Poll positioning

Fraught preselections aplenty as the major parties get their houses in order ahead of a looming federal election.

Kicking off a federal election year with an overdue accumulation of preselection news, going back to late November:

• Liberal Party conservative Craig Kelly was last month saved from factional moderate Kent Johns’ preselection challenge in his southern Sydney seat of Hughes, which was widely reported as having decisive support in local party branches. This followed the state executive’s acquiescence to Scott Morrison’s demand that it rubber-stamp preselections for all sitting members of the House of Representatives, also confirming the positions of Jason Falinski in Mackellar, John Alexander in Bennelong and Lucy Wicks in Robertson. Kelly had threatened a week earlier to move to the cross bench if dumped, presumably with a view to contesting the seat as an independent. Malcolm Turnbull stirred the pot by calling on the executive to defy Morrison, noting there had been “such a long debate in the New South Wales Liberal Party about the importance of grass roots membership involvement”. This referred to preselection reforms that had given Johns the edge over Kelly, which had been championed by conservatives and resisted by moderates. Turnbull’s critics noted he raised no concerns when the executive of the Victorian branch guaranteed sitting members’ preselections shortly before he was dumped as Prime Minister.

• The intervention that saved Craig Kelly applied only to lower house members, and was thus of no use to another beleaguered conservative, Senator Jim Molan, who had been relegated a week earlier to the unwinnable fourth position on the Coalition’s ticket. Hollie Hughes and Andrew Bragg were chosen for the top two positions, with the third reserved to the Nationals (who have chosen Perin Davey, owner of a communications consultancy, to succeed retiring incumbent John “Wacka” Williams). Despite anger at the outcome from conservatives in the party and the media, Scott Morrison declined to intervene. Morrison told 2GB that conservatives themselves were to blame for Molan’s defeat in the preselection ballot, as there was “a whole bunch of people in the very conservative part of our party who didn’t show up”.

• Labor’s national executive has chosen Diane Beamer, a former state government minister who held the seats of Badgerys Creek and Mulgoa from 1995 to 2011, to replace Emma Husar in Lindsay. The move scotched Husar’s effort to recant her earlier decision to vacate the seat, after she became embroiled in accusations of bullying and sexual harassment in August. Husar is now suing Buzzfeed over its reporting of the allegations, and is reportedly considering running as an independent. The Liberals have preselected Melissa McIntosh, communications manager for the not-for-profit Wentworth Community Housing.

• The misadventures of Nationals MP Andrew Broad have created an opening in his seat of Mallee, which has been in National/Country Party hands since its creation in 1949, although the Liberals have been competitive when past vacancies have given them the opportunity to contest it. The present status on suggestions the seat will be contested for the Liberals by Peta Credlin, who was raised locally in Wycheproof, is that she is “being encouraged”. There appears to be a view in the Nationals that the position should go to a woman, with Rachel Baxendale of The Australian identifying three potential nominees – Anne Mansell, chief executive of Dried Fruits Australia; Caroline Welsh, chair of the Birchip Cropping Group; and Tanya Chapman, former chair of Citrus Australia – in addition to confirmed starter Anne Warner, a social worker.

• Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie yesterday scotched suggestions that she might run in Mallee. The view is that she is positioning herself to succeeding Cathy McGowan in Indi if she decides not to recontest, having recently relocated her electorate office from Bendigo to one of Indi’s main population centres, Wodonga. The Liberals last month preselected Steven Martin, a Wodonga-based engineer.

• Grant Schultz, Milton real estate agent and son of former Hume MP Alby Schultz, has been preselected as Liberal candidate for Gilmore on New South Wales’ south coast, which the party holds on a delicate margin of 0.7%. The seat is to be vacated by Ann Sudmalis, whose preselection Schultz was preparing to challenge when she announced her retirement in September. It was reported in the South Coast Register that Joanna Gash, who held the seat from 1996 to 2013 and is now the mayor of Shoalhaven (UPDATE: Turns out Gash ceased to be so as of the 2016 election, and is now merely a councillor), declared herself “pissed off” at the local party’s endorsement of Schultz, which passed by forty votes to nine.

