The New Year poll drought has been brought to an end by Essential Research, which will henceforth be conducting fortnightly polls, dispensing with its long establishing practice of polling weekly and publishing two-week rolling averages. As related by The Guardian, the poll has Labor’s lead unchanged on the final poll last year at 53-47 – as usual, primary votes will have to wait for the publication of the full report later today. Both leaders’ personal ratings have weakened: Malcolm Turnbull is down three on approval to 38% and up one on disapproval to 45%, Bill Shorten is down four on approval to 32% and up four disapproval to 49%, and Turnbull’s lead as preferred prime minister is out from 42-28 to 42-25.
Other findings: 53% support a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, with 38% opposed; 44% support and 29% oppose “Australia becoming a republic with an Australian head of state”, which is all but identical to when the same question was asked a year ago (44% and 30%); and society is widely seen as going to pot, with crime perceived as on the rise across all categories, regardless of what the official statistics might say.
UPDATE: The primary votes are Coalition 37% (steady), Labor 38% (steady), Greens 9% (steady), One Nation 6% (down one). Full report here.
Cat
Other.voices than IndigenousX have been posted here.
Howver even within Indigenous X. There are diverse views. As posted here yesterday by me and then several times by GG. There was an article that was not the change the date view.
Your argument about a monolithic Green view by posters does not even survive a Fact Check on IndigenousX itself.
Simon Katich @ #3045 Monday, January 22nd, 2018 – 6:44 am
Yeah,
The China-Russia border seems to be mainly defined by a mountain range and I read of the reinforcing of river banks to try and hold back river migration. 🙂
African Gangs won’t come back so soon. As I said before, the ‘African Gangs’ was a test of Matt Guy. If internal polling improved, then expect African gangs to make a repeat, but louder, 3 months before the Vic election.
If polling stayed still, or went backwards, he will be rolled 30 seconds after polls have closed for the SA and Tas elections.
After Australia Day will be making up nonsense on energy directed at SA, and tremendous pork barreling in Tas – the only project I can think of that’s big enough is a Basslink 2.0 with a federal contribution, but Tasmanians may know of some others – hospital/transport etc?
Bushfire Bill @ #3001 Monday, January 22nd, 2018 – 8:51 am
(a) Pretty much what P1 and Bemused said. Your data quotas will be low and costs will be high so it’s hardly an economical solution, especially if you do lots of downloading. Also it tends to be a poor setup for things that require low/consistent latency, such as multiplayer gaming.
(b) That mainly depends on how deep your pockets are, and whether you can live with the lower data quota and poorer latency. If you’re mainly just browsing websites and shooting off emails it should be fine. If you want to do things that burn lots of data, it’s not an ideal setup.
“So, if anyone out there knows their mobile stuff,
(a) what is the flaw in my plan to go completely wireless, and
(b) should I consider keeping it so permanently?”
Can work BB…i know people who do it.
All depends on how much mobile data you use and the cost on whatever plan. With Android its pretty easy to set up so that you get warnings as you approach any data limit you set, based on actual throughput at the phone, not the carriers tracking of your data use (which can be a couple of days behind) which is safer.
I review my mobile plan every year in terms of my actual usage. Most of my data use is through wireless (via my NBN FTTN connection / router ) or the wireless at work that my phone latches onto automatically.
I recently switched from and unlimited calls/text plan 2GB / mth data with Vaya ($22/mth) to unlimited calls/text plan 1GB / mth data with Amaysim ($10 / 28 days) because i just was never using even close to 2GB mobile data. If i’m away somewhere and want more data in a month its cheaper overall just to pay the extra that month , $10-$20 for a couple of extra GB. Amaysim has no contract lock in so i can review and change any time. And i ALWAYS buy my phone outright as thats much cheaper over a couple of years.
Currently have a Moto Z Play which works well and for me gives an easy 2 -3 day battery life on the stock Android OS. I usually root and put custom versions of Android on, but have come back to stock on the Moto as it works well and frankly give the best battery life.
Bit more expensive if you want the broader Telstra coverage (its still coverage that Optus) but personally, Optus network does what i need it to, and i have a dual sim phone with a work Telstra card for voice and SMS for the odd times on the road where there is no Optus coverage.
BW, the shortest land border between Australian states is the one between Victoria and Tasmania.
And the distance is not zero.
Re weird borders, check out Point Roberts, a couple of square km of US territory on the end of a peninsula, adjacent to Vancouver’s outer Southern suburbs. It’s South of the 49th parallel, it was intended to tidy it up in the 1850s but US and Canadian authorities apparently left it on the “too hard” pile.
Strict border protection?
Maybe Trump should build a (not so) Great Wall.
