Term three, day three

Anthony Albanese emerges the clear favourite to assume the Labor leadership, as the emergence of the party’s internal pollling belies the notion that it had any clearer an idea of what awaited it than the rest of us.

Some notable links and developments, as the Coalition inches closer towards a parliamentary majority in the latest counting:

• A few bugs remain to be ironed out, but I now have an regularly updated election results reporting facility in business that provides, among other things, booth results and swings in a far more accessible format than anything else on the market. If you would like to discuss the facility or the progress of the count in general, you are encouraged to do so on the late counting thread.

Samantha Maiden at The New Daily has obtained the full gamut of tracking polling conducted for Labor throughout the campaign, which is something I can never recall being made public before. The overall swing shown at the end of the campaign is of 1.5% to Labor, just like the published polls were saying. The polling was conducted by YouGov Galaxy, as indeed was much of the published polling during the campaign, this being the organisation responsible for Newspoll and the polls commissioned by the News Corp tabloids.

• Nathan Ruser of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has produced fabulously revealing maps showing the distribution of two-party swings.

• Ladbrokes (no doubt among others) has a book open on the Labor leadership, which, with the withdrawal of Tanya Plibersek, has Anthony Albanese a clear favourite on $1.28, Jim Chalmers on $3.00, Chris Bowen on $5.50 and Tony Burke on $10.

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.

1,092 comments on “Term three, day three”

Comments Page 2 of 22
1 2 3 22
  1. Yes, when I want to hear the Voice of Truth my go to is ON candidates. Seriously.

    Labor has bent over backwards to accommodate miners for decades. I’ve had policy proposals rewritten to exclude any suggestion that coal be phased out in any way, for example, precisely because of these sensibilities. I haven’t seen anything this campaign which suggests that’s changed.

    Labor proposed to cut emissions and to support renewables. They made it clear that coal would still be mined into the future (whether that was right or wrong, that’s another issue).

    I’ve heard Fitzgibbon on these issues as well, and (whatever his faults, and he has many) to suggest that he would ignore miners is ludicrous.

  2. Can people just forget the nasty comments about the voters? Argue your case but the constant anger and jokes about how it might be better if they just die are turning this place into a sewer.

  3. Behrouz Boochani @BehrouzBoochani
    11h11 hours ago

    The refugees in Manus have been dumped in a high depression. I have never seen people like this before. At least six people attempted suicide and three people are in hospital now that are critical.

  4. Morning all. Whilst Labor should investigate policy and change pollster, it must be an opposition first. The best way to teach voters they were conned is to remind them of the lies and encourage buyers remorse.

    Voters were promised tax cuts and they are not going to get them. ScoMo has broken his first promise and he isn’t even in parliament yet. There is no excuse for this. The Liberals have a majority now and the election timing was by Morrison. He delayed for ten days to pick the right time for him. The rule on returning writs has not changed. Morrison should have known this. Was he advised by PMC or Treasury? Suddenly his deficit is not so bad.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-20/scott-morrison-government-income-tax-cut-delay-election-budget/11132046

  5. D&M
    Most Hunter coal is high grade coking. Environmentalists usuallydo not make the argument differentiating the two.
    Mining trace and other elements will continue to be important to Australia but are irrelevant to the miners of the Hunter unless they suffer significant disruption to their homes

  6. I will repeat my simple proposition again: how can you expect up to 2 million people to vote themselves a pay cut of several $k per annum. Some of course did so, because they are so wealthy that this is irrelevant to them: you can see that in the swings to the left in northern Sydney and the inner east of Melbourne

    But a few $k per annum matters to families living closer to the margins. Sure, some of these might have gross incomes that are high on average, but they also pay lots of tax (or did before they retired) and have big mortgages or other financial commitments.

    It would be well-nigh impossible to sell Labor’s tax package (and I mean the whole package, not just dividend imputation) to these people. You’d need to say you were going to spend all the money raised on something universally beneficial on Medicare or perhaps a renewables program with lots of new jobs.

