Miscellany: issues polling, drug law reform, Eden-Monaro wash-up, NZ poll

Concern about the state of the economy pushes climate change down the issue agenda batting order; evidence of a trend in favour of legalisation of cannabis; and New Zealand Labour still on track for a landslide in September.

Beneath this post is the latest offering from Adrian Beaumont on the polling picture in the United States ahead of the November presidential election. Closer to home, a few items of poll-related news:

• Pollster JWS Research has published results of its occasional True Issues survey, in which respondents are prompted to identify the five most important issues from a list of 20. The key changes since the last survey in February are a 17% increase for the economy and finances to 52% and an 11% drop in environment and climate change to 31%. The result for health issues has in fact changed little over recent surveys, although it has gained the top spot in the latest survey with a three point increase to 56%, overtaking cost of living which is down six to 53%. Interestingly, defence, security and terrorism is up six to 26%, which I take to reflect growing nervousness about China. Various other questions on COVID-19 are also featured, including findings that satisfaction with federal and state government performance is at record highs, with both scoring 19% for very good and 39% for good. The report notes that strongest results for state governments were recorded in Western Australia (83% combined very good and good) and the weakest were in Victoria (57%), although this is going off small sub-samples. The poll was conducted July 1 to 5 from a sample of 1000, just as the breakout in Victoria was beginning to gather pace.

• The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has published the National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2019, in which 22,274 respondents were surveyed by Roy Morgan between April and September 2019 about their use of and attitudes towards illegal drugs. On the latter count, it found a plurality in favour of legalising cannabis for the first time, with 41% supportive and 37% opposed, with support having risen from 21% since 2007. It also found 57% support for allowing pill testing with 27% opposed.

• Kevin Bonham offers an interesting look at the unweighted data on voting intention that Essential Research effectively provides in its otherwise voting intention-less poll results, by way of identifying the size of the subsamples in its survey question breakdowns (for example, in the latest polls you can see from the “base” rows in the tables breaking down responses by voting intention that the sample included 299 Labor voters, 420 for the Coalition and 108 for the Greens). Notwithstanding the lack of weighting, the results paint an intuitively plausible picture of collapsing government support at the time of the bushfires, a reset when COVID-19 first reared its head, and an ongoing surge in Coalition support on the back of its support packages and the largely successful efforts to suppress the virus. These movements are considerably more variable than anything recorded by Newspoll, which has maintained the unnatural stability that was its hallmark before the 2019 election, despite its methodological overhaul.

Some wash-up from the Eden-Monaro by-election:

• John Black, former Labor Senator and now executive director of Australian Development Strategies, offered an ecological analysis of voting patterns in the Eden-Monaro by-election in The Australian on Monday. This pointed to a strong age-related effect in which older areas swung Labor and younger areas swung Liberal. Labor-swinging areas were also low-income with large accommodation and food industry workforces, while Liberal-swinging areas were white-collar and with high levels of employment in public administration. None of this would surprise students of the electorate and the result, given the Liberal swing in Queanbeyan and the Labor swing along the coast.

• Counting in the by-election is nearly complete, with today being the last day that postal votes received will be entered in the count. The latest results are continuing to be updated as they come through on my live results page. With probably a couple of dozen postals to be entered in the count, Labor holds a lead of 764. Of remaining interest will be the distribution of preferences, presumably to be conducted early next week, which will offer some insight into exactly how many Nationals and Shooters preferences flowed to Labor – contentious subjects both on the conservative side of politics.

Meanwhile across the pond:

• Roy Morgan published a New Zealand voting intention poll this week that was shortly overtaken by events, with the conservative opposition National Party experiencing its second leadership change in two months earlier in the week. The poll had Labor down two points from the previous poll in May to 54.5%, National up half a point to 27%, the Greens up two to 9%, Act New Zealand up 1.5% to a new peak of 5%, and New Zealand First apparently headed towards extinction with a one point drop to 1.5%. The poll was conducted by phone from a sample of 879, but all we are told of the field work period is that it was conducted during June.

