Courtesy of The Guardian, some headline results of another weekly Essential Research poll on coronavirus, the full report of which should be published later today. This includes regular questions on federal and state governments’ handling with the crisis, of which we are only told that respondents remain highly positive, and on easing restrictions, for which we are told only 25% now consider it too soon, which is down two on last time and has been consistently declining over five surveys.
Beyond that, the survey gauged response to a number of what might be described as conspiracy theories concerning the virus. By far the most popular was the notion that the virus “was engineered and released from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan”, which has received a certain amount of encouragement from the Daily Telegraph but is starkly at odds with the scientific consensus. Agreement and disagreement with this proposition was tied on 39%.
Thirteen per cent subscribed to a theory that Bill Gates was involved in the creation and spread of the virus, with 71% disagreeing; 13% agreed the virus was not dangerous and was being used to force people to get vaccines, with 79% disagreeing; 12% thought the 5G network was being used to spread the virus, with 75% disagreeing; and 20% agreed the number of deaths was being exaggerated, with “more than 70%” disagreeing. The poll also found 77% agreed that the outbreak in China was worse than the official statistics showed.
The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1073.
UPDATE: Full report here.
Rick Wilson’s latest.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eric-swalwell-we-arent-being-told-the-truth-about-russia/id1508202790?i=1000475396439
I see many have not learnt. Its all lets do Murdoch’s bidding and destroy the Greens again.
Then Labor wonders why it loses elections.
@TheKennyDevine tweets
BREAKING: Wealthy sports clubs in marginal seats excited by prospect of potential $60 billion windfall.
You mean the Greens that are plotting with the LNP?
Those Greens, Guytaur?
That’s incomprehensible!
FS
You believe journalist framing of events now?
Just because the Greens know Labor have been attacking them you expect the Greens to do Labor’s bidding holus bolus.
That was never the case even when in government together. Just ask ACT Labor.
But yeah go ahead and lose more elections because defeating the Greens for your coal mates is more important than winning elections.
Remember Kevin 07
The Greatest Moral Challenge of Our Time
Like I said, Guytaur, it’s incomprehensible!
FS
Yes Labor’s actions are incomprehensible as it follows the Murdoch script to stay in opposition
@crikey_news
Free read: What lies beneath must be resurfaced — or the media is not doing its job to expose power and corruption
https://buff.ly/3cV5S87 https://twitter.com/crikey_news/status/1263952909802315777/photo/1
George Megalogenis on the dangers of the Australia-China dispute:
”The risk beyond the immediate commercial relationship with China is that the rest of the world sees us as a smaller version of Trump’s America, and stops taking us seriously.“
https://www.smh.com.au/national/beware-the-bully-who-is-supposed-to-be-watching-australia-s-back-20200521-p54v72.html
Amazing, you’re right AGAIN!
Morrison restricts the HoR sitting days in keeping with his preference for secrecy in government. Bushfires and Covid-19 have provided the dead cat of distraction while the government spent $5B on potentially unlawful grants through delegated legislation in 12 months after Feb 2019. Sportsrorts has been only a tiny part of the whole corrupted process.
https://thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2020/02/22/government-spends-unlawful-billions/15822900009418
Tara Reade and her attorney part ways.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-accuser-tara-reades-attorney-says-they-have-parted-ways/2020/05/22/92c38da4-9c3f-11ea-a2b3-5c3f2d1586df_story.html
FS
Yes it bears repeating for some of the thickheads in Labor circles.
The Greens are a different party and will never be in lockstep with Labor.
Labor has won by not attacking the Greens but ignoring them as it pushes strongly on the environment.
We haven’t seen anything like this here.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/nyregion/children-coronavirus-syndrome-new-york.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Another excellent effort from George Megalogenis who warns us to stay clear of the flailing Trump.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/beware-the-bully-who-is-supposed-to-be-watching-australia-s-back-20200521-p54v72.html
Peter Hartcher writes that Australia’s federation now stands at the threshold of a different test, one it’s been failing continuously for decades. Not just to coordinate in one area of policy but to reform the federation itself. To simplify the messy lines of federal-state responsibility and to clear the clogged tax arteries that have helped give Australia an ever-slowing economic growth rate.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-chance-for-the-states-to-do-something-really-unprecedented-20200522-p54vne.html
Divergent views between governments is a positive sign that our federal democracy is working as intended, writes Dr Jacob Deem.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/in-defence-of-federalism-why-its-okay-when-state-and-federal-governments-fight,13918
Kevin Rudd laments that Morrison’s missteps on China have brought unnecessary grief to Australia. Quite an interesting read.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/morrison-s-missteps-on-china-have-brought-unnecessary-grief-20200521-p54v6x.html
Jack Waterford has a very good long essay for us in which he says that Australia has shot itself in the boot again over China.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6765948/shooting-ourselves-in-the-boot-again-over-china/?cs=14232
Paul Bongiorno goes right to the heart of our latest stoush with China. His article ends with, “The Morrison government is talking up the coronavirus inquiry this week, but it will do nothing to restore the jobs and hours of the 2.7 million Australians who have lost work in the past month.”
