The first Newspoll for three weeks lands where it usually does, at 53-47 to Labor, with no change on the previous poll, making it 29 successive losses for Malcolm Turnbull. There’s also all but no change on the primary vote, with Labor up one to 39%, the Coalition steady on 37%, the Greens steady on 9% and One Nation steady on 7%. Malcolm Turnbull’s lead as preferred prime minister shifts from 37-35 to 39-36. On personal ratings, Malcolm Turnbull is down two on approval to 32% and Bill Shorten is one to 34% – we will evidently have to wait for the disapproval numbers (UPDATE: Turnbull’s disapproval rating is down one to 56%, Shorten’s is down two to 54%). Simon Benson’s more than usually idiosyncratic take on the results at The Oz here.
UPDATE: Newspoll also has a question on Labor’s plan to abolish franking credit cash refunds, which makes The Oz’s report less weird than it seemed at first blush. It finds 50% opposed to the idea with only 33% in support, breaking down to 42-36 in favour those aged 18-34, 45-32 against among the 35-49s, 58-30 against among the 50-64s, and 66-25 against among those over 65.
If Smith is taking the fall for Bancroft he is even sillier than I thought.
Why doesn’t she just join fascists liberals?
Sky News Australia
@SkyNewsAust
·
2h
.@PaulineHansonOz : I will keep pushing for coal-fired power… We have got the best coal in the world, we are stupid for not utilising that, for not reducing power costs to encourage more investment into Australia.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2018/mar/26/corbyns-antisemitism-apology-fails-to-satisfy-jewish-leaders-politics-live
Today, leaders of British Jewry tell Jeremy Corbyn that enough is enough. We have had enough of hearing that Jeremy Corbyn “opposes antisemitism”, whilst the mainstream majority of British Jews, and their concerns, are ignored by him and those he leads.
There is a repeated institutional failure to properly address Jewish concerns and to tackle antisemitism, with the Chakrabarti report being the most glaring example of this.
Jeremy Corbyn did not invent this form of politics, but he has had a lifetime within it, and now personifies its problems and dangers. He issues empty statements about opposing anti-Semitism, but does nothing to understand or address it.
We conclude that he cannot seriously contemplate antisemitism, because he is so ideologically fixed within a far left worldview that is instinctively hostile to mainstream Jewish communities.
When Jews complain about an obviously antisemitic mural in Tower Hamlets, Corbyn of course supports the artist. Hezbollah commits terrorist atrocities against Jews, but Corbyn calls them his friends and attends pro-Hezbollah rallies in London. Exactly the same goes for Hamas.
Raed Salah says Jews kill Christian children to drink their blood. Corbyn opposes his extradition and invites him for tea at the House of Commons. These are not the only cases. He is repeatedly found alongside people with blatantly antisemitic views, but claims never to hear or read them.
Again and again, Jeremy Corbyn has sided with antisemites rather than Jews. At best, this derives from the far left’s obsessive hatred of Zionism, Zionists and Israel. At worst, it suggests a conspiratorial worldview in which mainstream Jewish communities are believed to be a hostile entity, a class enemy.
When Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour party, Jews expressed sincere and profound fears as to how such politics would impact upon their wellbeing. Our concerns were never taken seriously. Three years on, the party and British Jews are reaping the consequences.
Routine statements against antisemitism “and all forms of racism” get nowhere near dealing with the problem, because what distinguishes antisemitism from other forms of racism is the power that Jews are alleged to hold, and how they are charged with conspiring together against what is good.
This is not only historic, or about what Jeremy Corbyn did before being party leader. It is also utterly contemporary. There is literally not a single day in which Labour party spaces, either online or in meetings, do not repeat the same fundamental anti-Semitic slanders against Jews.
We are told that our concerns are faked, and done at the command of Israel and/or Zionism (whatever that means); that anti-Semitism is merely “criticism of Israel”; that we call any and all criticism of Israel “anti-Semitic”; that the Rothschilds run the world; that ISIS terrorism is a fake front for Israel; that Zionists are the new Nazis; and that Zionists collaborate with Nazis.
