“L-NP in front on Face-to-Face Morgan Poll for First time since Federal Election”, reads the Roy Morgan headline, with some understatement: the 51.5-48.5 headline figure represents the first time the Coalition has led Labor in a Morgan face-to-face poll since June 2006. However, this is the two-party figure derived by using respondent-allocated preferences for minor party voters, rather than the consistently more reliable measure of distributing preferences according to the results of the previous election, on which the parties are evenly split. Labor’s two-party vote has crashing to 48.5 per cent from 53 per cent a fortnight ago (52.5 per cent on the respondent-allocated measure), from primary votes of 38 per cent (down 2.5 per cent) for Labor, 43 per cent (up 2.5 per cent) for the Coalition and 13.5 per cent (steady) for the Greens. The poll covers 1757 respondents from the last two weekends of face-to-face surveying.
[So we know TP has gone all bitter and twisted but Labor ignores his sentiments at their peril. He is not the only Labor voter that thinks that way. Gillard has failed to impress as PM. Whilst I dont agree with TP’s proposition that she doesnt have the leadership skills, she has not been great so far]
She’s been non-existant.
I’ve seen more of Rudd in the news in the last 2 months than our apparant “Prime Minister” Julia Gillard. She is lacking something thats very important for a leader and that is prominance. I reckon if she was in the room you wouldn’t notice her.
If you can say anything nice about Rudd at least he had this, if he was in the room you’d know it.
Gusface,
First lesson: “come in” = “stig in”
Here endeth the lessons.
Gus.
[ps can i help with product sampling?]
Head of R & D.
Transcript of today’s RN PM
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s3096364.htm
[ALEXANDRA KIRK: There isn’t much enthusiasm for Julia Gillard’s proposed cross party parliamentary group to sift through the details of what happened. The Greens are the only takers so far. The Opposition isn’t playing ball and Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who’s called for an urgent review of Australia’s immigration policy, says he wants to see in writing details about the standing group before deciding whether he wants to be part of it.
The Prime Minister’s sought to clarify exactly what the committee would do. This is what she said yesterday.
JULIA GILLARD: I have decided to invite the Opposition, the Greens and the Independent Members of Parliament to work with the Government and the relevant agencies for managing the response to this incident.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: The Opposition’s bridled at the suggestion the multi-party group would be managing the response. This afternoon Ms Gillard said the role of the committee became a little confused.
JULIA GILLARD: This group would not play any role in managing the incident, they would not write a report, they would not make recommendations, they would not be dealing with policy questions. They would be there to receive reports and get the facts. Now that would be in addition to, on top of, the normal protocols about briefing the Opposition on matters like this.]
evan14 @ 128
[Weren’t there rumours last month of secret ALP polling that showed Rudd was preferred PM over Gillard and Abbott? ]
A Gillard-hater repeating the lies of a Lib troll ?! … How surprising (or maybe not!) …
Roy Morgan Poll:
57% of ALP supporters prefer Gillard vs. 20% Rudd.
40% of Greens supporters prefer Gillard vs. 23% Rudd.
Even 19% of Lib supporters prefer Gillard vs. 17% Rudd.
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2010/4613/
The Finnigans@65
Source – calculated by the International Monetary Fund, which was compiled in October 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_future_GDP_%28PPP%29_estimates
I can see that Julia wanted to get a bipartisan response to the CI tragedy but it looks like the
[proposed cross party parliamentary group to sift through the details of what happened.]
is a flat cat. I wish Julia would remember that you do not get anywhere being nice to a mad snake.
Maybe it’s all a matter of BO.
Pegasus,
[There isn’t much enthusiasm for Julia Gillard’s proposed cross party parliamentary group to sift through the details of what happened.]
I just love the way Ms Kirk qotes the PM so selectively and places her own interpretations in between.
Alexandra Kirk can join Melissa Clarke in the Centrelink queue.
Doyley@144
Two words: minority government.
Since the agreement with the Greens and the Indies, a backflip on the, er.. backflip on the ETS was essential. It isn’t because Gilllard Ferguson, Arbib and the factional gorillas (apart from Albanese) want a price on carbon/ ETS. It will be difficult for them not to appear to be dragging their feet, and therein lies real electoral danger.
[Head of R & D.]
puff
I humbly accept
bring on the samples!!!
I wonder if credit agencies are the most useless institutions in the financial sector…
[Ireland’s credit rating was cut five levels by Moody’s Investors Service and further downgrades are possible as the government struggles to contain losses in the country’s banking system.
The rating was lowered to Baa1 from Aa2, Moody’s said in an e-mailed statement from London today. That’s three levels above non-investment grade and the same level as countries including Russia and Lithuania. The outlook on the rating is “negative,” Moody’s said.
