Winners and losers

Reading between the lines of the Liberal Party’s post-election reports for the federal and Victorian state elections.

In the wake of Craig Emerson and Jay Weatherill’s federal electoral post-mortem for Labor, two post-election reviews have emerged from the Liberal Party, with very different tales to tell – one from the May 2019 federal triumph, the other from the November 2018 Victorian state disaster.

The first of these was conducted by Arthur Sinodinos and Steven Joyce, the latter being a former cabinet minister and campaign director for the conservative National Party in New Zealand. It seems we only get to see the executive summary and recommendations, the general tenor of which is that, while all concerned are to be congratulated on a job well done, the party benefited from a “poor Labor Party campaign” and shouldn’t get too cocky. Points of interest:

• It would seem the notion of introducing optional preferential voting has caught the fancy of some in the party. The report recommends the party “undertake analytical work to determine the opportunities and risks” – presumably with respect to itself – “before making any decision to request such a change”.

• Perhaps relatedly, the report says the party should work closer with the Nationals to avoid three-cornered contests. These may have handicapped the party in Gilmore, the one seat it lost to Labor in New South Wales outside Victoria.

• The report comes out for voter identification at the polling booth, a dubious notion that nonetheless did no real harm when it briefly operated in Queensland in 2015, and electronic certified lists of voters, which make a lot more sense.

• It is further felt that the parliament might want to look at cutting the pre-poll voting period from three weeks to two, but should keep its hands off the parties’ practice of mailing out postal vote applications. Parliament should also do something about “boorish behaviour around polling booths”, like “limiting the presence of volunteers to those linked with a particular candidate”.

• Hints are offered that Liberals’ pollsters served up dud results from “inner city metropolitan seats”. This probably means Reid in Sydney and Chisholm in Melbourne, both of which went better than they expected, and perhaps reflects difficulties polling the Chinese community. It is further suggested that the party’s polling program should expand from 20 seats to 25.

• Ten to twelve months is about the right length of time out from the election to preselect marginal seat candidates, and safe Labor seats can wait until six months out. This is at odds with the Victorian party’s recent decision to get promptly down to business, even ahead of a looming redistribution, which has been a source of friction between the state and federal party.

• After six of the party’s candidates fell by the wayside during the campaign, largely on account of social media indiscretions (one of which may have cost the Liberals the Tasmanian seat of Lyons), it is suggested that more careful vetting processes might be in order.

The Victorian inquiry was conducted by former state and federal party director Tony Nutt, and is available in apparently unexpurgated form. Notably:

• The party’s tough-on-crime campaign theme, turbo-charged by media reportage of an African gangs crisis, failed to land. Too many saw it as “a political tactic rather than an authentic problem to be solved by initiatives that would help make their neighbourhoods safer”. As if to show that you can’t always believe Peter Dutton, post-election research found the issue influenced the vote of only 6% of respondents, “and then not necessarily to our advantage”.

• As it became evident during the campaign that they were in trouble, the party’s research found the main problem was “a complete lack of knowledge about Matthew Guy, his team and their plans for Victoria if elected”. To the extent that Guy was recognised at all, it was usually on account of “lobster with a mobster”.

• Guy’s poor name recognition made it all the worse that attention was focused on personalities in federal politics, two months after the demise of Malcolm Turnbull. Post-election research found “30% of voters in Victorian electorates that were lost to Labor on the 24th November stated that they could not vote for the Liberal Party because of the removal of Malcolm Turnbull”.

• Amid a flurry of jabs at the Andrews government, for indiscretions said to make the Liberal defeat all the more intolerable, it is occasionally acknowledged tacitly that the government had not made itself an easy target. Voters were said to have been less concerned about “the Red Shirts affair for instance” than “more relevant, personal and compelling factors like delivery of local infrastructure”.

• The report features an exhausting list of recommendations, updated from David Kemp’s similar report in 2015, the first of which is that the party needs to get to work early on a “proper market research-based core strategy”. This reflects the Emerson and Weatherill report, which identified the main problem with the Labor campaign as a “weak strategy”.

• A set of recommendations headed “booth management” complains electoral commissions don’t act when Labor and union campaigners bully their volunteers.

