For all that our world may have changed over the past three weeks, Newspoll has not: The Australian reports the latest result has Labor’s lead steady at 51-49. There has, however, been primary vote movement in favour of the major parties, with both up by two points: the Coalition to 40%, Labor to 36%. The Greens are down one to 12%, One Nation unchanged on 4% and others down three to 8%.
As with Essential Research, Scott Morrison has recovered somewhat from his post-bushfire slump, with his approval rating up three to 41% and disapproval down five to 53%. He now holds a 42-38 lead over Anthony Albanese as preferred prime minister, who led 41-40 last time. Albanese’s net rating has also improved, his approval rating up one to 40% (The Australian report says down three, but I believe it has its wires crossed from the preferred prime minister movement) and disapproval down four to 40%.
In other findings, 75% support the government’s decision to abandon a budget surplus in favour of economic stimulus; 51% believe the federal government has managed preparedness for the crisis well; 66% are satisfied with federal and state government efforts to inform the public about the virus; but only 47% feel the same way about managing its economic impact.
UPDATE: The Australian’s reportage rather downplays the fact, but the poll found only 33% were satisfied with the economic response of governments (the question emphasised “both federal and state”) to the coronavirus outbreak, with 47% dissatisfied. The 75% rating in favour of stimulus did not relate specifically to the government’s policy, but to the general notion that “the Morrison government should provide a stimulus package to safeguard the economy”, with only 14% favouring the alternative option that it “should prioritise its promise to deliver a budget surplus”.
For the other questions, 76% of respondents were worried about the economic impact of the outbreak, versus only 20% for confident; 51% were worried, and 47% confident, about the preparedness of the public health system, for which 51% were satisified with the federal and state government response and 33% dissatisfied; and 63% were confident, and 35% worried, about “the amount of information available to Australians about how to protect themselves”, for which 65% were satisfied and 28% dissatisfied with the federal and state government response.
The poll was conducted Wednesday to Saturday from a sample of 1501.
Not an auspicious start to the day for the Dow Jones.
Petition for doctors to plead for a less pathetic response from our CMO. They want more social distancing and more preparation so we don’t end up like Milan which is a war zone.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYb_XOzPsGaRsUPOK_XacES857iti_qIrSKm6YKaC8sLpxmg/viewform
There seems to me to be an ongoing, quietly persistent, drip-on-the-rock movement to brand Bushfire Bill as a racist. It is the same as the campaign to brand PM Julia Gillard as a liar. Just keep it going, keep cherry-picking, keep the pot simmering, until one day the ear-worm has stuck. I have only Bushfire Bill in person once. I can tell you from that meeting, in my opinion, a racist he is not.
I would not see a decision to keep away from China Town as a an act of racism, rather acting on a risk assessment. Whether the risk assessment was valid or not can be debated, but to couch it in terms of denigrating people of Chinese heritage or holding attitudes of superiority over Chinese people is unfair and unjust.
I have not seeb a racist in Bushfire Bill, nor do I ever expect to. In my humble opinion the ongoing insinuations and straight out accusations, through people drawing very long bows to prop up very slanderous slurs on BB’s name, need to stop; Right Now.
Engage with his arguments as robustly as you will. Not all of them cut the mustard with me, neither. However, cut out the knives to his character.
Bushfire Bill is not more racist than my letter-box. He is a decent bloke.
I’m agnostic as to whether Bushfire Bill is a racist or not, but I’m sick to death of hearing the argument about it.
Dio,
The CMO is like a slow racehorse. Time for him to retire to the back paddock.
William,
That is my first and last word on the matter.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-our-forecast-says-about-the-race-in-illinois-and-ohio/
Biden favoured in Ohio and Illinois.
Puffytmd @ #789 Monday, March 16th, 2020 – 11:41 pm
The posts speak for themselves. Nobody need go out of their way to characterize them one way or another.
Nor has anyone made those insinuations and slurs more strongly than Bushfire himself. Via posts calling attention to the subject daily, usually with some preemptive whinging about insults and attacks that haven’t in fact been made, always thrown out as pretext for lobbing a pile of insults and personal attacks at whomever happens to be catching his ire.
