The latest weekly BludgerTrack update neatly reflects the results of the most recent Newspoll, ReachTEL and Nielsen polls in landing bang on 52-48 to Labor. The Labor primary vote has a four in front of it for the first time since BludgerTrack opened for business at the start of the year, albeit by the barest of margins, with a 1.4% gain this week coming off a drop for minor parties while the Coalition holds steady at 40.9%. The latest state-level data points have fuelled a blowout in the result for Queensland, and while there has certainly been some indication of softness for the Coalition there recently (notably the 11% swing which showed up in Nielsen), I’m pretty sure the present extent of it will prove to be aberration. The two weakest state swings for Labor happen to be where elections are due shortly, although you might argue that a Holden shutdown effect is yet to come through in South Australia.
This will probably be the last update for the year – certainly Essential Research will not be back until the middle of next month, and I imagine that’s it for Morgan as well. Newspoll has never been in the business of polling beyond early December, but hopefully The Australian will shortly offer state breakdowns from its accumulated post-election polling so a bit more ballast can be added to the BludgerTrack state dataset.
Rotating Turkey is getting frustrated at not being able to sweep the increasingly undeniable Abbott catastrophe under the increasingly threadbare propaganda carpet, nor break the spirit of the anti-Abbott forces (which only seem to be rapidly gathering momentum and purpose).
Alas, such failures get heavily penalised under the standard Menzies House WorkYouSerfBastardsTillYouDrop contract.
Which means no Xmas turkey for the Turkey, so once again all the little Turkeys will have to eat cold day-old gruel while sitting in front of the Xmas twig and wistfully thumbing through the 1995 K-Mart catalogue of children’s toys.
=====
AC
Now that’s a Xmas song I can get into.
[On the eighth day of Christmas
Scrooge Abbott left for me:
8 piles of ironing]
Nice touch. 🙂
Can I put in a request for God Rest Ye Merry Turkey Bones?
All done in the best parsible taste, of course.
[Frank Costigan took on the Painters and Dockers Royal Commission which was set up as an anti-union witch hunt and look where that ended up. 😀
Could Hanger do something similar? We won’t know for quite a while yet.]
Hope you are right.
Fulvio Sammut@2636
Yes!
They are tolerated for our amusement. 😛
[which was set up as an anti-union witch hunt and look where that ended up.]
The good old days … a lawyers feed-fest.
[Fulvio Sammut@2636
Does William have a policy on dummy spitting smartarses?
Yes!
They are tolerated for our amusement.]
haha Well both of you are still allowed to post so…
From the Guardian…
Looks like this bloke thinks he is running the RC, or that he’s been told he is.
“What really needs a RC is any war crimes committed by Australian troops in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Shit happens on both sides of a fence. No RC on what happened to some diggers? Humans can and do make mistakes.
Does Kevin Andrews have a problem reading. He wants people on DSP to be on it temporarily.
Hey Opus Boy, I’ll let you in on a secret. The disability only has to last for two years guess what, thats temporary.
Your problem is the 1,400 reviews your Dept. can’t do everyday. Then the appeals and new applications, its all to hard.
Try a new approach – Salt Mines would suit your style.
22-12-2013 23:33 ARRIVAL CHRISTMAS ISLAND HOA NAM
22-12-2013 07:04 ARRIVAL CHRISTMAS ISLAND PRINCESS MARY
22-12-2013 04:01 ARRIVAL CHRISTMAS ISLAND OCEAN PRINCESS
21-12-2013 01:23 ARRIVAL CHRISTMAS ISLAND OCEAN PRINCESS
20-12-2013 22:50 ARRIVAL CHRISTMAS ISLAND HOA NAM
Found 5 records
Busy day at Xmas island
@ruawake/2658
These guys don’t have a fraking clue, they all in their fansy suits with their new bomb proof BMW’s.
Thought it was only the PM who had a bomb proof BMW. And new? it was bought under Gillard.
How will the cost of detention decline, if the refugees are going to be held indefinitely? The govt does not appear to have factored in the possible increases from another war or climate disaster.
[The midyear budget review, released last week, set aside an extra $2 billion to process refugee claims offshore. The scheme’s projected expenses over the next four years are now about $9.5 billion.
However, the government says its annual costs will begin to fall dramatically in about two years, suggesting the current wave of refugees will have dissipated.]
