AAP, for some reason, reveals that the Newspoll to be published in The Australian tomorrow will have the elastic jerking back after the 50-50 anomaly of three weeks ago, with the Coalition now leading 54-46 on two-party preferred from primary votes of 33% for Labor (down three), 45% for the Coalition (up four) and 10% for the Greens (down two). However, Julia Gillard has improved further on her strongly recovering personal ratings last time, holding steady on approval at 36% and dropping two on disapproval to 50%, producing her best net approval rating since April last year. The wide gap which opened on preferred prime minister last time has narrowed only modestly, coming in at 43-33 in Gillard’s favour rather than 46-32. Tony Abbott’s personal ratings have also improved, his approval up three to 33% and disapproval down five to 55%.
Today’s Essential Research had Labor gaining a further point on the primary vote to 37%, with the Coalition steady at 47%. Essential has shown Labor gaining five points on the primary vote over six weeks, to reach a level not seen since March last year. The Coalition’s two-party preferred lead is unchanged at 53-47. Essential has smartly chosen this week to repeat an exercise from a year ago concerning trust in media personalities, finding Alan Jones among the most famous but least trusted (22% trust against 67% do not trust). The others best recognised were Laurie Oakes and George Negus, with the former slightly edging out the latter on trust (72% compared with 69%). Only 17% registered support for funding cuts to the ABC, with around a third each wanting funding maintained or increased. Opinion on government regulation of the media was fairly evenly spread between wanting more, less and the same.
UPDATE (9/10/12): The latest Morgan face-to-face result, combining its surveys over the past two weekends, has Labor down half a point to 37%, the Coalition up 1.5% to 43% and the Greens up half a point to 10.5%. The Coalition’s lead on respondent-allocated preferences is steady at 52-48, but they have gained a point on the 2010 election preferences measure to lead 51-49.
Senate-heavy preselection news:
• Barnaby Joyce’s lower house ambitions for the next election have foundered with Bruce Scott’s determination to serve another term as member for Maranoa. Joyce will not challenge Scott for preselection, saying to do so would be “self-indulgent personality politics”, despite the impression many received from his declared opposition to the locally contentious purchase of the vast Cubbie Station by a consortium led by Chinese interests. Unidentified Nationals quoted by Dennis Shanahan of The Australian “maintain Joyce had the numbers for preselection over Scott but it was going to be an ugly and drawn-out affair”.
• Two of the Queensland Coalition Senators whose terms expire after the next election have announced they will not seek re-election, leaving only 2007 ticket leader Ian MacDonald. Ron Boswell, who has been in the Senate since 1983 and was re-elected from number three in 2007, surprised nobody by announcing that at the age of 70 the time had come to bow out. Andrew Fraser of The Australian reports those in contention to take his place on the LNP Senate ticket include David Goodwin, the Boswell-backed president of the Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, along with LNP vice-president Gary Spence, LNP treasurer Barry O’Sullivan, and Barnaby Joyce staffer Matt Canavan. Liberal Senator Sue Boyce today announced she would not contest the next election as she wished to spend more time with her family, while acknowledging her preselection would have faced opposition from forces who perceive her as too moderate. Steven Scott of the Courier-Mail reported that other applicants are likely to include David Moore, who worked on Campbell Newman’s election campaign. Steven Scott of the Courier-Mail reported that hopefuls for a Senate position included David Moore, an LNP operative whose activities as a lobbyist were recently criticised by Clive Palmer.
• Chris Ketter, state secretary of the Right faction Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, has been preselected to top the Queensland Labor Senate ticket. The number one candidate from 2007, Senate President John Hogg, will retire. The second and third elected candidates from last time, Claire Moore and Mark Furner, will retain their old positions, a gloomy prospect for Furner in particular.
• Mark Kenny of The Advertiser reports that Labor in South Australia will not promote Penny Wong to the top of its Senate ticket, despite the “bad look” of having the position instead go to one-time Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association state secretary Don Farrell on the strength of his Right faction’s control of between 55% and 60% of the votes at the party’s state convention.
• Long-simmering hostilities between the NSW Liberals and Nationals over the seat of Hume have come to an end, with the Nationals agreeing not to field a candidate against Liberal candidate Angus Taylor in his bid to succeed retiring Liberal Alby Schultz. Senator Fiona Nash had most frequently been nominated as a potential candidate, together with state government minister Katrina Hodgkinson.