Looks like we’re getting back to the normal yelling at each other. Covid19 must just about be over.
I reckon the Greens will cost the ALP the next election.
https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/currency
AUD @ a 17 year low….USD0.61…a vote of no confidence in Morrison
Cud Chewer, re. HSR2
You mean the decision to make Sheffield a spur and move the mainline east?
My understanding is that they are still arguing about that
_______________________________________________________
Decision has been confirmed AFAIK. On the Wiki page it still shows the original map .. but on the HSR2 website they show the revised route
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/first-participant-us-coronavirus-vaccine-trial-moderna-dose
Attack ad on Trump re. Covid-19
https://twitter.com/biden_brigade/status/1238916765964554242
____________________________________________________
UK news
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/15/uk-coronavirus-crisis-to-last-until-spring-2021-and-could-see-79m-hospitalised
That’s 7.9 million hospitalised not 79 million 🙂
Neo Liberalism is dying a very violent death.
Many millions are dying. South Korea has shown why socialised services are vital.
If we had a UBI no worries about the income for casual or sole traders and the list goes on.
The US is the prime example of what happens when you follow the LNP get the government out of my life. John Bolton dismantling the epidermalogical response team of the US in 2018 is a perfect example of this.
Make no mistake the political landscape is going to be extremely different.
Biden May win the election but his administration will look like Sanders won.
Democratic Socialism having big government prepared to respond to emergency situations is a life saver. Who Knew?
Mr Newbie @ #814 Tuesday, March 17th, 2020 – 12:16 am
😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆
Woke up in front of the telly at 3am.
First, thanks Puffy.
Second, where is Professor Brendan “Noddy” Murphy?
Third, if only A R’s naive view of the world’s problems as being all caused by racists, paedophiles and coal-huggers was how it really worked… sigh…
Fourth, as set out on Q&A tonight by multiple panellists: lack of central, credible, consistent and easily digestible information about the virus is literally killing us.
Has anyone actually visited the recommended website, health.gov.au, and obtained anything other than vague generalizations out of it?
Where is the Virus App that tells us where to go, what to do, which areas to avoid? It’s pretty simple stuff. The Bushfires Near Me app in NSW was a brilliant, if sometimes flawed model of how to inform and engage the public in the face of (for many thousands) an existential threat far more horrifying than coronavirus: being burned alive, or losing everything if you were lucky.
That something like this highly successful app hasn’t been put out yet regarding the virus is close to criminal negligence.
Mr Newbie says:
Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 3:16 am
What’s a Green?
Summary
Ben Quinn Ben Quinn
• The head of the World Health Organizaion, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has implored governments to test more suspected cases, warning that they cannot fight the pandemic blindfolded.
In a strongly-worded attack on governments which have neglected or held back testing, he said: “We have not seen an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing, which is the backbone of the response.”
Coronavirus updates: WHO tells countries to ‘test, test, test’, as EU proposes 30-day travel ban – live news
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/mar/16/coronavirus-live-updates-us-cdc-events-europe-lockdown-uk-deaths-australia-france-italy-spain-update-latest-news
Ruth Michaelson
Egyptian officials have announced that the country will close its airports and halt all domestic and international air travel from Thursday until the end of March.
The country has banned large gatherings, limited prayer times and curbed many public activities in order to respond to the spread of the disease.
Separately, Egyptian officials and the World Health Organization responded to scientific research published by the Guardian on the likely number of COVID-19 cases in Egypt.
Infectious disease specialists at the University of Toronto detailed how the total number of those infected in Egypt was likely higher than Egypt’s official infection rate, which currently stands at 126. “We estimated an outbreak size of 19,310 cases,” they said, adding that this figure is an average, with the range between 6,270 and 45,070 cases.
The disparity is likely due to a lack of widespread testing, Egypt’s overwhelmingly young population who are less likely to show symptoms, and a reticence among some to self-report their illness. At least 97 foreign nationals reported symptoms of COVID-19 after leaving Egypt since mid-February.
