BludgerTrack: 53.7-46.3 to Labor

The Coalition loses much of the gain from its tentative recent recovery, according to this week’s poll aggregate reading.

Updated with this week’s Newspoll, the BludgerTrack poll aggregate records a half-point gain for Labor on the two-party preferred, along with two gains on the seat projection, one each in New South Wales and Queensland. Bill Shorten also seems to be enjoying a modest upswing in his net approval trend; I still haven’t found time to sort out a trend for Scott Morrison, despite the fact that I probably have enough data to work with now. Another feature of BludgerTrack this week is that I’m now counting Wentworth as an independent seat, and following my usual policy of assuming elected minor party and independent incumbents will be re-elected.

Speaking of Wentworth, there has been no further progress in the count since last week, presumably because the Australian Electoral Commission has been waiting for the last eligible postal votes to trickle in before yesterday’s deadline. This should mean a few hundred votes will shortly be added to a score line that has Kerryn Phelps with a lead of 1783. You can find my detailed results display for Wentworth here, and BludgerTrack through the link below.

Note also the post below this one, an extensive summary of news from the Victorian election campaign. Not to mention the post below that, in which I plead for donations.

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.

1,953 comments on “BludgerTrack: 53.7-46.3 to Labor”

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  1. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Ross Gittins explores Andrew Leigh’s contention that it might be weak competition that is contributing to the problems of the economy. Gittins tells us that some of Leigh’s points might feature in Labor’s election manifesto.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/weak-competition-may-be-key-to-economy-s-problems-20181102-p50dkr.html
    And Peter Hartcher joins in on the competition argument.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-solution-to-the-high-price-of-living-in-the-land-of-ozzigopoly-20181102-p50dln.html
    The Australia Institute’s Ebony Bennett makes some good points in saying that losing its lower house majority could actually help the Coalition heed the lessons it most needs.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/playing-to-lose-in-the-political-numbers-game-20181102-p50dog.html
    Paul Kelly explains how Morrison is hostage to his own party’s disunity.
    https://outline.com/JuA3sY
    Paul Bongiorno writes that there is a sense that Scott Morrison’s government has reached the point of no return as the realisation dawns that Bill Shorten’s Opposition is now the government-in-waiting.
    https://outline.com/zpnVgb
    James Massola tells us that the Morrison government’s decision to review the location of Australia’s Israeli embassy has put relations with Indonesia on an unpredictable footing.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/australia-indonesia-relationship-faces-months-of-uncertainty-20181101-p50di1.html
    Here’s another example of how the Ruddock Report move is going to create chaos. These issues won’t go away now the light has been shone.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/anglican-heads-letter-gay-discrimination-schools-20181102-p50dpb.html
    The charming Janet Albrechtsen says that religious groups had better stop praying for a human rights act to protect religious freedom in Australia.
    https://www.outline.com/XvmRSt
    More from Andrew Leigh as he explains why unions are key to workers’ wage growth.
    https://outline.com/RSsKa6
    The SMH editorial goes to the NSW Ombudsman’s report on cases from the NDIS abuse and neglect hotline to make the point out that it is high time that NSW acted to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our community.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/strong-advocate-needed-to-protect-vulnerable-adults-20181102-p50dmb.html
    Harriet Alexander writes about some of the horrible cases the Ombudsman looked at.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/atrocious-people-locked-out-tied-up-and-left-to-fester-and-nothing-police-can-do-20181101-p50dea.html
    Hamish McDonald tells us that it did not take long, after the worst instance of anti-Jewish violence in United States history, for Donald Trump to return to the xenophobic theme he sees as a winner for Tuesday’s midterm congressional elections.
    https://outline.com/FZwV8H
    David Crowe says that the Greens will seek to shame Labor by vowing to restore the carbon tax.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/greens-seek-to-shame-labor-by-vowing-to-restore-carbon-tax-20181102-p50dp5.html
    Greg Sheridan unloads on Turnbull whose misery, he says, has no limit.
    https://www.outline.com/CKwbNH
    And Phil Coorey tells us that Turnbull won’t go away quietly.
    https://outline.com/99JFJB
    Mike Seccombe outlines how behind the snap decision to remove all asylum-seeker children from Nauru was a carefully orchestrated campaign to harness the power of the News Corp tabloids.
    https://outline.com/3bCSwU
    Malcolm Knox writes that cricket in Australia is speeding towards a civil war and only one man can stop it – Steve Smith.
    https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/only-one-man-can-pull-australian-cricket-back-from-the-brink-20181101-p50di7.html
    The Judge in the Rush defamation case is getting angry with the Daily Telegraph and its legal team.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/ej-norvill-returns-to-court-as-telegraph-seeks-to-amend-rush-defence-20181102-p50dkp.html
    Crispin Hull talks about the inevitability of living life dependent on Google.
    https://www.smh.com.au/technology/driving-into-a-google-dependent-future-20181102-p50dkh.html
    Jack Waterford writes that it’s time to pull the curtain on memorial industry and says that we should honour veterans by caring for them, and by telling them, and us, the truth.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/time-to-pull-the-curtain-on-memorial-industry-20181102-p50djk.html