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-service/boat-people-warning-on-rising-cost-of-refugees–up-to-500000-each-20131222-2ztax.html#ixzz2oHAHEQLA
anyone see a contradiction here?
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/boatpeople-funds-cut/story-fn9hm1gu-1226783601740#
http://www.smh.com.au/national/scott-morrisons-new-rules-to-put-asylum-seekers-back-in-detention-20131220-2zqso.html
cut funds and prevent them from working so the only way they can afford to live is by having many people in rented accommodation and then send them back to detention where thye’ll cost taxpayers >$100,000 per year and you can demonise them further.
Morriscum is one of the nastiest pieces of shit in the LNP – I wish the media would focus on his Pentecostal fundamentalism and how this is influencing his war on non-christian migrants. It is a disgrace that someone who overtly urged his colleagues to use xenophobia and race to their advantage can still be in the ministry, let alone minister for immigration. The governments hostility to multiculturalism will come back and bite this nation – bi-partisan support and nuturing of multiculturalism has been one of the most impressive things about this country since the 1970s until the Howard era. Howard lost LOTO in 1988 for saying WTTE “he could understand why some people thought there were too many asian migrants”. Anybody who has joined or supported the LNP since 2001 is not a ‘liberal’ – they’re sociopathic pricks (Sean and Turkey are perfect examples of these sorts of people who are proudly and stupidly selfish and deliberately ignorant). Fraser and Hewson are genuine liberals – there are none of their ilk left in the LNP. A minister for immigration who plays the race card is reminiscent of fascist governments. In fact, the number of libs with fascists (german, italian, greek, balkan, south african, National Guard (like Howard’s dad), or european collaborators etc) in their family trees would be an interesting study.
[Thought it was only the PM who had a bomb proof BMW. And new? it was bought under Gillard.]
Wrong as usual. No replacement limousines have been purchased. Plus the BMW did not make the short list under the ALP.
What Abbott has done who the fuck knows.
Geoff@2661
Do keep up!
Previous PMs, going back to at least Fraser, have had Holdens.
Now, the Abbott gang have ordered BMWs.
D
Is that Greenpeace down there or asylum seekers?
A319s to the rescue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih1kCDjrixA
@Geoff/2661
BMW was Abbott idea, not Gillard, you really need to keep up.
[Previous PMs, going back to at least Fraser]
Fraser started the ‘buy Australian’ thing. He had a Fairlane.
Hawke went for the Statesman.
sustainable future@2663
The “National Guard” is a US institution.
Howards dad was in the “New Guard”, a home grown fascist organisation which my grandfather fought against.
bemused
[Howards dad was in the “New Guard”]
It’s a great recommendation – Shown would highly approve.
I assume that the C1 car before the Fairlane would have been a Roller?
rua – Yep.
[Howards dad was in the “New Guard”, a home grown fascist organisation which my grandfather fought against.]
I’m liking you more, Beamie.
[BMW was Abbott idea, not Gillard, you really need to keep up.]
Nice one Zoidlord. They can not be driving them then if they have been ordered.
just to clarify http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/bombproof-bmws-will-replace-the-prime-ministers-holden-fleet-of-limousines/story-fni0xqrc-1226780185117?utm_source=Daily%20Telegraph&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&net_sub_uid=2081203
Not much about behind the scenes etc.
[BMW was Abbott idea] And what a good idea it is. No point buying from them now that they are cutting and running. 😛
I’m surprised Abbott hasn’t ordered a Bushmaster, he could drive and Cabinet could meet in the back while Bronny looked after the remote weapons.
[ They can not be driving them then if they have been ordered. ]
They’re not – Abbott is driving around in a Holden until the BMW’s arrive.
What’s your point?
The C1 car before the Fairlane was a Mercedes 450 SEL. Whitlam retired the black Bentley he inherited and bought a white Merc. Three, actually. He also flogged off three Rollers.
http://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/COMCAR-six.pdf
Geoff
The Terror Graph story was wrong Benson admitted it. It was a beat-up on Holden special designed to give them the shits.
[ And what a good idea it is. No point buying from them now that they
are cutting and running.have shut down the car industry. ]Fixed that for you.
@Geoff/2674
heh, quoting Daily.
“The Federal Government is now expected to sign a contract to buy cheaper, off-the shelf BMW High Security 7-series vehicles, at a cost of $525,000 each, which meet higher international standards of protection against ballistic and gas attacks – and which can be serviced in Australia.”
