Essential Research: leadership and COVID-19 approval ratings

A narrowing lead for Scott Morrison as preferred prime minister punctuates an otherwise stable picture in Essential Research’s latest set of leadership and COVID-19 performance ratings.

The Guardian reports the latest fortnightly Essential Research poll includes its monthly leadership ratings, which find Scott Morrison’s lead over Anthony Albanese as preferred prime minister is now at 49-26, in from 55-22 last time and the narrowest it has been since early February. However, movements on leaders’ ratings are apparently more modest: Morrison is down two on approval to 64%, with his disapproval rating yet to be disclosed (UPDATE: Up five to 28%, so perhaps not as modest as that), while Albanese is steady on approval at 44% and down one on disapproval to 29%.

Fifty-nine per cent now express approval for the federal government’s handling of the pandemic, down two on a fortnight ago. The poll was conducted before Sunday’s announcement of extended restrictions in Victoria, but the small-sample breakdown for that state finds approval of the state government’s performance up three to 50%, compared with falls of two points in New South Wales to 57% and six points in Queensland to 66%. The WA government is up three to a new high of 87%, although at this point sample sizes get very small indeed: as with much else in this poll, we will have to wait for the publication of the full report this afternoon for numbers from South Australia. The latter figure aside, the following chart shows how the various governments’ favourable ratings on this measure have progressed since March:

Concerning COVID-19 outbreaks in aged care facilities, 41% now blame the providers, down a point on a fortnight ago, with 31% blaming the federal government, up three, and 28% blaming state and territory governments, down two. The poll finds 36% support for increasing the Medicare levy from 2% to 2.65% to fund improvements to aged care, with 32% opposed and 32% uncommitted.

Forty-nine per cent favoured a proposition that Google and Facebook should have to pay for news content, compared with 38% for the alternative that “it is not up to the tech giants to support media companies” (as per the wording in The Guardian’s report). The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1076.

UPDATE: Full report here.

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.

1,463 comments on “Essential Research: leadership and COVID-19 approval ratings”

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  1. Diogenes:

    Covid could be a long term neurological disaster

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/09/08/bergamo-italy-covid-longterm/?arc404=true

    Amidst a fairly depressing article, one finds this:

    Poletti de Chaurand [a surgeon who had COVID19] said he has “only one lingering consequence” from his fight with the disease — a sensation, both strange and marvelous, that can suddenly overwhelm him, even during surgeries. In those moments, he becomes acutely aware of his lungs at work. “I draw deep breaths,” he said, “and feel great relief.”

    How bizarre!

  2. How bizarre!

    Same marvellous sensation when you give up cigarettes.

    Suddenly you can breathe as deep as you like without coughing. You find yourself breathing in deeply for the sheer pleasure it gives you.

    The bizarre bit was taking up smoking in the first place. Only when I did so, it wasn’t bizarre.

  3. How extraordinary!

    In 1972-3, Bob Woodward’s journalism helped bring down a Republican President, and nearly half a century later, he’s produced the smoking gun that could well lead to the resignation or electoral defeat of another.

  4. The economics of conducting large events in a pandemic…

    Large in-person gatherings without social distancing and with individuals who have traveled outside the local area are classified as the “highest risk” for COVID-19 spread by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Between August 7 and August 16, 2020, nearly 500,000 motorcycle enthusiasts converged on Sturgis, South Dakota for its annual motorcycle rally. Large crowds, coupled with minimal mask-wearing and social distancing by attendees, raised concerns that this event could serve as a COVID-19 “super-spreader.” This study is the first to explore the impact of this event on social distancing and the spread of COVID-19.

    First, using anonymized cell phone data from SafeGraph, Inc. we document that (i) smartphone pings from non-residents, and (ii) foot traffic at restaurants and bars, retail establishments, entertainment venues, hotels and campgrounds each rose substantially in the census block groups hosting Sturgis rally events. Stay-at-home behavior among local residents, as measured by median hours spent at home, fell.

    Second, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a synthetic control approach, we show that by September 2, a month following the onset of the Rally, COVID-19 cases increased by approximately 6 to 7 cases per 1,000 population in its home county of Meade.