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2020/05/23/china-blunders-and-the-fallout/15901560009877
Paul Kelly writes, “Four months into the COVID-19 crisis, the world and Australia confront a worse problem — the descent into a version of cold war between the US and China, many years in the making but now apparently sealed in the great-power animosity unleashed by the virus.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/world-feels-the-chill-of-another-cold-war/news-story/1590ad227045926b972bd45bbed8d9ac
The WHO’s coronavirus inquiry will be more diplomatic than decisive. But Australia should step up in the meantime writes Anthony Zwi.
https://theconversation.com/the-whos-coronavirus-inquiry-will-be-more-diplomatic-than-decisive-but-australia-should-step-up-in-the-meantime-139030
Is our Prime Minister a changed man or just another politician who can quickly learn, adapt and pivot for personal and party advantage asks Dennis Atkins.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/05/23/dennis-atkins-scott-morrison-has-changed-but-has-he-really/
Morrison could muzzle his China hawks – but he wants to be all things to all people writes Katharine Murphy.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/23/morrison-could-muzzle-his-china-hawks-but-he-wants-to-be-all-things-to-all-people
Peter van Onselen says that on China’s bullying, we ain’t seen nothing yet!
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/on-chinas-bullying-we-aint-seen-nothing-yet/news-story/31f3fbfa69e357dcc82632a10d653e2d
Karen Middleton reveals that, amid escalating trade tensions with China, questions are being raised about the proper scrutiny of foreign investment in Australia.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2020/05/23/failings-foreign-investment-oversight/15901560009869
Bianca Hall writes that as criticism continued to mount about the Victorian government’s involvement in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the government released unpublished figures revealing the vast trade and investment relationship with China, and the crucial revenue it generates. Victorian farmers are not particularly affected by the latest trade actions from China.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victorian-farmers-escape-almost-unscathed-from-chinese-tariff-hit-20200522-p54vg6.html
The SMH editorial says the COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented health and economic crisis but it has been made worse by the failures of the two countries that should be leading the response – China and the US.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/us-and-china-have-left-a-huge-gap-in-world-leadership-20200522-p54vmt.html
Shane Wright explains the “significant error” that led to the extreme change in estimates for both expenditure on and numbers of employees affected by the JobSeeker scheme. It would appear the government has wedged itself here.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/significant-error-treasury-reveals-much-lower-jobkeeper-use-20200522-p54vkl.html
David Crowe describes it as “a costings blunder made in political heaven”. He says the government will need to move fast to turn this into an opportunity because the disclosure reshapes the argument over their entire stimulus.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/this-is-a-costings-blunder-made-in-political-heaven-20200522-p54vlc.html
And Phil Coorey says that as budget bungles go, this will be hard to beat.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/as-budget-bungles-go-this-will-be-hard-to-beat-20200522-p54vlp
John Kehoe writes that it has led to a fight between the Coalition and Labor over whether the borrowed money should be saved or spent on casual workers.
https://www.afr.com/policy/tax-and-super/later-60b-jobkeeper-error-discovered-20200522-p54vkm
Is it good news or bad that we have three million “missing” workers asks Kirsten Lawson.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6766909/the-missing-3-million-workers-good-news-or-bad/?cs=14225
Rod Meyer reports on how some big corporations are siphoning off Jobkeeper payments to artificial structures that shave their profits to make them eligible. Surprised?
