Troy Bramston of The Australian has just announced on Twitter there will be no Newspoll this evening, so I’m giving the weekly Essential Research its own thread instead. The result finds Essential maintaining a recent record of taking a while to catch up with the trend, even after accounting for the stabilising effects of its two-week rolling average methodology. Labor has made a two-point gain on two-party preferred to now trail 53-47, from primary votes of 36% for Labor (up one), 47% for the Coalition (down one) and 9% for the Greens (steady). This is Labor’s strongest two-party vote from Essential since June last year, and its strongest primary vote since a month previously. There’s even been a move in favour of the carbon tax, up three on support to 38% since June and down six on opposition to 48% – although there are now 69% who say they have noticed an increased in costs compared with 52% in August, with no increase down from 36% to 24%.
On the question of whether a seat at the UN Security Council would be of benefit, 44% say it would and 24% say it wouldn’t, which interestingly compares with 66% and 14% when the question was last posed in September 2008 (right when the global financial crisis was erupting, if that means anything). The poll also finds clear majority support for implementing higher taxes to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme, dental health scheme and Gonski reforms, but not the purchase of new submarines (although Lindsay Tanner might have something to say about that). Sixty-eight per cent responded that a budget surplus was important “for the country as a whole”, but only 46% for them personally.
rummel@3687
So be it. If you have any information about, take it to the police.
In the meantime, a Judge will consider the charges in due course.
[oh… no outrage?, no demands for Labor sponsors to drop them?]
What the fark are you on about? Are you really that thick in the head? Which freaking sponsors?
[poroti
Posted Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 7:41 pm | PERMALINK
mari
Poroti I really thought I was going to get a “front on” I feel very let down???
Well youse asked for it
Funny version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpnZd2Ssm6A
Adult version
Warning: some viewers may find offensive. The pipers shot for an Al Fayed (Harrods) doc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa2xmH55H94
Just had to go and get a fan and a cool glass of water?? Guess that was the McAbbott Tartan the last one???
[oh… no outrage?, no demands for Labor sponsors to drop them?
So jones can say nasty words and the whole left world goes bananers and a top union leaders gets nabed and charged for ripping of members and you say get over it. What else would one expect from Labor.]
Calm down Rummel.
I don’t think anyone here or in the Labor Party at large is going in to bat for Williamson, calling him a “Great Australian”, saying that only he has the guts to take it up to the Tories, talking about his brilliant performance, inviting him to address fundraisers and the like.
Unlike the supporters of Alan Jones.
Like any number of people from either side of politics he appears to be an ex-senior member or executive that looks like he has gone off the reservation. Nobody seriously (or even frivolously) disputes that. Williamson is being dealt with under law.
Jones on the other hand expresses no genuine regret for what he said about Gillard’s father, other than the regret that he got caught. He certainly did not promise to try to never to offend again, because he fully intends to. That’s his modus operandi: going too far, apologizing, then re-offending.
As for Williamson, we don’t know what he will have to say for himself. It’s a criminal court matter now and I’m sure the truth will come out.
Fran Barlow,
[… looking back over it, there were a few typos …]
Hey, there have been times over the years – here and elsewhere – where I’ve been slightly irritated by you, but what are a few typos (or relatively minor irritation) when you have a whole flock of Golden Echidnas on their way to you?
my say@3683
OK, I understand now.
You don’t like Ms?
It is rather strange to refer to a woman using the abbreviation for Manuscript. I agree with you.
TLBD
This be my tartan
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/10/04/363163_most-popular-stories.html
ME Minister Julia Gillard arrived in Hobart this morning as Federal Government heavyweights continue to tour the state spruiking their big-ticket reforms.
Ms Gillard was greeted with warm smiles and a bunch of bright yellow lilies as she arrived at Cosmos Recreational Services in New Town.
After a turbulent plane ride from Launceston early this morning, the Prime Minister and her entourage of minders and security touched down in Hobart about 8.30am.
She quickly raced across to the Hobart waterfront to T42 for coffee with Labor Denison candidate Jane Austin before heading to Cosmos Recreational Services, which provides recreational leisure and learning programs for Tasmanians with intellectual disabilities.
