The Australian reports the latest Newspoll has the Coalition leading 55-45 on two-party preferred, down from 56-44 at the previous poll three weeks ago, with both Labor and the Coalition down a point on the primary vote to 31% and 47% respectively and the Greens up two to 11%. Tony Abbott has apparently hit the lead as preferred prime minister; more to follow.
UPDATE: GhostWhoVotes relates that Julia Gillard’s ratings have plunged yet further, her approval down six points to 30% and disapproval up six to 58%. Tony Abbott is effectively unchanged at 33% (steady) and 55% (down one), but his 41-39 deficit on preferred prime minister is now a lead of 40-36.
UPDATE 2: The latest Morgan face-to-face result combines the last two weekends of polling, and it shows the Coalition sustaining a commanding primary vote lead of 44% (down one) to 33.5% (steady), with the Greens up a point to 10%. On respondent-allocated preferences the Coalition lead has narrowed from 56-44 to 54.5-45.5, while on previous election preferences it’s down from 54.5-45.5 to 53.5-46.5.
Other news:
• The Australian Electoral Commission has accepted Julian Assange’s enrolment in the Melbourne seat of Isaacs, which clears him to proceed with his Senate bid unless someone cares to mount a legal challenge. I had expected that Assange might fall foul of the requirement that a person enrolling overseas must intend to resume residing in Australia within six years of having left. To the best of my admittedly limited knowledge, Assange was last here furtively in 2007. Another legal grey area is his political asylum status, and what it might mean for the constitutional injunction that parliamentarians not be “under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or … a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power”.
• Gary Humphries, who has held the Liberals’ ACT Senate seat since 2003 and was the territory’s Chief Minister from October 2000 to November 2001, has lost preselection to Zed Seselja, leader of the ACT opposition through five years and two election defeats. Seselja prevailed in the contentious party ballot on Saturday by margin of 114 to 84. Humphries says he will abide by the result, but even before the vote his supporters had petitioned for it to be referred to a divisional council meeting on the grounds that the process had been rushed to Seselja’s advantage. That would throw the vote open to around 400 extra party members who were denied a vote because they hadn’t attended a branch meeting in six months.
• With Seselja standing aside from the leadership to contest the Senate preselection, the ACT Liberals have chosen Molonglo MP Jeremy Hanson as their new leader ahead of former leader Brendan Smyth. This was despite Gary Humphries’ claim that a deal had been reached between Seselja and another MP, Alistair Coe, in which Seselja would decisively throw his weight behind Coe in exchange for Coe’s support for his Senate preselection bid (which was nonetheless forthcoming, along with that of the remainder of the Liberal party room). Humphries claimed his decision to reveal the deal to the public caused it to come undone, although Coe denied it had ever been made. Coe won the party room ballot for the deputy leadership, unseating Smyth.
• Natasha Griggs, the Country Liberal Party member for the Darwin-based seat of Solomon since she unseated Labor’s Damian Hale in 2010, has seen off a preselection challenge from Peter Bourke, a clinical immunologist at Royal Darwin Hospital. In January the Northern Territory News reported a party source saying Bourke was likely to prevail, as Griggs was “not cut out to be a politician”.
• A rank-and-file Labor preselection vote for the south-western Sydney seat of Werriwa will be held on March 5, pitting Labor veteran Laurie Ferguson against union and party activist Damien Ogden, who had been an aspirant for the seat when Ferguson moved there after his existing seat of Reid was merged with neighbouring Lowe at the 2010 election. Anna Patty of the Sydney Morning Herald reports Ogden has some support from both the “hard” and “soft” left, respectively associated with Anthony Albanese and the United Voice union, although it appears to be generally expected that Ferguson will see off the threat. A report by Samantha Maiden in the Sunday Telegraph suggests that might not avail him in the long run, with union polling conducted late last year said to point to a decisive swing against Labor of 13%.