• Bob Carr told reporters last week that were Robert McClelland to retire in Barton, he could not think of a better candidate to succeed him than his own successor as Premier, Morris Iemma. However, McClelland insists he has no plans to do so.
• As anticipated, former Australian Medical Association president Bill Glasson has been confirmed as the LNP candidate to run against Kevin Rudd in Griffith. Glasson’s father, Bill Glasson Sr, was once Nationals member for the rural seat of Gregory and a minister in the Bjelke-Petersen, Cooper and Ahern governments. Other names mentioned in relation to the preselection were John Haley, Alfio Russo and John Adermann, who stayed with the process to the end, along with Angela Julian-Armitage and Wayne Tsang, who dropped out at an earlier stage.
• The Mercury published extensive results on Saturday for polling of state voting intention in Tasmania, conducted on behalf of the Liberal Party by ReachTEL. The figures, which make for dismal reading for Labor, are detailed below, and have been thoroughly analysed by Kevin Bonham at the Tasmanian Times. The poll also found Liberal leader Will Hodgman favoured by 57.3% ahead of 22.9% for Premier Lara Giddings and 19.8% for Greens leader Nick McKim, and that 34.4% opposed the forestry “peace deal” against 28.2% support.
Lyons Bass Braddon Denison Franklin Total Labor 22.3% 17.4% 23.2% 18.5% 27.6% 22.7% Liberal 55.7% 62.9% 56.8% 36.5% 46.3% 51.5% Greens 13.6% 13.6% 14.6% 23.2% 19.4% 17.7% Other 8.4% 6.1% 5.3% 21.9% 6.7% 8.1% Sample 233 230 232 241 238 1174
BH,
Stephensen is not backward coming forward. She won’t quietly wait for permission to talk, she will just skewer Mirabella.
[And IPA’s duffer wasn’t even going to allow his daughter to see the Gillard video! ]
A father can bring up his daughter as he sees fit, the IPA bloke may be worried she could get ideas if she watch the video,
that women have equal rights,
can get a university education,
can achieve as leaders whether it is of a political party or business,
do not have to put up with sexist remarks and
can aspire to more than giving her virginity to her husband on their wedding night and being a good wife and mother.
Zoomster:
[Begins with ‘refugees still arriving, but none being processed’]
Twice in the article they spoke of “the freeze by the Howard Government in 2010″.
One slip of the tongue I can imagine, but two?
Onya Samantha Hawley.
“@denniallen: Playing the sexism card:a guide for politicians* http://t.co/20YPMnOZ via @DailyLifeAU…..Oh so excellent!! Thank you CF..you are brilliant”
[More lockstep perhaps than synch
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/womens-virginity-a-precious-gift-says-opposition-leader-tony-abbott/story-e6frf7jo-1225823430036%5D
And when women gave him that precious gift he did not marry them because they gave it too freely?
Indeed, Castle … the daughter might take it the wrong way … 😉
“@CarlKatter: Dear national media outlets & journalists, please note a misogynist can be married & have daughters! Can’t believe I have to point this out?”
gecko
I don’t grandstand. I say it how I think it is.
Anyway,if we have misunderstood each other, then so be it.
New beginning?
[Stephensen is not backward coming forward. She won’t quietly wait for permission to talk, she will just skewer Mirabella.]
SK and Mirrabella won’t have the nous to know what has hit her. It’s time for Sophie to learn that she can’t over exaggerate.
[…the IPA bloke may be worried she could get ideas if she watch the video]
Like deciding she would vote for Labor?
Father may be booted from IPA. They stand for free speech after all
I always thought the “woman’s virginity is a precious gift” line was a bit rough on poor old Tony. Clearly he was referring to sex generally, and was thus being a great deal less medieval than the comment as reported made him appear. Though obviously he would have done much, much better to STFU.
Why the concentration on Twitter. There are lots of other ways that people heard about it. My boss and her daughter received multiple links to the speech by email. Both Lib leaning but both watched and gave it a 10/10 . In business they have been pretty pissed on a number of occassion where “not having testicles” means not being taken seriously. So for those Lib lasses the PM struck a real chord.
Ah, found it…
[The SPEAKER—I call the member for Indi, but before doing so I remind the member for Melbourne he will not reflect on the chair. Did the member for Indi refer to another member as a hypocrite?