• Hawkesbury councillor Sarah Richards has been preselected as the Liberal candidate in Macquarie, where Labor’s Susan Templeman unseated Liberal member Louise Markus in 2016.

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.

3,175 comments on “Poll positioning”

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  2. I hope i am wrong, but i am pretty sure that when Billo gets the Lodge it will be to the USofA “how many military bases do want”, “how much antiquated military crap at exhorbitant prices do you want us to buy” and “ if you want any Australians that are offensive to US Capitalists extradicted just let us know, they’re all yours”.

  3. As you would know, the federal government can always afford to do something if the real resources necessary are available for sale in AUD.

    The federal government ALWAYS makes payments in AUD by writing up commercial banks’ reserve accounts.

    The federal government ALWAYS taxes by writing down commercial banks’ reserve accounts.

    The federal government won’t run out of keystrokes to make these changes to spreadsheets.

    For the currency issuer real resource availability is the relevant question, not financial affordability.

    We pay taxes to keep the government’s currency strong.

    The fact that millions of households and firms owe tax liabilities in the government’s currency is ultimately what makes the currency valuable. The currency is very much in demand because so many people need it to pay taxes.

    The government’s currency is backed by the productive capacity of the economy, by the tax system, and by the government’s promise to accept its currency back in payment of the taxes, fees, and fines that it imposes on us.

    Taxes are also used to influence distribution of income and wealth and to influence behaviours of households and firms in ways that the government considers desirable.

  4. We’ll take it from here, mate – JIM MOLAN
    Australia must be the master of its own destiny in these times. The US has been a great partner for the past 75 years but the world has changed. So has the US, and so must we.
    https://outline.com/HC89Dw

    Trump has been called the “disrupter-in-chief” because he so often creates chaos, a legitimate tactical technique, but world and regional stability need a degree of predictability and trust. How can anyone judge his decision on Syria without knowing what the US policy objectives now are in the Middle East? It certainly goes against the US national security strategy written last year by his former defence secretary, Jim Mattis.

  5. Builders ask certifiers to cut corners amid pressure of Sydney’s construction boom
    Danielle Le Messurier, Edward Boyd, The Daily Telegraph
    January 3, 2019 11:10pm
    https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/builders-ask-certifiers-to-cut-corners-amid-pressure-of-sydneys-construction-boom/news-story/670e980f7ec3138641e5bff6ec30109d

    EXCLUSIVE: Private certifiers are conducting building inspections using just photographs to avoid construction delays, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

    “Due to time restraints, builders will put pressure on you to accept photos instead of doing a critical stage inspection — but we say we want to be there,” one private certifier, who asked not to be named, with over 20 years experience, told The Telegraph.

    “It’s pivotal for us to inspect because at the end of the day it’s our accreditation and our name on the line.”

  7. Scott Capelin’s how-to guide on making money using fake invoices
    Matthew Benns, The Daily Telegraph
    January 4, 2019 12:00am

    Angry investors unpaid as Neutral Bay gym folds

    https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/scott-capelins-fake-invoices-leaves-investors-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-in-debt/news-story/f9000f1523ae476361b3575ff24cd211

    Investor Tim Cox, who has lost $500,000 he put into the business, said “alarm bells started to ring” when he saw the email Capelin had written in March last year.

    In the email Capelin told the potential­ investor “fortune favours the brave”.

    This dude is a sure contender for “Arsehole of the Week,”

  8. Last Wednesday morning I attended a funeral service for an old friend of my late wife.

    The lady concerned, aged 97, had had a CVA at home and collapsed onto the floor of her bathroom about 6 P.M. She managed to somehow manoevre herself to another room which was carpeted and warmer.

