Essential Research: 53-47 to Labor

This week’s Essential Research offers results on Tony Abbott and 457 visas, along with yet another boring set of voting intention numbers.

The Essential Research fortnight rolling average maintains its recent habit of shifting between 53-47 and 54-46, the latest instalment going from the latter to the former. On the primary vote, the Coalition is up a point to 37% and Labor is down one to 36%, with the Greens and One Nation steady at 10% and 8%, so that the result is in all respects identical to the week before last. The poll also finds 40% think Tony Abbott should resign from parliament, 17% that he should stay on the back bench, and another 17% that he should be given a position in the ministry. This is worse for him than when the same questions were posed in August last year, when the respective results were 37%, 21% and 25%. Other findings relate to the tightening of 457 visas: 16% said they went too far, 28% not far enough, and 39% that they were about right; 59% approved of allowing visa holders to apply for permanent residency, against 23% disapprove; 78% agreed that those applying for permanent residency should first be put on a probationary visa, against only 10% for disagree.

The Australian also had extra questions from Newspoll, which found that 70% favoured the government prioritising spending cuts over 20% for increasing taxes, but that only 30% favoured cuts to welfare payments with 61% opposed.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

784 comments on “Essential Research: 53-47 to Labor”

Comments Page 1 of 16
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  1. Essential never moves much outside an moe on 50/50. They never seem to pick up big trends when they happen. The political insiders don’t rank them against Newspoll and IPOS.

  3. AR from previous thread. Needs to be reposted for its sanity amidst doom sayers.

    Burning more coal and/or gas, but less petrol and/or diesel. You only get a net increase in CO2 emissions if small ICE engines are more efficient than large-scale coal/gas generators, in terms of grams of CO2 emitted per usable kWh produced.

    So you’d have to put some numbers to it. You need the typical efficiency of a small petrol engine, which appears to be around 35% for modern models. And the typical efficiency for coal-fired plants, which runs from 36% at the low end to 48% at the high end, so probably about 40% is a fair average (sidenote: gas generation is up to 60% efficient, so yes, would be better than coal by far). Then you need the energy density of both fuels, which is ~9 kWh/liter for petrol and ~8 kWh/kg for coal.

    Then you can work out how much of each you’d need to produce the equivalent of the 110 usable kWh you’re putting into the EV. Which I get as ~35 liters of petrol vs ~34 kg of coal. Which appears to give ~82 kg of CO2 emissions for the petrol engine vs. ~78 kg from the coal.

    So in other words, it’s basically a wash (in the worst-case, where all the power is coming from relatively inefficient coal-fired generation). And edges towards favoring the EV as more efficient generation sources are used (even if they’re fossil-fuel based, and even if the chosen fossil fuel is coal).

    With an energy mix that includes even a small (5-10%) proportion of renewables, the EV gains a clear advantage. Moreso if you have rooftop solar (and timeshifting batteries, since you’ll probably want to charge your EV at night).

    I think the concern about EV’s leading to a massive spike in CO2 emissions is unfounded.

  5. Chinese Workers Paid $1 an Hour to Make Ivanka Trump’s Clothes

    Workers at a factory in China that makes clothes for the Ivanka Trump clothing line and other labels made roughly $1 an hour, according to a new audit cited by the Washington Post. The workers toiled 60 hours a week to produce clothing they could never afford, such as the “brand’s $158 dresses [and] $79 blouses”

    http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/chinese-workers-paid-1-hour-make-ivanka-trumps-clothes

