After a period of improving poll results for the Coalition, the latest Newspoll records a tiny shift on primary votes to Labor, but not another to alter their existing lead of 53-47 from a fortnight ago. Labor is up one point on the primary vote to 39%, after a three-point drop last time, while the Coalition is steady on 37%, retaining their two-point gain in the last poll. The Greens are steady on 9%, while One Nation is down a point to 5%, the lowest it’s been in a year. Scott Morrison’s personal ratings are improved, with approval up three to 43% and disapproval down two to 45%, and his lead as prime minister out from 43-36 to 44-35. Bill Shorten is down one on approval to 36% and up one on disapproval to 51%. The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1567.
lizzie @ #193 Monday, February 11th, 2019 – 9:21 am
None of us have forgotten “No cuts to health, no cuts to education , no cuts to The ABC or SBS”
Once bitten, twice shy.
booleanbach @ #201 Monday, February 11th, 2019 – 9:40 am
This area would benefit considerably from the road funding announcement last week by Morrison. The local facebook pages were sceptical at best. Now dropped right out of sight again.
At the last election boats/asylum seekers came up time and time again.It virtually never changed the polls from 50-50 for 8 weeks solid. It wont work this time either.People are totally over it.
AWU raids case goes before the Federal Court this week. Cash on the witness list.
Government officials will sit in on the Shorten briefing today. Labor not happy.
Good Morning.
Labor being strong backing Doctors a profession voters trust can’t go wrong.
Its very low when you are attacking Doctors to support your scare campaign on boats and holding the lives of a thousand people hostage by denying needed medical care on “National Security Grounds”
Labor will be rewarded by voters for being strong they will be punished by voters for being weak.
[blockquote] Rex,
In a matter of hours we could see an end to the medical crisis in offshore detention. But only if Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Labor stay strong and pass the Urgent Medical Treatment Bill.
The Morrison Government and the Murdoch media have spent all week fear-mongering – making wild allegations and accusations, insinuating that doctors can’t make fair judgements and straight up lying about what the bill does.1,2,3
This morning, splashed across the headlines from the Australian to the Guardian and the ABC, it’s clear that Labor is starting to wobble.4
Without Labor standing strong in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, like they did in the Senate just last year, the vote will fail.
The lives of critically unwell men and women detained on Manus and Nauru hang in the balance. The stakes have never been higher.
Senior Labor politicians will meet at 6pm today to make a final call. Together, we need to show the ALP that the community, thousands of doctors, the Australian Medical Association and major medical colleges want them to #BackTheBill. They’re feeling the pressure, so now they need to hear directly from us.
Can you pick up the phone right now and help inundate Labor with calls to stay strong and #BackTheBill to end the medical crisis offshore?
The Urgent Medical Transfer Bill is being championed by a coalition of conscience in Parliament – led by Independents Dr Kerryn Phelps and Senator Tim Storer and supported across the political spectrum, from The Greens and Andrew Wilkie to the former Liberal MP now independent Julia Banks, Centre Alliance and Senator Derryn Hinch.
It would make sure that sick people detained on Manus and Nauru get the treatment they need, without doctors’ orders being overridden by politicians and bureaucrats.
Up until a few days ago – Labor was standing strong. But front page news today is showing the exact opposite.
If Labor walk away from the crossbench bill, or flip flop on a bill they helped drive just a few months ago – we could end up with a situation which gives Peter Dutton even more power to override doctors’ orders.
The consequences would be dire. We have just a few hours to prove to Labor that the community wants them to #BackTheBill and stay strong.
Can you pick up the phone and call on Labor to stay strong and #BackTheBill right now?
Together with doctors, caseworkers and lawyers, we pushed politicians from all sides to get #KidsOffNauru.
Now, we have just a few hours to push Labor to stand with the crossbench and make sure that doctors’ orders, not the whims of politicians, decide treatment for sick people in offshore detention.
We’re ready to fight.
In determination,
Shen, Ellen, Renaire and Neha for the GetUp team
References
[1] ‘No middle ground’: Morrison digs in on asylum seeker medivac bill,’ SMH, 9 February 2019.