Mrs Mirabella—Mr Speaker, I am not sure which part of my phrase was offensive—
The SPEAKER—Order! The member for Indi will respond to my 5question!
Mrs Mirabella—whether the member for Gellibrand was a feminist or whether she was a hypocrite. Which part is offensive?
The SPEAKER—The member for Indi will withdraw that remark!
Mrs Mirabella—If the truth hurts I withdraw the remark.
The SPEAKER—The member for Indi will withdraw without reservation. ]
The only reason for all the sensitivity was that it was too close to the bone – so to speak.
Labor wouldn’t have wanted to be accused of spreading rumours this week.
[“woman’s virginity is a precious gift” … Clearly he was referring to sex generally]
That sounds pretty specific to me William. Was there more context?
While I’m being heretical, I also think Gillard erred in repeated referring to “misogyny”. “Sexism” was quite adequate to the task. The idea that Tony Abbott hates women is not going to play outside of the Labor bubble.
[I always thought the “woman’s virginity is a precious gift” line was a bit rough on poor old Tony. Clearly he was referring to sex generally, and was thus being a great deal less medieval than the comment as reported made him appear. Though obviously he would have done much, much better to STFU.]
If he had to speak, why not just “virginity is important” rather than confine it to women, than loan it with precious and gift.
[New beginning?]
Happily… but not now, I’ve other tasks to attend.
Have a good weekend everybody.
(Kezza, I will try not to be so sensitive in the future.)
later
Sheesh,
Sorry, I have to comment, for the page to refresh or move on. Driving me crazy.
Fran, I did make it appear there that those were Abbott’s exact words, and they weren’t.
loan = load
BH
[ It’s time for Sophie to learn that she can’t over exaggerate.]
Hmmm … over exaggerate …
Space Kidette
[BH,
Stephensen is not backward coming forward. She won’t quietly wait for permission to talk, she will just skewer Mirabella.]
Too right she is a Kiwi lass who tamed The Big Yin is a great comedian and a clinical psychologist to boot. Poor Puff Adder.
William
well, the misogyny thing seems to be getting quite a run -even internationally.
Is a man’s virginity a precious gift? Tony seems to have lost his well before marriage. Thus it is a sexist statement.
Abbott hates women in jobs he covets thus he is a misogynist.
[poroti
Posted Friday, October 12, 2012 at 5:00 pm | Permalink
My GOD I’ve discovered the inspiration for Credlin / Abbott’s Hi Vis clothing working man blitz.]
Our Prime Minister is the real deal when it comes to working class.
“WHEN thieves stole Jason Akermanis’ mobile phone they would have never dreamed they were sparking a national security alert.”
“He said he was friends with Ms Gillard and got her number while playing for the Western Bulldogs, where she is the team’s No. 1 ticket holder.”
“Thieves had rifled through bags in the change rooms at Lavington Oval near Albury and nicked his phone which contained Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s phone number.”
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-news/jason-akermaniss-stolen-mobile-sparks-security-alert/story-e6frf9jf-1226356635962
Jess Wright is being promoted to Chief Political correspondent in Canberra, is she excited.
I have seven twitter accounts, six of which are bots. There is nothing wrong with them. They follow with respect and they follow back when needed.
From the Abbott-leaning HUN:
[Asked whether he expects his own daughters to remain virgins until they are married, Mr Abbott says all women should regard their virginity as a gift that should not be given lightly.]
fiona@5713
Not according to Tony Abbott. I recall him quoted as saying it was one of the reasons he left.
Are unsupported allegations of sexual impropriety against a woman (when the man’s identity is mentioned) sexist or misogynist?
William
Misogyny has a broader meaning than hate nowadays. The msm and the Libs have chosen to take the specific meaning so that they can deny it for sensitiveTone.
[ William Bowe
Posted Friday, October 12, 2012 at 6:49 pm | Permalink
While I’m being heretical, I also think Gillard erred in repeated referring to “misogyny”. “Sexism” was quite adequate to the task. The idea that Tony Abbott hates women is not going to play outside of the Labor bubble.
]
Right, so misogyny and sexism are very different in your opinion?
shellbell
[Are unsupported allegations of sexual impropriety against a woman (when the man’s identity is mentioned) sexist or misogynist?]