• Ben McClellan of the Blacktown Advertiser reports the Liberal preselection for Greenway has been set for March 9, with 12 shortlisted candidates including 2010 candidate Jayme Diaz, Rose Tattoo singer Gary “Angry” Anderson, Hills councillor Yvonne Keane and “anti-bullying campaigner and motivational speaker” Brett Murray. Also in the field are business coach Robert Borg, gym owner Rowan Dickens, senior financial analyst Mathew Marasigan, marketing manager Ben Jackson, Hills councillor Mark Owen Taylor, accountant Mark Jackson, security supervisor Renata Lusica and, curiously, Josephina Diaz, mother of Jayme. The choice will be made from a panel of delegates from the electorate’s five branches and head office.
Here is a link to an old report on the failure of Costello’s outsourcing of Commonwealth IT services.
http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/archive/itoutsourcing
Stop the waste! Stop Costello.
Ooo Tim Nicholls said he would talk to people first before selling stuff.
I can guess the people – those who want to buy stuff.
“Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has given a “guarantee” that workers’ pay and conditions will be safe under a coalition government, as Labor accused the coalition of hiding its workplace policy”
Yeah right … i think we should file that away with the never ever on the GST. I dont think I have ever seen a Liberal government (State or Federal) in my 40-odd years as a voter that did not try and cut workers pay and or conditions. It is the reason that Tories exist.
Mark Butler on Capital Hill with Turnbull
Reading posts in the ALP Upwey/Foothills facebook page… I get the distinct impression that the moderator is a lurker at PB 😛 .
I have just finished reading the Costello Drivel Exec Summary.
It is a blueprint for getting rid of State Government.
Silly Campbell.
rua
Grogs gamut and pollytics agree with you
“@ABCNews24: Joining @bairdjulia on #TheDrum panel: Greens Senator @sarahinthesen8, The Australian’s @Adam_Creighton and comedian @corinne_grant 6pm AEDT”
When i watched Costello trying to be convincing today..you’d have to wonder if even the man’s mirror takes him seriously!
Apparently TA did another “cut and run” at a presser today. Anyone know if he answered any Q at all? Or was it a monologue about himself?
joe carli@3609
Ha! I have had the misfortune of meeting the prick in person. Even worse.
Dave..3573…’Basically along the same lines as abbott intends, plus defense be retained by feds, but lots of stuff associated with defense to be done by private sector.”
Milo Minderbinder!..come home! All is forgiven!
“@GrogsGamut: @Pollytics this is so much like Costello’s wet dream from 1996 I half expected to read a recommendation that they should sell off Telstra”
Socrates@3597
rossmcg@3599
the power of the major supermarkets again?
It is an old trueism that a barber has but one haircut, an architect ; one design and all else but a derivative….The Libs’; a right-wing political party w/only one objective!
lizzie
Abbott was asked a few questions, I don’t think anyone would say he answered them.
http://www.tonyabbott.com.au/News/tabid/94/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/9082/Joint-Doorstop-Interview-Brisbane.aspx
rossmcg@3603
What does ‘safe’ mean ?
The same as the angry ant saying Queensland would need more public servants, not less?
Voters – if the tories fool you once – shame on them.
If they fool you twice – shame on you!
joe carli@3612
Milo was right – they were trying to kill him 🙂
Dave @ 3615
Dunno the reasons, but try American fast food for an influence. Do they use tomato sauce?. Mustard pickle? Or ketchup and relish … It’s a sad day
Make a list..: Ashby/Brough.
Abbott/Hanson.
Blewitt/Bishop.
Sinodinos/Obied.
Morrison/Racism….and all the Om. can talk about is the weather and the PM. in an hotel.
So you have Sinodinos who forgot he was co-directors. Morriscum – forgot he’s a human being. Abetz – his Uncle & Abbott – forgot abt decency
Dave..”Milo was right – they were trying to kill him”
That’s Yossarian!
One of Abbott’s non replies.
[QUESTION:
Eric Abetz did make a comparison there with a paedophile registry and an asylum seeker registry. Were those comments going too far?
TONY ABBOTT:
Look, I’m not aware of the comments so I just simply can’t say anything about them.]
I call it bullshit.
rua
Hmmm. Well, TA said a lot, but most of it was repetition or prevarication.
[Obviously, the Government needs to know where people are and at the moment people are just disappearing into the community. At the moment we have got a situation where the boats are coming in ever greater numbers, our detention centres are overcrowded and overflowing, thousands of people have been released into the community without any supervision and the Government has lost control of the system.]