Rightly or wrongly, those who push this offensive material regard Jeremy Corbyn as their figurehead. They display an obsessive hatred of Israel alongside conspiracy theories and fake news. These repeated actions do serious harm to British Jews and to the British Labour Party.
Jeremy Corbyn is the only person with the standing to demand that all of this stops. Enough is enough.
At least if they toss out Lehmann, the Strikers won’t be forced to pick his bloody hopeless son and play with ten men.
rossmcg @ #752 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 9:29 pm
They had no idea of the shitstorm that would erupt!
They are that insulated!
Who’s fault is that?
Diogenes @ #755 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 9:35 pm
Winston Churchill’s father died from syphilus.
Winnie is regarded by many as having been pretty good!
Warner on Faf Du Plessis:
https://streamable.com/p80p2
** Flashman famously cheated at cricket (cf. Flashman’s Lady), and he got past it. **
Trump reminds me a little of Flashman. Only not as interesting.
rossmcg @ #753 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 5:29 pm
That sounds like bullshit!
Why would Bancroft want to tamper with the ball?
He’s new to the team, a batsman and he doesn’t bowl, there’s no logic in him doing it off his own decision. 🙂
Bring back Ric Charlesworth. Great success as a coach because everyone was scared shitless of him.
Whether Smith nobly took the fall for his bowler, or whether it was a set “leadership group” plan to cheat, admitting it, and then claiming that the admission should not affect his career prospects as captain of the team was a mighty challenge to cricket authorities to accept that such foul play should have no consequences.
That is untenable on many levels.
Smith’s statement being noble or not, naive or otherwise, either Smith or the game of cricket has to go.
My gut feeling is that Australians are sick of rorters, lurkers and spivs saying “Fuck youse all.”
If cricket is ikonic, then this is an ikonic moment, for more than just cricket. This is where we decide whether fair play is the aim of the exercise, or not.
** They had no idea of the shitstorm that would erupt!… Who’s fault is that? **
A chap named Precedent.
GG
Buried away in one story I read today was the opinion from a player manager that smith has chucked away maybe $50 million in wages and endorsements the he might have earned over the next decade.
He should have thought about that.
** Bring back Ric Charlesworth. Great success as a coach because everyone was scared shitless of him. **
You will be asking for Eddie Jones to return next. Or even Alan Jones.
There is trouble brewing inside UK Labour, driven by the stranglehold of old-time leftism. If this occurred to Labor here, we would come to the conclusion that the Fakes had been able to take over. The failures of Corbyn on Brexit, Russia and the Mid-East will doom Labor to defeat. Just like the Tories, Corbyn is lost in the distant past.
Labour won’t survive if Corbyn fails to tackle antisemitism, says John Mann
John Mann, the Labour backbencher and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on antisemitism, told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show that antisemitism could destroy the Labour party. Here are the main points from his interview.
Mann said that, if Jeremy Corbyn failed to tackle antisemitism in Labour, the party would not survive. He said:
If [Corbyn] is incapable of dealing with this problem now, then the Labour party is not going to survive …
I’d be very surprised if Smith is ‘taking the fall’ for Bancroft.
Mind you, the way Cricket Aus works that may well be the final wash up in their investigation findings.
Rossmcg @ #764 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 5:41 pm
Thought was obviously the last thing going on in the changing shed!!! 🙂
Barney in Go Dau @ #760 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 9:38 pm
Watch the space, comrade!
Barney in Go Dau @ #760 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 9:38 pm
Rossmcg @ #763 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 9:41 pm
Everyone fucks up in life. He just found an expensive way to do it.
For all the WA bludgers – by popular demand… I give you Luke Parkers goal of the year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqQADuuITYg
Whether Smith nobly took the fall for his bowler, or whether it was a set “leadership group” plan to cheat, admitting it, and then claiming that the admission should not affect his career prospects as captain of the team was a mighty challenge to cricket authorities to accept that such foul play should have no consequences.
That is untenable on many levels.
Smith’s statement being noble or not, naive or otherwise, either Smith or the game of cricket has to go.
My gut feeling is that Australians are sick of rorters, lurkers and spivs saying “Eff youse all.”
