Three things:
• The Victorian parliament has passed contentious legislation to change the process by which boundaries are drawn for local government elections, the effect of which will be an end to proportional representation in many councils and a return to single-member wards. This was passed through the upper house with the support of both major parties, and fairly obviously targets the Greens, whose local government footprint expanded considerably in 2016. The legislation is covered in greater detail by Ben Raue at The Tally Room. Relatedly, The Age reports Labor plans to endorse candidates across metropolitan councils at the elections in October, after doing so in only three councils in 2016. The Liberals in Victoria have never endorsed candidates.
• The closure of nominations for Queensland’s March 28 by-election for Bundamba on Tuesday revealed a field of four candidates representing the Labor, the LNP, the Greens in One Nation, just as there will be in Currumbin on the same day. You can read all about it in my election guides for the two seats, which are linked to on the sidebar.
• For those who have forgotten what a Labor election win looks like, Malcolm Farnsworth has posted four hours of ABC election night coverage from 1983 in two parts, here and here. The broadcast predates results at polling booth level and indicative two-party preference counts, which would have to wait until the 1990s, and without which it was difficult for analysts to read the breeze from partial counts in any but the most homogenous seats.
Cc
Not that I believe that HSR will ever happen but the road from Terrigal/The Entrance to the station position that you describe is already a car park during peak times due to the Wyong turn off and Tuggerah Westfield. Placing extra strain on it by a commuter station will require significant road reconstruction.
BTW when you look at the economics of HSR do fares reflect full cost or assume the continuing state government subsidisation?
The highest trending media article on Twitter is one from the NewDaily, where ex Ch9 journo Michael Pascoe lays out what everybody thinks about Morrison and Josh. It goes to show that this new era of digital first media is eating in to the Murdoch/9Fax domination – good on the union backed super funds for sticking with the NewDaily..
A whole generation of people will never open a newspaper, nor watch TV – but live on the Internet where they get all their news and opinions.
Michael Pascoe
Contributing Editor
I almost feel sorry for Josh Frydenberg. A second-rate Treasurer before the COVID-19 crisis, he is now facing a challenge that could beat the very best.
But you can’t feel sorry for someone who has already given up, who represents a government that has signalled it won’t try to stop Australia suffering a recession, that is prepared to watch unemployment rise, people lose their savings, and businesses go broke because of an ideological/political obsession.
Or maybe it’s because this government’s leaders are not very bright.
Based on everything the government has said, indicated and leaked so far, maybe they just can’t grasp the extent of the challenge and are being overwhelmed by the unfolding problem.
Maybe their vision can’t extend beyond rorting government grants programs for their own political advantage.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2020/03/08/michael-pascoe-morrison-recession/
Frydenberg was possibly our worst ever minister for the environment.
He is going for the Double.
Nicholas:
You say that like it’s a bad thing!
https://www.amazon.com/Against-Empathy-Case-Rational-Compassion/dp/0062339338
Ian Dunt on the moral collapse of Greece and Europe.
Anyone can see the parallels with Australian treatment of refugees.
https://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2020/03/06/week-in-review-complete-moral-collapse-on-greek-border
That Pascoe article sums up exactly why the Liberals and Nationals are hopeless economic managers. They preen and pose during the good times but have nothing during the bad times when something other than ideological posturing is required.
ph
Some hand wringing needs more context than other hand wringing.
The population of Greece is around ten and a half million.
Its economy is bust.
Its government struggles to provide quite basic services to the sick, the unemployed and the elderly.
Its environment is bust.
Its governance is barely hanging in there.
The current situation happened because the Turks use refugees as a weapon.
The EU did not support the Turkish military invasion of Syrian sovereign territory so the Turks sent over some refugees to remind the EU what was what.
The Turks could probably round up something like 3-5 million refugees to force across the border into Greece any time it wants to.
What the solution is, I am not sure. Perhaps Australia could take the 3-5 million refugees?
Could the coming months/years finally smash the myth of the coalition being superior economic managers? They’ve been awfully fortunate over the years
“1. If you’re intending to address the Labor Right, you’re in the wrong forum.
…”
***
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/23/after-bernie-sanders-landslide-nevada-win-its-time-for-democrats-to-unite-behind-him&ved=2ahUKEwiH1I_4iY3oAhXiV3wKHZ6RBzoQFjACegQICBAC&usg=AOvVaw2swjGK2n0K2GA-wo6eqgul&cshid=1583746095388
“The polling looks good for Bernie in November, so now we just need to get this primary over with and focus on the real fight. The other candidates had their shot: they lost. They need to accept it.”
