James J in comments relates that the latest Newspoll result for The Australian, which I believe will be the third last poll we get from Newspoll-as-we-know-it, has Labor’s two-party lead at 52-48, down from 53-47 a fortnight ago. The Coalition is up a point on the primary vote to 41%, with Labor steady on 37% and the Greens up one to 13%. Tony Abbott’s approval rating is down a point to 38% and his disapproval up one to 53%, while Bill Shorten continues to haemorrhage at 32% approval (down three) and 50% disapproval (up four). Abbott’s lead as preferred prime minister is now at 41-37, up from 41-40. The poll was conducted from Friday to Sunday from a sample of 1169.
Also:
• The latest fortnightly Morgan result records a slight increase in Labor’s lead after an unusually weak result a fortnight ago, with the Coalition’s primary vote down half a point to 41%, Labor’s up a point and a half to 37%, the Greens up half to 13% and Palmer United down among Katter’s Australian Party in statistically insignficant territory. This results in a slight shift in the two-party lead from 51.5-48.5 to 52-48, although a stronger flow of respondent-allocated preferences this time causes a bigger move on that measure, from 51-49 to 53-47.
• Media outlets have reported on two privately conducted ReachTEL polls over the past week, both providing encouraging news for the Coalition. The Guardian reported on an ACTU-commissioned poll of marginal seats which found “a primary vote swing of between 2% and 4% against the sitting Coalition MP, but in most cases voters had switched to the Greens or the undecided column rather than to Labor”. I take that to suggest an overall two-party swing to Labor of around 2%. The poll was conducted a fortnight ago, and targeted one seat in each state: Page, Corangamite, Leichhardt, Swan, Hindmarsh and Braddon. Further results in the article relate an expectation that the government will make further cuts to health and education. The Australian reported that polling of four of Tasmania’s five seats, the exception being Denison, found Labor losing support to the Greens while the Coalition held firm, and also found about 40% agreeing they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported reinstatement of wood waste in the Renewable Energy Target, compared with around 14% for less likely. The polls were conducted on May 21 for the Australian Forest Products Association.
• Jared Owens of The Australian reports Sophie Mirabella will face two rivals for Liberal preselection in her bid to recover her old seat of Indi, which she lost to independent Cathy McGowan in 2013. One is Kevin Ekendahl, owner of an auditing and compliance business in Wodonga and candidate for Melbourne Ports in 2010 and 2013, who has “campaigned for same-sex marriage”, which Mirabella opposes. The other is Andrew Walpole, who owns property in the electorate but works as an anaesthetist at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne. Speaking of Melbourne-based, an Australian Federal Police deputy commissioner told Senate estimates this week that it had referred to the public prosecutor four alleged cases of fraudulent involvement from the electorate, out of 28 cases referred to it. This follows claims last year that a substantial number of Cathy McGowan had enrolled in the electorate despite living in Melbourne, most of them being university students who grew up in the electorate.
• Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson has ordered a Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters inquiry into “claims of intimidation outside election polling booths and the handing out of misleading leaflets”.
• The AEC published public submissions last week as part of its process for the federal redistribution of New South Wales, which will reduce the state’s seat share from 48 to 47. I put the submissions for the two major parties through the wringer in this post, where you can find interactive maps of the proposals along with my determinations of notional seat margins. I’ve also belatedly attached such a map to my similar post for the Western Australian redistribution from mid-April. Draft boundaries for both redistributions are scheduled for the third quarter of this year, with final determinations to be made early next year. There is also a redistribution of the two Australian Capital Territory seats in train, which no one seems terribly excited about.
• I had paywalled pieces in Crikey last week concerning the electoral dimensions of same-sex marriage and contradictory Queensland state poll results.
UPDATE (Essential Research): The only change in the weekly reading from Essential Research is a one point increase in the Labor primary vote to 40%, leaving the Coalition 41%, the Greens on 10% and Palmer United on 1%, with Labor’s two-party lead at 52-48. A semi-regular question on same-sex marriage finds 59% saying it should be allowed and 30% saying it shouldn’t, respectively steady and up two since February. However, the difference is narrower on likelihood of same-sex marriage influencing vote choice, with 34% saying more likely and 22% less likely. Also feaatured are questions on leadership attributes, which as usual record collective movements in line with recent polling on personal approval. That means better ratings for Tony Abbott than in February, with the biggest movements on “out of touch with ordinary people” (down seven to 65%), “erratic” (down six to 54%) and “a capable leader” (up six to 40%). Bill Shorten’s movements might be thought surprisingly modest given his recent polling form – he’s down four points on “a capable leader” to 43%, but also on “narrow-minded”, to 34%.