• Without naming names, the report weights in against factional operators and journalists who “see themselves more as players and influencers than as traditional reporters”.

• The report is cagey about i360, described in The Age as “a controversial American voter data machine the party used in recent state elections in Victoria and South Australia”. It was reported to have been abandoned in April “amid a botched rollout and fears sensitive voter information was at risk”, but the report says only that it is in suspension, and recommends a “thorough review”.

• Other recommendations are that the party should write more lists, hold more meetings and find better candidates, and that its shadow ministers should pull their fingers out.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

2,754 comments on “Winners and losers”

Comments Page 1 of 56
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  1. Gave me a slight twinge of nostalgia when I had to leave “A track winding back” and move on to the sporty modern “winners and losers”.

  2. Policy initiative to enhance progressive policies by means of electrification (renewable energy only).

    Keen observers will note that the politician shown below has been connected with current flowing in reverse thus causing the aims of policy to be directed to 1953 instead of what the ordinary woman in the street would consider the future.

    Below is image of politician with current connect properly – please be aware that wearing of large brimmed hats reverses this effect.

    Direct quote from politician A (first picture) “What a effing hell is an virament ❓ ”

    Politician B “This is the only planet we have – we must all work together to preserve it whatever the cost”.

    Question – Which politician will be reelected ❓

    Coffee – must have fresh coffee ☕☕

  3. frednk,
    guytaur’s Green-serving historical revisionism is best ignored. He sings to the Green choir. As Cud Chewer said last night, Labor needs to concentrate on the low-information, time-poor voters and the intelligent ones who are sophisticated enough in their thinking to realise that Labor are not the Coalition when it comes to action taken to address Climate Change.

    Labor has to bring the nation with them and let them know that their future is in safe hands, and that will come from not simply pandering to the extremists on the Far Left who ‘demand’ Labor take action that the rest of the nation isn’t happy about taking.

    If that invokes sneers about ‘Centrism’, so be it.

  4. lizzie @ #1 Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 – 7:16 am

    Gave me a slight twinge of nostalgia when I had to leave “A track winding back” and move on to the sporty modern “winners and losers”.

    Ah yes – I remember it well —

    There’s an old fashioned Ford
    Made of rubber, tin and board
    Along the road to Gundagai

    Well the radiator’s hissing
    And half the engine’s missing
    The fuel tank’s running dry

