The latest weekly reading of Essential Research’s fortnightly rolling average on federal voting intention has Labor’s two-party lead at 52-48, reverting to type after a blip to 53-47 last week. However, the only change on the primary vote is a one-point drop for the Greens to 10%, with the Coalition steady on 41% and Labor on 39%. Further questions find 22% perceiving the ABC as biased to the left (42% among Coalition voters, and 10% to 13% for the rest), 3% as biased to the right, 36% as biased in neither direction, and fully 40% responding with “don’t know”. Sixty-one per cent of respondents were opposed to Trans Pacific Partnership provisions allowing the government to be sued for policies that cost foreign companies money, with only 10% in support; and 69% thought it likely that same-sex marriage would be allowed in the next few years, compared with only 20% for unlikely. A series of responses on the government’s handling of issues finds it rating positively only on “supporting Australian businesses”, but its stocks have improved markedly since January on all measures except treatment of asylum seekers and environmental issues, with double-digit improvements on health, education and supporting Australian businesses.
When I sat in the court at the Craig Thompson hearings, the Senior Counsel proceeded to slowly list salacious accusations that the Magistrate said had been dismissed from the proceedings, when the magistrate asked whether these details were relevant, Senior Counsel would insist that they were. The court would adjourn at 11:45 and Pia Ackerman would race out to file her copy which I could read on the website complete with accompanying pictures of the brothels within 5 minutes of court adjourning. It was like the Senior Counsel was instructed to list the accusations in the article about to be printed in The Australian under Pia Ackerman’s by line.
Stoljar is probably shuffling papers and drawing out proceedings under instruction from his masters, The Australian
Happiness
[“Endless points”?
I wouldn’t mind you showing me a single point I have made in support of the LNP on this issue!]
Bzzzt. Comprehension fail…try rereading my post.
@ Jolyon Wagg, 1395
Maybe if the self-serving, class-traitor Labor Right hadn’t had the nuts of the ALP National Conference in a vise since the late 70s, the Labor Party would still be a party that the likes of Curtin, Chifley and Whitlam could be proud of.
That has been undone this year, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s too little, too late. Especially discouraging is the failure of the Left faction to come up with a concrete policy on boat arrivals ahead of the Conference later.
Fairfax calls it – Shorten survives Abbott Government star chamber:
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bill-shorten-bruised-but-trade-unions-royal-commission-yet-to-reveal-a-smoking-gun-20150708-gi7twt.html
WAKE UP LNP! ABBOTT = LOSE GOVERNMENT IN 2016. This witch hunt wont save your sorry arses.
@ Happiness, 1400
Melissa Parke, the Member for Fremantle.
The independent who has impressed me is Andrew Wilkie, the Member for Denison.
Arrnea and ModLib – I know in the ACT the factional definitions are already to the left of every other jurisdiction, but as a member of the ACT “right” it’s not just the ALP left who want this to change. It’s just the “old” right of NSW and VIC are so incapable of change.
[Jolyon Wagg
….At least I don’t make endless posts supporting the party that has a manifestly worse record on these issues.]
Haha 🙂 Oh I see now…..you think that if the ALP and the LNP have a bipartisan policy of cruelty, that means that I can’t present data showing economic indicators are better when the LNP are in government?
Touched a nerve with you I see! Will take that as tacit encouragement to keep doing what I am doing….hadn’t realised how effective I was.
Thanks 🙂
@ J3, 1406
The dominant factions in the two largest states by population.
You’ll forgive me for not being reassured.
The truth is any opposition leader would probably have to molest a goat in public to approach the documented level of popular loathing for PM Abbott.
Nope – the LNP are a one term government. Unless they dump Abbott headfirst in the bin where he belongs. Then they might have a chance at re-election.
J341983: good to know and hopefully a sign that there is prospect for change (you wouldn’t get that impression from reading the posts made here but I am glad to hear they are not necessarily representative of ALP views more broadly).
If only the moderates in the Libs would rise from the dead too….
@ lefty, 1409
Cue a conveniently-timed terrorist attack to boost the LNP’s popularity.
It worked for Howard in 2001, eh?
[Arrnea Stormbringer
….Melissa Parke, the Member for Fremantle.]
Fair enough, but she hasn’t really done much yet.
[The independent who has impressed me is Andrew Wilkie, the Member for Denison.]
Thought that was who you meant but just wanted to double check.
I’m not saying you should be, just stating a reality… I’m saying that the blanket thinking of left and right faction and generalising isn’t helpful. There are people in the right (again, most of us in the ACT ALP right would be in the NSW left) who are angry and want this to change.
Noises will be made at National Conference. It’ll be a true test as to how strong the Old Right still is.
[I don’t believe there’s anyone with both the power and the will to do that. The ones who have the will lack the power and the ones with the power lack the will.]
We’ve had decades of bad leadership on this. Appealing to fear instead of courage. Difference instead of shared humanity. It won’t be an easy thing to get around.