As it does from time to time, Essential has also sought to gauge the accuracy of respondents’ understanding a public policy issue, in this case the proportion of the federal budget devoted to foreign aid, and found only 13% offering the correct answer of less than 1%. This gives a bit of edge to its finding that 44% think the government spends too much on foreign aid, compared with 16% for too little and 21% for just right. Respondents were also asked to rate the importance of giving foreign aid to various countries, with impoverished neighbours rating highest (66% for Pacific Island countries, 65% for Papua New Guinea) and, I cannot help but notice, Islamic countries rating lowest (Indonesia 39%, Middle East countries 26%).
Vale Joan Kirner, first female premier of Victoria.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victorias-first-female-premier-joan-kirner-dies-aged-76-20150601-ghefxh.html
1. For a first-term Opposition, especially one beaten so comprehensively at the last election, Labor’s doing extremely well indeed, consistently leading a first-term Government in the polls.
2. Labor’s doing this despite being on the short end of the most blatant media double-standard I’ve ever seen: Despite allowing Tony Abbott to run a content-free, “me too” campaign on 90% of the issues (basically everything except “axe the tax” and “stop the boats”), they’re constantly demanding specific policies from Shorten. Not content with this, when he does offer policies (see: marriage equality), they have a go at him for politicizing them! When it comes to the media, Labor really are damned if they do and damned if they don’t!
3. The L/NP had best call an early election – with the economy sliding into recession (ably assisted by their economic illiteracy) two years after they took Government, this is one thing coming that they can’t blame on Labor…unless they lose office before it hits.
4. What happened to the “debt and deficit emergency”? The 2013 Budget deficit was $18bn…the 2015 Budget deficit was over $40bn – and that’s assuming that the Senate changes its mind about a raft of cuts that didn’t pass last year!
5. As for ESJ’s asinine comment (@43) that Conroy must “act for the good of the party”, any Labor MP who takes the advice of a Liberal troll on PB deserves all they get.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/01/us-usa-court-scarf-idUSKBN0OH2NW20150601
Morning all. Vale Joan Kirner, Victoria’s first female premier and a person of great integrity. I always felt sorry for her being given the premiership as a hospital pass by Cain after the Victorian State bank and economy was wrecked. Her continued fighting for equality and social justice causes long after she left parliament did her great credit.
Sydney University wants to be number one! Perhaps they could start the drive for credibility by not offering Chairs in quackery in their medical school because a snake oil company gives them money.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/sydney-university-to-introduce-fouryear-degrees-and-reduce-double-degrees-20150601-ghe5f7.html
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
I have to agree with this assessment of last night’s Q and A.
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/jack-charles-tells-qa-australia-has-come-of-age-on-samesex-marriage-20150602-gheib2.html
Peter Martin on how politicians hide the costs of their policies. A clarion call from Peter.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/how-politicians-hide-the-cost-of-their-promises-20150601-ghdplx
There is a distinct stench emanating from the government’s submarine replacement process.
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/01/government-sought-no-written-advice-from-department-before-submarine-decision
More fun and games involving the NSW police and the A-G?
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-bugging-scandal-set-to-reignite-after-leak-of–information-about-deputy-police-commissioner-nick-kaldas-20150601-ghe0pd.html
Australia prepares for a global grilling on our green credentials.
https://newmatilda.com/2015/06/01/australia-prepares-global-grilling-our-green-credentials
Michelle Grattan sys Abbott was singed as a result of the leaked cabinet debacle.
https://theconversation.com/can-abbott-deliver-what-his-backbench-is-demanding-on-citizenship-42643
Is Morris Iemma poised for a comeback and into the federal arena?
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/morris-iemma-sets-sights-on-federal-parliament-with-run-for-barton-seat-20150601-ghe8i8.html
The budget is still unfair say these two academics.
https://theconversation.com/looking-inside-the-sausage-machine-the-budget-is-still-unfair-42407
Tony Abbott, the “selfie” PM.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/tony-abbott-the-selfie-pm,7776
Work longer so we can sack your workmates” public servants are told.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/work-longer-so-we-can-sack-your-colleagues-public-servants-told-20150601-ghdtow.html
Section 2 . . .
