Dennis Shanahan of The Australian, who is always well plugged into government’s line of tactical thinking, wrote on Monday on the likelihood of a federal election in the second half of this year ($) rather than the first half of the next, that being the full extent of the window for a normal election of the House of Representatives and half the Senate. This basically boils down to a view that the government’s perceived current dominance means the sooner it goes the better, tempered by a desire to avoid an election in winter.
An unidentified Liberal MP quoted in The Australian ($) said they were “almost certain” they were “almost certain” the election would be in August or September, although another felt November more likely since an earlier election would be seen as too opportunistic. Why November would be a whole lot better on that count is unclear, since there seems to be no particular obstacle to Morrison holding out until May next year, by which time it will have been a full three years since the last election. For what it’s worth, the latter MP was also quoted saying it “also depends on if Labor ditch Anthony Albanese and get someone more electable”.
In more definite news for the year ahead, the Western Australian state election is set for March 13 — I am presently furiously hard at work on my election guide, which I can assure those of you who like that kind of thing will be a classic of its genre. As for opinion polling, the silly season proved no obstacle to Newspoll last year, which opened its account with a poll conducted from Wednesday, January 8 and Saturday, January 11, so there may be action on that front this or (probably more likely) next weekend.
lizzie @ #3224 Thursday, January 14th, 2021 – 5:15 pm
Abso-lutely! I guarantee he spent collectively, months in front of a mirror perfecting his public mannerisms in the full knowledge of what effect they would have on people. Sara Jade has probably got them all worked out but the one thing I think I can contribute about them is that they are all so feminine! Trump speaks in a girly voice, he pouts like a girl, he does a little half twist around as he speaks…like a little girl! The evil monster probably knows that it disarms people’s psychological defenses and makes them more receptive and open to him. Ugh!
Sounds like GHunt’s spokespeasant is admitting we may well be on second best re Astrazeneca vs alternatives………….
https://www.smh.com.au/national/coronavirus-updates-live-queensland-nsw-act-over-highly-contagious-mutant-covid-19-strain-cmo-backs-astrazeneca-vaccine-20210113-p56tvy.html
This Government is running interference for:
– old energy against new energy.
– old media against new media
You can see what side their bread is buttered.
The sooner Big Coal shrivels and dies the better
The sooner old media shrivels and dies the better
poroti @ #3252 Thursday, January 14th, 2021 – 7:25 pm
Yet another clusterfuck from Morrison and Hunt.
”If a child puts a lost kitten notice on a power pole, is the power company liable if the notice also advocates overthrow of the government?”
“Please help my find my missing cat Ginger.
Also, please help me overthrow the Government.”
A spokesman for Mr Hunt said the government view was to deliver protection and herd immunity but that results so far offered no guarantee about the longer-term objective.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/coronavirus-updates-live-queensland-nsw-act-over-highly-contagious-mutant-covid-19-strain-cmo-backs-astrazeneca-vaccine-20210113-p56tvy.html
This is an absolutely logical position to take. We are on page 1 of the pandemic story. Considering the number of present cases in the human population, it’s likely the virus is reproducing several trillion times each day. There will be many more mutations that will change the transmissibility and the virulence of the disease. The story will change. There is no straight line forecast for this. We are not in control and it would be foolish to think and act as if we were.
This is made much worse by the absolutely profound incompetence of the authorities in some population-dense, high-mobility countries.
https://www.pollbludger.net/2021/01/08/the-year-ahead/comment-page-66/#comment-3541977
Yeah, NFI, even just solar (panels without battery) at home now has a 2 to 4 year payback, despite feed in tariff changes …
So Google should change its whole business model overnight, and start paying Murdoch because Frydenburg says so….is that how business works in a free country?
Yet another clusterfuck from Morrison and Hunt.
_____
C@t
A de-announcable perhaps?
Late Riser:
Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 4:30 pm
[‘By now I’m less convinced that McConnell will move on Trump.’]
I think you’re right though the dynamic has changed somewhat. McConnell won’t stand in the mid-terms.
Accordingly, perhaps he’s considering his place history: the person who brought Trump to heel, much like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnsJkdW8BfI
Then again old jelly-back has few scruples.
