Two things

Some rare insights into how preferences behave in unusual circumstances courtesy of the Johnston by-election, and yet more data on issue salience, this time from JWS Research.

Two things:

• At Antony Green’s prompting, the Northern Territory Electoral Commission has published breakdowns of the various candidates’ preferences flows at Saturday’s Johnston by-election, providing measures of the impact of highly unusual preferencing behaviour by the Greens and the Country Labor Party — remembering that the Northern Territory prohibits dissemination of how-to-vote cards is the immediate vicinity of polling booths. Having done the unthinkable and put Labor last, the Greens’ preferences split 56.9-43.1 between Labor and the Territory Alliance, compared with my own rule of thumb that Labor gets 80% of Greens preferences when they are so directed and 75% when no recommendation is made. Note that this is the Territory Alliance rather than the Country Liberal Party, and that Labor’s flow would presumably have been somewhat stronger had it been otherwise. The CLP no less unusually put Labor second, and their preferences went 52.9-47.1 in favour of the Territory Alliance.

• JWS Research has released its latest quarterly True Issues report, confirming the impression of other similar polling that the salience of the environment and climate chnage spiked over summer. Respondents were separately asked to name three issues off the tops of their heads and to pick the five most important issues out of a list of twenty, with confusingly different results – environment reigned supreme in the first case, but in the second it trailed cost of living (which ranked low when unprompted) and health (second in both cases). Perhaps the most revealing point is that environment increased in the prompted question from 33% a year ago to 42%, while immigration and border security fell from 36% to 25%. The federal government was reckoned to be performing well by 28% of respondents, down two since the November survey, and poorly by 35%, up two. The survey was conducted online from a sample of 1000 from February 20-24.

Author: William Bowe

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

1,654 comments on “Two things”

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  2. Email from Victorian Greens Samantha Ratnam:

    “Labor has sold out local communities.

    The government’s Local Government Bill passed through parliament late last night, with Labor and the Liberals voting against a Greens proposal to ban dodgy political donations to local councillors.

    As a result, property developers and the gambling industry will continue to have free reign to buy influence on local councils.
    :::
    Considering the damning allegations to come out of the IBAC corruption investigation into Casey Council recently, this is simply beyond the pale.

    But it doesn’t stop there…

    Labor and the Liberals also voted together to enforce single-member council ward structures on local councils, which will make it harder for women and people from diverse backgrounds to get elected.

    We’ve heard Premier Andrews brag about his credentials when it comes to gender equality, but actions speak louder than words.

    Labor and the Liberals have undone decades of work to give more women and minorities the opportunity to represent their communities.

    With the council elections coming up in seven months, we need to channel our energy into getting strong, diverse voices elected to local government, in spite of Labor’s new laws.
    And we must continue the fight for greater integrity across state and local government.”

  3. Pegasus says:
    Friday, March 6, 2020 at 9:19 am

    Email from Victorian Greens Inner Urbs Free Rider Samantha Ratnam:

    “As soon as they can the Greens will sell out local communities in the Bush by:

    1. Pulling GMO cotton and GMO canola.
    2. Reducing irrigation by at least 605,000 megalitres
    3. Piling on ecosystem service obligation regulations.
    4. Closing feedlots.
    5. Closing piggeries.
    6. Closing aquaculture.
    7. Closing down the uranium industry.
    8. Closing down the coal industry.
    9. Closing down the live export trade.
    10. Closing down defence industries.
    11. Stop people from hunting ducks.”

  4. It’s a day trader’s paradise on stockmarkets this week. They’re up and down like whore’s drawers.

    FTSE -1.62%
    DAX -1.51%
    Dow Jones -3.58%
    S&P500 -3.39%
    Nasdaq -3.10%

    ASX to follow suit no doubt. It’s just the magnitude of the fall that’s in question.

  5. And instead of throwing money at small businesses, the government should be doing something sensible and structural and giving it to consumers, like Ken Henry told Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan to do. For example, finally increase Newstart.

  6. frednk

    So its guilty until proven innocent is it. Unlike you I will wait for more authoritative evidence before I make a judgement.

    But one thing is clear the dirt units of both the Liberals and Labor are in lock step to discredit the Greens.

    But Cr Simic told The Age on Thursday that he had no case to answer and the Liberals were attacking a worthwhile program that helped get working parents involved in local democracy.

    “The allegations that have been made against me are false,” the councillor said.