This in particular has drawn a lot of comment, because it’s not true – although it supports the Libs’ “lost control of our borders” narrative.
How can you forget you are a director of a company? Sidonis is alleged to have been so smart that he was Howard’s right and left hand man and guardian angel rolled into one. He must be so smart his brain hurts. And he forgot he was a company director? This is a man who will be a central player in an Abbott government. I hope he doesn’t forget what he is the minister for.
Libs have an amazing ability to forget the statements of their “friends”.
rossmcg@3620
Were they Australian owned still?
There is a familiar pattern of Australian companies being taken over by a foreign company which after a few years shuts it down and moves production elsewhere.
Some of the products you like are still made by an Australian company, Three 3s. My wife and I always look for the Australian companies manufacturing in Australia when we shop. It is getting harder.
[Barossa Observer @BarossaObserver
On recent form, #AsylumSeekers on bridging visas are actually far less likely to be charged with a crime than your average MP #auspol]
I have an aged relative who hears LNP. scaremongering on furriners, money owed and socialism…and they think of Menzies and feel they owe the man and the country. What they mistake, is that they are thinking Menzies but voting Abbott and he will CREAM them..; “the entitled pensioners”.
[guytaur
Posted Friday, March 1, 2013 at 5:08 pm | PERMALINK
Mark Butler on Capital Hill with Turnbull]
It was quite a courteous affair, not like the usual political tete a tete
[P for Political Geek @geeksrulz
Howard Govt’s ‘cannot recall’ ‘don’t recollect’ ‘wasn’t informed’ ‘can’t remember’ has become Abbott’s ‘No specific knowledge’. #auspol]
[lizzie
Posted Friday, March 1, 2013 at 5:40 pm | PERMALINK
Barossa Observer @BarossaObserver
On recent form, #AsylumSeekers on bridging visas are actually far less likely to be charged with a crime than your average MP #auspol]
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/few-asylum-seekers-charged-with-crime-20130228-2f98h.html
joe carli@3623
Yep – you are correct.
‘What’s good for M & M Enterprises will be good for the country.’
‘We’re gonna come out of this war rich!’
I noticed Rummel checking in…ok, Rummel..hello and put that tissue box down!
On asylum seekers and reporting: most, if not all, research suggests that first and second generation immigrants are actually far less to commit crimes than the general population. From what I understand, the third generation face ingrained disadvantage and socio-economic factors kick in, and the likelihood of committing/beign involved in crime increase greatly.
rossmcg@3620
I think the proliferation of home brands and the like is taking its toll.
[P for Political Geek @geeksrulz
Parliamentary secretary Warren Entsch’s concrete company won a massive government contract in breach of the code. #JWHrorts #auspol]
This is the sort of thing that leads “the ordinary voter” to shrug and say “all pollies are the same. Drives me bonkers.
No, Dave!…you’re supposed to ask ; “Who’s Yossarian?”…to which I answer “Yossarian’s Yossarian, sir!”…just like in the book.
[The Australian Bureau of Statistics has not compiled national crime figures for the 2011-12 financial year because New South Wales declined to provide the rates of young offenders to the ABS.]
How do they get away with this? If a business tries to decline to fill in an ABS survey they will be fined for everyday they ‘decline’.
@TelePolitics: #Eastleigh analysis: Cameron’s EU strategy may have failed. Far from being neutered, the Ukip surge accelerated. http://t.co/X4LDrfvwer
dave
Our dog is going to start a petition against the loss of his special biscuits and the introduction of Woolies “Select” stuff.
guytaur
I posted this earlier today maybe you didn’t see it:
[Reported on ABC 702 news at 12noon that the NSW Government has received 7,000 submissions supporting Gay Marriage claimed to be the largest number ever received for a State Government Inquiry.
3,500 of them are from GetUp!]
[P for Political Geek @geeksrulz
Health min. Wooldridge signed $5M building deal for Royal Australian College of General Practitioners., resigned & became consultant #auspol ]
This was a particularly bad look for Howard’s lot.
MTBW
Hopefully that will get past the Nile block.
Also hopefully Minister Gay will approve permanence for Rainbow crossing too. Interesting that police want to have it at every traffic crossing.