    Rising prices for petrol and food are eating into household budgets threatening to further weigh on consumer spending and drag down economic growth that has only just picked up after years in the doldrums.
    https://outline.com/4ce23U
    Michael Koziol writes about Sky News sacking the odious Ross Cameron.
    https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/sky-news-host-ross-cameron-sacked-for-racist-comments-20181102-p50dmr.html
    Barnaby Joyce says he was wrong to dismiss concerns of Nazism within the National party just hours after likening an investigation into the matter to a McCarthyist witch hunt.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/02/barnaby-joyce-sceptical-of-neo-nazi-infiltration-of-nsw-nationals
    Peter van Onselen tells us how the vetoing of university study grants by then education minister Simon Birmingham was the action of a petty bureaucrat.
    https://outline.com/KHab9Z
    And Van Badham says that Simon Birmingham is the one who needs a history lesson in western civilisation.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/01/simon-birmingham-is-the-one-who-needs-a-history-lesson-in-western-civilisation
    The votes on 6 November will give US voters their first chance to pass judgment on Donald Trump since he took the White House. Here’s what you need to know about what’s at stake.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2018/sep/17/midterms-2018-vote-election-date-senate-house-who-will-win-candidates-all-you-need-to-know-explained
    And Jonathan Freedland explains why these Trump midterms will affect everyone – not just Americans.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/02/us-midterms-trump-horror-show
    African gang attacks are back in the news in Melbourne again.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/two-muggings-by-gang-of-up-to-15-youths-on-busy-st-kilda-strip-20181102-p50dkl.html
    And the Victorian Liberal Party seems to be engaging in some dirty tricks in front of the election.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/liberals-sending-out-postal-vote-forms-stirs-electoral-commission-ire-20181101-p50dgv.html
    We need to embrace ecological economics in order to achieve a better working national infrastructure, writes Stephen Williams as he proposes a ten point plan for sustainability.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/a-ten-point-plan-for-sustainable-prosperity-,12058
    The Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, has used money earmarked for alleviating Indigenous disadvantage to fund a fishing industry lobby group he used to chair. What a clown!
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/02/nigel-scullion-gave-indigenous-funding-to-his-former-fishing-lobby-group-to-fight-land-claims
    Karen Middleton writes that Australia’s security and intelligence agencies are on a drive to improve public trust as they seek more intrusive powers, with the head of the powerful Home Affairs Department, Mike Pezzullo, declaring the social contract they have with the public has been damaged and needs to be redrawn.
    https://outline.com/c4yGyg
    The Adani mining company has still not signed a royalties agreement with the Queensland government, despite its claims to be just weeks away from green-lighting the Carmichael mine.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/03/adani-yet-to-sign-royalties-deal-despite-claiming-to-be-close-to-financing-mine
    Elizabeth Farrelly writes about the joy of being independent of the electricity grid.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/ray-of-sunshine-let-me-skip-50-000-bill-20181101-p50dd9.html
    Cole Latimer reports that power bills for Sydney households are set to drop but it’s a different story for country NSW residents following the energy regulator’s decision on the revenues poles and wires companies can collect.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/sydney-to-see-small-power-bill-relief-ahead-but-country-nsw-still-feels-pressure-20181102-p50dk3.html
    Oil and gas giants will be hit with a $6 billion tax hike over the next decade following years of concern that Australia has been haemorrhaging lucrative revenue to multinationals.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/oil-and-gas-giants-hit-with-6-billion-tax-hike-20181102-p50dn6.html
    The Government has prioritised economically supporting the fossil fuels industry instead of tackling urgent climate change issues, writes Philip Soos.
    https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/how-the-fossil-fuels-industry-taxes-us-to-death-literally,12056
    According to figures requested by the Reason Party, legalising cannabis and personal drug use would generate millions of dollars in tax revenue and benefit an overwrought legal system.
    https://outline.com/S6zTPj
    Paula Matthewson says that for the casual observer of Australian politics, there’s been one notable absence from most of our news streams in recent times. Labor leader Bill Shorten has been almost as hard to find in the headlines as he was on the streets of Wentworth during the recent by-election.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2018/11/02/894158/
    Sally Whyte reports that outsourced employment consultants who are not required to have qualifications have used their powers to impose 5.2 million penalties on welfare recipients since July 2015.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/job-seekers-penalised-millions-of-times-by-private-job-services-20181101-p50dee.html
    The Trump administration will on Monday reinstate tough sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from a nuclear deal brokered by Barack Obama in 2015.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2018/11/03/trump-reinstates-sanctions-iran-blacklisting-hundreds-companies/
    Why most users don’t need Apple’s new iPad Pros.
    https://www.smh.com.au/technology/why-most-users-don-t-need-apple-s-new-ipad-pros-20181102-p50djq.html
    And we conclude today’s round up with an “Arsehole of the Week” nomination.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/little-boy-lost-how-a-brutal-paedophile-groomed-this-small-town-boy-20181025-p50bvb.html