    Her daughter, who was the only person to regularly call on her, found her (after about 18 hours) and then the ritual, ambulance, emergency ward, hospital ward, nursing home.

    Whenever I asked about this very talented lady – I got the “she’s loving it” (Aged Care) – “she’s trying new food”- “everybody loves her” routine. Nobody wanted to tell me about the effects (is that right :?:) of the stroke -whether she was bright and inquisitive – whether her eyes had been effected – was she sad, depressed.

    And so Isa died last Thursday 27th December and apparently multi mini messages circulated (sans KayJay as recipient) until eventually my favourite daughter called on me to tell me of Isa’s passing.

    I’m not well versed in the processes of funerals – does one need an invitation ❓ DammedifIknow. Anyway I invited myself and my daughter and her husband collected me last Wednesday morning in plenty of time for the service.

    I spend a lot of time talking to family members about this and that – and the topic of funerals came up recently with the much prized information that dress for this last service one may perform for a loved one or friend seems to have devolved from

    Appropriate Outfits For Men To Wear To A Funeral

    Men should avoid wearing jeans, short-sleeved shirts, athletic shoes, and baseball caps. Appropriate outfits for men to wear to a funeral include a suit with a tie; pants (not jeans) and a collared, button-down shirt with a tie and a belt; dress shoes or loafers (not sneakers).

    To

    thongs (not the up the butt items) jeans and tee shirt.

    So driving to the service my bogan son-in-law was ready for the affair complete with no shirt (he put on a tee shirt later) elbow out the window and one arm draped over the steering wheel.
    “Nice tits” said I. No reply as the trip was not well planned and circuits and bumps were needed – and then we were there.

    I take great pride in my ability to tie a windsor knot and received the self awarded tie of the day prize.

    Many family members spoke and many tears were shed. “Stranger on the Shore” by Acker Bilk was played and a poem read and then we departed. My daughter took me home and returned for nosh at local Sixteen Footers where the topic du jour was – cui bono* as is appropriate immediately after tears and sadness.

    *Word Origin and History for cui bono. a Latin phrase from Cicero. It means “to whom for a benefit,” or “who profits by it?”

    As a memento – Isa made for me, many years ago, a tea towel reminding me that the washing up does not happen by itself.

    Stranger On The Shore – Acker Bilk
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jzx664u5DA

  12. No, Linda Reynolds – the Liberal Party does have ‘a woman problem’

    “By Shane Wright & Max Koslowski
    3 January 2019 — 11:50pm

    The Liberal Party is on track to take the smallest number of female candidates to a general election this century as it struggles to preselect women in seats it holds and ones it needs to win to stay in power.

    As some of the few female members of the Liberal Party deny suggestions the organisation has a “woman problem”, a breakdown of its candidate list shows 21 Liberal women will vie for the lower house in the election, expected in May. One hundred and two confirmed candidates are male.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/liberal-party-on-track-to-run-lowest-number-of-female-candidates-this-century-20190103-p50pdq.html

  13. International nomination for Arsehole of the Week award.

    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/a-man-attacked-a-mcdonald-s-employee-video-of-her-fighting-back-went-viral-20190103-p50pel.html

    Biandudi watched as an insult-ridden, profanity-laced argument about straws escalated between the customer, a tall white man, and the employee, a young black woman. That’s when she pulled out her phone.

    “I said, this is getting a little heated here,” Biandudi recounted. “I better get my camera ready in case somebody needs to know what happened.”

    As soon as Biandudi began recording, the argument turned physical.

    In her video, the man can be seen leaning across the counter and grabbing the cashier until she lurches forward. For a moment, the employee seems to stumble, then regains her balance and begins flinging punches at the man.

    The young lady throws a mean right hand to the face. What a woman ❗ I’m not too sure about her work mates – they remind me of some so called security personnel at a hospital I once worked.

