Essential Research was the only national poll of federal voting intention this week, and it’s made all but zero difference to the headline numbers on the BludgerTrack poll aggregate. However, the YouGov Galaxy poll from Queensland has made a very substantial difference, reversing the 52-48 lead recorded to Labor there and knocking five off their seat projection. Conversely, the shallow pool of data from Western Australia since polling resumed for the year has pushed Labor’s lead there well above what seems plausible, added three to their seat tally with the latest update. I’m sure this will moderate over the coming weeks. The other changes this week are a gain for Labor in Victoria and a loss in South Australia. Exciting developments are looming in the world of BludgerTrack in a week or (more likely) two, so do stay tuned.
In other poll news, today’s Fairfax papers have a ReachTEL poll of New England, which finds 43% of its voters still intending to vote for Barnaby Joyce, compared with 65% at the December 2 by-election. However, Tony Windsor was included as a speculative response option, recording 26.1% support, with Labor on 12.1%. However, opinion is divided as to whether he should remain as Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister, favoured by 45.3%, or resign either from the front bench (26.7%) or from parliament altogether (20.5%).
The Nats need a moderate like Darren Chester to be the face of their party.
MB,
Even a Liberal Leader in Trumble’s weak position should consider it. Urban Libs would be delighted to have increased opportunities for promotion, access to margin protecting pork, and not having buffoons making them look bad (worse). It would be the sort of thing that in the face of Joyce and now Christensen could very well rally support for a leader struggling to hold his numbers in the party room.
But you’d need brains and balls to do it.
GT
The complaints wont get him booted from parliament until the next election.
MB
They already have a low regard in most urban areas. Might work in the QLD marginals though. Generally I think anyone needing to show themselves firing a gun like that has other issues that they need to deal with it.
Labor in Tasmania(Rebecca White).
I’ve just stepped off the stage of our campaign launch where I’ve made a once in a generation announcement.
A Majority Labor Government will deliver a truly free universal public education system.
Labor will waive school fees and levies for all Tasmanian public school students from kinder to grade 12.
This will be the single biggest cost of living program in the state’s history.
It will remove the barriers to public education and put more money in the pocket of hard working families.
But we can only do it if we are able to form a Majority Labor Government in just two weeks time.
RichardDiNatale: I have reported George Christensen’s disgraceful post to the AFP and have asked Malcolm Turnbull to instruct him to take it down and apologise. 17 kids gunned down in cold blood and he thinks this is ok? He’s not fit to be an mp.
Will the media be tipped off for the 4:am raid???
Rex Douglas
They will select the sort of leader needed to preserve their vote where it counts for them. A rational choice.
I was just wondering whether the photo stunt by Christensen is a deliberate attempt to undermine Turnbull and the polls…..or then again he may just be a total f’wit.
There are laws about hand guns.
If it is over .22 caliber, the gun is not licensed, he is not in a gun club or he is not licensed he could be charged.
Recently a man was charged for threatening BJoyce during the by election as he should have.
Will BJoyce show some leadership and a willingness to treat people equally by admonishing and asking GC to apologise.
Sonar
Don’t discount that its both.
Hmm , seems wee George had the same affliction as Abbott.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Christensen_(politician)
Interesting the media stuff coming out of Florida.
High school students, who i think were actually from the school shot up moist recently, rallying and calling for action on gun laws. And they are calling in terms of stop the bullshit and do something.
Powerful stuff.
These are people who were there. Some of them have just lost people important to them.They have a complete, absolute and unqualified right to be heard on this. And they are SCREAMING at their legislators to act.
Trump, complains about the FBI priorities?? People don’t want to fwarking well hear about your self created troubles arsehole, they want to hear about how you will act to protect Americas children.
Or are you playing golf this weekend?? 🙁
sonar
I reckon George was just click-baiting +trolling.
bc Sunday, February 18th, 2018 – 3:11 pm Comment #2154
Out in the Vermont woods hunting squirrels?
George probably damaged from his time in the inseminationry.
Need to take his guns away and put him on a list.
If political motivated violence is terrorism then surely George’s post can be seen as advocating and inciting a terrorist act. 🙁
http://www.smh.com.au/world/we-call-bs-florida-students-demand-stricter-gun-control-laws-20180217-p4z0q3.html
“Robert Runice, the Broward County schools superintendent, said in an interview. “What I want to see happen next is that this be a continued, sustained movement that includes massive voter registration, awareness and results and legislation to deliver common sense gun laws.””
imacca
The FBI failing to act after the warnings they received is a Yuuge FBI fail. Nowt to do with Trump. Trump will do the same as Obama,Bush and Clinton. SFA.