Stephen Koukoulas pulls the rug out from under the government and its spending explosion.
http://thekouk.com/blog/the-abbott-government-s-spending-explosion.html
More than 150 accused of abuse are still in Defence.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/more-than-150-serving-defence-staff-accused-of-abuse-but-none-have-faced-action-yet-20150601-ghedih.html
Abbott’s strange comments on the housing bubble.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/i-do-hope-our-housing-prices-are-increasing-tony-abbott-quizzed-on-housing-bubble-20150601-ghe3y1.html
Mark Kenny accuses both leaders of playing politics over SSM.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/tony-abbott-and-bill-shorten-both-playing-politics-on-samesex-marriage-20150601-ghe2e3.html
The Ombudsman slams our asylum seeker detention periods.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/ombudsman-slams-government-for-long-detention-rates-20150601-ghe3i9.html
Pell’s heavy-handed comments ignore the pain of abuse victims.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/samesex-marriage-churches-miss-signs-of–publics-hope-for-change-20150601-ghds1h
So much for Joe’s budget!
http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/business-expectations-down-despite-businessfriendly-federal-budget-dun–bradstreet-20150601-ghduyq.html
“View from the Street” says our brief glimpse of bipartisanship is over.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/view-from-the-street/view-from-the-street-our-brief-nightmare-of-potential-bipartisanship-is-over-20150601-ghea70.html
Paul Bongiorno – citizens’ rights sacrificed on the altar of politics.
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2015/06/01/citizens-rights-sacrificed-altar-politics/
Where the churches stand on SSM.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/samesex-marriage-churches-miss-signs-of–publics-hope-for-change-20150601-ghds1h
Section 3 . . .
Judith Ireland on the attitudes of key Liberal electorates regarding SSM.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/samesex-marriage-coalition-voters-in-key-seats-back-free-vote-20150601-ghe5qd.html
So who IS going to pick up the ball and investigate the usurious credit card interest rates?
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/high-credit-card-interest-rates-need-to-be-investigated-treasury-and-rba-officials-say-20150601-ghe5m1.html
Alan Moir having a dark day.
Cathy Wilcox is a bit confused over Sydney’s integrated transport plan.
Andrew Dyson is suggesting Abbott’s leadership tenure is a little fraught.
Ouch! Ron Tandberg at a church sermon.
Matt Golding on the politics of SSM.
David Pope and Liberal power games.
Here’s Mark Knight and Bill’s bill.
How good is this one from David Rowe!
How bloody tiresome!
Mark Kenny toes the line:
[Still, {Abbott} has at least begun a process of acceptance {of SSM}, aware that majority public resistance has withered and that most MPs have moved on too. Even to Abbott this reform must feel inevitable. Why not rise to it, confound the critics, and take some credit for being a bit modern?
What he should not concede however, is being cornered on the issue by a grandstanding opposition leader in Bill Shorten.
On this score, Shorten faces his own moral test. If his motives are aimed solely at achieving social justice, he must afford a reluctant and socially conservative governing party the space it needs. No self-respecting prime minister allows his or herself to be driven from the back seat. Shorten’s private member’s bill, helped force the pace. But there are limits. Now, he should step back to facilitate the genuine cross-party approach that has the best chance of success.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/tony-abbott-and-bill-shorten-both-playing-politics-on-samesex-marriage-20150601-ghe2e3.html ]
When all else fails tell your readers “They’re all as bad as each other. Just more politicians!”
So Abbott has “begun a process”.
On what basis does Kenny make this claim? That Abbott “indicated” he “might” “shift ground”, but there’s “no committment”?
This man Kenny is supposed to be possessed of The Savvy, isn’t he? Does he believe – really believe – that Abbott would abandon the teachings of his faith (as he sees them) and be not only the enabler of SSM in Australia, but actually open the gate for it… and be the gate too?
Holy shit. We are poorly served by our media.
But this is all based on the idea that Bill Shorten is a wrecker. Doesn’t Bill know that the Press Gallery has rules about these kinds of things? You aren’t allowed to upset Tony Abbott. Ever.
For his whole life Abbott has been intimidating people into not upsetting him. First it was his family. His sister’s plaintive plea not to embarrass him on SSM is but the latest version of that. Then the SRC at Sydney University copped the Abbott magic. Then government.
Now as Prime Minister, Abbott makes it known he has a long memory, and never forgives or forgets. He’s not just satisfied with beating his enemies, he buries and cremates them too, demolishes their legacy and razes any institution they created or were part of into the dust. This goes double for pissant journos. Ask Peter Hartcher. Ask Tony Jones. Ask any of the others who’ve also been cut off the drip.