Appearing buoyed from a warm reception in Launceston last night for the Community Cabinet meeting, Ms Gillard was today talking up the virtues of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and fielding questions about carbon tax, Andrew Wilkie, forestry and the Tasmanian economy.
Read more on Ms Gillard’s visit in tomorrow’s Mercury.
Cosmos Recreational Services client Charlie Smith performed a Haka for the PM. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE
Today’s Top Stories
Fierce winds cause havoc
S-l-o-w train to transport hub
Sex ed plans under attack
PM embraced by Tasmania
Gillard hits Hobart streets
Tough day in the saddle
Disablity care to be proud of
Shipshape for summer season
Forest peace still possible
Program for eating disorders
Read more on Ms Gillard’s visit in tomorrow’s Mercury.
this is the bit bemused picked me up on.
[Admonishing? What admonishing?!]
Rares had a spray at the media reporting that he went crook at Slipper for using the car park entrance, he said it was nothing to do with him. He singled out The Age for special mention.
Williamson is “not cooperating.”
A song from The music Man springs to mind http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI_Oe-jtgdI
[In the meantime, a Judge will consider the charges in due course.]
yes. Looking forward to Slippers judgment as well. Now where are the Team Gillard conspiracy theorist again? looking all rather grim for there wild predictions.
[poroti
Posted Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm | PERMALINK
TLBD
This be my tartan
Ah Ha so you be a Royal Stewart clan well well
My say,
The winds down your way sound pretty horrific – I hope that you and yours are alright.
thankyou bemused
after all she is Miss. my daughter cannot stand\Ms
it came about during womans lib in the 70 god only know why
i really object to in on forms.
but i dont like being called MRS>{husbands name inititial}
then surname thankgod thats gone.
one of aunts her husband passed on 20 years ago and in the phone book she has her first name and his initial
then surname.
but that was another time.
[Now where are the Team Gillard conspiracy theorist again?]
How about you name the sponsors.
Good evening all.
[Andrew Elder @awelder
Until I read Mungo MacCallum’s article in The Monthly I hadn’t realised Abbott was the key purveyor of smut about Cheryl Kernot.]
If true, then Abbott is a truly vile and disgusting individual.
yes fiona
very windy no worries in our little area.
on the eastern shore. but the bowen bridge was closed very unusal and the road where the racecourse is that i can see from here.
closed so the traffic was heavy on the tasman bridge
and you would know what thats like on a windy day.
but i did enjoy the derwent river { waves} or swell very high and ruff we live on the river bank
[yes. Looking forward to Slippers judgment as well. Now where are the Team Gillard conspiracy theorist again? looking all rather grim for there wild predictions.]
You lost this one rummel.
The more your side of politics praises, supports and enables Alan Jones, the worse it will be for you.
There is no upswelling of sympathy for Jones to any degree. Just a few of his rusted on acolytes are phoning in or going on the telly and saying what a wonderful bloke he is.
Keep it up. I mean that. It’s helping Labor.
Dawe interviews Jones.
yes rummell its in the courts
so you cannot discuss it.
[Looking forward to Slippers judgment as well.]
So is he. Rares will never back Ashby. To do so would be calling Slipper a homosexual without a shred of evidence.
bemused when does your son come home. my friend had to have
pain releif injections in her spine today
she is very nervous about the surgery but i told her about your son.
Fiona
The petition I signed asked for a comment.
I wrote to the effect that that he offends or worse the person and the Office. And by extension, me.
I have thought of the deeper and more personal offence to Mrs Gillard and family.
Probably Tim did, but was focused on the PM.
[Jones on the other hand expresses no genuine regret for what he said about Gillard’s father, other than the regret that he got caught. He certainly did not promise to try to never to offend again, because he fully intends to. That’s his modus operandi: going too far, apologizing, then re-offending.]
BB.
Jones said nasty words, nothing more or less. Yes he deserves to be in the stink, but Team Gillard have been swinging off the rafters in rage. Now a Labor Man is in it up to his neck for allegations of ripping of low payed members and its dead quite. The response to one of the above was extreme beyond belief compared to the response to the other more serous crime.
Fess,
What smut about Cheryl Kernot?
