Essential Research: 52-48 to Labor

Both parties up on the primary vote in the latest Essential poll, which concurs with Newspoll in finding Malcolm Turnbull’s personal ratings edging upwards and Bill Shorten’s edging down.

The latest fortnightly Essential Research poll has Labor’s two-party lead unchanged at 52-48, and The Guardian report provides full primary votes for a change: both major parties are up two, the Coalition to 40% and Labor to 37%, with the Greens steady on 11% and One Nation down one to 6%, with the “others” vote presumably well down. Also featured are Essential’s monthly leadership ratings, which tell a remarkably similar story to Newspoll: Malcolm Turnbull’s approval is up one to 43%, his best result since March 2016, and his disapproval is down two to 40%, his best since the eve of the July 2016 election; while Bill Shorten is respectively down two to 31% and up one to 47%. Turnbull’s lead as preferred prime minister is out to 42-25, compared with 41-27 last time.

The Essential poll also finds only 15% of respondents expect the government’s national energy guarantee will reduce power prices, compared with 22% for increasing them (down nine since the same question was asked last October) and 38% for making no difference (up seven). The government’s proposed tax cuts for big companies have 41% support, up four on a month or so ago, with 36% opposed, down one. Further on company tax cuts, The Australian has a comprehensive set of further results from the weekend’s Newspoll, which find respondents tending to be persuaded that the cuts will be good for employment (50% responded cuts would create more jobs versus 36% who said they would not, and 43% believed repealing them would put jobs at risk versus 37% saying they would not), yet 52% supported Bill Shorten saying cuts for businesses with $10 million to $50 million turnover would be repeated if won office, versus only 37% opposed.

UPDATE: Full report from Essential Research here.

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.

2,074 comments on “Essential Research: 52-48 to Labor”

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  1. C@t:

    Yes I read that article when it came out last year. From memory it was victoria who linked to it here, but I could be wrong.

    It is truly illuminating. My view is that Trump is too arrogant to get that he has been well and truly played by Russia.

  2. Rick Wilson has been having fun predicting the Trumpist talking points in the months leading up to Pruitt’s resignation. No. 5 is what happens now he’s actually resigned. 😆

    Rick WilsonVerified account@TheRickWilson
    2h2 hours ago
    5/ Phase Five: Wait? What? He quit?

    TALKING POINT: “Well, the President never knew him that well.”

    “He wasn’t our first choice.”

    “He was a volunteer, really.”

    “The only time we saw him was when he was fetching coffee.”

  3. Morning all. Growth pressures in cities looms as one of the defining issues in the next election.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/suffocating-sydneysiders-rise-up-against-overdevelopment-20180704-p4zphi.html

    Residents are right to complain. Beautiful medium density cu
    Itiesall over the OECD achieve much higher density than AUstralian ones with barely a building above six stories. If polticians want votes out of planning this is what people like.
    https://www.domain.com.au/living/according-to-study-these-are-the-key-features-a-happy-city-needs-20180705-h129sc-751055/?utm_campaign=strap-masthead&utm_source=brisbane-times&utm_medium=link&ref=pos1

  4. About 200 national park sites damaged by the original Snowy Hydro scheme are yet to be repaired and feral horses trampling through the Australian Alps are limiting water available for hydro power as the federal government plans a massive expansion of the project, scientists and academics say.
    Eight environmental experts have called on the federal government to allocate a share of Snowy Hydro’s future profits to repairing environmental damage to the internationally significant Kosciuszko National Park, saying it would boost the financial viability of Snowy 2.0 and offset some of the environmental damage it will cause.

    The government’s “supercharged” Snowy 2.0 proposal – announced by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last year – would expand the Snowy Hydro scheme to secure electricity supplies to the east coast market, acting as a giant battery by pumping and releasing water on demand.
    The Australian Alps are a major source of annual water flows to the parched Murray-Darling Basin and the region is home to animals and plants found nowhere else in the world.
    A statement of advice prepared by eight academics, provided to the federal government, said the original scheme has “directly and negatively impacted upon the environment” and the proposed expansion of the project should be required to offset this damage.

