The first opinion poll of the Tony Abbott era has turned up a surprise: Labor’s two-party lead is a modest 53-47, and the Coalition is in front on the primary vote 43 per cent to 41 per cent. However, there are all sorts of reasons to treat this with caution. The poll is a Roy Morgan mid-week phone poll, which have a rather erratic record, and the sample was a very modest 597 respondents. The normal weekly face-to-face poll, conducted last weekend while Malcolm Turnbull was leader but considered unlikely to remain so for long, had Labor’s two-party lead steady at 58.5-41.5. Labor was down a point on the primary vote to 47 per cent, the Coalition was down half a point to 35 per cent and the Greens were up half to 9.5 per cent.
The phone poll has also produced questions on preferred Labor and Liberal leaders, which find Kevin Rudd coming down off previous highs and Tony Abbott enjoying a new-found legitimacy that hasn’t been quite enough for him to overhaul Joe Hockey. Rudd also has a leads as better prime minister of 60-25 over Abbott, 55-31 over Hockey and 64-25 over Turnbull. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Abbott did not perform notably worse among women than men.
Couple of other things:
• The Wentworth Courier reports Steven Lewis, Slater & Gordon lawyer, anti-high rise activist and members of the Jewish Board of Deputies, will contest Labor preselection in Wentworth. Former Australian Medical Association president Kerryn Phelps has been mentioned as a contender in the past, but declined to comment when approached by the Courier. The Australian reports barrister Mark Speakman, University of NSW deputy chancellor Gabrielle Upton and “most of the losers from the Bradfield preselection” would be in the running to succeed Malcolm Turnbull as Liberal member. The Courier throws Arthur Sinodinos into the mix. Speakman, Upton and Sinodinos have all been mentioned as possible successors to outgoing former state leader Peter Debnam in the corresponding state seat of Vaucluse.
• It was reported on Wednesday that NSW Treasurer Eric Roozendaal might seek to assume the premiership by entering the lower house as member for Wollongong, whose sitting member Noreen Hay would then take his place in the upper house. This plan has presumably been overtaken by events, at least in the short term.
• The Liberals are pressuring Labor to drop Wanneroo mayor Jon Kelly as the candidate-presumptive for the marginal Perth seat of Cowan after a Corruption and Crime Commission report spoke of “dealings” between Kelly and Brian Burke, without making adverse findings against him. Kelly has long been associated with the Burke-linked “old Right” faction, and ran as an independent against Margaret Quirk in the state seat of Girrawheen following the split that created the latter’s “new Right” faction.
Diog/GG, maybe because i said from the outset “I want a kill”
[They have a much more talented squad than Cameroon IMO.]
Dario, as it was correctly pointed by Herr Doktor, not with Doug Cameron in their side 😉
[Dario, as it was correctly pointed by Herr Doktor, not with Doug Cameron in their side :wink:]
A shame the Irish did not qualify 😀
103
What an un-French opinion!
What time is QT?
“My question is to the Rt Rev the Archbishop of Canterbury. I ask the Rt Rev Gentleman, how many angels can dance on the head of pin? Are there any alternative policies?”
[Professor Hansen heads the NASA Goddard Institute earth sciences unit in New York. In 1989 he made several appearances before Congress and did more than any other scientist to educate politicians about the causes of global warming and the urgent need to change behaviour.]
The below comment is in response to this piece on the ABC web site! I found it quite funny because Hansen’s prediction is certainly “right”, within the parameters he outlined.
It’s funny how some people’s dogmatic views can make them blind to information that is counter to their particular world view!
[And none of his predictions have come anywhere near true. In 1988 he predicted that the world would warm by between 02. and 0.45 degrees by the year 2000. Temperature rose by 0.06 degrees. His subsequent predictions have been even more hysterical and equally inaccurate.]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/04/2761602.htm
Finns
Evidently if you wear a “Kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out” T-shirt, the defendant’s lawyer tends to use one of his exclusions on you and you get the day off.
