Week two of BludgerTrack for 2015 adds only the latest Essential Research result to last week’s numbers from Essential and Roy Morgan. This is pretty thin gruel so far as poll aggregation goes, but nonetheless, let it be noted that BludgerTrack finds the latest result to be a lot more like the Morgan poll than Essential’s strong result for Labor last week, and thus shifts a little further the Coalition’s way. The 0.4% move on two-party preferred translates into three gains for the Coalition on the seat projection, namely one seat each in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. Nothing new this week on leadership ratings.
rossmg
[No self respecting dog would wet Flint if he was on fire]
My view as well he is so up himself and so self important.
The ruck duels between Polly Farmer and the late Jack ‘Stork’ Clarke were something to behold.
On Greece and their Taxation and Land Registry issues. Maybe the new Govt needs to temporarily subcontract Tax Collection and getting a land ownership database built out to the the European Union to get some intitutional change in place?? A radical solution that would probably, actually, lead to civil war but i wonder if anyone has floated the idea?
Truthie said –
[ Compared to the last 6 Years of the Labor chaos it seems insignificant. ]
These are the facts –
[ Australia wasn’t just performing better than the rest of the world – it was performing better in early 2013 than it had been when Labor took office in 2007.
Since then, GDP per capita had climbed 13 per cent. Real wages had increased by 27 per cent.
Household savings had more than doubled.
Labour productivity was at an all-time high. On pension levels, superannuation savings, international credit ratings, the value of the Australian dollar, industrial production growth, foreign exchange reserves, the balance of trade, the current account as a percentage of GDP, the government’s ten-year bond rate – on all those measures, Australia had improved its economic situation since 2007, while the rest of the world had moved in the opposite direction. ]
http://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/russell-marks/2014/16/2014/1418704918/own-goals
Hockey promised a balanced budget in his first year and every year after – yet its unlikely he will ever produce a balanced budget. Ever!
By the end of this term of government abbott/ hockey will have caused a huge increase in the national debt.
Ah, i see that ToBeAdvised has turned up @ 2098 with the Liberal talking pointlessness of the day. Or days past as the case may be. The Libs are really going to have to catch up if they want to be in touch with current politics and sort out a better class of troll.
[ Maybe the new Govt needs to temporarily subcontract Tax Collection and getting a land ownership database built out to the the European Union to get some intitutional change in place?? ]
Well they have had German tax people *helping* them for years, in Greece – it was one of the conditions attaching to previous bailouts.
Don’t know if they are still there or if they achieved much.
TrueBlueAussie
Surely you jest?
You would support a Government who can’t control it’s own agenda.
Nothing but nothing they have done has been a success.
They need to put their egos in their back pocket understand the full implications of their policies and relate to the electorate.
None of this has happened to date and they are in turmoil.
If that is what you like then run with it.
Another thing truthie, this is abbott’s main problem –
His other biggest problem is his mouth.
[I was working in the Prime Minister’s media office when I learned that Nine Network Political Editor Laurie Oakes had just written a column condemning Kevin Rudd’s chances at the next election.]
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2015/01/27/tony-abbott-jumped-shark/
[Embassy has consulted with the Greek Ministry of Environment and Public Works to develop this information. While we have done our best to insure its accuracy, the responsibility for setting policy and procedures concerning the Greek land registry, lies entirely with the Greek Government. Please contact the Greek Diplomatic Missions in the area of your residence in the U.S., or Greek Government entities for current and detailed information, since registration of property is mandatory for those who own or have a claim to property in Greece.
Pursuant to law 9400/2007, of the Greek Ministry of Environment, the Greek Government has designated 107 new areas for registration to the Hellenic National Land Registry (Cadastre).
If you haven’t registered your property you may still do so. Late registration though contemplates the payment of a fine, the size of which is defined by the type and the value of the property. It should be noted that the procedure for the confirmation and the enforcement of the fine will be activated at a later date. Therefore, at that stage no fine is imposed by only the fixed rate.
If you acquired the right to property after the expiration of the submission period, you’ll have to register it with the Cadastre within a month from the date of the registration of the contract at the Land Registry office (Ypothikofilakeio).]
[If Tony Abbott giving a Knighthood to Prince Philip is the worst mistake of his Prime Ministership…]
It just might be, for Tony.
For the rest of us, probably the best captain’s call he ever made.
[I’ll take it.]
You’re welcome to it. Hope you feel good fondling an anachronistic, openly ridiculed, meaningless assemblage of metal and coloured ribbon in your dotage.
[ Well they have had German tax people *helping* them for years, in Greece ]
Ahhh…so the Germans would probably have a very good idea of how much tax Greeks are actually not paying. That will help their next negotiations along i suppose. 🙁
Leon
According to Polly’s biographer Stephen Hawke the Clarke-Farmer verbal battles were interesting as well.