    Finally, difference-in-differences (dose response) estimates show that following the Sturgis event, counties that contributed the highest inflows of rally attendees experienced a 7.0 to 12.5 percent increase in COVID-19 cases relative to counties that did not contribute inflows. Descriptive evidence suggests these effects may be muted in states with stricter mitigation policies (i.e., restrictions on bar/restaurant openings, mask-wearing mandates). We conclude that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally generated public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion.

    http://ftp.iza.org/dp13670.pdf

  5. Reaching all 7.8 billion people on the planet with a coronavirus vaccine will require a global airlift filling the equivalent of 8,000 Boeing Co. 747 freighters, according the International Air Transport Association.

    IATA is working with airlines, airports, global health bodies and pharmaceutical firms to pull together plans for a distribution program, calling it the industry’s “largest single transport challenge ever.”

    Fraport AG’s Frankfurt airport is assessing how it can help, while Air France-KLM is studying ways to maximize its network in Africa, Hughes said.

    Flights to that continent as well as Latin America and parts of Southeast Asia, which lack vaccine-production capabilities, will be especially critical.

    Shipments will need to be planned with “almost military precision” and will require cool facilities at a network of staging posts where drugs can be stored between flights on the way to local dispersal.

    ——
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-09/airlines-plot-8-000-jet-airlift-to-distribute-covid-vaccines?srnd=premium-asia

  6. Legendary Watergate reporter calls new Trump tapes bigger than Nixon and ‘the smoking gun of his negligence’

    In a CNN interview with former Bob Woodward partner Carl Bernstein, the reporter explained that the tapes of President Donald Trump are far worse than anything they captured of Richard Nixon.

    “We are listening to the President of the United States, on tape, deliberately undermining the… national security of the United States… It is the smoking gun of his negligence,” he said Wednesday.

    “It’s stunning, and I think we all need to take a deep breath and understand exactly what it is we have learned,” he went on. “We are listening to the president of the United States on tape deliberately undermining the security — national security of the United States, the health and well being of the people of the United States, and he’s doing this knowingly, in realtime.”

    – here are the 5 most devastating details

    1.) Trump said that he knew the novel coronavirus was five times more deadly than the seasonal flu — then admitted to playing it down in public.
    2.) Trump gushes over Kim Jong-un in lurid detail.
    3.) Trump ranted about his own generals being “p*ssies.”
    4.) Trump’s own former Director of National Intelligence suspected that the president may have been blackmailed by Russia.
    5.) Trump brushed off centuries worth of oppression against Black Americans by boasting about the low unemployment level before the pandemic hit.

    https://www.rawstory.com/2020/09/bob-woodward-just-dropped-another-bombshell-on-trump-here-are-the-5-most-devastating-details/

  7. Tony Windsor
    @TonyHWindsor
    ·
    4m
    Breaking News… Large crowds of farmers are breaching Covid rules in a mass gathering in Macquarie St to uphold their rights to kill koalas. Get your ego out of rear end @JohnBarilaroMP
    there’s a pandemic on.

  8. phoenixRed:

    What are the chances this will simply be another of those ‘smoking gun’ issues that just falls by the wayside tomorrow or the day after?

    Trump’s presidency is littered with them after all.

  9. Surprise: foreign influence pedlars don’t like foreign influence transparency scheme.
    Working as intended?

    ‘Like the Stasi’: rightwing thinktank challenges Australia’s foreign influence transparency scheme

    LibertyWorks, which has links to American conservatives, has told the high court the scheme breaches implied freedom of political communication

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/10/like-the-stasi-rightwing-thinktank-challenges-australias-foreign-influence-transparency-scheme

  10. Queen Victoria
    @Vic_Rollison
    ·
    19m
    Hey @workmanalice, do you know what’s really ‘mean girls high school’? Calling covid pandemic ‘Dandemic’. I would also suggest you have a think about why Catherine Andrews might have had reason to block Murdoch hacks who have made her family’s life hell for the past few months.

    For those who don’t know, Blaxendale and White are the two who have extended Andrews’ pressers by hours by repeating inane questions.

  11. Maggie Haberman@maggieNYT
    ·
    3h
    There is an epic amount of finger-pointing going on at the White House right now about who’s to blame for a group of grown adults in serious positions in government – and in one case the president – talking to Woodward.

    Maggie Haberman@maggieNYT
    ·
    2h
    A number of top advisers talked. Kushner is on the record extensively. The president spoke 18 times.