[2] ‘Scott Morrison ramps up border protection rhetoric with attack on Labor, The Guardian, 11 February 2019.
[3] ‘Scott Morrison warns of threats to Australia’, Courier Mail, 11 February 2019.
[4] ‘Bill Shorten set to back down in stand-off over refugee medical bill’, SMH, 10 February 2019.
GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues. We receive no political party or government funding, and every campaign we run is entirely supported by voluntary donations. If you’d like to contribute to help fund GetUp’s work, please donate now! Please note we’ve updated our Privacy Policy. If you do not wish to receive updates to from GetUp, please unsubscribe.
Our team acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet and work. We wish to pay respect to Elders – past, present and emerging – and acknowledge the important role all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to play within Australia and the GetUp community.
Authorised by Paul Oosting, GetUp Ltd, Level 14, 338 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000.[/blockquote]
If Abbott is on the nose in Warringah there is no hope for these RWNJs in moderate Liberal electorates.
doyley
Not surprised.
frednk says:
Monday, February 11, 2019 at 9:14 am
Given Pyne’s performance on insiders I am not sure Pyne should be writing articles damning the state of Australian politics. Perhaps we watched a repeat and though about how he came across.
—
Looks like Mr Pyne has run up the white flag and headed for the life boats .. oh no not more boat people !!
lizzie,
As night follows day….
Cheers and a great day to you.
More on Gazard and his cozy relationship with the Libs. I wonder how much he is pocketing for smoozing his maaates ?
.
.
There wasn’t a crossbencher or Greenie in sight for Liberal warrior David Gazard’s 50th birthday in Canberra over the weekend.
Gaz was the only adviser in John Howard ’s government to work for the PM, Tony Abbott and Peter Costello . The former treasurer, now his business partner, flew in from Melbourne for the bash. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison was also there, making sure there were no foreign gatecrashers (given the party was held at the Boat House). Others there were Minerals Council boss Brendan Pearson, the birthday boy’s brother, Ian Gazard, of Bluecrest Capital, the ABC’s Chris Uhlmann and his wife, Labor MP Gai Brodtmann , who may have felt a little lonely.
https://www.afr.com/news/politics/national/david-gazard-s-boat-people-20140714-ji67w
People piling on to Shorten saying if he changes a word of the Phelps bill he will have ‘betrayed’ the refugees. Labor has to take a broad view of the longer consequences. There are months before election. What if every decision is fought by the bureaucracy backed by Dutton?
Doubtless Dutton gave that order. His thought police under Pezzullo will ensure that ASIO officials don’t stray from the official party line.
“People piling on to Shorten saying if he changes a word of the Phelps bill he will have ‘betrayed’ the refugees. ”
Who are these “people”? Let me guess – is it folk from the Greens faction of the united anti-Labor party?
Yes Lizzie Shorten has and needs to play a long game; but i believe they do not need to be lock step with the fruit loops in the coalition.
Yes they will play the stop the boat / security card but time to move on
Poor diddums; and all he did was commit a white collar crime:
https://www.afr.com/markets/derivatives/asic-took-3-years-to-charge-rogue-deutsche-bank-trader-20190210-h1b2ia
https://outline.com/SZLzxE
booleanbach
I suspect the polls will diverge again once the electorate get hours & hours of Shouty Scott in their face.
Wouldn’t an extra two weeks of sitting to deal with the Banking Royal Commission fallout go down brilliantly! As I said last night – the more people see him on their TV the worse the Coalition go – the only thing that has saved them over the last few months has been the summer break.
ideally shorten will put forward an amendment that satisfies Phelps and makes the coalition look petty if they reject it. e.g. A process where Drs recommend removal to better health care, the minister can agree or reject it on security grounds and refer it to a review panel that needs to make a decision within a certain number of days – and if no decision is made then the refugee is removed and treated here until the decision is made. If the people are already found to be refugees and no security risk, then they should be allowed in and the minister should not be able to play politics with their lives.