Bemused
Rosella was one of several Australian and NZ food labels owns by a company called gourmet food holdings. They has been in a strife since December, just did a quick google but couldn’t come up with who is behind them. I daresay the owners will have got their money out and left not much behind.
Hey Mod, you are very quiet about Uncle Arfur so so generous $15M to Obeid & $3.75M give away
lizzie@3642
I was in the queue at ALDI a few years back and an old bloke came if with some opened dog biscuits and asked for his money back as his dog didn’t like the biscuits.
The bloke didn’t have the receipt, but it was clearly an ALDI product so he got his money back.
Can you imagine trying that at Woolies or Coles ?
Fran
‘BW @3374
you cannot accept the notion that the SOWS has no standing for any nation that does not recognise it.
The fact is that the IWC recognises it and for the moment, Japan is part of the IWC. It is bound by the rules — which is why it continues to assert when asked that its whaling is for scientific purposes, even though it clearly isn’t.’
The easiest thing would be for the Japanese to pull out of the IWC altogether, wouldn’t it.
‘So, how did the IWC come to approve the Japanese scientific whaling program?
It never has, IIRC. The IWC provides a dispensation for ‘scientific whaling’ and licences member states to issue permits.’
Greens sophistry. The deal was that Japan could conduct scientific whaling or it would leave the IWC altogether. taking a small slew of other whaling nations with it. Perhaps that is what the Greens want the Japanese to do. Who knows?
‘This is what is called a loophole.’
It is called a compromise. It is like the Greens saying, well yes, our policy is stop the exploration for, mining of, and export of uranium but that does not apply to Olympic Dam even though Olympic Dam involves the mining of, and export of, uranium. Same same.
‘Given the vote buying going on by Japan, and the need for 75% majority, removing Japan’s right to issue permits is unlikely to pass and even if it did, the IWC has no compliance mechanisms.’
That is what I have been saying.
;You probably don’t know because you are too busy supporting the murderous marine marauders.
I’m opposing the marine marauders who are pursuing a cruel and insistent war on whales.’
Fran, it is unlike you to use such slipshod language. It is not a war. War is what people do to other people; feel free to use your own definition of ‘cruelty’ but ‘cruelty’ is very much in the eye of the beholder.
‘’m siding with those brave souls…’
Whoa! ‘souls’ now; quite hyperbolic.
‘…who are standing up for…’ call a spade a spade Fran, go on: ‘…who are putting human lives at risk…’. You have been a bit coy about the inhumane deadliness of what the self-appointed vigilantes are up to.
‘…the integrity…’
Que?
‘…of these defenceless marine mammals…’
What has defendability got to do with it?
‘…against their would be torturers and killers….’
Slippy language again. You appear to be emotivated here Fran.
‘Sea Shepherd overtook two vessels underway causing multiple collisions. In so doing it has broken international laws governing ships underway. In so doing it also created a situation in which humans might have been either crushed or drowned.
That’s unclear… and may turn out upon examination to be false.’
Sure, sure. You Greens. Black is White. The two Japanese vessals reversed towards the Sea Shepherd. Have a look at the wakes of all three vessals in the video: they are all showing the typical wakes of vessals steaming ahead. You are a bit coy about the Sea Shepherd endangering the lives of human beings. If it is such a saintly business, the Sea Shepherd should be right to murder people, shouldn’t it?
‘That said, the law of the sea is intended to protect the safety of persons engaged in legitimate marine activity.’
You naughty Greens sea-lawyers. The law of the seas is intended to protect the safety of all persons including those engaged in lawful activity. Which the Japanese are. But hey, if a bunch of potential Greens people killers decide that ‘lawful’ is not the same as ‘legitimate’… look out.
‘This is clearly not legitimate marine activity.’
That is what you Greens say. It is what suicide bombers in Waziristan say as well.
‘I assume that It serves no scientific purpose nor aeven a commercial one connected with any significant human need.’
Sure. Assume away and put people in danger of being crushed to death or drowning. Hey. They are only people. The important thing here is whales.
‘If these people were brutalising large mammals on the land, there would be a huge outcry and cameras everywhere embarrassing them before the world.’
So?
‘But because the brutality takes place safe from public view, they persist.’