    —–

  5. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Oh dear! Eryk Bagshaw reveals that Ken Wyatt awarded a $2.2 million contract to a company connected to prominent Liberal Party donors and a former candidate to conduct Indigenous eye surgeries at double the market rate.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-minister-the-ex-liberal-candidate-and-the-2-2-million-contract-20191202-p53g0c.html
    George Christensen. What HAVE you done?
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/george-christensen-a-regular-at-philippines-adult-entertainment-bar-manager-20191202-p53g57.html
    Greg Jericho is of the opinion that ahead of the latest GDP figures to be released on Wednesday has come a range of economic data suggesting that from sales to investment to productivity the fundamentals of the economy are in a pretty bad state of affairs.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2019/dec/03/when-you-get-right-down-to-the-fundamentals-the-economy-is-looking-pretty-crook
    Every month there is more evidence that Australia’s local economy is deteriorating — this month it’s wage rises, as Alan Austin reports.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-coalitions-global-headwinds-excuse-as-wage-growth-hits-22-year-low,13371
    David Crowe writes about how Labor is ramping up its attack on Angus Taylor, this time over further non-disclosure of financial interests. It’s funny how a lot of his interests have a relationship with water.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/angus-taylor-rejects-new-claim-he-failed-to-disclose-shareholding-20191202-p53g5n.html
    Katharine Murphy on Taylor’s part in the phone call saga.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/02/christian-porter-did-not-seek-advice-on-pms-controversial-call-to-nsw-police-chief
    The prudential regulator has slammed health insurers for failing to arrest the exodus of young people in what has been described as a “death spiral”, accusing some funds of expecting the government to fix the industry’s problems.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/regulator-warns-health-insurers-over-death-spiral-hints-at-new-capital-rules-20191202-p53g5i.html
    Rob Harris writes that Scott Morrison has hinted he is not prepared to revive an offer from New Zealand to resettle offshore asylum seekers to gain the critical vote his government needs to repeal the contentious medevac laws.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scott-morrison-not-for-turning-on-new-zealand-resettlement-deal-20191202-p53g35.html
    Now Nick Xenophon has been retained as an Australian mouthpiece for Huawei.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/false-and-totally-unsubstantiated-xenophon-goes-after-huawei-s-critics-20191202-p53g1r.html
    Peter Hartcher explains how the Morrison government finally is putting some teeth into the gummy mouth of Australia’s foreign interference laws.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/test-of-morrison-s-anti-influence-laws-will-be-whether-we-see-arrests-and-deportations-20191202-p53g1i.html
    The SMH editorial states that repealing the existing medevac legislation will inflict needless pain on asylum seekers.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/repealing-medevac-will-inflict-needless-pain-on-asylum-seekers-20191202-p53g5f.html
    And the Canberra Times wonders why at all the legislation needs to be repealed.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6522420/medevac-legislation-battle-a-mystery/?cs=14258
    Katie Burgess outlines Kristina Keneally’s contribution to the Senate debate on the medevac repeal bill.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6520743/department-disregarded-doctors-on-medical-transfers-keneally/?cs=14350
    Mathias Cormann’s miscalculations were once again exposed as the Morrison Government lost its Ensuring Integrity Bill in the Senate, writes William Olson.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/defeating-the-ensuring-integrity-bill,13370
    The father of a London Bridge victim has lashed out at Boris Johnson for using the death to “perpetuate an agenda of hate”.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/jack-would-be-livid-father-of-london-bridge-victim-condemns-johnson-s-response-20191203-p53g7t.html
    A parliamentary committee will run the ruler over a $220 million regional grants program dubbed the “regional rorts” scheme by Labor.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6520671/regional-grants-program-to-undergo-parliamentary-probe/?cs=14350
    Shane Wright reports that the RBA board will hold its last meeting of the year today as it faces renewed pressure over its interest rate settings after the biggest surge in Australian dwelling values in 16 years.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/rba-faces-tough-questions-as-house-prices-surge-but-job-ads-slow-20191202-p53g2f.html
    House prices surged 1.7% across Australia in November, the rapidly reviving market recording the biggest monthly rise since 2003, according new figures.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/02/australian-house-prices-record-biggest-monthly-rise-since-2003
    Jenna Price has had enough of the inaction on climate change.
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/as-a-grandma-to-be-i-can-no-longer-stay-out-of-this-debate-20191202-p53g5e.html
    Victoria’s largest gas power generator won’t be back online until the end of December, escalating concerns about blackouts.
    https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/victorian-gas-plant-delays-deepen-fears-of-summer-blackouts-20191202-p53g4e.html
    Is Fred Nile’s party imploding? Apparently he is accountable to God only.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/pure-dictatorship-fred-nile-sacks-members-as-party-in-turmoil-20191202-p53g3d.html
    Sam Maiden reports that Tony Abbott has visited the jail where convicted paedophile George Pell is being held in Melbourne, declaring he was “simply visiting a friend”.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/12/02/tony-abbott-george-pell-jail-visit/
    Economist Angela Jackson says that money laundering crooks are being given too much freedom and concludes her article with, “The Prime Minister was right to hold the chief executive and board of Westpac to account. But he should expect the same level of accountability if he continues to allow Australia to be a facilitator for international crime and corruption. The time for judgment is over, the time for action is now.”
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/money-laundering-crooks-are-being-given-too-much-freedom-20191202-p53fyz.html
    The Coalition Government has argued that the surge in asylum applications from Chinese and Malaysian citizens is just part of normal growth in the caseload. Nothing could be further from the truth writes Abul Rizvi.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/visa-applications-from-china-and-malaysia-surge-due-to-poor-policy,13369
    The head of the banking regulator has warned it could disqualify Westpac directors and managers following the money-laundering scandal that has engulfed the bank.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/banking/2019/12/02/westpac-apra-directors/
    It is tasked with tiding over unemployed Australians until they can find work, but new research suggests Centrelink is putting vulnerable people at risk of homelessness reports The New Daily.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2019/12/03/homeless-centrelink-newstart/
    Urban expert Chris Johnson is concerned that an inefficient and biased planning bureaucracy is having a negative impact on the NSW’s productivity. He says Berejiklian needs to make sure the people who understand that tough decisions are required now to ensure a quality future for the next generation are supported and put into key positions.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-red-tape-is-killing-sydney-s-future-as-a-city-20191202-p53g1k.html
    Agricultural forecasters have warned that NSW grain producers will bear the brunt of devastating drought conditions, but it’s a more upbeat outlook for Victoria.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/winter-crop-forecasts-slashed-as-armageddon-drought-bites-20191202-p53g2p.html
    Stephen Bartholomeusz has an update on the progress of the US-China trade war. He says it is US companies and US consumers that are being taxed at that $US40 billion rate, not (as Trump routinely claims) China.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/as-trade-truce-looms-china-s-key-manufacturing-sector-starts-to-lift-20191202-p53g0q.html
    Islamophobic attacks mostly happen in public. Here’s what you can do if you see it or experience it.
    https://theconversation.com/islamophobic-attacks-mostly-happen-in-public-heres-what-you-can-do-if-you-see-it-or-experience-it-127807
    James Valentine writes that Queensland LNP senator James McGrath had so much to work with when insulting the ABC, but he failed miserably.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/out-with-the-basket-weavers-and-in-with-the-negroni-sucking-naysayers-20191202-p53g0t.html
    A defiant Mark Zuckerberg has defended Facebook policy to allow false ads, saying people should be able to judge for themselves the character of politicians and compares alternative to censorship.
    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/dec/02/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-policy-fake-ads
    Meanwhile Google and YouTube have pulled hundreds of ads for Donald Trump over the last few months.
    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/dec/02/google-youtube-trump-ads-pulled-report
    The woman who claims she slept with the Duke of York when she was a teenager has urged the British public to “stand by her” and “not accept this as OK” in her first UK television interview.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/royal/2019/12/03/prince-andrew-accuser-interview/