    Instead, voters saw that Labor was going to spend it on pay rises for child care workers (and nobody else) and assumed (although Labor never promised to do so) that some would go to boosting welfare payments. And the rest, FFS, was to go towards making the surplus even bigger.

    And then you tell anyone who doesn’t like it that they’re bloodsuckers from the “big end of town” and to go and vote Liberal.

    If you set out to design a policy package to piss off aspirational voters, you’d struggle to do any better. IMO the media (apart from Sky and The Oz, which have very small audiences) were quite gentle with Labor about their stupidity.

    But I don’t expect many to agree with me. Although Albo seems to do so, and so did Kate Ellis last night on the Drum. And Michael Danby (although I’m sure you far left types don’t like him too much).

    AFAIC the really sad bit is that Labor’s self-indulgence and stupidity means that we may have to wait three more years for a government that wants to do something about climate change. Although perhaps ScoMo will surprise me: at least he’s not stupid.

    Ok that’s it from me for now. You can all get back to blaming the ABC and Bob Brown and the dumb voters who wouldn’t vote for a pay cut and etc

  7. Oakeshot country raises an interesting point about the coal miners around Cessnock voting PHON.

    The union movement relies in membership dues to fund its operation. It’s political arm is the Labor Party

    As the coal mines have automated the coal companies have avoided hiring union members, preferring to leave them in casual hire working beside permanent miners on better pay and conditions. Often the workers are casual because their families were firebrands in the 1930s and 1950s

    The Labor Party has policies to transition the unemployed coal miners but they are not in government so it’s all talk

    I can see why the coal miners are bitter and probably find the female friendly policies of the current Labor Party abhorrent but the modern unionised workforce is female. Tradies are subcontractors working for themselves pitted against other subbies, working for firms that go broke before they get paid. (Labor had a policy for that too)

    I spent school holidays in Cessnock

  8. C@tmomma

    The thing is the booths that would really be effected by the removal by these rorts swung to labor.
    The election was lost in Queensland, the sandbelt, and the bush.

    Queensland is easy in my view; it is a coal mining state; Labors attempts to be gentle on them where damaged by the Greens coming in and stomping all over their patch.

    The bush; I don’t know. you could pick them on polling day; they drove up in their big trucks, their eyes were dim; their heads were flat, they had no brains at all.

    In my view you can’t beat 80 million in advertising and a very sneaky and effective campaign.

  9. @meher baba,

    I predict any action on climate change coming from Scomo will be a smoke and mirrors approach. Especially given that the climate change deniers in the party have likely been emboldened by the election results.

  10. This report of falling electric battery prices and EVs reaching price parity by 2025 is cold comfort to Labor. But it highlights that Labor needs to distinguish between policies and messaging in any review. The EV policy was good and it will lead to lower/zero fuel bills for outer suburban residents in marginal seats. That is how to sell it.

    ScoMo told many lies to oppose EVs, no doubt prompted by oil company donors. Labor should stick to it because it will allow them over time to tag Morrison as a liar.
    https://news.theceomagazine.com/news/cheap-batteries-drive-electric-vehicle-sales-boom/

  11. OC

    Thanks for this information. Labor needs to highlight this difference. I had the pleasure of living next to Doug Cameron for awhile, and he was very nuanced and very sensible on this stuff.

  12. Far out, two days in and the punters are already down $1000 on what they’ve been promised.

    Sic ‘im, Albo!

  13. frednk @ #62 Tuesday, May 21st, 2019 – 7:34 am

    C@tmomma

    The thing is the booths that would really be effected by the removal by these rorts swung to labor.
    The election was lost in Queensland, the sandbelt, and the bush.

    Queensland is easy in my view; it is a coal mining state; Labors attempts to be gentle on them where damaged by the Greens coming in and stomping all over their patch.

    The bush; I don’t know. you could pick them on polling day; they drove up in their big trucks, their eyes were dim; their heads were flat, they had no brains at all.

    In my view you can’t beat 80 million in advertising and a very sneaky and effective campaign.

