Before proceeding with the latest preselection news, I have a still-active post with daily updates on the progress of Tasmanian state election count; a live results feature that I can’t promote often enough, since it remains by some distance the most detailed source of results data available; and a lengthy plea for cash from Friday from which I’m still vaguely hopeful of squeezing another donation or two.
On with the show:
• The long-awaited Liberal National Party Senate preselection has allocated top position on the Queensland ticket to James McGrath while relegating Amanda Stoker to third, maintaining an impressive bipartisan run of preselectors never getting anything right. Michael McKenna of The Australian relates that McGrath secured a sweeping 212-101 win from the “biggest ever turnout for a State Council Senate vote”. The second position is designated to the Nationals, and is duly a lock for Matt Canavan.
• Paul Starick of The Advertiser reports that Leah Blyth, who has the backing of the South Australian Liberal Party’s conservative faction to replace the retiring Nicolle Flint in the Adelaide seat of Boothby, may be poleaxed by the Section 44 of the Constitution. Blyth’s efforts to renounce a dual British citizenship even this far out from the election could fall foul of extended processing times arising from COVID-19, although others quoted in the report express doubt that it will really be a problem. Rival contenders include Rachel Swift, moderate-aligned proprietor of a health consultancy firm, and Shaun Osborn, a police officer who ran in the seat of Adelaide in 2019. However, Osborn is hampered by the optics of putting a man forward to replace Flint, whose experiences have been a key element in Liberal efforts to parry suggestions that disrespect for women is particularly a problem on their own side of politics.
• John Ferguson of The Australian reports dissension within Victorian Labor over the likelihood that former state secretary Sam Rae will secure preselection for the new seat of Hawke on Melbourne’s north-western fringe. The report says a draft preselection agreement reserves the seat for the Right faction Transport Workers Union, which remains associated with party powerbroker and former Senator Stephen Conroy. While Conroy evidently backs Rae, “other parts” of the Right are said to favour the position going to a woman, specifically Natalie Hutchins, the Andrews government Corrections Minister and member for the seat of Sydenham.
• Matthew Denholm of The Australian reported last week that “wholesale ALP federal intervention” loomed for the party’s Tasmanian branch, “barring a shock win for the party” at Saturday’s state election – which, for those of you who have just joined us, didn’t happen. The concern is that Left unions use their excessive weight within the branch’s affairs to do foolish things like deny preselection to Dean Winter, who was able to achieve his thumping win in Franklin on Saturday only because the national executive intervened to give him a place on the ticket. This would appear to be relevant to Labor’s preselections for the federal seat of Bass and Braddon, which it lost at the 2019 election, and also to the fate of twice-defeated state leader Rebecca White. The aforesaid Left unions are apparently keen on replacing her with David O’Byrne, who was outpolled in Franklin on Saturday by the aforesaid Dean Winter.
• The Liberal Party has done tellingly extensive research for its submission opposing the registration of a party under the name New Liberals, which included CT Group polling indicating that 69% of respondents believed a party thus named sounded like it had a connection with the other Liberal Party.
”So we have a totally botched roll-out (anyone could have predicted risks in supporting too small a number of vaccines)”
All the risks were predictable – supply chain problems, problems found in testing, side effects and vaccine nationalism. They should have been addressed in planning. Contingency planning is part of any large, complex undertaking. We need Plan B, probably plans C and D. We’ve had a year to plan.
We don’t seem to even have Plan A. How can you have a project without targets and without a schedule? You can’t. Targets and schedules almost certainly exist but the Government won’t disclose them because they would expose them for the clowns that they are. The state of the vaccine rollout in Australia is inexcusable.
TPOF says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 9:37 pm.
“So we have a totally botched roll-out”
Utter bollocks. Over 2 million have been vaccinated – that is not “totally botched”.
Listened to a handover Credlan to Jones the RWNJs.
The trillion dollar debt coming is because Australia wanted to save the over 60s, those younger than that don’t die from covid 19.
Workers are broke with no pay rises for years, Companies doing trickle down so no tax from them so the oldies must pay it back.
If you are over 60 beware the changes in eligibility over the next 10 years for any pension benefits. You have plenty in Superannuation so you should reduce this debt generated for your good health. Last year simple changes put billions from Superannuation into the economy. There are ways to make oldies do the same.
No worries. Now is there any way we can get a few more billion in company tax cuts through before the next election!!!!!
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2021/05/behold-the-morrison-hunter-white-elephant-pork-power-plant/
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/a-welcome-step-who-acknowledges-aerosol-spread-of
The ICEG dissembles, yet again..
