Poll respondents with attitudes

New poll results from around the place on attitudes towards climate change, Australia Day and things-in-general.

An off week in the fortnightly cycles for both Newspoll and Essential Research, but we do have three fairly detailed sets of attitudinal polling doing the rounds:

• Ipsos has results from its monthly Issues Monitor series, which records a dramatic escalation in concern about the environment. Asked to pick the three most salient out of 19 listed issues, 41% chose the environment, more than any other. This was up ten on last month’s survey, and compares with single digit results that were not uncommonly recorded as recently as 2015. Cost of living and health care tied for second on 31%, respectively down three and up six on last month. The economy was up one to 25%, and crime down one to 21%. On “party most capable to manage environmental issues across the generations”, generations up to and including X gave the highest rating to the Greens, towards whom the “boomer” and “builder” generations showed their usual hostility. The poll was conducted online from a sample of 1000.

• A poll by YouGov for the Australian Institute finds 79% expressing concern about climate change, up five since a similar poll in July. This includes 47% who were very concerned, up ten. Among those aged 18 to 34, only around 10% expressed a lack of concern. Fifty-seven per cent said Australia was experiencing “a lot” of climate change impact, up 14%; 67% said climate change was making bushfires worse, with 26% disagreeing; and only 33% felt the Coalition had done a good job “managing the climate crisis” (a potentially problematic turn of phrase for those who did not allow that there was one), compared with 53% who took the contrary view. The poll was conducted January 8 to 12 from a sample of 1200; considerable further detail is available through the full report.

• The Institute of Public Affairs has a poll on Australia Day and political correctness from Dynata, which has also done polling on the other side of the ideological aisle for the aforesaid Australia Institute. This finds 71% agreeing that “Australia Day should be celebrated on January 26” (55% strongly, 16% somewhat), and 68% agreeing Australia had become too politically correct (42% strongly, 26% somewhat). Disagreement with both propositions was at just 11%. A very substantial age effect was evident here, but not for the two further questions relating to pride in Australia, which received enthusiastic responses across the board. I have my doubts about opening the batting on this particular set of questions by asking if respondents were “proud to be an Australian”, which brings Yes Minister to mind. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the poll is the demographic detail on the respondents, who were presumably drawn from an online panel. This shows women were greatly over-represented in the younger cohorts, while the opposite was true among the old; and that the sample included rather too many middle-aged people on low incomes. The results would have been weighted to correct for this, but some of these weightings were doing some fairly heavy lifting (so to speak).

Elsewhere, if you’re a Crikey subscriber you can enjoy my searing expose on the electoral impact of Bridget McKenzie’s sports sports. I particularly hope you appreciate the following line, as it was the fruit of about two days’ work:

When polling booth and sport grants data are aggregated into 2288 local regions designated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there turns out to be no correlation whatsoever between the amount of funding they received and how much they swung to or against the Coalition.

I worked this out by identifying the approximate target locations of 518 grants, building a dataset recording grant funding and booth-level election swings for each of the ABS’s Statistical Local Area 2 regions, and using linear regression to calculate how much impact the grants had on the Coalition vote. The verdict: absolutely none whatsoever.

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.

2,074 comments on “Poll respondents with attitudes”

Comments Page 1 of 42
1 2 42
  1. [Emma Meconi
    9h
    That man who got the tradie career adviser gig for #ScottyFomMarketing is raking in the dough, isn’t he? Just saw him in a Jatz commercial. Nice little earner. On top of everything else. How will he find the time to give career advice to aspiring tradies?]

    He’d be more use as a firefighter.

  2. William

    I appreciate your hard work! Something that needed proving over the sportsrorts, and I think that the LNP are already saying “It made no difference” (as they would anyway). But as others have said, the real point is the unfair way in which the grants were decided and then awarded, against the spirit and possibly the rules.

  3. Tony Abbott is still a catalyst for climate deniers.

    At first glance, it looks like a straightforward fan page for volunteer firefighters and former conservative Australian prime minister Tony Abbott.

    The profile picture shows Abbott in front of an Australian flag. The cover photo is a picture of the Abbott family. Many of the recent posts celebrate Abbott’s efforts as a volunteer fighting Australia’s catastrophic bushfires.