” The primary is not completely over, but hopefully it is now clear to every sensible observer that Bernie is cruising toward the nomination and needs to be supported rather than torn down.”
Nathan Robinson is a Guardian US columnist
Written just two short weeks ago. Na maybe I wont take too much notice of your man Nicholas……….
B
I hope not. If it does it will mean that lots of people are unemployed and lots of businesses have gone broke.
Who would want that?
Not me.
No because that’s an almost primal conception that’s anchored into public consciousness. And isn’t a uniquely Australian thing either, so it can’t just be boiled down to the Murdoch rags or Labor being unable to communicate properly.
The Coalition aren’t good economic managers. They spend – even throw money at – people and institutions they favour, for example submarines, “private” schools and “self funded” retirees. They just hate spending money on people and causes it doesn’t like, for example renewable energy, the unemployed or public housing / hospitals / schools.
The reason for why conservatives are seen as better economic managers is twofold. The first being the last major recession happened on the ALP’s watch and it hurt a lot of people then second is the idea that money managers are conservative prudent investors so people assume being conservative equals being prudent with money. To top it off many on the left don’t like talking the language of finance or are hostile to it.
NYT
“Trump could be making his most ardent supporters a petri dish of disease.
But in his mind, it’s not really about them, and certainly not about the rest of us. This is about him, only, always.”
A bunch of older, brainwashed rednecks will become a bunch of older, brainwashed, dead rednecks, who won’t be available to vote. A good outcome all round, for the US and the world.
Mexicanbeemer @ #1364 Monday, March 9th, 2020 – 5:50 pm
And yet simple (ie bleeding obvious) logic states that the best managers of money are people who’ve got very little of it. By necessity not some perceived inherent talent.
Boerwar
On the plus side it would ‘encourage’ people to think a bit more about who they vote for. It would also remind people of the importance of the social welfare safety net. Good people doing the right thing can find themselves in dire straights through no fault of their own. I get the feeling too many have forgotten or never even learned that important lesson.
poroti ,
A real plus coming from a bastard recession will be
1. Houses prices may normalize
2. Politics may normalize somewhat.
3. People may start thinking about what the f–k we are doing spending 150 Billion on submarines
4. People may start building businesses inside Australia that create value and don’t just rent seek.
Market fears are driving investors into bonds, which has sent the yield on a 2-year gilt (the term for UK treasuries) negative for the first time in history. Remarkable, that effectively means investors are paying to lend the Government money.
This is worth watching – covers all the voting states in order to 28 April – with commentary on Biden v Bernie chances..
https://youtu.be/2Be0xuVwKag
FTSE loses 8% on open, DAX down 7.4%
Hope Josh has a real stimulus planned, not an ‘announceable’. But I suspect we are having a Recession, no matter what he does.
Firefox:
[‘I don’t understand why the Labor Right don’t want to talk about the record of Biden the chosen one anymore? What’s wrong? Aren’t happy with your candidate anymore?’]
I can’t answer for Labor’s Right faction but I think that the imperative for any progressive is to see Trump removed from office at any cost. And the only candidate who can now do that is Biden, despite the errors of his past, his apparent cognitive impairment, bearing in mind that Reagan had lost his marbles during his second term, FDR was infirm, Wilson suffered a number of strokes while in office, incapacitating him. In each case, others took up the slack. It seems to me that those who support Sanders are as extreme as those who support Trump. Come Wednesday our time we should see the end of Sanders’ run for the nomination. I do hope he bows out gracefully and that he and his supporters join in the common fight.
Cud Chewer @ #1333 Monday, March 9th, 2020 – 8:00 pm
As a local resident (Bateau Bay and Bucketty) I would comment that the Wyong Road/Old Pacific Highway intersection is a peak hour bottleneck, even after recent massive road widening and traffic light installation. It would be better for access if such a station was east of that intersection, but that is probably stymied by the location of the current railway and Tuggerah Station, and the fact that you would be out of the sandstone strata.
If you put the station where you suggest, I believe a flyover road bridge would be needed over the whole of the above mentioned intersection, and that is complicated by the fact that the current road already is elevated to cross the railway line. The roundabout immediately to the east of the railway, at the Bunnings/industrial park intersection, is a hopeless mess that results in queues up to a kilometre long from the east because of the common ‘continuous turning flow across the straight through traffic’ problem. It can probably only be fixed by another enormous set of traffic lights.
The vacant land between Westfield and the expressway has some difficulties attached, as I know that an EIS has identified it as yellow bellied glider and powerful owl habitat.