J_C_Campbell: Meanwhile other exciting highlights of the (allegedly aborted) Young Liberal AGM include VP Greg Mirabella and candidate for Brighton James Newbury getting physical over the ballot box. (Newbury fans claim their man came out on top.)
J_C_Campbell: Liberal Party President Michael Kroger has now tried to restart the YL AGM with one side declaring this is unconstitutional because you apparently need two weeks notice.
J_C_Campbell: The vote for the YL Presidency in Victoria matters this year because the result could change the balance of power on the Administration Committee.
The AFP could end up with a credibility problem if they don’t do something about George. Take his guns away, and slap an ankle bracelet on the bastard.
“The FBI failing to act after the warnings they received is a Yuuge FBI fail”
They will need to be accountable for that.
But, for trump to explicitly try to link his troubles, FBI and this shooting is the act of a frightened lowlife scumbag.
FBI can probably handle multiple issues at the same time if properly resourced. And with the security resources getting soaked up by Trump and his golf trips? Maybe he can reassign those to the FBI and spend more time actually at work??
Bec White: “A Majority Labor Government will deliver a truly free universal public education system.
Labor will waive school fees and levies for all Tasmanian public school students from kinder to grade 12. This will be the single biggest cost of living program in the state’s history. It will remove the barriers to public education and put more money in the pocket of hard working families.”
And she’s planning to do this without pokies revenue, with severely limited scope to raise other State taxes and charges, and a growing threat to Tassie’s disproportionate share of GST revenue.
I think quite highly of Bec White, but I’d have to say “good luck to her” with this platform.
Have just caught up with the Christensen Facebook post. I am staggered.
In effect he is saying to fellow citizens “ if you don’t agree with me, I can shoot you with a bullet from my pistol”.
This person is from the Governing coalition in the nations federal parliament.
What next? He should remove the post, apologise and resign.
If not, he should be sacked from his Party by its leader. If his leader won’t act, fellow Nationals should call a Party meeting an elect a leader who will act.
There is simply no excuse for this obscene act by Christensen.
You’d like to think now that reports of suspect crazy shooters to the FBI will sky rocket and they’ll be all over them.
I’d expect Trump to sniff the wind and announce extra resources for this to occur.
“There is simply no excuse for this obscene act by Christensen.”
Agreed. And, why would the Nats want someone in their party which just this fwarking stupid. to do it at all and to do it now?? FFS the man is at least as big a tosser as Barnyard….and thats saying something.
Dreyfus or Bandt should be requiring Dutton/Turnbull/Joyce to state what actions they are taking over the Member for Dawson, threatening gun violence against citizens, and undermining AFP anti-terrorist activities.
meher baba @ #2222 Sunday, February 18th, 2018 – 4:37 pm
How much will it cost their budget ?
“I’d expect Trump to sniff the wind and announce extra resources for this to occur.”
Yup, people blown away and bleeding to death. And Trump will off a bs band aid.
Hopefully that wont cut it this time.
Doubtless some FBI operative or middle manager will be sacrificed to the US Gun Profits Moloch.
The reality is that the federales are struggling to manage the death threats made to Trump, let alone to every kindergarten kiddie.
Doubtless the US gun industry will continue to pay many millions per rep to ensure that the industry’s profits are not unduly perturbed.
Day 46 already, and the Greens have expended hundreds of thousands of words on their Massive National Campaign to Distract the Polity from the priority issues identified by Indigenous People themselves.
So much verbal ammo and not a single kill. Not even a wounding.
If every soldier was as deadly as the Greens no-one would ever die in any war again.
Rex Douglas: “How much will it cost their budget ?”
It’s not entirely clear. The Tasmanian budget includes a line item headed Departmental Fees and Recoveries, Education and that’s $37.3 million in 2017-18. However, I suspect a lot of that would be TAFE fees.
A lot of school fees and charges are for specific things like excursions, and therefore vary from school to school. If I were a school principal, I would be concerned that I would be directed to abolish all fees and charges, and then be given an inadequate level of funding from the centre to fund the things that they paid for, with the inevitable result that the children would end up receiving less of these things.
Low income families are already exempted from all of these fees and charges, so I wouldn’t have thought that abolishing them for middle to higher income families was a huge priority.
meher baba @ #2231 Sunday, February 18th, 2018 – 4:55 pm
I didn’t think it would cost much.
