A bad result for the government in the latest fortnightly Newspoll, with the Coalition’s two-party lead out from 54-46 to 57-43. The primary votes are 28 per cent for Labor (down three) and 47 per cent for the Coalition (up four). Julia Gillard at least has the consolation that her personal ratings have improved from the previous fortnight’s dismal result, with her approval up three to 31 per cent and disapproval down four to 58 per cent. Tony Abbott’s ratings are unchanged at 32 per cent approval and 58 per cent disapproval, and there is likewise essentially no change on preferred prime minister (Gillard leads 40-37, up from 39-37).
Another consolation for Labor is the possibility that a bit of static might be expected from a poll conducted over the same weekend as a state election such as the one in Queensland. They can be fortified in this view by the fact that their standing improved in this week’s Essential Research poll, the most recent weekly component of which was conducted over a longer period than Newspoll (Wednesday to Sunday rather than Friday to Sunday). Very unusually, given that Essential is a two-week rolling average, this showed a two-point shift on two-party preferred, with the Coalition lead shrinking from 56-44 to 54-46. Given that Essential spiked to 57-43 a fortnight ago, and the sample which sent it there has now washed out of the rolling average, this is not entirely surprising. Labor’s primary vote is up two to 34 per cent, and the Coalition’s is down one to 47 per cent. Further questions featured in the poll cover the economy, its prospects, best party to handle it and personal financial situation (slightly more optimism than six months ago, and Labor up in line with its overall improvement since then), job security, Kony 2012, taking sickies and the impact of the high dollar.
Aguirre
Part of the problem with the carbon price discussions is that people naturally take them down to the household level.
Households are very small beer when it comes to emissions output (which is part of the reason why whacking a solar cell on your house may make you feel good but isn’t an economic way of dealing with emissions).
Of course ‘every bit counts’ but the focus for emissions reduction is on industry, and on moving to different methods of mass energy production.
A small example was in the local paper recently – a local factory (big, but I don’t think not even in the top 500 polluters) proposing to cut its emissions by 25% through various measures.
I did a quick calculation of the figures given compared to household usage, and that one factory (assuming it achieved its target) would reduce emissions by the amount used by 11,000 households.
So one factory cutting 1/4 of its usage equalled 11,000 households cutting 100% of theirs (or 44,000 making a 25% cut).
Which is why the government can compensate households for their usage and still achieve effective emissions reductions; because households are small beer in the scheme of things and not the main game.
Mark McArdle is in for a tough time, Minister for Energy AND Water. Will he thank Can’t Do for two poisoned chalices?
Cost of Living debates should be exposed for what they are: ‘Cost of Lifestyle’
Kezza2 @ 3538
$382.08
I have no idea how that compares with others. That is probably the heaviest quarter for usage.
bemused
[I make it about 34 cents per day …. boo hoo…]
34 cents minus compensation !
$303 for me, before pensioner rebate.
I am on a pension and have never been better off since “leaving” work in 2005.
[byTonyWilson Abbott’s near daily apologies suggest that, yes, he’ll f**k up the country, but at least he’ll be sorry for doing so. #auspol #vote1buffoon
about 1 hour ago]
@victoria, oh thank crisps for that, i was starting to worry that Lateline would have to talk about the Future Fund old man senile bitch slap (likely for a prime retirement position at a right-wing think tank).
@Aguirre, but it does matter, since anyone with bigger bills is going to use less electricity. And the fact is these companies believe they’re fully entitled in their disregard for consumers now anyway, regardless of IF this whole increase in prices is due to the carbon tax or not.
poroti @ 3554
Indeed.
And I suspect with comparatively little effort I can end up well ahead.
Kezza2 seems to imply we are relatively big energy users. It would surprise me if that were true. Other than computer usage, I can’t see how any of our activities would be above normal.
In particular, we wash with cold water, do fewer but bigger washes. Have all energy saving bulbs. Only use aircon on the very hottest days and even then, sparingly.
bemused
[$382.08
I have no idea how that compares with others. That is probably the heaviest quarter for usage.]
Sorry, calculated your CO2 tonnage, and therefore your usage, over six months, and divided by 2.
Still, close enough to $400 a quarter.
My last quarterly bill was $225. That’s a two-person household with lots of extras – uni friends of son staying over. Turn off the downlights!
Yes poroti 34 cents *minus* compensation. Good point.
The Govt should be thrashing this – advertising it as well. To hell with it let’s not allow RAbbott, Screws Ltd and the Electricity Companies any latitude on this.
Tell the punters as it is.
Probably about 25 cents a day when all things even out. Who cares about that?
My power bill is around $280 a qtr however it does include my train layouts and I’m not giving those up.
$162 for a one person household. For 3 months over SUMMER.
I have two A/C Units at my place, dishwasher, washing machine, TV, fans etc.
I was amazed.
Zoomster –
Absolutely.