[You lost this one rummel.]
Come on BB. That suggests he’s actually won one at some stage. He is a dill and displays it in the majority of his posts. I don’t care if he is a member of the CFA or whatever, he is a dill.
rummel
It’s not only here that the outrage towards Jones took off. It was all over Australia. If you can’t understand that what he said about the PMs father was the lowest that you can go you need to give yourself a reality check.
The truth is it’s more likely that her father died partly because of the constant vilification he saw his daughter going through from the very arseholes that you seem to support. That kind of constant stress in a man his age would not be doing him any good, that’s for sure.
So if you want to criticise Williamson feel free but don’t come here expecting us to make the same stupid comparison between his situation and the disgraceful hurtful slur Jones tossed at the PM while she was was grieving her dead father. Only a heartless bastard does that kind of thing and he got what he deserved.
fiona@3698
[I think that one of the factors that Tim Dunlop missed is that most of us have lost, or will lose, a much-loved parent. Thus Mr Jones’s utter disrespect for both Ms Gillard’s parents is something that shocks most of us.]
Very much so. Julia Gillard’s mother hasn’t got a mention in the apology stakes at all, AFAIK. I daresay she would have been very hurt by it. She would be the same age as many of Jones’s audience.
One thing that annoyed me that I didn’t specifically comment on was this last paragraph:
[But we shouldn’t kid ourselves that it matters. Not when there are so many other things – truly important things – we ignore because they don’t easily lend themselves to a nice bit of cathartic Twitter outrage.]
It’s such a lazy throwaway line — that being troubled and engaged with one thing means we aren’t engaged with other things he deems “more important”. As one respondent noted, what the media chooses to focus on is scarcely determined by us — and that seemed to be Dunlop’s measure.
Moreover, deflecting outrage over one thing because something else is “more important” is stock-in-trade for rightwingers. Those of us who have waged the climate wars recognise this all too well. Opponents say that CO2 is a diversion from “real” pollution or “real environmental issues” — and if we were on about that they’d say we cared more about trees than jobs, and if we were on about jobs it would be pensioners, and if it was pensioners we’d be overlooking starving kids in Africa and so it goes. It’s utterly disingenuous.
I’m not saying that this is Dunlop’s view, but the throwaway line is a gift to those on the right wanting to deflect.
Catalyst: Oil industry: dinosaur prints? Who cares!
my say@3721
He will be in hospital for at least a week – he went in on Tuesday. He is feeling sore but everything was a success and he actually stood up today.
He was nervous in the lead up to the operation but is glad he had it.
Liberal WA Senator Dean Smith has reportedly backed Tony Crook’s supporting the govt’s wheat deregulation bills, demonstrating the very awkward position the Liberals are in over this issue.
They are going hell for leather trying to win back O’Connor, with Smith declaring himself ‘Senator for Albany’ to anyone who cares to listen. Substantial tracts of the electorate are wheat growers, which is no wonder Smith is imploring his colleagues to support Crook by voting for the bills.
As it stands, the bills look set to pass the HoR, which leaves the Senate, with Smith saying (FWIW) that he’ll cross the floor. Which leaves us with the Greens. What is their position on wheat deregulation?
[3635
Bushfire Bill
Posted Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 6:38 pm | PERMALINK
Well, after the Shellbell-acking I got yesterday for suggesting that the settlement agreement between the Commnwealth and Ashby might need to be run past the judge, I was gratified to see this:
Both Mr Ashby and the Commonwealth’s lawyers have asked Justice Rares to rule on the terms of the settlement deed they should enter.
and this:
The release contained in the proposed settlement deed would prevent the government from suing Mr Ashby for wrongdoing, but would not prevent it from sacking him.
Justice Rares said that: “I don’t think I can put that in a document that Mr Ashby has to sign”, referring to the clause allowing him to be sacked.
from the rather garbled Courier-Mail report. Seems Mr. justice Rares took a keen interest in what the Commonweath and Ashby were agreeing to, rubber stamp and all.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/peter-slipper-in-strife-again-as-mediation-talks-fail/story-e6freon6-1226487675360%5D
The Commonwealth and Ashby could not agree on what they had agreed on hence the judge intervened. If they were ad idem on what they agreed on the court stamp would have been applied without a problem.