    “It is disappointing that the Liberals are so determined to attack childcare support.

    “Childcare is essential and if councils didn’t support councillors with childcare then they’d be restricting access to democracy for a large number of people.”

  7. My superannuation is up four and a half percent so far this financial year. That’s not a typo – it’s up, not down.

    I’m in one of those funds ‘run by unions and whatnot’.

  8. Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching event linked to ‘anthropogenic climate change’

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-06/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-anthropogenic-climate-change/12029936

    The Great Barrier Reef is facing one of the most widespread coral bleaching events on record, as water temperatures in the Coral Sea spike.

    “We’ve been at stressful sea surface temperature levels for some time,” said Dr William Skirving, a senior scientist with the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch project.

    “The vast majority of reefs along the GBR will have some bleaching by now,” wrote Dr Skirving in a briefing note sent to top scientists on Wednesday.

    He stressed that while the bleaching may have left a larger footprint than the record events of 2016 and 2017, the severity of bleaching was milder. However, forecasts indicated the bleaching would become more intense.

  9. Traveling around the U.S. holding rallies in an effort to win the Democratic nomination…good way to give yourself coronavirus?

  10. “Can Scott Morrison match Kevin Rudd in keeping Australia out of recession in a global crisis?”, ponders Michelle Grattan.
    https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-can-scott-morrison-match-kevin-rudd-in-keeping-australia-out-of-recession-in-a-global-crisis-133084

    Scotty from Marketing is all smarm, smirk, slogans, swamp gas and absolutely no substance. So the answer to Michelle Grattan’s question is a simple “No.” When it fails he and the rest of his “adults in charge” will no doubt fall back upon the now incredibly tired and hoary, “It’s all…(no need to finish the quote)” and other sundry empty slogans to try and deflect their abject failings at being the master money managers.

  11. Extinction Rebellion climate protester testing Human Rights Act on public nuisance charge

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-06/climate-protester-argues-protest-legal-qld-human-rights-act/12029148

    Outside court, Benedict Coyne SC said the case was about the fundamental right to protest and provisions in Queensland’s new Human Rights Act, which came into force on January 1.

    “The laws need to be interpreted in a way that is compatible with the Human Rights Act, particularly the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association, ” Mr Coyne said.

    Magistrate Suzette Coates adjourned the case for several weeks to give the prosecution time to make a written submission.

    “This is quite a significant issue,” she told the court.

    “The court’s been well expecting an argument such as this … so I need to properly consider it.

    “It’s not something that should be considered lightly.”

    The maximum penalty for a public nuisance conviction is six months’ jail.

  12. It’s petty obvious neither the LibNats or Labor are really that interested in good representation and trust or transparency in politics Peg. It seems that neither of the major parties can even mutter the words or reflect any concern that parliament should be there to represent the country and people’s interests, not just ther parties and donors shallow interests.

    Clearly the public interest and true representation runs a distant second to inane partisan BS with some regular duopoly back scratching to try and maintain the interests of political donors and their post-political sinecures.

  14. Severe cyclones are spreading further south and it could mean tens of billions in damages

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-06/cyclones-spreading-south-could-cause-tens-of-billions-in-damage/12020218

    The chance of a devastating category four cyclone hitting Brisbane, the Gold Coast and northern NSW, causing tens of billions of dollars in damage, is higher than ever, according to Australia’s largest general insurer.

    These severe cyclones, with wind speeds of up to 225-279 kilometres per hour, are more powerful than most houses in these areas can withstand.

    The modelling, conducted by Insurance Australia Group (IAG) and the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, has found climate change has dramatically increased the risk of a devastating impact.

    They predict there will be a 10 per cent increase in the number of the most intense tropical cyclones off the Australian coast during the next decade.

    Alarmingly, that is the same increase there has been since the 1960s.

  15. Danama Papers says:
    Friday, March 6, 2020 at 9:26 am

    “… They’re up and down like whore’s drawers.” I think you mean “…like LNP pollies at a fund raising do with the big end of town.” Whores have standards unlike the LNP.