    Maggie Haberman@maggieNYT
    ·
    2h
    I mean, if only Woodward had written previous books that presidents hated afterward that could have been a guide…

  12. Good morning Dawn Patrollers

    Shane Wright explains how NSW alone will cop a $10 billion hit from a collapse in GST revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/nsw-faces-10b-hit-from-from-gst-shortfall-analysis-shows-20200909-p55u18.html
    Australia has suffered a $20 billion slump in major project approvals since the coronavirus crisis began, shrinking the pipeline of new construction on the way, reports David Crowe.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/jobs-at-risk-from-20-billion-slump-in-road-rail-projects-20200909-p55tzn.html
    Shaun Carney wonders if Scott Morrison has forgotten that he’s Victoria’s Prime Minister, too.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/has-scott-morrison-forgotten-that-he-s-victoria-s-prime-minister-too-20200909-p55tvh.html
    Henrietta Cook details the lengths Victorian contact tracers go to in their investigations.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-questions-suspected-covid-19-cases-are-asked-20200909-p55txf.html
    Nick McKenzie tells us that an inquiry by the nation’s integrity commission has found Home Affairs gave preferential visa treatment to Crown Resorts’ high-roller gamblers, including people who had initially been refused entry on character grounds.
    https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/border-force-gave-favourable-treatment-to-crown-high-rollers-says-integrity-inquiry-20200909-p55tw2.html
    It seems that Beijing’s decision to force two Australian journalists to leave China came after counterespionage agency ASIO questioned at least one Chinese journalist in Australia and the visas of two prominent academics were cancelled.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-australia-dispute-escalates-after-tit-for-tat-investigations-20200909-p55tzu.html
    Eryk Bagshaw writes that, from phone taps to red envelopes, to visas cancellations, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have been following the Chinese Communist Party for half a century.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/covering-the-rise-of-the-communist-party-until-welcome-mat-withdrawn-20200909-p55tt3.html
    The Australian reports that six Chinese citizens believed to have engaged in espionage or foreign interference in Australia have either been denied re-entry into the country or have left after being questioned by intelligence agencies.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/chinese-media-links-journalist-raids-to-labor-mp-shaoquett-moselmane/news-story/412f77bb439a079a7d0baf86ac63eed3
    Professor John Laurenceson tells us why the Australia-China relationship is unravelling faster than we could have imagined.
    https://theconversation.com/why-the-australia-china-relationship-is-unravelling-faster-than-we-could-have-imagined-145836
    Latika Bourke reports that a global coalition of MPs from democratic nations has condemned China’s intimidation of two Australian journalists, saying it shows China bullies those who challenge it.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/china-is-bullying-australia-says-global-coalition-of-mps-20200909-p55u06.html
    David Crowe tells us that the Greens are calling for a building boom worth up to $225 billion to create new social housing and faster public transport, claiming the projects would be a better use of federal funds than bringing forward personal tax cuts. Makes sense on the face of it.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/build-new-projects-instead-of-speeding-up-personal-tax-cuts-say-greens-20200909-p55u14.html
    Katharine Murphy explains how Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin want an end to cash payments and a new mechanism to ensure all ALP members pay their own fees
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/10/labor-alp-branch-stacking-victoria-administrators-make-first-of-many-recommendations
    John Hewson takes aim at Australia’s woeful efforts to minimise automotive emissions.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/our-dirty-fuel-is-a-bigger-killer-than-covid-19-how-australia-fails-on-car-emissions-20200909-p55tri.html
    Stephen Duckett tells us what Victoria can teach NSW about COVID-19.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/go-for-zero-what-victoria-can-teach-nsw-about-covid-19-20200908-p55tp2.html
    The Morrison government’s decision to cut jobseeker does not square with the slow recovery says Greg Jericho.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2020/sep/10/the-morrison-governments-decision-to-cut-jobseeker-does-not-square-with-the-slow-recovery
    In a long essay, George Megalogenis, for The Guardian, writes that the pandemic has not only ended Australia’s record run of economic growth, it has taken the recovery out of our hands while we wait for a vaccine.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/sep/10/the-long-shadow-of-the-virus-means-there-is-no-easy-path-back-to-prosperity
    The SMH editorial asks to have politics kept out of the race to get an effective vaccine.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/keep-the-politics-out-of-covid-19-vaccine-trials-20200909-p55tzr.html
    Jess Irvine says now is not the time for skimping when it comes to what the budget should deliver.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/morrison-must-deliver-the-full-tax-cut-meat-pie-20200909-p55tzw.html
