As you can see in the post below this one, the Courier-Mail yesterday had a YouGov Galaxy state poll for Queensland that found both major parties stranded in the mid-thirties on the primary vote. State results from this series are usually followed a day or two later by federal ones, but no sign of that to this point. If it’s Queensland state politics reading you’re after, I can offer my guide to the Currumbin by-election, to be held on March 29. Other than that, there’s the following news on how various parliamentary vacancies around the place will be or might be filled:
• Noel Towell of The Age reports two former state MPs who fell victim to the Greens’ weak showing at the November 2018 state election are “potentially strong contenders” to take Richard Di Natale’s Senate seat when he leaves parliament, which will be determined by a vote of party members. These are Lidia Thorpe, who won the Northcote by-election from Labor in June 2018, and Huong Truong, who filled Colleen Hartland’s vacancy in the Western Metropolitan upper house seat in February 2018. The party’s four current state MPs have all ruled themselves out. Others said to be potential starters include Brian Walters, a barrister and former Liberty Victoria president, and Dinesh Mathew, a television actor who ran in the state seat of Caulfield in 2018.
• Former Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman’s seat in parliament will be filled by Nic Street, following a preference countback of the votes Hodgman received in the seat of Franklin at the March 2018 election. This essentially amounted to a race between Street and the other Liberal who nominated for the recount, Simon Duffy. Given Street was only very narrowly unsuccessful when he ran as an incumbent at the election, being squeezed out for the last of the five seats by the Greens, it was little surprise that he easily won the countback with 8219 out of 11,863 (70.5%). This is the second time Street has made it to parliament on a countback, the first being in February 2016 on the retirement of Paul Harriss.
• The Age reports Mary Wooldridge’s vacancy in the Victorian Legislative Council is likely to be filled either by Emanuele Cicchiello, former Knox mayor and deputy principal at Lighthouse Christian College, or Asher Judah, who ran unsuccessfully in Bentleigh in 2018. Party sources are quoted expressing surprise that only four people have nominated, with the only woman being Maroondah councillor Nora Lamont, reportedly a long shot. Also in the field is Maxwell Gratton, chief executive of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival.
That article on home ownership Victoria linked to featured a couple who would be buying their first home in their 50s by the time they saved for a 20% deposit.
How likely is that banks would lend money for buying a home (30 year mortgage) to people that age given the average person doesn’t work into their 80s?
Simon Katich @ #791 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 8:52 am
Yes way!!
‘rhwombat says:
Monday, February 10, 2020 at 11:54 am
Boerwar @ #786 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 11:47 am
RHW
I also saw the funny side, as well as the dark side, of this:
‘Doctors use big words to hide bad things: Nosocomial means caught it in the hospital.’
Inside hospitals (Tom Freiden isn’t a hospital doctor) it isn’t funny: we use the term “nosocomial” (and “HCW mortality”, and “open reporting”) to scare bureaucrats into doing something.
It would be interesting to know the protocols that were in place to allow such a very high rate of in-hospital infections.
That said, and being more or less totally ignorant of medical jargons, ‘nosocomial’ seemed like an evil sort of thing to me.
Why ‘open reporting’ should be regarded as a threat by health bureaucrats is a no-brainer. It represents both loss of control and hence more accountability than health bureaucrats would like to live with.
‘HCW mortality’ or at least HCW infections in Peng’s Report, should be a frightener for everyone with an interest in the future of nCoV19.
There are those who think that free money is generating a series of global asset bubbles which will, in due course, pop.
Housing and shares in Australia are thought to be two of those bubbles.
I freely admit that I have given up trying to understand the various contradictions being generated by post GFC free money.
One such is economic growth without wages growth.
Boerwar
It is hard to see how the ASX could be seen as being a bubble and there is wage growth but it is slow wage growth.
One Queenslander I liked, but who died a fair while ago, had fought in the Battle of Jutland. Imagine that!
He was a stoker in an engine room. For the entire Battle he saw nothing and he heard nothing. He told me that every now and then an order would come down to increase steam or decrease steam. But that was that.
He was a gentle lovely man and we enjoyed many a leisurely morning and afternoon tea with him and his wife nattering over this and that while looking northwards over parts of the Atherton Tableland.
M
I wouldn’t know all that much, to tell you the truth. What is clear is the ASX p/e ratios are well above their long term average.
Further, the statement, ‘this time it is different’ (usually heard when there is talk of a bubble) is invariably shown by subsequent events to be false.
Pride cometh before the fall.
Fess
I received a mortgage when I was 51, with no comment on possible retirement age (after a bit of unwanted aggro because I was a divorced female). After all, the banks are happy to repossess the house if payments can’t be met.
Simon Katich @ #789 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 11:52 am
I have a high strike rate
Zali Steggall has released her Climate Change Framework Bill.
https://www.zalisteggall.com.au/climate_change_national_framework_for_adaptation_and_mitigation_bill_2020
Oxfam has already made a statement on it:
“This bill represents the minimum action necessary to bring Australia into line with comparable countries and to get us on the path to zero emissions as soon as possible. It is an important and practical step that deserves support from all sides of politics.
