I had a vague hope that last fortnight’s sooner-than-expected Newspoll portended a return to a (usually) fortnightly rather than three-weekly schedule, but apparently not. Essential Research should be along this evening though, hopefully including its monthly leadership ratings. Then there’s this:
• Roy Morgan has published results of an SMS poll conducted on Friday and Saturday from a sample of 1423, which asked if respondents were still up for the COVID-19 vaccine in light of recent developments (only 17% were not, increasing to 24% when those who would only settle for Pfizer were included) and, most interestingly, if they approved of Scott Morrison’s handling of “all COVID-19 related issues”. In the absence of a non-response option, the latter question recorded 49% approval and 51% disapproval. I’m aware of two past polls that specifically asked about leaders’ rather than governments’ handling of COVID-19, both from Newspoll – one in April and one in July – from which the weakest result was 61% approval and 36% disapproval for Daniel Andrews in the July poll.
• Sarah Elks of The Australian reports that Andrew Laming has declined Scott Morrison’s invitation to sit out the preselection for his Brisbane seat of Bowman, and is “collecting evidence in an effort to disprove a series of allegations against him”. The report notes he has an incentive in a $105,600 reward available to to MPs who “retire involuntarily”, which would not be granted if he went gracefully. Laming will also need to pass muster with the Liberal National Party’s “candidate suitability panel” if his nomination is to proceed to the stage where local party members have a say.
• In a piece for The Conversation, Benjamin Reilly of the University of Western Australia evaluates the likely impact of optional preferential voting, as mooted by the Coalition members of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. The conclusion is that Labor would only have won about half of the 36 seats it won on preferences at the 2013, 2016 and 2019 elections after trailing on the primary vote, and that few if any members of the House of Representatives front bench would have got their foot in the door.
• I have a guide up for the Upper Hunter state by-election in New South Wales on May 22, though it’s still at a preliminary stage since most of the candidates haven’t been announced, together with a Tasmanian state election guide that has lately been supplemented with a page for the Legislative Council contests.
TPOF @ #139 Monday, April 12th, 2021 – 11:08 am
I think the worst thing on the day, because I was there, from Rudd’s perspective at least, was that when Julia Gillard arrived she received a standing ovation from the great and the good present, whereas when Kevin 07 arrived he only received polite applause. 😀
I think his standing has been somewhat resurrected since.
“ I personally think the leaker was not Rudd or an associate but Lindsay Tanner, who had an abiding hatred of Julia Gillard.”
What a lot of folk forget is just how big these Cabinet meeting were. In addition to the 20 members of cabinet, there are double that number of senior staffers present: any one of whom may have their own axe to grind in July/August 2010 (loss of a job, a falling out with their boss, harassment, exhaustion, or just being dismayed at how a first term, popular and reformist PM was torn down in the dead of night). The list of suspects is far longer than simply Tanner or Rudd, or even other cabinet ministers. The leaker may not have even been there – they might simply have extremely good contacts with folk that were there: it could have even been information passed on innocently (or not) as pillow talk, or at least bar room talk inside the Canberra bubble.
lizzie @ #150 Monday, April 12th, 2021 – 11:33 am
My son is a Disability Care Support Worker, with an underlying medical condition himself, and all he has heard from work is *crickets*
Lindsay Tanner DID despise Julia Gillard though. You can’t deny that.
Is this true? Did Morrison really get a Pfizer vaccination at a place that only offered AZ to everyone else?
“ Has there ever been political hatred of each other as Abbott and Turnbull
Yes.
People have literally murdered political enemies in the past.”
Gaius Julius Caesar has entered the conversation.
S K
Everything is possible for the Miracle Man.
Who knows what to believe any more?
C@tmomma says Monday, April 12, 2021 at 11:38 am
I’m curious as to why? I know they were both members of the left, but from what I have heard, Gillard is quite a warm person.
“ Lindsay Tanner DID despise Julia Gillard though. You can’t deny that.”
He was a Labor loyalist first and foremost. An honourable man I think. One who has explicitly and on the record denied being the leaker as well.
If I look at the current way we are treating our indigenous population I think we’re lucky we don’t get ostracized today.
I really used to be impressed with Tanner. And admired his decision to retire and put his family first. What put me off him big-time was a Q and A where he was seated next to Pyne and Kate Ellis was also on the panel. While she was talking, he engaged quite loudly with Pyne on a discussion of football or some such. That would have been the height of rudeness at the best of. times (and totally in keeping with Pyne). But for a former colleague to treat a woman panellist like that was beyond rudeness, especially in the light of so much that we know about the way women’s views are trashed.
I felt that if an impeccable leftist like Tanner could do that to a highly qualified and capable person from his own party, he was capable of anything. A long bow, I know, but it truly surprised me.