Trump’s Facebook ban upheld:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-05/donald-trump-remains-banned-from-facebook/100119542
guytaur says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 6:40 pm
GG
The voters of Queensland value citizenship.
The whole concept of citizenship is a conservative idea.
Actually, it’s an improvement on its fore-runner, the concept of “the subject”, which subordinated the rights of individuals to obligations to serve the crown (or, really, the State generally). The Citizen was created during the American and French Revolutions, so has an expressly revolutionary, egalitarian and republican origin. In Australia, we only became citizens in 1948 when the classification “British Subject” began to fade from use.
What is conservative – reactionary and/or despotic – were the moves by Tony Abbott to make it possible for persons to be deprived of their citizenship, and to be rendered stateless. Dutton takes advantage of the gaps in the rights to citizenship every time he first imprisons and then deports a non-citizen.
You might say the idea of the nation-state is inherently conservative, though almost no one would agree with you. The legal constitution of states means that the rights attaching to citizenship can have substance. The concept “citizenship” is a short-form description for the legal, defensible vesting of identifiable personal rights, not least being the rights to live in and travel freely within a place, to not be summarily arrested or arbitrarily imprisoned, the right to a fair trial…and so on. It is a practical way of giving legal effect to the rights elaborated in the Universal Declaration.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/05/antarctica-ice-sheet-melting-global-heating-sea-level-rise-study
Coastal and marine eco-systems are already changing as a result of global warming. This is predictable. It’s not surmise. It is measurable spatially and in time. The LNP and their paid liars would have you believe it’s all made up or irrelevant.
Presumably, the Commonwealth will rely on the High Court’s decision in Palmer on the public health issues to defend the Federal Court Indian challenge.
Shellbell says:
Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 6:33 am
Presumably, the Commonwealth will rely on the High Court’s decision in Palmer on the public health issues to defend the Federal Court Indian challenge.
————————————-
Ironically the same case where Morrison claim Palmer would likely win
The Age 05/05
Victoria’s upper house has ordered the Andrews government to release a long-suppressed report into bullying and sexual discrimination in Victoria’s fire services, five years after it was commissioned.
________________
No more excuses. Release the report.
Women need to be protected in thier workplace.
lol Taylormade
Taylormade,
Just wondering if you are bipolar?
Taylormade @ #1209 Thursday, May 6th, 2021 – 6:44 am
Has Scott Morrison ‘unpaused’ the investigation into Brittany Higgins yet? And what about an investigation into the Liberal wankers? Is there even one?
lizzie,
The people in our neck of the woods are fighting Keith Pitt as well. He wants to put oil and gas drilling and extraction rigs off our coast. The renewal of the exploration permit is on his desk right now. Though I imagine he will put it in a drawer until after the election.
Danama Papers @ #1204 Thursday, May 6th, 2021 – 2:12 am
Yay! He should have been smart and kept his head down. Instead he kept on proving why he should stay banned. 😀
Morrison claims he believes in free speech, Yet When Micheal Slater wants a debate with Morrison.
Morrison’s cronies go on the attack against Micheal Slater.
You have to laugh
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-06/indian-community-leaders-warn-backlash-flight-ban-covid19/100119562
🙂
C@t
The independent board has just kicked it back to Facebook saying “ indefinite ban” is unreasonable & that Facebook need to decide what that means.
Also that as Facebook don’t have the term “ indefinite “ in their rules or regulations it’s likely not justifiable.
Facebook could just ban him for life if they chose to.
