This week’s Morgan and Essential Research polls have prompted a solid move to the Coalition on the weekly reading of BludgerTrack, putting the government in its strongest position since last September on voting intention. Its standing is stronger still on the seat projection, as the movement since that time has favoured it more strongly in the more important states of New South Wales and Queensland than in the marginal seat dead-zone of Victoria – potentially leaving into minority government territory, given that three of the seats credited to “others” are naturally conservative. The six-seat change on last week’s result includes two gains in New South Wales and Queensland, and one each in Victoria and Western Australia. The new leadership ratings from Essential Research cause Bill Shorten’s net approval rating to slip below Tony Abbott’s, though the trendlines for both remain sharply downwards, and Abbott hasn’t quite recovered the lead he lost last week on preferred prime minister.
Further:
• The government is preparing to reintroduce to parliament next month a bill to extend to trade union officals standards of disclosure and financial behviour that apply to company directors, which was rejected by the Senate in March. With the requisite period of three months having elapsed since, a second rejection of the bill would establish a double dissolution trigger on terms that would suit the government’s agenda of associating Labor with union corruption. The only existing double dissolution trigger currently available to the government is its bill abolishing the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the it’s debatable as to whether that counts as it was blocked before the Senators elected in September 2013 took their seats in mid-2014.
• Labor has preselected Leisa Neaton, principal of Frenchville State School, as its candidate for the central Queensland seat of Capricornia, which Michelle Landry won for the Liberal National Party in 2013 after the retirement of Labor member Kirsten Livermore. Austin King of the Morning Bulletin reports that Neaton prevailed with 85 votes ahead of 60 for Peter Freeleagus, a Moranbah miner and former Belyando Shire mayor who ran unsuccessfully in 2013, and 41 for Rockhampton mayor Margaret Strelow. Capricornia is featured in the Seat of the Week post directly below this one.
• The Cairns Post reports Norm Jacobson, state secretary of Together Queensland’s prison officers branch, has been preselected as Labor’s candidate for Bob Katter’s seat of Kennedy.
Well that settles it then
[Michael Pachi
Michael Pachi – @michaelpachi
.@JoeHockey has told Stuart Bocking that speaker Bronwyn Bishop needs to explain her travel expenses @NewsTalk2UE @2GBNews]
The Greens are so intent on attacking the Labour Party on anything.
If they really want to change the political position they should all join the Labour Party and try to change things from within.
[Michael Pachi
@michaelpachi .@JoeHockey has told Stuart Bocking that speaker Bronwyn Bishop needs to explain her travel expenses @NewsTalk2UE @2GBNews ]
lizzie
Snap
victoria
Someone else has said that Hockey has thrown Bronnie under the bus (helicopter).
lizzie
[Someone else has said that Hockey has thrown Bronnie under the bus (helicopter).]
Ejection seat?
Looks like Joe has got that chaff bag ready for Madam’s next chopper ride.
@Simon_Cullen: Just last year it was revealed that Bronwyn Bishop used the Speaker’s office for fundraisers. http://t.co/loa8yJKb0P http://t.co/WY4YZKWor0
I think the Gallery is as sick of Bishop’s QT as we are
[DeeMadigan @deemadigan · 5m5 minutes ago
Joe ‘cigar’ Hockey who charges the taxpayer to stay as his wife’s house says Bronny’s $ claims ‘not a good look’. Oh I is dying of lols.]
Will Abbott back Bishop? If he does will that lead to libel?
🙂
From the Fairfax press, some pontificating:
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/bronwyn-bishop-is-doing-nothing-to-restore-dignity-to-the-speakers-office-20150715-giczj4.html
And in the article this choice bit of moralising:
[We’ll never be able to forget Peter Slipper’s text messages about unshelled mussels, no matter how much we might want to.
But while Bishop hasn’t sullied the office with the same kind of base behaviour, her blatant partisanship and her loose approach to expenses are doing nothing to restore its dignity.]
Now Madam may have well expressed the grossest misandry by describing male genitals as a sausage and two poached eggs on a plate – but we will never know because HER text messages are not downloaded for the world to trawl through.
I have never gotten over the faux outrage over a couple of silly private texts, which were so patently politically motivated.
But Gartrell has one thing right – Bishop’s cavalier use of OUR money for HER personal benefit is a huge personal insult to this nation.
[Richard Chirgwin @R_Chirgwin · 19s19 seconds ago
FFS. There are some TAFE courses for which a SINGLE semester costs $8,000. That’s just an instrument of oppression.]