    So far, there have been very few distressed sales of commercial properties, but bankers warn that this situation could change in coming months explains Karen Maley.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/can-australia-s-commercial-property-market-keep-riding-high-20200909-p55ttm
    The Guardian reveals that Twitter says it permanently suspended a QAnon account belonging to a family friend of the prime minister, Scott Morrison, for “engaging in coordinated harmful activity”.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/10/twitter-permanently-suspends-qanon-account-belonging-to-friend-of-scott-morrison-for-harmful-activity
    John Brogden, a former political leader who personally knows the risks, explains why he is so worried about suicide in Australia.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/why-i-m-worried-about-suicide-in-australia-by-a-former-political-leader-who-personally-knows-the-risks-20200909-p55tr1.html
    Australian Retailers Association boss Paul Zahra has called on the Morrison government to prioritise a permanent increase to JobSeeker over fast tracked income tax cuts, saying unemployment assistance would do more to boost the economy.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/keep-jobseeker-instead-of-bringing-forward-tax-cuts-retail-boss-20200909-p55tuk
    Freezing the rate at which employers contribute to superannuation would cost the federal government billions of dollars in the long term, modelling by actuaries Rice Warner shows.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/10/freezing-super-guarantee-will-cost-federal-government-billions-in-future
    Ben Silvester writes that, according to new research from the University of Melbourne, over the next 30 years, increasing economic damages from climate change will cost the Australian economy at least $1.89 trillion – or roughly 4 per cent of projected GDP each year – if current emissions policies are maintained.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/09/10/economic-cost-climate-change/
    While many are expecting the 5G network to be a technological marvel, the benefits will come with their own limitations, writes Paul Budde.
    https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/5g-will-not-be-the-panacea-for-all-our-communication-needs,14285
    Miners and environmentalists have reached an uneasy truce over lithium – both agree Australia should be mining more of this key ingredient in renewable energy batteries
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/10/how-australias-white-gold-could-power-the-global-electric-vehicle-revolution
    Hiring properly qualified staff, staff-resident ratios and a commitment to be transparent and accountable for the $13 billion in annual taxpayer funding would help private providers of aged care “change the conversation” and “win the hearts and minds of middle Australia”, writes Dr Sarah Russell.
    https://www.michaelwest.com.au/tone-deaf-aged-care-providers-pr-campaign-strikes-wrong-note/
    Nothing would please me more than seeing the (political and public) end of Pauline Hanson,
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-post-pauline-hanson-and-the-locked-down-public-housing-tower-20200909-p55u01.html
    Will koalas split the NSW Coalition?
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/we-will-look-at-the-whether-the-coalition-continues-crunch-day-in-koala-war-20200909-p55u0r.html
    Matthew Knott reports that the Trump administration has been forced into damage control after the US President admitted deliberately downplaying the seriousness of the coronavirus early in the pandemic in explosive interviews with veteran journalist Bob Woodward. The book is going to be a cracker.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/donald-trump-admits-deliberately-minimising-coronavirus-in-bombshell-book-20200910-p55u3p.html
    Boris Johnson’s government has just threatened to override elements of the Brexit withdrawal agreement painfully negotiated with the European Union, a move that EU leaders charged – and a British minister acknowledged – could breach international law.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/flustering-eu-johnson-threatens-to-override-brexit-deal-20200910-p55u45.html
    John Crace, in characteristic style, tells us that Boris Johnson has let rip another demented monologue in the House of Commons.
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/09/boris-johnson-lets-rip-another-demented-monologue-in-commons
    Trump and Stephen Miller want to stoke panic about antiracist activists, even though white supremacists are the real threat to Americans, writes Jean Guerrero.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/09/trumps-reelection-strategy-is-torn-from-white-supremacist-playbooks
    It should surprise nobody that, three weeks on, the 80th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota is feared to have been a “super-spreader event”, with doctors recording scores of coronavirus cases linked to it.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/strugis-bikie-rally-was-super-spreader-event-20200909-p55tvo.html
    And in the joke of the year, a right-wing Norwegian politician has nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2021.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/donald-trump-nominated-for-nobel-peace-prize-by-right-wing-norwegian-mp-20200909-p55u38.html