As a railway system computer modeller from way back I would be delighted to meet you and discuss this stuff at some stage.
Iranian state-linked media have announced that 16 people have died from alcohol poisoning in the south-western city of Ahvaz, the latest in a wave of deaths apparently driven by the mistaken belief that alcohol is a vaccine against the coronavirus. Alcohol is banned in the country but is still illegally imported or brewed at home – the latter occasionally resulting in deaths from bad batches.
The head of Iran’s crisis management authority, Ismail Najjar, is the latest official who has contracted the virus, which has infected 6,500 people according to Iran’s official tally. Nearly 200 people have died, including at least 49 people over the weekend
sprocket_ @ #1371 Monday, March 9th, 2020 – 9:16 pm
Or worse 🙁
Confessions @ #1362 Monday, March 9th, 2020 – 8:26 pm
They have something during both times. Great messaging. Gets them through just about every time.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/08/opinion/trump-coronavirus.html
sproket_
I too am glued to markets insider waiting for 130am for the nyse to open.
Generally I think the big R was happening anyway due to the income recession not being addressed by the government. I expect this winter is going to be tough for Australia, lets hope there isn’t a really shit bushfire season on the other side of it.
This is the sort of crisis that will really shake the governments standing.
During the fires, it was small towns being affected. Covid-19 will affect the rich, and they’ve installed an incompetent government as part of their regulatory capture. Karma 🙂
You can have no doubt that a recession will hurt the poorest most and the Tories will be looking for some way to prop asset prices up. There will be assistance to business owners and farmers but not to the unemployed.
In fact we haven’t had a Tory recession since 1982 and they are a lot meaner nowadays, as indeed is the population in general.
Firefox @ #1342 Monday, March 9th, 2020 – 7:11 pm
Yeah, copyright laws are pro-Biden too. Grow up.
https://www.pollbludger.net/2020/03/07/three-things/comment-page-28/#comment-3355639
Biden will be torn apart by Trump in the general election campaign, almost certainly causing him to loose. Trump will throw everything he can at Biden, from both right-wing and left-wing angles, as well as mental fitness for office and general corruption angles. Biden`s record makes him very open to attack from the left, depressing Democratic turnout, and Trump`s base won`t defect.
Even if Biden wins, he will be so right-wing as to make it very hard for the Democrats to win in 2024, opening up the possibility of Trump 2024 (Donald if he is still up to it, Ivanka if not).
Therefore Biden should not be the Democratic nominee and Sander should take the gloves off and point out Biden`s unelectability while the Democrats can run someone else (preferably Sanders).
Early days, but great Qanda so far. The show has really improved since Jones left and the format has been refreshed. McDonald is a fantastic addition as well.
Some advice for Biden on a VP pick. I’m worried at the implicit assumption that he will win the nomination. FFS don’t jinx it, he hasn’t won it yet!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-bidens-vp-pick-is-so-important/2020/03/08/81c22fb2-5fe3-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html
Call me pedantic, but the word is spelled “lose”, not “loose”.
Can’t you go and infest some other blog, Firefox?
No-one gives a shit, and even if they did, nobody here votes in the US elections.
“Yeah, copyright laws are pro-Biden too. Grow up.”
***
I’ve explained to William before that it’s not copyright infringement. It’s his choice if he wants to censor things though.
Instead of attacking me why don’t you learn something new instead 🙂
Fair dealing for criticism or review
A person can use copyright material for the purpose of criticism or review without infringing
copyright, provided that they acknowledge the author and title of the work and the dealing is
“fair”. In assessing whether a defence of fair dealing exists, it is necessary to have regard to
the true purpose of the critical work.
In Time Warner Entertainment Co Ltd v Channel 4 Television Corporation plc (1993) it was
said that the question to be answered is whether the program incorporating the infringing
material is a genuine piece of criticism or review or an attempt to dress up the infringement
of another’s copyright in the guise of criticism and so profit unfairly from another’s work.
In TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd v Network Ten Pty Ltd (‘The Panel Case’), the primary judge
stated some principles in relation to fair dealing for criticism or review:
• criticism and review are words of wide and indefinite scope which should be
interpreted liberally;
• criticism and review involve the passing of judgment and may be strongly expressed;
• criticism and review must be genuine and not a pretence for some other form of
purpose (but if genuine need not necessarily be balanced);
• an oblique or hidden motive may disqualify reliance upon criticism and review,
particularly where the copyright infringer is a trade rival who uses the copyright
subject matter for its own benefit or in a dissembling way (the path of criticism is a
public way); and
• criticism and review extends to thoughts underlying the expression of the copyright
works or subject matter.