Colby Cosh: Why China’s beer-can approach to space exploration means it’s raining rockets
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/colby-cosh-why-chinas-beer-can-approach-to-space-exploration-means-its-raining-rockets
Sceptic,
Yes, it seems to be an ‘indefinite ban’ of 6 months more. 🙂
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
In a scathing character assessment, John Hewson accuses the faithful Morrison of saying one thing but doing another. He says Australians have become wary of politicians who spruik morals, principles and religion but then fail conspicuously to live what they claim to believe.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/faithful-morrison-says-one-thing-but-does-another-20210505-p57p4l.html
Morrison is too Christian for some, not Christian enough for others, explains John Warhurst.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7239601/morrison-is-too-christian-for-some-not-christian-enough-for-others/?cs=14258
After decades of governments urging migrants to take out Australian citizenship for their own good, the Morrison government in the early hours of Saturday morning effectively told them it was worthless, laments Niki Savva.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/scott-morrison-fails-his-covid-test-to-leave-citizens-in-lurch/news-story/d2d5d45673e81cc7aab8d76ed366c7db
The lawyer behind a Federal Court challenge to the government’s India travel ban claims the unprecedented action may be unconstitutional. However, the latest legal action may not reach a legal resolution and could become a moot point as the health order banning travel from India is set to expire within days.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/05/06/india-travel-ban-constitution/
At least two repatriation flights will be dispatched to India every week once the controversial travel ban ends on May 15 as the Morrison government faces an uphill battle to get thousands of its citizens home from the coronavirus-stricken country. Rachel Clun and Anthony Galloway say it represents a logistical nightmare.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-faces-logistical-nightmare-getting-citizens-home-from-india-20210505-p57p6q.html
A commitment to increase wages must be part of next week’s federal budget, Labor leader Anthony Albanese has declared in a challenge to the Coalition to go beyond its new ambition to push the unemployment rate below 5 per cent.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-needs-to-commit-to-boosting-wages-not-just-jobs-albanese-20210505-p57p7e.html
Alaxandra Smith writes that the way in which many of the NSW state MPs behaved on Tuesday night was not befitting of elected officials, and it would not be tolerated in any other workplace.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/extraordinary-spectacle-not-befitting-of-australia-s-oldest-parliament-20210505-p57p2n.html
David Crowe tells us that digital services will get a $1.2 billion overhaul in a budget plan to expand government services online, fund research into artificial intelligence and fund new skills programs. While $200 million will go to the myGov site, which is the main entry point for Australians who need federal services or support, $300 million will be spent on the health records including its digital identity system.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mygov-to-get-200m-upgrade-in-digital-services-overhaul-20210505-p57p7o.html
Karen Barlow tells us that Anthony Albanese will accuse the Prime Minister Scott Morrison today of deliberately and callously delaying action to address systemic problems in aged care.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7240120/albanese-to-accuse-pm-of-deliberate-aged-care-neglect/?cs=14350
And Josh Butler writes that Anthony Albanese has fired a broadside at Josh Frydenberg just days out from the budget, demanding the federal government urgently pour funds into managing the “broken” aged care sector and specifically addressing rising concerns over dementia among the elderly.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/05/05/national-embarassment-albanese-demands-budget-focus-on-dementia-aged-care/
Let’s not pick a fight over Darwin port unless we have to, urges Greg Sheridan. He says we should never be cowardly in pursuing our national interests, but we don’t necessarily need to pick every fight going.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/lets-not-pick-a-fight-over-darwin-port-unless-we-have-to/news-story/7423db450705f909bec563132f8ea5b7
Constitutional law expert, Professor Helen Irving, explains why the Australian government cannot treat its own citizens as pariahs. She says the India travel ban is clearly unconstitutional and a breach of our rights
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/india-travel-ban-is-unconstitutional-20210505-p57p73.html
In quite an interesting contribution, Julie Szego takes a revealing and uneasy peek at Morrison’s “altar ego”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/revealing-and-uneasy-peek-at-morrison-s-altar-ego-20210504-p57oqs.html
Tom Rabe reports that the NSW Treasurer and Transport Minister is saying the federal government must consider bigger tax breaks to incentivise the take-up of electric vehicles.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/senior-nsw-ministers-call-for-federal-tax-break-on-electric-vehicles-20210505-p57p7d.html
According to Peter Hannam, NSW Labor will reject plans by the NSW government to regulate the ability of irrigators to capture flood waters flowing across their properties.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/sustainability/unacceptable-labor-joins-other-mps-to-block-flood-plain-harvesting-rules-20210505-p57p46.html
A Victorian public servant in charge of infection control in hotel quarantine has been stood down after reports of breached protocols.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/infection-control-manager-stood-down-amid-damning-hotel-quarantine-reports-20210505-p57oyk.html
Jordan Baker writes that the University of Sydney is considering closing its departments of studies in religion – one of the last devoted to the secular study of faith in Australia – and theatre and performance as it looks to cut costs.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-unis-consider-more-cuts-including-religion-and-theatre-20210505-p57p3n.html
Ita Buttrose has said the ABC board is constantly at risk of not making quorum for its meetings while the government leaves three vacancies unfilled.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/abc-board-member-s-run-in-with-a-cow-exposes-a-board-in-strife-20210505-p57p4q.html
Australia’s energy market is defined by two steps forward one step back, but the direction is inevitable even if there’s no end to divisions over politics and policy, says Jennifer Hewett.