    Cartoon Corner

    David Rowe is suggesting Morrison has had his fill of problems.

    Another poetic contribution from Mark David.

    Paul Zanetti with some wishful thinking by Morrison and Dutton.

    Matt Golding gets fair dinkum.

    And he does a bit of pork barrelling.

    David Pope has an omnipotent Brendan Nelson at the War Memorial.
    https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_828/t_resize_width/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/38b5a90b2377568be273ce0af8c285cd4aec23ab
    Jon Kudelka and another fence in the bush.
    https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/bed87c24108cbc16ca249e4953616533
    More in here.
    https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_828/t_resize_width/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/38b5a90b2377568be273ce0af8c285cd4aec23ab

  2. Morning bludgers

    Much thanks BK!

    The piece on Trump is a good round up of the state of play.
    I am probably displaying some wishful thinking, but I feel the dems are going to win big on Tuesday
    And finally get the Trump shit show to derail spectacularly.
    Fingers crossed!

  3. President Trump has made 6,420 false or misleading claims over 649 days

    If President Trump’s torrent of words has seemed overwhelming of late, there’s a good reason for that.

    In the first nine months of his presidency, Trump made 1,318 false or misleading claims, an average of five a day. But in the seven weeks leading up the midterm elections, the president made 1,419 false or misleading claims — an average of 30 a day.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/02/president-trump-has-made-false-or-misleading-claims-over-days/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cdfe2d506519

  4. Michael Cohen Says Trump Repeatedly Used Racist Language Before His Presidency

    As he awaits sentencing, Trump’s former lawyer says that he wants to clear his conscience and warn voters about what he sees as the president’s true nature in advance of the midterm elections.

    4 racist things Trump has said, per Michael Cohen:

    -“Black people are too stupid to vote for me.”

    -“Name 1 country run by a black person that’s not a shithole.”

    -“Only the blacks could live like this.”