But there has to be some way to do it.
There is some way to do it. To find that leadership or provide it ourselves. Its just a matter of finding the way.
[1391
Happiness
briefly
….The LNP are the key-holders, for now at least.
It takes:
1. The people
2. The moderate wing of the LNP
3. The left wing of the ALP
None of them is doing enough at the moment, but I have hope that this outrage won’t continue indefinitely…..perhaps wishful thinking, but as more reports of the reality of the situation emerge, the public will slowly stop tolerating it, as many here are tolerating it (or aggressively advocating for it).]
At the very least those of us who hope for change will have to stop using this issue as a stick with which to beat each other. Practically the whole country disagrees with us, so the very least we should do is agree on a partial truce.
The LNP have obtained electoral success on this issue. To ask them to change is to ask a very great deal. Labor have been deprived of office in part on the same issue, and to ask them to change is also to expect a great deal.
Yet we must ask. If anyone is going to listen at all, we have to find the language of persuasion rather than of insult. (I’m finding it quite a challenge….but I think there’s no other way).
@ Happiness, 1410
I’m not convinced there’s any moderates worth resurrecting left in a party that openly supports child prison rape, human trafficking, leaving unemployed people to starve on the streets or steal to survive and that climate change is a UN hoax to take over the world.
It’s over. Just take what you can from the festering corpse of what the Liberal Party used to be and make something better with it.
Well, its time for the much needed beauty sleep.
Over to you Arrnea Stormbringer….you will need to uphold the side of good over evil until I return!
Au revoir Bludgeroonies, au revoir…….
lefty e @ 1404: Amusing to think that only a few weeks ago the talk of the town was that after Mr Shorten’s day in the witness box, Mr Abbott would be off to Yarralumla asking for an early election. Doesn’t seem at all plausible now.
And in fact it never was. I’ve pretty much given up reading what passes for mainstream media political reporting these days, because (a) I’ve seen from their reporting on areas where I have professional knowledge just how much they get flatly wrong; and (b) they pay too much attention to tweets and rumours, and don’t have a good enough understanding of fundamental forces which shape politics in this country.
@ Happiness, 1412
Speaking openly against her own party line and tactically abstaining from certain votes in Parliament is no mean feat in a party with such party discipline as the Labor Party – it’s about all she can do without being expelled.
Happiness
[…the ALP and the LNP have a bipartisan policy of cruelty]
I have outlined the reasons that I regard the LNP as worse on the issue of asylum seeker issues. As you have not disputed those reasons I guess you must be tacitly accepting them.
[Touched a nerve with you I see!]
Not really…just a bit bored and not inclined to watch the cricket until a wicket falls.
@ J3, 1413
Well, the Conference had better produce something encouraging, or I’ll be seriously considering taking the scissors to my party membership.
Goodnightg
[1414
jules
I don’t believe there’s anyone with both the power and the will to do that. The ones who have the will lack the power and the ones with the power lack the will.
We’ve had decades of bad leadership on this. Appealing to fear instead of courage. Difference instead of shared humanity. It won’t be an easy thing to get around.
But there has to be some way to do it.
There is some way to do it. To find that leadership or provide it ourselves. Its just a matter of finding the way.]
Exactly right, Jules. We must look for a way. We must look to our own capacities and begin to act. The political parties cannot or will not do this and we should not expect it.
@ jules, 1414
Sadly, those with the right ideas too often lack the connections or capital to get into positions of power.
How do you fight the established political players who have the money and the power to shut you out of the game forever?
http://kevinbonham.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/poll-roundup-abbott-shorten-racing-to.html
Poll Roundup: Abbott, Shorten Racing To The Bottom
2PP Aggregate: 52.5 to ALP (+0.2, highest in 10 weeks)
Article also takes a swing at the Australia Institute ABC poll (chiefly for not publishing all questions) and the Fair Agenda poll on domestic violence vs terrorism (for priming respondents with a dubious claim.)
aarnea
well youve certainly had a good inning tonight well done
im currently working on a literary work with political references and have set things up to articulate a positive ideology for country but have had to scratch around for what that might look like – ie blue sky stuff ….. might have something — sometimes good to think outside box esp when box is so murky if not black
Greek letter to ESM is here http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-08/greece-faces-euro-exit-unless-demands-accepted-by-sunday …
Greece asks for help!
seems like there is awful lot of anti abbott rants out there and what is frustrating like the anti iraq war demos that there is no impact — we need something to short circuit or lance this sore
@ 1426
Respecting human rights and stopping catastrophic climate change have to be at the forefront of any effective plan for Australia’s future. The former is a matter of the highest principle, the other is a matter of survival. All else is secondary.