• Concurrent with the New Zealand election on September 19 will be a non-binding referendum on cannabis legalisation. Poll results on this question are all over the shop: one poll last month, by Colmar Brunton, had 40% for and 49% against, while another, by Horizon Research, had 56% for and 43% against.

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.

1,562 thoughts on “Miscellany: issues polling, drug law reform, Eden-Monaro wash-up, NZ poll”

Comments Page 1 of 32
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  1. Labor needs a leadership that will

    start attacking libs/nats corrupt foreign media controlled propaganda unit for using the corona virus to play politics

  2. Scott @ #1 Friday, July 17th, 2020 – 7:08 am

    Labor needs a leadership that will

    start attacking libs/nats corrupt foreign media controlled propaganda unit for using the corona virus to play politics

    You can’t do that! It’s an immature response to a serious situation. Labor are actually doing well by being bipartisan and attacking the Coalition over their many other faults. Like this one would be a better target for their attack:

    An Auditor-General’s report into a controversial water buyback scheme in the Murray-Darling Basin found the federal Water Department did not ensure value for taxpayers’ money in the $190 million program, but did not find any legal breaches in the so-called “watergate” deals.

    The report on the government’s purchase of water rights from private irrigators from 2016 to 2019 found the department “did not use a value for money approach for procurement” of water rights, and only ensured it recovered the required volumes and did not pay above market price.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/auditor-general-watergate-report-finds-buyback-scheme-didn-t-ensure-value-20200716-p55co6.html

    Stuff where they are not getting value for the taxpayer, that sort of thing.

  3. If suppression has failed in Victoria, one of the most cautious states, it can fail anywhere.

    From my own perspective — widely shared by my colleagues — suppression cannot win. Coexisting with COVID-19 means lives lost, repeated lockdown and gripping uncertainty, which will take a giant toll on our collective mental health and undermine the confidence necessary for economic recovery.

    Suppression has failed because it underestimates this virus, it overestimates our ability to control it, and it fundamentally misunderstands human nature.
    …
    We face a tough few months ahead in Victoria. We will get through it together. But we cannot do this again and again, and that’s what a suppression strategy demands of us.

    Businesses will open and close, people will regain and lose their jobs. And each time we visit our elderly or vulnerable loved ones we will think: Can I justify the risk, could I infect them?

    Now is the time to reassess our strategy. To ask, do we open prematurely and risk this happening again? Or do we grit our teeth and lock down until we have eliminated the virus?

    For nations where COVID-19 has killed thousands, elimination is no longer an option. But, as evidenced in New Zealand and other parts of Australia, we still have that chance.

    Advocates of suppression present us with a false dichotomy between suppression and elimination. Elimination doesn’t mean we can go back to our pre-COVID lives. We must still maintain all of the same safeguards of a suppression strategy.

    But, if we aim to eliminate the virus first, we can save lives, we can save jobs and we can all sleep easier at night.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-17/coronavirus-melbourne-doctor-suppression-or-elimination/12462518

    Aaron Bloch is an infectious diseases and general medicine doctor at a Melbourne metropolitan hospital.

  5. C@tmomma says:
    Friday, July 17, 2020 at 7:14 am

    .You can’t do that! It’s an immature response to a serious situation. Labor are actually doing well by being bipartisan and attacking the Coalition over their many other faults. Like this one would be a better target for their attack:

    The nice approach has failed and will not work , the public is too gullible and favours the side of politics which attacks

  7. Hmm, I don’t remember Scott Morrison pointing this out with his big Training and Jobs announcement yesterday:

    Deloitte Access Economics’ grim forecast of a jobless recovery

    … Deloitte’s predictions that unemployment will remain stubbornly high and real wages will fall, right through to 2024–25, mean the next election will likely be fought under a long, dark economic cloud.

    https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/paddy-manning/2020/06/2020/1594014532/bega-pleased

  8. The attack what Labor may be could be doing
    Point it out that the Libs/nats with their corrupt foreign media unit , are not concern for the health of Australians , but more interested in partisan politics .