    -“There’s no way I can let this black f-ing win.”

    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/11/michael-cohen-trump-racist-language

  5. Frictional unemployment (job-seekers who are not under pressure and who are spending brief periods of time to find their best fit job) is the only unemployment that the Australian Government should tolerate.

    The ballpark estimate by macroeconomists such as Stephanie Kelton, Warren Mosler, Randall Wray, Pavlina Tcherneva, and Bill Mitchell is that frictional unemployment accounts for 2 percent or less of the workforce at any given time.

    My view is that Modern Monetary Theorists are right: the government should drive underemployment and hidden unemployment down to zero and drive unemployment as low as possible (2 percent or less), and if necessary use fiscal policy (tax increases or government spending cuts) to counter any inflationary pressures that emerge.

    The government is too fixated on inflation and too cavalier about the immense economic and social costs of unemployment and underemployment.

  6. BK

    Thanks for those. I just read Paul Kelly and Paul Bongiorno’s similar pieces before heading off to work.

    I take issue with Paul Kelly calling the Australian War Memorial “the most important building in Australia” – I would nominate the Federal Parliament House. After all, our democracy is what we have supposedly always been fighting for.

  7. David Crowe says that the Greens will seek to shame Labor by vowing to restore the carbon tax.

    😆

    Leave Labor alone! We learned the hard way last time what dancing with The Greens did to the ALP. You trod on our toes!

  8. Now this would be a good promise for the liar in chief to keep. This guy is a big name in the Fox News menagerie and is calling for something that would have seen him tarred and feathered by Fox not that long ago . Also a senior US general recently commented that a military victory is unlikely, for either side. After 17 years could the pointless war be getting ready for an end.
    .
    ,
    RealClearPolitics
    Tucker Carlson: Time For Trump To End Afghanistan War, Keep Campaign Promise
    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/10/31/tucker_carlson_time_for_trump_to_end_afghanistan_war_keep_campaign_promise.html

  9. Thanks BK for this morning’s roundup.

    From the BK files.

    And we conclude today’s round up with an “Arsehole of the Week” nomination.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/little-boy-lost-how-a-brutal-paedophile-groomed-this-small-town-boy-20181025-p50bvb.html

    Heartbreaking.

    How are parents, relatives and teachers to inform their loved ones?

    Safe Schools. A fragment of the program.

    Myth: The program is not preventing bullying. Instead it promotes a dangerous agenda that is based on an extreme sexual ideology.

    LGBTI young people experience high rates of bullying and the vast majority of this abuse occurs at school. For example, Writing Themselves in 3, the third national study on the sexual health and wellbeing of same sex attracted and gender questioning young people, found that
    •61 per cent of LGBTI young people report experiencing verbal homophobic abuse
    •18 per cent report physical homophobic abuse
    •69 per cent report other types of homophobia, including exclusion and rumours
    •80 per cent of respondents experienced the reported abuse at school.

    A google search shows that, for instance,

    Safe Schools Coalition Australia – You’re Teaching Our Children What?
    youreteachingourchildrenwhat.org/safe-schools-coalition/

    We would like to raise awareness of a radical new program being introduced into our schools framed as an anti-bullying program; it is called the Safe Schools …

    Does the following have anything to do with the above – I dunno –

    Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Teach Your Children

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkaKwXddT_I

    Do I require my tin foil hat gravatar for the rest of the day ❓

  10. BK, much appreciative of your round up

    the obituaries for this lost last 5 years are starting – Paul Kelly for instance seems to be waving the white flag

    “The cultural edifices and little platoons that shape Australia’s mindset and underlying values are either alienated from or hostile to Liberal norms. Having the sympathy of News Corporation and the Macquarie radio network cannot possibly compensate for the progressive opponents on the other side — witness the legions and deep pockets of the trade ­unions, GetUp, the environmental lobby, the Greens, the ABC with its distinct commitment to progressive causes, NGOs and welfare groups, the human rights lobby, women’s groups, feminists and the #MeToo movement, much of the educational establishment from preschool to ­university, the cultural sector — writers, filmmakers, creative artists — the youth culture and progressive activists on social media.

