This week’s fortnightly rolling average result from Essential Research has both major parties up a point on the primary vote (the Coalition to 40%, Labor to 38%), both minor parties down a point (the Greens to 9%, Palmer United to 5%), and two-party preferred unchanged at 52-48 to Labor. The poll also has 57% saying the threat to Australia from terrorism has increased over the past few years with only 6% saying it has decreased, and 33% opting for stayed about the same; 56% approving of government spending to reduce the threat of terrorism versus 24% disapproving; 57% rating the contribution of multiculturalism to Australian society as positive versus 30% negative; 63% believing prospective migrants should not be rejected on the basis of religion versus 21% who say they should; and strong support for a greater emphasis on solar, wind and hydro power in providing for domestic energy, a neutral result for gas, and highly negative results for nuclear and especially coal.
Federal electoral news nuggets:
• John Ferguson of The Australian reports Senators Stephen Conroy and Kim Carr are facing opposition within their respective Right and Left factions over their determination to seek another term at the next federal election. Partly at issue is Labor’s affirmative action requirement that at least 40 per cent of winnable seats go to women. Under a party rule to take effect on January 1, a spill of all preselections will occur if the requirement isn’t met. Rosie Lewis of The Australian reports that some in the ALP believe the Carr and Conroy preselections are being fast-tracked to lock them in before the rule takes effect. Carr is quoted saying the requirement will be satisfied by giving the third position on the ticket to a woman, but the result of the last election suggests the winnability of a third seat for Labor is doubtful for as long as the existing electoral system remains in place.
• The Courier-Mail reports that“federal Liberal and National MPs unhappy with the performance of Nationals deputy leader Barnaby Joyce” are planning to thwart his succession to the Nationals leadership by drafting Lawrence Springborg, the Queensland Health Minister and former Opposition Leader. This would be achieved by having Springborg succeed Bruce Scott as member for Maranoa, a seat Joyce had his eye on last term as he sought to make his move from the upper house to the lower.
• Andrew Probyn of The West Australian reports a Labor internal poll of 600 respondents by UMR Research shows it leading 54-46 in the eastern Perth electorate of Hasluck, held for the Liberals by Ken Wyatt on a margin of 4.9%. Primary votes are cited of 40% for Labor and 37% for the Liberals. Aggregated polling for the three months after the budget, from May to July, is reported to show swings to Labor in WA of 12 points on the primary vote and 7.7% on two-party preferred.
• The Financial Review reports results from Coalition pollsters Crosby Textor showing a surge in support for the Renewable Energy Target, an increase in the salience of the environment as a political issue, and a decline for immigration.
“@andrew_lund: Shaw takes floor. Says he will be reading. #springst @9NewsMelb”
[Starting with Hollywood cutting actors and directors wages from the millions to the thousands.]
Which is to benefit the producers at the cost of the workers.
Do a little digging into Hollywood history – you’ll find the work of the actors in arriving at this position was very much a product of workers uniting to ensure they got their fair share of the profits generated.
zoomster
Producers to lose money too. Business model has to change starting with adjusting for ability to raise income.
guytaur
so films won’t be made. They’re expensive enterprises, which require vast amounts of money up front (unless you really think that fuzzy, out of focus films with dodgy CGI , poorly acted are the way to go). People don’t invest that kind of money unless the returns are similarly great – it’s just too risky.
Films flop, you know, and investors lose millions when they do.
JacetheAce
[ The rules of Copyright only became widespread in the 19th Century, with the first laws passed in the UK in 1710. ]
1710 was in the 18th century, not the 19th. In any case, the first copyright laws were passed in the 17th century – 1662 to be precise
And there has no doubt been intellectual property theft going on ever since!
zoomster
BS. Films can be made and they do not have to be multimillion dollars worth. Its the Hollywood system charging too much all round.
Technology has made creating movies cheaper. Hollywood has to adjust to that fact and that a resonable ticket price is needed to stop piracy otherwise it will continue to happen.
Ctar
[swamp
Don’t send me your money as it will not be worth anything.]
🙂
The Scottish Groat may well be stronger than the English Pound:
[The pro-Union economist Professor Brian Ashcroft (husband of former Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander) calculated in July 2013 that had Scotland been independent since 1981, it would by now have an accumulated basic budget surplus of at least £68 billion [9]. The real figure, including interest and other benefits, would likely be an “oil fund” of well over £100 billion.
But instead of that huge surplus, Scotland is part of a UK with a massive £1.4 trillion debt [10] – our population share of the debt is approximately £118 billion.
In short, membership of the UK for the last 32 years has left Scotland anywhere from £180 billion to £250 billion worse off than it would have been as an independent country.]
The article by Ben Eltham in New Matilda on Australia blundering back into the Middle East makes good reading. Wilkie is the only politician making any sense at the moment. Unfortunately Shorten is looking as lily livered as Beazley . What a surprise. Just another right wing religioso.
[ Technology has made creating movies cheaper. Hollywood has to adjust to that fact and that a resonable ticket price is needed to stop piracy otherwise it will continue to happen. ]
Technology has also made stealing movies cheaper.