  8. Good morning Dawn Patrollers. It’s a big ‘un today!

    Turnbull is about to impose an extraordinary imposition on gas supply arrangements.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/why-malcolm-turnbull-has-made-an-extraordinary-intervention-on-gas-prices-20170426-gvt3m3.html
    At last! The government will budget recurrent expense and investments in assets separately. No doubt they will spruik this to describe a small operational deficit so journalists will need to be vigilant for smoke and mirrors. It would also be useful to reconstruct past accounts to establish baselines.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/federal-budget-2017-new-rules-allow-scott-morrison-to-boost-infrastructure-spending-20170426-gvsirc.html
    Peter Martin says we’ll now be able to DO things as a result of the budget structure changes.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/federal-budget-2017-at-last-morrison-and-turnbull-will-be-able-to-borrow-big-20170426-gvsl13.html
    Trump has just announced the biggest tax cuts in US history and moving to a phenomenal fiscal cliff. And we thought OUR tax cuts were dangerous! Google.
    /news/politics/world/white-house-makes-opening-bid-for-biggest-tax-cut-in-us-history-20170426-gvtaq3
    Refugees hit back at Potatohead’s accusations.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/all-we-did-was-help-poor-hungry-child-asylum-seekers-hit-back-at-peter-dutton-20170426-gvsyr5.html
    The White House had all senators in to receive a briefing on North Korea. One senator summed it up with “If it flies it dies!” Google.
    /news/world/north-korea-white-house-in-extraordinary-senate-briefing/news-story/e5e0c9dc125b62f419a289932cae2c25Bernardi wants to be a right wing political PacMan and gobble up small parties and independents into his new outfit.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/family-first-takeover-cory-bernardi-looks-for-more-mergers-after-great-day-for-conservatives-20170426-gvstv2.html
    Andrew Street has a look at what Bernardi has got from Family First’s closing down sale.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/what-cory-bernardi-picked-up-at-the-family-first-goingoutofbusiness-sale-20170426-gvsopp.html
    The SMH editorial says that Bernardi and Family First have gamed the system.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/bernardi-and-family-first-game-a-flawed-system-20170426-gvshv0.html
    Mark Kenny says that Bernardi has the Liberals running scared.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/cory-bernardis-conservative-challenge-has-backpedalling-liberals-running-scared-20170426-gvt4nh.html

  9. Section 2 . . .

    And with consummate timing Bob Day has been declared bankrupt. Google.
    /business/former-family-first-senator-and-homestead-homes-owner-bob-day-is-officially-bankrupt/news-story/9273884a519238ee6f03572d9bea30bb
    Lawyer Duncan Fine writes that we should celebrate Yassmin not attack her. He makes some good points.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/we-should-celebrate-yassmin-abdelmagied-not-attack-her-20170426-gvsp1k.html
    So great has the cult of Anzac Day become, any dissenting voices are now attacked, condemned and vilified writes Dr Binoy Kampmark.
    https://independentaustralia.net/article-display/the-vilification-of-yassmin-abdel-magied-anzac-as-apologia-and-religion,10237
    Judith Ireland writes about the irony of the push to unseat Kelly O’Dwyer.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/what-kelly-odwyers-treatment-says-about-women-in-politics-20170425-gvrv79.html
    Mark Kenny climbs aboard the story that Michael West has been writing on to tell us about the billions of dollars of taxation revenue that are being lost to multinational gas operations.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/global-gas-giants-use-loophole-to-avoid-tax-on-billions-from-australian-operations-20170425-gvrwn9.html
    Coles has reversed its outsourcing of trolley collection in order to overcome underpayment of workers.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/coles-reduces-underpayment-in-its-supply-chain-by-bringing-trolley-collection-in-house-20170426-gvt1zu.html
    Macron’s email accounts have been hacked according to his campaign management.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/french-candidate-emmanuel-macrons-campaign-confirms-they-were-targeted-by-phishing-cyber-attacks-20170426-gvtacr.html
    In another classy act Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to identify national monuments that can be rescinded or resized – part of a broader push to open up more federal lands to drilling, mining and other development.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/donald-trump-orders-review-of-national-monuments-to-open-land-for-drilling-and-mining-20170426-gvtaiu.html
    Trump just can’t help himself!
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/maralago-promotional-article-pulled-from-us-government-websites-after-uproar-20170426-gvsnoh.html
    Telstra has admitted to gross mistakes with its NBN offering in WA. But it plans to do nothing about it! This has to be a time bomb. Google.
    business/technology/telstra-admits-nbn-failings-in-wa/news-story/8794c39536464770f31d851590b6072a