    The conservative side of politics in Australia is far more devoid of cultural power than its counterparts in the US and Britain. Unless the Liberal Party can ­address this defect its long-run ­future is not encouraging. Liberals are weak in using cultural and moral arguments to advance their policies — yet this is the ­vernacular of the times.”

  11. don @ #16 Saturday, November 3rd, 2018 – 7:45 am

    Thanks BK. You do a great job, and it is appreciated by all. ✔✔✔

    G’day Don . A day or so ago you wrote about something or other of great moment and mentioned various animals in your extremely well formulated submission.
    I immediately noticed however, that sheep failed to get a nod in the fulsome and exquisitely crafted diatribe.
    Would this be because, at last, the voters of your particular electorate have you hostage. Are you trapped behind stone walls, reduced to sending coded messages via your advanced baked bean can and string communication system to little known blogs; in the vague and forlorn hope of rescue ❓
    Please contact the savior of the western world, as personified in Mr. B. Joyce Esq. who is prepared to help out extreme unction (maybe unctuous) cases such as yours. He’s busy today routing them there Nazi infiltrators, but be assured that help is on the way.
    Flash your SOS on this blog just the moment your are free.

    Your humble servant.
    Bruce.

    P.S. Please correct spelling, syntax and punctuation as required. 😇
    ☕☕

  12. Speaking of lack of competition in major industries, one thing I’d like to see is what amounts to progressive taxation of companies (oddly enough the current splitting of tax rates is headed in that direction).

    The bigger you are, the more market share, or whatever other metric, the higher the tax rate. And conversely if you’re a small company you get a lower tax rate. That would give small competitors a chance to break into a market.

  13. People in films don’t “really” die. We all know that. Seeing life only through the eye of a camera can be dangerous.

    Canada took precautions in 2015, issuing warnings at Banff National Park to not take photographs with grizzly bears. Yes, some people really need to be told that — not that it does much good.

    Parks Canada has since been forced to reiterate the warning, as more and more “bear selfies” keep appearing on social media.

    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2018/11/02/selfie-death-history/

  14. Cud,
    I saw your comment last night to me. 🙂

    So, I have a suggestion. Why don’t you leave Gosford out, leave Woy Woy in and direct the HSR up through Kariong and then along a line close to the M1 to Newcastle? Or Broadmeadows, or wherever the people want it up there? 🙂

  15. Morning all. Thanks BK. The Bongiorno article is good, and accurate. The trajectory is not looking good for the Libs. Holding on till May they face defeat in the Victorian election, possible bi-elections via s44 in two very marginal seats, at least a swing with reduced majority in a NSW election, and having to negotiate any legislation through a hung parliament. Unless ScumMo suddenly acquires the negotiating skills of Julia Gillard, there is not much potential to gain any momentum through that series of events.

    And as the smell of rotting fish descends on Team Blue, how long before more MPs break ranks? It will be hard to keep discipline when job losses loom and there are a lack of state level sinecures to escape to.

    My regard for ScumMo was not high previously and he has lived down to my expectations.

  16. BK

    There is an error in your links. Hoping to enjoy the poignant and perceptive insights of Abbott’s cipher Greg Sheridan – instead I was confronted by the ham-fisted and mouldy ramblings of Gerard Henderson.

    Greg Sheridan unloads on Turnbull whose misery, he says, has no limit.
    https://www.outline.com/CKwbNH

  17. Re Sprocket_ @7:50, quoting His Eminence Paul Kelly in The Australian:

    “The conservative side of politics in Australia is far more devoid of cultural power than its counterparts in the US and Britain. Unless the Liberal Party can address this defect its long-run ­future is not encouraging. Liberals are weak in using cultural and moral arguments to advance their policies — yet this is the ­vernacular of the times.”