1421 of course you will be cutting up your membership in that case
of course we all prefer labor over liberals but it seems in this stalemate the prospect of lib win has never been ruled out … you are for leadership hat is vibrant and that is something labor have vehemently not let austral public have at present – you will need to renew membership to cut up card twice
arrnea 1429
is that really enough?? constitutional change? republic? australia and world? middle east? trade? participatory democracy? sustainable economics? the list is long and there is quite a backlog on some issues
@ geoffrey, 1430
At the rate Labor’s policy is descending into Orwellian brutality, they’re lucky I don’t smoke and hence lack a lighter on hand, because if I did, it’d be going up in flames, not into the bin in shreds.
[Perhaps Walid Ali was right- its because they are not little white christian children.]
Of course he’s right ML. Have you ever looked around at this country?
@ geoffrey, 1431
Those are all important issues, but all secondary to our survival. Our survival is a precondition for even considering other issues like economics and politics – because all of the racial divisions, all of the sexual orientations, all of the money and all of the power and all of the influence in the whole world will mean diddly-squat if we’re all dead because we can’t breathe the air, drink the water or grow food in the soil.
[How do you fight the established political players who have the money and the power to shut you out of the game forever?]
With courage, good humour and zen awesomeness?
I dunno right now but there is always a way and we can find it.
@ jules, 1435
The system is literally rigged against people who aren’t already wealthy, powerful or both and as countless studies have shown, such wealth and power accrues more readily amongst psychopaths who have little care for the suffering of others than it does amongst people who aren’t like that.
Anyone who would have the will and the courage to change Australia for the better would likely be assassinated within a year of coming to office, assuming they would even make it to Parliament in the first place.
1434 well chicken or egg maybe there’s a bit of green fundamentalism there – i think restructure of politics and economics is basic to future … all priorities work together — the task is that hard …….. eg you forgot to mention peace … you earnestness is terrific but there are not shortcuts to the future, none that throw up more problems than they solve … so we agree a huge challenge with very little time
@ geoffrey, 1438
I don’t think it’s fundamentalist to recognise that every other aspect of human civilisation is predicated on the continued existence of human civilisation – it’s simple common sense.
[Somehow these sentiments have to be addressed to the LNP. They hold nearly all the cards in this contest; if change is to come, the greatest change will be demanded of the LNP. For Labor and the Greens, change cannot come soon enough but they are in no position to secure it. The LNP are the key-holders, for now at least.]
There is something in this.
I think it can be a weakness for the coalition. The coalition’s current policies need to be framed as unAustralian and extremist. And also as stupidly expensive and extremely short term in scope.
They are all these things so that isn’t difficult.
Extremist – well they ain’t ISIS yet but they’re walking down the same path. This is a reality and we need the space in Australia to be able to express it again. How similar are the coalitions policies on shutting critics up to Putin or groups like ISIS or even Sisi and his crew in Egypt?
Sisi locked Peter Greste up for simply reporting what people said. Its strikingly similar to the potential for locking up journos in Australia. Not as dangerous as crossing Putin but the only difference is degree of punishment. Its illegal to present information in the hope of driving public debate on our treatment of boat people. The coalition has made it illegal to promote democratic public debate.
That is a fact.
If thats not extreme and unAustralian what is it?
that is without even considering the cost to the people we have locked up and to us to our national character.
Jules
[These are for joylon]
Gee thanks! Did you do these yourself?
@ jules, 1440
Unfortunately, it seem the majority of Australians support locking people up in detention for the crime of wanting to invade Australia and impose their sharia law and Halal taxes on us, while somehow taking our jobs AND lazing around on welfare at the same time.
Oh and a majority supports tossing out on their ass as stateless persons sole-Australian-citizens on the say-so of the Government’s minister-of-the-day.
Doesn’t give you much hope for their ability to see a reasoned argument on why Australia is daily descending into fascism.
There’s a famous quote that, while it pertains to America, is quite relevant to Australia at the moment:
Joylon – too much talent for me.
Arrnea Stormbringer:
I’ve read everything you’ve written tonight. You’re fighting the good fight – well done.
I think that’ll be it for me tonight. Been nice going back and forth with people here for a bit.
@ caf, 1445
Thanks. It’s appreciated to know I’m not just shouting at a brick wall here.
Jules,
Thanks for the thought 🙂
Arrnea Stormbringer
Posted Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at 2:40 pm | PERMALINK
[@ zoom, 737]
[I never said refugee numbers wouldn’t increase. Please don’t put words in my mouth.]
This is precisely what Zoomster does.
An abhorrent and horrid manipulator of other people’s words, who verbals to the point of outright lying.
Argumentative for the sheer pleasure of advocating the devil.
I am very near to being dumbfounded at the thought that so few here pick her up on it, and close to speechless that such a being could possibly vote for the same political party I do.
Pest, is a more appropriate term than troll, however, TBA could learn a thing or two if he were paying enough attention.
Arrnea Stormbringer,
Also,
I second what caf said.
You have given me some of my hope back and it is deeply appreciated.