Detailed below are some recent electoral developments, the juiciest of which relate to factional power struggles within Victorian Labor, whose federal preselection process has been taken over by the party’s national executive in the wake of the Adem Somyurek branch-stacking affair. Note also the post below offering a half-time report on the Tasmanian state election campaign.
• Josh Bornstein, employment lawyer and partner at Maurice Blackburn, has pulled out of a challenge against Kim Carr for the safe position on Labor’s Victorian Senate ticket that is reserved to the Left. This followed a report in The Australian that trawled through a decade’s worth of his voluminous social media activity, turning up criticism of party and union figures including Chris Bowen and Penny Wong. The Age reports Left faction unions were divided between Carr and Bornstein, with one or more further challengers likely to emerge. One such is Ryan Batchelor, executive director of the McKell Institute and son of former state MP Peter Batchelor.
• The Age report also says that Sam Rae, a partner at PwC and former state party secretary, is “being encouraged” to run in the new seat of Hawke on Melbourne’s north-western fringe. An earlier report indicated that a stability pact being negotiated between the main factions would reserve the seat for the Right, potentially setting up a turf war between the Victorian Right forces associated with Richard Marles and Bill Shorten, who are emerging as the main rivals for influence within the faction.
• Andrew Laming’s bid to retain preselection in Bowman has predictably fallen foul of the Liberal National Party’s candidate suitability panel.
• I’ll have a dedicated post up shortly for the May 22 by-election in the New South Wales state seat of Upper Hunter, my guide for which can be found here. Results of a uComms poll for the Australia Institute are encouraging for the Nationals, who hold seat seat on a margin of 2.6%. When added together properly, the poll credits the Nationals with a primary vote of 38.5%, compared with 34.0% at the 2019 election; Labor with 23.8%, compared with 28.6%; One Nation, who did not contest in 2019, with 13.8%; the Greens with 10.1%, more than double their 4.8% vote share in 2019; and bookies favourite Shooters Fishers and Farmers with only 8.2%, compared with 22.0%. The poll was conducted on April 7 and 8 by automated phone polling and SMS from a sample of 686.
• A new site called OzPredict offers cleanly presented poll-based forecasting of the next federal election, with the promise of more features to follow.
Right, had to look it up: “kinetic war” means a real war with actual physical fighting, weapons, etc.
Daily Mail has a vid of the booing. There is a suggestion vids of it have been removed from official sites.
He was with the new SG of the OECD, Cormann, who appeared to be drinking white wine.
Chardonnay at the footy?
Booooooo!
It seems that the lady who died of the clotting disorder was diabetic. I think they called this a co-morbidity? I would like to know what other conditions are in the same boat. My doctor made no mention of any likely problems when she recommended me to register for A-Z, presumably just relying on my age as qualification.
I thought it was traditional to boo pollies at sports events , especially PM’s ? Or maybe it was declared ‘traditional’ after The Rodent kept getting booed 🙂
‘Steve777 says:
Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 2:37 pm
Right, had to look it up: “kinetic war” means a real war with actual physical fighting, weapons, etc.’
It is a useful distinction. Xi is waging an actual non-kinetic war against Taiwan as we post. This includes arbitrarily banning pineapple imports and sundry other economic punishments, a very active program of public threats, active interference in Taiwanese elections, and an extensive program of military incursions. There is a also a swingeing hacking program.
Theo
The change we have seen. No direct arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
It’s steps forward not back.
And I am all for AOC pressuring from the left. Recognise the gains that are made. Savour them. That’s reward for effort.
‘poroti says:
Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 2:43 pm
I thought it was traditional to boo pollies at sports events , especially PM’s ?’
Yep. The question is whether the last two booing events were the first two to target Morrison or just two in the traditional program of booing all pollies every single time.
How often did Bob Hawke get booed at footy matches?
C@tmomma
I take your point and think that 18 months ago I would not even have raised the subject but the pandemic has shown a lot of normally uninterested people facets of government that they may not have previously thought about.
The assistant at my supermarket this morning made a comment about what does the federal government actually do because she feels the states have done all the heavy lifting and Morrison and his government have just doled out money. She was even unimpressed about that because she felt that it was too late in coming and too many companies made too much profit.
So if now isn’t the time to have a public discussion and push for change when is.
On the subject of the employment of people by consultancy groups who would miss out, I wonder whether some would be interested in a permanent government job. The consultant rates are high but I believe a lot of the employees are on low rates and insecure work.
Maybe is is an issue that is best left until the election is won but how do we know that’s the case without some discussion
lizzie
Diabetes Australia say……
https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/living-with-diabetes/covid19/covid-19-vaccine-faq/#:~:text=Both%20vaccines%20have%20been%20shown,soon%20as%20they%20are%20able.
Tricot @ #148 Saturday, April 17th, 2021 – 2:36 pm
They probably pre-screened the rubbish he ‘cleaned up’ to make sure none of it contained the asbestos everyone was saying was likely lying around from the old houses in the town.
Most pollies dont kid themselves they are the peoples hero. Only Hawke has really managed it. You kinda just know that, deep down, Morrison thought of himself as a Hawke type PM.