    Labor can point out that they are doing what bi-partisan politics should be like

  9. There is not much intelligence in the voting public these days
    Labor needs to be aggressive in getting their point out and keep it going

    It is a shame Labor is wasting the opportunity , in the continuation of appeasing the libs/nats corrupt foreign media propaganda unit

  10. Good morning Dawn Patrollers

    An Auditor-General’s report into a controversial water buyback scheme in the Murray-Darling Basin found the federal Water Department did not ensure value for taxpayers’ money in the $190 million program, but did not find any legal breaches in the so-called “watergate” deals. Buggered but not bent, apparently.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/auditor-general-watergate-report-finds-buyback-scheme-didn-t-ensure-value-20200716-p55co6.html
    John Hewson says that Morrison is using and “improving on” the worst of John Howard’s political methodology to avoid accountability. Hewson uses many examples to put the case for a national ICAC.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-s-dirty-secret-and-the-trial-too-sensitive-for-an-open-court-20200715-p55c6a.html
    David Crowe opines that the $2b skills package will fall far short of what will be needed.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/skills-package-won-t-go-nearly-far-enough-20200716-p55cq5.html
    And Killian Plastow adds that the training sector’s dodgy past raises questions for JobTrainer’s future.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2020/07/16/training-tafe-vet-funds/
    The economic news continues to be grim but there is an encouraging political consensus developing on what policies will be needed to carry Australia through this pandemic crisis says the SMH editorial.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/jobs-news-should-strengthen-consensus-on-stimulus-20200716-p55crg.html
    In a move which could put him on a collision course with Labor and the unions, Scott Morrison has flagged extending industrial relations exemptions to employers who will no longer use JobKeeper, arguing ongoing flexibility will be needed if jobs are to be saved and created.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/pm-pushes-for-ir-flex-to-ensure-jobs-recovery-20200716-p55cnv
    The grim prospect of prolonged unemployment must finally produce an overhaul the industrial relations system to make it easier to hire and invest in people in the post-COVID world echoes the AFR editorial.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/outdated-workplace-system-is-australia-s-real-jobkiller-20200716-p55ci5
    Phil Coorey reports that the Morrison government has extended the life of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility for another five years as part of a broader plan to repurpose the loan facility to help with the economic recovery.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/northern-australia-fund-extended-under-economic-recovery-plan-20200716-p55cp5
    John Kehoe says that the old budget rules have changed and fiscal policy is in an ‘upside-down’ world where spending more money can now can help lower unemployment and improve the budget’s medium-term health.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/new-budget-thinking-needed-in-upside-down-world-20200609-p550sm
    According to these two academics, increasing the childcare subsidy will help struggling families — and the economy.
    https://theconversation.com/increasing-the-childcare-subsidy-will-help-struggling-families-and-the-economy-142557
    The prize for stupidity lands here today as Labor Party documents detailing allegations of corruption, forgery and branch stacking were removed from an ALP staffer’s garage and dumped in the bin behind an outer suburban chicken shop just weeks after Victoria’s anti-corruption commission announced a sweeping probe into similar allegations facing Andrews government ministers.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/alp-branch-stacking-documents-dumped-in-skip-at-suburban-chicken-shop-20200716-p55coo.html
    In this essay on the pandemic Waleed Aly writes, “Now so many of us find ourselves financially decimated or unemployed through no fault of our own, thanks to a biological parasite that is showing us who is really in charge. Suddenly all these signs of our progress – these sophisticated, bustling cities full of globally mobile people – become the very things that make us most vulnerable. Our “mastery” has become our Achilles heel.”
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/covid-s-now-showing-us-who-s-really-in-charge-20200716-p55ck7.html
    Victoria’s Chief Health Officer sees positive signs in the infections data, but clusters are growing at nursing homes and other healthcare sites, with 150 healthcare workers infected as new cases topped 300 yesterday.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/150-victorian-health-workers-infected-as-new-cases-top-300-20200716-p55cse.html