Torchbearer says:
Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 7:38 pm
So Google should change its whole business model overnight, and start paying Murdoch because Frydenburg says so….is that how business works in a free country?
There’s no rule that says google have to produce search results that include, say, any old Murdoch rag. They can be sieved out. This would be doing a great service to public information in Australia.
If Murdoch want to be elevated on the search lists, they can pay. Good. They serve no particular positive function.
I’d like to see Murdoch, Stokes and Nine-Fairfax shut down. That would be a very positive development for public affairs in Australia.
Mavis
Thanks for the video. As an aside it also draws an interesting parallel between the influence of TV in the 40s and 50s and that of Social Media in our most recent 2 decades.
“Yet another clusterfuck from Morrison and Hunt.”
Try telling frednk that 🙂
Btw I caught a bit of the news where they were saying that we could manufacture the Novavax vaccine here, but CSL says that we can’t do that yet because they only have the resources to make one vaccine at a time.
Well, fucking hell, resource them!
Incidentally, McCarthy bears a striking resemblance to Kelly. This is a nutter government led by a nutter.
Labor needs to get on the front foot – soon!
The Mooch gives his ideas on how to fix America’s problems…
https://youtu.be/A1ZIdEedKME
citizen says: Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 6:14 pm
Frydenberg attacking Google et al – perhaps his next move to help Murdoch et al is to force us to buy newspapers?
Josh “I only have ten fingers and toes” Frydenberg can’t afford to piss off Professor Doctor Chief Scientist Philosopher General Super Genius Kelly and the Ersatz Doctor Who Christensen (or Saint Scotty of the Holidays for that matter) about their atrocious behaviour on social media outlets because they could cause problems in gubmint for the LNP. So why not attack the very platforms that are being so mean and horrible to the RWNJ’s to placate the pair, and others, and continue to let them spread their baseless shit. That’ll show them how good is Josh.
BK @ #3259 Thursday, January 14th, 2021 – 7:40 pm
If they didn’t have the media 4 square behind them they’d be in a world of political ;pain right now.
It’s obvious the old Liberal lag at Astra Zeneca got them to favour his company’s vaccine for Australian use before they knew its profile compared with the other contenders from other companies. So Scott and Greg the Lying Hunt sold a pup, the runt of the litter, to Australians as if it was a prize winner. I’m gobsmacked that people keep falling for their shell game. I guess that’s what happens when you no longer have an independent mass media anymore.
What surprises me, given that Google has bought everyone else out, is why the don’t just pay some decent journalists and start their own news media.
Mavis
McConnell was reelected last year and isn’t up for re-election again until 2026, when he will be 84 years old.
He has very little to lose personally should he vote to convict.
Not that I think he will.
Bushfire Bill says Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 6:49 pm
Yes, the left version of the personalities on Fox News, although not as unhinged. By the way, you missed self-righteous.
I personally prefer my news unbiased. I’m quite capable of applying my own filter.
Newcastle getting splatted
Cud Chewer @ #3269 Thursday, January 14th, 2021 – 8:02 pm
I have always thought the same thing myself. Or buy a media company. Jeff Bezos did it and regained some credibility as a result. Michael Bloomberg did it. I’m sure there are plenty of fine journalists that would be thrilled to work for someone who could guarantee their income in perpetuity, like google/alphabet.
McConnell will not vote to convict
‘I personally prefer my news unbiased. I’m quite capable of applying my own filter.’
The solution: PBS Newshour
We were in the US in early 2019. It was fun switching between MSNBC and Fox on the hotel TVs. If the sound was turned off, they looked almost the same except the presenters were different.
Australia needs an antidote to Sky After Dark. But then again, there are probably no LW presenters who are as moronically amusing as the Sky crowd.
poroti @ #3250 Thursday, January 14th, 2021 – 4:04 pm
Bill Maher often strays into that territory.
Bring back Paul Keating as a presenter 🙂
3z:
Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 8:06 pm
[‘McConnell was reelected last year and isn’t up for re-election again until 2026, when he will be 84 years old.’]