Don
I read that the magnetic poles switch about every 400,000 years and we’re not expecting one soon. No-one seems to know what effect it would have but it doesn’t seem like much. I wonder if the countries have plans for what to do, if anything, if it happens.
How do birds use magnetic fields to navigate?
King Abbott was trying to turn back the tide:
[Dec 4, 2009 – Climate change support strong – WASHINGTON – STRONG majorities around the world back action to fight climate change, with enthusiasm especially strong in developing nations, a World Bank survey said on Thursday.
The 15-nation survey, released four days before a high-stakes climate summit opens in Copenhagen, found widespread worries that global warming will eventually harm people, although also some cynicism about the science.
Eighty-eight per cent of people surveyed said their country should take action against climate change, with the figure soaring to nearly 100 per cent in growing Asian economies China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, the poll said. The United States, the sole industrial power to shun the current Kyoto Protocol requiring cuts in carbon emissions, saw 82 per cent approving of action in the future, it said.
The only country where support for climate action slipped below 80 per cent was Russia, where 58 per cent said their country should take steps against climate change. Russians were also the most sceptical about science on climate change, with only 23 per cent saying scientists have found out enough to make the problem urgent.
Overall, 51 per cent around the world believed climate change was scientifically proven to be urgent. The figure was a surprisingly low 33 per cent in Indonesia, host of the Bali climate conference in 2007, and also was below average in the United States (38 per cent) and Japan (43 per cent).
In India, 48 per cent saw a scientific consensus on climate change and an unusually large 26 per cent said they did not know or did not respond. — AFP]
[What time is QT?]
LOL! 😉
Couldn’t you ask some really curly ones.
Is the world really going to end in 2012?
When is the second coming? or has that already happened with the arrival of Tony Abbott?
107
A nice day (or ten) in the cells for contempt!
Finns,
Follow this through, you and Arlo Guthrie have much in common.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8DtpdXZi0M&feature=related
Diogenes,
Similar to patients suddenly getting well when they see a consulting surgeon wearing a t-shirt saying “All good doctors bury their mistakes”! 😉
112
They are mostly seen outside the Medical Practitioners Board.
[Eighty-eight per cent of people surveyed said their country should take action against climate change, with the figure soaring to nearly 100 per cent in growing Asian economies China, Vietnam and Bangladesh]
Interesting numbers
[Evidently if you wear a “Kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out” T-shirt, the defendant’s lawyer tends to use one of his exclusions on you and you get the day off.]
Sure, but you could get done for contempt of court if the judge was having a bad day.
My father had a better method (though not many could emulate it these days). When he was called for jury duty he would wear all his WW2 medals. The defence *always* objected to him being on the jury.
[How do birds use magnetic fields to navigate?]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetoreception
[Eighty-eight per cent of people surveyed said their country should take action against climate change, with the figure soaring to nearly 100 per cent in growing Asian economies China, Vietnam and Bangladesh]
that put paid to the stereotyping that the developing countries only want to pollute and dont want to take any action.
[This looks like one of Truthys! It was posted by a “Trish W.”! I always suspected TTH was female and not male> If this is TTH, then I was right!]
NOT ENOUGH CAPITAL LETTERS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!!
115
He obviously was never asked to be on a jury in a trial of an ex-soldier who was on trial for assaulting (using excessive force to remove) some young ruffian who was graffitiing his property (where the prosecution would probably object).
[Evidently if you wear a “Kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out” T-shirt
A nice day (or ten) in the cells for contempt!]
Really? Why would that be contempt of court?
[Similar to patients suddenly getting well when they see a consulting surgeon wearing a t-shirt saying “All good doctors bury their mistakes”! 😉 ]
I’d be a bit wary of the patient but I’d still see the patient and treat them.
120
Trying to avoid jury duty by being objected too by wearing slogans that oppose judicial justice.
Crikey, and Shannahan accuses Labor of “spin”! Check this out!