    But sandwiched between those posts are others decrying the “climate cult”, the “feral media” and “globalists and socialists”.

    The Facebook page, titled “Tony Abbott’s Support Page”, has 44,000 followers. And as Australia’s bushfire crisis has intensified, the page’s engagement levels have rocketed in response to posts questioning the science of climate change.

    https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahryan/bushfires-tony-abbott-facebook-climate-change

    BuzzFeed News contacted an administrator over Facebook Messenger. They declined to say who ran the page, but said there were several moderators. They said they had received no endorsement from Abbott.

    “This page is political and of course we publish anything to do with support for a good man, true Australian and former PM and if you care to scroll back as many years as you like you will see we cover all sorts of topics,” the message said.

    The administrator said that climate change was “natural”, questioned humans’ role in changing temperatures, said Australia was known for its bushfire seasons, and pointed the finger at arsonists and fuel loads.

  4. Socrates

    From previous thread.

    The Royal commission would be empowered to refer any suspicions concerning contempt for perjury to the Victorian police/DPP.

    It would need to evaluate where there any change in evidence was derived from a mistake etc. My concerns with the Gobbo commission is its meandering and polite progress.

    This is often used as the point of comparison between administration of law in New South Wales and Victoria.

    In the former, it is competitive and cut – throat. In the latter it’s often perceived to be warm and cosy.

    I think Gobbo is giving evidence next week. That will be a bit of a test

  5. Good morning Dawn Patrollers. As I put this together the impeachment trial is running in the background.

    Rob Harris has come up with a beauty – McKenzie approved $36,000 for a shooting club without saying she was a member.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mckenzie-approved-36-000-for-shooting-club-without-saying-she-was-a-member-20200121-p53tbf.html
    Ross Gittins opines that the fires are our Pearl Harbour event that could become our Port Arthur moment. He says, “Second-rate leaders throw in their lot with those who fear losing from change, letting the rest of us suffer while they attempt to resist the irresistible. First-rate leaders seek out ways we can benefit from that change, restoring the luck of the Lucky Country.”
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/our-pearl-harbour-could-become-our-port-arthur-moment-20200121-p53t9x.html
    Sarah Martin says that Morrison’s senior ministers discussed how best to reposition the government’s climate change policies in a cabinet meeting on Monday.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/22/scott-morrisons-senior-ministers-discuss-how-to-reposition-climate-policies
    Morrison has lost the plot. He says hazard reduction burns are as important as emissions.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/prime-minister-says-hazard-reduction-burns-are-climate-action-20200121-p53tha.html
    It should surprise no one that a man steeped deep in an apocalyptic cult should demand that everyone else act as if his reality is the norm, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/morrison-now-demands-we-adapt-to-climate-change-catastrophes,13509
    The NSW police commissioner is sickened to the stomach with the unprecedented amount of looting in the wake of the bushfires.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/sick-to-the-stomach-top-cop-claims-unprecedented-levels-of-looting-after-fires-20200121-p53tgf.html
    Craig Matheson tells us why Morrison’s mastery of the TV interview means something has to change. Quite a perceptive contribution.
    https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/scott-morrison-s-mastery-of-the-tv-interview-means-something-has-to-change-20200120-p53t2w.html
    Josh Frydenberg says the Coalition will not compromise “the strength of the economy” to manage rising environmental concerns as international authorities urge governments to do more to tackle climate change.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/treasurer-climate-s-economic-threat-requires-balanced-approach-20200121-p53tch.html
    Bianca Hall writes about some top scientists hitting back at the idiot Craig Kelly’s “brainwashed climate cultists” spray.
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/scientists-hit-back-at-craig-kelly-s-brainwashed-climate-cultists-spray-20200121-p53tb6.html
    Jess Irvine reports that in a recent Ipsos poll the environment has catapulted to the top of the list of Australians’ biggest worries, leapfrogging cost of living, healthcare and the economy.
    https://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/environment-now-trumps-economy-on-australian-list-of-biggest-worries-20200121-p53td7.html