    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/200-sites-damaged-by-original-snowy-scheme-lie-neglected-scientists-say-20180628-p4zoa4.html

  5. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    The SMH editorial goes to the high cost of keeping WA happy.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/high-cost-of-keeping-wa-happy-20180705-p4zpm4.html
    David Crowe tells us to forget tax cuts: for many, the election will be fought over health.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/forget-tax-cuts-for-many-the-election-will-be-fought-over-health-20180705-p4zpoa.html
    Richo says, “A wing, a prayer and Hope simply is not going to cut it, Mr Morrison”.
    https://outline.com/WxLKkm
    Michelle Grattan describes it as the price of greasing squeaky wheels ahead of the election.
    https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-the-price-of-greasing-squeaky-wheels-ahead-of-the-election-99467
    Leaving interest rates too low for too long could lead to a surge in inflation that forces central banks into dramatic rate hikes, slamming the global economy into recession, warns an influential group of monetary policy experts headed by Australia’s Philip Lowe.
    https://outline.com/WDRkat
    And the borrowing capacity of Australian property investors has contracted 20 per cent over the past three years, leading UBS to forecast that major banks’ housing credit growth will fall to zero by 2019-20, in line with the further rationing of credit to come.
    https://outline.com/33gtfA
    Phil Coorey marks this week as the one when Abbott went from being feared to being isolated.
    https://www.afr.com/news/politics/the-week-abbott-went-from-feared-to-embarrassment-20180704-h1293p
    Waleed Aly tells us why Leyonhjelm must offend and cannot apologise and how the clearest loser – yet again – will have been the standing of politics in this country.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/why-leyonhjelm-must-offend-and-cannot-apologise-20180705-p4zplu.html
    Michael Pascoe accuses the media of working hard to get Leyonhjelm re-elected.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2018/07/04/leyonhjelm-re-election-profile/
    Polly Dunning tells us we are missing the point with the childcare debate.
    https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/why-we-are-missing-the-point-in-the-childcare-debate-20180705-p4zpqc.html
    Australia’s top commander says Beijing’s militarising of the South China Sea has cost it the trust of its neighbours.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/outgoing-defence-chief-china-has-breached-its-neighbours-trust-20180705-p4zpow.html
    The government’s new childcare subsidy system has become the latest technology debacle, with both families and childcare providers struggling to access the system. This department has made cock-ups into an art form!
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/latest-centrelink-computer-fail-new-childcare-system-faces-problems-20180705-p4zpoh.html
    Lawyer John Wilson has a real dip here as he writes that the treatment of allegations against agency heads is at odds with the aggression experienced by other APS staff.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/hypocrisy-abounds-when-leaders-face-scrutiny-20180627-p4zo49.html
    Trump has tweeted that the US Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, one of the most scandal-plagued Cabinet officials in American history, is leaving the agency.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-s-embattled-epa-chief-scott-pruitt-resigns-amid-scandals-20180706-p4zpt7.html
    Meanwhile Trump is preparing to slap tariffs on Chinese goods early Friday, the first shot in a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
    https://outline.com/BehX8D
    David Callahan tells us that American elections are a battle of billionaires and that we are merely spectators.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/05/american-elections-battle-billionaires-civic-inequality
    Michaela Whitbourn reports on another bad day in court for the Obeid family.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/obeid-family-lose-legal-bid-to-shut-down-700-000-circular-quay-battle-20180705-p4zpn2.html
    Michael Koziol reports that Hanson-Young gives Leyonhjelm one week to pay compensation or face lawsuit.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/hanson-young-gives-leyonhjelm-one-week-to-pay-compensation-or-face-lawsuit-20180705-p4zpmd.html
    Dave Donovan writes that Australia’s two major political parties are run by men. One of these men is prone to doing backflips on key issues and is under threat by a sniping, undermining challenger. The other one is Bill Shorten.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/editorial-excerpt-backflips-beat-ups-and-balderdash,11663
    Renewable energy generated nearly 19 per cent of national grid power in the year to June 30 and is on track to meet the Turnbull government’s emissions target without the National Energy Guarantee, a new report says.
    https://outline.com/wRSP3w
    And Swiss Re, the world’s second largest reinsurer, has pulled the plug on underwriting policies for companies with more than 30 per cent of thermal coal in their mining or power-generation portfolios. If followed by others it could be a blow to local pure or majority thermal coal companies such as Whitehaven Coal, as well as AGL Energy and EnergyAustralia
    https://outline.com/7hkJyc
    Joanne McCarthy writes on how several Catholic bishops are advising Wilson to resign.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/catholic-bishops-advise-archbishop-wilson-to-resign-20180705-p4zpqy.html