  10. Section 3 . . .

    The rental market in Sydney is beyond the pale!
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-rental-affordability-hits-new-crisis-levels-20170425-gvs0h4.html
    Greg Jericho has a close look at the dynamics around rental affordability. He concludes that many on government benefits or even on minimum wage are essentially denied the ability to live independently – surely a sign that such incomes are woefully inadequate.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2017/apr/27/rental-affordability-at-crisis-point-for-low-income-families
    The Australian Olympic Committee has opened itself up to an independent assessment of its workplace practices. It’s obvious that many of the members have backed themselves in.
    http://www.smh.com.au/sport/australian-olympic-committee-submits-to-independent-review-amid-bullying-claims-20170426-gvt8z5.html
    Eleven current and former Fox News employees filed a class-action lawsuit in New York against the network, accusing it of “abhorrent, intolerable, unlawful and hostile racial discrimination.” Nice outfit!
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/fox-news-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit-alleging-abhorrent-racial-discrimination-20170426-gvta0b.html
    Far from being the solution to Australia’s energy crisis, bureaucrats have confirmed the upgrade to Snowy Hydro may never even go ahead reports Mark Hipgrave. Turnbull fibbed.
    https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/turnbull-fibbed-about-snowy-hydro-20,10235
    Another day in court for our friend Mehajer.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/salim-mehajer-pleads-not-guilty-to-assaulting-taxi-driver-tv-reporter-laura-banks-20170426-gvshsr.html
    In a very good article this professor of cardiology explains that we, as receivers of high quality health care, have responsibilities.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/we-all-have-a-right-to-medical-care-but-with-that-comes-responsibilities-20170425-gvs9vu.html
    John Warhurst on the Nationals’ push to decentralise APS departments out of Canberra.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/messy-politics-of-public-service-decentralisation-and-the-canberra-region-20170425-gvs2di.html
    Cathy McGowan is going to push for a parliamentary inquiry into the decentralisation plan.
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-service/proper-inquiry-needed-on-public-service-decentralisation-cathy-mcgowan-20170426-gvshwl.html

  11. Section 4 . . .

    The extent of nepotism in the Trump White House is amazing. And it’s not a good look.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/04/26/trump-s-white-house-family-affair-looks-a-lot-like-the-most-corr_a_22057107/?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage
    Meanwhile House Oversight Democrats are demanding that the committee is allowed to vote on a bill that would require Trump and all future presidents to release their tax returns.
    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/04/26/democrats-turn-heat-demand-vote-bill-force-trump-release-tax-returns.html
    Stephen Koukoulas on the latest inflation figures.
    https://thekouk.com/item/491-inflation-is-low-and-remains-low.html
    Will we see naming and shaming as a result of the Post Panama Papers? A lot of dark forces will be pushing for this not to occur.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/post-panama-papers-call-to-name-and-shame-people-behind-secret-shell-companies-20170425-gvrz9o.html
    You have to hand it to PHON. They know how to pick and vet potential candidates.
    http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/one-nation-candidate-mark-ellis-quits-over-abuse-threats-to-family-20170426-gvsqwp.html
    Looks like cricket (and other sporting) is in a bubble market set to collapse.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/crickets-revenue-problem-is-all-in-its-timing-20170426-gvszad.html
    In the face of a significant increase in public schools enrolments in NSW the government has announced a bold new plan.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/revealed-the-5b-plan-to-tackle-overcrowding-crisis-in-nsw-schools-20170426-gvt0aj.html
    If EVER there was proof that fools and money are easily parted this is it!
    http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/nordstrom-is-selling-a-pair-of-mudstained-jeans-and-theyre-probably-what-we-deserve-20170425-gvses9.html
    The Senate inquiry into the Centrelink robo-debt issue continues to uncover inconvenient truths.
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-service/centrelink-inquiry-hears-robodebt-collectors-never-visited-homes-20170426-gvshz3.html
    As does Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/mp-quiet-on-30000-campaign-contribution-source-says-stafferturnedcandidate-20170426-gvspo6.html

  12. Section 5 . . .

    Paul Keating was hit at his appearance at the Lowy Institute yesterday.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/paul-keating-sounds-warning-about-us-policy-in-the-south-china-sea-20170426-gvsu5t.html
    A police officer’s life is not an easy one as this tragic story illustrates.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/traumaaffected-police-officer-asked-colleague-to-investigate-death-before-suicide-20170426-gvszmf.html
    Turnbull and his right wing remoras wouldn’t milk this would they?
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-needs-to-build-a-missile-defence-shield-former-national-security-adviser-andrew-shearer-20170426-gvt3q4.html
    Tony Wright gives us a potted history of our national anthems.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/girt-by-derision-a-short-and-tortured-history-of-our-national-anthem-20170426-gvslqi.html

  13. Section 6 . . . Cartoon Corner

    Matt Golding despairs over FOI.

    Andrew Dyson with Bernardi Family First.