  14. ‘The worst year of Donald Trump’s life’ is coming — and he’ll be powerless to stop it: historian

    As Democrats take control of the House of Representatives and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation plows ahead, 2019 has the potential to be a calamitous year for President Donald Trump.

    In fact, historian Jon Wiener boldly predicts in a column for the Los Angeles Times that 2019 will be “the worst year of Donald Trump’s life.”

    “It’s easy to get lost in the details of Russiagate and the guilty pleas of Trump associates involved in a range of crimes, but what is developing is not that complicated,” Wiener explains. “It’s a political corruption scandal with the potential to be larger than anything we’ve seen before in American history.”

    Additionally, Trump faces investigations into whether he directed illegal hush payments to former mistresses, whether he used his charity foundation as a personal slush fund, and whether his personal fortune was created at least in part via elaborate tax fraud.

    https://www.rawstory.com/2019/01/worst-year-donald-trumps-life-coming-hell-powerless-stop-historian/

  15. In The Guardian is an article about the useless auditing processes our Gov’t has increased to fool us it is doing something about neglect in aged care facilities.
    My mother is in one of these, a church run one no less, and she ended up in hospital after a fall. She pressed the call button around her neck for 15 minutes before giving up, pushing herself along the floor, reaching up to get her iPhone and calling me. She was hysterical.
    They claimed she lied about using the buzzer.

    A former aged care endorsed enrolled nurse, who worked at a nursing home in regional Victoria for more than 25 years, said auditors needed to wise up to the tricks some nursing home managements use to cheat the system.

    Nursing homes knew exactly what auditors were looking for so could manipulate the process, she told Guardian Australia, on the condition of anonymity.

    She said scheduled audits and inspections were ineffective and were basically a tick-the-box exercise.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/04/ramping-up-nursing-home-inspections-not-enough-to-improve-care-experts-warn

    I am about to make a submission to the Royal Commission into aged care.
    https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/submissions/Pages/default.aspx

  16. “The Guardian” subsection of Dawn Patrol – all the best for Mrs BK today!

    Stephen Koukoulas talks about how the markets are not buying the rosy forecasts of our Reserve Bank – some of the same forecasts on which Morrison and Frydenberg based their equally ‘rosy’ Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook paper.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/03/falling-dollar-reflects-global-concern-all-is-not-well-in-the-australian-economy

    Why exercise alone won’t save us (or why I shouldn’t be sitting here at this desk!)
    https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jan/03/why-exercise-alone-wont-save-us

    Interesting insight into Maori views on whale strandings.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/03/what-is-the-sea-telling-us-maori-tribes-fearful-over-whale-strandings

    China’s successful landing on the far side of the Moon, nearly 53 years after the USSR’s Luna 9 made the first soft lading on the near side, prompts some cultural reflection.
    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/03/culture-fascination-with-the-dark-side-of-the-moon

    The sort of story you hope to never see about an Australian apartment block.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/03/death-toll-rises-in-russian-apartment-block-collapse

    Women’s rights progress in the historically progressive Indian state of Kerala.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/03/gender-activism-india-womens-wall-sabarimala-temple-kerala

    Irish PM prepares his country for no-deal Brexit by UK.
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/03/theresa-may-ring-round-eu-leaders-fails-restart-brexit-talks-irish-backstop

    While in the UK the NHS faces ‘mayhem’ when cold snap strikes – Oh for all those millions of pounds that they could be spending on the NHS if not for the EU!
    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/03/hospitals-mayhem-cold-snap-staffing-problems-flu

    Echoes of the situation in Australia, with The Guaudian editorial reminding readers that while 10,000 asylum seekers arrived on Greek shores by boat in a single day in 2015, a mere 539 tried to cross the Channel in small boats in 2018 (apparently a ‘crisis’ according to the right-wing news media!)
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/03/the-guardian-view-on-channel-crossings-a-failure-of-humanity-not-controls

    On that note – an interesting documentary about to be released, about a woman working on Christmas Island providing therapy for traumtised detainees.
    https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/03/the-film-that-reveals-an-island-idylls-traumatic-secret

    And pictures of the most diverse Congress sworn in to office in the USA overnight.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/03/congress-new-members-republicans-democrats-diversity

  18. kezza2 @ #499 Thursday, January 3rd, 2019 – 10:45 pm

    swamprat

    And I lived near the Kooweerup Swamp, the best dang asparagus-growing area in Victoria. And we had it served up to us, from a can!