    Melissa Davey tells us that the Victorian government has refused to answer questions about hospital surge capacity or the number of medical institutions coping with outbreaks of Covid-19, with hundreds of health staff now in precautionary quarantine due to potential exposure to the virus.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/16/victoria-refuses-health-workers-have-covid-19-hospital-staff-looming-crisis-coronavirus
    The majority of patients admitted to an acute care hospital in Sydney with Covid-19 in March and April are still experiencing symptoms more than three months after being discharged.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/17/most-covid-19-patients-admitted-to-a-sydney-hospital-in-march-still-have-symptoms
    Fergus Hunter reveals that tens of thousands of families have waited more than nine months for payments they are owed by the government under the childcare subsidy scheme introduced in 2018. Over to you, Stuart.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/thousands-of-families-wait-on-government-childcare-payments-for-2018-19-20200716-p55cp1.html
    Shane Wright looks at the rather scary employment figures for June.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/almost-1-million-australians-unemployed-abs-20200716-p55cio.html
    The Canberra Times thinks these job figures indicate that worst is yet to come.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6836838/job-figures-show-worst-is-yet-to-come/?cs=14258
    Thursday’s unemployment figures confirmed that women have borne the brunt of this recession – a fact the government has failed to address, writes Euan Black.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/work/2020/07/16/pink-collar-recession-coronavirus/
    Matt Johnson identifies the five industries set to rocket – and plummet – amid the coronavirus pandemic.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/work/2020/07/16/industries-boom-bust-coronavirus/
    The Australian’s Michael Sexton writes that the palace papers provide further evidence of the meticulous planning on the part of Sir John Kerr to ensure that his removal of the Whitlam government encountered no unforeseen obstacles.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/john-kerr-schemed-in-secret-and-lost-his-chance-to-be-redeemed-by-history/news-story/4a67d6a2ed42276cecca6006b6a1b142
    And Michelle Grattan thinks that the palace letters make great reading but leave a republic as far away as ever
    https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-palace-letters-make-great-reading-but-leave-a-republic-as-far-away-as-ever-142837
    In order for Australia to move forward towards independence, it’s important to take a look back at the progress made during the Whitlam era, writes Dr Robert Wood.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/political-lessons-from-history-in-becoming-a-republic,14107
    Reading the palace letters reminded Ross Garnaut of a matter that played out behind the scenes on 11 November 1975, as Papua New Guinea transitioned to independence.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/16/ring-buckingham-palace-a-recollection-from-the-whitlam-dismissal
    Scott Morrison has suggested Victoria’s coronavirus outbreak has been exacerbated by poor contact tracing protocols, and that NSW was getting on top of its problems more quickly due to better procedures. I thought it would be a soda with COVIDSafe.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/nsw-a-better-example-of-how-to-contain-an-outbreak-pm-20200716-p55chu
    Premier Daniel Andrews is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison, despite much evidence to the contrary, remains the mainstream media’s golden boy, writes Michelle Pini.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/dan-damned–scott-scot-free,14108
    Samantha Dick explains how two Australian vaccines are aiming to defeat the coronavirus.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/coronavirus/2020/07/17/vaccine-coronavirus-australia/
    Lisa Cox writes that environment groups are increasingly anxious and frustrated as they wait for the release of an interim report from a review of Australia’s national environmental laws. The review’s chair, the former competition watchdog head Graeme Samuel, handed his report to the environment minister, Sussan Ley, almost three weeks ago.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/17/frustration-grows-over-delayed-release-of-review-into-australias-environmental-laws
    The nation’s flawed dietary guidelines have much to answer for, with more than 5000 people losing their lives “unnecessarily” from Type 2 diabetes in the past three months. With evidence showing diet can improve underlying health conditions, in a time of rising COVID-19 infections it is more important than ever to revise the dietary guidelines, writes Dr Maryanne Demasi.
    https://www.michaelwest.com.au/australian-of-the-year-takes-on-big-food-says-our-diet-is-killing-us/