“@kemal_atlay: Bronwyn Bishop’s $5,000 helicopter ride equates to ~10 Newstart payments for a single person with no children ($519.20/fortnight) #auspol”
Massive environmental damage notwithstanding, what logic can there possibly be to destroying prime agricultural land & water basins that will last for centuries for short-term mining that is so destructive & is in any case yielding low financial returns for the forseeable future. Blind Freddy can see this is ridiculous by virtually every feasible metric.
Labor presser now
gt
[ If he does will that lead to libel?]
“libel” ? Context needed.
[victoria
Posted Thursday, July 16, 2015 at 7:51 am | PERMALINK
Phil Vee
I have no idea as to the depth of influence Alan Jones has. Thank goodness we dont have to listen to him here in Melbourne. But me thinks that his objection to mining on prime agricultural land is something he feels strongly about]
I listened to him yesterday and he certainly does feel very strongly about it. No doubt it will fire up the xenophobes and red necks (which are in abundance in NSW), but this time it will disadvantage the government, not Labor, if Shorten plays it smart.
Ctar
Sorry. Typo. meant lib spill
Bronwyn Bishop needs to be hounded mercilously until the money for the helicopter is repaid, especially in light of the Slipper situation.
gt
Makes more sense.
Charlie
It’s no more than a designer outfit. She can afford it.
[Charlie Edwards
Posted Thursday, July 16, 2015 at 10:59 am | PERMALINK
Massive environmental damage notwithstanding, what logic can there possibly be to destroying prime agricultural land & water basins that will last for centuries for short-term mining that is so destructive & is in any case yielding low financial returns for the forseeable future. Blind Freddy can see this is ridiculous by virtually every feasible metric.]
I agree. I voted against it in the 2GB poll this morning (it’s at the top on the home page). I hope others here will do the same.
lizzie
Of course Labor was surprised something had been leaked. Which COULD be described as ‘shaken’, one supposes, by people of limited vocabulary.
And of course Labor reps then answered the questions the media asked it on the issue. Which isn’t ‘scrambling to play down’ but is ‘answering the questions the media asked us honestly.”
We really are poorly served by our current media.
[Climate change is back in sharp focus following the leaking of Labor’s discussion paper on an Emissions Trading Scheme, and the Government’s ban on taxpayer funded investments in wind and small scale solar projects.
With these political divisions as a backdrop, there’s now been a major shift on the issue from one of the country’s most influential farming groups.
Delegates attending the New South Wales Farmers Association annual conference have passed a motion calling on governments to do much more to support the transition from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources.
In doing so, they’ve dumped their previous position which called for a Royal Commission in to whether humans were responsible for climate change.]
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/nsw-farmers-association-shifts-position-on-climate-change/6623808
“@vanOnselenP: I don’t understand attacks on Labor pricing carbon by the Coalition given it is spending billions of taxpayers dollars on Direct Action? 1/2”
“@vanOnselenP: 2/2 who do they think provides the billions they spend on direct action? Fairies at the bottom of the garden???”
Nicholas
[No, the Reserve Bank credits the Treasury Department’s account and the Treasury Department credits the accounts of the recipients.]
Missing the point entirely. It’s taxpayers money, therefore taxpayers are the ones funding Direct Action.
“@ABCNews24: Chris Bowen: #BronwynBishop has lot of explaining to do, I cannot see any possible explanation for this #auspol”
zoomster
It’s almost sad that most of the msm can only write in wornout cliches.
Bowen is being incredibly wussy:
“If she has made an inappropriate claim she should seriously consider paying it back”
FMD. Get on the bloody front foot Bowen! I’m starting to think these guys actually believe that the Australian public will see through this appalling government. I’m really starting to get worried.
The fact is outraged hyperbolic attacks work – otherwise we would not have the very worst PM in the history of the nation.
[86
dave]
…demonstrating that people are capable of voting for their own enslavement and destitution.
“this is ridiculous by virtually every feasible metric.”
Except direct payments from mining / coal companies to the Liberal Party
TPOF
I agree regarding Bowen. Mr Shorten did a presser earlier and showed how you do it.
His its the height of arrogance when asking poor people to take cuts very effective I thought
Does Labor have a “talking points of the day” when not in government? If not, they should. Although not to the parroting level of the Coal, just good prompts.
Gee, they sure pile it on don’t they?
A month or so ago, Shorten was in a quiet backwater leading in the polls and doing very nicely, thankyouverymuch.
The the announcement was made that June was going to be his killing season.