If you listen very carefully to the audio you can hear something inside Morrison breaking.
Of course it’s also possible – because so many Chinese (and Occidentals) avoided the area – that a spontaneous, unofficial social distancing is the reason there were no clusters associated with Dixon St.
I know that in the SMH Tim Soutphommasane, local Chinese diplomats and business owners , plus a few politicians were accusing their fellow Australians of being racist, or of totally over-reacting – or both. They wanted schools open, travel uninterrupted (at Lunar New Year), universities etc. open for business as usual.
It’s actually quite hilarious to go back and read some of the newspaper articles from the time, their authors telling readers that (paraphrased) “There is no evidence we are headed for a pandemic”. Well, it didn’t fool the public.
Laughtong
Your point about the privacy is one of the many things that is wrong with the current outsourcing.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know that the people giving advice to government are providing that based on the public interest and that making a profit or obtaining additional work is not a factor.
poroti
Sadly, that lady was relying on the medical advice that was current at the time, poor thing.
lizzie
She drew a very short straw in the game of chance. Hopefully they may spot something that identifies people who are likely to get the wrong end of the 1,000,000-1 chance of dying.
Whenever I see a politicians showing up at the scene of a disaster I am reminded of the person who is said to have carried a card in her wallet saying “if anything happens to me I do not wish to be visited in hospital by Margaret Thatcher”
Morrison helping with the Kalbarri cleanup for a few minutes is as phoney as it gets.
We’ll know Morrison is in real trouble when he elicits this response from a footy crowd:
https://youtu.be/AbC6UVPhMG0
Assantdj,
I wasn’t even talking about the consultants that get work from the government, I was talking about, say for example, during the pandemic, Morrison has farmed out anything to do with the logistics of supply of tests and testing equipment and PPE, to SMEs, and transport of same and vaccines, to SMEs, and you can just go on and on back through time to just about any area that has been privatised that used to be a public service and find a myriad of businesses that perform the functions that used to be performed in house. Look at construction, health, education, immigration services, employment services… the list goes on. They are all people who WANT smaller government and will vote for the party that promises it because it means fatter profits for them. Despite any stuff ups with service delivery by private contractors along the way, because that’s THEM and they don’t want to vote themselves out of business.
I prefer “signed an agreement” to “secured”.
I booed Abbott when he came inside as well 😀
https://youtu.be/FVKL4GYSt08
One of the reasons Gladys’ toy train cost so much was because no one had a clue where anything other than the City Circle was under George St.
Nick Greiner’s nsw Inc strikes again.
C@tmomma
Take for,example employment services, something that is being done very poorly at the moment.
What is to stop an incoming government from saying that as these contracts end they will offer all staff staff ongoing employment. They will negotiate,with the owners to take over any leases or equipment currently held by the company.
Under this scenario only the business owners would lose out and they have made a motza already. If the privatisation of Australia Post goes through then this is what will happen to the businesses who hold the current franchises so why can’t big spiv’s be treated equally to small business owners.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/chinese-owners-of-scandal-ridden-dairy-scramble-to-sell-the-farm-20210416-p57jx7.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1618630815
To add to Cat and Assantdj’s discussion
https://www.crikey.com.au/2021/04/16/morrison-government-get-things-done/
Behind paywall.
“And I am all for AOC pressuring from the left. Recognise the gains that are made. Savour them. That’s reward for effort.”
It’s reward for AOC’s pressuring for sure, not to mention a solid reminder of why the right cannot be trusted and why the left are required to keep them accountable. Such unwanted reminders are becoming a daily occurrence unfortunately, both at home and abroad.
After the way she dealt with it, it seems pretty apparent that AOC has Biden and the Dems by the Billy Shortens, so that’s good. Hopefully she can continue to prevent more damage being done in the future.
Apparently the 48 year old deceased NSW woman was diabetic (hence 1b) and assessment last Friday by her medical team inc GP and others led to recommendation to get vaccinated with (apparently) AZ-Oxon. Vaccinated at GP.
48 years old and female would normally mean Pfizer-BionTech, unless known reaction to some PEGylated medication. Is treatment with PEGylated medication likely with diabetes? (maybe: e.g. 2021 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-021-05392-9 “Efficacy and safety of PEGylated exenatide injection (PB-119) in treatment-naive type 2 diabetes”)
So what’s going on?
– they assessed that risk from COVID19 is high enough to justify AZ-Oxon against the recommendation?
– they assessed patient desperately worried and unable to cope without treatment?
– they wanted to use Pfizer-BionTech but couldn’t get it?
Why is serious diabetes 1b rather than 1a?
Ven @ #120 Saturday, April 17th, 2021 – 11:31 am
Buried somewhere in the Constitution is something that says (wtte) that free black men are only worth 3/5 (60%) of white men. The West Wing was a very educational show.
Oakeshott Country:
Maybe just stick your hand up anyway?