    Brilliant work from Mark David as he pens new words for our national anthem. It has a seminal third verse.
    :large
    David Pope has a ripper on the new senator fleeing from “home:.

    Broelman has a sneak preview of our northern missile defence system in light of North Korea’s posturing.

    David Rowe drops in on Bernardi.

    A classic from Mark Knight!
    http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/592270191b6684db63f6667cd130941d?width=1024
    Jon Kudelka and The Cory Bunch.
    http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/48f46563b81cb6adda26bd2b1f3e3a90

  16. Morning all. Thanks BK.

    Paul Keating was hit at his appearance at the Lowy Institute yesterday.

    Yes he was. There were even grabs of him shown on ABC news last night.

    And today’s Rowe is another obscurity for me.

  17. C@t:

    If you didn’t catch this last night, Morrison is doing a town hall in Gosford on 15th where Sky News will select first in best dressed 300 people to ask him questions.

  18. The Snowjob 2.0 and probably the Tas Hydro extension projects Turnbull has been spivving are non events. The engineering sums can never add up against the nature of a distributed market including a lot of batteries. For pumped hydro to make sense, either the hydro company has to have it’s own source of renewables, and transmission lines from the wind or solar farm to the pumped hydro station, or it has to buy cheap off-peak power and resell it during peak loads.
    The problem is that this differential in pricing will either reduce significantly or disappear altogether. Solar is already having major impacts on (relative) pricing during the daytime, and the off-peak power will be utilised recharging batteries including electric vehicles. This will have a smoothing effect on power utilisation and pricing and erode the business case for pumped hydro.

  20. The ‘missile defence shield’ idea is almost certainly a deliberate balloon organised by the Govt.
    I suspect it has come about following all those visits we have had lately from US Govt. & Military types, including Pence; and of course there are those US military bases (oops, make that servicemen) being set up in the NT.
    The MIC in the US wants to sell more nasty hardware and where better to find someone willing to run a fear campaign, not to mention spend big bucks than Australia.
    And, where better to make an announcement than from the deck of an aircraft carrier during Malcolm’s meeting with Trump.
    Or, maybe I am just a sucker for conspiracy.

  21. Trog:

    I was initially wondering whether the man in the sheet was Bernardi or Peter Slipper. I think that’s what was confusing me.

  22. Good morning all,

    Turnbull is at it again with his gas supply policy announcement today.

    Labor has him under pressure so he pulls out another bandaid.

    The so called policy is nothing more than a temporary solution to a long term problem. The policy has a life span of ” until the crisis is over ” which means nothing. It may never be enforced. No long term solution, nothing. Just a reflex response to labor pressure.

    Turnbull keeps digging holes for himself by raising expectations across a range of issues. A housing affordability package was going to be the centrepiece of the budget, nada on that. Australian workers first for Turnbull. However, nothing will change and the follow up silence is deafening. Now the gas policy. It will be marketed as the government responding ” decisively ” to a ” hip pocket issue ” but it will have no effect on domestic electricity prices. Turnbull keeps on doing this. The only way is down when expectations are not met by lived experience.

    One would think labor is playing Turnbull and leading him around with a rope.

    Cheers.

  23. It’s all in the positioning I guess, but venerable West puts item about Scomo talking up the economy in an early-in-the-paper spread. Meanwhile much smaller item appears much later which suggests wages are stagnating while household costs go up. Oh, and Andrew Bolt who now infests this paper at least once a week, pleads to give Dutton “a break”. Now, where I have heard this before? Reading some letters to the editor about Bolt, he seems to appeal to some readers as telling the “real” facts rather than all that leftie/Greenie trash at the ABC. Some of these souls suggest Bolt should become PM…….no telling for taste I suppose……..as is demonstrated by Trump in the US of A.
    Pleasant to read a lot of PB these days – maybe boring because there has not been a verbal punch up for awhile………

  24. BK

    The switch to a budget measure that separates operating spending from capital spending has long been resisted by the Commonwealth Treasury, amid concern it would make it too easy for unscrupulous governments to pass off recurrent spending as investment.

    Treasury concerns in the past related to Costello. I assume current concerns are about none other than our current government.

  25. “Each ISP provider purchases a certain bandwidth which is distributed between our customers; unfortunately in this case there are too many users, which is causing congestion,” a Telstra/Belong broad­band consumer complaints co-ordinator wrote to Mr Laurance.