The actual TV show came on. Bill was mentioned a few times.
Then the leaks from the TURC started. That a RC would leak is just shrugged off. That it’s a witch hunt is given passing note.
Then the evidence in the dock. Then the warning from Dyson Heydon, Abbott’s hatchet ma, and the gotcha questions from Heydon’s very own chambers bum-boy, Stoljar.
The the talk, talk, talk. The agreement among the media pundits. The group think.
A prediction had been made. They all concurred. Now it was their job to see that the prediction came true. No more stuff-ups like they did with Abbott in February.
No matter what evidence or facts there are to the contrary, Shorten is universally regarded by the press gallery – the very people who invented the whole bootstrap – as “Dud Man Walking” (Nikki Savva’s term this morning in the Oz). They will pursue this relentlessly until it wears out, or Shorten leaves.
He has been pronounced as “finished” (just like Abbott was).
He has been pronounced as leading Labor to disaster, even though they are ahead in the polls, have turned around the result of the last election in an almost unimaginable way (if you can put your minds back to June 2013 and how you felt about the election loss).
Sadly, many here have fallen for it too. They see something in the newspapers and think it must be true. Even if they don’t really believe it, deep down, they think others believe it, so that’s a good enough excuse to sorta-kinda believe it themselves. Just to be on the safe side. The herd mentality writ large and smelly.
Bill shorten iis no different from the Bill shorten of just a few weeks ago. What’s changed is the quite blatant and stark decision by the Gallery to go after him. And in favour of who? Tony Abbott, that’s who.
The biggest wrecking PM we’ve ever seen. Barging around, closing down industries (and others that depend on them), Captain’s Calls every day, rorting their own entitlements, making war on everything, setting one demographic against another… and all for what? So Abbott can walk tall in a field of humanity that’s been cut off at the knees.
The Gallery simply doesn’t give a stuff about any of that. To them it’s a game. A silly game. They love the power they think they have. It’s not as great as they believe, but there is some, a little there. It’s the power to make prdinarily intelligent people think that what they read in newspapers and see on television is real, or has enough reality to push them in the same direction as the rest of the herd.
The Kill Bill Season has been a confection from the start. Born of a corrupt Royal Commission, nurtured in self-referential, endlessly cycling newspaper columns and panel shows, and discussed ad nauseam in the most dangerous pit of all: the Labor factions, who really don’t seem to give a damn whether Labor achieves government, as longas their man gets a kick in to somebody else’s head before they all go down.
[It’s almost sad that most of the msm can only write in wornout cliches.]
And those cliches are always negative. They pull everyone down to their miserable, cynical, in-bred level. No wonder the public is jack of politicians. You never see anything positive. It’s always depression piled on ennui.
Welcome to Abbott’s Australia. It’s his stock in trade to do this, and to engender an atmosphere where it’s OK to be miserable. It’s just the way he likes it. He’s been doing it all his life.
BCassidy opined that Labor dont like going hard on spending rorts cos they are never sure that their own side has made some errors and have had to repay monies
“@FlatEarthGang: #choppergate Morrison says “The Speaker is not part of the Government”
Bronwyn overboard. #auspol”
BCassidy also opined that the state of politics (which the msm shares a lot of blame) is at a low,ebb and it wouldnt matter who the leader was. They would still be polling in negative territory due to the nature of the current debate
Just as Abbott keeps innocent people in prison as political trophies, so his new best friends in the ME also keep political prisoners…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/roya-nobakht-british-woman-imprisoned-in-iran-over-antigovernment-facebook-comments-being-physically-tortured-say-campaigners-10391450.html
[A British woman who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2013 for posting derogatory comments about the country’s government on Facebook has been subjected to “physical and psychological torture” in jail, according to campaigners working for her release.
Roya Nobakht, 48, was arrested while visiting family in Iran and accused of “insulting Islamic sanctities” through comments posted on a Facebook group. She was put on trial alongside seven other people without legal representation and sentenced to 20 years in jail.
She has since been given a retrial at which she was allowed to speak in her defence for the first time. She was later told that her sentence had been reduced to seven years, but she was given no legal papers to confirm this and her family remain deeply concerned about her welfare.]
[ China stock suspensions opens can of derivatives worms
The suspension of hundreds of mainland China stocks during a market plunge from mid-June could lead to disputes between banks and their clients over the valuation of billions of dollars of equity derivatives.
Banks dealing in derivatives are concerned that valuation terms covering market disruptions in other Asian markets, such as trading halts when stocks move up or down by the exchange’s daily range limits, might not apply to the wave of stock suspensions in China.