I read somewhere that he’ll retire at the mid-terms but I’ll concede I can’t find a reference thereto.
https://www.pollbludger.net/2021/01/08/the-year-ahead/comment-page-66/#comment-3542006
Keating as a presenter would not be watchable except by the most hardened Keating fans or people seeking embarrassing clips to beat the ALP over the head with.
Bill Maher is a bit of a lightweight, in my view. Put him up against a good, savvy operator and his ignorance and naivety becomes apparent. Any of his interviews with (then) Senator Al Franken are illustrative. And Franken is a mate.
Maher was funny once, but not so much nowadays.
On the general topic of leftwing commentators, although I appreciate Brian Taylor Cohen, David Pakman, The Young Turks, Situation Room etc., they DO have a bit of a hide criticising “grifters” on the YouTube Right collecting money from unsuspecting fans when that’s exactly what they’re doing themselves, only from the Left.
They really don’t offer much more than Trump Hate, a ka-ching sales pitch, and rather unimaginative commentary. I’m not criticising their right to do so, or their enthusiasm doing it. It’s just that the commercial urge is alive on both sides of politics. The right aren’t the only ones making money out of pushing political lines.
Just so you know.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1349622639283716097
One of the actors who had his career ruined by McCarthy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45eqAU0Pqs0
Blackface would not be of course countenanced now, nor should it but this movie was made in ’46.
Tom you took me too seriously 🙂
There’s very little to be said in favour of sledging the effort to vaccinate the population. The best thing that can happen is that the vaccine is produced and distributed as widely and as quickly as possible once its safety and efficacy has been established. Attempts to politicise the immunisation project are really anti-social. To the extent that they hurt confidence and participation, they’re as bad as anti-vax campaigns.
N
A vaccine that is not up to scratch would be manna from heaven for the antivaxxers. As for politicising it FMD. THE questions that are being raised involves whether the vaccine chosen as our mainstay is fit for purpose.
When the MSM outfits go bust, google and the other tech giants can soon start up replacement news agencies. They will be working on it. But it’s not obvious why anyone would start a news caster.
News is a kind of pre-fab for the most part. It’s ephemeral by design….intended to become obsolete as soon as it’s been disseminated. It makes very little sense to put a lot of resources into a product that is basically redundant as soon as it’s created.
The MSM like to tell themselves their product is “trusted”. This is just nonsense. It’s almost entirely without value. Its only use is to aggregate eyes and/or ears so that advertising income can be compiled. The MSM are really in the arbitrage business…buying viewers/listeners while also re-selling them to advertisers. Since there are better ways to advertise than by using the MSM, their business model is stuffed. Because their products are really very low-value, there’s not much point in trying to protect and/or save them either.
Mavis @ #3283 Thursday, January 14th, 2021 – 9:11 pm
Jolsen died on23/10/50.
So McCarthy could never do him no harm.
Not sure if it has been discussed as yet, but with respect to the vaccination rollout, there may be a supply side constraint for the Pfizer vaccine above and beyond the 10 million dose (5 million person) cap.
I just read the following article: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pursuing-herd-immunity-australia-s-two-stage-strategy-to-protect-community-20210114-p56u6a.html
The relevant text was as follows:
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly expressed hope for a swift roll-out of the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday by saying the plan for 10 million doses covered “the first half of 2021” and could start in February.
But a spokeswoman for Pfizer said the contract was to supply the doses “over 2021”.
In my naïveté, I was thinking we would have ready access to the purchased amount. That may not be the case.
Have we placed all our eggs in the Az/Oxford basket? It appears at first glance to be very loosely woven.
poroti says:
Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 9:24 pm
N
A vaccine that is not up to scratch would be manna from heaven for the antivaxxers.
Exactly. Which is why successful production and delivery is particularly important. We are at round one with this. There will likely be many more rounds. There are the ill-wishers. They’re idiots.
It’s very hard to see where value-adding occurs at, say, the Daily Telegraph or The West Australian. They are really the empty calories of the information diet. TV is also mostly a void. AM radio is even worse, being no more than audio pollution for the most part.
Greensborough Growler:
Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 9:31 pm
[‘Jolsen died on23/10/50.
So McCarthy could never do him no harm.’]
