There were two polls this week, one a little better for the Coalition than usual (52-48 from ReachTEL), one a little worse (54-46 from Essential Research). These add up to not much change on the BludgerTrack poll aggregate, albeit that the Coalition are up one on the seat aggregates for Victoria and Western Australia. No new numbers this week for the leadership ratings.
Latest developments on the ever-changing face of the Senate:
• South Australian Senator Lucy Gichuhi has subtly improved the government’s position in the Senate by joining the Liberal Party. Gichuhi was the second candidate on the Family First ticket at the 2016 election, which unexpectedly earned her a place in the Senate in April last year in place of Bob Day. The High Court had ruled that Day had been ineligible to run at the election by virtue of a pecuniary interest in an agreement with the Commonwealth, and that the votes should be recounted as if Day were absent from the ballot paper. However, this coincided with Family First’s absorption within Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives start-up, which Gichuhi was not willing to join. She has since sat as an independent, albeit one that has usually voted with the government. Her move to the Liberals neatly brings the South Australian Senate contingent into line with the party configuration that emerged from the election, a situation that was disturbed when Cory Bernardi quit the Liberal Party.
• Kristina Keneally will take Sam Dastyari’s place in the Senate after winning the decisive endorsement of the NSW Right without opposition, seeing off suggestions that she might face a challenge from Transport Workers Union state secretary Tony Sheldon or United Voice official Tara Moriarty. A report in the Sydney Morning Herald suggests Sheldon might have been able to take the position if he had pressed the issue, with the support of the Australian Workers Union, Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association and Transport Workers Union, but favoured seeking a position at the next election as it would give him a full six-year term.
Miscellaneous miscellany:
• Barrie Cassidy makes a case for a federal election being held later this year.
• The Australian reports that Michael Danby’s potential successors in Melbourne Ports include Josh Burns, a senior adviser to Daniel Andrews, and Mary Delahunty, a Glen Eira councillor and former mayor (not the former state MP). However, it is not yet clear that Danby will retire, or be forced out if he chooses to stay, with a Labor source quoted in an earlier report from The Australian saying Danby had 80% support in local branches. Linfox executive Ari Suss and Labor historian Nick Dyrenfurth, who were mentioned earlier, have apparently ruled themselves out.
• Lyle Shelton, who gained a high profile as managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby during the same-sex marriage referendum, has resigned his position ahead of a run for federal parliament, which will apparently be with the Australian Conservatives in Queensland — presumably as its lead Senate candidate.
• According to Sheradyn Holderhead of The Advertiser, Robert Simms, who held a Senate seat from September 2015 to July 2016, would “likely have the numbers” to take top spot on the Greens’ South Australian Senate ticket if he challenged Sarah Hanson-Young.
• The ABC reports a small sample YouGov Galaxy poll of 350 respondents suggested Nick Xenophon Team member Rebekha Sharkie would retain her seat of Mayo at a by-election if disqualified on grounds of dual British citizenship. The poll had Sharkie with a 59-41 two-party lead over the Liberals, from primary votes of 37% for Sharkie, 33% for the Liberals and 18% for Labor.
• Fairfax reports a ReachTEL poll of 3312 respondents for the Stop Adani Alliance found 65.1% opposed to Adani’s coal mine proposal in Queensland, up from 51.9% in March 2017. It also found 73.5% support for ending the expansion of coal mining and accelerating solar power construction and storage.
Grumps – agreed.
Wouldn’t it be great if we had a new thread each morning starting with BK’s patrol?
So Turnbull goes full distraction away from the valid question, spouting a mouthfull of guff about Home Loans for First Home Buyers have never been higher, yada, yada, yada.
Major problem for Turnbull. You have to pay tax before you can get a tax cut.
sarahinthesen8: Malcolm Turnbull is upset that the public has called bull-dust on trickle down economics. People know that giving big biz tax cuts will help corporate profits but the community will see very little. @InsidersABC
Turnbull: “If you take Mum and Dad Investors out of the Housing Market you WILL put up rents.”
Alternative Fact. Just not true.
SwannyQLD: Turnbull no longer denying he’s the pro-trickledown PM #insiders
Turnbull going the full bitch slap against Bill Shorten’s plan to limit PHI to 2%, saying Catherine King was ringing around PHIs yesterday trying to clean up after his rolling disaster which he started at the NPC.
Turnbull is sleazy. No question about it!
Now stating, as if fact, “Labor hates it (PHI)! They would be happy to see it gone”. Not true either.
indefensible defence of the business of the private health *industry*
So now, “the children and grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors” are off limits to the Constitution!?! Specifically S44 of the Constitution.
Quite an unedifying effort from Turnbull this morning. He’s a bully by nature.
Barrie: “Why are you abandoning your voters, the 30% who voted for you in Batman at the last election, by not standing a candidate in the by-election? Haven’t you taken the decision to advantage The Greens by doing that?”