[ If Tony Abbott giving a Knighthood to Prince Philip is the worst mistake of his Prime Ministership… ]
Straw, meet camels back. Crack. 🙂
Guytaur @1856:
Newman personally may lose – but I doubt that the LNP will move to the Opposition benches as a result of Sunday’s election. There’s simply way too much ground to make up, and Qld Labor’s polling (while respectable) doesn’t inspire confidence in Premier Palaszczkuk taking office.
Which is a pity, really. I haven’t seen much of her, but what I do see indicates that she’s a steady, competent hand at the helm,if a bit staid.
[The opening of many new Land Registry offices has been somewhat confusing in that not all areas of Greece are requiring registration now. Certain areas of Greece completed their registration procedures years ago. Some areas have just opened up their registration offices and some areas will have their Land Registry offices open up in the future. If your property falls within one of the current designated areas, which also includes greater Athens and Attica, then the deadline to file is December 31st 2008. Failure to file by the deadline in these areas can result in steep penalties and will require additional procedures to process the filing after the deadline has passed. (See list of areas in article “107 Land Registry Offices to open Soon; Government Directive to Property Owners to Register”).
The Two Systems of Land Record Management: Mortgage Office vs. Land Registry
In most areas throughout Greece the old Mortgage Office system is still the method for the registration of legal titles regarding the transfer of property. This system is based on the person or entity that owns the land at any given time.
Under the Mortgage office system, you cannot locate a property in the Mortgage Office archives based on its address or location. You must know the name of the last person who legally owned the property. The property will be listed under their name. So if you are researching at the Mortgage Office to determine the status of a title, and there is no deed on file, you will be unable to locate the property.
Under the Land Registry system, all properties are catalogued by both their street address and the name of whoever proves ownership: this may be the legal owner, a trespasser, or if no one appears to claim ownership, the property is characterized as “of unknown owner” (which if no one with a rightful claim comes forward, will eventually end up being claimed by the Greek state).
The New Land Registry System will allow for both the location of the property to be tracked as well as the name of the current owner of the property. So feasibly, in the near future, if you wish to research the legal status of a property, you will not need the name of the current owner, you will just need the address.]
Corgi isn’t happy, and he’s a monarchist.
[South Australian Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, a constitutional monarchist, joined public criticism on Tuesday.
“Based on all the feedback I’ve received it would appear the PM has found a surefire way to unite all Australians,” Senator Bernardi told Fairfax Media.]
True Blue Aussie @2098: why do you simply bang on with the LNP talking points of the day? The talk of debt and deficit is a furphy. We are in an excellent position compared to other developed nations.
Boats are a third or fourth order issue. In any case the LNP rejected the Malaysia solution because they didn’t want the boats to stop on Labor’s watch. Abbott needed them to keep coming so he could get racists to vote for a (then hidden) neoliberal agenda.
And the carbon price was working to address a serious problem. In that regard, Tony Abbott has a $3 billion plan that won’t work to address a problem that you probably don’t belive exists. Lower and middke income earners were fully compensated and in any case its effects on family budgets is dwarfed by Abbott’s attacks.
On the other hand, in this forum you have an excellent opportunity to preach to the leftist and centrist heathens.
Why don’t you try to convince us that workers are paid too much, that their conditions are far too generous and that they have too much bargaining power.
Why don’t you put forward the case for neoliberal economics? Why don’t you put the case for the deregulation of higher education? Why don’t you make the case for cutting health and education spending?
Why don’t you make the case for the Medicare copayment? Try to convince it that it’s not the start of the dismantling of Medicare? Or put the case for its dismantlment? Why don’t you put the case for winding back social security? For putting the pension age back to 70?
That’s just a start. Go for it.
[If Tony Abbott giving a Knighthood to Prince Philip is the worst mistake of his Prime Ministership]
It is a decision entirely emblematic of his Government. Focused on petty partisan fights rather than issues that matter.
It doesn’t even make sense as a distraction from other liabilities.
TrueBlueTosser:
[If Tony Abbott giving a Knighthood to Prince Philip is the worst mistake of his Prime Ministership…]
Except it isn’t the worst mistake. Plenty of competition for that dubious honour. It’s only the latest in a conga-line of atrocious judgement calls.
Giving a Knighthood to Phil the Greek is still a howler though.
[$300 Billion dollars of debt left for the Aussie Taxpayer to Pay off]
And, ummm, since you brought it up… how’s the current government doing on that score? Please don’t tell me that the debt has actually grown under Abbott/Hockey…
Briefly @1879:
One other thing that Greece absolutely has to do (whether or not it stays in the Eurozone) is actually enforce the tax code to raise revenue! On this point, Boerwar and I are in agreement: tax evasion is something of a national industry in Greece, and it’s wreaked untold damage on Athens’ bottom line.
