, Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said Mr Swan may have done something behind the scenes.
“I suspect the government and Wayne Swan had a fair bit to do with that outcome,” Senator Brown told Network Ten on Sunday.
“They’re really under the thumb of the big end of town.”]
http://www.watoday.com.au/breaking-news-national/swan-blamed-for-g20-failure-on-bonuses-20090906-fcd3.html
Tom! Vera reported that the Australians leader Sentator Bob Brown has joined with the Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull in calling for the Government to stop the stimulus and demanded a senate inquiry into the matter.
Tom! The bulk of the remaining Stimulus program is aimed at a mass School building program and various Public Transport projects including the Victorian Transport Plan.
By Sentator Brown calling for an end to the stimulus program he is in effect calling for the Government to cancel these projects.
BBC said Germany and France were for salary caps but USA and UK weren’t and they won out in the end.
Funny they didn’t seem to think it was Rudd and Swannie that decided the outcome 😉
Mexicanbeemer, sorry if i gave wrong immpression 🙂 Brown hasn’t actually called for a stop to stimpac yet, he wants a senate inquiry before he makes up his mind
116
And what evidence has she provided?
117
The Anglophone nations are generally against such things because their governments are overly influenced by the big end of town.
The G’s seem to be morphing into L’s. We will need new initials for them – possibly “lags” would be suitable. Perhaps the G’s can see the writing in the polls: if Labor were to achieve a primary vote up around 50% in a DD, then they may achieve a Senate majority in their own right. In a half-Senate election, Labor would go close to winning 4 senate seats in many States, possibly costing the G’s Senate numbers too. The G’s – so hopeful of winning the balance of power – may well be about to become numerically irrelevant.
Of course, they have another motive for joining with the L’s: to keep public attention on the Senate in general where they figure in daily business. They must think there is no such thing as bad publicity, because the more people see of the Senate in action, the less impressed they usually are.
118
Could just be a tactic to humiliate the Libs. If the Senate inquiry says that it should continue then that it not good for them.
[“I suspect the government and Wayne Swan had a fair bit to do with that outcome,” Senator Brown told Network Ten on Sunday.
“They’re really under the thumb of the big end of town.”]
As someone who is Green-leaning on most issues, I really wish Brown wouldn’t come up with baseless, class war drivel like this. It’s divisive, offensive and shows he has complete disregard for the truth.
Rant over.
[116
And what evidence has she provided?]
This 🙂
[Sky news just said Bob Brown will back up Turnbull’s call to stop the stimulus by demanding a senate inquiry into the matter. I can’t even stand the sound of his whiney voice anymore, the G20 must be wRONg according to him, idiot!]
122
I doubt that our government was more that a supporter of the Anglophone position but the big end of town (yes such a thing does exist) having more say that others is a reason for it.
Vera! Thanks for the clarification but by calling for a Senate inquiry seems to be standard Green practice and why would the Greens need an inquiry for them to make up their minds, they have surly had the opportunity to question the Glen Stevens and Ken Henry’s of this world over the past year or so regarding the need for the stimulus package.
Gee i wonder what world Sentator Brown lives in for as the BBC has reported the U.S and the UK opposed the executive pay cap and i would have expected the Australian Government considering the outstanding success of the Australian economy without any pay caps would have agreed witht he Americans and the Brits.
Sure the Executives are paid excessively high amounts but this recession was not caused soley by them but by the U.S government not regulating the financial sector
Good example of how one post full of BS is all it takes to bring the Labor hordes out, salivating.
Brown hasn’t called for a rollback or a stopping of the stimulus. He’s asked for Ken Henry and other experts to be called before the Senate to explain the current economic context, since it’s quite different to the last time they were heard.
[I really wish Brown wouldn’t come up with baseless, class war drivel like this]
The point he was trying make was that Swan and Rudd haven’t moved to cap executive salaries and have voted down attempts to do so, even though their public rhetoric has sometimes been in that direction. He should have just said that instead of pulling out tired cliche’s from the 1980’s.
[they have surly had the opportunity to question the Glen Stevens and Ken Henry’s of this world over the past year or so regarding the need for the stimulus package.]
The inquiry in the stimulus packages was done at a time where many were predicting a decade long recession. It doesn’t look like Australia will go into recession at all now, so the economic circumstances have changed significantly.
I don’t see the problem in allowing the Senate the be briefed by Ken Henry and others so they’re all better informed the for any important economic legislation that comes through.
[Sure the Executives are paid excessively high amounts but this recession was not caused soley by them but by the U.S government not regulating the financial sector]
Mexicanbeemer, can you explain why you think that companies that benefit from public financing to keep them afloat shouldn’t have salary caps placed on their executives?