https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/gaslighting-in-the-energy-market-20210505-p57p49
Tom Cowie tells us that the health risk for children from cooking with gas has been compared to that from living with a smoker and may be responsible for as much as 12 per cent of childhood asthma.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/kids-asthma-risk-from-cooking-with-gas-like-living-with-a-smoker-20210505-p57p11.html
The latest data reveals just how insane the Australian housing market has become, explains Greg Jericho.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2021/may/06/the-latest-data-reveals-just-how-insane-the-australian-housing-market-has-become
Labor’s leader in the upper house could be suspended from Parliament if the long-awaited report into sexism and bullying in the CFA is not released to the public.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/pressure-on-andrews-government-to-release-secret-cfa-sexism-and-bullying-report-20210505-p57p5s.html
Ben Smee reveals that the Queensland police service blocked academic research seeking to scrutinise its response to domestic violence cases and the attitudes of officers – sending rejection letters that denied there was a need for studies.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/06/queensland-police-blocked-research-into-domestic-violence-cases-and-attitudes-of-officers
Latika Bourke reports that the coronavirus has hit the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in London as two delegates from India tested positive.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/coronavirus-hits-g7-foreign-ministers-meeting-in-london-20210505-p57p8n.html
Overnight Israel’s President has chosen Yair Lapid, a centrist politician and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strongest rival, to try to form a new government, but Lapid’s path to success remains uncertain.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/lapid-asked-to-form-government-after-time-runs-out-for-netanyahu-20210506-p57pa7.html
South Australia’s Upper House has passed a Bill that proposes to legalise euthanasia. It is the first time in the state’s history that any euthanasia Bill has passed a chamber of parliament.
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/dozens-of-voluntary-euthanasia-supporters-rally-at-parliament-house-ahead-of-crucial-upper-house-vote/news-story/9f7ed53358e536bdb8e2303abf175225
The NSW Liberals and Nationals have snuck through floodplain harvesting legislation that allows upstream irrigators to take up to five times (500 %) their licensed water allotments, potentially devastating the already fragile Murray Darling system. Callum Foote reports.
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/death-of-the-river-system-nationals-make-it-legal-to-illegally-take-water-from-upper-darling/
Luke Henriques-Gomes explains how a new report shows nearly 1,000 robodebt victims had their debts sent to an external debt collector even after the government had admitted in court that the program was unlawful.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/05/robodebt-victims-referred-to-debt-collectors-even-after-government-admitted-scheme-was-unlawful
John Gilroy explains how the planned NDIS reforms discriminate against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
https://theconversation.com/heres-why-the-planned-ndis-reforms-discriminate-against-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people-160183
Zoe Samios tells us that The Washington Post is establishing an Australian bureau in a sign of increasing reader interest in the Asia-Pacific region.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/award-winning-journalist-to-lead-washington-post-s-australian-set-up-20210505-p57oz1.html
Ben Packham reveals that Peter Dutton is planning an intervention to ensure Australia is not left exposed by the late arrival of new French-built submarines, with fast-tracked and comprehensive rebuilds of the navy’s six Collins-class boats now being seen as vital. He says Dutton is also looking at an option to engage Saab Kockums to develop a $50m-$100m design scoping study for a “Son of Collins” boat, based on a submarine the company is offering the Dutch navy.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/collins-upgrade-may-plug-submarine-gap/news-story/84a7898a6649cbb6888866c0dfbe2791
Elizabeth Knight explains how Westpac found itself in the frame for alleged insider trading.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/how-westpac-found-itself-in-the-frame-for-alleged-insider-trading-20210505-p57p6n.html
Kaye Lee expounds on the drums of hairy chest beating and looks to Karen Andrews to make some changes.
https://theaimn.com/the-drums-of-hairy-chest-beating/
Australia’s states are forging ahead with ambitious emissions reductions. Imagine if they worked together say these academics.
https://theconversation.com/australias-states-are-forging-ahead-with-ambitious-emissions-reductions-imagine-if-they-worked-together-160191
The metals empire owned by the industrialist Sanjeev Gupta said it has agreed terms on new financing for a key part of its business located in South Australia, potentially staving off a threat to thousands of jobs.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/05/sanjeev-guptas-gfg-secures-financing-for-australian-whyalla-steelworks
ASIC’s latest stoush with Westpac will once again pit the regulator’s idea of breaking the law against the bank’s idea of standard practice in risk management, writes the AFR’s Jonathan Shapiro.