The criticism or review may relate to the work being used or to other material. For example,
television film reviewers may show clips from other films as well as the one they are
reviewing, in making their criticism or review. The exception can apply where the criticism or
review takes place in a commercial context, such as in published books or newspapers or on
commercial television.
The purpose of criticism or review must be genuine. If the person has other motives –
especially if the motives involve using the material to make a profit or using a competitor’s
material to divert customers from the competitor – the fact that they have also engaged in a
form of criticism or review is not enough to prevent the use from infringing copyright.
https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod/ACC/Information_Sheets/Fair_Dealing__What_Can_I_Use_Without_Permission.aspx
Yeah, but no-one read it anyway, FF (like most of my posts, I’m sure – but at least they’re not about Bernie Sanders).
We’re not interested.
Just wondering why you can’t get that through your thick head.
I had no idea Australian maths teaching was 3 years behind Shanghai.
Firefox, I would, indeed, prefer it if you went off and infested some other blog.
Only 3 years?
We’ve been talking about US politics for weeks but all of a sudden “nobody cares”. Funny that…
Piccoli asked why if is such a fan of education funding why his govt cut so much of it from public schools.
BB:
Apparently.
Some advice for Biden on a VP pick. I’m worried at the implicit assumption that he will win the nomination. FFS don’t jinx it, he hasn’t won it yet!
‘fess, I’m just checking the NYT and I can’t believe what I’m reading. It says that some Democrat women consider it would be winning the Silver medal, when they have been going for gold, if they were offered the VP spot!
They would become the first woman American Vice President in history! Which, apparently isn’t good enough for some!
Their loss I guess.
“Firefox, I would, indeed, prefer it if you went off and infested some other blog.”
***
Sure. I’d be happy to actually. I don’t really feel like supporting your website anymore to be honest. I get it. I’m bad for business. People don’t like opening up your site and being reminded they’re supporting a war crim. I’ll let you restore the bubble for them.
I’m @righ7iswr0ng on Twitter. Hit me up if you wish. Peace all. 🙂
C@t:
Crazy, and it reminds me of the many and varied ways the Democrats can stuff up this election!
I’d like to thank whoever it was that published the link to DIY alcohol hand wash.
The link itself contained a reference to the original WHO recipe, which was basically how to make a vat full of the stuff in an African village with polluted water.
Here on the Glorious Mid-North Coast of NSW I could dispense with the distilled water option, and just use H2O straight out of the tap.
The formula is basically 60 parts alcohol (95% concentration Diggers metho will do), 3 parts 3% concentration HO (hydrogen peroxide) , and 1 part Glycerol. The HO and the glycerol can be easily purchased from any pharmacist.
You can thicken this up into a gel by adding some aloe vera. Without the aloe, you get a runny-ish hand wash, similar to that available from those automatic wall dispensers found everywhere in hospitals. The glycerol is a moistureizer for the ladies, worried about dry skin on their hands.
The WHO recipe produced 10 litres, enough for a village. I produced around 1 litre, but in the same proportions of ingredients, enough for a household.
Mix it really well (the glycerol tends to sink to the bottom if not stirred in vigourously) , then decant into a couple of cheap ($1.20) Coles sauce/dressing bottles. Keep one in the car, next to the sink, in the workshop etc., take a small bottle with you into the shopping mall etc. and use liberally.
Has received the Her Indoors seal of approval. And those hands… mmmm… smooooth!
WHO recipe site: https://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_158375416132211&key=909baa5ef8a2918e3d459c8422cd1d89&libId=k7kebamz01011mhf000MAj15nrjjaihjw&loc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.popsci.com%2Fstory%2Fdiy%2Fdiy-hand-sanitizer%2F&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.who.int%2Fgpsc%2F5may%2FGuide_to_Local_Production.pdf&title=Fight%20COVID-19%20on%20the%20go%20with%20homemade%20hand%20sanitizer%20%7C%20Popular%20Science&txt=recommended%20by%20the%20World%20Health%20Organization
“I had no idea Australian maths teaching was 3 years behind Shanghai.”
Hmm.
I have opinions on that one, and a bag of salt handy.
People don’t like opening up your site and being reminded they’re supporting a war crim.
__________________________________
People don’t like being bored out of their brains. I still detest Tony Abbott but I don’t post endlessly about it, even if most of the people here would likely agree.
The single most awful thing about this site at the moment is that some posters say the same thing over and over and over again. And that relates to posters across the political spectrum!
Next week’s Qanda is coronavirus.