    I can scarcely equate the taste of tinned asparagus with the beauty of a freshly steamed bunch of asparagus dotted with butter, sprinkled with black pepper, with that lot served up to us when we were kids.

    However, I can still taste the canned asparagus. We sort of sucked them down, whole. How barbaric.

    Agreed. Home grown asparagus, still screaming, lightly heated in a pan with butter till almost tender, is a different item entirely from the tinned version.

  19. Socrates

    Interesting stuff about the trams in Adelaide. I think there are many wide roads in and around the city that could definitely accommodate an expansion of the network.

    Good luck for Liverpool today against Man City – I had forgotten they only lost the title by 2 points in 2013-2014 (when so many were hoping for a special gift 25 years after the Hillsborough disaster)

  22. Maude Lynne @ #565 Friday, January 4th, 2019 – 7:05 am

    In The Guardian is an article about the useless auditing processes our Gov’t has increased to fool us it is doing something about neglect in aged care facilities.
    My mother is in one of these, a church run one no less, and she ended up in hospital after a fall. She pressed the call button around her neck for 15 minutes before giving up, pushing herself along the floor, reaching up to get her iPhone and calling me. She was hysterical.
    They claimed she lied about using the buzzer.

    Ah yes. The old lying about the buzzer trick. How well we know it.

    You have reminded me that part of my wife’s special attention (as a sleep aid) was for staff to place the call buzzer button out of reach.

    This must surely have enabled the night staff to (sorry I’m laughing about this – effed if I know why) sleep soundly. As night follows day – international/universe style science – complaints fell on deaf ears. The complaints agencies hand in glove with management.

    With appropriate media scrutiny of the Royal Commission conditions may improve. I hope so.

    Best wishes to your mother and all residents of aged care.

  23. The scale of this continues to astound. More than 1000 priests and others have been named in the USA as involved in child sex abuse, and that’s only for about half the dioceses.

    And in understatement of the week

    “I do not believe that the church is capable of policing itself though. They need outside forces, ideally law enforcement, to hold them accountable.”

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-04/us-catholic-church-names-over-1000-priests-in-sex-abuse-cases/10683870

  25. The amazing thing about the mess the liberals have got themselves into is the Liberal partie’s history.

    In 1944, the AWNL actively supported the newly created Liberal Party of Australia and merged with it in 1945. The League’s leaders at the time – including Dame Elizabeth Couchman and future senator Ivy Wedgwood – negotiated a tough deal with Sir Robert Menzies which ensured that women were equally represented at throughout the structures of the Liberal Party, long before the era of affirmative action. It was agreed that the Liberal Party’s would reserve certain positions for women, that there would be a Woman Vice-President of the Party and also a Federal Women’s Committee, whose president would also sit on the Party’s Federal Executive.

    Howard undid it all, Howard s responsible for the mess the Liberals find themselves in

    https://www.theage.com.au/opinion/the-real-reason-liberal-women-say-they-don-t-have-a-problem-201

    The AWNL

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Women%27s_National_League

  26. As the Dems and Repugs go head to head on The Wall, the most foolish man in the Known Universe, at least as far as Ultima Thule, is worried about looking foolish.