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2020/05/22/jobkeeper-manoeuvres/
Mike Seccombe looks at the search for a way out of this economic situation. He mentions Bill Kelty’s ideas quite a bit.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2020/05/23/finding-agreement-economic-fix/15901560009871
Ross Gittins explains how women, part-timers and the young hit have been hit the hardest in the jobs crisis. He unpacks the latest employment figures here.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/women-part-timers-and-the-young-hit-hardest-in-jobs-crisis-20200522-p54vhu.html
Laura Tingle writes that the pandemic is pushing and pulling the PM on IR and energy. She has perceived that the government has quietly gone a bit soft on coal.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/pandemic-is-pushing-and-pulling-the-pm-on-ir-and-energy-20200521-p54v9y
Elizabeth Farrelly has some ideas on how to change post-pandemic Sydney for the better.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-to-change-post-pandemic-sydney-for-the-better-20200521-p54v7j.html
In choosing to combine with the EU on a COVID-19 inquiry, Australia made many concessions. But has it mapped a new way forward for multilateral diplomacy asks Anthony Galloway.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-s-covid-19-inquiry-presents-a-roadmap-for-a-new-world-order-20200522-p54vd3.html
Former ADF chief Chris Barrie writes that it is time Australian governments started to listen to experts when it comes to climate change and pandemics.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/23/i-spent-over-40-years-in-the-australian-defence-force-the-lack-of-readiness-to-deal-with-coronavirus-is-a-wake-up-call
Jennifer Duke says that business lobby groups were arming themselves to fight against an increase in wages for Australia’s lowest earners even before the coronavirus pandemic, as economic headwinds grew last year.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/businesses-prepared-to-fight-minimum-wage-rise-before-covid-19-bushfires-20200522-p54vgb.html
David Crowe outlines The Greens’ mammoth investment plan to prevent a ‘lost generation’.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/greens-mammoth-investment-plan-to-prevent-a-lost-generation-20200522-p54vkq.html
Across Australia retailers are nervously awaiting a fast-approaching second wave of economic stress. Sarah Danckert and Dominic Powell tell us about retail’s new malaise.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/retail-s-new-malaise-what-happens-when-the-lights-are-switched-back-on-20200522-p54vgh.html
Weaning the economy off the extraordinary taxpayer support deployed in response to the coronavirus-induced economic crisis will be a monumental test for the Morrison government in the months and years ahead opines John Kehoe.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/the-plan-to-rebuild-australia-s-shattered-economy-20200520-p54urn
Peter Dutton, has encouraged Queenslanders to challenge the constitutionality of the state’s border closures, saying people are “right to test” the ban.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/22/peter-dutton-encourages-people-to-challenge-queenslands-covid-19-border-closures
Kate Burgess reports that the firm running the robodebt class action has received thousands of calls, after opt-out notices were sent to potentially hundreds of thousands of current and former Centrelink recipients this week. This debacle is by no means over for the government that has put it right into Stuart Robert’s hands.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6766273/robodebt-firm-inundated-with-calls-after-opt-out-notice-goes-out/?cs=14225
Margaret Simmons writes that the decline in the international student market will hit universities not only financially, but also in their capacity for independence.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/economy/2020/05/23/the-end-the-university-boom/15901560009865
Aaron Patrick tells us how Roman Quaedvleig is fighting back against Canberra. He has a book launch on June 2.
https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/roman-quaedvleig-fights-back-against-canberra-20200520-p54utn
And he reveals that in the book Quaedvleig says that the Royal Australian Navy and defence force actively avoided carrying out Scott Morrison’s signature national security policy – turning back boats carrying asylum seekers from Indonesia.
https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/navy-resisted-morrison-plan-to-turn-back-asylum-seeker-boats-20200521-p54v2a
According to The Age a review has found the Victorian Environment Protection Authority failed to detect or stop illegal chemical waste dumping despite repeated warnings up to two years before massive West Footscray blaze.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/epa-slammed-over-failures-to-halt-toxic-waste-dumping-operation-20200522-p54vme.html
Making sure the nation had enough ventilators so Australia did not end up with an overrun health system was no easy task explains the AFR’s Carrie LaFrenz.
https://www.afr.com/companies/healthcare-and-fitness/how-australia-kept-ahead-of-the-world-on-life-saving-ventilators-20200513-p54skk
The Saturday Paper tells reveals that in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government awarded a $5.77 million contract to an aged-care staffing app that claims to have no “duty of care” for the quality of its workforce or liability for the care provided.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2020/05/23/exclusive-govs-58m-aged-care-app-offers-no-duty-care/15901560009868
Shane Wright advises us that another ratings agency has put Australia’s triple A credit rating on negative outlook, raising fears about the size of household and government debt as signs grow the federal budget deficit will approach $75 billion.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/agency-puts-australia-on-notice-amid-concerns-about-household-debt-20200522-p54viv.html
Victoria’s defunct Hazelwood Power Station is about to be demolished, with site owner Engie assuring locals that asbestos inside its chimneys will not be a threat.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/hazelwood-power-station-to-be-demolished-20200522-p54vno.html
The Climate Solutions Fund is a fillip for the Government’s fossil fuel backers and offers little in the way of energy policy reform to reduce either Australia’s emissions or power prices. Tim Buckley reports.