    A Telstra spokesman said the situation was “clearly unacceptable” and “we apologise”. However, there were no plans to “relieve the connection”.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/telstra-admits-nbn-failings-in-wa/news-story/8794c39536464770f31d851590b6072a

    There must be something more to this story if Telstra are saying they are not planning to do anything about the admitted problem.

  26. The weird thing about Trump’s proposed huge tax cuts is that it has already been tried in Kansas by Gov. Brownback. The result has been an economic and social wasteland.
    Why he thinks it will be any different at a Federal level is beyond me.

  27. It will be interesting to see how Morrison defines and characterises “bad debt”. To my way of thinking this should be the accumulation of the excess of recurrent expenditure and recurrent revenue.
    I wonder how he will treat defence spending.

  28. ctar1 @ #25 Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 8:41 am

    “Each ISP provider purchases a certain bandwidth which is distributed between our customers; unfortunately in this case there are too many users, which is causing congestion,” a Telstra/Belong broad­band consumer complaints co-ordinator wrote to Mr Laurance.
    A Telstra spokesman said the situation was “clearly unacceptable” and “we apologise”. However, there were no plans to “relieve the connection”.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/telstra-admits-nbn-failings-in-wa/news-story/8794c39536464770f31d851590b6072a
    There must be something more to this story if Telstra are saying they are not planning to do anything about the admitted problem.

    Labor should grab this and run very, very hard with it.

  29. booleanbach @ #26 Thursday, April 27th, 2017 – 8:43 am

    The weird thing about Trump’s proposed huge tax cuts is that it has already been tried in Kansas by Gov. Brownback. The result has been an economic and social wasteland.
    Why he thinks it will be any different at a Federal level is beyond me.

    When it is a matter of faith or ideology, evidence, facts and contrary anecdotal experience count for nought.

  30. don @ #3 Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 6:40 am

    AR from previous thread. …

    So in other words, it’s basically a wash (in the worst-case, where all the power is coming from relatively inefficient coal-fired generation). And edges towards favoring the EV as more efficient generation sources are used (even if they’re fossil-fuel based, and even if the chosen fossil fuel is coal).

    With an energy mix that includes even a small (5-10%) proportion of renewables, the EV gains a clear advantage.

    It is not so clear. Yes, the runtime benefits are in favor of EVs. But as even your simple calculations show, they are not a panacea in a fossil-fueled economy like ours. Plus your “5%-10%” figure is too low because you have forgotten to include the payback time, assuming that much of their manufacturing will currently come from fossil-fueled energy.

    It currently takes up to 5 years for even a simple solar PV cell to pay for itself (i.,e. to generate more energy than it took to manufacture) or – if the energy used to manufacture it was fossil-fuel based – to become carbon neutral. But they have a useful lifetime of 30 years, so this is not such an issue. But a car? Or rather the batteries in the car?. The payback time for these could easily be longer, and their lifetime of course is far less – currently 10 years or so.

    So, in a country where the bulk of electricity is still fossil-fueled (like Australia), electric cars don’t really help in the short term, and could end up being counterproductive initially. This is not to say that they are not a good thing in the long term – it is just that they are yet another example of a technology that ain’t going to prevent us hitting 450 PPM CO2 within a decade or two, so the long-term benefits are a little irrelevant.

  31. The weird thing about Trump’s proposed huge tax cuts is that it has already been tried in Kansas by Gov. Brownback.

    And Bobby Jindal in Louisiana. Trickle down is ideological not evidence based.

  33. Thanks BK,
    Not a huge fan of Mark David song cartoons, but he nailed it today.
    Brilliant.
    Also Pope’s effort captures beautifully the terror of being associated with Cory.

  34. Good Morning

    The whole restructure of the budget thing may be good as Peter Martin outlines. However the “Bad Debt” label gives a demonising effect for Medicare and Welfare.

    Already today Caleb Bond is comparing being on Welfare as addictive as being on Heroin.

    Make no mistake. The “Bad Debt” label is an excuse to decouple what the money is spent on from the people. The LNP have realised safety net is not good enough when you want the American style be homeless and starve style social security when you lose your job.

  35. That EV cars currently create more emissions in (particularly) the Victorian environment shows how bad coal fired electricity is.

    It would be interesting to see how Hazelwood’s closure affects these figures.

    ‘A Tesla charged straight off the grid in Victoria actually gener­ates more emissions than a standard petrol vehicle ..’