Thanks for tips.. Now I have a full answer 🙂
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/presidents/gerald-r-ford-1451818.html
Makes a lot more sense. Farting and chewing gum is harder.
Had always thought it originated from a B grad cowboy movie..
Btw I missed most of the Q+A and when I tuned in I found it pointless.
Did anyone there discuss the lack of testing going on in Australia?
guytaur
Why do you think that? I’m pessimistic about Biden bringing about any serious reform.
Boris Johnson warns UK population to avoid non-essential contact with others as coronavirus cases rise – politics live
PM tells Britons to avoid pubs, restaurants and non-essential travel but school stay open for now as chief medical officer says ‘next few months are going to be extraordinarily difficult for NHS’
Johnson effectively concedes he has no idea at all what to do. Such an abysmal failure….such a Tory. The UK is about to be overwhelmed.
Biden first has to defeat Trump. That’s not going to be easy, no matter what happens.
Btw I support a UBI. It would make situations like this a lot, lot easier to handle.
One thing that disturbed me about the little I saw of Q+A was the attitude that you needed special schemes to deal (haphazardly) with being made unemployed by coronavirus. They’re basically acknowledging that Newstart is a horrible fate and at the same time effectively saying that if you lose your job due to coronavirus, then you’re a different class of person to the average Newstart recipient.
If I were Albo I’d be making it clear that the response I’d give is to substantially up the amount of Newstart – even if there’s a sunset clause. Give everyone, including people running very small businesses who have to close, decent unemployment benefits. Its far easier than a complex web of winners and losers.
RI
To win this election, the Democrats need to mobilise and turn out to vote a lot of voters who haven’t voted before. These voters were far more likely to turn out to vote for Sanders, or at least his policies.
If Biden has any sense, he’ll move further towards adopting Sanders style policies. The doubt I have is whether the right wing Democratic Party establishment is going to allow him to do that.
Q: Is there case for a global fiscal stimulus?
Johnson says there is widespread agreement in the G7 that people need access to liquidity. He says they should act jointly. There is a lot of work going on.
iow….there will be no fiscal measures. Contraction will apply.
What we’re going to need more than liquidity, is logistics…
Moving essential goods, like food and medicine at a time when the transport industry will also be suffering. Getting this stuff literally to people’s doors.
Few are talking about the secondary effects. All the people who cannot work because they become carers, or are (rationally) too scared to go to work. There’s a real danger of there not being enough able bodied people to keep a reliable electricity and water supply.
Cud Chewer says:
Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 4:49 am
RI
To win the Democrats need to mobilise and turn out to vote a lot of voters who haven’t voted before. These voters were far more likely to turn out to vote for Sanders, or at least his policies.
Voters have had plenty of chances to vote for Sanders. They have fled from him. The issue in the US will be to mobilise Indy voters to shift from Trump. Republicans will vote for Trump, largely. Democrats will vote for Biden. The disgruntled/rejectors won t vote at all. Who will the Indy supporters vote for?
Certainly, absolutely certainly, they are not Pro-Sanders. Will,they vote for Biden? It’s doubtful but possible. The activists who have been agitating for Sanders will argue for a boycott of Biden. They’re all fucked in Libkin Garden in the US.
There will be people who get the virus and recover and therefore will be immune to it. They will be invaluable resources.
RI
The voters have abandoned Sanders, not his policies. They have voted for Biden for the very obvious reason that they believe in the idea that he’s more electable, rightly or wrongly.
The Democrats need new voters to turn out to vote. Not just the indies who are going to be very hard to shift given the dirty tactics the Repugs will undoubtedly use.
I’ll say it again, the Democrats need to be offering decent policies to get people to vote. There is an enormous pool of latent voters out there.
That only works if the curve is seriously flattened. As it stands the peak will hit in mid May. If you want a significant pool of people who have recovered before you get mass infections, you need to drag it out for many months. That’s just how the maths goes. And of course if you do succeed in flattening the curve, the cost of isolation/shutdown is going to be that much higher. Fun eh?
Cud Chewer says:
Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 4:46 am
Btw I support a UBI. It would make situations like this a lot, lot easier to handle.