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/taylored-to-suit-climate-solutions-fund-good-for-fossil-fuels-not-so-good-for-climate/
Israel’s latest annexation plan spells the end of the two-state solution. What a mess!
https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/israel-s-annexation-plan-spells-the-end-of-the-two-state-solution-20200512-p54s92.html
James Frost reports that a review of the Westpac’s approach to risk management revealed a dog’s breakfast of malfunctioning systems and lack of engagement at the top. Ouch!
https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/westpac-an-outlier-in-risk-management-20200522-p54vir
Clive Palmer has been denied entry to Western Australia as the state government remains adamant interstate borders will remain closed for months. He says he will take this to the High Court. Have at it Clive!
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6766657/palmer-denied-entry-to-locked-down-wa/?cs=14231
Internet traffic is growing 25% each year and we have created a fingernail-sized chip that can help the NBN keep up declares Monash University researcher Bill Corcoran.
https://theconversation.com/internet-traffic-is-growing-25-each-year-we-created-a-fingernail-sized-chip-that-can-help-the-nbn-keep-up-138620
Key contraceptive and hormone replacement drugs have become unavailable in Australia as part of a mysterious global shortage of medications using the hormone estradiol.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/22/patients-frantic-over-mysterious-global-shortage-of-hrt-medications-and-contraceptive-pills
Eryk Bagshaw has a look at the new sedition laws that China is imposing on Hong Kong.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/prevent-stop-and-punish-china-s-new-hong-kong-sedition-laws-spark-backlash-20200522-p54vj8.html
Business groups have accused the UK government of pursuing an “isolationist” policy after the home secretary, Priti Patel, confirmed that arrivals in the UK will have to quarantine themselves for a fortnight or face a £1,000 fine. The phrase “Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted” springs to mind.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/may/22/uk-arrivals-8-june-quarantine-for-14-days-coronavirus
Lois Beckett explains how America is victim-blaming the coronavirus dead.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/21/all-the-psychoses-of-us-history-how-america-is-victim-blaming-the-coronavirus-dead
With the coronavirus tragedy and re-election time for Trump, political warfare is heating up and gloves are coming off in the media battles, writes Dr Lee Duffield.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/media-wars-are-heating-up-in-contempt-for-president-trump,13920
Trump’s hydroxychloroquine habit is the triumph of rightwing quackery says Richard Wolffe. This is a real cracker!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/22/donald-trump-hydroxychloroquine-rightwing-quackery
The Washington Post reports that a study of 96,000 hospitalised coronavirus patients on six continents found that those who received an anti-malarial drug promoted by Donald Trump as a “game changer” had a significantly higher risk of death compared with those who did not. What a bloody idiot!
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/malaria-drug-touted-by-trump-linked-to-increased-risk-of-death-study-20200522-p54vp3.html
Now the clown has deemed churches and other houses of worship essential and called on governors across the country to allow them to reopen. I’m sure there is a sound scientific basis for this move.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6767010/trump-orders-us-governors-to-open-churches/?cs=14232&utm_source=website&utm_medium=home&utm_campaign=latestnews
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe
Alan Moir
Andrew Dyson
Joe Benke
Jim Pavlidis
Matt Golding
David Pope
Matt Davidson
John Shakespeare
Jon Kudelka
Johannes Leak
https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/ca797e3eba487c726ce790fd57e92d7e?width=1024
From the US
@RobOakeshott1 tweets
ARENA was hard to set up, hard to protect in a time of Aussie QAnon’s/Galileo Movement, but it has delivered. Jobs, Investment $$, and transition. It might not be needed forever, but is valuable now IMHO. Let it keep doing its job.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/arena-makes-case-for-more-funding-points-to-jobs-costs-and-investment-gains-78722/
Confessions @ #2831 Saturday, May 23rd, 2020 – 8:04 am
So, the Trumps have decided she is of no use to them now as her accusations gained no traction due to her shonky and ever-changing story?
lizzie @ #2836 Saturday, May 23rd, 2020 – 8:10 am
Plus I’d add that Queenslanders hate being told what to do by New South Wales!