    Cartoon Corner

    A classic from David Rowe at the crime scene.

    Cathy Wilcox points the finger.

    From Matt Golding.



    John Shakespeare and what has happened to TAFE training.

    Zanetti rolls out his pet CFMMEU.

    Dionne Gain with China’s influence.

    Johannes Leak toes his employer’s line here.
    https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/43bb5eb30e816747a39655906a328328?width=1024

    From the US









  6. Also from the Guardian article linked by Guytaur @5:58 on the old thread:

    ‘And then creeps in the idea that the problem lies with both sides of the political divide – muddy the waters, ascribe blame equally for dishonesty. It works, of course: speaking to voters on doorsteps across the country, I hear the constant refrain that “all politicians lie”.’

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/02/tory-lies-democracy-labour-danger

    We see an example of this false equivalence applied especially to Climate inaction everywhere, for example in the report (linked by Guytaur @6:34 in the old thread) of a bushfire victim protest in Canberra. Everything wrong in this country that can be ascribed to Government or politics is the fault of those who have held power for 6 years. It is not Labor, not the Greens, not the “big parties”. It is the fault of the political wing of the fossil fuel industry, the Coalition parties. That is what should be shouted in protests.

    Equivalence is crap.

  7. The father of a London Bridge victim has lashed out at Boris Johnson for using the death to “perpetuate an agenda of hate”.

    A good cartoon dealing with that.

  8. Morning all. Thanks BK for today’s wrap, love, love, LOVE today’s Rowe!

    On William’s report of the Liberal party election review and 3 cornered contests in Nat seats, perhaps the party should let the Nationals stand (or die as it were) on their own two feet. If there aren’t enough voters that vote National in those seats that they can win in their own right, it seems silly to continue propping up the party by the Liberals continually choosing to sit out elections in those seats. Talk about flogging a dead horse.

  9. OK all you Green and Labor peeps slugging out in the ‘blame game’ some things you should BOTH remember but seem to forget. The Greens complain that Labor refused to negotiate or deal with the Greens. Labor blames the Greens for voting against the CPRS. All great with 20/20 rear vision but

    1) At conference after conference I went to I heard business organisation reps ,especially power companies and the finance people, say they were cool with a price on CO2 BUT they had to have certainty so as to make investment decisions. They could not risk committing to something that would be dead with a change in government.