    Cartoon Corner

    David Pope

    David Rowe

    Cathy Wilcox

    John Shakespeare


    Andrew Dyson

    Matt Golding




    Peter Broelman

    Glen Le Lievre

    Johannes Disgusting Leak

    Mark Knight

    From the US












  13. Lidia Thorpe showed disrespect for the Uluru statement, walking out on the convention when it put a voice to Parliament above a treaty.

    The Greens as a party supported the Uluru statement.

    Now Thorpe has become a member of the Senate, it appears that the Greens – per Bandt’s tweet yesterday – have decided to put treaty first over the expressed desires of the Aboriginal people, to cater to Thorpe.

    If you declare yourself to be the representative of Aboriginal people, as Thorpe has, you should put your own personal views aside and promote the clear view of the majority.

    Thorpe is not only incapable of doing that, she has used her position in the party to (apparently) change its policy to suit her own personal agenda.

    This is concerning.

    Some background reading https://theconversation.com/lidia-thorpe-wants-to-shift-course-on-indigenous-recognition-heres-why-we-must-respect-the-uluru-statement-141609

    ‘…preserving the sequence proposed in the Uluru Statement respects the cultural authority of the reform process.

    And diverging from a consensus outcome undermines the integrity of the consultative process that led to it. It can also devalue the standing of those elders who together designed the proposed reforms.’

  14. Congressional Republicans will sit silent no doubt.

    Top officials with the Department of Homeland Security directed agency analysts to downplay the threat of violent white supremacy and of Russian election interference, according to a whistle-blower complaint filed by a top intelligence official with the department.

    Brian Murphy, the former head of the intelligence branch of the Homeland Security Department, said in a whistle-blower complaint filed on Tuesday that he was directed by Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of the department, to stop producing assessments on Russian interference. The department’s second highest ranked official, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, also ordered him to modify intelligence assessments to make the threat of white supremacy “appear less severe” and include information on violent “left-wing” groups, according to the complaint, which was released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee.

    In so doing, the two top officials at the department — both appointees of President Trump — appeared to shape the agency’s views around Mr. Trump’s rhetoric and interests.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/09/us/politics/homeland-security-russia-trump.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

  15. Newscorp’s ABC State that Dan Andrews Faces $120 B Virus hit to Economy–Fails to Mention Gladys Faces $200 B Hit because of the Virus. Selective thinking or is it BIAS?

  16. Brian Schwartz@schwartzbCNBC
    ·
    2h
    EXCLUSIVE: Kathryn Murdoch, philanthropist and wife of James Murdoch, took aim at President Trump and his administrations handling of the coronavirus in an intv with me. Trump’s lack of trust in science is one of the reasons they’re backing Biden.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/09/how-james-and-kathryn-murdoch-became-a-political-power-couple-in-the-trump-era.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar

  17. Lizzie,

    Selective thinking is bias. But then you obviously knew that.

    Our fourth estate is truly imperiled.

    I hope AAP survives as an independent agent.

  18. Tony Windsor
    @TonyHWindsor
    ·
    3m

    For those thinking farmers are gathering in Sydney … it is sarcasm . Have not heard one farmer raise this issue… all about Barilaro.

  19. Queen Victoria
    @Vic_Rollison
    · Sep 8
    It seems @rachelbaxendale and @Australian are misrepresenting covid data to make it look like Victoria doesn’t contact trace as well as NSW. They’ve played a trick by leaving international arrival cases in figures. Take them out, and Victoria and NSW almost the same.

  20. Lizzie,

    I also think a contributing factor is the rise of cross media reporting. Conservative (e.g. Sky and 2GB) interviews with politicians of more than one party are being reported on in other media e.g. ABC and Age/SMH.

    This has both short term and long term consequences.


  21. zoomster says:
    Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 7:32 am

    And diverging from a consensus outcome undermines the integrity of the consultative process that led to it. It can also devalue the standing of those elders who together designed the proposed reforms.’

    The Greens have pretty much destroyed the environmental movement that actually got things done.

    This is completely in keeping with the Greens contribution to progressive politics over the last 25 years.

  22. Summary of an interview with Biden about the Woodward revelations.

    Jake Tapper@jaketapper
    ·
    17m
    I asked @JoeBiden for his view of the news from @realBobWoodward that POTUS in early Feb. knew how deadly COVID19 was despite how much he downplayed the threat.

    Biden: “It’s disgusting. We learned this on the day that 100 – it turned 190,000 Americans dead and he knew this?…

    Jake Tapper@jaketapper
    ·
    18m
    2/ “…I understand he had just gotten off the phone when he did the first interview with Woodward, he’d just gotten off the phone with Xi Jinping, where he’s praising Xi Jinping about transparency, and this is nothing to worry about and this is gonna go away like a miracle….