    Exactly. Nothing from the last 6 years mattered once Scrott’s mob turned Labor’s program into a horror story running round the clock on the telly for 5 weeks.
    Punters aren’t that bright. Their Scrotts people.

  14. frednk: if you have booth figures I’d be keen to see them.

    The leafy suburbs definitely swung a little bit to Labor, but by no means all the 2 million or more people affected live there.

  15. Meyer baba
    The franking credits changes were going to effect 200,000 superannuants. About 150,000 would be eligible part pension. People who are not yet over 65 would not be affected as still pay income tax

    So 50,000 very wealthy old codgers screamed their guts out that their gift from taxpayers earning much less than them was going to stop

    We really don’t know the numbers affected but we know that more than 2,000,000 receive Aged Pension in 2014

  16. OC

    Mining trace and other elements will continue to be important to Australia but are irrelevant to the miners of the Hunter unless they suffer significant disruption to their homes

    Yes, an important point. My father’s family come from the Hunter valley, Forrest Hill and Raymond Terrace, and it still feels like home to me.

  17. shiftaling @ #67 Tuesday, May 21st, 2019 – 7:39 am

    I don’t understand, we didn’t have to wait a year to get Rudd’s $700

    Oh but some votes are still being counted, appears to be the convenient excuse of ScaMo. No relation to recalling parliament because he could do what Gough and Lance Barnard did and push what he really wants through. But he doesn’t really want to do it, it was just a convenient election bribe.

  18. @shiftaling

    Scomo should have realized that parliament cannot be sit until the writs were returned. I get a feeling this government is going to make more blunders like this.

    Anyway it will be interesting to see how either party deals with the looming collapse in the housing market (signs of it are starting to occur in Melbourne’s outer suburbs). Because it the housing market collapses, then the banks are going to face failure. I am betting my dollar both parties are support a massive bank bailout which could cost $300 billion according to the RBA.

    https://twitter.com/7NewsMelbourne/status/1130386256729260038?s=20

  19. Billie: 200,000 superannuants and 600k others (with a further 300k pensioners exempted). Labor’s own figures.

    Plus spouses and close family, plus all the people affected by the other tax measures.

  20. Douglas and Milko,
    You also appear to be saying that it’s imperative that we support Coal Mining in the Hunter! Because of the trace elements that are a by-product!?!

    Oh, and one side of my family comes from Newcastle and the Hunter too. Doesn’t mean I will staunchly stand by them because they are family!

  21. The expected future wholesale price rose 8 per cent for NSW and shot up about 7 per cent for Victoria on Monday.

    “The uncertainty around the Coalition’s energy policy is undoubtedly the driver of this price spike,” University of Melbourne energy expert Dylan McConnell said.

    “Everyone in the energy [sector] saw Labor’s win as a fait accompli, so they had a particular view of how the next 12 months would play out with energy policy.

    “Now the sector is a bit spooked as they are not sure of the next phase of energy policy.”

    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/morrison-win-sparks-sharp-lift-in-wholesale-electricity-prices-20190520-p51p7t.html

  22. meher baba,

    I will repeat my simple proposition again: how can you expect up to 2 million people to vote themselves a pay cut of several $k per annum. Some of course did so, because they are so wealthy that this is irrelevant to them: you can see that in the swings to the left in northern Sydney and the inner east of Melbourne

    But a few $k per annum matters to families living closer to the margins. Sure, some of these might have gross incomes that are high on average, but they also pay lots of tax (or did before they retired) and have big mortgages or other financial commitments.

    But why were these people not willing to just draw down on their capital? If you get a significant amount in franking credits, then you have a large amount of capital. This capital was always regarded something you would draw down on in retirement, that was mostly all gone before you died.

    My mother and my father-in-law both have good public service pensions. But, when they die,that is it – no residual for us “kids”.

    Why should the superannuation of the boomer generation be different?

  23. And wasn’t there talk that the RBA had factored that stimulus into their deliberations? What’s the potential economic impact of the Scomo tax backflip?

  24. C@tmomma. Gough and Lance weren’t able to push through anything requiring legislation.

    Of course, ScoMo should never have promised it.