The idea that flood gates will open is nonsense – particularly if refugee processing (not detention) centres are established in Indonesia or elsewhere and those found to be refugees are resettled here, NZ, Canada or Europe – Australia could take the lead here. if the genuine worry is drownings at sea (it isn’t) then setting up processing centres to stop the need to get on boats should be the aim.
I think shorten can play the statesman here if he is smart.
lizzie @ #212 Monday, February 11th, 2019 – 9:00 am
The longer consequences are that if the Coalition sees it can roll Labor over by making shit up and running scare campaigns about national security/refugees/”people smugglers”, it’ll keep happening over and over again.
The hypothetical people smugglers will be in full control of Australian policy, and the legislation that’s brought in to stop this dastardly hypothetical threat will be…whatever the Coalition wants.
All the more reason for Labor to demonstrate leadership rather than cowardly political calculation. Now’s the time for them to step up.
I seem to recall many complaining that Labor took a long time to ‘defend itself’ against the Coalition’s fear campaign before 2016 vote. I also recall that Labor kept its powder dry until late in the campaign. And I further recall Labor picked up about 18 seats when they chose to start the strong messaging in the latter part of the campaign when the Libs were broke and the electors started paying attention.
I suspect it’ll be similar strategy this time … since it worked.
“You are not able to change the subject, you’re not able to continually refuse to answer the question and for that reason it’s a very important system to ensure that the truth comes out.”
So, Michaelia is stuffed then – I cannot wait for the hearing to start and Cash to give truthful evidence. Should be a corker of a week!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-11/why-is-michaelia-cash-in-court-over-the-awu-raids/10793210
sustainable future @ #218 Monday, February 11th, 2019 – 9:17 am
It’s worse than nonsense. It’s a tacit admission that 1000+ refugees under Australia’s care are so gravely ill that doctors would recommend bringing them all to Australia for urgent medical care in a matter of weeks if they could. And this knowledge is apparently so common amongst Coalition ranks that none of them finds it noteworthy, odd, or even mildly shameful. Rather, they use it as their primary grounds for opposing the refugee bill.
Their argument is basically “we’re inhumane scumbags and we don’t care”.
Come the election campaign, Labor’s killer will be ‘Why did the Libs dump Malcolm Turnbull?’. The only answer – that it was to mollify the feral Liberal Party base – cannot be run. It will kill the Coalition. Forget boats and bribes and franking credits.
Remeikis
booleanbach says:
Monday, February 11, 2019 at 10:26 am
“You are not able to change the subject, you’re not able to continually refuse to answer the question and for that reason it’s a very important system to ensure that the truth comes out.”
So, Michaelia is stuffed then – I cannot wait for the hearing to start and Cash to give truthful evidence. Should be a corker of a week!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-11/why-is-michaelia-cash-in-court-over-the-awu-raids/10793210
______________________
And she won’t be permitted to give evidence from behind a whiteboard.
Morning all. A quick shout at the clouds, then I’ll scroll back to see what I’ve missed this morning.
Gabrielle Chan opines that the independents in Federal politics are a symptom of failings by the two major parties, and then shows why the independents are basically liberals, and ends with Labor needs to be careful.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/11/independents-and-climate-form-perfect-storm-for-the-good-ship-coalition
Quoting Dr Jill Sheppard:
Everything in Chan’s article points to the Liberals having a problem with AGW (aka climate change). She has some quotes from Liberal MP Falinski about the challenges of independents but noticeably none from Labor. And towards the end, quoting Sheppard again, she writes:
That cloud was lucky!
Bipartisanship? Many people are pushing this as desirable, and for some things it certainly is.
But I wouldn’t trust ScoMo even if he was ‘on my side’.
Voting for the Phelps Bill is not only the right thing to do on the merits of the issue; it is smart politics because it would inflict a legislative defeat on the government. The Opposition would make the government look even more weak and ineffective than it does already. The Opposition could argue that the LNP are a government in name only, so the voters may as well make it official by turfing out the LNP at the impending election.
The narrative needs to be the immense pressure on a government that is at risk of losing a vote in the House of Reps. It would be a big mistake to allow the LNP to push their preferred narrative of the ALP being vulnerable and vacillating on the issue of asylum seekers.