Simon Katich says Monday, April 12, 2021 at 11:43 am
At the time Morrison received his vaccine I believe only Pfizer was approved for use in Australia. I would take the report with a grain of salt.
” I personally think the leaker was not Rudd or an associate but Lindsay Tanner, who had an abiding hatred of Julia Gillard.”
From what I heard about Tanner from another Labor connected lawyer, he had an attitude to women not far removed from some of the Liberal Party politicians currently featuring in the news.
I don’t know if the events of that day in June 2010 was the biggest error in Australian political history but it certainly has to be up there. What a way to end our chance at moving our country away from Howardism, actually having some positive reform in the ensuing years and destroying the political careers of two talents (Rudd who would have been PM for years and made a positive name for himself and Gillard probably would have done alright as his successor with some clean air – and yes, the latter is self-inflicted.)
Instead we’ve been stuck in the wilderness, blaming the wrong things and refusing to learn any substantial lessons (and walking into the same traps) of a decade ago, while the Liberals comfortably have treated the last seven years as a continuation of their government from pre-2007 with a mere brief interruption in between.
bc @ #162 Monday, April 12th, 2021 – 11:17 am
Thanks. Seemed implausible but the bounds of plausibility has been Morrisonised.
As if Australian politics can’t sink any lower:
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/reverend-fred-nile-to-quit-nsw-politics-names-lyle-shelton-as-successor-20210412-p57idu.html
Despite the newly discovered evidence, Stokes stands by his man:
[‘A joint investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes has also revealed allegations that the accused war criminal dug a hole in the backyard of his house and buried USB drives inside a pink plastic children’s lunchbox, hiding them from both police and military investigations. The USB drives contained images of soldiers misbehaving at a makeshift bar in Afghanistan, as well as classified documents and videos.
In separate secret recordings, which were lawfully made, Mr Roberts-Smith revealed his disdain for the business he helps run, his dislike of his fellow Seven executives and his incredulity that he is still running the company’s Queensland operations despite being at the centre of a war crimes scandal.]
Oops, link:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/seven-stands-by-senior-executive-ben-roberts-smith-over-new-evidence-he-attempted-to-cover-up-alleged-crimes-20210412-p57id8.html
Theo Andelini says:
Monday, April 12, 2021 at 10:50 am
…
Oh please. The only reason Labor are even remotely competitive is because of Greens preferences.
Preferential voting limits the damage for sure. But it doesn’t stop the public funding going to the Greens nor the Greens campaigning with the Liberals to keep Labor out of power.
The Greens and Liberals even share strategy in how to do it. If that is what you want fare enough, but don’t pretend you vote Green and you want something other than a Liberal Government.
You second preference doesn’t undo the damage you have done.
Nice!
“Theo Andelini, this might shock you and other Greens posters here but, if I were a German citizen, the Green Party would get my vote in the upcoming election.”
All aboard the political bandwagon, next stop Berlin! All are welcome. 😀
It is a bit odd that a staunch right wing Labor supporter would choose to support the German Greens, but you are right that the other options are rather lacking.
It wouldn’t be odd for a true progressive lefty to support another party in a different country that aligned with their political views though. For example, myself and many other Australian Greens were enthusiastically supporting UK Labour while it was being lead by Jeremy Corbyn, even as he was being openly attacked by ALP supporters for being too left wing and progressive, some of whom even went as far as to back the Lib Dems or even the Conservatives instead.
Today’s front page of the “CM”: “COVID CHAOS!”.
Given yesterday’s hatchet job on Miles, News Corp
editors seem to have a mild case of schizophrenia.
lizzie @ #169 Monday, April 12th, 2021 – 11:32 am
😉
Morrisonated?
“You second preference doesn’t undo the damage you have done.”
Labor only gets my second preference when there aren’t progressive left wing minors in the field, such as Animal Justice. Make your preferences count! Voting 1 Labor is a wasted vote.
1. Greens
2. Progressive minors/independents
3. Labor
4. Centre-right minors/inds
5. Libs or Nats
6. Far-right conservative nutters (PHON etc)
Don’t know what I said to deserve Theo’s nasty ridicule there but ok.
Do I get to use Pegasus as a human shield now? Or is that just for one side?
A very good comment here from Peter Fox.
“Condemning witnesses, journalists & their investigation whilst saying Ben Roberts-Smith’s alleged behaviour is normal in war, should remember it’s other SAS soldiers from his unit & the same war who are appalled & giving evidence. They’re the ones who need supporting.”
But Dr Kelly’s mum and his aunty are happy, and I distinctly remember him telling Michael Rowland this morning that the rollout to the NDIS sector is amazing even him.