    To have any hope of remedying that situation, the “Liberal” Party needs to get back to the broad church, to reinvent itself as a genuine liberal party, conservative economically but with strong socially liberal voices in its ranks. Malcolm wanted to do this but failed comprehensively. Instead, the party remains firmly planted in the authoritarian right quadrant, apparently undergoing an ongoing Trumpification. It has the support of Newscorp and 2GB because these are right wing media outlets, far right in parts, with values completely at odds with liberal values, unlike the sources of cultural power Kelly mentioned, most Australians and probably most of the business establishment.

  18. poroti (Block)
    Saturday, November 3rd, 2018 – 7:58 am
    Comment #19

    A painting of his Eminence Paul Kelly’s article .

    By George etc. I think you are being very clever with this Bletchley Park illustration.
    Without today’s key – probably related to today’s weather forecast available to the BOM (and Chinese Agencies) – very hard to decipher.

    Does Mr. Kelly figure in the painting ❓
    Are we to assume that because the subjects in the painting are trudging from the right to the left that this has some psephological meaning ❓
    Or, could it be that, in a nasty way, the well drawn rear end of the horse is the central communiqué ❓

    Or is your post simply a reflection of the change from Winter – through Spring – and on to Glorious Summer ❓

    Yours truly and with great affection.
    Your friend Gertrude. ♡

  19. Poroti, Cat

    There are some iconic photos of German troops being led off to captivity after the defeat at Stalingrad that might also be appropriate after the next election. How do you post photos?

  20. sprocket_
    Paul Kelly seems to be waving the white flag, but it doesn’t seem to have dawned on Paul Kelly that News Corporation and the Macquarie radio network might be wrong and the rest of humanity might be right.

    The pendulum swings and there is nothing anyone can do about it when it swings right, and nothing Paul Kelly can do about it when it swings left; and it’s pretty clear we have reached peak stupid and it is now swinging left.

  21. Tony Windsor
    ‏12 minutes ago

    I was on the Multi Party Climate Change Ctee ..the 3 year fixed price demanded by the Greens was unnecessarily long and was effectively a “tax” rather then a platform from which to launch an ETS …this gave Abbott the free kick as Gillard had said “no carbon tax”in Govt I lead”

    ….

    The Greens will vow to restore the carbon price put into place in 2011 and scrapped in 2014, telling voters the Parliament can reinstate the policy as if the scheme had never been repealed by the Coalition.
    But it will drop the fixed price in the first three years of the original carbon tax and instead promise a market price linked to overseas carbon schemes.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/greens-seek-to-shame-labor-by-vowing-to-restore-carbon-tax-20181102-p50dp5.html

  22. Soc,
    KayJay or poroti can probably explain it better, or more correctly, but I just go to google, put in your search term, click on ‘Images’ then click on the one you want. Right click on it and then click on ‘Copy Image Address’ and if it starts in https and finishes with .jpg you can copy it and then paste it successfully here. 🙂

  23. Paul Kelly puts media outlets such as his on the same ethical level as an actual political party, the Greens, in shaping public attitudes. The hide! And come back Adrian, all is forgiven, he said the ABC has an inarguable leftist (sinister) raison d’etre! Get into it.

    As for the War Memorial being our most important building! In Australia of all places? What crap, we could do without one. The only war that involved nation creation was that against the aborigine.

  24. lizzie @ #31 Saturday, November 3rd, 2018 – 8:23 am

    Tony Windsor
    ‏12 minutes ago

    I was on the Multi Party Climate Change Ctee ..the 3 year fixed price demanded by the Greens was unnecessarily long and was effectively a “tax” rather then a platform from which to launch an ETS …this gave Abbott the free kick as Gillard had said “no carbon tax”in Govt I lead”

    ….

    The Greens will vow to restore the carbon price put into place in 2011 and scrapped in 2014, telling voters the Parliament can reinstate the policy as if the scheme had never been repealed by the Coalition.
    But it will drop the fixed price in the first three years of the original carbon tax and instead promise a market price linked to overseas carbon schemes.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/greens-seek-to-shame-labor-by-vowing-to-restore-carbon-tax-20181102-p50dp5.html

    And the Coalition will still fear monger it as the return of the Carbon Tax.