  16. 1. Pulling GMO cotton and GMO canola. I have no problem with GMO
    2. Reducing irrigation by at least 605,000 megalitres
    OK, that’s about 400,000 Olympic Pools, but it’s basically a meaningless big number. Can’t otherwise comment.
    3. Piling on ecosystem service obligation regulations.
    We seem to need either better regulation or proper enforcement of current regulation, maybe a mix of both.
    4. Closing feedlots. No but they should be subject to proper oversight, including health, environment and animal cruelty.
    5. Closing piggeries. Ditto
    6. Closing aquaculture. Ditto
    7. Closing down the uranium industry. I am open to nuclear energy given the urgency of the climate crisis
    8. Closing down the coal industry. Needs to be substantially closed by 2050. There would still be industrial uses of coal / derivatives even after we stop burning it.
    9. Closing down the live export trade. Should happen.
    10. Closing down defence industries. In due course, when we can beat our swords into ploughshares. Unfortunately that isn’t any time soon.
    11. Stop people from hunting ducks. Should happen. We banned dog fights, bear baiting, cockfights…

  17. Meanwhile in Tasmania

    ‘Dorothy Dixer’ questions in Tasmanian Parliament allow the Government to spruik agenda, curb criticism

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-06/criticism-over-dorothy-dixer-questions-in-tasmanian-parliament/12030356

    Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said her party had made representations to reduce the number of questions the Government gets, but that it had “fallen on deaf ears”.

    “It’s insulting to the people of Tasmania, it’s insulting to our democracy, and it’s a poor indictment on the way the Tasmanian Parliament operates under the Liberals,” she said.

    “It means the Government is escaping scrutiny, that’s what this is about.”

    Ms Ogilvie said time was of the essence during parliamentary sittings.

    “Maybe there’s a different way we can approach this that gives the people of Tasmania more of an understanding about what’s really going on and lets everybody ask a few more questions,” she said.

    Last year, Labor wrote to Speaker Sue Hickey asking her to convene a meeting of the Standing Orders Committee to review proceedings, saying “in recent times [Question Time] has developed into little more than an opportunity for the Government to chew up time and sledge its opponents.”

    A meeting was held late last year, but it is unclear if the committee made a decision on a way forward.

    The Victorian and Commonwealth parliaments are also reviewing Dorothy Dixer questions.

  18. Officials refuse to say how many flawed robodebts they have found

    Department and agency heads tell Senate estimates they cannot provide figures that might affect a class action

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/06/centrelink-robodebt-senate-estimates-class-action

    The government has refused to tell a parliamentary hearing how many alleged welfare debts have been identified by a flawed and now abandoned calculation method that is likely to force the commonwealth to refund thousands of welfare recipients.

    At a fiery Senate estimates session on Thursday night, Department of Social Services and Services Australia officials cited legal advice in refusing to answer successive questions about the botched scheme, which is now the subject of a class action.

    Under questioning from the Greens senator Rachel Siewert, the secretary of the Department of Social Services, Kathryn Campbell, refused to say how many debts had been affected by the flawed “income averaging” method, found to be unlawful in the federal court in November.

    The social services minister, Anne Ruston, then lodged a public interest immunity claim, prompting claims from Labor and the Greens of a “cover-up”.

  19. FS who posted in the wee hours….

    Sarah Hanson-Young wrote court reference for friend charged after he ‘slapped’ wife

    https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/sarah-hanson-young-wrote-court-reference-for-friend-charged-after-he-slapped-wife-20200305-p5479n.html

    In the letter to the court, seen by the Herald, Ms Hanson-Young said her friend of 10 years was “one of the key people” who advised her to undertake her recent successful litigation against former Senator David Leyonhjelm after “years of hostile sexist bullying”.
    :::
    According to court documents seen by the Herald, the man and his wife had engaged in a series of disagreements in the lead-up to an incident on December 23 last year, when both had “had a few drinks”.

    The facts state the man “grabbed” his partner and “started pushing her towards the couch”.

    She then “tried to hit” him while she was being pushed but was “overpowered”. The man then “pushed” his wife onto the couch “in an attempt to stop her yelling”, before he “slapped [her] with an open hand on the left side of the face”.

    Ms Hanson-Young, who has previously said there were “no excuses” for domestic violence and the assault of women, said she could not “reconcile the person I know as acting in any way criminally” and said she was confident it would not happen again.

    “As someone who works in politics I understand precisely what reputation means in public life. In my view a criminal conviction would have a severe and unwarranted impact on his reputation and consequently on his work.”
    :::
    In a statement Ms Hanson-Young said “no conviction was recorded in this matter. I was asked to provide a character reference for the husband. I did this with the full support of the wife, whom I also know.