🙂
joshgnosis: Turnbull says it is a decision of the Victorian Liberals but he doesn’t expect that they will run in Batman. #insiders
BK @ #60 Sunday, February 4th, 2018 – 9:27 am
He’s not Kerr’s cur, he’s Cosgrove’s cur.
Turnbull expects a junior public servant’s head to roll over the Cabinet Files!
ItzaDream @ #58 Sunday, February 4th, 2018 – 9:25 am
Plus spurious assertions, completely false, about Labor’s intentions wrt PHI.
The best explanation for the reason no LNP candidate in Batman is the LNP can’t afford to campaign.
C@t – I think Turnbull is right on one thing – Labor does hate PHI – or at least the egregious public subsidies thereto. I know I do. Passionately.
I’d love it if Shorten said he was going to scrap it, reinvest the money saved into public health and simultaneously announce a universal dental scheme … effectively rolling out a full NHS …
I know a bunch of lefty poll bludgers want to know how I’d go about capturing the political centre – this would be point one.
Of course, politically Labor needs to till the soil as to how much PHI costs, even with the egregious rebate, for such little meaningful cover – also targeting various other Howard era tax expenditures and outrageous deductions before rolling out the plan, but handled deftly, it would be a knock out winner. I’d task Bowen and Burke to the be the front men in selling the plan …
Mickledrippin: #Insiders Cassidy had an opportunity to ask @Turnbull questions about his plans for the country this year. All he has doe is bash Labor, nd Cassidy has allowed him to do it. Pathetic journalism.
SamDickfos: Wait. Credlin interviewed Abbott? That’s actually hilarious. #insiders
“Turnbull expects a junior public servant’s head to roll over the Cabinet Files!”
I think the reason Turnbull said this was a one off security breach was because no government before his has ever been this sloppy, and any government after his would jail any journalist for reporting the sloppiness.
CameronBurge: The unspoken elephant in the room of this analysis is that no one’s listening to the government any more. #insiders
Speaking of Turnbull, I posted this last night. I am hoping to get more specific info, but it was something to do with investing in copper mines etc.
[Victoria says:
Sunday, February 4, 2018 at 12:40 am
Just heard on the grapevine that The Age will be doing an expose on the NBN.
Not sure of all the details yet, but something to do with senior ministers of govt having interests in copper which is connected to the NBN.
Hopefully I can get further details.]
This article from John Schindler explains clearly the farce that is Trump and his cronies
Here is article
On cue, the same right-wing echo chamber that demanded the memo be released are beating their chests in victory. Sean Hannity, the designated Trump superfan over at Fox News (despite, or perhaps because of, his recently outed secret ties to WikiLeaks) promptly hailed it as “Absolutely shocking. It is stunning. Now this is the biggest abuse of power, corruption case in American history.” He asserted the “bombshell” memo’s “irrefutable proof of a coordinated conspiracy to abuse power by weaponizing and politicizing the powerful tools of intelligence by top-ranking Obama officials against the Trump campaign, against the Constitution, and against your Fourth Amendment rights.” For good measure, Hannity added that criminal charges against Trump intimates Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort now must be dropped.
Hannity perfectly encapsulated the narrative that the Trump White House has pushed for over a year: that a sinister “deep state” run by Obama-legacy bureaucrats illegally spied on the Trump campaign and are now trying to stage a coup against the president. Fox News has breathlessly pushed this line, Hannity especially, to applause from ardent Trump fans. That such propaganda bears startling resemblance to disinformation peddled by the Kremlin can no longer be brushed off as coincidence.
Also, none of it happens to be true.
http://observer.com/2018/02/devin-nunes-memo-disappoints-fails-to-cool-russia-investigation/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
You bet nothing’s changed. Trickle down never worked, ever. Duh. That’s the whole story about looking at the past, Malcolm
The fact that Turnbull didn’t want to talk about his plans for 2018 points to the fact that he has no plans or more importantly his plans are unacceptable to the public.
Tingle trying to say it’s old fashioned for Labor to talk about a “living wage” misses the point that most Australians are struggling with higher utility costs, government charges and stagnant wages. Many families include family members in precarious employment and wage earners who dont earn enough to ever buy a house
People who take out Private Health Insurance often have an ideological bent to towards insurance and will keep paying no matter what the cost, so the rebate is immaterial.
SimonBanksHB: Today – TURNBULL: And that is the frightening prospect of a Labor government – the most anti-business, the most anti-jobs Labor leader that we’ve seen in generations.
8/2/17 – “We have just heard from that great sycophant of billionaires, the Leader of the Opposition”
billie
I know several families who are seriously reconsidering their private health insurance. The increased premiums are biting hard into their budgets.
“Do you think the laws of Supply and Demand have stopped, Barrie!?!”
Ha! Quite correct. It has always been true that the company have unfettered demands that the staff must supply.
Privately owned toll roads have a decades-long history of being an urban planning disaster and a rent-seekers orgy. They have an extremely poor track record. They end up being poorly integrated into the rest of the transport network. They induce more demand for car transport. They give private gain priority over public good.