If cricket is ikonic, then this is an ikonic moment, for more than just cricket. This is where we decide whether fair play is the aim of the exercise, or not.
Simon Kadich
“Trump reminds me a little of Flashman. Only not as interesting.”
————-
While Trump may have the quality of “bully”. I don’t think trump has the necessary style, intelligence nor the wit to be a cad!!!
Trump is no Flashmen. 🙂
In the context of European history, of Britain’s past role in the Middle East, and of the incipient rise of the nationalist/anti-semitic right in Eastern Europe, anti-semitism is an absolutely red-hot issue.
Corbyn is exhibiting essentially the same approach to the EU and Russia as are the Euro-Rightists and the Faragists. This is a prescription for disaster in the UK. Corbyn is, to all intents and purposes, a Fake.
briefly
Nice link and interesting stuff.
There is little doubt that sections of the Left have issues with anti-semitism and that there can be little doubt that Corbyn in the UK is part of the problem here.
That aside, I have been called anti-semitic for criticizing some of the behaviours of the Israeli State.
Bushfire Bill @ #769 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 9:47 pm
You have said how moving out of range of Sydney shock jocks had improved your disposition!
Q&A is utterly painful this evening. Prof Sandell is as boring as.
Boerwar
Not considering the Israeli government and its treatment of Palestinians as perfect is all you need in some circles to evoke cries of “Antisemite” .
GG, being sick of rorters, spivs and lurk merchants is WHY I moved out of Sydney.
Up here on the mid north coast the only spivs are the energy companies and the tradies.
I can cope with that.
Bushfire Bill @ #777 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 9:57 pm
I always believed you would find peace once you turned off the radi. But, you moved out of range instead!
‘poroti says:
Monday, March 26, 2018 at 9:56 pm
Boerwar
Not considering the Israeli government and its treatment of Palestinians as perfect is all you need in some circles to evoke cries of “Antisemite” .’
Yep. Or, even nastier, you can get yourself called a ‘self-hating Jew’.
One of the problems here is the extreme hard right in Israeli politics is pretty rank.
Regardless of all of the above, IMO Corbyn needs significantly to clean up his act. He is the GB Prime Minister-in-waiting. Mouthing generic platitudes does not cut it.
Mid North Coast BB?
Coffs?
Boerwar says:
Monday, March 26, 2018 at 9:50 pm
briefly
Nice link and interesting stuff.
There is little doubt that sections of the Left have issues with anti-semitism and that there can be little doubt that Corbyn in the UK is part of the problem here.
That aside, I have been called anti-semitic for criticizing some of the behaviours of the Israeli State.
The label can be misused, no doubt, especially in the context of debate on Israeli conduct. My own heritage includes people of colour as well as Jews. So I’m sensitised around racism…always have been, I think. It helps to focus on the human rights of all those who live in and around Israel and to recognise as well that these peoples and their rights are exploited politically in a context of recurring violence, dispossession and terror….terribly complex…I feel insufficiently close to be much use…
The dip in talent in the Lehmann era is pretty telling.
Five years ago, when Morne Morkel was at his prime, Michael Clarke and Hussey used to hit him around the park. Now Morkel is about to retire with busted knees etc and we find him unplayable.
Shellbell @ #782 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 10:04 pm
he was sacked after the first test.
Maybe the Aussies had something else on their minds in the second dig!
Bollocks.
Absolute crap.
Five years ago Steven Smith was averaging 30.
poroti @ #775 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 9:56 pm
Equally, the opposition to Israel is used as a cover for rank anti-semitism.
It goes to looking at what is actually said, rather than the lazy resort to names and abuse. The criticism of Corbyn in the article quoted by Briefly goes well beyond criticising the conduct of Israel in regard to Palestinians and goes to tropes and cliches such as world-wide Jewish conspiracy and the supposed power wielded by the Jewish billionaires of the world.
There is no doubt that there has been easy recourse to yelling anti-semitism as soon as Israeli behaviour is criticised by anyone, as an alternative to actually considering what is going on, but it is surprising how easy it is for people who claim only that they oppose Israel, or even Zionism as the founding philosophy of the Jewish state, when in reality their fears, hatred, anger or paranoia go way beyond the middle eastern state.