Thanks BK. Yes, very good advice from Mega George! #ETTD
C@t:
I fully expect her to be in the front row of the debates.
An insightful and useful article by Murphy on the state of Coalition intra-party play inside the Coalition vis-a-vis China policy.
And.
Murphy gets to the obvious core: we are wedged between having separate main economic and security partners. Murphy does not even start on how this might be addressed.
But. It omits the considerable tensions that must be building between the Nats and their base on this one.
It also omits how the structure of the Federation provides opportunities for our external enemies to wedge the Australian national interest.
The article also omits Morrison’s phone call with Trump, the consequent public demand by Morrison for an inquiry, the $600 million barley blow and the usefulness follow up public rant by Pompeo.
Finally, the article simply avoids discussing the fact that our foreign and trade policies have to factor in that Trump is insane, that Xi is increasingly acting like a ruthless, deadly and calculating megalomaniac and that both have extremely powerful capacity to act at a personal level.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/23/morrison-could-muzzle-his-china-hawks-but-he-wants-to-be-all-things-to-all-people
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52769796
Researchers in Australia claim they have recorded the fastest ever internet data speed.
A team from Monash, Swinburne and RMIT universities logged a data speed of 44.2 terabits per second (Tbps).
At that speed, users could download more than 1,000 high-definition movies in less than a second.
According to Ofcom, the average UK broadband speed currently is around 64 megabits per second (Mbps) – a fraction of that recorded in the recent study.
Australia lies in the middle of global rankings for internet speeds, and slow connections are a regular source of complaints from users.
Researchers said they achieved the new record speed by using a device that replaces around 80 lasers found in some existing telecoms hardware, with a single piece of equipment known as a ‘micro-comb’.
The micro-comb was planted into and tested – outside the laboratory – using existing infrastructure, similar to that used by Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN).
Workers ‘frustrated’ with lockdown broadband speed
£10m deal to bring fibre broadband to more homes
The result was the highest amount of data ever produced by a single optical chip, which are used in modern fibre-optic broadband systems around the world.
@Vic_Rollinson tweets
Just wondering how many of the media cheersquad congratulating Liberals for $60billion underspend are themselves receiving JobKeeper? So you’re not one of the millions left behind who might have a different view? Figures. You care more about numbers on a spreadsheet than PEOPLE.
I have read that this stimulus was to input approx 10% of lost GDP and Josh has boasted about its success and having to “draw the line”, implying that it was affordable, but no more.
If 10% was the optimum, this screw up guarantees that saving some of it will deepen the recession.
@kurteichenwald tweets
Cost of college has wrecked the lives of many young people. COVID has given us the chance to re-think the entire college experience.
To a large degree, college has become just getting a job license. Some need it – science, pre-med, pre-law, business, engineering…./1
…but think of how many good jobs are out there where a college degree offers next to nothing in a benefit. My oldest son definitely needed a college (and masters and PhD) for his career. My middle and youngest? They got their job licenses – I mean college degrees – …/2
…but they would have been far better off, far better trained, if the money spent for college was instead spent to support them during a 4 year apprenticeship in the field of their interest. Switzerland does this, starting in high school. The problem is that companies think…/3
…a job license is necessary to be skilled. It’s not true. I remember a couple of decades ago, I was interviewing Bill Clark, Ronald Reagan’s national security advisor. In getting his background, I asked “Where did you get your degrees?” And he sounded almost embarrassed…/4
…when he said he never got one, neither undergraduate or law school, and started explaining why that was okay. Before he went too long, I said, “Sir, you’re the National Security Advisor to the President of the United States. You don’t need to justify your education to *me*”..5
…the point being, this “everyone must have a degree” nonsense is a recent development, one that harms many younger people, exacerbates income disparities, and – with the exception of what I mentioned above – literally accomplishes nothing other than drive people into…/6
…careers that might have been determined not by their skills, but by their finances.
How did this happen? College became a business. Businesses created captivity to college. If you want to learn any field, absolutely, you should. I would have taken my college classes to…7
…learn how to think, because there is a benefit to that in my profession. But think of how many jobs are about skill-sets the colleges provide next to no additional benefits for than an apprenticeship would.