    Peter Hannam and Mike Foley report that leading ecologists say decades of underspending on environmental research mean governments will likely struggle to assess the impact on wildlife from the huge bushfires let alone develop effective recovery plans.
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/millstone-environmental-funding-cuts-to-hinder-fire-recovery-plans-20200121-p53tal.html
    Sarah Danckert explains how NAB took three years to transfer 330,000 customers to a low-cost no-frills product as required under the law. Now members are looking to recoup their money.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/nab-faces-class-action-from-330-000-super-members-20200121-p53tet.html
    Emma Koehn reports that Australian funeral directors have demanded an exemption from the government’s proposed ban on $10,000 cash payments, claiming the policy could hit grieving people “at the lowest point in their lives”.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/funeral-directors-say-cash-ban-could-hit-people-at-their-lowest-point-20200121-p53t8g.html
    Shopping centre landlords “spooked” by the collapse of high-profile retailers will likely be forced to renegotiate rents as store closures eat into occupancy rates and income from malls. Danger signs!!!!
    https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/mall-landlords-spooked-by-collapse-of-high-profile-retailers-20200121-p53tbs.html
    The SMH editorial proclaims that medical specialists and insurance funds must come clean on health costs. Of the government’s $7.2m Medical Cost Transparent website it says, “First, it is clear that lots of consumers in NSW are getting ripped off. Second, the website does almost nothing to help them save money.”
    https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/specialists-and-funds-must-come-clean-on-health-costs-20200121-p53tfp.html
    This beef farmer says it all when it comes to what is happening to our environment.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/koalas-drinking-from-human-hands-is-not-normal-20200108-p53px4.html
    From Rome Gabriella Coslovich writes that in the streets there people think that our fires were the result of arson.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-curious-case-of-australia-s-bushfire-delinquenti-20200121-p53tbc.html
    Anthony Galloway tells us how the Member for Manila has been forced to cough up $2100 of misused travel expenses.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/christensen-misused-domestic-travel-that-linked-up-with-month-long-holiday-20200121-p53tgg.html
    Stephen Bartholomeusz writes that there’s something quite odd about a share market that rises more than 26 per cent over a year in which world economic growth was the weakest since the financial crisis. He sheets the blame t the feet of the US Fed.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/us-fed-is-caught-in-a-trap-if-it-tries-to-escape-all-hell-breaks-loose-20200121-p53t9v.html
    A plant that aims to convert household rubbish into enough electricity to power up to 20,000 houses is expected to be operating in Melbourne’s west within three years.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/waste-to-energy-plant-in-laverton-north-gets-green-light-20200121-p53tg7.html
    Anne Davies reports that the NSW inquiry that Crown Resorts may have breached casino licence over proposed share deal with Melco.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/21/crown-resorts-may-have-breached-casino-licence-over-proposed-share-deal-with-melco-inquiry-hears
    Bevan Shields reports that Trump has taken aim at “perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse” and challenged world leaders at Davos to be more optimistic about the economy and climate change.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/trump-tells-world-leaders-at-davos-to-cheer-up-about-climate-change-and-the-economy-20200121-p53tie.html
    Scientists hate to say ‘I told you so’. But Australia, you were warned writes Professor Will Steffen.
    https://theconversation.com/scientists-hate-to-say-i-told-you-so-but-australia-you-were-warned-130211
    Norm Abjorensen tells us how Trump’s greed threatens a crucial post-Watergate reform. It’s about laws covering companies bribing foreign officials.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6583964/trumps-greed-threatens-a-crucial-post-watergate-reform/?cs=14258
    Politicians such as Joe Hockey – who ironically talked of ‘leaning’ and ‘the age of entitlement’ – have come to understand public service purely as an entitlement, writes Dr Kim Sawyer.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/coalition-mps-lead-the-pack-in-leaning-and-entitlement,13512
    A risk-rating system for builders and new powers for the building regulator to stop suspect high-rise apartment towers are among measures the NSW government wants introduced to avoid further incidents like Sydney’s cracked Opal and Mascot towers.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/risk-rating-system-for-builders-proposed-to-prevent-defective-towers-20200121-p53t86.html
    Arwa Mahdawi says that misogyny explains Prince Andrew’s rehabilitation and Harry’s vilification.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/21/what-explains-prince-andrew-rehabilitation-and-harry-vilification-misogyny
    It’s hard for people with severe mental illness to get in the NDIS – and the problems don’t stop there say two mental health academics.
    https://theconversation.com/its-hard-for-people-with-severe-mental-illness-to-get-in-the-ndis-and-the-problems-dont-stop-there-130198
    This didn’t take long. Milton Orkopoulos appears to have breached his parole conditions.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/disgraced-former-mp-milton-orkopoulos-accused-of-breaching-parole-20200121-p53tfx.html
    Iran has admitted that two Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles hit a Ukrainian airliner that was shot down on January 8, killing all 176 aboard.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/iran-confirms-two-russian-made-missiles-hit-ukrainian-airliner-20200122-p53tiw.html