    ‘Each kilowatt hour of electric­ity off the state’s grid generates 1.09kg of carbon dioxide equivalent, significantly higher than the 0.84kg generated by NSW and ACT, let alone Tasmania’s meagre­ 0.12kg from its hydro-relia­nt network. A Tesla consumes 21kWh of electricity for every 100km travelled, meaning 235g of CO2/km if charged off Victoria’s power grid.

    An average petrol-powered car generates 218g/km of CO2.’

    However, as the article points out, anecdotally EV owners are more likely to use solar power.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/that-state-where-electric-cars-run-dirtier-than-petrol/news-story/6acc46858d7d3c63e8b110545b25c630

    I’ll just throw this out there, however – if my excess solar presently goes into the grid, but I produce less excess solar because I’m charging my car, doesn’t that mean that more coal fired electricity is being used?

  36. I’ll give credit where it is due, and it is due if capital expenditure is removed from the recurrent budget. It is ridiculous the amount of under investment we’ve made in infrastructure simply because it would appear as a debt in the headline budget figure, and everyone ‘knows’ debt is teh BAAAAAAAADDDDD!!!!! ooga booga.

    Hopefully it will also show the futility of most privatisations (receipts should nil out against the asset on the ledger but the loss of revenue is permanent), and make PPPs etc look as dodgy as they are.

    The ability of governments to game it with recurrent spending hidden as capital spending should be fairly easily covered with a simple endorsement from the Head of Treasury (assuming they haven’t been completely politically nobled) much the same as the pre-election numbers.

    Definitely a forward step and well done to ScoMo on finally finding an achievement.

  38. From the SMH on Cricket Australia / Channl 9…
    The telcos, which are fast becoming a major player in world sport, are not only hamstrung by anti-siphoning laws, but they do not yet have reliable enough platforms to broadcast live sport to big-screen TVs in our homes.

    Malcolm needs to be congratulated on doing a great job protecting entrenched interests by White Anting the NBN

  39. BK
    There must be something more to this story if Telstra are saying they are not planning to do anything about the admitted problem.There must be something more to this story if Telstra are saying they are not planning to do anything about the admitted problem.

    Maybe Mal could be asked if as inventor of the WWW everything is going according to plan

  41. player one

    It currently takes up to 5 years for even a simple solar PV cell to pay for itself (i.,e. to generate more energy than it took to manufacture) or – if the energy used to manufacture it was fossil-fuel based – to become carbon neutral. But they have a useful lifetime of 30 years, so this is not such an issue. But a car? Or rather the batteries in the car?. The payback time for these could easily be longer, and their lifetime of course is far less – currently 10 years or so.

    I realise logic will make no difference, but anyhow…

    Average age of all vehicles registered in Australia was 10.1 years, unchanged from 2015.

    Can you connect the dots? Didn’t think so.

  43. political_alert: Opposition Leader @billshortenmp will join @RobMitchellMP to discuss Labor’s plan for housing affordability and jobs at 9:30am, Melb #auspol

    _________________________________________________________

    I liked the question to Malcolm Turnbull on diverting money for loan to Adani to a gas pipeline that would fix east coast problems from Bowen gas field.

  47. @ Guytaur – that link also (hopefully) has Australian implications.

    “Analysts said the losses at Mundra would have affect the capital expenditure and acquisition plans of group companies. According to estimates by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, the group has planned nearly $35 billion (Rs 2.28 lakh crore) of projects in ports, renewable energy, thermal power, power transmission and mining.”

  48. Good debt vs bad debt – simple. Bad debt is any debt that originated during periods of Labor government (e.g. in 1972-75, 1983-96, 2007-13). Good debt originated at other times during the terms of Coalition government.

    Then we have spending:
    Good spending: military hardware, freeways, prisons on remote islands for asylum seekers, coal mines, private schools, subsidies to private health funds and super…
    Bad spending: public health and education, renewables, anything to do with the environment, pensions and other ‘welfare’, anything with ‘multicultural’ in its title, public broadcasting…

  50. GG

    Yes thanks for confirming my point about ignoring evidence. Conservative US Supreme Court voted for Marriage Equality. Plenty of evidence you are ignoring in your ideological religious opposition

    However on a lighter note I did see a tweet that you would probably like about the Bernadi FF merger. Its a Same Sect Marriage.

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