And as well as encouraging simple efficiency measures, there is also the encouragement for substitution of energy sources by making renewable energy much more competitive – fossil fuel generation has the carbon price impost where renewables do not regardless of compensation, and that carbon price will increase over time.
Plus stuff like cogeneration/trigeneration plants in larger companies become more attractive that provide for a distributed energy generation system (decreasing energy loss on transmission wires) that is vastly more efficient where electricity, heating and cooling are all used in the same business (which is most of them).
This is all spawned by another brainless comment from GW who doesn’t even have the imagination to come up with a novel criticism of the carbon price – it’s the same old complaint we’ve heard and responded to a thousand times.
“oh if you are compensated how does anything change?!?!?1111” omg I never thought of that, and it must be news to the government as well. quick someone call Greg Combet and tell him the entire rationale for the carbon price has been seen through by that genius GeeWhizz.
What I don’t get is why people who make these kinds of comments don’t just stop and have a think about the fact that there are almost no original thoughts in the world – if he or she has “seen through” the carbon price and compensation, others will have seen it as well, so what’s the deal? Where’s the internal commonsense to say “maybe there’s a bit more to this that I should actually try to look for and understand”.
You don’t have to agree with a carbon tax/ETS/whatever to understand the basic principle, but honestly, the basic principle is not that hard to understand.
cuppa @3506
Don’t waste your time. Truthie/wizzer comes in here makes bold claims, then when he/she/it is proven wRONg, he/she/it runs away.
Then he/she/it returns to sprout another pile of shite on yet another topic, and the cycle goes on.
Yawn.
[DavidWH
Posted Friday, March 30, 2012 at 4:38 pm | Permalink
My power bill is around $280 a qtr however it does include my train layouts and I’m not giving those up.]
And you’d be . . . the Fat Controller?
Jackol
[What I don’t get is why people who make these kinds of comments don’t just stop and have a think about the fact that there are almost no original thoughts in the world – if he or she has “seen through” the carbon price and compensation, others will have seen it as well, so what’s the deal? ]
And climate change deniers do a similar jump as well – they bring up what they think are killer quibbles and say “scientists haven’t considered…” when of course scientists have done that particular issue to death.
One of my favorites recently was a website I was directed to, where the whole argument against AGW was predicated on scientists not factoring in that heat escapes out into space!
kezza I would be if I wasnt as skinny as a rake.
DavidWH
Is this you? 😉
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncsi2piTNxE
Rua beautiful a UP GP double. 🙂
Mick77
One for you and anyone else capable of dealing with reality.The Long Goodbye: Explaining Gillard’s Collapse
dan,
The least we can do is hold those people to account. If they’re not big on accuracy, it stands to reason they’re not going to be real fussed about facts or being truthful either. Par for the course for the “right” side of politics.
I’ve now determined that DavidWH is just James May undercover.
Very important question, please, bludgers.
Will tofu substitute for cream cheese in stuffed crepes?
Guest on Sunday can’t eat cheese.
[DavidWH
Posted Friday, March 30, 2012 at 4:46 pm | Permalink
kezza I would be if I wasnt as skinny as a rake.]
Not sayin’ nuttin’
[Very important question, please, bludgers.
Will tofu substitute for cream cheese in stuffed crepes?
Guest on Sunday can’t eat cheese.]
Not even Feta cheese?
[One for you and anyone else capable of dealing with reality.]
Writing Labor off 18 months out from an election is not reality, it’s folly.
BTW, Gillard’s collapse in poll numbers maybe able to be explained. Explain Abbott’s poor numbers and why they don’t affect the Liberal vote.
Sossman
Apparently no cheese at all, but not sure why.
Can’t see much diff between cream cheese and cream, myself.
bemused
honestly. You are such a defeatist.
Labor has, in the past, faced decades of opposition. It wasn’t overcome by people in the party sitting around and moaning about how inevitable it was. They fought every election as if they believed they could win it, even if they knew they couldn’t.
We have a good message to sell, a record of achievement and of planning for the future.
We should be out there selling that, not beating ourselves up because people like Robert Manne (!!!) are telling us we’re doomed.
lizze
use creme fraiche its not quite cheese.
[A privatized tax office would be interesting.]
I seem to remember a late night radio interview about a decade ago and I hope I am right here that England had outsourced its Tax office to an overseas company. The problem was that at the end of the contract period they were being held to ransom by the company who was setting the prices as they had lost both the infrastructure and the expertise to carry out the work themselves and would not be able to regain control. There were also concerns arising as to who owned the information involved. I remember that at the time the only private companies capable of doing the work were in Japan and the US.
[We should be out there selling that, not beating ourselves up because people like Robert Manne (!!!) are telling us we’re doomed.]
Especially when Manne seems to want to fight the 2010 election all over again.
lizzie
[Will tofu substitute for cream cheese in stuffed crepes?]