But in the middle of Kenny’s piece is its own contradiction: “Shorten’s private member’s bill helped force the pace”.
So, did Shorten do the wrong, immoral thing, or the right thing? You’d have to have some idea of just where Kenny stands on Same Sex Marriage to know the answer to THAT question. Asking it and finding an answer would require Kenny dipping his toe into the pond of morality and actual policy analysis, and expressing an opinion all of his own on something more than the play-by-play version of politics that he promotes. Not a good look for a Savvy pundit, though.
So, we’ll probably never know exactly what Kenny, deep down, thinks of Bill Shorten’s “forcing the pace”. Gee, if that’s what Bill wanted to do – as Anthony Albanese last night said, “Give it a nudge” – and if he didn’t really think the bill might have been passed into law this week – like all the pundits are insinuating he did – and if all he wanted to do was nudge Abbott in the right direction (or more particularly his MPs) then it might just be “Mission Accomplished” (or at least commenced).
But implying any kind of political smarts to a man the Gallery has branded ironically as “Zinger Bill” – a boring underachiever with no policies they feel are worth reporting, who just happens to have kept his party in polling supremacy for the last umpteen months by some kind of fluke of nature that’s better simply ignored – well, that might be going to far at the present time.
After all, there’s Tony Abbott’s “face” to be saved. We wouldn’t want to embarrass him… or be removed from the drip, would we?
Sorry to get you so fired up this morning BB!
Tom
You really can’t count Prahran. The Greens were as gobsmacked as anyone by that result.
The Mayor of Riverwood making a comeback
[Former NSW Premier Morris Iemma is plotting a return to the political stage, with plans to contest the marginal federal seat of Barton.
Fairfax Media has learnt Mr Iemma, who dramatically quit as premier in 2008, has told Labor Party players in south-west Sydney that he will contest preselection for Barton.
His name is also in the mix for the neighbouring seat of Banks.
Mr Iemma declined to comment when contacted, but an ALP source said: “He is hot to trot. He is dead-set interested this time.”]
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/morris-iemma-sets-sights-on-federal-parliament-with-run-for-barton-seat-20150601-ghe8i8.html
This sounds a really smart move.
[Flight to test China waters
GREG SHERIDAN
The government is considering conducting “freedom of navigation” exercises in the South China Sea.]
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/flight-exercises-to-test-china-waters/story-fn59nm2j-1227378837148
Sheesh, woke up from a nightmare this morning where I was just endlessly driving on highways, off-ramps, roundabouts and stuck in traffic all day.
Then woke up and remembered that I have to leave earlier for work because my car is due for servicing today.
That dialogue between Jack Charles and that lady of mixed heritage was rather funny. She complained that of all the discrimination she went through, she faced most being called “a ranga”.
Nappin
Your thoughts?
[A proposed casino in central Queensland has fired up a community enough for a group of residents to fly to Brisbane to attend the state’s Parliament on Tuesday.
But the group of between 10 and 15 residents, under the banner Our Keppel Our Future, have not come to protest the proposal for a casino on Great Keppel Island.]
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/residents-rally-for-great-keppel-island-casino-licence-20150601-ghefhg.html
The preselection for Indi’s getting heated —
http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/3118795/liberals-reminded-to-play-nice/?cs=11
Love this analogy – goodness knows who it refers to —
[“I just hope the members remember that at the Melbourne Cup there’s a very good horse that has won the cup a couple of times, but it’s got a pile of weight in its bags (and) its 12-years-old.
“Give me a reason why I should vote for that horse.
“You know it can’t win.”]
Actually, Mr Walpole has played this very cleverly (although he’s been reported to Liberal HO for breaking the rules).
Under Liberal preselection rules, a candidate can’t make public statements.
So Mr Walpole called party members together on a road outside his property, and addressed them there.
He can thus argue he wasn’t making a public statement, it was an al fresco party room address, but as it was in a public area, he couldn’t ask the media to leave.
…note also that he made the statements from his private property, across the fence. I assume that was also for legal reasons.
morning all
Raaraa
Hope your dream wasnt too exhausting. 😀
The financial and medical expertise of the Coalition on show. Whatever Labor did, reverse it. :/
[The Abbott government will spend up to $112 million to close the 61 Medicare Locals established by the former Labor government.
Despite Tony Abbott declaring during the 2013 election campaign that “we are not shutting any Medicare Locals,” the 61 Medicare Locals, which were set up by Labor to plan and coordinate local health services, will cease operation at the end of the month.
They will be replaced by 31 “Primary Health Networks” which will perform a similar role.