    “I do not condone domestic violence, any suggestion otherwise is absurd,” she said. “In the interest of the family concerned and their privacy, I don’t intend to make any further comments.”

  20. C@tmomma @ #1303 Friday, March 6th, 2020 – 9:31 am

    And instead of throwing money at small businesses, the government should be doing something sensible and structural and giving it to consumers, like Ken Henry told Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan to do. For example, finally increase Newstart.

    And everyone (means tested?) got 900 buckeroos to spend. Pronto. The cleaner (Croatian by birth) at work was crapping on about socialism and how good Howard was, but soon shut up when I told her to send her $900 back. Turnbull was bumping his gums about what a flagrant waste of money it all was, and what the country needed was tax cuts (like they’ll work quickly, not). Ken Henry was the man, sure was.

  21. Move to expel Richo from NSW Labor

    https://johnmenadue.com/alex-mitchell-move-to-expel-richo-from-nsw-labor/

    Graham Richardson, aka “Richo” or “Cardinal Richlieu”, has infuriated his comrades in Sussex Street with anti-Labor broadsides prompting moves to expel him. Is this a good idea?
    :::
    As a result, an anti-Richardson alliance in the ALP want him thrown out of the party. They furiously resent the fact that it was the Labor Party that gave him all his jobs, a place in the Senate and senior Cabinet portfolios.

    Leading the charge to expel Richardson is former Federal Sports Minister John Brown AO, ex-butcher and MP for Parramatta. Now 88 years of age, “JJ” still takes an active interest in Labor politics, including the media antics of Richardson.
    :::
    When Paul Keating overthrew Bob Hawke as prime minister in December 1991, he promoted Richardson as his Minister for Transport and Communications, a very unlikely pairing of portfolios.

    But it was perfect positioning for Richardson: he railroaded the privatisation of Qantas, TAA and the Commonwealth Bank through caucus and Cabinet and worked with media moguls to secure cross-media ownership regulations favouring all the existing players, including Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch.
    :::
    Personally, I support Richardson’s right to flaunt his “coming out” as a Tory lapdog; he always was and always will be. As the founder of the school of politics known as “whatever it takes”, Richardson deserves to be “Hero of NSW Labor” because it utterly discredits an awards system that has become a sick joke. I suggest that loyal party members who want to clean up the house should start with the house.

    What next? Posthumous life membership to lavish party donor, the late Abe Saffron?

  25. This bloke has been reading my posts.

    The lesson of HIV/AIDS is that the people, not the politicians, can be trusted to deal with coronavirus but only if they are told the truth on the basis of science and facts and by those who have and can earn their trust.

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/our-hiv-lesson-exclude-politicians-and-trust-the-experts-and-the-people-to-confront-coronavirus-20200305-p5476a.html

    Throw in my “app” idea (they didn’t have apps, or internet, during the 80s HIV crisis) and there’s the plan: assume the worst, keep the politicians out of it, only independent bureaucrats and medics running the show (not mates of ScoMo’s trying to keep their promotion), keep the public informed jargon-free.

    This is not a lab experiment, or an interesting subject for boffins. It’s people’s lives and livelihoods.

    Instead of laughing at shoppers buying toilet paper, ask “Why?” (seriously, not flippantly). It’s because there is a vacuum of leadership and reliable information, so shoppers do what the herd does.

    Labelling others as racists doesn’t cut it either. I’ve been called as racist here. Elsewhere, in the dim past – about three weeks ago – plonking, condescending articles were being published, written by the professional Racist Labelling mafia, saying what an indictment it was that the Chinese were being singled out, tut-tut.

    Comments such as these can only be valid if the person doing the labelling is prepared to guarantee that it’s safe to attend various events, businesses, public gatherings. Telling others they should live each day as if it is their last has only limited appeal, and is not a qualification to give guarantees. In the absence of other input, caution is best.

    We now know that the gate was shut long after thousands of Chinese tourists, or Chinese-Australian citizens managed to get into the country from infection hotspots (some direct from Wuhan itself) with none, or only the most perfunctory of checks.

    We also know that there has been quarantine-busting behaviour, using intermediate countries as cover to gain entry. This is how at least one infection stream (in Brisbane) got started.

    The infection stream in the north west of Sydney is in the heart of an ex-pat Chinese settlement area. The school closed yesterday has 80% ethnically Chinese students. The infected patient at the aged care facility in Macquarie Park was Chinese, judging by footage of the relatives who visited her.