[The fundamental politics of the ETS have been as follows:
* Most Australians want to take action on climate change,
* The Rudd government has argued that its ETS equals action on climate change and to oppose it is to deny climate change and vote for inaction.
* Most Australians do not understand how the ETS works and want more detail.
* The government’s campaign has been directed against Liberal Party climate change deniers rather than explaining the ETS.
* Until now the Liberal leadership has wanted to support the CPRS and pass it before the Copenhagen conference.
* The Coalition has offered no alternative.
Now the fundamentals are:
*Rudd will not be able to take a legislated ETS to Copenhagen.
* The Coalition is opposing the ETS.
* Abbott is running a scare campaign on new taxes.
* The breaking of the bipartisan approach to the ETS has galvanised public attention.
lThe CPRS is a scheme nobody wants: Liberals, Nationals, Greens, independents and even Labor.
* The so-called offer of concessions for a “week only” were always meant to be part of the permanent CPRS and will last for a year; the government will not hold an early double-dissolution election on the CPRS.
* The government’s last hope is to once again split the Liberals and destroy a third opposition leader over climate change.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/change-in-climate-as-rudd-starts-from-scratch/story-e6frg6zo-1225806764425
[NOT ENOUGH CAPITAL LETTERS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!!]
Sorry Don! Oh, wrong one!
Sorry, BB! 😉
Slate.com’s “write like Sarah Palin” contest:
[Here’s a little news flash for your Department of Media: Superman’s parents chose life and he was adopted in small-town USA by real Americans who run our factories, harvest our meat-bearing animals, and wave Old Glory down at the courthouse and the churches, not in Washington D.C. by cynical power-brokers and liberal scientists.]
More entries here: http://www.slate.com/id/2237261/
BB, it sure looked like a Truthy style post to me!
What say you?
I did not have anything to do with this. we cant fly:
[Luggage piles up as Finnair strike goes into fourth day, December 4, 2009 – 10:56AM
Finnish airline Finnair cancelled around 20 flights on Thursday and said it would cancel seven more on Friday, the fifth day of a strike by ground staff.
Paeivi Huuhtanen, a spokeswoman for the loss-making airline, said more than 8,000 passengers had been affected by the strike so far. Thousands of suitcases that have been piling up at Helsinki airport were delivered to their owners on Thursday, but thousands more are waiting to be delivered.]
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/luggage-piles-up-as-finnair-strike-goes-into-fourth-day-20091204-k9m7.html
I found a few novel excuses used in NSW to avoid jury duty
[A clairvoyant took a practical route: “I’m a clairvoyant and therefore I would know whether a person was guilty or innocent. I would be concerned that I may not be able to convince my fellow jurors.”]
[Some called up for duty doubted they were suited, with one stating: “I can’t leave home due to the impending holocaust.”]
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/21/1090089220758.html
Blankey Finnish Unionists!
A bit of “workchoicing” would soon sort them out!
Where’s Joe Hockey and Minchin when you need them? 😉
scorpio,
I would agree with most of those points. So which bits do you think are spin?
[with one stating: “I can’t leave home due to the impending holocaust.”]
Worried about being “raptured” and leaving them one short! 😉
With a name like Snappy, what do you expect the poor croc to do but snap:
[A WOMAN has been bitten by a crocodile in the city of Geelong, south of Melbourne.
The 46-year-old qualified reptile handler had been hired to attended a function at Eastern Gardens with Snappy, a 2m saltwater crocodile, when it attacked her yesterday evening, Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said.
“The crocodile was called Snappy and apparently its jaw muscle was taped,” he said.
“The tape has come undone and it has latched on to her arm.
“She suffered lacerations to that arm and is being treated.”
The woman was taken to Geelong Hospital, where a spokeswoman said she was in a stable condition.]
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/croc-bites-female-handler-at-function/story-fn3dxity-1225807109377
Diogs,
“A clairvoyant took a practical route: “I’m a clairvoyant and therefore I would know whether a person was guilty or innocent. I would be concerned that I may not be able to convince my fellow jurors.”