Irish lawmakers on Dec. 15 voted to accept an 85 billion- euro ($113 billion) aid package from European governments and the International Monetary Fund to stabilize the country’s finances. Moody’s said that confidence in Irish banks “evaporated” in the run-up to the bailout.
“While a downgrade had been anticipated, the severity of the downgrade is surprising,” Glas Securities, the Dublin-based fixed-income firm, said in an e-mailed note today.]
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-17/ireland-s-rating-downgraded-by-moody-s-to-baa1-from-aa2-outlook-negative.html
I tend to agree with this article. I don’t feel terrorised by wikileaks but it sure has some government wangkers terrified.
[Here, however, is a small catch. If this is “terrorism,” a question arises (or at least should arise): Who has been terrorized? Who exactly has been terrified by the recent WikiLeaks releases of, so far, more than 1,000 State Department documents, some going back decades? The answer, I think, is clear enough — not the American people, but the Washington elite who have, in these last years, put in place a version of secrecy so wide-ranging that most of the government’s significant operations abroad (and many at home) have been cast into the shadows beyond the sightlines of the voters in this supposed democracy.
Within the penumbra of spreading secrecy, that elite, sometimes aided and abetted by the mainstream media, has acted with remarkable impunity in invading other countries, kidnapping”suspects” off the streets of global cities, secretly imprisoning under catch-all categories, and torturing, abusing, or even murdering those believed to be terrorists, or at least opposed to Washington’s desires. At the same time, they have been moving to lock down this country in ever more severe (and expensive) ways. So for them, it may indeed feel like a genuinely terrifying experience to see any aspect of that secrecy removed, to discover yet again that what they thought they controlled was not really theirs to control.]
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/16-2
[I can see that Julia wanted to get a bipartisan response to the CI tragedy]
No, she bloody well didn’t! She wanted all pollies to be aware of the FACTS before they started arguing a particular case. She said she’d be very happy to debate policy, PROVIDED all the debaters had the FACTS.
Puff –
Yep – If they were NOT included they would now be screaming Blue Murder.
Its all so.. predictable!
Lao –
Very valid comment.
What happens IF they down grade the US ??
Will they have the Balls?
Just a matter of time…..tick…tick…tick..
[Vik
The opinion of Labor officials quoted in one of cables is correct … the 2004 election clearly showed that Australians will never elect a prime minister who is perceived to be anti-American.]
Of course this is music to USA officials ears but if true why is that? New Zealanders don’t seem to have the same insecurity. Do the Laberals (Lab/Libs) and the media make sure lot of Australians feel this big bad world means we always need another country to obey?
It is a very interesting/disturbing comment about the maturity of Australians and their political leaders.
dave,
The very funny thing is that they (Julie b…ch) is screaming blue murder because they have been invited.
vp
[She wanted all pollies to be aware of the FACTS before they started arguing a particular case. She said she’d be very happy to debate policy, PROVIDED all the debaters had the FACTS.]
Yes, that’s my understanding too.
dave
[What happens IF they down grade the US ??]
Hold on to your gold and organic farm for that day… 🙁
Pegasus@154
I heard Gillard’s interview today but couldn’t find the transcript before. I was shaking my head in disbelief when I heard it. It looks even worse than it sounded.
So this is what the committee won’t do:
So what on earth will it do:
Hmmm. All of that, eh?
But just to be sure the committee is completely useless:
Given this meaningless explanation she floundered about with today, am I the only one thinking if Gillard’s suggestion was just a shallow political ploy to try to wedge the opposition and divert attention from the issue itself?
Then there is Bernard Keane’s take on the cross-party committee:
http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/12/17/no-one-has-found-a-solution-to-boat-tragedies/
[And then there’s the confusion over exactly what her cross-party committee is to do. Initially the Prime Minister said yesterday that she wanted to “invite the Opposition, the Greens and the Independent members of Parliament to work with the government and the relevant agencies for managing the response to this incident.”
To be fair, she’d been at pains to stress this didn’t mean there shouldn’t be a debate about asylum seeker policy. But then “managing the response to this incident” became more receiving information about what happened, to ensure there was no dispute around the facts Children Overboard-style?—?a “bipartisan reporting mechanism”. But then in virtually the same sentence it morphed into a body that would draw conclusions and work out whether anything different should have been done. By the time her interview on The 7.30 Report rolled around, the mission had retreated again to receiving reports.
The Opposition is right to be chary of this, given the lack of clarity around the purpose of the committee.]
pegasus, why the hell even mention a committee? the govt can give the facts to all parties. just conjures up a citizens assembly approach. an own goal
[Yep – If they were NOT included they would now be screaming Blue Murder.
Its all so.. predictable!]
Why would the coalition want to put their fingerprints on this mess when it’s a Gillard/Rudd stuff up?