    Cartoon Corner

    Alan Moir
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EOwaxsoUcAECR8pjpg
    David Rowe

    Simon Letch

    Andrew Dyson

    Cathy Wilcox

    Michael Leunig

    John Shakespeare.

    Matt Golding





    Mark David

    Peter Broelman

    Glen Le Lievre

    Is Johannes Leak unwell?
    https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/2ac5589498d049f0dd843859e1159bd4?width=1024

    From the US









  6. That IPA AUS Day poll is quite insidious in the way it pushes respondents into its desired response.
    Conflating “I am proud to be Australian” (after seeing how Australians responded to the bushfire crisis) with the subsequent, completely unrelated, statement “Australia Day should be celebrated on Jan 26” is, frankly, dishonest. I’m surprised so many didn’t agree.
    You could be forgiven if you said they Wanted this high level of agreement to further marginalise our indigenous Australians who have legitimate concerns about it.
    Typical for the IPA ( and their backers, Rupert and Gina).
    Disgraceful.

  7. Mitch McConnell blinks and dials back Senate rules on excluding evidence and midnight hearings

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has reportedly changed course on some of the most controversial aspects of his impeachment trial rules.

    NBC’s Josh Lederman reported that senators will now no longer have to vote to admit each piece of evidence. Instead, evidence will automatically be admitted unless there is an objection.

    McConnell’s original rules also gave House managers two days for opening remarks. Changes to the rules will allow up to three days for both sides, reports said.

    https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/mitch-mcconnell-blinks-and-dials-back-senate-rules-on-excluding-evidence-and-midnight-hearings/

  8. GOP lawmakers are determined to keep Trump in office — and he’ll screw them over afterward: Rick Wilson

    In a column for the Daily Beast, conservative campaign consultant Rick Wilson claims it appears that Republican Senators have already made up their minds to save Donald Trump’s hide and keep him in office.

    And the president will not return the favor as voters turn on them.

    “For all his cognitive deficits, blistering ignorance, and unsubtle grifting, Donald Trump excels in one area: spectacle. No Democrat on the political scene can rival him in the creation of monstrous shitshows, cringetastophies, and dear-God-is-it-time-for-Dad-to-go-to-managed-care moments of pure Gantryesque spectacle,” he wrote.

    Noting the Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has already rigged the trial with his late release of the rules on Monday, Wilson suggests the public can expect nothing less than “a show, not a trial.”

    Wilson then goes to great pains to point out this will not end well for Republicans as history has proven.

    “The GOP will be judged harshly by history because they know better. Republican senators, despite the pressure from Trump and McConnell, know exactly who Trump is. They know what Trump is. They know he’s a con man, a criminal, a character of the weakest and loosest moral fiber. They know he’s a faithless, feckless, foolish man driven by ego, spite, and avarice. “

    https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/gop-lawmakers-are-determined-to-keep-trump-in-office-and-hell-screw-them-over-afterward-rick-wilson/

  9. These millionaires have no shame and no compassion.

    I have to admit I was embarrassed, to be sitting in a hotel room in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and to see an advertisement raising money for the Australian bushfires.

    The ad run by Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation, showed graphic images and asked people to urgently donate to support the foundation’s work following the bushfires.