    Bianca Hall reports that contempt of court proceedings have been launched against the developers who illegally demolished the Corkman Irish Pub in Carlton after they failed to comply with an order that they transform the ruined site into a park.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/contempt-of-court-proceedings-launched-against-corkman-pub-owners-20200716-p55cpp.html
    Apple’s $21 billion tax win highlights a big problem writes Bloomberg’s Alex Webb.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/gaping-loopholes-apple-s-21-billion-tax-win-highlights-a-big-problem-20200716-p55ck4.html
    Following this case Aiden Regan says that until the EU tackles tax avoidance, big companies will keep getting away with it.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/16/eu-tax-avoidance-big-companies-ireland-apple-state-aid
    Zoe Samios writes that Telstra is confident the new national security laws imposed in Hong Kong will not apply to its operations there despite concerns that the telco may be forced to provide information to Chinese authorities under certain circumstances.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/telstra-to-stay-in-hong-kong-anticipating-it-wont-be-asked-for-data-20200716-p55cj0.html
    Law firm Maurice Blackburn has launched a class action lawsuit against Westpac on behalf of hundreds of thousands of car buyers who were sold vehicle loans under a deal that allegedly allowed dealers to secretly pocket vast commission payments.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/16/australian-car-buyers-launch-class-action-against-westpac-over-alleged-secret-dealer-commissions
    The Vatican has told bishops around the world they should report cases of clergy sex crimes to police even when not legally bound to do so, in its latest effort to compel church leaders to protect minors from predator priests. That didn’t take long, did it?
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/vatican-says-bishops-should-report-sex-abuse-to-police-20200717-p55cve.html
    Sue Mitchell tells us that the ACCC will look at whether Woolworths’ B2B strategy has an adverse impact on competition, rather than an adverse impact on competitors.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/retail/accc-to-investigate-woolworths-1b-b2b-push-20200716-p55cjo
    According to Stephen Bartholomeusz, life after the coronavirus will create diabolical dilemmas for central banks as they try to grapple with unsustainable levels of debt and the risk of financial bubbles that could ignite another financial crisis.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/post-pandemic-world-a-frightening-mix-of-financial-bubbles-and-massive-debt-20200716-p55clj.html
    Eryk Bagshaw reports that China’s economy has returned to growth just three months after businesses and workers were plunged into a negative quarter, putting Beijing in a better position to confront multiple international disputes.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/china-avoids-recession-despite-coronavirus-trade-sanctions-20200716-p55cmv.html
    China has warned Australia that excessive anti-dumping complaints by BlueScope Steel threaten the nation’s steel industry and could impact crucial iron ore exports.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/china-threatens-iron-ore-industry-after-bluescope-antidumping-complaints/news-story/b9ffb06136b1c5a8f6c33e2839677870
    Daniel Hurst writes that Malcolm Turnbull has rebuked Australian business chiefs and academics for criticising the Australian government over the state of the relationship with Beijing, saying such reactions would only “encourage more bullying from China”.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/16/shameful-turnbull-rebukes-australian-business-for-criticising-china-relations
    The American right is pushing ‘freedom over fear’, but it won’t stop the virus writes Jan-Werner Müller.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/16/coronavirus-american-right-freedom-over-fear
    The Washington Post tells us how groups such as the Lincoln Project and Republican Voters Against Trump got started.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/it-s-ok-to-change-your-mind-trump-voters-join-never-trump-ranks-20200715-p55cfa.html
    The fix is in. Florida can continue to block people with felony convictions from voting until they have repaid all fines and fees they owe, the US supreme court said yesterday, a major decision that makes it less likely that nearly three-quarters of a million Floridians will get to vote in November.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/16/florida-voting-rights-felons-supreme-court-restricts-amendment-4
    Kate McClymont closes out the story on a previous “Arsehole of the Week” nominee who has just been sentenced to nearly four years in jail.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/crooked-croke-s-shifty-athon-sees-him-jailed-for-almost-four-years-20200716-p55cpd.html

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  11. Scott,
    Attack dogs are only successful when they have support. Like Tony Abbott did. Labor doesn’t have that luxury, so they have to be cleverer in the way they gain the support of the electorate.

    But you spend all day, every day saying the same thing over and over again, you’ll have a friend in mundo. 🙂

  12. Scott @ #9 Friday, July 17th, 2020 – 7:28 am

    There is not much intelligence in the voting public these days

    It is a shame Labor is wasting the opportunity , in the continuation of appeasing the libs/nats corrupt foreign media propaganda unit

    Have you got any other tunes in that juke box?

    This one is boring.

  13. C@tmomma says:
    Friday, July 17, 2020 at 7:29 am
    Scott,
    Attack dogs are only successful when they have support. Like Tony Abbott did. Labor doesn’t have that luxury, so they have to be cleverer in the way they gain the support of the electorate.

    But you spend all day, every day saying the same thing over and over again, you’ll have a friend in mundo

    Yes agree that Labor does not have to do attack like Abbott

    But go on the attack like they did under shorten , call out the media being partisan and the lib/nats propaganda

    i will give you a 🙂 , with the mundo comment

  14. • Concurrent with the New Zealand election on September 19 will be a non-binding referendum on cannabis legalisation. Poll results on this question are all over the shop: one poll last month, by Colmar Brunton, had 40% for and 49% against, while another, by Horizon Research, had 56% for and 43% against.

    William above.

    The shy pothead effect?

  16. Scott @ #13 Friday, July 17th, 2020 – 5:34 am

    C@tmomma says:
    Friday, July 17, 2020 at 7:29 am
    Scott,
    Attack dogs are only successful when they have support. Like Tony Abbott did. Labor doesn’t have that luxury, so they have to be cleverer in the way they gain the support of the electorate.

    But you spend all day, every day saying the same thing over and over again, you’ll have a friend in mundo

    Yes agree that Labor does not have to do attack like Abbott

    But go on the attack like they did under shorten , call out the media being partisan and the lib/nats propaganda

    i will give you a 🙂 , with the mundo comment

    Labor need to work out what, if any, parts of our society / community need deep massive change, that they can then show leadership on and build support for.

    And i don’t mean with little flourishes in an election campaign I mean really believe in and dedicate themselves too. At the moment our temptation is to stand for nothing, but still cop all the attacks as if we were a far left wing, actually progressive party. We have the worst of both worlds.

  18. Tony Burke
    @Tony_Burke
    ·
    50s
    Funding film production here creates jobs. I’m glad the govt has made today’s announcement. Here’s what I don’t understand: today it’s the money for Hollywood and two weeks ago it was the money for Australian films. Why is it $50m for our stories and $400m for Hollywood? #auspol

  19. ” Yes agree that Labor does not have to do attack like Abbott”

    Unlike Abbott, Labor doesn’t have the support of a biased mainstream media. In particular it doesn’t have the nation’s biggest media organisation prepared to act as its propaganda unit as required. Attacking like Abbott is therefore not an option. Labor should attack more than it is but it needs to choose its battles and targets very carefully. It also needs to be clever in how it attacks. Abbott-style unremitting negativity won’t do it.

  20. WeWantPaul says:
    Friday, July 17, 2020 at 8:06 am

    Labor need to work out what, if any, parts of our society / community need deep massive change, that they can then show leadership on and build support for.
    ————

    Fair point

  21. Richard Holden
    @profholden
    ·
    1h
    My latest…Vital Signs: government lockdown costs may be exaggerated over COVID-19’s direct economic impact https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-government-lockdown-costs-may-be-exaggerated-over-covid-19s-direct-economic-impact-142710?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=bylinetwitterbutton via
    @ConversationEDU

    @UNSWbusiness

    @UNSW
    Vital Signs: government lockdown costs may be exaggerated over COVID-19’s direct economic impact
    Research suggests the coronavirus pandemic’s greatest impact is due to people changing their behaviour voluntarily. So we may be overestimating the costs of government restrictions.
    theconversation.com

  22. The corrupt foreign owned media in Australia , will still protect the incompetence of Morrison and his federal chief/deputy medical officers for calling

    1- The borders to be open , with no medical evidence that it was safe to allow the borders to be open without consequences

    2- Schools to be open, with no medical evidence that it was safe to allow the schools to be open without consequences

  23. I don’t believe my eyes and ears. The White house of Donald Trump, via their shill, er, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, just said ‘ The science should not stand in the way of schools reopening.’

    The words, ‘Criminal negligence’ come to mind.

  24. Steve777 says:
    Friday, July 17, 2020 at 8:14 am

    Unlike Abbott, Labor doesn’t have the support of a biased mainstream media. In particular it doesn’t have the nation’s biggest media organisation prepared to act as its propaganda unit as required. Attacking like Abbott is therefore not an option. Labor should attack more than it is but it needs to choose its battles and targets very carefully. It also needs to be clever in how it attacks. Abbott-style unremitting negativity won’t do it.
    —————-

    Labor could be politically brave and take risk with , inviting the general public to press conferences and let the public ask unscripted questions , majority of questions may not be to the Labor member/s’s liking , but you never know if they answer questions from the public in a transparent way.

    It could just be a turning point of defeating the corrupt foreign media controlled and owned libs/nats

  25. The latest wisdom from the stable genius.

    Manu Raju@mkraju
    ·
    1h
    Trump: “Dishwashers, you didn’t have any water so the people that do the dishes, you press it and it goes again and you do it again and again. So you might as well give them the water because you will end up using less water. So we made it so dishwashers now have alot more water”

    Manu Raju@mkraju
    ·
    1h
    Trump adds: “And in many places in most places of the country, water is not a problem. They don’t know what to do with it. It is called rain. They don’t have a problem.”

  26. Sound bite of Morrison on commercial radio this morning (apparently he was on Nine) – he’s sending in the army to “help” Victoria cope.

    It sounds awfully like he’s aiming to take all the credit when Victoria’s massive efforts start to pay dividends and the number of new covid-19 cases falls.

  29. citizen

    Morrison keeps emphasising the use of army as if that’s all Victoria needs. But he also praises NSW as the way to “go forward”. He’s stuck on suppression/opening up.

  30. Does Trump have problems with his “waterworks”?

    During his remarks on rolling back regulations, Trump once again complained about the water pressure in energy-efficient showers.

    “Showerheads, you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out,” the president said at his White House event. “You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer? Or you take a shower longer?”

    Trump then added, “Because my hair, I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect.” That comment attracted some chuckles and applause from the friendly crowd gathered on the South Lawn.

  32. BK

    Stable genius. Out of the horse’s mouth? Even a pony is smarter than that.

    (I believe the saying comes from judging the age of a horse by its teeth, which cannot lie.)

  33. Jaeger @ #30 Friday, July 17th, 2020 – 6:35 am

    Does Trump have problems with his “waterworks”?

    During his remarks on rolling back regulations, Trump once again complained about the water pressure in energy-efficient showers.

    “Showerheads, you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out,” the president said at his White House event. “You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer? Or you take a shower longer?”

    Trump then added, “Because my hair, I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect.” That comment attracted some chuckles and applause from the friendly crowd gathered on the South Lawn.

    In a complete role reversal the president is now trolling Sarah Cooper.

  34. I heard this morning that conspiracy theorists are distributing leaflets in Canberra saying that the gov is putting coronavirus in the water.

  36. Drat! Posted the following to the wrong thread sooo…

    Playing to an audience of one –

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/pompeo-says-protesters-and-mainstream-media-are-attacking-american-way-of-life/2020/07/16/09f3aad8-c799-11ea-a9d3-74640f25b953_story.html

    Now read who made up the “commission” and you can pretty much see it’s a bunch of anti-abortionist and religious gits. What a joke!

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/state-department-to-name-panel-focused-on-human-rights-and-natural-law/2019/07/06/3bfe001e-9f54-11e9-b27f-ed2942f73d70_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_3

  37. How far off the planet does this Pres have to go before they section him?

    Jill Colvin
    @colvinj
    · 1h
    Trump says he’ll be announcing “many exciting things” over the next 8 weeks, “things that nobody has even contemplated, thought about, thought possible,” with”levels of detail” and “levels of thought that a lot of people believed very strongly we didn’t have in this country”

  38. With the school cluster in Melbourne currently over 150 you would think they will now have a much better handle on the role/risks school plays in the spread of The Plague.

  39. Morrison to a T – massive promises but very little is delivered.

    Thousands of families wait on government childcare payments for 2018-19

    The government faces criticism for apparent delays in processing of payments under the childcare subsidy system.

    by Fergus Hunter (SMH headline)

  40. With training camps set to open in less than two weeks, 72 National Football League players had tested positive for COVID-19 as of July 10, according to the players’ association.

    It was not immediately clear who the players were or which teams they play for.

    The NFL plans to move forward with its regular season kickoff on Sept. 10, with several clubs anticipating reduced capacity – or no fans at all – at stadiums on game days to allow for social distancing, as the league finds a path forward amid the coronavirus outbreak.

  41. citizen

    Also “Morrison to a ‘T’ ” is that he receives no political punishment for failing to deliver on a loudly proclaimed promise.

  42. lizzie says:
    Friday, July 17, 2020 at 6:41 am


    Phillip Lodge
    @phlogga
    ·
    5h
    An associate claims inside info on the Rydges Hotel quarantine fiasco. Reckons hardly any contact with tourist took place or was required. Anyone claiming a security guard was “sleeping” with anyone is “dreaming”. One bloke didn’t know he had covid and took it to work. Could be.

    And it interesting to look back and see who was taken in. Dio was a takeout example.

  44. Looks as if the “funding” for film & TV is merely a tax break. You have to have a go (spend the money) to get a go (receive tax return).

  46. Unfortunately Scott Morrison has not been able to overcome his incorrect belief that the only jobs that are genuine, valuable, and real are those that are created by private firms.

    I suspect that if an LNP Prime Minister introduced a Job Guarantee it would be a kind of “Nixon goes to China” move that would be impossible to oppose, and that would meet with widespread acclaim. It is misguided of him to pass up this political opportunity. He should also do it because it would save lives, eradicate waste, increase productive capacity, care for people, and care for the planet.

  50. Cockle Doodle Doo

    According to an Age investigation, Labor Party documents detailing allegations of corruption, forgery and branch-stacking were removed from a staffer to former Victorian government minister Marlene Kairouz’s garage and dumped in a suburban chicken shop’s bin just weeks after Victoria’s anti-corruption commission announced a probe into similar allegations facing state ministers.

    Tony Peng — the staffer to Kairouz, the ALP powerbroker who resigned following branch-stacking allegations against her and Adem Somyurek — has reportedly blamed his 24-year-old son for removing the documents from the garage and binning them four km away.

    https://www.crikey.com.au/2020/07/17/worried-sick-covid-19/

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