…Dealers have written at least $150 billion of outstanding over-the-counter (OTC) equity derivatives on mainland-listed shares, according to estimates by Shanghai-based investment consultancy Z-Ben Advisors.
“Right now, dealers are going through their books trying to work out what their positions are worth,” said Adam Sussman, head of execution and quantitative services at international brokerage Liquidnet. “In the end, someone is going to have to call the value of those deals, and someone else will lose out.” ]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/14/china-stocks-derivatives-idUSL3N0ZP41I20150714
[Ben Eltham
Ben Eltham – @beneltham
The government is cutting Bronwyn Bishop loose. Apparently even her unswerving loyalty to the cause not enough to stop choppergate
6:31 PM – 15 Jul 2015
4 RETWEETS3 FAVORITES]
Guytaur
Of course Mdm Speaker is not part of the govt.
She only attends Coal Party meetings cos the coffee n cakes are delish.
“@McNultyDean: The big mystery with the helicopter fiasco is how the craft managed to remain aloft with a load so dramatically biased to one side? #auspol”
[The Speaker is not part of the Government]
She just participates in the party room …
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/more-than-half-of-germans-support-merkels-tough-stance-on-greece-10391573.html
[A poll conducted in Germany has found that more than half of Germans agree with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s position on negotiations with Greece.
And almost all of those surveyed said that they doubted whether Greece would actually implement the sweeping reforms, which were agreed upon during marathon all-night negotiations between Eurozone leaders on Sunday night.
The survey, conducted by German polling company Forsa for weekly news magazine Stern, asked 1,001 people about their opinions on Merkel’s approach to the Greek crisis.
55 per cent said they believed Merkel’s tough attitude to Greece during the negotiations was correct, and almost one third wished that she had taken a much tougher line, by forcing Greece out of the Eurozone.]
The idea that taking Greece out of the Eurozone is “tough” is ridiculous. It is far preferable to remaining inside the Eurozone – a course that guarantees perpetual Greek destitution.
Mark Di Stefano
Mark Di Stefano – Verified account @MarkDiStef
Morrison delivers pensions rant & ropes in Shorten’s “carbon tax”.
Journo asks “what will pensioners think about Bishop’s $5,000 trip?”
Labor should ddescribe climate plans as a Carbon Cap Program. “The govt will place cap on total national carbon emmissions”.
When asked how say “the govt, industry and business will together develop a market based mechanism.”
Watertight!
Then attack Abbot’s Big Direct Action Tax.
Psyclaw
Labor should ddescribe climate plans as a Carbon Cap Program. “The govt will place cap on total national carbon emmissions”.
When asked how say “the govt, industry and business will together develop a market based mechanism.”
Watertight!
Then attack Abbot’s Big Direct Action Carbon Tax.
Fixed it for you
142 & 144
The Government generally referrers only to the ministers. The Speaker is, quite appropriately, not a minister (it would be quite the conflict of interest).
[ Oliver Marc Hartwich –
The accusations against Germany are also misdirected on other fronts.
To begin with, it is not as if Greece got an overly tough deal from the ‘institutions’ over the past three years.
Its debt has already been restructured in a first haircut and repayments have been stretched over almost four decades.
As a result, Greece’s annual interest load as a percentage of its GDP is smaller than Italy’s, Spain’s or Portugal’s — and only slightly higher than Germany’s.
Sadly, for the past five years, Greek governments did not implement the reforms that would have been required to get the country back on track.
The country still does not have a proper land registry; its labour market is still sclerotic; and paying tax seems like a voluntary exercise. Is it any wonder, then, that patience with Greece is running out in the creditor countries (not just Germany)? ]
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2015/7/16/european-crisis/why-germany-losing-blame-game
…
The Germans Knew How ‘Europe’ Would End Back In 1997 –
[ In 1997, Arnulf Baring (of the German-British family of Baring bankers) unleashed the following ‘Nostradamus’-like prediction of how the euro would end (from a German perspective)…
“They will be subsidizing scroungers, lounging in cafes on the Mediterranean beaches.
Monetary union, in the end, will result in a gigantic blackmailing operation.
When we Germans demand monetray discipline, other countries will blame their financial woes on that same discipline, and by extension, on us. More they will perceive us as a kind of economic policeman.
We risk once again becoming the most hated people in Europe.” ]
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-15/subsidizing-scroungers-germans-knew-how-europe-would-end-back-1997