It’s time for the entire concept of college to be rethought…/8
…because we should not be forcing young people into financial devastation simply so they can have a job license that literally does nothing to improve their abilities at a job.
Makes college less a necessity outside of certain fields. It would benefit everyone.
fin
Thanks, BK.
The interesting thing about the Megalogenis article is that it does the routine US and Trump negative analyses.
Megalogenis makes the valid and obvious point, wtte, that Mug Morrison has played into the hands of Trump.
But, along with virtually the entire MSM, Megalogenis is silent about the personality and behaviours of Comrade Xi. Totally silent.
Why? Doesn’t Xis megalomaniacal leadership ‘style’ matter?
Isn’t the heart of the matter here that BOTH Trump’s and Xi’s legitimacy are being tested by the Virus to the extent that Trump will probably lose POTUS over it and Xi was being assailed as a joke on Chinese social media?
Aren’t we paying $600 million in a barley boycott, with oodles more being threatened, to protect Dictator For Life Xi and NOT TRUMP?
https://www.smh.com.au/national/beware-the-bully-who-is-supposed-to-be-watching-australia-s-back-20200521-p54v72.html
Confessions @ #2840 Saturday, May 23rd, 2020 – 8:15 am
Yes but I’m thinking that it wouldn’t be the smartest move by the Trumps because it puts into stark relief his own sexual missteps. There are many more of his and they, although he denies every one of them, cannot be denied by the American public, if they are being honest with themselves.
And there’s a lot of evidence which has emerged recently, as the Bulwark podcast outlined, which throws the claims of Tara Reade into stark relief as to her honesty about them.
@JoeBiden tweets
Think of how many small businesses could have been helped with the $47 million that went to private jet companies owned by wealthy Trump donors. It’s ridiculous.
We need a president who puts hardworking Americans ahead of the wealthy and well-connected. https://www.propublica.org/article/another-private-jet-company-owned-by-a-trump-donor-got-a-bailout-this-one-for-20-million
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-cuba/cuba-credits-two-drugs-with-slashing-coronavirus-death-toll-idUSKBN22Y2Y4?il=0
Cuba claiming some success with therapies
Morning all. I would certainly regard myself as a pro-Labor poster on this blog. Nevertheless, I am quite sick of unsubstantiated nonsense posts like this:
“ You mean the Greens that are plotting with the LNP?”
Without the Greens the Gillard and ACT Labor governments would not have occurred. It is obvious that the Greens are to the left of Labor and far to the left of the LNP. Labor and the Greens compete for Senate spots and so there is a degree of “product differentiation” by the “professional” posters of both groups. Yet to jump from the Greens and Labor argue to saying that the Greens plot with the LNP is an illogical jump to the absurd. Show me the evidence. This sort of rubbish only embarrasses the poster. It is the sort of bitter rant that deters reasonable people from voting Labor.
I have several (ex-Labor) friends who are now in the Greens. They do not plot with the LNP. They hate the LNP.
Socrates…..the institutionalised divide on the centre left is now permanent. This is tragically dysfunctional. It means the LNP will likely hold power in Canberra for decades. There’s nothing to be done about what is now a chronic malaise. We’re fucked.
George Megalogenis uses the false dichotomy that it’s either America or China that Australia must come down on the side of. That if Australia upsets China, then America, with its ‘America First’ policy, will not come to our aid. So we better choose one or the other, preferably China because China buys more of our stuff and has a Trade Surplus with Australia.
And this may be the case, as Morrison may see it, as the breakdown of the Post Cold War globalisation of economic trade consensus occurs, brought on much more quickly, but which was happening anyway, by the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic, Trump and Xi.
And this is exactly why Australia doesn’t need to do that but instead it needs to diversify its Trade mix of countries it exports its Goods to, and instead invites the citizens of other countries in, eventually, to take advantage of the Services we have to offer, especially in Tourism and Education.
There is the new trade deal with the UK, which is on foot. There is the rise of the Middle Class in India, which would be a perfect fit for our Universities due to their English as a second language capability. There is Indonesia. There is Africa. In short, there are so many other countries that are capable of filling the gaps created by China and America and their belligerent and bullying ways.
Does anyone believe Josh’s, “The $60 billion won’t be used because it’s borrowed money.”?