    An amazing and courageous personal account from the impressive Amy Remeikis. “A man raped me, another tried to. They were not animals. They were men.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/05/a-man-raped-me-another-tried-to-they-were-not-animals-they-were-men
    Martin Hirst is please that the press gallery is boycotting the Nauru meeting. But he writes that it’s not a surprise that the pro-Nauru, pro-gulag Newscorp papers have announced they will be sending a team.
    https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/canberra-press-gallery-black-bans-nauru-forum-coverage-except-for-news-corp,11664
    Quentin Dempster writes that with freedom of the press ultimately at stake, it now appears that News Corp Australia – publisher of The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Herald Sun and others – is the opportunist, hypocritically happy to abandon this first principle.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2018/07/04/news-corp-nauru/
    The Reserve Bank is carefully watching weakness in home prices in Sydney and Melbourne given the impact that could have on household wealth.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/rba-paying-close-attention-to-house-price-falls-20180705-p4zpp2.html
    Stephen Koukoulas has prepared a research paper on issues associated with the economic and financial security for women. The report is being considered by the Minister for Women, Kelly O’Dwyer and will be part of a bi-partisan parliamentary discussion on the critical policy issues associated that can be developed to enhance the economic security for women.
    https://thekouk.com/item/619-defining-the-concept-of-economic-security-for-all-women-policy-recommendations-to-boost-women-s-economic-security.html
    Here we go again! Rich private schools earmarked for cuts through the landmark Gonski 2.0 funding deal have instead seen their proportion of taxpayer money increase this year, thanks to millions of dollars in bonus “transitional” funds set up by the federal government.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jul/06/private-schools-on-funding-hitlist-actually-increase-their-funding
    From yesterday’s banking royal commission sitting.
    https://outline.com/sPeXpx
    Cara Waters gives us more on the very shady franchising industry.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/groomed-me-ex-rfg-boss-accused-of-using-franchisee-to-hide-loss-making-brumby-s-stores-20180705-p4zpn8.html
    Up to 170,000 Toyotas on Australian roads including the top-selling HiLux utility have a design flaw that can force the engine to lose power without warning and life-saving safety systems to shut down. But Toyota Australia, which markets the HiLux as ‘unbreakable’, says the air inlet fault is not a safety issue and it won’t issue a recall.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/auto/2018/07/05/toyota-hilux-engine-problem/
    About 200 national park sites damaged by the original Snowy Hydro scheme are yet to be repaired and feral horses trampling through the Australian Alps are limiting water available for hydro power as the federal government plans a massive expansion of the project, scientists and academics say. Nicole Hasham goes into the report.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/200-sites-damaged-by-original-snowy-scheme-lie-neglected-scientists-say-20180628-p4zoa4.html
    The Australian Government has turned a patriotic ASIS agent – and his lawyer – into political prisoners, writes Dr Binoy Kampmark.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/punishing-the-patriots-australia-bugging-and-east-timor,11665
    The karma bus claims some more victims.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/africa/rhino-poachers-eaten-by-lions-in-south-africa-20180706-p4zpt5.html
    John McDuling explains how Cambridge Analytica is still holding Facebook back from moving on.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/facebook-tries-to-move-on-but-cambridge-analytica-won-t-go-away-20180704-p4zpic.html
    All across Sydney people feel underserviced, overcrowded, dwarfed by high-rises, squished into train carriages and smothered by streets flooded with cars. They’ve had enough.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/suffocating-sydneysiders-rise-up-against-overdevelopment-20180704-p4zphi.html
    ABC management have warned staff not to enter the political debate over the future of the national broadcaster.
    https://outline.com/N2vCR7
    Rachel Lane outlines three things we probably don’t know about aged care.
    https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/three-things-aged-care-rachel-lane-20180704-p4zpfa.html
    Tens of thousands of Australians who have given DNA samples to sites such as Ancestry.com could have their genetic data examined by police without their knowledge.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/beware-cops-can-use-dna-data-to-pick-bad-apples-from-your-family-tree-20180704-p4zpgj.html
    An anti-ageing doctor caught up in the Essendon drugs saga found to have acted at the “highest end” of unprofessional conduct had been fined just $7000.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/essendon-saga-doctor-acted-at-highest-end-of-unprofessional-conduct-20180705-p4zpry.html
    Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has warned against some major rule changes to football, particularly the proposed “starting positions” or zones, which would “ruin” the game at junior level, encouraging kids to play other codes.
    https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-in-the-danger-zone-says-luke-beveridge-20180705-p4zppj.html