    The same now goes for Iranians, Koreans and now Italians. No doubt in the coming weeks we can expect infection streams out of those ethnic communities too. And who wants to travel to Indonesia anytime soon? Cheap Bali vacation, anyone?

    Gaining satisfaction from calling someone else a racist, or laughing at people who buy too much toilet paper will not immunize you from being infected with C19. Only keeping contact with others to a minimum, and taking precautions when you have to, will.

    This virus outbreak has been managed with a view to protecting businesses. Only one week ago the official advice was to go about your normal business (literally “Go to the footy, eat at a Chinese restaurant” etc.). “Normal business” should be suspended for the time being until we are being treated less as political targets, and more as citizens with legitimate concerns.

    Until this is done, expect more panic.

  26. John Brown’s most renowned act up till now was rogering the missus, Jan Murray, on the Minister’s desk… Maybe he can succeed in rogering Richo?

    “From the woman who famously admitted on 60 Minutes that she had sex with her husband, then-federal cabinet minister John Brown, on his desk in the 1980s – and then left her lacy black underwear in the ashtray of his department head – in order to protest the fact that her conjugal rights were being denied (because John was often away from home)?“

    https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/more-wilful-than-wayward-20121013-27j41.html

  27. One can only sigh at this. What leadership?

    Lyle Shelton
    @LyleShelton
    ·
    17h
    I’ve been thinking a lot about the assault on leadership in our nation.
    @ScottMorrisonMP’s fine interview with @abc730’s @leighsales
    demonstrates he has what it takes to stare down the Left & take our nation forward.

  29. Victorian Labor’s transparent anti-democratic agenda to rid local councils of Greens and reduce diversity 0f representation.

    Greens Rohan Leppert on twitter:

    Detailed debate on the #LGBill on #springst is nearing a conclusion. Our one Greens MLC
    @SamanthaRatnam has moved twice as many amendments as all other members put together and done an amazing job. The Minister has ignored every amendment, even when he said he agreed with them.
    ———–

    This Local Government Bill process, under one of the worst Ministers the sector could ever hope not to have, has been a disgrace. The new Act will be laced with lazy provisions designed for political advantage rather than good governance and accountable government.
    —————

    Labor is killing a tier of government and it is doing it with glee. The entire caucus has let the all-powerful Adem Somyurek take to the sector with a machete, impose new electoral structures that are designed to kill diversity, and accumulate ministerial powers.

    Shame on them.
    ———–

    The Minister’s final words on the Bill’s committee stage are his most revealing: “this is a blow to the Greens’ business model. My message to them is get out of Local Government.”

    Well at last his motives are clear.

  30. Pegasus says:
    Friday, March 6, 2020 at 10:26 am
    Victorian Labor’s transparent anti-democratic agenda to rid local councils of Greens

    The Greens have made it their daily business to defile and debase Labor in the hope of destroying them. They should expect no quarter. Fuck the Greens. They cannot be trusted to do other than promote the dominance of the LNP.

  31. lizzie @ #1325 Friday, March 6th, 2020 – 10:23 am

    One can only sigh at this. What leadership?

    Lyle Shelton
    @LyleShelton
    ·
    17h
    I’ve been thinking a lot about the assault on leadership in our nation.
    @ScottMorrisonMP’s fine interview with @abc730’s @leighsales
    demonstrates he has what it takes to stare down the Left & take our nation forward.

    Leadership to Lyle Shelton = lying to an interviewer, avoiding answering her questions truthfully and abusing her and incorrectly accusing her of being in league with the devil, er, the Labor Party.

    Some ‘leadership’.

  32. C@tmomma @ #1329 Friday, March 6th, 2020 – 7:38 am

    lizzie @ #1325 Friday, March 6th, 2020 – 10:23 am

    One can only sigh at this. What leadership?

    Lyle Shelton
    @LyleShelton
    ·
    17h
    I’ve been thinking a lot about the assault on leadership in our nation.
    @ScottMorrisonMP’s fine interview with @abc730’s @leighsales
    demonstrates he has what it takes to stare down the Left & take our nation forward.

    Leadership to Lyle Shelton = lying to an interviewer, avoiding answering her questions truthfully and abusing her and incorrectly accusing her of being in league with the devil, er, the Labor Party.

    Some ‘leadership’.