But he did do harm to Larry Parks, who played Jolson in ’46 – a clip of which I posted:
[‘In 1951, Parks was summoned to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee, under threat of being blacklisted in the movie industry, but he begged not to be forced to testify. He eventually did so in tears, only to be blacklisted anyway. Larry Parks eventually gave up the names of his former colleagues to the committee.
Following his admission before the committee, Columbia Pictures dropped him from his contract, although it had four years to run, and Parks had been set to star in the film Small Wonder (which later became The First Time); Parks’ fee was then $75,000 a film. A romantic comedy he made for MGM, Love Is Better Than Ever, was shelved for a year.
He made a TV film for The Ford Television Theatre in 1953 and starred in the British film Tiger by the Tail (1955) in England.
He continued to squeeze out a living acting on the stage and doing occasional television programs. His last appearance in a major role was in the John Huston film, Freud: The Secret Passion.’]
In alarming call, the FBI told nation’s police chiefs: Get ready to face inauguration violence
https://www.thedailybeast.com/christopher-wray-warns-police-chiefs-to-get-ready-for-inauguration-violence?via=twitter_page
If the Oz gov had worked harder to bring more ‘stranded’ residents back in 2020, we wouldn’t now have the problem that they might be carrying the newer versions of Covid.
Also it’s not surprising that people are resentful of the privilege given to sports stars and other ‘important’ people.
Trump did it.
Old media may well get a short term adrenalin kick with help from a self-serving LNP government (hanging on to relevance) from pressure to reward old media by forcing financial regulations onto new tech.
However new and innovative new tech will soon invent ways to circumvent any of these unwanted interferences in the marketplace.
This attitude will hasten the demise of old media and does nothing for the long term prospects of an LNP government existing by misrepresentation, fraud and bribery.
Frydenberg and Hunt have marked their card by hanging onto the coat-tail of shallow depths of Morrisons integrity.
Look no further than Robert, Canavan or Taylor for more evidence of an ill-equipped band of desperates.
Whiny bitch Prince Precious Pompeo who will soon go from being Disunited, oops, United States Secretary of State Pompeo to Pompeo the Infamous Nothing and Nobody.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/14/mike-pompeo-lashes-out-reign-ends
N
That’s the problem though. What happens if and when the AZ vaccine is found to have an efficacy of 60-70 percent? Do we then use it and then try to figure out how to get everyone vaccinated with it to front up to a repeat vaccination with something with a higher efficacy 6 months later?
The sensible thing to do right now is for the government to pull out all stops to ensure
1. That they purchase more of a vaccine with a known high efficacy so that we can avoid using the AZ vaccine, or at the worst, switch as quickly as possible.
2. Fund CSL to start making the Novavax vaccine as quickly as possible. Again with the view to switching away from the AZ vaccine as quickly as possible.
Finally, did you realise that there is a further risk here? That is that we use up our supply of the Pfizer vaccine and then the AZ vaccine isn’t available because of further delays in its re-trials and approvals. So we end up with no vaccinations going on at all. So what’s the best fix for this? Exactly what I said.
Does anyone have the link that was posted here a few days ago, to a guy delivering a passionate and sweary rant about Trump supporters? He was a Southerner and described himself as a liberal.
His main theme was to ask “just what the hell they want that this country hasn’t given them”. Can’t find it anywhere on social media.
Think GG may have posted it with a caption like “get this guy on the radio” or something similar.
Cud Chewer says:
Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 10:06 pm
Sure. We can’t just go to Bunnings and buy an off-the-shelf vaccine with a money back promise. This is all being accelerated. There are risks inherent all around….in the utility and efficacy of the vaccines, their delivery, their distribution, their adoption by the public.
For mine, given we have low incidence of disease at the moment, the best thing to do is hasten slowly. Get things right the first time. Be sure. If the AZ vaccine has inadequate efficacy and/or any other doubtful metrics, then it should not be used. But until then, the appropriate course is to recognise that vaccines are going to be in extremely short supply even as their use will attract controversy and opposition.
It goes without saying that the politicisation of this element in particular of covid-response would be extremely unwelcome. We need less politics and more prudence and collaboration.