The substance of the issue is the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people, not the political question of how many asylum seekers should be allowed in. That is a separate question that can be decided separately.
Exactly Lizzie
lizzie
When it comes to bipartisanship the Coalition have time and again shown what they mean by that.. When someone in the Coalition calls for cooperation and bipartisanship it means “Give me everything” .
poroti
🙂
In other Westminster-style parliaments around the world, it’s expected that governing parties will be defeated on the floor occasionally, even in cases where they have a thumping majority. It’s considered embarrassing but not fatal, and is taken as a consequence of the people’s representatives thinking for themselves.
In Australia, party discipline has been so rigid for so long, we forget this is how parliaments are supposed to operate, and assume that if a government ever loses a vote it must be catastrophic.
“Their argument is basically “we’re inhumane scumbags and we don’t care”.”
a r – I think it is actually “we’re inhumane scumbags and we are proud of it (& it gives us sociopathic power hard-ons)”
Greensborough Growler @ #199 Monday, February 11th, 2019 – 9:38 am
I thought that the COALition did this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvsK2h2fntU
The ABC’s RN Breakfast with Fran Kelly is a funny old programme.
Just before a parliamentary sitting with a Newspoll just out, it usually gives the figures some recognition or prominence. Today, at least to my notice, nada, nothing…………not even when it came to “What’s in the headlines………………?” stuff was being looked at.
Not that the poll made the ABC (6 am local) news either. Strangely, however, the West has chosen to put the figures on the front page, albeit kind of dressed up as a warning signal to Morrison about just how bad things are for him at the moment.
Reaching back into the ‘Sudmalis story’, was she given a Pair? If they then sneaked her back into Aus to vote, this seems typical Pyne-style dirty tricks.
Heard Cormann on ABC repeating a Coalition meme that the ‘two doctors’ could be Bob Brown and Richard Di Natale.
I wish an interviewer would just politely say “No, Minister, that is not possible as neither of them are currently registered Medical Practitioners. You can look it up on your own government’s health practitioner registration website – ahpra.gov.au”.
From K M in the Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2019/feb/11/labor-coalition-election-morrison-shorten-politics-live
Albo made a good point on RN this morning, that already we’ve seen around 1000 medical transfers from Manus and Nauru, presumably all done on an ad-hoc basis, and the Phelps bill merely aims to streamline that same process into law.
I think pushing this “nothing different to whats been happening already” is the best political approach for labor.
ar
You can’t blame them for that though. They’ve feasted at the ballot box for many years on the fact so many Australians are quite happy to also be ‘inhumane scumbags’.
Just as I predicted.
lizzie @ #237 Monday, February 11th, 2019 – 11:00 am
The Libs have form on breaking pairs to achieve a short term political win. remember the fiasco last Easter in the Victorian parliament when a couple of Libs were given a pair because they made special pleas about not wanting to work on Easter Saturday and then voted against the Government when a vote was called.
Another cunning plan that blew up in their faces and further etched the lack of trust meme that saw them massacred last November.
Listening to Fran and some speech Scrott is to make it looks like we are in for an epic SCARE campaign with the Libs promise of ‘Keeping You Safe”. At home, on line, economically, safe from reffos sailing up the Parramatta or Brisbane rivers……. everywhere…
I am not sure Justice Bromberg is likely to be overly friendly to Cash et al.
Bornstein is certainly talking a good game.
The whole if it’s a negative security assessment is the lie.
Medical advice is medical advice. The only question is the prison going to be the island or the hospital?
Remember this is as the government can waive that for children on compassionate grounds. My view is medical advice not age should be the criteria
Nicholas @ #229 Monday, February 11th, 2019 – 10:37 am
I daresay Labor will ignore your usual dose of gratuitous advice and make a final decision that will address all aspects of this matter.
GG
Ignore GetUp! At your peril.
Also I don’t want Labor to be to the right of a Tory on an issue. Phelps is a Tory.
Tony Jones has confirmed he will leave ABC’s Q&A before the year is up.
Good to know there are one or two judicial officers left who aren’t partisan hacks this Govt has appointed over the last 6 years.