    “I would look foolish if I did that,”

    He then goes on to tell Pelosi that she should support the wall because she’s a Good Catholic, and there’s a wall around the Vatican.

    https://outline.com/48FxxP
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-and-democrats-dig-in-after-talks-to-reopen-government-go-nowhere-20190103-p50pil.html

  27. An argument can be made for Warren. From the New Yorker, don’t underestimate Elizabeth Warren and her populist message.

    https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/dont-underestimate-elizabeth-warren-and-her-populist-message?mbid=nl_Daily%20010319&CNDID=50169544&utm_source=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20010319&utm_content=&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=Daily%20010319&hasha=9134cd863b78472b079b234016c40cd9&hashb=acb37fc9a04ae38a52f57306a32a719478e9f846&spMailingID=14895789&spUserID=MjAyNDE1NzYxMDQ4S0&spJobID=1560222097&spReportId=MTU2MDIyMjA5NwS2

  28. Nicholas says:
    Friday, January 4, 2019 at 3:09 am
    As you would know, the federal government can always afford to do something if the real resources necessary are available for sale in AUD.

    Nicholas, Is it not time you found a new tune to sing. We’ve all heard this one.

  29. Dow headed into the close at 8 am down about 600 points on the Apple forecast of reduced future profits – but losses widespread across the markets.

    Bond yields thumped as Bonds are bid – people selling stocks to buy bonds.

    AUD back above 70c – just.

  30. Good Morning

    PeeBee

    I am sorry its bloody autocorrect. Happens when I miss it. I will try and do better. I have no problem with you and thats the reason for the peewee happening.

    ______________________________________________

    On unions I see the advantage of not having the unions affiliated with Labor from the UK.
    However at the moment I think the unions are preventing Labor becoming Liberal lite. Sally McManus is an amazing woman of competence
    A danger the Greens do face unless NSW keeps its left red heart.

  31. ‘But the fight over a car park here in suburban Melbourne, or over a bunch of bollards in western Sydney, or a set of roadside guideposts in northern Brisbane, could be what gets the government back over the line.’

    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/battle-of-the-netball-courts-how-the-election-campaign-will-be-fought-20190103-p50pbz.html

    Er, no.

    I have huge scepticism about the ‘if we make a lot of promises to fund local projects, we’ll win the seat’ approach to campaigning.

    Firstly, these are promises. They haven’t been delivered, no one is enjoying the improvements (which means they’re not sure they are) and even the most naive know that there is a chance the project won’t be delivered, no matter how fervent the commitment.

    Secondly, the attitude is always that it’s something that should be done anyway.

    Thirdly, it’s likely that the project benefits/appeals to only a handful of people in the electorate, and often it’s not a high order issue even for them.

    Fourthly, no matter how worthy the project, it probably puts as many people off side as it gains.

    As a local councillor, I delivered millions of dollars worth of projects for my local community, many of which the community had been demanding for years. Never got one word of thanks. Quite the contrary- when we got a roundabout put in, which solved some major traffic problems and for which the community had been fighting for decades, the only comment I got was that the concrete was the wrong colour. When we finally cleaned up the area between the tennis courts and the creek, again something the tennis club had been demanding for years, the feedback from the club was that they hoped they weren’t going to have to maintain it, and it was a pain because now everyone could see how shabby the clubrooms were and they’d have to repaint them.

    I talked about the delusions around ribbon cutting yesterday.

  32. Swamprat, we have something in common. Can’t beat fresh, I get mine from Louis’ near the corner of Manks and Cardinia. (He puts a sign out on the road when he is selling).

  33. Every time Trump tries to put the wall funding and shut down back on the Democrats I don’t understand why they don’t just keep repeating that Trump promised that Mexico would pay for the wall. Trump also went on to say that only he could secure that deal because he was a hugely successful business man. Dems should throw that out there too.

  34. Zoomster

    The Press Gallery is of the neo liberal economic viewpoint. So they are desperate to make the narrative anything to stop people thinking about why the LNP policies are failing so dramatically.

    I listened to the Guardian political podcast and Katherine Murphy stated she was a neo liberal.