As parliament resumes after a horrendous summer of extreme weather and bushfires, we welcome this move by Ms Steggall, which is a response to community sentiment to ‘just get on with it’ when it comes to setting the framework required to address the climate crisis.
Importantly, by beginning a sequence of five-year emissions budgets, guided by independent advice, the bill requires a strengthening of Australia’s existing and woefully inadequate 2030 emissions reduction targets.”
Rex Douglas @ #811 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 9:16 am
Emma
Peter Garrett
…
If tolerating systemic racism within policing were the test for the legitimacy of Australian governments of all stripes over the past two and a half centuries, very, very few of them would rate much better than Butti and many governments would have rated far, far worse.
Take just one example. Under a WA Labor Government, which shows some signs of sensitivity to the issue of policing rates, and a Police Commissioner who has issued a public apology for past policing wrongs, the CURRENT rate of traffic policing of Indigenous drivers is THREE TIMES that of non-Indigenous drivers.
This statistic refers to being pulled over and questioned and/or tested.
It does not refer to traffic infringements handed out.
Boerwar @ #773 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 11:37 am
The only reason the Gillard-Milne-Indy govt legislation was repealed was because the Labor party self-destructed and destroyed the Govt.
Mexicanbeemer
Yes i typically avoid auctions, i mentioned the one before which i attended more as a curiosity. I am a good saver, so deposit isn’t the limiting factor. I’m inclined to think moving further out (hopefully still near a train line) and getting a freehold house might be more sensible than getting something small that could be quickly outgrown if I end up having a family.
Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #811 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 12:20 pm
I predicted Emma would be ‘managed out’ – tick
Garrett is still a chance to join the Greens if Bandt and Bob Brown are astute enough to build a bridge.
Precisely why he’s done the bolt, I’d suggest.
FMD.
Since when was Oxfam a world leader in climate policy?
The Lib-Lab parliamentary ‘friends of coal’ cartel will be drawing up plans as we speak to ‘kill’ Steggall.
Rex Douglas @ #817 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 9:24 am
How was she managed out?
She resigned and then changed her mind.
Rex
The details of the Gillard/Greens deal are totally unimportant. The upshot demonstrates that:
REAL, SIGNIFICANT, SUSTAINED CLIMATE IN/ACTION DEPENDS ON HAVING A MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE FOR THREE OR FOUR GOVERNMENTS IN A ROW.
As the Coalition keeps demonstrating.
The Greens can aspire to frig around at the edges. And they do. I suggest that in the interim you follow Band’s personal lead and take the Greens New Deal CO2 Emissions Strike Pledge and strive to move towards becoming a Greens ZeroHero. Hot does not count. Cutting your personal CO2 emissions does. Here are some handy hints for you to consider. They are NOT enough to get you to ZeroHero, BTW. More will be needed. Much more:
1. Reduce personal housing footprint to the world average.
2. Refuse to fly except in emergencies.
3. Sell car.
4. Eat low miles, low storage, low refined food, low irrigated foods and low storage energy foods.
5. Eat no dairy and no beef products.
6. Wear the same clothes and shoes until they wear out.
7. Do not use cans. At all.
8. Stop drinking alcohol. (Chardonnay Socialists will have a crises of conscience here. One bottle = 1.5 kg of CO2 emissions!).
9. Stop smoking dope. All those lights!
8. Do not live in houses which use hardwood in construction.
9. Despatch dogs and cats.
Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #819 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 12:28 pm
When the likes of Joel Fitzgibbon are in the press saying “..her reputation has been now so badly tarnished that it’s not sustainable for her”, the writing is on the wall.
alfred venison:
If you think the bill is good policy, why not ask them to whip the caucus to support it rather than asking for a conscience vote?
The implosion of Labor was catastrophic for the Govt and it’s legislative successes.
The Gillard-Milne-Indy Govt had all the ingredients to be a long term progressive Govt, but sadly Labor blew it up.
Boerwar:
[‘I was stunned to learn a few years ago of the number of civil disobedience events in China.’]
With a population of 1.4B, it’s a wonder how the leaders of China have kept civil disobedience events down to 100,000 per annum. The West thought that with a burgeoning middle-class, there would follow a more democratic China, but it ain’t turned out that way – yet.
a r:
[‘Doubt, or don’t doubt?’]
Let me redo it:
I’m sure the number of those who’ve contracted the coronavirus in mainland China well exceeds the number reported by the authorities.
[‘Because it seems implausible that with 1.4 billion people the government is going to be able to identify and confirm every single infection? Especially if it tends to produce milder symptoms in some younger/healthier/luckier cases.’]
Agree somewhat, though given the under-reporting during the SARS outbreak, there’s reason to believe we’re not getting the full story, possibly predicated on not wanting to panic the proletariat.
[‘Just as with China’s Sars outbreak that killed 800 people worldwide in 2002-03, the central shortcomings in China’s response have derived from its rigidly hierarchical political system.’]
https://www.ft.com/content/fa83463a-4737-11ea-aeb3-955839e06441
I think that Bandt can safely add Rex to his Greens’ ZeroHero list.