  25. Further to above post, when my kids open my will, they will find a statement to say:

    “Being of sounds mind any body, I spent the lot!”

    And that is all they want -is our family weird?

  26. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    David Crowe reports that key powerbrokers in the new Senate have warned the Coalition has no mandate for its tax changes, even as it inches towards a majority in Parliament.
    https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/morrison-faces-senate-clash-on-tax-mandate-20190520-p51pdj.html
    And it faces a Senate veto of its effort to repeal the law requiring medical transfers of refugees from offshore detention, throwing into doubt plans to close the Christmas Island detention facility.
    https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/morrison-s-promise-to-repeal-refugee-medical-transfer-bill-faces-senate-block-20190520-p51pa2.html
    On top of this Christopher Knaus reports that a key figure in the emerging Senate crossbench, Rex Patrick, has warned his party will not support the Coalition’s proposed anti-corruption body unless it is given stronger powers.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/21/crossbenchers-will-not-support-anti-corruption-body-unless-its-powers-are-boosted
    Shane Wright demonstrates how inner-city Australia is turning its back on the rest of the country, swinging strongly to the political left in traditional Labor and Liberal strongholds and forcing both parties into battles across the nation’s suburbs and regional centres.
    https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/the-left-right-identity-fault-line-cracks-through-the-quinoa-curtain-20190520-p51p9o.html
    The Guardian tells us that Two Labor rightwingers, Chris Bowen and Jim Chalmers, are weighing up whether to run for Labor leader against Anthony Albanese, effectively forcing the party to undertake a grassroots ballot.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/20/chris-bowen-and-jim-chalmers-weigh-up-labor-leadership-run-against-albanese
    This young Melbourne voter explains why she voted Liberal.
    https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/i-m-young-i-voted-liberal-and-i-am-not-a-bigot-20190519-p51p34.html
    Eryk Bagshaw tells us how Labor was drowning in hubris before Saturday night.
    https://www.theage.com.au/federal-election-2019/drowning-in-hubris-labor-s-lavish-last-supper-before-crushing-loss-20190520-p51p6z.html
    Based on this report it was a wise decision of mine to give Q and A a miss last night.
    https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/alan-jones-revels-in-q-and-a-s-free-kicks-but-there-is-no-clear-path-ahead-20190521-p51pfa.html
    This is a thoughtful article from Jenna Price where she tells us about the early indications that Queensland was gone for Labor.
    https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/labor-failed-to-heed-warning-bells-in-queensland-20190520-p51pb8.html
    Scott Morrison has used his first television interview after his shock election victory to call for Australians to “disagree better” in political debate. I would like to think we could get more factually truthful debates.
    https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/morrison-calls-for-more-civil-debate-after-nasty-campaign-20190520-p51pey.html
    Integrity experts say the patently false and “scandalous” claims spread during the election give renewed impetus for truth in political advertising laws, saying reform is now a “no-brainer”. The election was littered with false and exaggerated claims, many of which were propagated by fringe groups on social media and amplified by major parties.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/20/false-election-claims-spark-push-for-truth-in-political-advertising-laws
    Amanda Reade outlines the euphoric response from the Murdoch mastheads to Morrison’s victory.
    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/20/murdochs-messiah-news-corp-gets-biblical-with-coverage-of-morrisons-resurrection
    The AFR editorial says that without boosting growth, the Morrison government will not be able to afford its tax cuts and sustain the surpluses needed as a buffer in a low-growth, high-volatility world economy strewn with political risks.
    https://www.outline.com/BqaRaW
    It also says that the government has a mandate to keep the current inefficient tax system in place, but raising revenue will be made harder by a slowing economy.
    https://www.outline.com/KNPpRS
    In a rather frightening contribution Greg Jericho warns that we need more than confidence to improve the sad state of affairs the economy is in.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2019/may/21/we-need-more-than-confidence-to-improve-the-sad-state-of-affairs-the-economy-is-in
    In similar vein Paul Bongiorno says it’s just as well Scott Morrison believes in miracles, because any close analysis of the key claims of his “better economic managers” campaign show them to be built on very shaky foundations.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/05/20/scott-morrison-more-miracles-needed/
    Bill Shorten’s strategy to bypass conservative media during the election campaign always looked risky – and it ultimately failed. But not because of Rupert Murdoch or Alan Jones, writes John McDuling.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/how-shorten-s-misfiring-media-strategy-played-straight-into-morrison-s-hands-20190520-p51pcj.html
    Fergus Hunter reports that Tony Abbott’s conservative backers have urged the Coalition government to find the former prime minister with his “immense talents” an important public role following his ousting as the Member for Warringah by independent Zali Steggall.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6135187/government-urged-to-make-use-of-abbotts-immense-talents/?cs=14350