    No wonder he likes him,

    Isn’t that the SOP of religions?

  33. Well Pegasus, it may have been the wee small hours where you were, but it was only 11pm here where I am, so lets put that snide innuendo to rest.

    Yes, that’s the article I read.

    So,apart from posting it, do you have any comments to make about the apparent hypocrisy of Hanson-Young, or do you accept it as acceptable Greens double standards?

  34. So,apart from posting it, do you have any comments to make about the apparent hypocrisy of Hanson-Young, or do you accept it as acceptable Greens double standards?

    Greens engaged in ‘do as I say not as I do’ hypocrisy? Not like that’s a first. 😆

  35. ‘fess,
    This goes with that:

    Trump has learned that sprinkling numbers on top of other numbers can create a mist of uncertainty and, by extension, some political breathing room. He uses numbers the way others use emoji, as approximations of how he feels or he wants you to feel.

    …This week, Trump took this propensity into a dangerous new realm.

    On Tuesday, a World Health Organization official stated that the mortality rate for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, is at 3.4 percent globally. Asked about it during an interview Wednesday night with his friend Sean Hannity on Fox News, Trump disagreed with that number.

    “I think the 3.4 percent is really a false number,” Trump said. “Now, and this is just my hunch, and — but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this. Because a lot of people will have this and it’s very mild. They’ll get better very rapidly. They don’t even see a doctor. They don’t even call a doctor. You never hear about those people.”

    …He concluded: “So I think that that number is very high. I think the number — personally, I would say the number is way under 1 percent.”

    Let’s set aside the stunningly dangerous suggestion that people can simply go to work with the highly contagious virus without issue and instead focus on Trump’s math. He twice admits that he’s simply making up the percentage he’s talking about, calling it a “hunch” and saying that it’s his personal assessment. Yes, he has access to more experts on the subject than your average American, which may inform that personal estimate, but his access to experts didn’t prevent him from reiterating obviously inaccurate information at an event with drug companies earlier this week.

    …To Hannity, Trump revealed his own thinking. You hear about a death and you assume the rate of death is high when it’s actually low. He’s using statistics as a measure of how people should feel about the coronavirus, not to accurately convey the threat it poses. It’s like when he once admitted that he evaluated his own net worth based on how he felt on a given day; to Trump, the mortality rate is really more of a subjective Fear Metric and not something related to the virus’s effects.

    Trump has good reason to want people not to worry about the virus. He’s repeatedly considered the spread of the virus in the context of the economy, an issue important to him as a businessman and as a candidate for reelection in November. It’s important that people not freak out about the coronavirus unnecessarily, of course, but waving away the threat — and telling people that it’s not a big deal to go to work if infected with it! — is not responsible management of the issue.

    We don’t know the mortality rate of the coronavirus in the United States in part because we don’t know the spread of the virus thanks to the government’s slow, faulty start in measuring it. We do know, though, that, by themselves, numbers offered by Trump aren’t trustworthy. That the world he presents is often not the real one.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/05/trumps-habit-fudging-inconvenient-numbers-enters-dangerous-territory/

  37. lizzie @ #1325 Friday, March 6th, 2020 – 10:23 am

    One can only sigh at this. What leadership?

    Lyle Shelton
    @LyleShelton
    ·
    17h
    I’ve been thinking a lot about the assault on leadership in our nation.
    @ScottMorrisonMP’s fine interview with @abc730’s @leighsales
    demonstrates he has what it takes to stare down the Left & take our nation forward.

    He’s right about one thing. Morrison could stare down a brick shithouse.

  38. “…[Morrison] has what it takes to stare down the Left & take our nation forward.”

    When did Leigh Sales join “The Left”?

    By they way, does the “Left” have a membership card? Do you have to fill out a form? Do you get discounts?

  40. BB

    I’ll bite.

    You cannot be blind to the racism that this virus has brought out. You only have to talk to people. You only have to read numerous articles in reputable outlets here and around the world. The politicians acknowledge this.

    You have a background in this, and came on this board being snotty about “wowsers” being precious, even though little had been said here to precipitate this. I, among others, pulled you up on racist sentiments, and you did not like this.

    Hence you are riding this issue with great vigour, having dropped your other hobby-horses.

    I note you are pretty alone here, even your usual allies are pretty quiet on your recent posts.

  43. I’m going to be controversial and say good on SHY for writing that reference. It means she has an open mind and understands that beneath the catch-all label of domestic violence there is huge complexity.