@political_alert tweets
Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese, is in Sydney today and will hold a doorstop at 9:30AM #auspol
Kronomex
Yes, all the LNP voters who worry about surpluses and trust that the LNP are good money managers. That’s a lot of voters!
Whatever China or the US decide to do, the interests of Australia will not be on the list of their concerns. Count on that. We fawn over the US – over a decadent, incompetent, self-destructive and idiotic regime. We embarrass ourselves in doing so. We are incredibly maladroit in our dealings with China. Why would anyone take us seriously? We’ve done nothing to deserve it.
@phbarratt tweets
Businesses prepared to fight minimum wage rise before COVID-19, bushfires
Has there ever been a moment in Australian history when businesses said they could afford a pay rise? http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/businesses-prepared-to-fight-minimum-wage-rise-before-covid-19-bushfires-20200522-p54vgb.html?btis
Michael Pascoe has just weighed in on Joshie’s “happy accident”.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/05/23/jobkeeper-60-billion-pascoe/
CI
I would agree that some in Labor are looking to blame the Greens for their woes ever since Rudd backflipped on climate change and the even stupider knifing of a first term PM while he was still popular, if that is what you meant. But the fact is that the majority of Greens preferences still flow to Labor. So that isn’t the problem.
The main problem is the declining relevance of unions, which only represent a tiny fraction of the working class, and their inability to recognise that they need to become more internally democratic and effective at engaging with casual, contract, female and tertiary qualified workers, most of whom make less money than tradies. Without that a union movement is unable to advance the cause of social justice. Yet a union background is still seen as a legitimiser of candidacy and power. It is the institutionalism of the Labor party that is the problem, because that institutional structure has been unable to reform itself to one more relevant to current workforce realities and demographics.
As some in Labor drift ever further to the right they naturally wish to blame the left for their electoral failures, even though the right wing neo-Liberal project is effectively dead. There is a huge opportunity to attack the current government and its inept treasurer right now, yet some here would rather attack the Greens. Madness.
Exactly, Michael Pascoe:
Pascoe is right, though he understates the problems in the economy.
Pascoe’s right. Frydenberg isn’t up to the job, but the guiding hand is another failed Treasurer – Morrison.
Oh, Socrates. You completely ignore the two elephants in the room.
1. Mainly led into battle by the CFMMEU, there are certain unions who are flying to the Right, faster than the Labor Party you constantly decry for this ‘sin’.
2. Are you just being wilfully obtuse when you criticise Labor people here for their arguments with The Greens!?! Have you not read some of the absolutely slimy crap that is thrown from the other direction!?!
So, until you acknowledge these basic truths, I’m sorry, but I can’t take your criticism seriously.
Socrates says:
Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 9:16 am
CI
This reading of the political dynamics is just wrong. I can’t be fucked going over it all again. But it’s wrong. The agitation against Labor and the unions by the Greens is one of the factors that hinders Labor. Effectively, the Greens run a tag match with the LibNats. Labor gets wedged all the time. We’re fucked. Utterly fucked. Labor’s PV in Qld and WA is in the 20s in Federal elections. This means Labor can never win. Just get used to it. The dysfunction is permanent.
cat
Thats why Labor will continue to lose elections. You are more worried about the sins of another party than the sins of Labor.
There was a reason why Kevin 07 being strong on the environment won an election.
There is a reason why blaming the Greens because Labor lost the election after Climate Change policy was passed means Labor keeps losing elections.
Labor people have made the Greens a scapegoat with all kinds of excuses despite the fact that legislation passed parliament.
The subsequent failure to win the election campaign is not the fault of the Greens who voted to keep Labor in power and voted to pass that Climate Legislation after compromising with Labor.
Its that scapegoating and failure to face up to the fact that coal’s vested interests had a lot to do with that election loss from within Labor that is part of the Labor blind spot.
Socrates…..the ‘right wing neoliberal Project’ is not dead. It’s stronger now than at anytime since WW1. We are fucked in Libkin Garden.
G – that Biden tweet is the stuff he needs to hammer. Trumps base don’t care about incompetence… even if it hurts them directly they will fall for Trump and his media when they confuse, spin and distract.
But not draining the swamp? Making it bigger? Corruptly lining his own pockets as other do it tough…. there is traction in that. It may not change a lot of votes, but it will dampen enthusiasm and keep some home on Election Day.
Repugs making it harder to Register and vote in some areas could count against them come Nov.