    2) So that being the case you can see why it was imperative to get a deal acceptable to both Labor AND the Coalition so that there was certainty and the legislation permanent.

    So for the Greens people I hope you can see why Labor was so reluctant to deal. For Labor people booing the Greens for not voting for the initial CPRS, do you really think the ideology, the money the forces backing the Coalition troglodytes that saw the price on Carbon turfed would have packed up and gone home if the Greens has voted yes for the CPRS ? Both sides remember that with the ‘money men’ and the power utilities so concerned about certainty do you think they would have fully committed to a deal that the Coalition was against ? For both sides, remember that change seemed inevitable and sense would prevail. Well we all underestimated the pernicious influence of the likes of the Koch Bros. and all the other poisonous forces and the willingness of so many pollies to sell out the country .

    Labor ‘insiders” would have a better idea than me but at the time comments I kept hearing in the media from some senior Labor people were pretty ‘unhelpful’ and wondered how much opposition if not sabotage was going on within Labor out of the public gaze. I’d love to know how much interference was being run by them.

  10. poroti

    Something which has been a constant source of annoyance to me from the beginning of the carbon debate is the concentration on the cost of action “It will put power prices up”, endlessly emphasised by LNP speakers. The media has taken it up so that the cost of electricity is the only show in town.

  11. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/margin-call/abbotts-memoirs-a-writeoff/news-story/883e40a0a2a4af34fb90b53b3947a710

    Some will call it an Australian publishing tragedy: Tony Abbott is refusing to write a post-prime ministerial memoir.

    Margin Call has it on good authority that Abbott — a former journalist and one of the clearest writers to hold the nation’s top office — has decided to leave assessments of his prime ministership to others.

    This will be disaster for the reading public – those who are breathlessly waiting for books about cricket by cricketers and about themselves by politicians – will be wailing in the streets, sackcloth and ashes sales will be the saviour of the employment downturn and the Churches will again be filled with penitents denouncing themselves and their sins.

    This must not be allowed to stand.When a journalist of the quality of Mr. T. Abbott Esq refuses to enlighten his public we must rise up in fury and make our collective displeasure known.

    ♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚

    The share of men reading for pleasure on any given day fell from 25 percent in 2004 to 15 percent in 2017, a drop of nearly 40 percent. The decline among women was a more modest 29 percent, from 31 percent in 2003 to 22 percent in 2017. The survey data shows declines in leisure reading across all age levels.Jun 29, 2018

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/Washington Post › news › wonk › 2018/06/29 › leisure-reading-in-the-u…

    P.S. Outside a few moments ago checking on my lilies I was overflown by a pair of Spitfire Mk VI being chased by two ME BF 109G closing rapidly.

    Actually a pair of white cockatoos followed by 2 black cockatoos.🐦🐦🦅🦅

  12. Thanks BK
    “ The head of the banking regulator has warned it could disqualify Westpac directors and managers following the money-laundering scandal that has engulfed the bank.”

    The threatened penalties against Westpac execs are laughably weak. They could individually face 2 to 10 years in a Federal prison if individually charged and found guilty under the Criminal Code. Simply not stopping it is jailable. Yet worst case, they may be forced from office, walking off into the sunset with multi-million dollar bonuses. Meanwhile we jail people for taking too much from CentreLink. We so badly need a Federal ICAC.
    https://www.cdpp.gov.au/crimes-we-prosecute/money-laundering

  13. UNSW Global Water Institute
    @UnswWater
    17h
    Urban heat islands! Western Sydney will need more water than the eastern suburbs to manage a warmer climate. Now is the time to maximise water recycling. ‘Turn Off the Sunshine’: Why Shade Is a Mark of Privilege in Los Angeles

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/01/us/los-angeles-shade-climate-change.html

    They say the sun has always been the draw of Los Angeles, but these days, shade is increasingly seen as a precious commodity, as the crises of climate change and inequality converge.

    Now, city officials, rather than selling sunshine as Los Angeles’s singular attraction, are treating it as a growing crisis.

    Using data that overlays areas of intense heat with the busiest public transit routes, the city is rushing to deploy shade to nearly 750 bus stops, using trees, shade sails or umbrellas. In addition, the city has recently hired its first forestry officer, and announced a goal of planting 90,000 shade trees by 2021. As part of this effort, some of the city’s famous palm trees, which have defined the image of the city but do not provide much shade, could be replaced.