They do not share your view of brutality. Lots of people don’t, you know.
‘Sea Shepherd is radically complicating the matter for these thugs and that is a good thing.’
‘radically complicating’ = Sea Shepherd is breaking the law of the sea and putting lives at risk in so doing; more Greens sophistry. Go on Fran, give it a try: call a murderous spade a spade.
‘Don’t get me wrong — I don’t wish to see even thugs injured — but if you ask me to choose bettwen the safety of thugs who are going out of their way by thousands of sea miles to brutalise animals and the safety of those animals — I’m going to prefer the latter. The Japanese government has effectively declared its determination to assail with extreme prejudice what a fisheries official in 2001 called ‘marine cockroaches’.’
Well, it is always a good idea when you are setting about murdering people to dehumanize them. You Greens! You have certainly learned from all the other jihadis and religous crusaders in history.
‘ The crews on these poaching vessels…’
Poaching now? By what law? Tsk tsk. When you are going to kill people it is important not only to dehaminize them but to persuade yourself that they are breaking laws.
‘…are there of their own free will.’
Law-abiding citizens going about their lives generally are there of their own free will. I guess that they are not particularly enjoying the risk of some Greens zealots trying to crush them to death but hey, life has its complications.
‘Like any reckless malfeasant, they forfeit at least some of their privilege and claim to safety.’
Sure. Go ahead and kill them if they don’t agree with you.
You have made it quite plain that you would choose the death of humans over the death of whales because you think your morality is superior. It is good that you are clear about your support for the potentially murderous, and illegal behaviour of Sea Shepherd.
‘Ah … the slippery slope. Abortion, religious practice and the other matters you allude to are the subject of the effective rule of law. The state not only rules on them but enforces these rules and protects these activities not merely with words but if needed, armed police officers. Those who object can appeal to legislators to change laws and courts to enforce them if the changes they wish are made’.
As applied to places like Syria, Libya, Pakistan, etc, etc, this is self-serving drivel, Fran.
‘As you note yourself though, the japanese in this respect are able to flout the words of bodies like the IWC and even the ICJ — so the analogy fails’.
The Japanese are behaving consistent with the IWC. Whether they will accept a decision from the ICJ remains to be seen. But I guess you Greens not only have superior morality, you can see into the future.
‘It fails too on another ground. People who blow up mosques and murder doctors are deliberately harming others engaged in consensual activity, whereas the Sea Shepherd activists are, at worst prejudicing the safety of others involved in harming non-consenting third parties — whales.’
Yep. Greens are happy not to disrupt people killing other people but are happy possibly killing people for killing whales.
‘The only way to restrain this odious activity in the foreseeable future is to do much as Sea Shepherd is doing — to humiliate and frustrate these thugs until the Japanese regime accepts that the game is not worth the candle.’
The only way? Why not arm Sea Shepherd with some missiles and get it over and done with? All this pretence to humanity is a sick Greens joke.
‘I suppose that the next thing we will be seeing is Greens ramming their high-end Range Rovers into roo-shooter’s utes?
Again, the analogy fails because we Greens are non-violent.’
That is the funniest thing I have read for a long, long time. You have spent numerous posts justifying the extreme violence involved in initiating collisions between ships at sea and then you declare that you Greens are non-violent. What a hoot.
‘If we did have ‘high end Range Rovers’ and wanted to do the land equivalent of Sea Shepherd we might sound our horns and try to drive off the kangaroos. Ramming the Nishan Maru with the Bob Barker would just be mad.’
Ramming the Nishan Maru is not mad? False analogy. Surely all that cruelty to joeys is brutalising…
The Sea Shepherd is a long, long way down the slippery slope. It is more or less inevitable that someone will die as a result of actions initiated by Sea Shepherd. Those actions will likely be illegal in terms of the law of the sea. You can carry on about ‘necessity’, but the bottom line is that you are saying that your morality is a superior morality and that gives you the right to kill people. Some particularly nasty folk have gone down that path.
Murder is murder.
guytaur
[Also hopefully Minister Gay will approve permanence for Rainbow crossing too. Interesting that police want to have it at every traffic crossing.]
Really? Then the police are more progressive than the Government.