    Cartoon Corner

    This classic from Peter Broelman will get under Dutton’s skin.

    David Rowe also goes into the cave.

    Zanetti hits the spot with this one.

    A cracker from David Pope.

    An Independence Day contribution from Glen Le Lievre.

    Jon Kudelka is unconvinced by Morrison.
    https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/50af641c6281584d1b84615452acf979
    More in here.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/best-of-fairfax-cartoons-july-6-2018-20180705-h12aig.html

  6. He-he-heh!

    Mayor of London Sadiq Khan will allow protesters to fly a blimp over parliament portraying Donald Trump as an orange, snarling baby during the US president’s upcoming visit, Khan’s office says.

    Trump, who arrives in a week’s time, will meet the Queen and Prime Minister Theresa May, who was the first foreign leader to visit him after his inauguration last year.

    https://www.afr.com/news/world/europe/mayor-to-allow-protest-balloon-of-donald-trump-to-fly-over-london-for-his-visit-20180705-h12bn6?&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nc&eid=socialn:twi-14omn0055-optim-nnn:nonpaid-27/06/2014-social_traffic-all-organicpost-nnn-afr-o&campaign_code=nocode&promote_channel=social_twitter

  7. Confessions @ #1604 Friday, July 6th, 2018 – 7:49 am

    C@t:

    Yes I read that article when it came out last year. From memory it was victoria who linked to it here, but I could be wrong.

    It is truly illuminating. My view is that Trump is too arrogant to get that he has been well and truly played by Russia.

    It takes me a while to get around to reading my bookmarks but I get there eventually. 🙂

    You’d have to say that, going by that outline, that Dana Rohrabacher is a Russian asset as well. Though I think it’s all of a piece with the Authoritarian Project to rule the world. Interesting also how Russia focused on Africa. I always wondered how those despotic rulers there came to power and held it so effectively. They had outside help it seems.

  8. Thanks BK. Waleed Aly seems to be missing the point with this:

    Which brings us to Hanson-Young’s looming defamation suit – reportedly less than a week away from launch if Leyonhjelm doesn’t offer an apology and compensation. I don’t doubt Hanson-Young would have a good chance of winning. I do wonder how – as a matter of political messaging – someone railing against “slut-shaming” can run a case that necessarily argues that being described as sexually promiscuous is to be accused of something terrible.

    That seems to me a conservative notion, quite at odds with that branch of feminist politics that asserts that there is no shame in women being sexually adventurous.

    Isn’t SHY married? In which case the defamation isn’t that she’s promiscuous so much as having repeated affairs with men not her husband. I can understand her feeling defamed that a Senator went on national TV and stated that her reputation was known around the traps – how would her husband and her family feel hearing that?

  9. Ex-GOP strategist Steve Schmidt destroys ‘stone cold crazy’ Pruitt’s resignation letter: Ravings of a ‘theocratic nut ball’

    Scott Pruitt died as he lived.

    The former EPA boss, who resigned in disgrace today, did so with a letter that was worshipful toward his ex-boss and described his tenure as the result of “God’s providence.” It also uses the phrase “serve you” eight times.

    It was a little too much for ex-Republican Steve Schmidt, who was a key campaign strategist for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

    Schmidt described the letter as “stone cold crazy.”

    “Unbelievable,” Schmidt tweeted. “This is the type of guy who watches the “ Handmaid’s Tale” and says “ WOW! Wouldn’t That be Great.” He can believe what he likes in America, but we probably don’t need a theocratic nut ball in the Congress.”

    https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/ex-gop-strategist-steve-schmidt-destroys-stone-cold-crazy-pruitts-resignation-letter-ravings-theocratic-nut-ball/

  10. “This is the type of guy who watches the “ Handmaid’s Tale” and says “ WOW! Wouldn’t That be Great.”

    The first thing I thought when I read the Pruitt resignation letter was ‘under his eye’, so Schmidt isn’t the only one making that link!

  11. Trump has a replacement for Scott Pruitt already, and he may be worse!

    On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced the resignation of scandal-plagued EPA Chief Scott Pruitt. The President said that the future of the agency “looked bright” with Andrew Wheeler at the helm.

    “We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!” the President announced.

    The future might be bright for the coal industry, if not so much for humans and plants, both of which need sunlight and air to survive.

    Here are 6 horrifying things about Pruitt’s replacement, Andrew Wheeler.

    1. His last gig was as a coal industry lobbyist. Wheeler worked for Murray Energy Corporation—the largest coal mining company in America. Wheeler must have been good at his job promoting big coal interests, netting close to $3 million for the gig.

    2. Murray Energy’s CEO, who doesn’t believe in climate science, worked hard to stall the Obama administration’s efforts to pass environmental protections.