And I can see Syriza eventually exiting if negotiations go nowhere, as a “reluctant measure of last resort” – after all, Greece doesn’t really have any other bargaining power. Tsipiras will be rightly excoriated for saying one thing and doing another, but if he can show some real economic improvement before the next election, he may survive.
And given Germany’s pigheaded insistence on maintaining low inflation targets across Europe, always, no matter what…the only way out may be to exit the Euro. And not just for Greece – the German deflationary policy is hamstringing efforts to devalue along the periphery and inflicting years of entirely unnecessary misery on citizens across the periphery.
Joe Hockey defends his leader (not!)
Sydney Live @SydneyLive2GB · 30m30 minutes ago
.@BenFordham asks @JoeHockey if he was PM would he have given Prince Phillip a #knighthood? @JoeHockey responds “I’m not the PM”.
That’s like worrying about the paint job when the house is burning down.
They need to leave the Euro, issue a new currency which they control, redenominate all debts into the new currency, run large government deficits for several years in order to finance public sector job creation and infrastructure to the degree all necessary to do all the damage done by neoliberals, and tell the neoliberals (both the shills and the dills) to feck off.
to the degree necessary to UNDO all the damage done by neoliberals
GG
Cop out!
Looks like “Sir Prince Philipgate” is the straw that broke the back of Tony Abbot’s leadership.
Hey Truthie or TBA – whatever you are calling yourself now.
More trouble and questions for abbott and hockey from the Kouk –
[ If the government wants a budget surplus, why is it increasing spending?
With the budget just over three months away, Australia’s economic policy is in trouble.
If the fiscal policy actions of the Abbott government are anything to go by, the budget will be framed with conflicting messages and will have no specific objectives.
It will continue to talk of the need to reduce government debt and the budget deficit, yet it will include an extremely high level of government spending, one rarely, if ever, seen outside times of recession.
The budget deficit is now large and growing.
The budget deficits outlined in the mid-year economics and fiscal outlook are more than double those it inherited from the previous government. Their budget surplus is more than five years and two elections away.
As the 2015-16 budget approaches, the bad news for the government is that commodity prices are very weak and still falling. Australian growth will be constrained as the global economy lurches towards deflation.
Domestically, business and consumer confidence remains weak. No forecaster is expecting real GDP growth to exceed 3% this year and the unemployment rate is likely to be nearer 6.5% than 6%.
The budget looks set to remain in deficit for some time, and the quest for a surplus will be made all the harder if the government continues down the path of spending the revenue from savings and tax measures elsewhere in the economy.]
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/27/if-the-government-wants-a-budget-surplus-why-is-it-increasing-spending
Steve777@2118
[why do you simply bang on with the LNP talking points of the day?]
TBA does this so he can get people to waste time and energy actually responding. I read the first line, realised it was same same not different con talking points and moved on to the next post.
NICHOLAS – Not saying your wrong. But how will they pay for imports in their dodgy new currency? Oil, pharmaceuticals, etc etc. What will it do to the tourism industry? Surely, if they go back to the drachma, things will get a hell of a lot worse before they get better.
Something must be happening in Queensland with only four days until the election but it hardly seems noticeable.
Apart from the usual MSM coverage of campaign events, it seems more like a long drawn out campaign than a surprise snap campaign.
The latest polling reported by William is Newspoll’s survey of three marginal seats on Saturday morning. That thread still has less than 200 comments so it is not a hot topic on PB.
Of course, TA’s Sir Phil the Duke debacle has led the political headlines but there seems no real reporting on last minute trends in Queensland. Maybe the rest of the world doesn’t really care?
It’s been the same with pro Lib supporters for years on PB. They launch a series of talking points. Engage you in hours of discussion and then just re write the same talking points even after they have been rebutted and refuted.
Rummel, Glenn, Mod Lib have all used exactly the same modus operandi. TBA is just the latest incarnation.
They are never interested in the facts.
K17
Tourism would get a big boost if the Drachma fell and I had read that for Greece joining the Euro damaged their tourist industry, because it was no longer cheap.
Pharmaceuticals and oil will go up but I am prepared to guess that Russia will make a VERY generous deal on oil, especially now because it is priced so low. Oil now pay later with a modest interest is a heck of a better deal for Russia than a little bit of oil at a very low price.
Citizen
There is LOTS happening up in the North.
Gut feel
Newman will lose Ashgrove
There will be a narrow LNP victory
David Speers on Sky Agenda with Coorey, Hartcher and PVO. In a nutshell. Abbott’s leadership is in trouble, but cant see any challenges anytime soon. But if there were, JBishop far and away favourite to get the gig. Turnbull is popular with public, but not the party room. Probably get the treasurer’s gig. Hartcher reckons to appease the party room, Peta Credlin will have to go.