Rupert Murdoch apparently once sacked an astrologer with the following opening line “As you would already know………..”
scorpio,
I meant which of the bullet points you posted in post 123 do you think are spin?
I’ve finally found a great strategic post on what to say to avoid jury duty. It looks like a winner and will avoid a contempt of court charge.
[1. Tell them if either counsel makes a motion to limit or restrict certain evidence from being presented during the trial, you’ll have a hard time maintaining your objectivity. Such a move will be interpreted by you as an attempt to hide the truth, and you’ll be inclined to decide against the party making the motion. Since the lawyers for both sides are not really interested in determining the truth at all (not that anyone’s surprised by this), but instead are trying to manipulate the jury’s perception of what the truth is, such a statement is sure to drive them batty.
2. Tell them that if the law which was allegedly violated doesn’t seem just to you, your conscience won’t allow a guilty verdict even if the evidence proves it. Of course, this one only works in certain situations, but the judge and the prosecutor will more than likely team up to bodily heave you out the door.
3. Tell them you believe the mere fact the case has been brought to trial indicates there is sufficient evidence against the defendant to prove him or her guilty. Watch the counsel for the defense turn red and emit steam from his ears.
4. Tell them you believe the prosecution will stop at nothing to get a conviction, even if they knowingly condemn an innocent person. Cite all the death-row inmates who were later proven innocent by DNA evidence.]
http://www.net-monster.com/blather_juryduty.html
The Herald Sun will have a Galaxy poll tomorrow:
[Exactly half of those surveyed by Galaxy Research said Mr Rudd had the best approach to the issue.
Just 27 per cent backed Mr Abbott, who has pledged not to introduce an emissions trading scheme, and 23 per cent were uncommitted.
A bare majority of Coalition voters said Mr Abbott was on the right track. But a majority of voters don’t want the Prime Minister to push his advantage by calling an early ETS poll.]
[But the Galaxy poll found just 15 per cent of voters consider him an extremist.
It found that 42 per cent of women felt they didn’t know much about him.]
[Galaxy found 50 per cent of all voters, and 70 per cent of Labor voters believed Mr Rudd had the best approach to the issue, while just 27 per cent of all voters and a bare majority of Coalition voters, 51 per cent, backed Mr Abbott.]
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/woman-not-as-fearful-of-tony-abbott-as-labor-would-like-to-believe-galaxy-poll-finds/story-e6frf7jo-1225807125057
Kroeger
people like tone
ROFLOL
Of the 100 potential jurors called up. Only 60 attended. Of this 60, only 10 was available for the trial, the rest of 50 was trying to get off one way or the other. i was one of the 10.
Gee the LL pieces on Bradfield and Higgins were pissweak. Just go and interview a bunch of Lib rusted-ons and have them say they’ll always vote Liberal. Scintilating stuff.
Kroger quotes the Morgan poll!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Gus, Is Kroger Andrew Peacock’s love child? He looks more and more like Peacock Lite.
[Gus, Is Kroger Andrew Peacock’s love child? He looks more and more like Peacock Lite]
Where’s shirley maclaine when you need her.
Howes nails Abbott
“the barry goldwater of oz politics”
On point 4
[Tell them you believe the prosecution will stop at nothing to get a conviction, even if they knowingly condemn an innocent person. Cite all the death-row inmates who were later proven innocent by DNA evidence.]
I just finished reading a book “Actual Innocence” about the Innocence Project which does most of that work. About 10% of people on death row in the US are innocent. The most common reason for this is mistaken identity (about 70% of those shown to be innocent were positively IDed by a witness incorrectly).
Kroger bags Wong and Combet. Dude take a long hard look at yourself.
Shorter kroger
Libs will run on “labor will eat your children”
Kroger is a bit like Cossssie. Both have no balls, except Kroger has even smaller balls than Cosssssie.
[Shorter kroger
Libs will run on “labor will eat your children”]
Yup
Frank
Howes just used your watermelon analogy!
Watermelon!