GhostWhoVotes reports that the first Nielsen poll of the year for the Fairfax papers shows the Coalition leading 52-48 on two-party preferred, its first lead in a telephone poll since November and a reversal of the result in the previous Nielsen poll of November 21-23. The primary votes are 44% for the Coalition (up three), 33% for Labor (down four) and 12% for the Greens (up one). More to follow.
UPDATE: Personal ratings corroborate Newspoll in finding Bill Shorten’s strong early figures vanishing – he’s down eleven points on approval to 40%, and up ten on disapproval to 40% – while Tony Abbott is little changed at 45% (down two) and 47% (up one). Also reflecting Newspoll, this has made little difference to the preferred prime minister result, with Abbott’s lead up only slightly from 49-41 to 49-39.
UPDATE 2: Full details including state and gender breakdowns.
WWP
And when the tax office has a good case it usually does a deal, which remains secret and is most likely for a sum far less than it should be and we never even find out who the bad guys are.
the Murdoch case dated back years and years, but like you say they are all over small investors and PAYG taxpayers for the most trivial matters and small amounts.
Two years after Bermie madoff’s world collapsed he was in jail. In Australia, the regulators, ASIC, ACCC, ATO, whoever, would still be wondering what happened, never mind getting ready to brief prosecutors.
[Joe Kelly has been principal of Cranbourne South Primary School for 15 years, and acknowledged that until two years ago he had been “blindly supporting” Access Ministries’ presence. That was until he took a closer look at the actual classes and curriculum.
“It is not education,” Mr Kelly said. “It has no value whatsoever. It is rubbish – hollow and empty rhetoric … My school teachers are committed to teaching children, not indoctrinating them.”]
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/primary-school-principals-shut-down-religious-education-classes-20140216-32ty8.html#ixzz2tXBDmsBt
[And when the tax office has a good case it usually does a deal]
Not always but often the tax office will settle.
lizzie
For a brief moment, i thought the prinicipal in the article was Alan Jones!!
A reminder for those interested
Tonight’s Panel for Qanda
Eric Abetz – Liberal Senate Leader
Tony Burke – Shadow Finance Minister
Heather Ridout – Businesswoman & RBA board member
Yassmin Abdel-Magied – Founder of Youth Without Borders
James Allan – Professor of Law, University of Queensland
Abbott presser now 24
Diog
Senators are a different bunch — they don’t see themselves as ‘working an electorate’.
Federal and State MPs offices work differently.
Guytaur
No doubt you will take one for the team. 🙂
[The message they’re mostly getting (apart from sport, celebrity trivia and cross-promotion) is that the boats have stopped, unions are corrupt and the carbon tax destroyed the car industry.]
Yup, and the collective attack of the stupids goes on. 🙁
Dear Shellbell
Please be advised that the High Court High Court of Australia, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, will deliver the following judgments in the next week:
Tuesday, 18 February 2014 at 12 noon, Courtroom level 17, 305 William Street, Melbourne (by video-link to Perth)
The Australian Electoral Commission v. Johnston & Ors (C17/2013);
Wang v. Johnston & Ors (P55/2013); and
Mead v. Johnston & Ors (P56/2013)
Copies of the judgment summaries will be accessible on the High Court website following the delivery of judgment.
Copies of the full judgment will be accessible on AustLII once uploaded.
Shellbell
Are you willing to hazard a guess as to what the decision might be
Abbott ignoring the science still talking once in 20 or 50 year event regarding drought.
I would like him to be right but we know climate change has changed the ball game.
It also shows Abbott is in denial about Australia’s national security due to climate change
Setting aside the facts that the issue involves News and creative accounting, the basic fact is that the ATO made a ruling on deductions involving currency fluctuation losses, issued an assessment to News, under Australian law News was required to pay the tax involved in the assessment, News challenged the ruling and the Federal Court found in their favour. Under those circumstances News is entitled to a refund of the tax paid. The court also awarded News costs and interests.
That’s our tax law. It may not seem fair but it is what it is until the government makes changes to the tax act.
“@SpaceKidette: Bananaby: When the water runs out,
the water runs out. #ahthanksfortheheadsup”
Wow a journalist asking a science question on Climate change
Abbotts response there have always been good and bad times and ignores the science in the question.
[ It may not seem fair but it is what it is until the government makes changes to the tax act.]
This joke of a government doesn’t have the first idea about tax, and it isn’t like they would move to close loopholes in the tax law much more likely they will open them and put up the GST to pay for the gaps.
rossmcg
The C’wlth regulators have always been piss-weak.
Henry ‘Big Ears’ Bosch at the old NCSC wingeing about staffing rather than getting on with the job a stand-out.