Yes, i often use tofu as a subsititue in cheesecake recipes.
Here is a recipe for tofu filling for crepes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganfeast/5151566117/
[Apparently no cheese at all, but not sure why.]
Might be allergic to rennet?
You can get cheese made from tofu … but I reckon tofu would be a bit rubbery. Is it a sweet crepe or a savoury?
Sossman – On the ‘lifestyle’ doing it hard thing I posted this morning –
[‘Just one fact makes a mockery of all this media talk: according to the Reserve Bank, mortgage holders’ excess mortgage payments in the December 2011 quarter were as much as the amounts they were required to repay on their home loans. That rose from 80% in March of last year. In other words, mortgage holders are paying $2 for every $1 of repayments required by their lenders. That is not suffering because of high mortgage rates, that’s a conscious decision to cut the size of the debt, for whatever reason. It’s actually a switch in investment from shares to saving and property.’]
That’s from yesterdays Crikey . It rings lots of ‘bells’.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/03/30/shorten-music-appreciator-flags-long-service-for-artists/
[Friday, 30 March 2012
Shorten, music appreciator, flags long service for artists
by Ben Eltham and Rebecca Harkins-Cross
Bill Shorten is running an idea up the flagpole: long-service leave for artists and musicians.
“I’m going to ask the House of Representatives to investigate the remuneration of performing artists with practical reference to long-service leave,” the Labor minister told Crikey, confirming his intention to introduce a brief to a parliamentary committee. ”It’s been brought to my attention by people like (composer) Paul Grabowsky. It’s very unusual for a performing artist or musician to work in one place for 15 years.”]
More in the article, although this one’s for Crikey subscribers (or take up free trial period login).
[bemused
The Long Goodbye: Explaining Gillard’s Collapse
Almost every political observer recognises that unless something altogether unexpected happens, by late 2013 Australia will have an Abbott government. The more contentious question is what has gone wrong for Labor. This piece is offered as a contribution to a necessary debate.]
See my 3546.
It’s people like you regurgitating people like Robert Manne (he who ran for cover at the first flicker of a downturn in Labor’s fortunes) who are hell-bent on undermining Gillard’s government – 17-18 months out from an election – who are absolutely killing Labor’s chances in 2013.
You just can’t get out of your knickers in a rudd-knot, can you! Let me guess, you held onto Hawkie until it was almost too late for Keating in 1993.
What could possibly be the “unexpected” thing to happen prior to late 2013 to prevent an Abbott government? It won’t be Gillard overcoming the relentless shit from the msm, will it? Especially with Labor members like you on their side.
I’ll tell you what it will be – the thing that happens to prevent Abbott from being PM
– it’ll be another LNP leader. Heh!
Then, and only then, will you be satisfied.
jenauthor
you can make rennet less cheese very easily. The Indians do it using lemon juice.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/outgoing-future-fund-chairman-david-murray-doesnt-get-it-on-carbon-tax-wayne-swan/story-e6frg6xf-1226314591687
[Outgoing Future Fund chairman David Murray ‘doesn’t get’ carbon tax case: Wayne Swan
BY: BEN PACKHAM From: The Australian March 30, 2012 3:04PM
WAYNE Swan has attacked the man he trusted to manage the nation’s $73 billion Future Fund, branding David Murray a climate sceptic who failed to understand the economic need to put a price on carbon.]
William, you can ignore my q about resubscriptions – I FINALLY got on (though had to change password)
Here we go:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Paneer-(Indian-Cheese)
zoomster @ 3580
Not at all.
I will campaign as hard as I can regardless of circumstances. But the problem for some time has been the elephant in the room which all choose not to talk about and ignore.
I see no evidence of any strategy sufficient to overcome the task we face.
Bemused isn’t a defeatist. He is a realist who acknowledges that Labor has problems that need addressing.
(Apologies, bemused. My support will probably cause you problems with your tribe but I am sure you can withstand the attacks.)
rua, peg, jen
Thank you all.
I was thinking of making crepes with a filling of smoked salmon and herbs, with a cheese substitute to bind the herbs.
Looks as if it will work OK.
Mr Howard was a canny man. He spent 11 years undermining climate action and made sure that his works lived on after him.
IMHO, it may take a while, but he will go down as the most incompetent and destructive prime minister Australia has ever had.
bemused
for you, it’s the King Charles’ head that creeps into everything you write!
[but I reckon tofu would be a bit rubbery]
Not at all. There are many different types of tofu, including silken tofu which has a delicate melt in your mouth texture.
lizzie
and, of course, plain yoghurt is a good substitute for cheese as well, particularly if you plonk it into a teatowel and let some of the liquid drip out so that it firms up.
lizzie
You have a probleme. I suggest you put some jam where the cheese should have been. This will make them appreciate the lengths to which you have been willing to go to pander to their tastes.