    “Maybe you haven’t thought about it this way, but shade is an equity issue,” Mayor Eric M. Garcetti said at a recent event on a blazing hot day in South Los Angeles

    …Drive across the vast space of Los Angeles and the point becomes clear. In wealthy neighborhoods like Bel-Air or Beverly Hills, spot the hulking trees lining canopied streets. In poorer neighborhoods like South Los Angeles, watch as the people waiting for the bus strain for some sliver of escape from the intense heat. They may find it in a small shadow cast by a stop sign, or under a shopkeeper’s awning, or even, sometimes, just from the shade of a person standing in front of them.

  14. Socrates:

    No Westpac executive is going to face penalty for their actions. As you say the most they will endure is a golden handshake, possibly a stint in the corporate wilderness, before they’re back in a well-paying board sinecure once again.

  15. do you really think the ideology, the money the forces backing the Coalition troglodytes that saw the price on Carbon turfed would have packed up and gone home if the Greens has voted yes for the CPRS ?

    How the Rudd Parliament was unable to enact lasting meaningful policy on climate change is an interesting discussion. A CPRS had in principle support from around half the Liberal Party. Even Howard had committed to an ETS. Either they believed it a good idea or considered it electoral suicide to fight against it.

    Then things changed. To say “Abbott”, is at least superficially correct. However he was just the rabid face of something else. What intrigues and depresses me is not how the CPRS failed, rather that out of that era we ended up with a party winning election after election on an anti climate action platform* (in the face of overwhelming evidence for the need to act).

    * – in the case of 2016, the party had climate change action coloured lipstick on its pig

  16. C@tmomma @ #23 Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 – 8:22 am

    KayJay,
    That’s the best news I’ve heard all day! No turgid tome from Toned Abs! Maybe there is a God? 😀

    I often wonder whether the projected size of some of the comedies biographies penned/typed/produced by ghosts are to suit a particular type of lopsided table. I have never read any cricketers/politicians books which may make me the poorer for it but I don’t care.

    You may have noticed that that the picture of Mr. Abbott featured one ear. I’m not sure whether or no it’s his tin ear. 😇

  17. Morning all

    This story has taken an amazing turn.

    Marty Baron
    @PostBaron
    ·
    1h
    When a crusading Maltese journalist was murdered, her sons vowed justice. Almost miraculously, it’s happening.
    Perspective | When a crusading Maltese journalist was murdered, her sons vowed justice. Almost…
    Even as a prime minister resigns, Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family presses on.
    washingtonpost.com

  18. Lizzie

    That’s why I have been saying look to Labor’s success. The Carbon Price reduced emissions and electricity.

    There is no need to fight over who was right tactically on the CPRS Labor or the Greens. Both parties did their best.

    What should be on the agenda today is that success.
    At every climate change mention Labor should be doing compare the pair.

    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/carbon-price-helped-curb-emissions-anu-study-finds-20140717-ztuf6.html

  19. Yep. I’ve been feeling this way about Zuckerberg long before it was fashionable.

    Pinned Tweet
    Claude Taylor
    @TrueFactsStated
    ·
    5h
    It’s getting harder and harder to see whatever good remains in Mark Zuckerberg.
    Zuckerberg on allowing political ads: ‘People should be able to judge
    Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is defending the company’s policy against removing political advertising that contains misinformation,
    thehill.com

  20. SK

    However he was just the rabid face of something else

    Minchin and Robb are on my list of those I’d to find out what and who was behind their stance.

  21. KayJay @ #19 Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 – 8:16 am

    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/margin-call/abbotts-memoirs-a-writeoff/news-story/883e40a0a2a4af34fb90b53b3947a710

    ” rel=”nofollow”>

    Some will call it an Australian publishing tragedy: Tony Abbott is refusing to write a post-prime ministerial memoir.

    Margin Call has it on good authority that Abbott — a former journalist and one of the clearest writers to hold the nation’s top office — has decided to leave assessments of his prime ministership to others.