    Eryk Bagshaw reveals that calls for the controversial franking credits policy to be dumped after Labor was hit with swings as high as 15% against it in polling booths where people aged over 60 made up more than 15% of the population, new figures show.
    https://www.theage.com.au/federal-election-2019/labor-s-franking-credits-blamed-for-huge-swings-in-booths-with-older-residents-20190520-p51p76.html
    Neoliberalism is dead and Labor needs to move convincingly to the Left if it is to provide a real choice for voters, writes Abhranil Hazra.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/neoliberalism-the-alp-and-the-unlosable-election,12722
    This contribution from Peter Hartcher on appetites for gun control is well worth reading.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/why-the-home-of-william-tell-has-got-tough-on-weapons-20190520-p51p8b.html
    There is an emerging view within federal Labor that it should pass the Coalition’s income tax cuts when they are presented to the Parliament next month.
    https://www.outline.com/Yxnj5E
    Queensland has been transformed into a stronghold state for the Coalition after right-wing preferences helped the LNP hold a string of seats.
    https://www.outline.com/cRdUcC
    Ben Oquist writes that the election result does not change the scientific imperative to reduce carbon emissions. The climate wars – the battle over effective climate action policy – are not done, but the energy wars – over Australia’s renewable energy uptake – should be.
    https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/the-message-morrison-shouldn-t-take-away-from-the-election-20190520-p51p8h.html
    And Jennifer Hewett writes that business might be calling for more bi-partisanship on energy policy. They may as well save their breath, she says.
    https://www.outline.com/CUsuMD
    If you can bear to read it here is Michael Kroger’s take on the election.
    https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/morrison-was-always-in-front-we-just-didn-t-know-it-20190520-p51p96.html
    Kerryn Phelps might have a crack at becoming Sydney’s Lord Mayer.
    https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/sharma-brushes-aside-cabinet-questions-phelps-to-consider-her-future-20190520-p51pch.html
    Lisa Martin reports that Australia’s nursing homes have been in the spotlight for five months and there is a picture emerging of residents being routinely drugged, physically restrained for large parts of the day and subjected to an heavily institutionalised daily routine.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/21/its-our-reputation-why-nursing-homes-are-denying-australians-the-dignity-of-risk
    This didn’t take long! The coal industry has urged the re-elected Morrison government to build new coal-fired power stations.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/20/coal-industry-urges-re-elected-morrison-government-to-build-new-coal-plants
    The training sector needs to be brought back into the education portfolio and energised to reflect the [ace of workplace change.
    https://www.outline.com/7zgcrB
    In an exclusive story The Age reports that Victoria Police failed to tell the police informants royal commission or the state government that Nicola Gobbo had worked as an informer as early as 1995, an omission that forced the government to expand the terms of reference and sparked the resignation of one of the commissioners.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/police-forgot-to-inform-the-royal-commission-about-gobbo-s-history-as-an-informer-20190520-p51pda.html
    Stephen Bartholomeusz writes that China’s currency has been depreciating this month, bringing to the verge of a psychological threshold that could provoke an angry response from the US.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/china-s-provocative-currency-move-is-nudging-another-flashpoint-with-trump-20190520-p51p7y.html
    A senior manager at NSW’s roads agency and a direct report are alleged to have helped their friends’ companies win contracts worth $11.3 million over the last four years. ICAC is on the job.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-road-officials-accused-of-helping-mates-firms-win-11m-contracts-20190520-p51p9a.html
    Telstra, Optus and Vodafone are trying to work out the implications of the latest hit to Huawei, this time through the Android operating system.
    https://www.smh.com.au/technology/australian-telcos-blindsided-by-us-trade-war-hit-to-huawei-20190520-p51pbp.html
    Ethnic minorities in Britain are facing rising and increasingly overt racism, with levels of discrimination and abuse continuing to grow in the wake of the Brexit referendum, nationwide research reveals.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/20/racism-on-the-rise-since-brexit-vote-nationwide-study-reveals
    Boris Johnson in No 10 will be a fitting finale to this dark decade.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/20/boris-johnson-no-10-labour-back-remain
    Fresh from receiving a $300m bailout, from Murdoch’s News Corp, Foxtel is desperately trying to retain subscribers.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/foxtel-scrambles-to-keep-subscribers-after-game-of-thrones-finale-20190520-p51pd4.html
    Our mate Mehajer is due to walk out of prison today but his legal problems are by no means over.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/salim-mehajer-to-walk-from-nsw-prison-but-his-legal-woes-continue-20190520-p51pd9.html