Niether. Just very poor taste.
William, you appear to be saying that virginity is important for women, so far as Tony (or yourself?) is concerned, but no comment is made so far as the importance of virginity for men.
So far as I am concerned, both are equally as important or unimportant as each other.
Not publishing the joke is a joke, why is the media censoring itself or more importantly why?
William Bowe@5719
Sorry William, where did you get that idea? They’re bending over backwards not to repeat it themselves, and I can see why they’d do that. It’d be prudent for them not to get involved in that. But I can’t see whether they’d care or not whether it got repeated by somebody else.
Surely it’s the exact same principle as when something is ‘strategically’ leaked from Caucus and nobody takes responsibility for or approves it.
As a joke, it’s neither here nor there, unless we’ve suddenly become squeamish about the F word. What it’s suggesting is a bit scurrilous, but the lengths to which people have gone to protect it from the public eye is the thing that makes me wonder how close it cut to the bone.
Can we all agree that when someone acts like an arsehole, they are an arsehole?
why now. oops
William
[While I’m being heretical, I also think Gillard erred in repeated referring to “misogyny”. “Sexism” was quite adequate to the task. The idea that Tony Abbott hates women is not going to play outside of the Labor bubble.]
There are two seprate claims here
1. Was it intellectually justified to speak of misogyny in relation to Abbott? Yes, as I notyed to Lizzie earlier. One need not hate all women — few do. One needs only to see them as in someway less entitled to make claims to right than men, or perhaps acting contrary to some normative code one endorses for doing so. Even ruling sexual baiting as OK if it works in destabilising the regime counts, because here, he speaks to the rules of the whole polity, unlike some jerk in a pub.
2. Will it play outside the “Labor bubble”? Probably. Some Liberals and uncommitteds are women. Many of them dislike being belittled and sniped at and see it as implying a general disdain at inclusion in public life.
Yet even if women are OK with it “only” being “sexist” I still think “misogyny” is the better term. In the sense I used it above, the boundaries between the two are unclear in any event but misogyny is about sexism directed at women, whereas sexism is sometimes used to cover alleged incipient misandry. Pyne even had a go at “bloke” the other day.
[William, you appear to be saying that virginity is important for women]
I am neither doing, nor appearing to be doing, anything of the kind.
Bushfire Bill,
[Abbott, hardly ever home, would have learned monkish habits when at the seminary.]
No need for “monkish habits”.Having gone to an Anglican School which was very much founded on the notion of muscular christianity this quote from Louis Nowra rings a bell. All that cycling and triathlons 😉
[ While at Oxford, Abbott found another mentor in an American trainee Jesuit priest, Paul Mankowski, whom he calls the finest man he has ever met. Deeply religious and keeping to a vow of poverty, Mankowski wore the clothes of dead priests. He was intelligent and a boxer. He fully endorsed the idea that “a healthy body means a healthy mind”, which was not so much a strand of Irish Catholicism but its English and American forms. The notion of “muscular Christianity” was especially important for Catholics, who emphasised sexual chastity before marriage and celibacy in priests. Physical activity was a way of finding a physical outlet for sexual frustration.]
http://www.themonthly.com.au/monthly-essays-louis-nowra-whirling-dervish-tony-abbott-2250
deflationite:
[Can we all agree that when someone acts like an @rsehole, they are an @rsehole?]
I don’t much like that term either — on a couple of grounds.
not sure what your trying to do William, but playing neutral is not the way to go.
[Mr Abbott says all women should regard their virginity as a gift that should not be given lightly.]
And that was the contempt with which Abbott gave an almighty backhander to Cathy (after finding out that his dearly beloved son who had always intruded on his marriage was proven DNAly not to be his.
He may as well have called her a slut.
ruawake
[Not publishing the joke is a joke, why is the media censoring itself or more importantly why?]
It is all a cunning plan to make sure that heaps more people find out what the joke is via the internet 😆
I am suddenly getting less and less interested in Tony’s relationdship with his bike.
Where is ShowsOn ? He’s a Friday Speed Dating fanatic 🙂
I’m less concerned with what misogyny actually means than with what it will be perceived to mean where it matters electorally, and I suspect that a great many who would have signed on to “Tony Abbott is a sexist” will baulk at “Tony Abbott hates women” (which is the definition in the dictionary).