That still doesn’t make it either legal or ethical.
Who would have bailed out the Bank of Scotland?
[Technology has made creating movies cheaper.]
Not to mention advertising and distributing them.
Copyright needs a major overhaul. It is out of control. The life of the author plus 70 years? Piss off.
guytaur
No one I know has a problem with ticket prices – even when we were genuinely dirt poor, we went to the movies.
The problem appears to be with DVD prices.
As I’ve said before, I’d be happy to settle for the kind of system which is in place in other countries, where you pay a fee each month, can download pretty much anything you want, and the property owners are paid.
Sorry the effect of todays Senate deal is in fact MINUS $6.5 billion over the forward estimates. The Govt just gave away more than the cost of Abbotts PPL.
PO
[Technology has also made stealing movies cheaper.
That still doesn’t make it either legal or ethical.]
I’d say the price of going to a movie these days is so outrageous that I’m quite okay with pirating. Drop the price of a ticket, and I’ll start going to the cinema again.
P1
I never said piracy was legal. Just stated the reality of it happening and that we know how to dramatically reduce it.
In the tv field we saw with Game of Thrones the piracy increase due to studios trying to maximise profits in Australia. Arguably they lost on that one.
zoomster
Cinema prices have to come down or there will be no cinemas as people get used to watching at home.
Well this would sure help the ME.
[Saudis risk new Muslim division
One of Islam’s most revered holy sites – the tomb of the Prophet Mohamed – could be destroyed and his body removed to an anonymous grave u
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudis-risk-new-muslim-division-with-proposal-to-move-mohameds-tomb-9705120.html
guytaur
[In the tv field we saw with Game of Thrones the piracy increase due to studios trying to maximise profits in Australia. ]
Again, why would I pay Murdoch a small fortune for something (a) had nothing to do with making, and (b) I can download for free? I’m not going to put my hand up to be gouged. Make viewing GoT cheaper, and I’ll happily pay up. But I’m not having Murdoch’s tentacles in my pocket if I can avoid it.
Here is Ben Eltham’s piece as mentioned by leon
[The two major parties’ determination to avoid a parliamentary debate on going to war in Iraq should ring a few bells. Ben Eltham explains.
Swiftly, with little public discussion, Australia has committed to another open-ended military intervention in the Middle East.]
https://newmatilda.com/2014/09/02/rush-war-ignores-how-we-got-mess-first-place
@abc730: .@CUhlmann talks @TonyAbbottMHR about the mining tax repeal, budget black holes and Aust involvement in Iraq. Tonight on #abc730 #auspol
[ I’d say the price of going to a movie these days is so outrageous that I’m quite okay with pirating. Drop the price of a ticket, and I’ll start going to the cinema again. ]
This argument is silly. You can legitimately argue that movies or DVDs are too expensive. Just do as I do – only go on cheap movie days, or buy the DVDs when they are discounted – most movies end up under $10 within a few months of release. The price of something doesn’t ever make it right to steal it.
I object to paying $1.70 per litre of petrol, and I also object to he massive profits oil companies make. But does that give me the right to steal petrol from the local service station?
kakuru
[Who would have bailed out the Bank of Scotland?]
You mean The Royal Bank of Scotland? What is the relevance? The bank collapse occurred in the UK under UK norms, rules and politics.
If it happened in a future iScotland, one would hope they would follow Iceland and put the bankers in gaol. 🙂
P1
You want to see cinemas close do you? Cheap ticket day is a nod to the fact they are charging too much on the other days.
guytaur,
One strategy the cinemas are pursuing is to charge MORE for a more upmarket movie experience – including “4D”. No, you don’t travel in time – but there’s stuff like smell, vibration, strobe, etc.
Movies as we know it are dying. The cinema companies are aware of this So they’re intending to upgrade the entire cinematic experience – and price.
Hockey explaining* the MRRT repeal
* attempting
@Kakuru/64
Agreed, I visited cinema twice in the last couple of years, and that wasn’t even being in Australia.
Another thing with tickets is that, we use to have out door cinema’s, but for some strange reason, that started to close down when indoor cinema’s became a thing, but the price of ticket’s hasn’t really changed.
@sprocket_/70
Blame labor time?
50
I think you mean a stopped analog clock. A broken clock could have the hands missing or some other problem where the hands do not show an accurate time twice a day.
PO
[This argument is silly. You can legitimately argue that movies or DVDs are too expensive.]
I legitimately argue exactly that. When I lived in the US, we used to see movies for one-third the price that’s charged here in Australia. It was the same movie.
guytaur
[ In the tv field we saw with Game of Thrones the piracy increase due to studios trying to maximise profits in Australia. Arguably they lost on that one. ]
I doubt they really lost – I think in fact you’ll find that they still made millions.
Just try thinking of it the other way around for a minute – consider that the reason game of thrones was so expensive was that they had to recover the cost of the distribution rights – which companies have to buy – in the face of massive theft by people like you.