Oz! how many times has Ken Henry appeared before the Senate since the GFC started.
The Reserve Bank has just made several clear statements about the state of the Australian economy, maybe Sentator Brown should be out their talking to the small and medium side business owners to see our the economy is going.
I am sure Sentator Brown has the ability to work out how the economy is going without needing a Senate enquiry.
126
I would say that the problem is that it overstated the role of Australia in world affairs. This is not uncommon in Australian politics but rarely comes from the Greens.
[how many times has Ken Henry appeared before the Senate since the GFC started.]
This is clearly a pointless discussion given that you can’t quite seem to grasp that the economic situation now is very different than at the beginning of the global financial crisis.
Oz the situation in America is a joke with the senior bankers taking millions in bonus for being bailed out by the Government but the situation in Australia is somewhat different, their are questions in this country concerning Banks outsourcing to India while having their bottom line protected but that was not the issue at the G20 summit.
Oz
I agree with you (and Brown) on Henry reviewing the Stimpac given the changing circumstances. It doesn’t make him anti-education spending.
However, Brown clearly linked Swan to the G20 voting down caps on exec salaries with no evidence.
By allying himself with the L’s, Brown is possibly asking for trouble from his core voters. The G’s base support comes from the left – from people who would most likely never see themselves as L-voters. If on the other hand you want to cast an anti-Labor vote, why not vote for the real thing and choose the L’s. I think the G leadership risk messing up their entire political strategy – they may lose the confidence of their base while shoring up the credibility of their mortal opponents, the Libs.
I’m glad I’m not a Green Senator.
[Good example of how one post full of BS is all it takes to bring the Labor hordes out, salivating.]
There we go again, anyone who criticises the Greens is full of shite! lol
I was reporting what Skynews said, which was that Brown would back upTurnbull’s calls to stop the stimulus by calling for a senate inquiry.
Oz! In November 2007 I predicted America was headed for recession and in June 2008 i predicted Australia would avoid recession and both have been proven correct i did not need a senate enquiry to come to those conclusions.
If anything i am a little surprised that the Australian economy grow as rebounded as it has but it is not totally in the clear for while there are some positive signs overseas the storm has not completely cleared.
Senatator Brown wants an enquiry into if the stimulus should continue but isn’t the remainder aimed at the school and public transport projects that you would normally expect the Greens to support.
If we ALP hacks leapt to Rudd’s defence as quickly and as unflinchingly as Oz and Tom have leapt to BB’s, we would be accused of….ALP hackery.
But of course, there are no Green hacks.
Also a Green-leaner on most issues, I’ve had the dubious pleasure of being a constituent of, I think, the only lower house Fed. Green MP, U. of Wollongong academic Michael Organ. He won the seat at a by-election and subsequently lost to Labor’s Sharon Bird in past two general elections.
Having attended all my electorate’s candidate forums in ’04 and ’07, it was excruciating to listen to Organ at times speaking just as Diogenes has characterised Bob Brown in post #122. Not only did Organ obstinately refuse to respond to any valid points made by other candidates, but his tone was of a singularly sanctimonious know-it-all, which was extremely off-putting even when I did agree with him.
[However, Brown clearly linked Swan to the G20 voting down caps on exec salaries with no evidence.]
Which was stupid. Especially when there was another more relevant point to be made.
Briefly, the only people who think The Greens are allied to the Liberals are the hardcore Labor rusted ons here on Pollbludger who have lost all sense of reality.
[f we ALP hacks leapt to Rudd’s defence as quickly and as unflinchingly as Oz and Tom have leapt to BB’s]
Got eyes, zoomster?
I’ve done three things:
1) Point out that Brown has not called for a rollback of the stimulus, like the Liberals, but wants to have the Senate review it in a new economic context.
2) Criticise Brown’s attack on Swan.
3) Call Brown stupid.
Congratulations on turning that into a “quick and unflinching” defense.
That’s the difference between most rational people and those here who worship Rudd. We can call a spade a spade.
There are two different issues here, those being the state of the Australian eco0nomy and the need for a continuing of the stimulus package.
Sure they may appear linked but if Sentator Brown only wants an update on the Australian economy then that is one thing but for the same sentator to call for an enquiry to cancel the remaining stimulus package which is mostly aimed at Schools and public transport then that is a different matter.
Well, Oz, we posted simulataneoulsy (my 136 and your 138 show the same time) so I made the comment before you called Brown stupid.
So I apologise.