    Jake Tapper@jaketapper
    ·
    18m
    3/“… What in God’s name would a man like – I mean I don’t get it. I truly don’t get it. It’s like what he – the way he talks about our veterans I mean, it’s just astounding to me.”

    https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1303815022511108096

    And on it goes 😆

  23. lizzie @ #925 Thursday, September 10th, 2020 – 6:06 am

    Griff

    Bias causes selective thinking. 🙂

    ” rel=”nofollow”>

    Not particularly insightful.

    The Government will normally always have more press coverage and in the current circumstances more so.

    I’d like to see a further breakdown classifying the articles as positive, negative and neutral.

    I think that would better paint the picture.

  24. Barney

    Yes, it doesn’t tell us too much. I’d also prefer that the ABC stopped using other media outlets as the basis for their programs – but that independence has disappeared with the funding.

  25. Stephen Duckett.

    This is few parts presumptuous and even more parts insulting.

    “So, should the NSW government and public sit smugly on their hands, safe in the knowledge there is nothing to learn from Victoria? The answer is a definite no.”

    An equally illuminating question would be “Should we stare at the sun for 10 to 15 minutes a day?”

  26. @noplaceforsheep
    ·
    9m
    Morrison’s only motive is to further his his own interests & it’s getting more than a bit pathetic watching media ppl tie themselves in knots trying to attribute some deeper inclinations to him.

    It’s so frustrating, having the media constantly explaining to us “what the PM thinks”, or “what he really meant.” They’re using an awful lot of lipstick on their pig.

  27. rhwombat:

    Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 8:32 pm

    A case of the medical profession closing ranks but thanks for the detailed info, these exchanges providing you and Itza with the opportunity to showcase your specialised knowledge. That said, I find it better not to be patronising, excluding as much medicalese as possible. Anyway, I look forward to your ultimate sanctification.

  28. The Chaser
    @chaser
    ‘We’re hearing reports Scott Morrison is considering retiring as Prime Minister in order to spend less time with his family

    @chaser
    Upon retirement Morrison is reportedly excited at the prospect of taking less holidays and maybe spending a few weekends in the office

    The Chaser

    Starting to look like we need more female Prime Ministers because the men clearly can’t balance having a job and a family’

  29. The Age
    @theage
    ·
    3m
    BREAKING: Victoria has recorded 51 new cases of #COVID19 and seven people have died. The state’s death toll now stands at 701.

  30. ItzaDream @ #891 Wednesday, September 9th, 2020 – 10:48 pm

    The Australian Chamber Orchestra’s concert – the third of a run of five – tonight in Sydney’s City Recital Hall was the first programming in the hall since the initial lockdown. It took a lot of organising, and protocol hoops to jump through.

    The programme was introduced by Richard Tognetti, and dedicated to the people of Melbourne and Victoria, and live ABC broadcast I think, maybe delayed broadcast – hard to hear exactly as there was so much applause from the scattered well spaced audience for Victorians and Melburnians. Know we are with you down there you lot.

    There was a sustained meaningful standing ovation (hard to get in Sydney), just a big thank you both sides of the stage.

    I really just wanted to say how strong and genuine was the support for Melbourne.

    I was there on Tuesday, their first night. With younger daughter. In mask.
    It was my Father’s Day present. Third back row, up in the gods. Wonderful.

    I thought the second movement of the Mendelssohn was terrific, and I love Transfigured Night, which said daughter has studied in detail. The William Barton was also moving. The ACO as an ensemble are as good as it gets. They are all so plainly totally into the music, immersed and intense, and staggeringly accurate. Altogether, it was balm for the soul, and raised my spirits enormously.

  31. Lizzie, not surprising that the party in government gets more media coverage especially during a global crisis.

    Also doesn’t help when labor have a complete policy vacuum and their leader is mostly MIA.

    Not exactly a conspiracy.

  32. Everything about Trumps behaviour and conduct was obvious from the get go. It was always going to be bad for the US and by extension the globe. Although I hadn’t figured it would be a pandemic that would be the crisis to expose his pathetic lack of leadership.

    Remember how Obama handled the Ebola threat. People on the ground in Africa straight away. The response was swift.

    If the US had real leadership, this pandemic may have just been a localised problem, and not a pandemic.

    Meanwhile the people in Australia playing semantics about this virus and pretending if Victoria hadn’t failed, we would be right.