    Cartoon Corner

    David Rowe brings the Game of Thrones to an end.

    And some nice work from David Pope.

    From Matt Golding.





    A rugby union metaphor from Cathy Wilcox.

    A couple from Mark David.


    John Shakespeare on the polling.

    Also from Shakespeare.

    Chris Downes has a point here.

    Sean Leahy and the Adani washup.

    Jon Kudelka has tracked down Morrison’s missing ministers.
    https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/1df230ad5e2e6f00f21f3166fb0f8594?width=1024

    From the US




    https://images.theweek.com/sites/default/files/0.jpeg
    https://images.theweek.com/sites/default/files/0-2.jpeg

  27. From Trumplandia, and for something different.

    A federal judge on Monday denied President Trump’s bid to quash a House subpoena for years of his financial records from his accounting firm and stayed his order seven days to allow the president’s lawyers time to appeal.

    The ruling handed an initial defeat to Trump’s vow to defy subpoenas by House Democrats and came in one of the first courtroom challenges to a series of lawmakers’ investigative demands for his bank records, accounting statements and tax returns.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/us-judge-denies-trump-bid-to-quash-house-subpoena-for-years-of-financial-records/2019/05/20/74e45880-7b21-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?utm_term=.05fb87783e40

  28. Douglas and Milko is right about one thing, why didn’t anyone ever suggest that retirees may have to sell a few of their shares or break into their capital, in order to keep funding the retirement lifestyle to which they had become comfortably accustomed? Heaven forfend!

  29. D@M. The public service pensions are much more generous than accumulation super funds: eg they are indexed for inflation. Most people who have accumulation funds (or no super at all) would rather have indexed pensions and they are pissed off about it. Telling them to draw down more on their capital makes them more pissed off.

    I’m not saying I think they should feel like this, but they do.

  30. So the headline should be “ScoMo Tax Backflip Rips Billions Out of Economy, Your Hip Pocket”

    After all, that’s what Shorten would be getting right about now if Labor had won on Saturday

  31. C@t Momma,

    Douglas and Milko,
    You also appear to be saying that it’s imperative that we support Coal Mining in the Hunter! Because of the trace elements that are a by-product!?!

    Oh, and one side of my family comes from Newcastle and the Hunter too. Doesn’t mean I will staunchly stand by them because they are family!

    No, definitely not – it is because the Hunter produces coking coal,which is essential for steel production, rather than thermal coal for power stations.

    My subsequent comment about my family was just a bit of whimsy.

  32. I watch a tiny fraction of Q&A, just to see how Chalmers was going, and it was noticeable that Tony Jones made no attempt to correct Pyne when he called removal of franking credits a TAX, not the withdrawal of a free subsidy.
    I also saw the Parrot sitting at the end like a big multicoloured glowering cloud.