    Given Australia’s comparative global wealth and with millions of poorer people in crisis, is it right for Australia to accept foreign donations to ease our pain?

    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2020/01/22/twiggy-forrest-bushfire-donations-cambodia/

  10. BK
    Thank you.
    Some scattered thoughts on McKenzieGate
    1. William’s analysis that it was all for nowt is fascinating stuff.
    2. Post Shame McKenzie has been caught out in a clear breach of conflict with her gun club faves.
    GG.
    3. Ellis channeled the tired same old, same old. Kelly resigned. McKenzie, who did worse, is digging in.
    4. If the SG finds that McKenzie lacked the legal remit to approve the grants then the kaka will hit the fan big time.
    5. Porter and McKenzie are now both linked directly to McKenzieGate.
    6. Morrison, in damage control, has already flagged that next time round the rorts will be ladled out to a different set of rules.

  11. When you have 90% of Republican voters against Impeachment, thenyou know the process is politically partisan. So, the GOP Senators have little choice but to fall in line. These supporters are the ones that select and fund Senatorial Campaigns. So, it would be career suicide to buck the system. Honesty decency and the wrath of History are secondary in this situation.

  12. Peter van Onselen
    @vanOnselenP
    ·
    18m
    Paul Kennedy on ABC TV just absolutely skewered Greg Hunt on the sports rorts affair. It is BEYOND absurd the way all these ministers are trying to defend this blatant pork barrelling. It’s just embarrassing to watch… #auspol

    Damn! Missed it. Someone skewering Greg Hunt is something I’d really like to see.

  13. Thanks William for your –👇👇👇

    contained in the headline article. Great work ❗

    and

    Long may you enjoy the fruits of the advertising campaign carried yesterday with the comments on “Trivago”.

  14. What next? Morrison found out to have given a donation of Taxpayers’ $$ to Brian Houston, pater familias paedophile protector? Oh wait, the Coalition have already done that multiple times. 😐

    I wonder if Morrison will still have the hide to go to the Hillsong jamboree/conference, which I think is on this month?

  15. Hmmm. Just saw the Greg Hunt i.v. on Twitter. I think Paul Kennedy might get a reprimand for being “rude to the minister” for trying to interrupt him. But what do you do, when the little Hunt trundles on through his rubbish answer for minutes at a time, “with great respect”. 😆

  16. Bern getting burned by Hillary.

    “He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it,” Clinton says in the documentary, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-clinton/nobody-likes-him-hillary-clinton-bashes-bernie-sanders-idUSKBN1ZK233?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter

  17. Much thanks BK for today’s offerings.

    I have been saying for ages that the commercial rents have not been reflecting the market.
    The added problem is cost of land tax. Landlords are responsible for this cost burden. But no doubt attempt to peg back some of the cost via rental prices.
    It is unsustainable and has been for years.
    Just another important piece of the economy.that needs urgent reform

  18. As soon as I found out that Bernie Sanders has a Dark Money Super PAC that doesn’t disclose where his donations come from, I knew he was a shonk. Though I suspected as much due to his close association with the Russians.

  19. Is Senator McKenzie at the ’embattled’ stage as yet.

    Can’t be too far away.

    This reminds me IIRC of the train wreck under the early years of Howard where quite a few ministers and MPs were caught out and were forced to resign, etc.

  20. Watching a “Vera” repeat last night – the replacement sergeant speaking to Brenda Blethyn as “Vera”

    says

    “So you got coal for Christmas too”.*

    From my fund of “I don’t know nothin about that” I was forced to “Google” the remark and can now reveal what the Gummint has been trying to tell us (plebs) for the last many yonks.

    We/you’ve been

    and without the usual crystal ball consultation – no prizes for what we collectively are getting in our stockings next Christmas.

    *There was a time when naughty children would receive, instead of a present in their Christmas stocking, a lump of coal. So it means a punishment, or at the very least something unpleasant.