    This will be disaster for the reading public – those who are breathlessly waiting for books about cricket by cricketers and about themselves by politicians – will be wailing in the streets, sackcloth and ashes sales will be the saviour of the employment downturn and the Churches will again be filled with penitents denouncing themselves and their sins.

    This must not be allowed to stand.When a journalist of the quality of Mr. T. Abbott Esq refuses to enlighten his public we must rise up in fury and make our collective displeasure known.

    ♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚

    The share of men reading for pleasure on any given day fell from 25 percent in 2004 to 15 percent in 2017, a drop of nearly 40 percent. The decline among women was a more modest 29 percent, from 31 percent in 2003 to 22 percent in 2017. The survey data shows declines in leisure reading across all age levels.Jun 29, 2018

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/Washington Post › news › wonk › 2018/06/29 › leisure-reading-in-the-u…

    P.S. Outside a few moments ago checking on my lilies I was overflown by a pair of Spitfire Mk VI being chased by two ME BF 109G closing rapidly.

    Actually a pair of white cockatoos followed by 2 black cockatoos.🐦🐦🦅🦅

    They must have been cockies KayJay. I don’t think Fighter World’s Spit or ME109 are airworthy – unless I’m wrong about that and you were seeing double.

  22. “ For those who have forgot. This is what Labor argued.”

    For those who seemed to have never learnt:

    A carbon price has been defeated politically. Emphatically to the point where the mere spectre of it repulses the very people that the Labor + Greens plurality need to defeat the LNP on any issue …

  23. A new fiction novel was released this morning.

    President Trump committed “no quid pro quo, bribery, extortion, or abuse of power,” Republicans on the House committees investigating the Ukraine controversy have concluded in a 110-page report reviewed by Axios ahead of its formal release.

    Why it matters: The report — to be released to Congress as soon as this evening — will provide the basis for Republicans’ rejection of Democrats’ anticipated articles of impeachment against the president for the remainder of the House proceedings.

    The document is a prebuttal to the Democratic majority’s highly anticipated report compiling the evidence against the president and recommendations on how to proceed.

    “We address their arguments head-on,” a GOP official working on impeachment told Axios. “We think this report responds to each and every argument Democrats put forward.”

    The official described the report as an “evergreen document,” but said if House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler sets forth new arguments, “we’ll certainly take those into account and respond.”

    https://www.axios.com/republican-impeachment-report-trump-quid-pro-quo-b959b349-e353-475e-87c4-429f76362300.html

  24. AE

    If Labor listened to you Medibank would never have become Medicare.

    Instead we would have the US Private Health system.

    Ditto Marriage Equality
    Ditto WorkChoices.

  25. Minchin and Robb are on my list of those I’d to find out what and who was behind their stance.

    On the face of it, it was a power grab by Abbott and co. It was a good reason and opportunity to topple Turnbull and grab power in the party. Yet it had to be more than that. Howard was rarely wrong…. and it was clear he thought anti-climate stance was electoral poison. So doing the opposite was a brave move. And bullies are only brave when they know they are on a winner.

  26. poroti

    I’m pretty sure Minchin was a raving climate change denier, but can’t find a link. He is definitely on the list of Australian politicians and bureaucrats with links to fossil fuel & resource extraction industries.

    I’d already forgotten this: 2018 Former federal finance minister Nick Minchin has been appointed to the Foreign Investment Review Board by the Morrison government, placing him in an influential role to determine the fate of proposed Chinese acquisitions in Australia.

  27. There is no need to relight who was right tactically on the CPRS Labor or the Greens. Both parties did their best.

    Labor in 2009 was trying to put in place a process that would stick. A deal with the Coalition – ensuring that 90% of the Parliament was on board – was essential to that. A deal with the Greens was always susceptible to being characterized as an “inner city, latte-sipping” stitch-up (as history proves).

    The Greens claimed the situation was urgent, but did not act that way. They dilly-dallied at the edges, seeking perfection, and got nothing.

    Later on, when the Carbon Tax deal was put into effect, the Greens broke their alliance with Labor (which took most of the heat for the Carbon Tax). They say this was because of Labor’s internal leadership ructions. But it could be equally observed that Green sniping at Labor made the problem worse, not better. Eventually the Greens withdrew their support, allowing Abbott to ramp up his wrecking.