Fran, I enjoyed your writing wrt the baptism. Thanks. Don’t mind long posts of that quality -especially when it doesn’t contain your questionableolitical views 😉
The Orthodox can be odd, I heard of a region in Northern Greece where On the wedding night, the groom sleeps in bed with his mother in law.
[That’s our tax law. It may not seem fair but it is what it is until the government makes changes to the tax act.]
Disappointing too the ATO didn’t appeal to the high court, the Federal Court seems to be the weakest tax court by quite a long way, the AAT seems a lot stronger on tax. The current high court seems quite good, although not that long ago it wasn’t great at tax.
“@Wraithaz: “We’re not in the business of subsidising business” – Abbott. Except when it’s pork-barrelling for the Nats or subsidising mining. #auspol”
Victoria
Only that if the AEC is saying that there should be a rerun, it makes sense to order one.
There used to be a theory that the Full Federal Court should be the last port of call for tax appeals as it had the tax lawyers on it and the High Court had none.
The High Court did not like that theory.
shellbell
I guess we shall see tomorrow
shellbell/vic
[Only that if the AEC is saying that there should be a rerun, it makes sense to order one.
]
They have the easy way out as Palmer, GRN and ALP all had different arguments ending with “declare me elected”. Any adption of one of these arguments (in the circumstances of lost and disputed ballots based on AEC failure of process) would risk an impression of bias.
[There used to be a theory that the Full Federal Court should be the last port of call for tax appeals as it had the tax lawyers on it and the High Court had none.]
There have been papers and discussions of a specialist tax court as well. Kirby had a dinner speech / paper against the idea. The Federal Court doesn’t have the same brain power without Hill.
“@wikileaks: Did you know with the new #WLMetaSearch you’ll be able to search tens of millions of leaked docs in under half a second?”
Cost of appeal: $200,000 odd;
Amount at stake: $800 million.
This isn’t rocket science.
“@AlboMP: In Launceston heading for meeting #Tasrail workers with Michelle O’Byrne – Labor committed $330m to revitalise rail in Tas #nationbuilding”
[Cost of appeal: $200,000 odd;
Amount at stake: $800 million.
This isn’t rocket science.]
Wouldn’t it mean you had a fairly small team of not-QC’s running your appeal if you’d hoped to get away with 200,000, I’d have thought at least a few million, although it shouldn’t be in the same league of costs as gearing up for the initial FC hearing.
fran
I was once invited to a Masonic ceremony (had to get special exemption to have A Woman in the Temple) once, where they carried an empty chair around the room and various men seated on thrones bowed to it….
Kevin-One-Seven
It really depends on whether the ATO has strong grounds to challenge the ruling.
This part of the ruling seems to be the key:
[”[The relevant part of the act] will be satisfied so long as there has been a loss attributable to exchange rate fluctuations. I see no reason why a loss arising from an exchange of liabilities will not satisfy the requirements … It is not limited in its operation to exchanges of foreign currency and Australian money,” ustice Perram said.]
http://www.smh.com.au/business/news-corp-wins-2bn-battle-against-tax-office-ruling-20120717-228fm.html
Seems very unlikely the ATO would get something to the full court of the federal court and not have strong grounds underlying their case.
@MayneReport: AFR Editor in Chief Michael Stutchbury should explain why $882m ATO payment to News Corp was buried on p8. Read this http://t.co/XaZmeDOxe2
I’d agree that the ATO is reluctant to take on the big end of town and concentrates its enforcement resources on the proven sucessful targets of small business & individual taxpayers. Some might argue this is a pragmatic model especially when it come to litigation.
My personal experiece is that the ATO has been pretty flexible to deal with, especially in regard to penalties and debt repayment, as long as you talk to them. They only go in hard if you ignore them.
“@political_alert: The Senate Select Committee into the government’s Commission of Audit will hold its third hearing in Canberra tomorrow from 9am #auspol”
[AFR Editor in Chief Michael Stutchbury]
Where was Stutchbury before he went to turn the AFR into an absolute joke?
I’m sure you’ve all heard of the Kitty Genovese murder.
I’ve always imagined it as happening in broad daylight, with the victim being pursued through crowds who watched on indifferently as she was stabbed.
The truth, of course, is very different…
http://nypost.com/2014/02/16/book-reveals-real-story-behind-the-kitty-genovese-murder/
GUYTAUR – The AFR (a.k.a. the Institute of Public Affairs Bulletin Board) is more interested in firing up its conservative base these days than reporting news. However, I strongly suspect that is a sign of weakness rather than strength. What we are now seeing is an extended death rattle.
The Saturday Paper is starting on 1 March. Consider subscribing.
http://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/
lizzie@352
Good on you lizzie, I was looking to see if anyone else linked to that before I did myself.