  21. Greensborough Growler says:
    Wednesday, January 22, 2020 at 8:02 am
    Bern getting burned by Hillary.

    “He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it,” Clinton says in the documentary, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-clinton/nobody-likes-him-hillary-clinton-bashes-bernie-sanders-idUSKBN1ZK233?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter
    ______________________
    Looks like sour Clinton grapes to me!

  22. Bevan Shields reports that Trump has taken aim at “perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse” and challenged world leaders at Davos to be more optimistic about the economy and climate change.

    I listened to the first 5 minutes or so of his speech. There must have been a boast about every 15 seconds that some aspect of the US economy is the greatest ‘the world has ever seen”, “largest in history” or some other hyperhyperbole. He of course is responsible for such superduperdom. I guess it was aimed at the yokel voters back in the US of A .

  23. Greensborough Growler @ #20 Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020 – 7:55 am

    Here’s Kennedy’s interview with Hunt this morning.

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1219721784146022400

    The problem as I see it with these, thankfully, intense interviews, is that Ministers in the Morrison government, after they have been skewered on the ABC, then hop over to 2GB or 3AW, and Sky After Dark, and push out a seamless version of the daily propaganda points, release it to the media, who feel a duty to report it widely because it is official government information. And so, while the commendable interview has occurred, what gets more widely disseminated, through the Murdoch, 9Fax and 7 media, is the garbage. Which ends up in the minds of Bushfire Bill’s grog shop attendant and those like her. Not that which should, being the Paul Kennedy interview.

    And the Morrison government knows it.

  24. The problem in Australia
    is that the people in Australia do not know what they want.

    The public claim they want a federal ICAC, yet instead of electing political party/s who would have brought in an ICAC like, the majority of the public re-elected an corrupt government supported by an equally corrupt libs/nats propaganda media units.

  25. Is Senator McKenzie at the ’embattled’ stage as yet.

    Not until you see her hiding behind a Whiteboard. 😆

    And then she’ll still survive, like the Screaming Banshee, Michaelia Cash.

  26. C@t:

    I know you’ve said before that Kellyanne Conway is just playing a part, but having read this response all I can say is that she must be a freakin great actor!

    :large

  27. ‘fess,Yep. Kellyanne sings a note-perfect tune for her supper. She is said to be the source of a lot of the behind the scenes gossip about Trump’s condition.

  28. Lars Von Trier

    It truly was a LOLworthy moment seeing a “Nobody Likes Him: Hilary Clinton” headline . He probably has cooties as well.

  29. Yuuuck!

    I just saw Trump giving a lecture with his pouty little mouth on respecting God’s creation and this beautiful world, all holy and sanctimonious, no doubt talking to his religious acolytes. It was disgusting. Does anyone believe he follows any moral code at all?

  30. C@tmomma @ #32 Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020 – 8:19 am

    Greensborough Growler @ #20 Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020 – 7:55 am

    Here’s Kennedy’s interview with Hunt this morning.

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1219721784146022400

    The problem as I see it with these, thankfully, intense interviews, is that Ministers in the Morrison government, after they have been skewered on the ABC, then hop over to 2GB or 3AW, and Sky After Dark, and push out a seamless version of the daily propaganda points, release it to the media, who feel a duty to report it widely because it is official government information. And so, while the commendable interview has occurred, what gets more widely disseminated, through the Murdoch, 9Fax and 7 media, is the garbage. Which ends up in the minds of Bushfire Bill’s grog shop attendant and those like her. Not that which should, being the Paul Kennedy interview.

    And the Morrison government knows it.

    Maybe. But ABC gives them a national platform that reaches in to every nook and cranny of the Nation. Whereas Sky talks to no one, and NSW shock jock media has a much more limited exposure than you might care to think. Very few are tuned in to to all the subtlies and nuances of any particular debate. Sure people that are Twitter oriented will be able to access these views and opinions. But, I daresay they aren’t nearly as important as something credible as the ABC in revealing the Government’s failures.

    My perception is the Government is on the backfoot, still behaving arrogantly and blustering when they should be far more contrite and focussed on the concerns of the Community. This dissembling and prevarication is there on view to everyone. The drip is on McKenzie (similar to Bishop). So, the saga will play out and eventually there will be a scalp. Who it is and how high it goes is yet to unfold.