Given the vast history of poor outcomes from privately owned toll roads, it is for absurd for a self-professed progressive government to advocate one now. A few decades ago you could be forgiven for naively supporting private toll roads. Today there is no excuse.
ItzaDream @ #75 Sunday, February 4th, 2018 – 9:47 am
Yes Malcolm really exposed to viewers the neo-lib trickle down philosophy as bulldust. A train wreck of an interview.
NeoLib-Lab types like briefly will no doubt bluster in defence of trickle down.
As you can see from all the comments Mr Turnbull did himself no favours with that interview.
The line I don’t accept your facts Barrie, by Turnbull was especially damning.
I hope it gets played a lot on repeat. Turnbull doesn’t like the term trickle down economics because the voters know what crap it is.
It must be registering hard in focus groups. Good term for Labor to run campaigns on.
The LNP. Believes in the Trickle Down fairytale.
Sounds like a good campaign slogan to me.
I don’t think Tingle referred to the old idea of a living wage in the negative, or inappropriately old fashioned. Rather, she said it was potent politics.
Good morning all,
Re the Falinski citizenship issue.
Labor will not lie down and let Turnbull and co dictate who should of should not be referred to the HC.
Shorten talked about restoring public faith in the political system when he announced the National integrity Commission on Tuesday. Labor will push again tomorrow to refer all politicians with ” doubts” over their eligibility to the HC. The same list of ” doubtfuls “that they tried to refer at the end of last year.
Tony Burke will introduce this as early as tomorrow morning. Labor will argue that it has full confidence in the eligibility of its members but to restore public trust it will agree to refer its members but government members must also be referred. Trust and transparency.
National Integrety Commission and joint referrals to the HC. Restoring trust in the political and parliamentary system. Shorten and labor will push this.
Cheers and a great day to all.
Given the potential growth of electric cars powered by solar I have no issue with Govt investing in both road and public transport infrastructure.
The WG tunnel will get trucks of the WG freeway which is a good thing.
There was a ‘debate’ before Insiders between Husic and a female I didn’t know. She trotted out all the same financial rubbish as Turnbull and said criticising trickle down was a straw man. Does anyone know who it was? I assume a LNP polllie, but I didn’t recognise her. (Husic did well)
guytaur @ #16 Sunday, February 4th, 2018 – 4:50 am
I know there is plenty wrong with that by Australian standards, so I’m missing something because there is no issue there by US standards. Can you explain?
jiehyunglo: Given its potential impact on media and journalism, I’m surprised to see no mention by the #insiders panel about the Australian Government’s proposed new foreign interference laws. #auspol
ESJ
I’ve got no idea.
C@tmomma @ #21 Sunday, February 4th, 2018 – 5:18 am
That looks very nice.
Bondi and Manly on the other hand would not pass for dog beaches on the west coast.
I think I know what Turnbull is doing with his invisible hand.
Turnbull should write a book;
The Theory of Malcolm’s Sentiments
lizzie @ #86 Sunday, February 4th, 2018 – 10:15 am
I saw a litle of that “interview”. The young lady had a delightfully disparaging air and dismissed the “trickle down” “myth” with a tinkling and confident giggle. Wonderful stuff, particularly when I managed to find the mute button on the TV remote.
Fresh coffee should see me right – – ☕
guytaur @ #68 Sunday, February 4th, 2018 – 6:32 am
On the contrary, it’s great journalism. Cassidy has given Turnbull the rope to hang himself, which he promptly did.
Turnbull had the opportunity to outline his vision for the year on the countries premier political show and used the opportunity to bash the leader of the opposition, revealing that he didn’t have a vision. Contrast this to Shorten’s speech at the NPC where he used his 30 minutes to outline the Labor vision and didn’t mention Turnbull or the LNP once.
Bring on Newspoll 26.
The tweet plus photo suddenly seems to have disappeared.
grimace
Fair point. 🙂
ItzaDream
There is a living wage campaign in NZ that seems to be gaining traction. We may see it implemented over there before long. That it has been a social movement rather than a political one probably helped their campaign. Takes out the “if that party is for it then I’m against it” problem.
http://www.livingwage.org.nz/
Too busy enjoying a lovely mild Sydney morning on my balcony with some surfing the interwebs and listening to NEU! 75 (who to my shame I have only discovered this week) to bother wasting seconds of my life on Trumble. Having seen the lowlife in action over several decades of public life now I know I would not have been surprised by him nor enlightened by anything he said.
#weatheronPB
#krautrockonPB
The Andrews Govt’s Western Distributor project has a benefit-cost ratio of 1.3 compared to the former Napthine Govt’s dud E/W link of 0.45.
I strongly believe the Andrews Govt should fund the WD project however and urge the Vic parliament to see that that happens.
jaesyun_: The revolution. It has begun. pic.twitter.com/22AhAGltOg