One thing that disturbed me about the little I saw of Q+A was the attitude that you needed special schemes to deal (haphazardly) with being made unemployed by coronavirus. They’re basically acknowledging that Newstart is a horrible fate and at the same time effectively saying that if you lose your job due to coronavirus, then you’re a different class of person to the average Newstart recipient.
If I were Albo I’d be making it clear that the response I’d give is to substantially up the amount of Newstart – even if there’s a sunset clause. Give everyone, including people running very small businesses who have to close, decent unemployment benefits. Its far easier than a complex web of winners and losers.
Classically, the laissez-faire line would be to let the losses lie where they fall. This will be the reflex of the LNP. Workers will be on their own. If they lose their jobs, well that will be too bad. They will have to pick up the pieces themselves. The LNP have been incapable of averting massive illness and human tragedy. They will be unmoved by mass unemployment.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/16/europe/spain-coronavirus-lockdown-intl/index.html
CC
The MSM in the US is not telling Americans the truth. MSNBC has been an egregious example.
However in Office Biden will have to deal with the reality that big government intervention on workers behalf is life saving.
Biden May be resisting it but it’s very very clear it’s a generational change in the Democratic Party. Under 50 you support Sanders.
Add on the black swan event of the virus proving comprehensively the GOP neo liberal get government out and make it all individual has failed is a steam roller of a game changer.
Already Biden has turned his back on the bankruptcy bill he helped to write. He could very well appoint Warren as his head of Treasury.
The GOP are doing the immovable wall meets the irrestible Force.
The Democratic President will move with the irrestble force instead of breaking as Trump is doing. Trump is breaking on upholding the neo liberal policies the GOP has championed for decades. Proving again what a fraud he is.
Edit: By the time of November this will be more obvious than today.
Romney adopts Andrew Yang’s income amount.
https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2020/03/16/mitt-romney-coronavirus-response
Coronavirus will have killed most of the people it is going to kill in the US, before the election. Even if Biden wins, he won’t take office till January. It will be an awful mess to clean up.
If the Democrats don’t also win the Senate and make gains at the state/local level, its just going to be another stalemate. Obama was practically useless past the mid terms.
CC
Look at the polls.
Susan Collins and McCallister are underwater. That’s a Democratic Majority for the Senate. By supporting Trump many more GOP Senators may have the same fate.
The Friday speech for the Stock Market bump by Trump is likely to be his Mission Accomplished moment.
“ The head of the World Health Organizaion, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has implored governments to test more suspected cases, warning that they cannot fight the pandemic blindfolded.”
This from the organisation that refused to call a pandemic when every credible expect said it had been for two weeks. Credibility gap.
Trump is doing another emergency press conference.
Apparently President Macron of France has followed Premier McGowan and waived utility rent etc bills.
Very different tone from Trump so far.
No how great America is.
Wow. Keep gathering of people under 10.
The fed health or NSW health sites are less clear than the VIC one: https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/about/news-and-events/healthalerts/2019-Coronavirus-disease–COVID-19
One daughter, student/ retail worker, yesterday after calling in, went to see GP with sniffles.
Got a medical cert and told to get tested but no pathology slip for referral. [From the above not clear why told to get tested, no fever, no respiratory, nothing epidemiological unless a fluke.]
Searching online for a while, on hold with health direct (https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/) for quite some time etc.
Queue, outside in the rain, no place for elderly to sit, at Concord Hospital SARS-Cov2/ COVID-19/ Wuflu testing site outside, unbelievable. (One man arrived at 08:30 and left unseen after 15:00.)
She’s seeing another GP today for second opinion, and pathology slip referral.
…
Sparing a thought for the elderly, infirm, poor, … and of course those in the frontline of healthcare.
Take care !
WFH, ah well, https://chaser.com.au/general-news/working-from-home-called-off-after-nation-already-sick-of-rebooting-nbn/
I just hope Trump loses it, goes barking mad and gets rounded up by the local dog catcher..
So home schooling.
No sports at all.
No bars and live entertainment
Stock market in free fall again.
Trump admitting not enough medical supplies.
Trump.
Virus not under control.