They’ll be happy to sit back and watch the fireworks from the media and the public.
Did she consult the same “brains trust” of Arbib/Bitar/Shorten/Swan that came up with Cash For Clunkers & the Citizens Assembly? 😀
Perhaps Julia should have stayed on holidays, and let Chris Bowen handle this instead?
vp
[I can see that Julia wanted to get a bipartisan response to the CI tragedy but it looks like the is a flat cat ]
By response, I did mot mean the group to respond, I meant get a bipartisan group IN response to the CI tragedy. Sorry, my clumsy wording.
[GeeWizz
Posted Friday, December 17, 2010 at 10:32 pm | Permalink
Yep – If they were NOT included they would now be screaming Blue Murder.
Its all so.. predictable!
Why would the coalition want to put their fingerprints on this mess when it’s a Gillard/Rudd stuff up?
They’ll be happy to sit back and watch the fireworks from the media and the public.]
GeeWizz
As one of the cables from the US embassy said. The Liberals reported to their US Masters, the more boats that came the more they would be happy.
Andrew @173
I would be betting this came from the same genius who advised her on the Citizens Assembly. It has exactly the same odour of stupidity.
jaundiced view @ 160
[It isn’t because Gilllard Ferguson, Arbib and the factional gorillas (apart from Albanese) want a price on carbon/ ETS. It will be difficult for them not to appear to be dragging their feet, and therein lies real electoral danger.]
Who was it who sank the ETS in the Senate, and is responsible for there being no carbon price in the country at the moment ?
It ISN’T Gillard, Ferguson or Arbib who are responsible, because they all voted in FAVOUR of the ETS.
It is actually your beloved Greens who are responsible … It was they who voted as a bloc against the ETS & caused the ETS bill to fail to clear the Senate, even when two Lib senators defected & supported the bill. It is the Greens who are solely responsible for the “foot dragging” on a carbon price!
From the UK Independent
A very salient read.
Our Asylum shame
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-a-disaster-that-shows-the-true-face-of-a-demonised-people-2162490.html
jaundiced view,
[Gillard’s suggestion was just a shallow political ploy to try to wedge the opposition ]
I think Julia was trying to find a way to take the toxic politics out of it. There was no chance of that. She has to learn there is no negotiating with the opposition. It is like putting your hand out to a cornered snake, all you get is a dose of venom..
[Vik
It is actually your beloved Greens who are responsible … It was they who voted as a bloc against the ETS & caused the ETS bill to fail to clear the Senate, even when two Lib senators defected & supported the bill. It is the Greens who are solely responsible for the “foot dragging” on a carbon price!]
Labor votes as a Party .. Green vote as a bloc .. hehe
My understanding was that the Greens did not oppose an ETS but did not support the ‘excessive’ funding of “polluters” in the proposed ETS and did not support the low targets.
I must admit I do not know the details o the Rudd ETS, not trusting markets like Labor does, I have always preferred a carbon tax as easier and not giving massive funds to parasitic banking/finance traders who add nothing of value.
Laocoon@170
The US has of course been threatened by Moodys of a down grade.
But I think it all a slow motion train wreck anyway.
I hope not, but thats not going to stop it….
The debt remains, no matter how many Rwabitts they pull outta the hat..
All that remains is DEBT and very few people are talking about how to pay it back.
The US wants inflation plus a weak dollar which is the same as default!
The only happy Labor minister I see is one Foreign Minister, because he knows that he can say what he wants, and Julia can’t touch him, because he holds that threat of a by-election over her head.
No wonder the SMH last weekend named Rudd as one of the winners of 2010, paradoxically. 😀
evan14 @ 175
That is not the source, the source of that dumb idea was revealed here Wily wonk devised PM‘s gab-fest
So apart from the “brains trust” you refer to there are other problems.
[Journalists Are All Julian Assange]
[The Times reported, “Justice Department officials have declined to discuss any grand jury activity. But in interviews, people familiar with the case said the department appeared to be attracted to the possibility of prosecuting Mr. Assange as a co-conspirator to the leaking because it is under intense pressure to make an example of him as a deterrent to further mass leaking of electronic documents over the Internet.
“By bringing a case against Mr. Assange as a conspirator to Private Manning’s leak, the government would not have to confront awkward questions about why it is not also prosecuting traditional news organizations or investigative journalists who also disclose information the government says should be kept secret — including The New York Times, which also published some documents originally obtained by WikiLeaks.”
In other words, the Obama administration appears to be singling out Assange as an outlier in the journalistic community who is already regarded as something of a pariah. In that way, mainstream media personalities can be invited to join in his persecution without thinking that they might be next.