    Right through, Green claims that the world was in Climate crisis was belied by their casual (and opportunistic) approach to actually doing something about it.

    As a result, in 2019 we still have conservative politicians able to claim that Climate Change is not happening, and is just another front in the Culture Wars. Dorothea Mackellar’s writings are still being claimed as the gold standard of scientific research into the Australian climate. Australia has gone from being a world leader in Climate policy to the worst of all.

    We had a chance in 2009 to get consensus. The Greens and the Coalition blew it up.

  28. BB

    Good rewrite of history to keep up the whole it’s the Greens fault.

    Nope. It was Abbott Abbott.

    Labor was blindsided by the denialist rise. As were the Greens.

    No one expected fantasy of science consensus denial to take over a major political party.

    Labor blaming the Greens is a total rewrite of history expecting the Greens to having foresight Labor didn’t.


  29. poroti says:
    ….
    Labor ‘insiders” would have a better idea than me but at the time comments I kept hearing in the media from some senior Labor people were pretty ‘unhelpful’ and wondered how much opposition if not sabotage was going on within Labor out of the public gaze. I’d love to know how much interference was being run by them.

    You started of well and then ended with an attempted smoke screen for the Green’s action.

    If we are going to move forward the greens need to own up to their mistakes ad stop the dam nonsense.

  30. rhwombat
    Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 – 8:48 am
    Comment #34

    They must have been cockies KayJay. I don’t think Fighter World’s Spit or ME109 are airworthy – unless I’m wrong about that and you were seeing double.

    I dunno (as my son in law says when I argue that the earth is not flat) – the second pair looked like this

    and were close behind a pair of

    I couldn’t detect the sound of Merlin or Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine noises. Quite strangely they were squawking squarking just like cockatoos. Weird. ✈✈🛪🛪

  31. A carbon price has been defeated politically.

    I disagree. In the same way Rudd getting elected wasnt a defeat of all Howard stood for. Fraser getting elected wasnt the death of Medicare.
    Elections are complicated and the result cant be boiled down to one policy winning or losing. And in this era instituting any major change is politically fraught unless it is bipartisan (and in this era – nothing is bipartisan).

    FWIW, this graph shows how the carbon price implementation saw support of it increase to around parity with oppose (green and yellow). Yet the ALP 2PP barely blipped.
    ?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=82bdc4f813644331ba565b2dfff639aa
    From the Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/2013/may/17/australia-carbon-price-labor-polling

  32. guytaur says:
    Tuesday, December 3, 2019 at 9:06 am
    ….
    Labor blaming the Greens is a total rewrite of history expecting the Greens to having foresight Labor didn’t

    Given the outcome wanting legislation that had broad approval showed a hell of a lot of foresight. The same insight still applies, the greens have not learnt the lesson. As we saw yesterday with Penny’s motion. The Greens are still not looking for broad support.

  33. KayJay @ #43 Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 – 9:08 am

    rhwombat
    Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 – 8:48 am
    Comment #34

    They must have been cockies KayJay. I don’t think Fighter World’s Spit or ME109 are airworthy – unless I’m wrong about that and you were seeing double.

    I dunno (as my son in law says when I argue that the earth is not flat) – the second pair looked like this

    ” rel=”nofollow”>

    and were close behind a pair of

    ” rel=”nofollow”>

    I couldn’t detect the sound of Merlin or Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine noises. Quite strangely they were squawking squarking just like cockatoos. Weird. ✈✈🛪🛪

    On the squarking front, both flavours of cocky eat Merlin’s for breakfast, so I suspect you’re correct.

  34. frednk

    You started of well and then ended with an attempted smoke screen for the Green’s action.

    It had NOTHING to do with “smokescreens” ffs . I do not give a shit about the brain dead Green v Labor blame game .

  35. FredNK

    BS

    Still doing Murdoch’s work to destroy the Greens I see.

    Labor did not have the foresight of the arrival of deniers in a majority.
    If they did they would never have given preferences to Family First giving the right a leg up in the Senate.

  36. Has there been any coverage on the news / mainstream media about Wong’s masterful stunt of a motion?

    Or, is Labor harnessing fake news on social media to spread disinformation, much as you see here on PB from the usual sources?

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