He is THAT committed to real climate action!
Boerwar @ #821 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 11:34 am
Clearly intended to be more punitive than actually effective, since this still permits the use of grid electricity and encourages neither domestic renewable-energy generation nor storage/export of same.
Generating your own clean energy and storing it so that you never have to pull from the grid will (for most people in most places) do far more to reduce personal CO2 emissions than most of your other proposals. Telling that it doesn’t even rate a mention in your list.
There are some beautiful, towering, sunshine bright cumulonimbus clouds aggregating around and about. I hope the bastards don’t get it into their minds to generate some ferocious and destructive thunderstorms.
#EnoughweatheronPBalready.
Hanson doing her bit for RW nutjobbery:
citizen
I suppose Pauline has made a video explaining what she means by “non-traditional sex”?
alfred venison @ #702 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 10:02 am
Well done !
I’ve done the same with my local member.
That’s the best thing to do to try and beat the Lib-Lab parliamentary ‘friends of coal’ cartel that has hijacked Canberra and locked out environmentalists.
I like clouds.
lizzie @ #832 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 9:48 am
You can be very twisted at times. 😆
ar
Thank your for your kind advice. I have edited the Greens’ ZeroHero Pledge accordingly. Mind you, it is not the actual pathways that matter all that much. It is the End State. It is ensuring that each and every Greens becomes a walking, talking ZeroHero. My list is far from definitive, of course. For example I have not put in planting trees as an offset for the inevitable CO2 emissions leakages.
What matters is to ensure that when Greens come up with policy advice that disproportionately punishes others, as they have, the Greens have some street cred in the matter which at the moment they totally lack.
BTW, I am thinking of creating a new category: ‘ZeroHero Gold Star’. That would be for peeps such as myself who sequester more than twice the CO2 emissions we generate.
Bandt’s ZeroHero Pledge:
1. Reduce personal housing footprint to the world average.
2. Refuse to fly except in emergencies.
3. Sell car.
4. Eat low miles, low storage, low refined food, low irrigated foods and low storage energy foods.
5. Eat no dairy and no beef products.
6. Wear the same clothes and shoes until they wear out.
7. Do not use cans. At all.
8. Stop drinking alcohol. (Chardonnay Socialists will have a crises of conscience here. One bottle = 1.5 kg of CO2 emissions!).
9. Stop smoking dope. All those lights!
10. Do not live in houses which use hardwood in construction.
11. Despatch dogs and cats.
12. Generate and store own energy.
Barney
Unfortunately I am no longer lithe enough to be twisted!
SK
You are very, very cruel.
BTW, living cheek by jowl with Common Wombats has enabled me to learn the true meaning behind their facial expressions. I hestitate to hurt some feelings, but your average inner urban non provider of ecosystem services has NO idea about the facial expressions of Common Wombats.
Anyway, I can assure you that the Common Wombat in your image is considering some of Ms Hanson’s ‘non traditional sex’.
Morrison pandering to the denialists in his MPs. If there are businesses out there who think another coal fired power station is a good idea let them pay for their own feasibility study.
Sydney beaches disappearing with more extreme weather on the way:
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/sydneys-northern-beaches-brace-for-further-erosion-as-storms-settle-in/news-story/423bca1fa0eda9d68492bc5f25a90e82
lizzie
Yep.
There are no wombats near here. Sadly. The SA state animal has a very small range.
But where I grew up I remember a local street Christmas cricket match party where I crawled down a burrow to find a wombat – at the request of a bunch of friends. I was a pretty small kid – the only one small and agile and brave enough to do it. The wombat was used to us so took my visit surprisingly well.
Boerwar @ #821 Monday, February 10th, 2020 – 12:34 pm
Oh, so not a new pledge. A pity. I thought you might have moved on.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90456328/building-with-timber-instead-of-steel-could-help-pull-millions-of-tons-of-carbon-from-the-atmosphere
Amy is a gem …
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2020/feb/10/nationals-coalition-liberals-queensland-morrison-politics-live
A little beauty from Amy R
“Just wondering if anyone has asked Peter Dutton yet whether arsonists also lit the floods?”
And from a Twitter contributor.
“Damn lefties brought this upon themselves when they banned back-flooding.”
Crikey reckons that even Andrew Bolt is admitting that Climate Change is real and human caused.
“We sceptics can’t go on like this. These bushfires demand we all stop pretending and face the facts. And yes it starts with me. So I admit: the planet has warmed … man’s emissions probably play some role…”
https://www.crikey.com.au/2020/02/10/andrew-bolt-climate-change-dive/
That leaves only Scomo and a few die-hards on Pollbludger still trying to deny we need action.
What happened to Andrew? Did the supply of money from Gina dry up? Did his favourite ski-lodge in the Vic Alps burn down? Or is he just about to switch tactics to: “but its still way too expensive…”?
Rex writes to his local member, Richard Marles.
Hope it was civil.
In Collaroy..