    It is not to excuse domestic violence in any way to recognise that not every man, charged with domestic violence after what appears from the newspaper report to be the tail end of an increasingly acerbic marriage break-down, is one step away from beating his son to death with a cricket bat or setting his daughters on fire.

  45. It looks like the B Team, the NSW State Coalition government (who do have a link to the A Team via the marriage between Stuart Ayres and Marise Payne), have been up to the same Sports Rorts tricks as the federal Coalition government:

    As NSW minister for sport, Stuart Ayres pushed for a $12 million grant with no relevance to his portfolio to go to his local leagues club weeks before the 2019 state election, with bureaucrats revealing he did “not want to have his signature on anything to do with the Panthers project”.

    NSW Office of Sport executives spent months trying to find another department to fund the Panthers Western Sydney Community and Conference Centre (WSCCC) before and after the election because funding it themselves created “reputational risk for the office of sport and the government”, correspondence seen by the Herald reveals.

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sports-minister-pushed-for-12m-grant-despite-reputational-risk-20200303-p546bt.html

    ‘Reputational risk’!?! That’s what it’s all about to the Coalition, definitely not doing the right thing, that’s for sure.

  46. The reason Richo can write that the Morrison government hasn’t been in any trouble is because they haven’t admitted doing anything wrong.

    Sure journos have tried, some genuinely energetically, but all have failed. In the absence of a confession, the media acquit Morrison.

    Imagine if the police acted that way. With the exception of the AFP investigating Liberal ministers, proper police practice is to prosecute, if possible, with or without a confession.

    So why do the media (and the AFP) acquit obviously guilty members of the government?

    Fear of retribution.

    You could see it the other night in the Sales-Morrison interview. She had him on the ropes at one stage, so badly that he played the “Well, if you want to spout Labor talking points, Leigh…” card. This was enough to shut her up pretty-well instantly. Soon the smirk re-appeared. ScoMo knew the threat had worked. He was off the hook.

    Sales had been told she was going too far. You can imply Morrison is anything. But if you imply he’s a liar, he’ll pounce.

    Until senior journalists start outright calling politicians liars, after giving them a chance to come clean first (for ethics’ sakes), nothing will change.

  47. This from Julia Lindau, a reporter for ViceNews..

    I just landed at JFK after reporting on #coronavirus in Milan and Lombardy —the epicenter of Italy’s outbreak— for @vicenews. I walked right through US customs. They didn’t ask me where in Italy I went or if I came into contact with sick people. They didn’t ask me anything.

  49. Well this morning I lost my casual job due to the Corona virus…my research room at a major hospital has been repurposed into a Corona Screening Centre-my installed equipment trapped inside with no where else to put it.
    As my only source of income I am not happy…

  50. ‘Steve777 says:
    Friday, March 6, 2020 at 9:45 am

    1. Pulling GMO cotton and GMO canola. I have no problem with GMO
    2. Reducing irrigation by at least 605,000 megalitres
    OK, that’s about 400,000 Olympic Pools, but it’s basically a meaningless big number. Can’t otherwise comment.
    3. Piling on ecosystem service obligation regulations.
    We seem to need either better regulation or proper enforcement of current regulation, maybe a mix of both.
    4. Closing feedlots. No but they should be subject to proper oversight, including health, environment and animal cruelty.
    5. Closing piggeries. Ditto
    6. Closing aquaculture. Ditto
    7. Closing down the uranium industry. I am open to nuclear energy given the urgency of the climate crisis
    8. Closing down the coal industry. Needs to be substantially closed by 2050. There would still be industrial uses of coal / derivatives even after we stop burning it.
    9. Closing down the live export trade. Should happen.
    10. Closing down defence industries. In due course, when we can beat our swords into ploughshares. Unfortunately that isn’t any time soon.
    11. Stop people from hunting ducks. Should happen. We banned dog fights, bear baiting, cockfights…’

    My point is a meta-policy point: the Greens are hiding these policies from rural and regional communities while pretending to be supporters of rural and regional communities. Taken as a set these policies will, beyond any shadow of a doubt, smash many communities in the Bush.

    The Bush Rat rushes out to run fracking as a populist Bush line. He is, we are told, going to ‘connect’ with farmers. With both boots, actually. What Bandt the devious bastard is hiding is the Greens’ comprehensive intention to destroy.

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