    Get with the program, the rest of globe is about to experience a much worse wave than the first one
    The infections are rising rapidly everywhere, and they are heading into their winter in a few months.

  33. It would be quite a coup if Woodward brought down two presidents. The interviews he had with Trump are damning, describing publicly that C.19 is merely the equivalent of a seasonal flu, while admitting privately to Woodward that it’s far worse on the basis that
    he didn’t want “to show panic”. Had he shown panic in February, the infection and death rate would arguably not be where it is today. And whereas it’s fairly easy to refute what’s in a book – eg, Cohen, Mary Trump – recordings are an entirely different matter.

  34. Shellbell says:
    Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 8:21 am
    Stephen Duckett.

    This is few parts presumptuous and even more parts insulting.

    “So, should the NSW government and public sit smugly on their hands, safe in the knowledge there is nothing to learn from Victoria? The answer is a definite no.”

    An equally illuminating question would be “Should we stare at the sun for 10 to 15 minutes a day?”
    ………………………………………………
    So you deliberately read the article with your chin protruding to have found it presumptuous and insulting?

    Duckett is simply arguing that NSW is sitting on a time-bomb. Sure, it has handled sitting on the time bomb well (where was the insult you saw) but it is still sitting on a time bomb. Do you think that presumptuous?

    The longer NSW fails to attempt to eliminate the virus but live with it the slower the whole of Australia will take to reach a COVID normal.

    So long as nsw and it’s public smugly sit on their hands (as you seem intent to do) and not learn the Victorian lesson Australia sits on a time bomb just waiting for a super-spreader event.

  35. Meanwhile the Victorian Health Department has begun publishing exposure sites where people may have been exposed to COVID-19. People who visited the locations on the listed dates are advised to monitor symptoms and get tested if they feel any symptoms.

    The sites include:

    Red Rooster in Campbellfield on August 28.
    Dandenong Police Complex between August 25 and September 9.
    Aldi in Moe between August 17 and August 27.
    Woolworths in Glen Waverley on September 6.
    The 6.00am V/Line service from Deer Park Station to Southern Cross Station and the
    3.45pm V/Line service Southern Cross Station to Deer Park Station between September 2-5 and on September 7.
    The 6.30am route 86 tram from Southern Cross Station to Northcote Station and the 3.15pm route 86 tram from Northcote Station to Southern Cross Station on between September 2-5 and September 7.

    It is my belief that as some people remain asymptomatic, it would useful if everyone who visited the locations were tested.

  36. Windhover

    You are an excruciating poster to deal with. Anyway. Here we go.

    [So you deliberately read the article with your chin protruding to have found it presumptuous and insulting?] Obviously no. Obviously I am dealing with one statement which is obviously provocative.

    [Duckett is simply arguing that NSW is sitting on a time-bomb. Sure, it has handled sitting on the time bomb well (where was the insult you saw) but it is still sitting on a time bomb. Do you think that presumptuous?]

    Poor attempt at rewriting his article. He could have made the point without the accompanying bullshit.

    [The longer NSW fails to attempt to eliminate the virus but live with it the slower the whole of Australia will take to reach a COVID normal.]

    Kind of vain if not smug to assert this is possible where it has been achieved virtually nowhere which is not completely isolated and assert it will be achieved by reference to one or two items.

    Does the Victoria government assert it is going for elimination?

    [So long as nsw and it’s public smugly sit on their hands (as you seem intent to do) and not learn the Victorian lesson Australia sits on a time bomb just waiting for a super-spreader event.]

    So you can copy Duckett. Well done.

  37. “Meanwhile the Victorian Health Department has begun publishing exposure sites where people may have been exposed to COVID-19. People who visited the locations on the listed dates are advised to monitor symptoms and get tested if they feel any symptoms.

    The sites include:

    Red Rooster in Campbellfield on August 28.
    Dandenong Police Complex between August 25 and September 9.
    Aldi in Moe between August 17 and August 27.
    Woolworths in Glen Waverley on September 6.
    The 6.00am V/Line service from Deer Park Station to Southern Cross Station and the
    3.45pm V/Line service Southern Cross Station to Deer Park Station between September 2-5 and on September 7.
    The 6.30am route 86 tram from Southern Cross Station to Northcote Station and the 3.15pm route 86 tram from Northcote Station to Southern Cross Station on between September 2-5 and September 7.”

    That looks like a new form of alert.

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