I think every Health and government talking head that’s interviewed on the subject of the vaccination rollout should be first asked to declare first whether they (and their family) have been personally vaccinated, and with which vaccine.
Some choice quotes from a February 23rd ABC puff piece, heralding ScoMo’s first Pfuzer jab (his second was in mid-March):
Given that Morrison (and Hunt) received the Pfizer vaccine, which is utterly irrelevant in demonstrating the safety of the Astra-Zeneca product, and that the the A-Z product has supply, efficacy and safety issues, I’d call the February 23 stunt (complete with little old lady who’d never met him before but, now that she has, quite likes that Mr Morrison) a total scam: over the top, promising what it couldn’t deliver, proving what it couldn’t prove and further confusing an already bewildering issue.
And it was all done to get the first jabs in whatever random arms as were available (excluding Morrison’s, which was not a random choice at all) by the “end of February”, in compliance with a previous piece of shameless bullshit from January.
[‘Malcolm Turnbull has slammed the powerful role News Corp plays in Australian politics and called for the media organisation to be held to account.
The former prime minister, who was ousted from the country’s top job and more recently as a climate tsar in NSW, fronted up to a media diversity inquiry on Monday.
“The most powerful political actor in Australia is not the Liberal Party or the National Party or the Labor Party, it is News Corporation,” Mr Turnbull told the inquiry.
“And it is utterly unaccountable. It is controlled by an American family and their interests are no longer, if they ever were, coextensive with our own.”]
Turnbull’s right but just how do you hold Murdoch to account? No serving politician would have the guts to tackle this ogre, his heirs – more so given that at the moment Morrison’s still in favour. Regrettably, this Senate inquiry will go nowhere.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/04/12/turnbull-media-inquiry/
There was also the kerfuffle with Morrisons jab where there was apparently an agreement with Albanese and Bandt for the three of them plus a few other VIPs getting the jab together. Morrison decided to jump that and get his a few days earlier with the old lady in Sydney. When he was accused of politicising the event his office, in a very Trumpian way, accused the ALP and Greens of making it all about themselves.
“It is a bit odd that a staunch right wing Labor supporter would choose to support the German Greens, but you are right that the other options are rather lacking.”
___________________________________________
I know when I do the vote compass thingy I’m told that the Greens policies best align with my own views. I expect many other strong Labor voters here have the same outcome.
The difference is that we live in the real world where, no matter what we think would be a great idea, it ain’t going to happen unless there is widespread buy-in and acceptance at the centre, at least.
The Australian Greens do not live in the real world when it comes to implementing policies, no matter how meritorious they are.
The real world is where everyone says they are worried about climate change, but most will consider their immediate personal and family interests (putting food on the table and paying the rent, for example) before voting for the environment. So they are easily scared by the media and conservative forces that they will pay with their jobs to save the vampire bat-wing lizard or whatever.
Labor has to deal with that crap; the Greens don’t because they will never rise above about 10% or so of the vote on a national basis.
The idea that they could ever be a major party without dramatically becoming a broad church (and thus having to severely compromise a whole lot of principles they hold dear) is pure fantasy. What they really aim for is to screw enough seats out of Labor in very select locations that they can force their policies on Labor if Labor make it to government.
It’s totally different in Germany. There, the Greens Party do live in the real world. The electorate is different and, critically, the voting system is very different. They don’t need to compromise as much to get the votes – the critical compromises come once they become part of multi-party governing coalitions.
and didn’t that turn out just dandy. Now he owns the Vax rollout completely in the minds of the public. I’ve never seen such a clueless media manager, I thought Morrison was supposed to be some kind of media genius (at least in his own mind) but the evidence doesn’t bear that out.
BB
I’d call the February 23 stunt (complete with little old lady who’d never met him before but, now that she has, quite likes that Mr Morrison) a total scam:
____________________________________
I find it hard to believe that Botch Morrison’s scouts would not have made absolutely sure that the little old lady was totally onside. Even he would know that he had to avoid another screw-up like the pregnant lady in Cobargo.
Towns in WA’s Midwest have been cyclone damaged, a rare event that far south. There was a second tropical low in the area at the same time.
Tropical lows/cyclones feed on warm water. We know the oceans are warming, and that the massive body of warmed ocean water is moving south with a subsequent movement of weather systems south as well. Therefore, southern localities become more cyclone prone, and the southwest corner of the State is dryer as the cold fronts that used to bring much of the winter rainfall have also moved south.
It will take an eternity to reverse this, but it will never happen while the fossil fuel lobby are only interested in enriching themselves and sharing some of their ill gotten gains with the LNP.
GoldenSmaug @ #180 Monday, April 12th, 2021 – 12:26 pm
He plays the short game, not the long game.