Health department First Assistant Secretary Mark Booth told a Senate hearing on Monday that the cost of wrapping up the Medicare Locals, including expenses such as staff redundancies and penalties for breaking leases, could be up to $112 million.
Officials told the same hearing that $8.2 million had been cut from substance misuse programs as part of a $197 million cut to “flexible funds” announced in last year’s budget.
Greens Senator Richard Di Natale said the cut was at odds with the government’s commitment to tackle the scourge of ice, to which it allocated $20 million in last month’s budget.
“How on earth do you establish an ice task force and rip out $8 million of government funding from programs that aim to treat those people?” Senator Di Natale said.
“You can’t keep making these grand gestures and not back them up with action.]
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/medicare-locals-closure-to-cost-112-million-20150601-ghecei.html
BK
Thanks for today’s offerings. I can see why BB is annoyed with MKenny. Does Kenny get paid for this drivel?
[boat carrying 65 asylum seekers has crashed onto a reef after being turned back by Australian authorities.
Those aboard — 54 Sri Lankans, 10 Bangladeshis, one person from Myanmar and five additional crew — told Indonesian police they were trying to get to New Zealand.]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-02/asylum-seeker-boat-crashes-onto-reef-after-being-turned-back/6513520
poroti
[The government is considering conducting “freedom of navigation” exercises in the South China Sea.]
What a stupid idea.
I posted this last night. TPlibersek interview on LL
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2015/s4246646.htm
CTar1
Has there been one good idea to come from this govt to date?
Is Tony Abbott going to shirtfront Xi Jinping?
Morning all.
[Behind it is Abbott’s own preference that the push for marriage equality never comes to a vote.
Still, he has at least begun a process of acceptance, aware that majority public resistance has withered and that most MPs have moved on too. Even to Abbott this reform must feel inevitable. Why not rise to it, confound the critics, and take some credit for being a bit modern?]
There is no evidence Abbott has begun a process of acceptance. Each time I’ve seen him asked about SSM he prevaricates, either with idiocies (the parliament needs to own it), or delaying tactics (let’s see where the public debate on this goes).
He may give the appearance of seeming accepting, but as we’ve seen time and time again over the years he simply tells people what they want to hear and goes about his own way anyway. Mark Kenny has no business taking Abbott at his word, not on the issue of SSM or anything really.
Plibersek wrote to Labor members last week in which she said she wrote to each Liberal MP in March 2014 inviting one of them to co-sponsor a bill on SSM with her. Not one responded. Not even Entsch, of whom it is reported has a long history of advocacy on gay rights.
Yet now that Labor has actually done something about it, suddenly we need a bipartisan process where we need a parliamentary consensus – not just ABbott saying this, but amazingly the Greens as well. This is just a delaying tactic from the coalition, and a hissy fit from the Greens. So what if Shorten has used the momentum from the Irish referendum to table a bill in the parliament? The Liberals have had over a year to come to the party on this, and have failed to do so.
Abbott doesn’t want legal SSM. It’s as simple as that. So why would a journalist like Mark Kenny, who has watched Abbott up close and personal for years continue to express surprise that he is trying to spoil this?
Exporters to China will be overjoyed at the prospect of this cunning plan.
fesS
Cos Mark Kenny is an apologist for Abbott. Pathetic really
Unless the Coalition let their MPs vote freely, and unless the legislation passes the Lower House, the change to marriage laws won’t succeed. I cannot understand why, when the Greens admit this, they are accused of throwing a ‘hissy fit’.
Economy has hit brick wall
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2015/6/2/australian-news/economy-has-hit-brick-wall?utm_source=exact&utm_medium=email&utm_content=1387965&utm_campaign=am&modapt=
zoomster:
That Mr Walpole sounds like one wily individual. If it means Mirabella not being preselected, I’m all for whatever plays he makes.
Another reason to ask why members should vote for that ‘horse’: what did Mirabella achieve for her electorate in all the years she was its local member?
lizzie:
Because the Greens never once thought of that parliamentary consensus in all the times they’ve presented SSM bills to the Senate and to the House, the latter on the same day a Labor MP introduced his own private members bill to the house on the issue.
To whinge about it now just smacks of sour grapes.
fess
They said they’d vote for it no matter who introduces it. That’s what’s needed, after all.
Right now, this is of far more importance than SSM.
[“This has the potential to escalate into one of the deadliest conflicts of our time, if not history,” said Malaysia’s Defence Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, on the weekend.