As a long term lurker and very occasional commentator I have a small contribution. As I prepared our meal tonight with the assistance of a few glasses of average red I was listening to some old vinyl. John Schumann’s song ‘ I’ll take you home’ struck me as very appropriate for today. With the rubbish our government is dishing out and the pain we are feeling about our cricket team it just seemed to fit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0zMkw3FBoA.
Bancroft is the fall guy.
Smith, in his hubris, thought I will just get a one match ban after having consulted with god knows how many advisers someone on $5m can buy.
Little did he know the sh!tstorm that would erupt.
Good riddance to him.
I will barrack for the opposition rather than barrack for a team that contains Smith and the other cheats.
Lynchpin @ #787 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 10:26 pm
Du Plessis has been pinged twice for ball tampering.
He plays for South Africa!
Knowing little about cricket, what I can’t understand is how a little bit of Mintie spit or a few seconds of sanding can so predictably affect the ball’s trajectory as to confer an advantage
Did he admit to the world’s press to conspiring with his ‘leadership team’ to deliberately set out to damage the ball?
So our coal is better than the rest of the worlds coal.
Tremendous effort that Pauline.
Last week I pointed out the inequity of the ALP policy on imputation credits and how it would effect poor people with a few shares.
Many bloggers did not agree with me. Some even accused me of not understanding the policy etc.
I see the Shorten has finally realised the problem and today mentions how poorer people may be exempt.
Very poor form from Shorten and Bowen. It has opened an opportunity to be attacked by the LNP.
They must do their homework better.
Correct fess.
Foff was pinged doing something most countries do, some “slight” application to the ball surface, off his own bat.
No comparison to Smiths idiocy.
Knowing little about cricket, what I can’t understand is how a little bit of Mintie spit or a few seconds of sanding can so predictably affect the ball’s trajectory as to confer an advantage
It’s the unpredictability it affects that confers the advantage!
PeeBee,
You sound sanctimonious. You could have been more generous in your summation of Labor’s subsequent actions wrt a basically sound and egalitarian policy.
There is a strong tradition of anti zionism in British Labour, which is NOT anti Semitism. However, Zionists are at pains to hide behind the clock of anti Semitism. Opponents of Corbyn and supporters of neo liberalism will make any effort they can, from any possible angle to bring him down and have him replaced with an acceptable alternative.
PeeBee @ #792 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 10:40 pm
Actually, I think most here understood. The problem was that a large number of people who were lightly affected and, collectively, were a small cost on revenue were being used as a cover for well-off and richer people using this lurk to generate thousands of dollars at taxpayer expense.
I recall a lot of us said that Labor would do something about this group of people, given that dealing with their loss would be a relatively small cost to the savings Labor hoped to gain from this policy. Personally, I don’t that putting either a cap or a means test is good policy because it just complicates the taxation system further. However, from a political perspective the bottom line is that the political cost can be addressed at little cost to revenue and therefore is very attractive.
With, probably, 12 months to go to the next election Labor had plenty of time to gauge the response to the policy and adjust it quickly if necessary. Despite their ABC labelling it a backflip, the adjustment is good politics.
Bushfire Bill @ #779 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 9:57 pm
Such summary certainty from a Mid North Coast Newbie.
For example, Mark Vaile and Larry Anthony and his father, Doug, come from that neck of the woods.
Spivs are everywhere.
Clem Attlee @ #796 Monday, March 26th, 2018 – 10:45 pm
Again, the general statement as opposed to looking at the specifics. Whatever the alleged ‘tradition’, the question remains as to whether some, not necessarily all, of the views expressed are anti-semitic. The fact that many Jewish people identify with zionism and support it make it very easy for ‘anti-zionism’ to creep into anti-semitism (i.e. outside the questions of criticising the State of Israel’s conduct or even its existence) in the minds of lazy prejudiced thinkers.
Also, PeeBee, if you can afford holidays to Europe and hiring of cars from Europcar, you are NOT poor, and I contend, could afford to do with a little less, for the Common Weal.