136
I am critical of saying it was mainly our governments fault when it wasn`t. I would be very critical if the Greens came out against the need for stimulus which they have not done. As I said above the inquiry could be a trick against the Libs.
MB
The state of the Australian economy and the continuing need for the Stimpac are linked. If things are going really well, spending more may be counter-productive.
[A full investigation into recent allegations of corruption by state government politicians is urgently needed because the public deserves to know the truth, says NSW Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell.]
Have they not learnt anything from the Grech email affair. If an allegation from a reliable and trusted source like Grech can turn out to be fake and exploded in the face of those peddling it.
How can anybody really wetting their pants over an allegation that came from:
[SLAIN loan shark and standover man Michael McGurk was involved in supplying prostitutes to high-profile people, including leading sports figures, and in the last weeks of his life was negotiating a property deal with associates of nightclub identity John Ibrahim. In the year before he was shot dead outside his Cremorne home, the 45-year-old wheeler-dealer was becoming increasingly desperate about his financial situation.
This time last year Mr McGurk was two months behind in his repayments to BankWest for the $2.4million mortgage on his Cremorne house.
The house, which was in his wife Kimberley’s name, had been bought in 2000 for $1.65million. But when bank officials called Mr McGurk’s accountant to find out what was awry, they were astonished. The accountant Mr McGurk had nominated on his mortgage documentation did not exist.
The bank rang the Australian Taxation Office only to discover the details Mr McGurk had given were fraudulent. The tax files and pay slips he had provided to obtain the loan had been forged.]
http://www.smh.com.au/national/mcgurk-died-owing-millions-20090905-fc2g.html
Obviously, the answer is NO, they have not learnt anything.
…..126….Oz
“The point he was trying make was that Swan and Rudd haven’t moved to cap executive salaries and have voted down attempts to do so, even though their public rhetoric has sometimes been in that direction. …..”
The Commonwealth has no power cap executive salaries. This is a non-issue in Australia.
France and Germany favour regulating banks and finance-sector salaries partly because they do not have big finance industries of their own – so someone else will have to do the regulating – but also because they do not have the political willingness or capacity to take other policy steps. It is easy for them to say “regulate” than to commit to spending tax-payer money to fix Europe-wide problems.
By contrast, the US and UK have very significant finance industries and want to see them revived, not driven off-shore. Since the US is very unlikely to ever cap incomes in the finance industry, it is inevitable the UK – to remain competitive – will have to follow. Since the UK government is ow the major owner of its banking industry, they will want to see it come back to health and prosperity as soon as possible, and not do anything to limit its ability to compete.
At the same time, the US and UK have spent massive amounts to repair their finance industries and will doubtless take a much more aggressive approach to systemic risks in the future – something the EU seems unlikely to be able to do because of the structural weaknesses in their system.
Given all this it is disingenuous nonsense to blame Swan and the big end of town. It is utterly lazy and simplistic rubbish on Brown’s part.
145
The corporations power should do the trick but an international agreement would be needed and that is not likely to happen any time soon.
#
138
Oz
Posted Sunday, September 6, 2009 at 5:59 pm | Permalink
“Briefly, the only people who think The Greens are allied to the Liberals are the hardcore Labor rusted ons here on Pollbludger who have lost all sense of reality.”
The G’s are increasingly allying themselves with the L’s in a tactical sense. It is a high-risk strategy is all I’m saying. Once upon a time, I had some ill-considered sympathy for the G’s. But not any more. I like to think they walked away from me before I turned my back on them.
It does seem nowadays that the Labor supporters on this blog see the Greens as more of a threat than the Libs, hence there efforts to criticise everything the Greens do. It’s also funny, as when the Greens supporters don’t post to defend the actions of Greens Senators, we get criticised and then when we do post to defend them, we get criticised. Bizarre.
The Greens are just doing what they should do, they should criticise the Government whenever they can, it’s what oppositions do… They’re in opposition. They’re not in a coalition with Labor.
Briefly, it may not be correct for Bob Brown to blame the Govt, but it’s perfectly reasonable to say they have done nothing about it… Because they haven’t.
[The Commonwealth has no power cap executive salaries.]
I was talking specifically about Ruddbank, where The Greens moved an ammendment to cap salaries of executives of companies that received a leg up due to a public injection of finance. Labor voted it down.
In my opinion, any private company that wants government money should have to cap executive salaries and bonus’ as a condition of receiving it.
Briefly
“The G’s are increasingly allying themselves with the L’s in a tactical sense.”
No they aren’t. No way would the Greens “ally” with the Libs. In your head you may think that, but to be honest that is a pretty simplistic observation