Abbott off to a good start in 2018 with a shot across turnbull’s bow –
http://www.afr.com/news/politics/tony-abbotts-immigration-threat-another-headache-for-pm-20180121-h0lxru
Turnbull and Dutton have gone silent and Murdoch/Fairfax seem to have lost interest.
Perhaps they’re too busy fighting the culture wars over Australia Day.
One culture war dog whistle is as good as any other.
Without wanting to sound like a promotion, despite living in a densely populated area, the reception at our house is much better on Telstra*. We were on Optus and switched to Aldi Mobile, which is cheaper for our purposes and now I can use the phone inside :-).
*This is just our experience and probably changes with location.
Agree with you on the Moto stock android. The main reason I prefer Motorola to Samsung is they don’t piss around with the OS as much.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/22/sydney-train-accident-passengers-trapped-and-injured-at-richmond-station
It’s amazing how quickly the internet has infiltrated.
When I left Australia in 2004 you were completely reliant on internet cafes.
Sometimes you could go weeks without access.
I lost count of the number of times I lost a missive I had just spent an hour or so writing when I pressed send in one of these places.
I then got a laptop, which improved things but still had to find a cafe to plug in.
Now, even the cheapest accommodation will have wi-fi, along with simple cafes and restaurants and if they don’t it is a serious detriment to the their business.
And that’s all in basically one decade! 🙂
ItzaDream @ #3044 Monday, January 22nd, 2018 – 10:44 am
I doubt you will see it in the country other than in country towns.
It operates on much higher frequencies and utilises smaller cell sizes so will need many more towers. I cannot see much rural area coverage outside of towns and along highways.
Stephen Koukalas latest blog worth a look at. https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/2307140-040859645.html
guytaur @ #3047 Monday, January 22nd, 2018 – 10:46 am
Markjs has proven himself to be intolerant of different points of view and also lies about other posters. That said, he does occasionally post something worthwhile.
I am ambivalent about his presence.
Yessiree. Stupidity writ large. It’s well worth a read. They’ve painted themselves into the stupid corner by their own, well, stupidity, but aggravated by blind ideology and their beholding to their fossil fuel backers and mates.
The future is now, and it is electric cars fed off renewable sources, which stupid denies, while stupid hugs lumps of coal like a child on a potty proud of his turd, and the stupid farmer is even more stupid belly aching about how farmers can’t just sit around all day waiting for their utes to get charged. Batteries a step too far obs.
Bit rich a farmer bleeting about the need to stand on one’s own feet – diesel rebate, superphosphate bounty, drought and flood relief …
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/electric-car-plans-spark-showdown/news-story/e7f060f5b2a4371a4e0b202a5c61ab06
Meanwhile, in the big smoke (Mrs Macquarie Rd, next to Andrew Boy Charlton pool,), here’s the thing – big new hi-tech poles with multifunction I guess, but including charging stations, with swipe pay. —- photos to follow. (need to reboot)
Kill off the diesel rebate.
Ensure that the people using petrol pay the costs associated with cleaning up the associated Carbon Emissions (i.e. a Carbon tax).
Then let EVs stand on their own two feet.
VE
I agree with this.
Especially now that short haul electric flight is here. There is no longer any argument that ditching the fuel rebate will hurt airplane flight for mining CEO’s either.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-04/first-electric-plane-passenger-flights-in-australia-to-rottnest/9304424
guytaur
It’s not the subject of the arguments that is the problem, it’s your own determination to have the last word on everything. “But you said…” repeated for a whole day is enough to turn anyone off. OTOH I blame some posters for responding to you.
PS. You’re not the only one.
I decided to read the Australian this morning over a serious coffee intake.
Bleedin’ heck the first two pages had me ready to pick fights with someone – anyone. From EV’s to Josh (F) Frydenberg going on about SA wind energy – it was just too much for this little petal on a shaky Monday morning.
Bemused
I thought the post was like announcing you had blocked someone.
So did a one off response to show I was not going to suddenly stop posting.
“New research has challenged the view that wood bioenergy is carbon neutral, and shows that wood pellets burned in European and UK power plants actually emit more carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilowatt hour than that generated by coal.
This is because wood is both less efficient at the point of combustion and has larger processing and supply chain emissions than coal. Their research shows that using wood instead of coal in power generation increases the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, worsening climate change until—and only if—the harvested forests regrow.”
Surely no-one in Europe is cutting down old growth forests for biofuel?