Simon Katich @ #178 Monday, April 12th, 2021 – 12:20 pm
Well, now it’s all about Clot Morrison.
https://theaimn.com/nimble-failure-the-australian-covid-19-vaccination-program/
poroti says:
Monday, April 12, 2021 at 10:58 am
“Bucephalus
Yep, go the ‘full PV’. If it is all to hard to do a full PV once every few years then you really are a slack arse.”
Agreed. Although I’m happy with the above the line voting in the Senate.
I take great pleasure in putting the Greens last everytime.
“I know when I do the vote compass thingy I’m told that the Greens policies best align with my own views. I expect many other strong Labor voters here have the same outcome.
The difference is that we live in the real world where, no matter what we think would be a great idea, it ain’t going to happen unless there is widespread buy-in and acceptance at the centre, at least.
The Australian Greens do not live in the real world when it comes to implementing policies, no matter how meritorious they are.”
So instead of voting for the Greens, who’s views yours supposedly align with, you instead choose to vote for Labor who often work with the Coalition to implement their agenda – an agenda that you supposedly oppose. Counterproductive is how I would describe that.
The rest of your post is just the usual born-to-rule nonsense that supporters of the duopoly revert to when their political modus operandi is called into question. The approach of appeasing conservatives gets the progressive left nowhere and only helps the right achieve their goals in the long term. Labor is a speed-bump, an obstacle that must be overcome, in the road to a more progressive and fairer Australia.
“I know when I do the vote compass thingy I’m told that the Greens policies best align with my own views. I expect many other strong Labor voters here have the same outcome.”
So instead of voting for the Greens, who’s views yours supposedly align with, you instead choose to vote for Labor who often work with the Coalition to implement their agenda – an agenda that you supposedly oppose. Counterproductive is how I would describe that.
The rest of your post is just the usual born-to-rule nonsense that supporters of the duopoly revert to when their political modus operandi is called into question. The approach of appeasing conservatives gets the progressive left nowhere and only helps the right achieve their goals in the long term. Labor is a speed-bump, an obstacle that must be overcome, in the road to a more progressive and fairer Australia.
Bucephalus @ #187 Monday, April 12th, 2021 – 10:38 am
That says more about you as a person than the Greens.
The SASR should be disbanded. It’s been a law unto itself for decades, with no one game enough to take it on, not even the senior brass, less so politicians.
The rumours of its scandalous conduct have been around for yonks, it taking the alleged murder of
Afghani non-combatants to get it to this point. And on the evidence adduced thus far, Roberts-Smith should be stripped of his VC, and do time for the
spoliation of evidence, and whatever else he’s done.
If a week in politics is a long time, three years is a realllly long time. The economic and personal impacts of this will be staggering.
(guardian)
Fantastic interview of Hunter Biden by Jimmy Kimmel:
https://youtu.be/ia219GD0Vok
Torchbearer says:
Monday, April 12, 2021 at 11:03 am
“Just a question, what data and what system? The Health Department that sent the test doesn’t track peoples individuals diseases or health….it doesn’t keep a database of this. It keeps macro information from a public health and budgetary perspective of reportable disease and through clinical coding, thats all.”
Don’t they run Medicare which has all my medical data? – I’ve seen it – it’s there – can’t they run a VLOOKUP or some other check?
Theo Andelini @ #188 Monday, April 12th, 2021 – 10:40 am
I’m the same, but I’m more interested in achieving actual change, so I vote Labor.
ItzaDream @ #190 Monday, April 12th, 2021 – 12:41 pm
How does it affect inbound travel? My son’s girlfriend, now twice vaccinated, wants to come to Australia over Xmas/New Year, I would have thought she would be able to come?
Barney in Tanjung Bunga says:
Monday, April 12, 2021 at 11:07 am
“The whole point of preferential voting is that the candidate most preferred by voters is elected.”
Only if you get 50%+1 are you the most preferred. Otherwise it is actually selecting the candidate who is least disliked. The most disliked are discarded first followed by the next etc until the least disliked is selected.
C@tmomma @ #195 Monday, April 12th, 2021 – 10:46 am
At present your vaccination status has no impact on your ability to travel internationally.
Also regarding Australia, if she doesn’t have citizenship or residency, then she would struggle to get permission to travel.
I vote Labor but I also vote Greens. I am someone who wants a majority Labor Government with Greens BoP in the Senate (if you disagree that’s fine but I don’t care.) My main source of frustration with the Greens is when they just dismiss Labor and their supporters as equal to the Liberals. As well as the issue that they also seem to lean more on gestures and virtue-signalling at times, and seem to be more content shouting from the outside the tent (and getting Twitter cred) than climbing into the tent and actually getting some meaningful results.
Bucephalus @ #196 Monday, April 12th, 2021 – 10:47 am
… who is therefore the most preferred.