    3. Wheeler formerly worked for James Inhofe, pre-eminent climate change denier, according to DeSmog blog.

    4. While Wheeler worked for Murray Energy, the company was forced to pay millions in fines for contaminating water in three states with coal slurry, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

    5. Prior to his nomination, Wheeler hosted fundraisers for Senators in order to evaluate his chance of getting the post.

    6. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, Wheeler presents a dire threat to mitigating the negative effects of climate change. “Unlike Pruitt, Wheeler worked for the EPA early in his career and has played key roles in Congressional oversight of the agency and its budget, making him a formidable opponent with intimate knowledge of the agency’s programs and regulations,” they wrote.

    https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/6-horrifying-things-need-know-new-epa-head-andrew-wheeler/

  12. Who will be first to describe Macklin’s going as a blow for Shorten?
    Edit. I mean in the sense that it is a sign of internal strife, factions at war etc

  13. Trump has a replacement for Scott Pruitt already, and he may be worse!

    Pruitt’s environmental record was crap so it’d take some doing to do worse!

  14. Bill Shorten
    ‏11 minutes ago

    Every political party in Australia wishes they had a Jenny Macklin, but only Labor has been blessed with her extraordinary mind, her caring heart and her fearless love of the good fight. How lucky we have been.

  15. ‘I do wonder how – as a matter of political messaging – someone railing against “slut-shaming” can run a case that necessarily argues that being described as sexually promiscuous is to be accused of something terrible.’

    Doesn’t intent come into it? And the perception of others?

    I might not be offended by something said to me; I might accept it has an element of truth. Does that mean it isn’t damaging to my reputation or doesn’t have an adverse effect on the chances of my re election?

  16. @Confessions

    I think the point that Waleed is missing is that just because it is OK for a person to be sexually promiscuous, it does not logically follow that it is OK for that information to be broadcast without the knowledge or implicit consent of that person.

    To take another example, it is OK to suffer from depression or bipolar, but that does not make it OK to make it public knowledge that an individual suffers from depression or bipolar if they want that information to be private.

  17. Is everything controlled by algorithms invented by a hard-hearted manager?

    Geoff Pearson
    ‏15 hours ago

    After being admitted to a Melbourne hospital almost seven weeks ago, 54year-old father and former builder is unable to drink, eat, speak and can barely move, now being fed through a feeding tube. our cruel welfare system Deemed him well enough for work,

  18. Tim Watts MP
    ‏@TimWattsMP
    6m

    Despite being one of the busiest people in APH, Jenny Macklin was like a Mamma Bear for new Labor MPs – taking the time to mentor, counsel, check in & offer support. Her encyclopaedic knowledge of social policy is fearsome, but it’s these little things that made people love her.

  19. Scott Ludlam:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/06/byelections-are-a-chance-to-overturn-some-furniture

    But until we get proportional voting in the House, the gap between voter intention and parliamentary seats will likely remain a chasm – presently the 23% minor party and independent vote translates into only 6% of the seats.

    The major parties have exploited this to numbing effect for as long as I can remember, but it has reached a dangerously cynical degree in the last few turns of the electoral wheel. The LNP, to give them their due, play a more direct hand. When outflanked by a loose insurgency like One Nation, for the most part they smoothly absorb the tone and policies of these strident interlopers, stealing their political oxygen while crab-walking steadily in the direction of hard-line racist authoritarianism. Labor play a quite different game, deploying candidates of genuinely good heart to spread a progressive message on coal and gas extraction, refugee rights and the surveillance state, while their parliamentary wing routinely votes with the government to overwhelm the Greens and other crossbench members on these issues and many others. It’s a form of political gaslighting that depends on the electorate never quite having the energy to call out a party that sends finely honed and entirely contradictory messages to different constituencies.

    The excruciating spectacle of Labor walking both sides of the street on Adani’s coal atrocity serves as a valuable case study. Labor’s strategy rests on the assumption that votes directed toward Green and other climate-friendly candidates will preferentially find their way back to the Labor party anyway, relieving them of the obligation to do more than express strategic ambiguity as to their real intentions. That this comatose attitude cost them the seat of Maiwar in the recent Queensland state election doesn’t seem to have changed the basic pattern.