So what you are doing is making it expensive for anyone who actually is law abiding.
I was watching the Opp leader today in QT. I think someone should get into his ear and have him look down the camera more.
Looking to the back of the hall as he is delivering some solid blows is not a real good look
“@Tank9999: #qt #auspol Sloppy Joe let the cat out of the bag – The mining tax that “raised no money” would have raised $6B over next 5years.”
p
It is a bit like a couple of centuries’ worth of Byzantine iconoclasts v iconodules.
I do get so sick of religious cultists and their trucking empires.
My watch is both broken and stopped. The problem is that it also has one of those date windows so it’s only correct at 11:20 (am or pm) on the 25th, as long as that’s a Monday…
Yep zoidlord, I only go to the cinema to see a CGI blockbuster – like the interminable ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies. Just the movies that depend on a big screen and/or special effects. So it amounts to about once or twice a year that my OH and I roll up to an actual cinema.
P1
No that is the argument used to gouge the audience for money.
The price of things is why Australia has the highest rate of piracy in the world reflecting the price being charged,
zoomster is right about online offerings like Netflix in the US. Its a good model.
[ You want to see cinemas close do you? Cheap ticket day is a nod to the fact they are charging too much on the other days. ]
Nonsense. It is just normal discounting, done for exactly the reasons other goods and services get discounted. Sometimes doing so – i.e. if you do it correctly it will end up increasing your total profit.
It does not mean you are being ripped off if you didn’t get a discount.
To sum up:
(1) extortion by IP is extortion by IP.
(2) theft of IP is theft of IP.
So, where does that get us?
P1
If you think cinemas are not making a profit on their discount day you are dreaming,
Thus they can afford to charge that every day
[Just try thinking of it the other way around for a minute – consider that the reason game of thrones was so expensive was that they had to recover the cost of the distribution rights – which companies have to buy – in the face of massive theft by people like you.]
Nope PO, in this case it’s Murdoch trying to gouge the punters. I’m not giving a single cent to FoxTel, not while my arse points to the ground.
guytaur
[ No that is the argument used to gouge the audience for money.
The price of things is why Australia has the highest rate of piracy in the world reflecting the price being charged,
zoomster is right about online offerings like Netflix in the US. Its a good model. ]
Now I’m not sure what you are arguing. Piracy of intellectual property is theft, and justifiably illegal.
You really seem to just be complaining about market manipulation, which as I have pointed out is not limited to intellectual property – it is rife in any market – e.g. fuel and groceries.
So if you could steal your fuel and groceries with little chance of getting caught, would you do so?
79
I seriously doubt that the distribution rights would cost less or even less per customer if everybody who illegally downloaded switched to buying it. These copyright owners charge what the market will bare, to get maximum profit, rather than just to cover costs and make a small margin. These content makers are not charities.
The Kouk nails Hockey.
http://thekouk.com/blog/budget-humiliation-for-joe-hockey.html#.VAVliPmSzEf
kakuru
[ Nope PO, in this case it’s Murdoch trying to gouge the punters. I’m not giving a single cent to FoxTel, not while my arse points to the ground. ]
But who’s asking you to? Just buy it direct from the US like most people do.
Greens are always happy not to make their own movies and to steal off others, happy not to do any fighting but to skive off others, happy not to create wealth through business but to tax it to buggery. And so on and so forth.
Plus, they get to enjoy all this creaming of other peoples’ efforts thrice: once, through enjoyment of the act of theft; second, through enjoyment of sampling what they steal; and, third by telling everyone what bastards everyone else are.
P1
Its called recognising reality.
Its not market manipulation. Its actually responding to the market. Charge too high a price and the demand goes down.
PO:
[So if you could steal your fuel and groceries with little chance of getting caught, would you do so?]
I go to somewhere cheaper, if possible. When FoxTel has a monopoly on GoT, there’s no competition.
[ Thus they can afford to charge that every day ]
Woolworths buys their groceries for much less than they charge me for them, and occasionally they discount them but still make a profit. Therefore they can afford to sell it to me cheaper all the time, and therefore I am justified in stealing that packet of biscuits just because it is NOT discounted today!
Your arguments are utterly nonsensical.
[ I go to somewhere cheaper, if possible. When FoxTel has a monopoly on GoT, there’s no competition. ]
You could just watch something else.
Boerwar
[ Greens are always happy not to make their own movies … ]
They tried making their own movies, but they were so excruciatingly smug and sanctimonious that no-one would even pirate them, let alone pay for them!
[Greens are always happy not to make their own movies and to steal off others, happy not to do any fighting but to skive off others, happy not to create wealth through business but to tax it to buggery. And so on and so forth.
Plus, they get to enjoy all this creaming of other peoples’ efforts thrice: once, through enjoyment of the act of theft; second, through enjoyment of sampling what they steal; and, third by telling everyone what bastards everyone else are.]
shit BW – you’ve gone a bit Bolt on us here. you’ve been making sense lately on carbin pricing, and I really thought you were heading towards the (green) light.