Imagine what one can do with $525,000 dollars……
That’s 30 Pensioners a year or nearly 60 Newstart.
[What’s your point?]
The point is he commissioned foreign-made BMWs in exactly the same week he got Truss to tell GM to sod off.
And then he lied about GM’s bid for the Comcars.
The man, Abbott, regards lying as a hobby.
THAT’s the point.
@HillbillySkill: Scott Morrison & @TonyAbbottMHR now have real blood on their hands. Baby’s blood of an Asylum Seeker. Can’t wait for a Labor RC into that!
@danielhurstbne: Woman who miscarried on Christmas Island told to lower her expectations, report David Marr & @oliverlaughland http://t.co/SNM7HRqOX8 #auspol
gt
The poor woman who miscarried and was told there is no ultrasound on CI (when there is).
Morrison is a disgrace.
Bushfire Bill@2673
Careful BB.. don’t go overboard.
I have mentioned it on here before, but will do so again for any that missed it.
My family came from Jack Lang’s old electorate of Auburn. Granddad was a Labor Alderman on the local council and was one of Lang’s bodyguards at meetings. He attended such events with a pick handle to deal with any New Guard ruffians who would try to break up ALP meetings.
Interesting times. I wish some memorabilia had been preserved by the family.
bemused – of course you are right re: New Guard
too many christmas parties – brain is more fried than normal. how did your grandfather fight against them? they were a scary mob – many senior military as well as returned WWI servicemen ready to use violence against the left, ‘foreigners’ and elected labor governments. Hitler gave thugs like this a bad name for two generations, but I could easily imagine their return under the likes of abbott and Howard – Howard’s effective defence of Hanson and then the Cronulla rioters, Morriscums urging for the playing of the race card, and the rantings of shock jocks show where the sympathies of ‘modern’ ‘liberals’ lie.
[He is a big fan or Carpenter, Mead and Johnson.]
An independent, a Misso and a SDA man. How very eclectic of me (apart from them all being Labor, of course).
sustainable future@2687
See my 2686.
My grandfather could be pretty scary and formidable too. He was not very tall but he was very stocky and muscular as he worked as a bricklayer which would be kind of like working out every day.
It seems Hunt was purposely putting out the garbage last weekend.
[On Friday 20th December Greg Hunt, the Federal Minister for the Environment, announced his conditional approval for Clive Palmer’s proposed Galilee Coal Project (aka China First). Despite the decision being dated 19th December, it was not announced on the department’s website until 6pm the following day, the Friday before Christmas. There was also not the usual accompanying Ministerial press release. Was the Federal Government worried the news getting critical attention from journalists?]
rua
Problem for Hunt is Senate Committees tend to look for prime time for their press releases to make a splash.
[ Howards dad was in the “New Guard”, a home grown fascist organisation which my grandfather fought against. ]
Its also abbott’s inclination – guided democracy, surrounded by and hiding behind the military.
A lot of detail about the history of Nauru, including some very nasty bits:
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Yuki-TANAKA/3441
Morrison is busy writing his own chapter.
Bw
[A lot of detail about the history of Nauru]
I won’t read. I remember from something I read many years ago that it was very nasty.
Full Terms of Reference of the HIP RC.
http://www.homeinsulationroyalcommission.gov.au/About/Pages/TermsofReference.aspx
CTaR1
It is astonishingly bad, IMHO, – statistically (proportionately) worse than the Burma Railroad.
CTaR1
Have been chasing up Australian war crimes in Vietnam. Am now convinced that they were not isolated events but, in certain periods of our involvement, SOP.
BTW, if you get a free plane ride from CI to Nauru, courtesy taxpayers like RT and ST, it is a trip of around 6800km.
Bw
[It is astonishingly bad, IMHO]
I had the best index of Australian Courts-Marshall under my control once.
A researcher from the AWM was ‘in’ writing about the ‘War Tribunals’ after WW2. I had to read each one before he could see then.
Not pretty.
@oliverlaughland: 1/2 “a Muslim asylum seeker.. has drawn a Jewish star of David onto his shirt with his identification number written underneath it
@oliverlaughland: 2/2 in protest at docs IDing asylum seekers by boat number: http://t.co/cc2l3CxeB5 worth weighing that image up. It really struck me.