Now, wait for the howls of outrage from certain quarters.
The ‘Scripture’ classes I attended at public schools in NSW were almost entirely a waste of time, particularly the ones taken by ‘volunteer’ bible bashers. The couple taken by regular ordained ministers were sane and rational by comparison. I recall one running sex education as part of his sessions (very popular with the boys) and another warning about US style fundy nutters.
Most of the others were run by incoherent raving loonies who didn’t realise we were mocking their antics.
Our only choice was which one we attended. 🙁
DAVIDWH – Perram is no fool. But why does it need “strong” grounds with $880 million at stake?
“@bkjabour: Scott Morrison presser now at 12.50pm. 10 minutes allotted for this one instead of 15 minutes in the original alert”
Allan Moyes at 337
We’ve seen traders “moved on” when the landlord thinks he’s got a better tenant (more rent), only to see the shop vacant when the new tenant finds the turnover just isn’t there.
The Aust. Newsagents Federation released details of the nexus between small & large retailer rents in U.S shopping centres.
On average the small U.S. retailer pays about double per square metre compared to the large supermarket.
Here in Australia the average is about 4 times the rent per square metre. Worse, the supermarket frequently negotiates that the shopping centre pays their outgoings. That takes our rent to nearly 5 times theirs per square metre.
The biggest value we provide to our customers is staff service (poor in the supermarket) so naturally we value our staff very highly.
It is estimated that across Australia small business employs 4 times as many staff hours per dollar of income than the supermarkets. Obviously, supporting small businesses is one way to keep people in jobs!
The Guardian Australia or the Saturday Paper should poach Mike Carlton from the SMH and finally put the SMH out of its misery. He would take a lot of readers with him.
SK
[Fran, I enjoyed your writing wrt the baptism. Thanks. Don’t mind long posts of that quality — especially when it doesn’t contain your questionable political views.]
What is questionable tends to be most interesting. If you’re questioning, you’re thinking, and if you’re thinking, you may be learning. If you share your thinking and learning, it can help others think and learn, and everyone’s ahead.
None of this entails you answering the questions posed as I might. We humans — all of us — are works in progress.
Glad you liked the post however.
[I heard of a region in Northern Greece where On the wedding night, the groom sleeps in bed with his mother in law. ]
Hmmm … that is weird. There are villages in Calabria and Caserta where on the morning after a wedding, the sheets are displayed from the balcony, stained with blood, to signify the virginity of the bride. Sometimes of course, it’s well known that the bride was no virgin, but the ritual persists, with an animal surrendering its blood for the purpose.
What was also interesting about the baptismal rite yesterday is the marginalisation of the parents, and especially the mother of the child, who was barely sighted until the very final stages. What surprised me was that this woman is qualified to teach at tertiary level is very much a product of contemporary attitudes to gender inclusion, yet submitted to this arcane, mediaeval and by usage, misogynistic and superstitious ceremony marking her female child as requiring the “moral guidance” of some friend of the husband who is apparently godfather to 14 others as well.
Too weird.
z
That story can out a while back but I’m glad it’s now in a book (which I will buy of course 🙂 ).
The “bystander effect” was spawned by her death but it was grossly exaggerated in her case.
However there is a lot of other evidence for it.
shellbell
[There used to be a theory that the Full Federal Court should be the last port of call for tax appeals as it had the tax lawyers on it and the High Court had none.]
There was a time in the 80’s when tax evasion by Packer and the like should have been cleaned up.
The C’wlth unfortunately had some losses in the Litigation ranks at the time. One very senior one went to have a small operation on a foot spur and got Golden Staph. Wipe him.
The back-up guy was mad on exercise. Rode a push-bike to work and home and ran at lunch time. Heart-attack in Telopea Park.
It took about 10 years for AGS to be any good at it again.
@GuardianAus: Indonesia says ties with Australia will remain on ice for at least six months http://t.co/6nMfBpXpt4
“@latikambourke: Immigration Minister Scott Morrison says during a meeting on Manus, asylum seekers became agitated and began chanting for hours. @abcnews”“@latikambourke: Immigration Minister Scott Morrison says during a meeting on Manus, asylum seekers became agitated and began chanting for hours. @abcnews”
“@latikambourke: Immigration Minister Scott Morrison – only weapons used/seen were broken parts of a bunk bed which were thrown but confiscated. @abcnews”
“@latikambourke: 8 asylum seekers were arrested. 19 attended clinic for medical attn. (non life threatening) 5 remain at the clinic. @abcnews”
CTar1
Sounds like the misfortunes which beset the Federal Court judges in South Australia of which Brad Selway was the most prominent. He was considered High Court material
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/adelaidean/issues/4601/news4619.html
guytaur
Indonesia will also have a new president in around six months