  33. And it faces a Senate veto of its effort to repeal the law requiring medical transfers of refugees from offshore detention, throwing into doubt plans to close the Christmas Island detention facility.

    So begins Day 1 of making the Coalition, the ‘better economic managers’ apparently, BLEED money.

  34. C@tmomma @ #83 Tuesday, May 21st, 2019 – 5:52 am

    Douglas and Milko is right about one thing, why didn’t anyone ever suggest that retirees may have to sell a few of their shares or break into their capital, in order to keep funding the retirement lifestyle to which they had become comfortably accustomed? Heaven forfend!

    I remember one of those wealthy retirees in that 730 report about the franking credits said himself that he could avoid Labor’s policy by simply moving to an industry super fund.

  35. Lizzie, shiftalling

    Exactly. As disappointing as the election was Labor should confine its changes to what failed and not throw away good ideas that were just badly sold or lied about. Labor was telling the truth when it said we needed tax reform to restart the economy. ScoMo has a bucket load of bad economic news to deliver, and lies to be exposed. Albo, Chalmers and every local MP should remind voters of every one, starting with the fake tax refund.

    The real reason people will not get it is that ScoMo was avoiding parliament like the plague when he was in minority. Labor could have agreed to pass the tax refund legislation, but ScoMo did not want the House to sit.

    Paul Bongiorno sums up the situation well. Worth a read.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/05/20/scott-morrison-more-miracles-needed/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning%20News%20-%2020190521

  36. Douglas and Milko @ #89 Tuesday, May 21st, 2019 – 7:55 am

    C@t Momma,

    Douglas and Milko,
    You also appear to be saying that it’s imperative that we support Coal Mining in the Hunter! Because of the trace elements that are a by-product!?!

    Oh, and one side of my family comes from Newcastle and the Hunter too. Doesn’t mean I will staunchly stand by them because they are family!

    No, definitely not – it is because the Hunter produces coking coal,which is essential for steel production, rather than thermal coal for power stations.

    My subsequent comment about my family was just a bit of whimsy.

    Ah, I didn’t know that about which type of Coal was mined up there. Thanks for the clarification. I was just so mad that OC seemed to be supporting the PHON candidate in the Hunter, who was in the news when he was chosen due to his bigoted beliefs, simply because of OC’s long-standing enmity towards Joel Fitzgibbon. Joel is a lot of things but he is not a bare-faced bigot like the PHON candidate, who deserves no concessions just because he is a Coal Miner.

  37. I went through the tax department stats (published each year).
    Franking credits did not just bite retirees. Many people who are the second breadwinner in a family have low and variable incomes because they are casual workers or investment returns vary. Someone paying tax one year may not pay tax the next and would fear the potential loss of any franking credits they receive. I looked at two income levels remembering the tax free threshold is $18,200 .

    Tax records show that 5 and a half million people had incomes below $37k (10% received some form of pension). Of those 5.5 million, 1.1 million received franking credits. Half of those 1.1 million were under 65.

    2 and a half million had incomes less than $25k. (7% received some form of pension). Of those 2.5 million, 600k received franking credits about half were under 65.

  38. Confessions @ #92 Tuesday, May 21st, 2019 – 7:56 am

    C@tmomma @ #83 Tuesday, May 21st, 2019 – 5:52 am

    Douglas and Milko is right about one thing, why didn’t anyone ever suggest that retirees may have to sell a few of their shares or break into their capital, in order to keep funding the retirement lifestyle to which they had become comfortably accustomed? Heaven forfend!

    I remember one of those wealthy retirees in that 730 report about the franking credits said himself that he could avoid Labor’s policy by simply moving to an industry super fund.

    Obviously better investors than him! 😆


  39. The election was lost in Queensland, the sandbelt, and the bush.

    There we go. I thought Labor were targeting outer suburban seats, which didn’t swing towards them.

    There is a lesson in mixing your messages right there.

  40. Please don’t take us down a religious road. It is so important that Australia remains a secular state with freedom for all religions. ScoMo only wants freedom for his own mob.

Comments Page 2 of 22
1 2 3 22

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *