As reported by The Guardian, the latest fortnightly Essential Research poll finds approval of Scott Morrison’s handling of COVID-19 at 61%, which is off from a high of 72% in June. Approval ratings for state governments in New South Wales as well as Victoria are also trending gently downwards, with both having lost two points in the past fortnight, leaving them at 59% and 47% respectively. The Western Australian government continues to lead the field on 84%, though this too is down two on last time, with due regard to the very small sample size.
The poll also suggests Australians are unsentimental about civil liberties in the face of COVID-19, with 65% favouring closing the border to all foreign travellers and 52% supporting dedicated quarantine facilities for convalescents. Concerning outbreaks at aged care clinics, 42% blamed the providers, 30% the federal goverment and 28% state governments, and 70% believed the situation had been aggravated by long-term under-funding. The poll also gauged support for taxpayers to underwrite new gas infrastructure at 27% for, 27% against and 32% for neither. The poll was conducted from 1068 respondents from Thursday to Sunday; the pollster will publish its full report will be published later today.
UPDATE: Full report here. It should be noted that the 61% approval rating for handling of COVID-19 related to “the government” rather than Scott Morrison.
We also had on Friday one of the occasional Roy Morgan polls on federal voting intention, which finds the Coalition lead out to 54-46 from 51.5-48.5 when the last such poll was published in mid-July. The Coalition is up 2.5% on the primary vote to 46%, with Labor down one to 32.5%, the Greens steady on 11% and One Nation up half a point to 3%. The poll was conducted over the previous two weekends by phone and online interviewing from a sample of 2841.
“… 77% agree with the statement: “Authorities failed to prepare an adequate Covid-19 strategy to deal with outbreaks in aged care facilities.””
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/23/books/review/brian-stelter-hoax.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rep-ocasio-cortezs-convention-speech-to-serve-as-warning-to-democratic-establishment-and-biden/2020/08/18/28c3d34a-e155-11ea-8dd2-d07812bf00f7_story.html?utm_content=intl_con_A_Politics_NewGeneration&utm_medium=email&utm_source=acquisition&utm_campaign=pw_acq_intl_con_082420
We also had on Friday one of the occasional Roy Morgan polls on federal voting intention, which finds the Coalition lead out to 54-46 from 51.5-48.5 when the last such poll was published in mid-July.
Looks like Labor are going to win the federal election again. 🙂
Tests indicate Alexei Navalny was poisoned, says German clinic
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/24/alexei-navalny-was-probably-poisoned-says-germany
Trump better stay President for Life or he’ll be going to the Big House after the White House:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-york-ag-trump-organization-lawsuit/2020/08/24/882c03a8-e60e-11ea-bc79-834454439a44_story.html
I think that means Eric Trump is taking the Fifth. 🙂
Jaeger,
I bet part of the reason Putin hates Navalny is because the ugly little runt Putin can’t stand that Navalny is tall and good looking with a great sense of humour. Navalny, shirtless on a horse, would actually look good.
Well done Dan Tehan.
Crossbench not looking good for you.
An important development radicalising university academics.
Now we will see some real political debate.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-25/australian-university-reform-changes-social-work-exclusion/12589626
C@t:
Well now we know why Bill Barr has tried to run interference on NYAG for so long. I notice Eric Trump is now refusing to comply with a request to be interviewed as part of that investigation, citing “rights afforded to every individual under the Constitution” when he’d earlier agreed to be interviewed.
‘fess,
I really do hope the prison walls are closing in on that crime family.
SatPaper
There is a wonderful (indeed inspirational, in its way) YouTube where a Criminal Law professor advises anyone involved in a police investigation: “Don’t talk to the police!”
It’s set in the American context, but is good general advice for any jurisdiction.
https://youtu.be/d-7o9xYp7eE
How venal do you have to be to get the sack from the Morrison government!?!
https://www.smh.com.au/national/sukkar-uses-taxpayer-budget-to-employ-friend-who-also-designed-smear-sheets-20200824-p55osu.html
How long is this ‘political amnesia’ excuse going to wash? Sukkar has been caught red-handed doing a LOT of wrong things, and yet he’s still there on the front bench potentially as the next Treasurer of the Australian government!
I think I’m going to have to watch some of this later on 😆
Will he invoke the Trump defence ‘he was a coffee boy’?
QuarantiniCocktail glass
Well well well
The Repug roll call around the states highlighted the lack of diversity… Dems on left, Repugs on right..
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
The royal commission into aged care has rebuked the federal government for failing to act on persistent problems across the sector, with new research sparking a clash in Parliament over measures that might have saved lives.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/aged-care-commissioners-rebuke-government-over-missed-opportunities-20200824-p55otw.html
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/24/royal-commission-blasts-morrison-government-for-inaction-on-aged-care
In a political zero-sum game where the squeakiest wheels get the fiscal grease, aged care consistently misses out laments the AFR’s Terry Barnes.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/aged-care-can-t-compete-with-rent-seekers-and-vested-interests-20200824-p55olz
Michelle Grattan says Scott Morrison is finding, to his great discomfort, the royal commissioners probing aged care aren’t keeping their thoughts to themselves until their final report in February.
https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-aged-care-royal-commissioners-say-sector-needs-independent-performance-reporting-144964
The government has thrown another $171 million at the problem. But a real plan for aged care has been missing all along writes Professor Joseph Ibrahim in this constructive contribution.
https://theconversation.com/the-government-has-thrown-another-171-million-at-the-problem-but-a-real-plan-for-aged-care-has-been-missing-all-along-144929
If Australia has known for a long time that its aged care sector is in crisis, why is reform so difficult asks Tim Cornwall.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-revolving-door-inside-our-aged-care-sector,14231
The Australian tells us that Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck has been “cut out” of decisions to activate new aged-care emergency measures during a COVID-19 outbreak as Scott Morrison used question time to apologise to families of victims for failures during the initial response to the pandemic.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/colbeck-sidelined-over-activation-of-crisis-centres/news-story/023b04aa70f6cf1f0c98ae94ebf12e44
Michael McCormack is facing a destabilisation campaign led by senior Nationals MPs and party figures, with rivals laying the groundwork for a leadership transition after the Queensland election writes The Australian’s Geoff Chambers.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/nationals-put-squeeze-on-michael-mccormack-leadership-strike-tipped-after-queensland-election/news-story/e611473848a6b9ae2878408562079789
David Crowe tells us that state premiers are being blamed for splitting communities with border closures that put jobs at risk, prompting federal Coalition MPs to ramp up calls for intervention to ease the controls.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/backbenchers-businesses-urge-governments-to-ease-state-borders-20200824-p55ovh.html
According to Nick Bonyhady businesses that have fallen off JobKeeper will retain the power to cut staff hours by as much as 40 per cent if they can show their turnover has fallen at least a tenth under a Morrison government plan to save jobs.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/businesses-who-lose-jobkeeper-will-still-be-able-to-cut-staff-hours-20200824-p55ot0.html
Paul Karp writes that the government has backed down on plans to grant businesses that have returned to profitability the power to cut workers’ hours. Instead, only employers suffering revenue downturns during the Covid-19 crisis will retain those powers.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/24/labor-welcomes-backdown-on-most-extreme-part-of-jobkeeper-20
The AFR explains how state governments are being asked to consider privatisations as a new way to help pay for the cost of COVID-19 and protect their credit ratings. What could possibly go wrong?
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/privatisation-back-on-the-map-for-debt-laden-states-20200824-p55onk
After months of COVID-induced irrelevance Anthony Albanese and federal Labor sense a chance to at last get some political traction and dim the resurgent aura of Scott Morrison, writes Dennis Shanahan.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/anthony-albanese-needs-to-box-clever-not-just-throw-haymakers-at-scott-morrison/news-story/10efb9128fe7a7c607236719a6ab8f14
And Ed Husic has called for the dizzying array of policies his party took to the past two elections to be vastly simplified, saying the kind of complicated tax changes the ALP had previously run on can only be argued from government.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2020/08/25/ed-husic-labor-needs-new-plan-to-avoid-more-election-losses/
Luke Henriques-Gomes reports that the Victorian quarantine inquiry heard yesterday that a security guard at Melbourne’s Rydges on Swanston hotel who contracted coronavirus received no infection control training and wasn’t clear on his obligation to tell his superiors if he felt unwell.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/24/melbourne-hotel-quarantine-guard-continued-working-with-covid-symptoms-inquiry-hears
Paul Bongiorno opines that clever thinking on border management emerges, but the risks are still real, he says.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2020/08/25/paul-bongiorno-border-management/
The coronavirus has delivered the biggest economic shock in nearly a century. And yet spending across most of the country is holding up. Several measures show the level of weekly purchasing by households is similar to before the pandemic, writes Matt Wade who says that the economic precipice is upon us.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-wile-e-coyote-economy-australia-too-has-sped-off-the-precipice-20200823-p55oi9.html
Doug Dingwall writes that new figures from the ABS show that most Australians receiving government stimulus payments are using them to pay household bills and debts,.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6892432/big-screen-tvs-nope-we-spent-our-covid-stimulus-to-pay-down-our-bills/?cs=14329
These times are financially stressful for many Australians, but not everyone. Alan Austin examines indicators showing the sectors still dining out.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-economy-is-still-booming-for-the-rich-despite-the-pandemic,14236
Insolvency experts are warning that kowtowing to debtors could have an even worse effect than letting some fail.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/too-soft-on-insolvencies-will-do-more-harm-than-good-20200824-p55onn
The AIMN explains why it thinks Morrison is not a leader.
https://theaimn.com/morrison-is-not-a-leader/
Australians are prepared to countenance much stronger surveillance measures to ensure people diagnosed with Covid-19 remain in quarantine while they recover, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. Katharine Murphy also explains other outcomes from the poll.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/25/essential-poll-australians-back-strong-surveillance-and-banning-all-international-flights-to-curb-covid
Tony Wright has a look at yesterday’s first day of the new form of parliament.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/the-day-the-nation-s-politicians-found-reason-to-hide-behind-masks-20200824-p55ovs.html
Scrapping a rise in the super guarantee will expand the future welfare state and force up personal taxes. Is that what conservatives want, asks Craig Emerson.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/the-coalition-s-weird-policy-on-super-20200824-p55olx
The rampant commercialisation of Australia’s public universities has been laid bare as they engage in behaviour more expected of multinationals than learned institutions. While huge numbers of teaching staff have been casualised, the sector is reporting bumper profits and eyewatering corporate salaries. Michael Sainsbury runs the numbers.
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/australian-university-profits/
Clive Palmer’s challenge of Western Australia’s border closures is set to reach a critical juncture with a judgment due in the Federal Court today.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6893710/federal-court-to-rule-on-wa-border-closure/?cs=14231
Some disturbing news from Bevan Shields who reports that researchers have analysed the genome sequence to confirm that the 33-year-old IT worker had been infected by two different strains of coronavirus four months apart.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/researchers-announce-world-s-first-confirmed-case-of-coronavirus-reinfection-20200824-p55ox1.html
Jewel Topsfield reports that a more infectious mutation of the coronavirus known as the G-variant is now the most common form of the virus in Australia – but some believe it will have only a ‘moderate effect, not a massive effect’ on infection rates.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/fast-spreading-mutation-now-australia-s-most-common-strain-of-covid-19-20200824-p55oto.html
Josh Butler writes that Australian health officials have promised there will be no “cutting of corners” in the testing and approval process for any potential coronavirus vaccine, while also fending off criticisms from the country’s most powerful Catholic archbishop about the development of a treatment.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2020/08/24/no-cutting-corners-covid-vaccine/
The Smage continues its digging on Sukkar and finds some more dirt.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/sukkar-uses-taxpayer-budget-to-employ-friend-who-also-designed-smear-sheets-20200824-p55osu.html
Meanwhile the Victorian Liberal party will probe all members signed up in the past five years to see if they are genuine, while several operatives face suspension or expulsion from the party.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/conservative-liberal-powerbroker-marcus-bastiaan-resigns-from-party-20200824-p55opd.html
These two public health practitioners put forward a case that says Australia’s federation system is broken and needs urgent clarification.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/hand-more-power-to-the-states-before-the-next-pandemic-hits-20200816-p55m7p.html
Now Lisa Visentin reveals that the scandal-plagued insurer, icare, paid its senior executives almost $4 million in salaries and bonuses in the 2018-2019 financial year as its return-to-work rates plunged and the regulator began raising concerns about solvency.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/icare-paid-executives-4-million-in-salaries-and-bonuses-20200824-p55orf.html
Employers who use approved payroll software could be provided “safe harbour” against prosecution and penalties for wage underpayment under a plan put forward by the small and family business ombudsman.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/25/payroll-software-could-protect-employers-who-commit-accidental-wage-theft-ombudsman-says
Michaela Whitbourn tells us that lawyers for a nine-year-old Indigenous boy who is suing Daily Telegraph columnist Miranda Devine for defamation may be forced to serve legal documents on her in the United States, where she is on secondment, because her Australian employer will not accept them on her behalf.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/news-corp-not-acting-for-devine-so-lawsuit-may-be-served-personally-in-us-20200824-p55oo5.html
“There must be a full scale inquiry into icare. Anything less is a cop out”, shouts Adele Ferguson.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/there-must-be-a-full-scale-inquiry-into-icare-anything-less-is-a-cop-out-20200824-p55ouc.html
So many swords were fallen upon at the AMP yesterday!
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/finance-veteran-david-murray-exits-amid-more-upheaval-at-amp-20200824-p55os7.html
Mike Foley reports that twenty five of Australia’s top scientists have taken the rare step of speaking out about the Chief Scientist’s support for the use of gas as a transition fuel to a cleaner energy system.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/australia-s-chief-scientist-is-wrong-on-gas-say-leading-experts-20200824-p55oty.html
And the SMH editorial says that the argument over whether natural gas is the right way to transition to renewable energy is far from settled.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/environmental-doubts-over-natural-gas-cannot-be-ignored-20200824-p55ovm.html
Coal power plant owner Delta Electricity has told a NSW inquiry that increased investment in power transmission cables isn’t necessarily the answer for NSW’s energy system.
https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/nsw-warned-on-loss-of-power-self-sufficiency-20200824-p55opc
More from Mike Foley as he writes that farmers are saying public pressure is forcing the agriculture sector to set greenhouse gas targets, as the Morrison government increases its criticism of the national farm lobby after it set a goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/agriculture-s-future-is-riskier-with-no-climate-change-goals-farmers-20200824-p55ork.html
Kasey Edwards who has seen a loved relative turn into a conspiracy theorist, says that in lockdown, fearful and faced with uncertainty, with too much time spent watching online videos, the only winners are the shonks counting clicks and monetising lies.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-heartbreak-of-loving-a-conspiracy-theorist-20200813-p55ldw.html
Why QAnon is attracting so many followers in Australia — and how it can be countered.
https://theconversation.com/why-qanon-is-attracting-so-many-followers-in-australia-and-how-it-can-be-countered-144865
Peter Hartcher describes the breathtaking political events taking place on Thailand as protests against the king mount.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/to-anyone-familiar-with-thailand-what-s-happening-is-breathtaking-20200824-p55opm.html
Idiot Trump marked his official nomination for a second term with a speech complaining about voting by mail, alleging that his opponents were attempting to steal the November election and accusing Democratic nominee Joe Biden of being a puppet of Beijing.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-marks-nomination-by-complaining-about-mail-in-voting-20200825-p55oxk.html
The New York state attorney general is investigating whether Donald Trump and the Trump Organisation improperly manipulated the value of the US president’s assets to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits, and said Trump’s son Eric has been uncooperative in the civil probe. What a family!
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/new-york-probing-whether-donald-trump-and-the-trump-organization-manipulated-asset-values-20200825-p55oxu.html
Yet another police shooting effort in the US sparks a big protest.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/protests-erupt-in-wisconsin-after-video-shows-police-shooting-black-man-20200825-p55oxf.html
Cartoon Corner
David Pope









Cathy Wilcox
Matt Golding
Mark David
John Spooner
Mark Knight
John Shakespeare
From the US
https://twitter.com/LisPower1/status/1297957814980280321
Australians actually have lived experience of this in our media. Remember all those years ago when our media kept telling us that Abbott would lose the brawler and find the statesman? It never happened, and Trump is even less capable of turning statesman than Abbott was.
Morning bludgers
Much appreciati0n BK for todays line up of information.
‘The royal commission into aged care has rebuked the federal government’
That’s only the start, just wait till Albo gets to the rebuking, Scrooter will be begging for mercy.
Begging I tells Ya!!!!!
Thanks BK. Good on Labor for using QT to fight the govt on aged care and coronavirus infections. Sounds like they have Morrison rattled.
Confessions @ #22 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 7:49 am
Yeah, he’s shed Richard Colbeck. 🙂
Michelle Grattan says Scott Morrison is finding, to his great discomfort, the royal commissioners probing aged care aren’t keeping their thoughts to themselves until their final report in February.
I think they are smart enough to have realised that Morrison will just shelve their reports and only cherry-pick the bits he likes to make public.
Morning, Vic! 🙂
Just from BK’s wrap this morning:
Colbeck
KAndrews
Sukkar
McCormack
If you can’t govern yourselves, you can’t govern the country.
Confessions @ #24 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 7:54 am
Mr Albanese said this morning in a stinging rebuke of the government.
Muchas Gratias BK for today’s Dawn Patrol.
C@t
And I’m enjoying a lovely morning coffee.
Cheers!
Confessions @ #24 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 7:54 am
A clear case of the media’s anti coalition bias.
It’s a disgrace!
Labor should strike now with some ‘opposing’ and take advantage while things are running against Scrooter and his’ government’ and while it appears weak and directionless with morale at a very low ebb.
Now is the time!
Now I tells ya!!@@!@!!
Bang on the money with this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgXg36ztMCg
Confessions @ #26 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 7:54 am
But Scott Morrison would tell you he’s doing a great job of governing the country and the Essential poll at 61% for Morrison’s handling of COVID-19 tends to suggest people agree.
C@t
I’d like to say something clever about Morrison’s own morals and his excuses for and acceptance of wrongdoing in his MPs, but my brain isn’t functioning so well this morning. Take it as read!
lizzie @ #30 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 8:11 am
Unimpressive performance by a minister in the Morrison government?
Who cares.
Impressive enough to wipe the floor with Labor.
I guess that’s all that counts in the end.
Catmoaner and her happy morning cup of coffee in Morristan’s bright a glorious dawn?
Okay, sure, why not.
Morristan, oh Morristan
How beautiful art thee….
Oh Morr…..etc (14 verses)
(Albo take the 7th verse solo, that’s a good boy……)
When there is a dishonest, blame-shifting leader at the top…
lizzie @ #32 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 8:18 am
Labor?
Take it as dead.
C@t:
These issues bubbling away will resonate eventually with voters. Labor chipping away at them is going to help.
Fess
I truly can’t understand why it’s taking so long for people to wake up to him. I can only assume that they’re preoccupied with their own troubles.
Confessions
The radicalising of academics is going to be a big help to the left.
Radical intellectual unionists can only be a good thing for the union movement and thus all progressive parties.
A big mover of the Overton window.
Great sources of comment for the media too.
What have the Fed Gov done to better prepare for this upcoming bushfire season? Any Plans?
So what you gonna do Scomo?
Richard Willingham
@rwillingham
·
17m
Sukkar uses taxpayer budget to employ friend who also designed smear sheets
@Ageinvestigates
Sukkar uses taxpayer budget to employ friend who also designed smear sheets
Michael Sukkar was a groomsman at graphic designer Matt Pham’s wedding and gave him a taxpayer-funded job while he worked full-time elsewhere.
theage.com.au
https://amp.theage.com.au/national/sukkar-uses-taxpayer-budget-to-employ-friend-who-also-designed-smear-sheets-20200824-p55osu.html?__twitter_impression=true
Morrison is usually the author of his own story of failure and downfall. He attracts chaos, dysfunction and distrust.
Labor just needs to be patient. Reality will catch up with the empty vessel, Morrison, as it always has.
Great photos from QT yesterday and Sukkar in particular from Alex Ellinghausen:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CERV-vBj3BG/
lizzie @ #37 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 8:28 am
I truly can’t understand why it’s taking so long for Albo to wake up to him. I can only assume that He’s preoccupied with his own troubles.
guytaur @ #40 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 6:28 am
Not necessarily.
The radicalising of academia is one of the main things the Liberals have used to justify their dismissal of expert opinion and scientific knowledge.
Bushfire Bill @ #41 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 8:32 am
‘failure and downfall’
That’s Scrooter Morrison you’re talking about?
The Prime minister of Australia?
So much failure.
So much downfall.
Mundo should have some of that failure and dowfall.
Sign me up!
Bushfire Bill @ #41 Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 – 8:32 am
Quite right BK
The average life span of an Australian white male will catch up with Scrooter eventually.
Labor just needs to be patient.
‘fess,
Today’s Bulwark podcast is a cracker!
https://podcast.thebulwark.com/david-jolly-and-amanda-carpenter-preview-the-rnc
Barney
Fox News. See Washington Post link.
The virus has destroyed the model.
I agree with BB reality is catching up to the LNP.
Radicalising academics is just one of effects.
Edit: Another one is Queenslanders learning you can trust a Labor government. See polls on Palasczcuk