Surely these are pine plantations, planted for the explicit purpose of using as biofuel, with each plantation re-planted immediately after harvest, and with a large number of plantations with staggered planting/harvesting dates so there is never too high a fraction harvested at once.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/displacing-coal-wood-power-generation-will-worsen-climate-change-say-researchers-41759/
lizzie
I don’t want to go over this all again. I will just point out that as you indicate with your critique. I am not the only one. I am just objecting to being singled out. I see that as bullying and respond to that.
I appreciated Bemused’s response actually considering it was he and I that were doing the arguing yesterday.
Stephen Koukalas latest blog worth a look at. https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/2307140-040859645.html
Oh dear me Kouk…
Let’s get a bit of basic economics and budget analysis sorted out as 2018, a likely year for the next Federal election, starts to unfold.
Tax cuts do stimulate economic growth.
Be it company or income taxes that are cut, the impact on economic growth will be positive, at least in the short run. When the government decides to cut taxes by, say, $1 billion a year, there is a simple transfer of $1 billion cash from the government sector with its saving level reduced by that amount, to the private sector. That $1 billion will be available to be spent, invested or even saved by the private sector. Whatever the end mix, there is a boost to the economy.
And yes, it is as simple as that.
Errr, yeah. Sure.
So long as when you’re talking about cuts to Australian Company Tax rates you’re talking about the world economy mostly.
We have dividend imputation. Come on Kouk, you know this. Therefore a cut to Australian Company Tax rates provides exactly zero benefit to an Australian Personal Tax paying shareholder.
Yes it really is that simple.
The benefit therefor flows in two direction. The main flow is to foreign investors. Maybe this will encourage them to increase investment in Australia. If that investment is just displacing local investment then the benefit is close enough to zero to make no odds. What is just as likely if not more likely is that they’ll say thanks very much for the extra return on money they have invested anyhow (in the largely unlikely scenario they are actually paying any tax here anyway) and enjoy a bigger yacht. Nice boost to the world economy of rich bastards, fuck all use to us here in Aus.
The other benefit (and the real reason CEOs and their political reps are so hot for it) flows to the executive class who know they can siphon off some of this extra money that will flow to foreign investors as increased bonuses. Sure this piddling amount is a benefit to the economy (Eastern Suburbs Real Estate Agents and luxury car importers are part of the economy afterall), but again fuck all and certainly not nearly worth concerning yourself with unless you are a politician specifically elected to represent the insatiable greed of the wealthy.
So yeah, nah Kouk. Dividend imputation changes everything, and the idea that it really is as simple as a company tax cut benefits the Asutralian economy is wrong in any truly meaningful sense. You of all people should make that clear rather than spouting simplistic theoretical nonsense based on a model that simply doesn’t correspond to our taxation system.
Also – I wonder if they are talking slow combustion or wood gasification. Wood gasifiers are about 96% efficient in combustion.
C@
‘Expand’ and ‘protect’ the motherland is one concept for Putin.
One of his initial aims was to do just this by restoring the post WWII ‘buffer’ states.
Voice Endeavour @ #3071 Monday, January 22nd, 2018 – 7:31 am
I find the whole concept of biofuel a nonsense.
The issue at hand is how to stop burning anything to generate power, not replacing one combustible with another .
Also land used for biofuel is arable land that is no longer producing food.
It just seems dumb!!!
Ctar
As well as Putin’s desire to protect the Motherland last night’s SBS doco suggests he is very keen to protect himself.
It was said that he was shaken by the vision of his mate Gaddafi being lynched.
QUESTION
The Samsung version of Android is as quirky as it comes. F’ken annoying on what are basically solid little bits of equipment.
I’m using a $230 one right now. When next home I need to clean it out.
imacca says:
Monday, January 22, 2018 at 10:55 am
“So, if anyone out there knows their mobile stuff,
(a) what is the flaw in my plan to go completely wireless, and
(b) should I consider keeping it so permanently?”
As things stand at the moment it works well; but; there is always a but. There is a limit to the amount of data that can be put in the air; as an increasing number abandon the mess that the Liberals have made of the NBN wireless performance will fall.
Guytaur @11.25
re Electric planes.
Your enthusiasm exceeds your care in reading the link you posted. Short haul electric flight is not “now here”. The article is about the purchasing company testing the plane with a view to using it on short hauls.
From the commentaries below the article Guytaur linked:
“How much do the batteries cost? (I am aware that electricity is currently cheaper than petrol, thanks to cheap coal/gas, but for how long? But without factoring in depreciation of the battery, the cost of power is irrelevant.) And how much do they weigh? (Passenger/freight weight as a proportion of total weight is what is important). How does it perform in adverse conditions? Jandakot to Rottnest is not very far, and even I would be able to predict weather conditions, which are pretty good most of the time. Would it be suitable in less than perfect conditions?”
and
“I think this is another “feel good” story to make us think that such equipment is around the corner. “
and
“Pipistrel sell this as a trainer not as a commuter but I guess the owners decide what they will do with them.””