    But, the whole political pendulum has swung since the Bushfires arrived.

  31. C@t:

    I just cannot believe that she can keep up any pretense for that long, and esp now with her husband coughing up big bikkies for a PAC opposing Trump so publicly.

  32. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/donald-trump-slaps-down-claim-prophets-of-doom-at-world-economic-forum/news-story/1efe3cd63ac303e1292cc7325500c72f

    The 50th meeting of the World Economic Forum aimed for a strong focus on climate change but Mr Trump made clear he had no time for Ms Thunberg’s warning that “our house is still on fire.” Instead, he touted the US economy, which he said was enjoying an “unprecedented” boom thanks to his policies.

    Although he did not explicitly mention climate or Ms Thunberg, Mr Trump urged the world to “reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse,” in a remark widely understood as referring to the teen and her fellow climate-change activists

    Photo of Ms. Thunberg sitting in the audience behind an out of focus Mr. Mathias Cormann (who ❓ )

    Branding those warning of out-of-control global warming and other environmental disasters “the heirs of yesterday’s foolish fortune tellers,” he went on to assert that “alarmists” had been wrong over the decades when predicting population crisis, mass starvation or the end of oil.

    World leaders should be optimistic over the global economy and climate change, he said in a speech that concentrated on his own accomplishments.

    Ms Thunberg ignored the US president’s slap down, turning her guns on her audience and telling them: “The facts are clear, but they are still too uncomfortable for you to address.

    “You just leave it because you think it’s too depressing and people will give up, but people will not give up. You are the ones who are giving up.”

    Speaking just after Mr Trump’s opening address, the teen brushed aside his announcement that the US would join the economic forum’s initiative to plant 1 trillion trees across the globe to help capture carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere.

    “Planting trees is good of course but it’s nowhere near enough,” she said. “It cannot replace mitigation,” she added, referring to efforts to drastically cut emissions in the near term.

    Mr Thunberg accused leaders of “cheating and fiddling around with numbers” with talk of cutting emissions to ‘net zero’ – that is, emitting no more carbon than is absorbed by the planet or technical means – by 2050.

    “We don’t need to cut emissions, we need to stop emissions,” she said.

  33. To a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

    And to a strip-search-happy copper, everyone looks like a criminal.

    NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller says he has “never seen looting like I’ve seen during this emergency”, as a police crackdown on theft and criminal activity in fire-affected towns resulted in no charges related to theft.

    “I was on the ground in a recovery centre south of Batemans Bay and every second person I spoke to either had someone try to get into their house or their neighbours had someone trying to steal something from them.”

    The Commissioner’s comments come after police launched Operation Piper in the state’s fire-ravaged South Coast “to focus on property theft and criminal activity …

    “Police searched 43 people and conducted 18 vehicle searches, with seven people issued move-on directions, 20 issued with traffic or court infringement notices for various offences, seven were found to be in possession of illegal drugs, and five businesses inspected,” police said…

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/sick-to-the-stomach-top-cop-claims-unprecedented-levels-of-looting-after-fires-20200121-p53tgf.html

    but no arrests for theft.

    Just jealous of Shane Fitzsimmons, I guess.

  34. Washington: Former prime minister Tony Abbott has downplayed the contribution of climate change to the Australian bushfire crisis, telling a US audience he believes the link between extreme weather events and carbon emissions has become akin to a religious dogma for many people.

    In a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, Abbott also heaped praise on US President Donald Trump, essentially endorsing him for a second term in the White House.

    https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/almost-a-religious-aspect-tony-abbott-downplays-link-between-bushfires-and-climate-change-20200122-p53tj7.html

  35. C@tmomma says:
    Wednesday, January 22, 2020 at 8:26 am
    Victoria @ #33 Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020 – 8:22 am

    C@t

    Once again Bernie Sanders will play spoiler.
    Wish he would exit stage left
    He’s not even a real Democrat! He just uses the party, like a parasite.
    ________________________________________
    and what do you base this sweeping assertion on? Your extensive knowledge and participation in US politics or just something you read?

Comments Page 1 of 42
1 2 42

Leave a Reply

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