Good optics/politics.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/turnbull-government-mp-offloads-post-office-amid-constitutional-challenge-20180218-p4z0qz.html
I wonder the Bolta will have anything to say about George?
If George was hoping for some attention, he’s got it. His little stunt is all over Twitter, and not in a good way.
Christensens trolling is so clearly a designed attempt at distraction from Barnaby.
Not sure the spotlight will move from him though which leaves Christensen only heaping more ridicule on the radical element of the Nats.
It’s beyond sad that their constituents vote to retain these individuals as their representatives.
Pity Barnaby is on hols. Nobody around to discipline the fuckwit.
Guess it’s all up to the AFP.
Rex Douglas: “Good optics/politics.”
I’m not sure about that: political parties in other states have been wary about rushing into this space, and I think there are good reasons for this (eg, those I listed above).
Also, while having to pay these fees and charges is a bit of a drain on the household budgets of many families, I would have thought that waiving them wasn’t the highest priority for any additional funding that might be made available for public schools in Tassie: eg, the IT at the schools with which I’m familiar is run down and desperately in need of an upgrade.
OK….. I am going to postulate.
GC and many of his voters dont know what they stand for. Their belief system and values are drowning with self-inflicted hypocrisy due to the mounting evidence that challenge their once simple and comfortable traditional identity.
They resort to the ‘other’ to help define themselves; they are the anti-Greens.
So the more they denigrate the Greens (the more they hate them); the safer they feel in themselves (the more they like themselves).
It is not just the far-right that do this.
charliepick: So now we’re talking about the Coalition like it’s the Balkans. pic.twitter.com/pGVSgT9hpr
https://twitter.com/charliepick/status/965106901561167875
Hmm, what to do about George Christensen? Well, here’s some lateral thinking for you. How about an acknowledged ‘Greenie’, like Bob Brown, say, and we all know he wouldn’t really hurt a fly, gets up a facebook post + photo, the exact mirror of George Christensen’s? About George Christensen. Then just sit back and see what happens. Because what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and the powers that be could hardly do something about the ‘Greenie’ but not George Christensen, could they?
It’s never going to happen, of course because such lateral thinking appears to be confined to populists and the Right these days.
So George’s trolling of ‘Greenies’ will win the day. He’ll be made to come out with a fauxpology but will have made the impression he was hoping to make, with the people he was hoping to impress. That’s all.
Rex Douglas: “Everything said and thought in abject self-interest. Even the tragedy of others must be parlayed for all possible advantage.What scum. https://t.co/PKqKn3Lo8K— David Simon (@AoDespair) February 18, 2018″
What an incredible overreach. IMO Trump was perfectly entitled to make the point he did: the FBI have been putting a lot of resources into investigating him (and, for that matter, Hillary) and have now stuffed up in a major way in not responding to warnings about a crime which – in that it involved the taking of the lives of 17 innocent people – is ultimately much more significant than the pursuit of Hillary’s emailing practices or responding to the endless, ridiculous whinge of “we wuz robbed, it was her turn but the Russians rigged it” coming from some of the Democrats.
Trump is not shaping up to be much of a President, but the day the Dems and others decide to stop moaning about the past and start concentrating on preparing themselves to win next time will be a great day in US politics IMO.
Christensen trolls the Greens….success. The Greens troll everyone, including themselves…
C@t
“So George’s trolling of ‘Greenies’ will win the day. He’ll be made to come out with a fauxpology but will have made the impression he was hoping to make, with the people he was hoping to impress. That’s all.”
I wouldn’t be so sure.
This will be raised in Parliament, and will be yet another layer in Turnbull’s shit sandwich.
meher baba
Here ! here !
C@tmomma: “Hmm, what to do about George Christensen? Well, here’s some lateral thinking for you. How about an acknowledged ‘Greenie’, like Bob Brown, say, and we all know he wouldn’t really hurt a fly, gets up a facebook post + photo, the exact mirror of George Christensen’s? About George Christensen. Then just sit back and see what happens. Because what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and the powers that be could hardly do something about the ‘Greenie’ but not George Christensen, could they?”
I think it would be more in keeping with the culture of the Greens for them to post a photoshopped image of GC at a New Age retreat in the Sunshine Coast hinterland experiencing the benefits of a colonic irrigation detox regime.
Just having a look at the AFLW game between the Pies and GWS.
Atrocious standard of footie.