Perhaps it will be quite further down the track before we are travelling in electric planes. The comments about the battery weight / payload ratio, and flying in adverse conditions would seem to be two VIP issues about electric transport which are peculiar to aviation.
hughriminton: While staying on at the mighty #TenNews as a senior journalist/presenter. Looking forward to it. twitter.com/ViscountBrooky…
ViscountBrooky: Here’s a surprise: Ten newsreader Hugh Riminton gets a gig at the ABC @hughriminton theaustralian.com.au/business/media…https://twitter.com/viscountbrooky/status/955237890044211201
bobjcarr: Gallup says confidence in US global leadership fell from 48% to 30% between 2016 and today. And that’s under a benign jokester. Wait till the real menace of a President Pence.
Suddenly I find myself in agreement with Bob Katter.
Voice Endeavour @ #3072 Monday, January 22nd, 2018 – 11:31 am
A whole article devoted to stating the bleedin’ obvious!
Still, not unusual to see this particular web site having a go at anything that does not involve solar panels. Odd, that! 🙂
don says:
Monday, January 22, 2018 at 10:03 am
But that’s the thing, the North Korean border follows the river but the China-Russia border meanders over land, sometimes less than a couple of hundred metres separate the 2.
__________________
Might be historical, giving access to a long time area. It was certainly negotiated, with each side giving a little for their own ends.
Russia seized very large slabs of Chinese territory in the war of 1858-60, including territory adjacent to the Korean Peninsula.
Biofuels from waste products would be a good renewable source of power. For eg. if we could develop a system of say bacterial breakdown of sewerage into a combustible gas for powering onsite generators that would be a winner.
Burning forests is a stupid idea though. As noted it’s the processing energy that makes it a loser. Even before you get to the problems of land clearing and monocultures on the ecology. Using logging waste for biofuel might be a goer, but even then these days the use of that material for engineered wood products and recycling as mulch/compost would very likely provide a much greater benefit.
The Samsung version of Android is as quirky as it comes. F’ken annoying on what are basically solid little bits of equipment.
I’m using a $230 one right now. When next home I need to clean it out.
Depends on what your used to; I got given a non samsung phone, end up passing it on and buying a new samsung; the given one was different. Learning a new phone interface, got better things to do. How I remember the good old days; lift the handset, dial the number; dra dra; it always worked.
Psyclaw
We still see arguments like that about electric cars from the right.
Having test flights is in fact the first step to its here now. I get your point on the time line. Planes are further behind cars. However the battery technology is the same for cars and planes.
The point is that it was a successful test flight. Not a test flight that failed.
There is always room for improvement. Just like the first few flights were only for a few metres at most.
Rossmcg
It sounds like the series of interviews I mentioned to you that I might have seen already. I’m thinking BBC had them not long ago.
It’s interesting that he’s keen to talk about very recent events.
I rated as worth watching.
Can you imagine Trump or Turnbull doing interviews like that?
This is probably the reason for the electric cars drama from the government.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/22/british-billionaire-eyes-electric-car-plan-for-former-holden-factory?CMP=share_btn_tw
CTar1 @ #3076 Monday, January 22nd, 2018 – 11:36 am
Care to name any?
Dutton won’t answer any of these questions. He is now above the law. Like Madame Cash.
Psyclaw
The enthusiasm for the electric plane was a bit of a giggle.
It is a tiny two seater than can fly for an hour.
The jumbo jet changed the world. The electric plane has some catching up to do.
Asha Leu says:
Monday, January 22, 2018 at 9:51 am
dtt:
Well, you’re correct about one thing – I am utterly baffled as to what your point is supposed to be.
dtt doesn’t make points. Rather, they gush Putinography.
@ Barney – I’ve seen a lot of quite good ‘lets burn this thing that we used to send to landfill’ biofuel projects. The thing used to sit in landfill emitting methane and achieving nothing. Now it emits CO2 (less bad than methane) and produces power.
Barney in Go Dau @ #3077 Monday, January 22nd, 2018 – 11:41 am
How about capturing and using the gas given off by human and animal waste?
That gets a big tick from me.
Oil extracted from algae produced where nothing else can be produced also seems a reasonable idea.
CTar1
Not sure we are on the same wavelength. This program was by the US public broadcaster WGBH and tracked Putin’s rise from KGB officer and looked in detail at the Russian involvement in the US election.
For somebody like me who does not follow every step of US politics it filled in a few gaps.
Only one side of the story of course as I am sure I will be reminded within a few minutes.
‘Smart’ Poles in Sydney