PVO reckons Abbott is now at the mercy of the fortnightly opinion polls. Lol!
One thing that our Monarchist friends must know – Tony Abbott has probably severely embarrased the Duke, and the Queen for that matter, over this latest kerfuffle.
Not the worst thing that Abbott has done by a long shot, but might be in the running for the silliest. It hardly says good things about Abbott’s judgement. I hope he’s nowhere near the levers of power should there be another global economic crisis or should a regional war break out.
Last laugh (literally) to First Dog on the Moon
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/27/its-over-its-now-impossible-to-satirise-tony-abbott
One of the main harms which Germany has done to its its Eurozone victims (sorry, partners) is to run up massive current account surpluses every year for over a decade. This by definition required, and most probably caused, the current account deficits of the other nations. This in turn involved other nations being swamped by excess savings from Germany, creating misallocated investment such as Spain’s devastating real estate bubble.
Germany has a severely distorted economy. The government deliberately uses tax policy to keep discretionary household income and therefore consumer spending artificially low, which means that German firms look to other nations as a source of demand. Yes, the German government deliberately causes German unemployment to be higher that it needs to be in order achieve a whopping current account surplus whose benefits go to a tiny elite. The leaders who thrash the German people and other nations with bad policies have a much destruction on their hands.
Germany’s high national savings rate has nothing to do with thrifty behaviour by Germans. Those savings are obtained through government policy – by coercion. People keep getting confused about the differences between a household and a nation.
Michael Pettis explains that:
The German government needs to make the following key change to its policies:
The way to force down Germany’s national savings rate, and thereby repair the massive imbalances caused by Germany’s policies, is to give tax cuts to lower and middle class German households.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/07/no-the-spanish-cant-be-more-german/
http://blog.mpettis.com/2014/05/some-things-to-consider-if-spain-leaves-the-euro/
[dave
ABC TV News reported last night that Phil gets the equivalent of AUD $600,000 pa from Pommie taxpayers. {and first class accommodation and keep on top of that no doubt.]
But he isn’t paid penalty rates on the weekend. That make him a “good” person in TA’s eyes.
victoria@2135
Morons interviewing morons. Gawd help us.
I may regret this, but why would giving people with a high Marginal Propensity to Save (like the German Middle Class) cause them to save less?
If they have more money won’t they save more?
I would say the change would need to come via changes it relative tax treatment of savings vs consumption. Lower the VAT in Germany if they have one and increase the CGT. That would influence the MPS.
Sorry, 2142 is for Nicholas at 2139
Apologies if the following has already been posted (I have not read everything written here today).
Ross Stevenson on radio 3AW related an anecdote passed to him by a reliable source about Tony Abbott’s favourite game as a child.
You guessed it: little Tony would get another child to hold a toy sword, touch him on the shoulder, finishing of course with the moment of glory: “Arise Sir Tony!”
Apparently little Tony loved this game, and would have it played out time and time again.
Ross Stevenson’s sources are usually impeccable.
Re the media leaving politicians alone in terms of their personal life, my strong view is that the second a politician or their party starts moralising about issues of fidelity or sexuality, the media not only can, but must, unearth any counter-examples from that politician’s own life.
We cannot accept people telling us abortion should be banned (when they’ve had one), families are #1 (when they’ve cheated on their partner), gay people shouldn’t have the same rights as others (when they are secretly gay), Australians should be guided by “Judeo-Christian” values (when they attend a satanist bondage club on weekends) etc etc etc.
In other words, pollies should have their privacy respected to the exact extent that they respect the privacy of their constituents.
[You guessed it: little Tony would get another child to hold a toy sword, touch him on the shoulder, finishing of course with the moment of glory: “Arise Sir Tony!”]
ASIO and the AFP refused to comment on allegations that the sword was plastic.
[But he isn’t paid penalty rates on the weekend. That make him a “good” person in TA’s eyes.]
Don’t forget that he earnt it all from hard work in a free market, which is of course what the Liberals tell us this world is all about.
It would be terribly socialist for someone to simply be given such charity from the state merely by belonging to a particular genetic group. What would Andrew Bolt say?
Newman joining the anti-Abbott bandwagon:
[Newman joins chorus against Abbott
5:17PM ROSEANNE BARRETT
CAMPBELL Newman, who faces an election in four days, has criticised Tony Abbott’s knighthood for Prince Philip as he released the final costings of his campaign.]
Oz headline, article paywalled
[But {Prince Sir Philip} isn’t paid penalty rates on the weekend. That make him a “good” person in TA’s eyes.]
The right sort of chap.
Grahame Morris on Sky said wtte that Abbott made a poor judgment re the knighthood but any talk of leadership change is ridiculous and anyone entertaining that will have to go through him after he kneecaps them.