Hello again Bludgers! I’m just now back from a big day on the flatlands.
Did I miss anything of note today. I have heard of Williamson’s arrest.
Confessions:
[As it stands, the bills look set to pass the HoR, which leaves the Senate, with Smith saying (FWIW) that he’ll cross the floor. Which leaves us with the Greens. What is their position on wheat deregulation?]
I’d be stunned if we didn’t support it.
gosh stood up they dont waste much time getting us moving these days do they.
good think though. when one just gets strained muscles in the back its best to keep moving and that s a minor thing.
Fran Barlow @ 3272,
[It’s such a lazy throwaway line — that being troubled and engaged with one thing means we aren’t engaged with other things he deems “more important”. As one respondent noted, what the media chooses to focus on is scarcely determined by us — and that seemed to be Dunlop’s measure.]
Yes indeed.
SK:
I imagine it has to do with the nasty contest in Dickson when Dutton was elected. From memory there was some pretty awful stuff that came out about Kernot.
Interestingly I tried to access The Monthly’s website to read the article, but it’s down.
BK@3732
Yeah – rummel just made a goose of himself, yet again.
Still.
rummel@3723
rummell, you really are a bit dense at times.
Williamson and any other former HSU officials accused of crimes will be dealt with by the courts. No need to get excited about them and sub-judice comment is not a good idea.
OTOH, Mr Jones only crime was against good taste and he is left to be dealt with by the court of public opinion as you see happening.
I have no sympathy for Mr Jones or Mr Williamson. Unfortunately, only one of them will face a court.
well as i said be for i glad i never got on rummells’
race bandwagon.
time for decafe coffee . to keep my blood pressure down
Thanks Fess!
[Darn
Posted Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 8:05 pm | PERMALINK
rummel
It’s not only here that the outrage towards Jones took off. It was all over Australia. If you can’t understand that what he said about the PMs father was the lowest that you can go you need to give yourself a reality check.]
It was a very low act yet only words! senior labor leader have been charged for ripping off thousands of members and then trying to cover it up. You guys are ment to get fired up about defending the the worker, if this was a business you guys would be going burko. But your all quite….. nice.
[Come on BB. That suggests he’s actually won one at some stage. He is a dill and displays it in the majority of his posts. I don’t care if he is a member of the CFA or whatever, he is a dill.]
Which is why I didn’t get swindled into sponsoring him on his marathon, or whatever it was.
The difference between Jones and Williamson is that Williamson’s case is before the courts, where he has a right to a fair hearing. We don’t know the truth of the claims against him, but they do look pretty serious, even if they are mostly procedural (he’s charged with covering something up during the recent investigation, a matter not related to the “core” issue of his historical involvement with the HSU).
Jones, on the other hand offended publicly and serially. He has essentially pleaded guilty with extenuating circumstances… so extenuating that he thinks he can get off scot-free.
Jone has been “forgiven” one too many times for his transgressions, and this time I don’t think the public at large will repeat that mistake. It’s starting to become plain that Jones intends to re-offend as often as possible, hoping he doesn’t get caught. It’s been his lifetime’s habit, his reason for getting out of bed in the morning: to offend, cajole and berate.
Now onto some Policy.
WTF… Why are the libs not supporting the deregulation of wheat!. Who would have thought I would have to support Labor on deregulation.
Bloody Nats!
BB,
rummel is not quite how he purports himself to be here.
My Say
As a Greer era child, and my own rebellion against typecasting, I very much favoured the designation, Ms.
Even as a married person.
Still do.
Why should a woman’s marital or otherwise status have to be identified.
The designation ‘Mr” denotes nothing in that sense.
And it is important to recall that discrimination was being exercised against women especially in those early years, before a semblance of equality was yielding benefit.
rummel,
I see that you and Mike Kelly are of like minds.
[But your all quite….. nice.]
Thank you rummel. You can be quite nice yourself at times. 😆
rummell @ 3741
[…But your all quite….. nice.]
Be grateful rummell, that’s why we tolerate you. 😉
rummel,
Do you know who is standing for your mob in Monaro 2013?