    Maybe it was sarcasm and I missed it. However to me it sounded serious. Thats supposed to be the left in the Press Gallery

  35. Thanks Guytaur, autocorrect does that to me too. Some people on this blog that get a kick out of miss spelling people’s names to demean them and I was surprised that you would sink that low. I’ve always thought you were decent person (and still do).

    Off for a walk before the heat sets in.

  36. Confessions

    Best part of the Democrats in power now. Nancy Pelosi openly stating that the door is open to indictment of a sitting President. The GOP have already lost the legal advice as the fringe narrative that the President is above the law legalisms are challenged. 🙂

  37. 1,000 uk troops ready to be deployed to ulster in case of hard brexit AND 3,500 on the streets of uk for food/medicine problems.

  38. What the Democrats need is a pair of head kickers to take on trump, or pence, e.g. Bloomberg/Pelosi not wishy washy do-gooder types like Warren, she’ll be slaughtered like that ineffectual foot-note-of-history Walter Mondale…

  39. Fozzie

    Warren is no Bernie Sanders.

    However I don’t think she is going to win the nomination. I think its going to be someone like Beta O Rourke who can be aggressively progressive and turn a red state like Texas purple.

    That means that candidate can win the General.

    Yes part of that is that he is a white male and that means some that would never vote for a woman would vote for O Rourke. Kinda like Labor not putting another woman up after Julia Gillard.

    Edit: Note that does not contradict my view that a woman could win the General. Clinton did win the popular vote

  41. What the Democrats need is policies that resonate with the US community. Personality politics only triumphs in the absence of policy.

  42. she’ll be slaughtered like that ineffectual foot-note-of-history Walter Mondale…

    Trump would relish the opportunity of Warren as his opponent. Plus she’s a divisive figure. I’m sure the Democrats will preselect someone more suitable.

  43. guytaur says:
    Friday, January 4, 2019 at 8:00 am
    Zoomster

    The Press Gallery is of the neo liberal economic viewpoint.

    I think the press gallery, like most journalists is of a whatever will sell papers viewpoint.

  45. Peter Stanton

    Nope. They follow the owners viewpoint. That was why I was surprised at Murphy’s comment.

    Of course there are notable exceptions like Dave Donovan from IA giving real voice to other viewpoints.

    However from the commentary there is good reason why Labor goes with the surplus stuff (which it should not) so much. Its in the Canberra Bubble and the Gallery is a big part of that dominated by Newscorpse and now joined by NineNewspapers

  46. Morning all. Best wishes to BK and Mrs BK.

    Rocket
    Thanks and yes, Adelaide’s wide roads (and low traffic compared to most places) should be ideal for trams or LRT.

    I think one problem with the previous AdeLink planning was that it recommended too much shared running (trams) vs exclusive track (LRT). The problem is not traffic, it is pressure from local businesses about any loss of parking. That requires some education about changing travel modes or, worst case, provision of some alternative off street parking. There needs to be some detailed planning progressed quickly to make AdeLink able to be built, but there is a silence from the current state government. Unfortunately too, as I think the recent North Terrace works showed, there is a lack of rail engineering expertise in DPTI now with so many cuts and restructuring in recent years. This problem is not isolated to SA.

  47. Good morning Bludgers, still on my phone here, so a big THANK YOU to BK for taking the time out of his busy day today to compile the cartoons for us and to Rocket Rocket for his Guardianship. Also to everyone else for their bibs and bobs. 🙂

    One small criticism. KayJay, the Daily Telegraph articles you have put a link up for just go to their subscription page. Could you Outline them please? Thanks.

  48. C@t:

    I don’t know if you saw the suggestion yesterday but if your computer can connect to wifi you can use your phone as a mobile hotspot and connect your computer to it to access the internet.

  50. Katharine Murphy would still be working at Murdoch or Fairfax/Nine, except for the fact that they didn’t want her. The Guardian is a right-of-centre Blairite rag, pretending to care.

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