  20. Something to watch for:
    According to an April 5 report in Bloomberg Government, DHS was searching for a contractor to help it monitor more than 290,000 global news sources in over 100 languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Russian, all of which will be translated to English in real time. These outlets would include newspapers and magazines, television and radio, podcasts and social media.
    If the project sounds like a First Amendment violation waiting to happen, that’s because it is. While DHS insists that the database will “protect and enhance the resilience of the nation’s physical and cyberinfrastructure,” perhaps against foreign interference in future elections, the potential for censorship and other abuses of power is virtually limitless.
    https://www.truthdig.com/articles/trumps-ever-more-powerful-weapons-against-journalism/

  21. So, is the Coalition going to settle the NEG, which will be based around free coal-fired energy for everyone, and then go for an early election with a four week campaign period?

    As I recall, the Electoral Act requires the there be at least a five weeks between the issuing of the writs and polling day.

  22. Confessions@7:56am
    Pruitt resigned!!!!!
    YEAH. Thank god for small mercies. One of most corrupt persons on Drumpf regime.
    You may say even worse person may be recruited because even half decent people are avoiding this regime. Quite possible because pooh attracts only pigs.

  23. https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/labor-legend-jenny-macklin-to-retire-at-the-next-federal-election-20180706-p4zptr.html

    Long serving Labor MP Jenny Macklin has been praised by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten as a “legend” who “changed the country in her quiet way” after Ms Macklin announced she would retire from Parliament at the next federal election.

    Ms Macklin will not renominate for the Melbourne seat of Jagajaga and will resign from her frontbench position as families and social services spokeswoman. She will remain on the backbench until the election – which is due in the first half of next year.

  24. https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/lnp-accuses-labor-of-lies-in-crucial-longman-byelection-20180705-p4zpqf.html

    Labor is doubling down on its claims of a cut to health funding in the Queensland seat of Longman in the face of government attacks on what it says are “lies” about $2.9 million being taken away from the local hospital.

    The dispute is turning into a central issue in the Longman byelection, setting up a test on health funding that is likely to be repeated nationwide at the next general election.

  25. zoomster @ #1613 Friday, July 6th, 2018 – 5:20 am

    Jenny Macklin has put out a statement saying she will not contest the next election.

    Thanks zoom,

    I saw the post earlier that said she had “resigned” and thought that was strange.

    Not contesting makes much more sense.

    Interestingly she has been a member of the Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet her whole time in Parliament.

    Not many would have such a record.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Macklin

  26. Scott Pruitt’s successor is not a nut job but is even more focussed on gutting the agency, so no relief in sight at all really.

  27. Confessions @ #1614 Friday, July 6th, 2018 – 8:23 am

    Thanks BK. Waleed Aly seems to be missing the point with this:

    Which brings us to Hanson-Young’s looming defamation suit – reportedly less than a week away from launch if Leyonhjelm doesn’t offer an apology and compensation. I don’t doubt Hanson-Young would have a good chance of winning. I do wonder how – as a matter of political messaging – someone railing against “slut-shaming” can run a case that necessarily argues that being described as sexually promiscuous is to be accused of something terrible.

    That seems to me a conservative notion, quite at odds with that branch of feminist politics that asserts that there is no shame in women being sexually adventurous.

    Isn’t SHY married? In which case the defamation isn’t that she’s promiscuous so much as having repeated affairs with men not her husband. I can understand her feeling defamed that a Senator went on national TV and stated that her reputation was known around the traps – how would her husband and her family feel hearing that?

    Aly doesn’t get it. Not for the first time.

  28. @Pegasus
    You can blame media hacks and LNP for this one, I remember it well.

    As I was actively at the time protesting on these issues.

  29. More people unhappy with Macklin:

    https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2011/11/government-slammed-over-bill-to-expand-welfare-quarantining/

    The Federal Government has introduced legislation to extend ‘welfare quarantining’ – a system introduced under the Howard Government’s highly controversial Northern Territory intervention – but peak welfare Not for Profits want the legislation withdrawn.

    Some 26 Aboriginal peak bodies, community welfare and public health groups are calling on the Government to withdraw the income-management legislation and opt for a new direction in policies affecting Australian Aborigines based on cooperation, not ‘intervention’.

    The groups say the Government’s own evaluation of the NT Intervention shows that welfare quarantining doesn’t work and has created a feeling of dis-empowerment and loss of community control among aboriginal communinties.

    The Stronger Futures Bill, introduced into Parliament by Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin, would see parents forced to attend family conferences and welfare payments suspended if children are regularly absent from school. It would also link alcohol-related criminal offences with income management.

    Introducing the Bill into Federal Parliament, Jenny Macklin said the Bill aimed to build a future for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory “where people live in good houses, and in safe communities. Where parents go to work, and children go to school each day.”

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