Or call on Prince Harry to give a relevant speech:
Surely as a Republican you are attracted to the idea of orchestrating the most farcical Royal Funeral since the explosion of William the Conqueror:
– https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/William-The-Conqueror-Exploding-Corpse/
Had they had a competent colorectal surgeon available, or even an urologist, all that could have been avoided
https://www.pollbludger.net/2021/04/17/stable-but-serious/comment-page-4/#comment-3592815
The US Constitution says that “all other persons” are only worth 3/5 of free persons, for the apportionment of congressional representatives and federal taxes to the states, however this was superseded by the 14 Amendment. However the sloppy constitutional amendment habits the USA got into with the Bill of Rights and general secular worship of the founding fathers, just tacking amendments on the end without amending the actual text of the Constitution, means the actual text of the 3/5 Compromise is still in the Constitution.
This ultra-white paint could cool buildings, cutting the need for air conditioning
Scientists have developed a light-reflecting “ultra-white” paint, which they say could negate the need for air conditioning and even reduce carbon emissions, if used on a mass scale.
The paint, developed by engineers at Purdue University in Indiana as part of a six-year project, is capable of reflecting up to 98.1% of sunlight and therefore has the ability to cool buildings, according to a press release.
Unlike traditional paint, the “ultra-white” paint is made with a chemical compound called barium sulfate, which is also used in the production of cosmetics and photo paper.
The barium sulfate particles are made up of varying sizes, which “scatter” the sun’s rays and can even cool immediate surrounding surfaces.
Whereas regular paint will absorb between 10% and 20% of sunlight, the new paint takes on just 1.9% — an amount small enough to allow a building to lose heat overall, they said.
“If you were to use this paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet, we estimate that you could get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts. That’s more powerful than the central air conditioners used by most houses,” said lead researcher Xiulin Ruan, professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue.
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/ultra-white-paint-scli-intl-scn/index.html
EGT
The day after she was vaccinated with AZ they changed the recommendation to Pfizer for under 50 so it was unlucky.
There were no health conditions that made you 1a (being in a nursing home did).
It was just dumb bad luck. No one made a mistake.
“Small Government” ultimately doesn’t work because nothing would be done unless someone could make a buck from it.
E. G. Theodore @ #181 Saturday, April 17th, 2021 – 4:11 pm
Because biological systems are stochastic, unpredictably complex, inevitably fail and “die” – and are not NP complete. Medicine is not predictive, and never will be. Algorithms work poorly in large populations over long periods, and not at all in individuals. It is always suck it and see.
Interesting
“ French lawmakers have moved to ban short-haul internal flights where train alternatives exist, in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.
Over the weekend, lawmakers voted in favour of a bill to end routes where the same journey could be made by train in under two-and-a-half hours.”
Would there be any routes in Australia less than 2.5 hours with VFT?
https://www.pollbludger.net/2021/04/17/stable-but-serious/comment-page-4/#comment-3592823
Sydney-Canberra.
Boerwar
The problem the French had was that they provide the reserve currency for West and Central Africa and Libya was trying to muscle in on it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFA_franc
US has been hoodwinked by UK and France a few times, with disastrous results:
– Vietnam I
– Iran
– Iraq-Baath
– Libya (hence Syria)
and has also overreacted in the other direction:
– Suez
– Emirates
Middle East and Indochina vastly more stable if those go the other way, and about 5% larger world economy without the Suez blockage.
He did the same thing following the Sydney floods. Someone here pointed out that the piece of debris he was holding had been partly cleaned so he wouldn’t get his nice little hands dirty. The list compiled by his empathy coach obviously has an item “pretend to clean up debris after disaster but make sure your minders wipe it first”.
What is the rightists obsession with abusing Harry and Meghan about ?
It’s just so weird and creepy.
TTFAB,
Yep that’s the one. I did say wtte though. Thanks for filling out the details.
He did the same thing following the Sydney floods. Someone here pointed out that the piece of debris he was holding had been partly cleaned so he wouldn’t get his nice little hands dirty. The list compiled by his empathy coach obviously has an item “pretend to clean up debris after disaster but make sure your minders wipe it first”.
Theo Andelini @ #174 Saturday, April 17th, 2021 – 4:00 pm
Give Biden acknowledgement for being receptive and accomodating.
It’s co-operation that produces united outcomes.
AOC would be worth zip if Biden were not POTUS.
She does a lot of ‘Look At Moi’, but.
poroti @ #152 Saturday, April 17th, 2021 – 2:43 pm
That reception for ScottyfromTheShire at Optus was from the soul of those people.
He’s gawn.
boerwar @ #192 Saturday, April 17th, 2021 – 5:21 pm
You prefer she shut up and know her place …?
Apolgies for duplicate comment. It didn’t seem to appear the first time.
While I’m here, it seems Abbott got his hands dirtier than did Morrison.
(Oz photo)
So what’s the story behind this watch?
poroti@2:55 pm
My relative, who is in his 50s and diabetic, does not want to take AZ vaccine anymore. He wants to wait till Pfizer comes. He is a very educated man. He said why take a chance. We could be 1 in 1,000,000 to get blood clot. I think there is alot of confusion and fear due to this blood clotting after jab.
lizzie@5:27 pm
🙂