  25. Thanks from me too BK.

    Always a tonic for me when I can’t sleep to read your links and find out how the Libs are self destructing today 🙂

  26. @_sara_jade_
    6 hours ago

    Despite all of the falseness ever displayed or spoken by Scott Morrison, his smirk is genuine. The arrogance, the smugness & egotism, the superior satisfaction of being better than everyone else and the pride he exhibits in this belief. #auspol

  27. Paul Kelly, of course, gets things the wrong way around.

    The Liberal Party is out of touch with mainstream Australia. Everything else follows from that.

  28. Socrates

    When you find the picture. Right click and copy the address and paste here. BUT it must start with https a ‘mere’ http won’t post. As for file formats. KayJay will know more about which ones are ok, .jpg .gif .png are all i can think of at the moment

  29. Comes as no surprise to PBers.

    Urban Wronski
    ‏22 hours ago

    RMIT ABC Fact Check has rated as “not the full story” a claim by industrial relations minister Kelly O’Dwyer that wages have grown steadily and outstripped inflation over the past decade.

    Deluded, pro-business, anti-union, worker-bashing O’Dwyer is a disgrace to her portfolio.

  30. PeeBee @ #3069 Saturday, November 3rd, 2018 – 5:48 am

    Nicholas, have you ever thought of just putting in a swag of nonsensical words in the middle of your extremely long texts to test to see if anyone reads them?

    I’m pretty sure he already does.

    You may be surprised how many people just scroll past them.

    I usually skim the first para or two to see if they could possibly be interesting. But as soon as you hit any of the usual acronyms, you know just to scroll on by …

  31. So, I have a suggestion. Why don’t you leave Gosford out, leave Woy Woy in and direct the HSR up through Kariong and then along a line close to the M1 to Newcastle? Or Broadmeadows, or wherever the people want it up there?

    I’m not exactly sure what to make of this C@t. Let me refresh your memory as to the proposed route.
    Gosford sits at the end of a branch line. Trains go to Gosford, not through it.
    From Gosford (which is a terminus), high speed trains pick people up at Woy Woy and then go to Sydney.

    The main line follows a path under Kariong. It comes to the surface near Ourimbah and shadows the M1 from there (which is what I think you’re suggesting).

  32. Lovey

    We have. Countless times.

    But as Nicholas keeps posting exactly the same stuff regardless, there’s no point regurgitating the criticisms we made of it before.

  33. Socrates @ #29 Saturday, November 3rd, 2018 – 8:20 am

    Poroti, Cat

    There are some iconic photos of German troops being led off to captivity after the defeat at Stalingrad that might also be appropriate after the next election. How do you post photos?

    Because I use (mostly) a desktop Windows 10 machine to post to the Poll Bludger – I will use that system as a template.

    The information posted by C@tmomma and poroti is fine. I am in no way an expert.

    What I do is to also use Internet Explorer as a sort of fact/spelling/synonym advisor.
    Using IE and searching for Stalingrad WW2(Images) will show various pictures
    such as:-

    You can then (still using Internet Explorer) click on your photo of choice, say the top left, right click and copy
    Then, in the comment box of Poll Bludger, Right Click and paste
    et voila.

    See the posts by C@tmomma and Poroti.

    Once you get it – you will find the process is easy.
    Do not forget the following extract of a conversation between myself and my very, very favourite daughter.
    Self – What do I know ❓
    FD – Not much.

  34. Socrates

    The only pictures I have posted are ones from Wikimedia commons I think, I think the main thing is the picture itself has to have a separate web address if you want it to show automatically without requiring a hyperlink to click on.

    KayJay

    – loved your FD comment. Reminds me of one of our children I was ‘helping’ with year 12 maths “Did you really tutor maths at Uni? Why didn’t they sack you?”

  35. Cat, poroti

    Thanks. Here is a test shot of the Liberal ministerial staff leaving the PMC department building after the defeat of the Howard government in 2007.

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