Have the Americans taken leave of their senses? Is this shaping as another Iraq invasion a la 2003, a concocted excuse for a pointless war? In truth, the reason that China and the US are prepared to escalate this confrontation is that it is about much more than tiny islands and useless reefs.
On a strategic level, it’s about control of the world’s busiest shipping route. China is laying claim to 90 per cent of the South China Sea.
About half the world’s commercial shipping passes through the area, including 60 per cent of Australia’s exports.
On a geological level, it’s about some of the world’s most prospective seabed oil and gas deposits.
On a military level, it’s about China’s avid desire to push the US navy away from its coast. Beijing craves uncontested domain over its maritime approaches.
The US Seventh Fleet has been unchallenged ruler of the Pacific since World War Two. A fast-rising China is now challenging.]
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/south-china-sea-the-tiny-islands-that-could-lead-to-war-20150601-gheecs.html
[The Abbott government will spend up to $112 million to close the 61 Medicare Locals established by the former Labor government.
Despite Tony Abbott declaring during the 2013 election campaign that “we are not shutting any Medicare Locals,” the 61 Medicare Locals, which were set up by Labor to plan and coordinate local health services, will cease operation at the end of the month.
They will be replaced by 31 “Primary Health Networks” which will perform a similar role.]
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/medicare-locals-closure-to-cost-112-million-20150601-ghecei.html
We are losing our Medicare Local, which over the last year or so has built a reasonably solid track record in getting local health care providers focused on how to address obesity. I’m told in WA that all the Medicare Locals will be replaced with 3: two to cover the Perth metro area, and one to cover the rest of the state, which will also be based in Perth.
It’s unclear how an organisation that has a several thousand km2 area to cover will be able to focus on local issues and consolidating those relationships needed with locally based providers, but we shall see.
lizzie:
Of course the Greens will support Shorten’s bill. I’ve never suggested they wouldn’t. Even in 2012 they used similar language, but Bandt still voted to support Jones’ bill.
It would’ve been nice however, not to have heard the same delaying tactics language from the Greens leader that Abbott has been using. All this does is give the appearance that the Greens were opposed to Shorten’s bill. Evidenced by a news bulletin I saw yesterday which suggested this.
The trend is clear for the ALP caucus.
Voters rightly don’t want this unethical, socially destructive Abbott Govt…. and they don’t want Bill Shorten as PM either.
The caucus must act.
Vale Joan Kirner
confessions
Yeah, well, you know how the media spin everything. Bushfire @ 109 is right. No one’s allowed to upset Tony.
If you can stand the sight of multiple budge smugglers and would like a satisfying sneer at TA, this from BK’s links is worth reading.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/tony-abbott-the-selfie-pm,7776
So, we have had the war on ice, the war on asylum seekers, the war on public servants, the war against SSM, the war on Aussie Mum fraudsters, the war on muslims, the war on school leavers, the war on the unions, the war against Putin, the war against the Death Cult, the war on his fellow Cabinet ministers, the war on Shorten, the war against Australian citizens, the war against on the Australian economy and now we are gearing up for the war on China.
Welcome to the Strangelovian world of Dr No!
Whoops! Left out: the war on the Australian car manufacturing industry, the war on the Australian renewable industry, the war on public transport, the war on climate action, the war on science, the war on science, and the war on universities.
Whoops. Left out the war on the Australian ship building industry and the war on pensioners.
Boerwar
Just the excuse Abbott needs to bulk up defence and security spending and scream ‘budget deficit’ as he removes more and more welfre and health funding.
Whoops! left out the war on common decency, the war on truth, the war on the justice system, the war on the Magna Carta, the war on truth and the war on integrity.
[ David Pope and Liberal power games.
The irony of David ‘Pope’.
King John appealed to the ‘Pope’ that he had been forced to sign Magna Carta under duress – and the Pope ruled Magna Carta invalid.
It was signed again later and remained in force.
Same same outcome with SSM ?
Cartoonists should always draw Abbott in boxing gloves for pugilist as well as budgie smugglers for stuntman showoff.
[Kerrie Yaxley @KerrieYaxley
Liberal Senator @ZedSeselja says ministers shouldn’t be publicly supporting gay marriage “we’ve had a long standing party position on this”]
This is akin to GG’s logic that the current laws say marriage can only be between a man and a woman, therefore we can’t have legal SSM.
Sarah Henderson yesterday released a statement supporting both marriage equality and a free party vote so I’m assuming Zed’s comment is directed at colleagues like her.
Boerwar:
You also left out the war on universal health care.