Though American journalists may understandably want to find some protective cover by pretending that Julian Assange is not like us, the reality is ” whether we like it or not ” we are all Julian Assange.]
http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Journalists-Are-All-Julian-by-Robert-Parry-101216-337.html
Bemused……….and we know how unsuccessful Gordon Brown’s election campaign was in May. 😉
vik@179
The government is responsible for the failure of the November 2009 bill because they refused to negotiate with the Greens about it point blank. The Greens couldn’t vote for it because it was far too weak, although they were screaming for the government to negotiate. A DD was the answer, but Rudd squibbed it.
The government is also responsible for dumping the CC policy in April this year for no good reason along with everything else progressive. They had belatedly started negotiations with the Greens in January/February which were progressing quite well, largely because there was common ground overlapping in the two policies, and Copenhagen had lowered the level of emissions reduction required by Australia, according to Garnaut. But all that came to nothing with the factional shift.
My ‘beloved greens’? A bit presumptuous of you. No sorry, never been anywhere near them – can’t stand to be near unreconstructed inflexible SWP types who lurk in the party (but fortunately are mostly kept in their cages presently).
I know I am endlesslysame old same old naive but I was excited when Gillard replaced Rudd. I thought a “left” member chosen as PM .. wow what a new, exciting turning point for Labor and Australia… and …..still waiting
[A very salient read.
Our Asylum shame]
Personally, The Independent’s hand-wringing on this subject makes me think better of GeeWizz.
[The harsh treatment of asylum-seekers in Australia has not been much of a deterrent. This year, some 6,300 asylum-seekers reached Australia on 130 boats.]
This seems to me a rather selective accounting of events – more so than a reputable newspaper should feel comfortable with.
The two of you,
[pegasus, why the hell even mention a committee? the govt can give the facts to all parties. just conjures up a citizens assembly approach. an own goal]
No,”the govt can give the facts to all parties.” “all parties” would get the base data, not the data the government would provide which, Shock, Horror! the government might otherwise have altered, sanitised, withheld, etc.
oops sorry
I know I am endlessly naive but I was excited when Gillard replaced Rudd. I thought a “left” member chosen as PM .. wow what a new, exciting turning point for Labor and Australia… and …..still waiting ….same old same old
So Ireland’s credit rating is now, what, 8 or 9 grades lower than those dodgy instruments worth slightly less than used dunny paper that Moody and the other ratings agencies awarded AAA? Gotta hand it to the buggers, they have more front than Myers. Bernie Madoff was a comparative rank amateur.
I must count up my loose change. There might be enough to make a takeover offer for Ireland Pty Ltd. Hive off Guinness, the distilleries and David Flatley, give the rest a lick of paint and flog it to some unsuspecting Americans. Oops, forgot, they’re broke, might have to try the Chinese. I wonder how much I’d need to donate to the Moody’s et al um…’Christmas Funds’ to get the place uprate to AAA? 😉
[vp
Posted Friday, December 17, 2010 at 10:54 pm | Permalink
The two of you,
pegasus, why the hell even mention a committee? the govt can give the facts to all parties. just conjures up a citizens assembly approach. an own goal
No,”the govt can give the facts to all parties.” “all parties” would get the base data, not the data the government would provide which, Shock, Horror! the government might otherwise have altered, sanitised, withheld, etc.]
vp, you may be right, but given the endless message about Labor not doing anything but set up committees .. do you think it is an intelligent response?
Why not just give all parties access to Navy/Customs briefings?
[The government is responsible for the failure of the November 2009 bill because they refused to negotiate with the Greens about it point blank.]
Are you ignorant or stirring? Which one is it? Better to be known as an ignoramus or an inhabitant of Trollhaugen?
On the MSM issue, why doesn’t the Government set up an Inquiry into media concentrationa and values in Australia??
[Why not just give all parties access to Navy/Customs briefings?]
It is called security. Would you give Julie B…ch full info. Ahem, passports? The Oops already gets, as it has for yonks, briefings on matters of national security.
vp
That’s a quick capitulation into cheap abuse in the face of history.
Andrew,
[pegasus, why the hell even mention a committee? the govt can give the facts to all parties. just conjures up a citizens assembly approach. an own goal]
Following on from the citizens assembly approach floated previously, forming yet another committee may give the appearance of weak leadership and could be construed as an inability to tackle another complex and difficult issue.
On the other hand, putting aside political cynicism it could be viewed as a genuine attempt to have a bipartisan approach, though realistically, who in their right minds would believe that the Coalition would go along with such a committee on this issue.
So, was her intent to wedge the Coalition? At the moment, I am keeping an open mind.
[It is called security. Would you give Julie B…ch full info. Ahem, passports? The Oops already gets, as it has for yonks, briefings on matters of national security.]
Hopefully we can read them next week on wikileaks