https://www.afr.com/markets/debt-markets/westpac-s-traders-and-asic-slug-it-out-again-20210505-p57p5t
The devastating outbreak across India exposes the stark failures in governance and vaccine development locally and across the world, writes Dr Rashad Seedeen.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/indias-crisis-a-deadly-example-of-government-failure-,15051
Boris shows he’s as adept at pedalling a bike as he is at peddling lies, writes the ever-critical John Crace.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/05/boris-johnson-adept-pedalling-bike-peddling-lies
A week that could set in motion the eventual collapse of the 314-year union between England and Scotland is concentrating trading desks on market disasters ahead says this article from Bloomberg.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/worse-than-brexit-scottish-vote-weighs-on-assets-from-pound-to-banks-20210505-p57ozq.html
The New York Times says a US federal judge has accused the Justice Department under former attorney-general William Barr of misleading her and Congress about advice he had received on whether Donald Trump should have been charged with obstructing the Russia investigation.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/ag-misled-congress-on-trump-s-action-during-mueller-probe-judge-20210505-p57p4x.html
Corey Norman posting a photo of himself with Jarryd Hayne is a strong show of public support for his mate. Some will find it touching, even inspiring. Peter FitzSimons finds it troubling.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/players-still-playing-catch-up-on-how-to-hold-each-other-accountable-20210505-p57p7z.html
Cartoon Corner
David Pope
David Rowe
Cathy Wilcox
Matt Golding
Andrew Dyson
Mark Knight
Simon Letch
John Shakespeare
Glen Le Lievre
Johannes Leak
From the US
The NSW Liberals and Nationals have snuck through floodplain harvesting legislation that allows upstream irrigators to take up to five times (500 %) their licensed water allotments, potentially devastating the already fragile Murray Darling system.
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/death-of-the-river-system-nationals-make-it-legal-to-illegally-take-water-from-upper-darling/
So instead of investing in the reef money has been put into bank deposits? Just another Liberal wank.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/05/great-barrier-reef-foundation-still-well-short-of-fundraising-target-auditor-general-finds
‘Mystery case’ my ass.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/man-in-sydney-s-eastern-suburbs-tests-positive-to-covid-20210505-p57p37.html
Just admit it’s local case and transmission.
Also my ass “logical nightmare”:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-faces-logistical-nightmare-getting-citizens-home-from-india-20210505-p57p6q.html
SMH very crap these days in criticism of liberal governments.
Re Bucephalus @11:28 PM.
Utter bollocks. Over 2 million have been vaccinated – that is not “totally botched”
There are lies, damn lies and statistics. People generally quote absolute numbers rather than rates or pro-captita figures when they want to make something look bigger, more impressive or possibly scarier than it is.
About 2.4 million vaccine doses have been administered in Australia. That means that less than 10% of Australians have received even their first of the required two jabs some three and a half months into the rollout. At the current rate of about 400,000 doses being administered a week, which seems stable, we’ll get to 80% of the population fully vaccinated (two jabs) around March 2023. Meanwhile we remain exposed to quarantine leaks and mutations.
It looks botched to me.
Morning all and thanks BK.
John Hewson is spot on with his assessment of Morrison. How often does the saying ‘do as I say not as I do’ apply to the OTT religious types who are quick to cloak themselves in their religion while behaving contrary to the judgement they cast upon others.
An update on my family member who has been hospitalised.
He is recovering well from the health scare, having had a minor surgical procedure the other day once his condition stabilised. Hopefully will be discharged from hospital in the next couple of days. To say the family is relieved is a huge understatement!
Morning all
Thanks BK.
Particularly for linking the new daily piece re Albo commenting on aged care and dementia for the budget.
Personally, my mum had been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment after the passing of her son in law and brother nearly 4 years ago.
She had a fall in November last year, and fractured her back.
She Suffered delirium in hospital whilst recovering. It was hoped that she would recover but alas she has quite progressed dementia symptoms now. Looking after her at home is getting more problematic each day and I cant quite believe how exhausting it actual is.
We are looking at respite for now, but gotta say I am not confident or reassured about the aged care system at all.
Fess
Excellent news!
Vic:
Sorry to hear about your mum. I only volunteer in an aged care facility, not a paid staff member, and what I see is that the service definitely could do with more staff. Aged care should never be run as a commercial industry where the profits are the bottom line, end of the day interest.
Victoria
I can only offer sympathy. I know how wearing constant attendance can be, even without the sadness of dementia.
Fess
Agreed.
Mind you I have siblings that help share the load, but it is really difficult managing someone with dementia in the home.
My OH so far has had three aunts and his own grandfather with dementia over the years, who have since passed away.
But visiting with them did not give me a true understanding of the day to day living challenges in the home.
Confessions @ #1226 Thursday, May 6th, 2021 – 7:54 am
Hewson and Lucien should start their own opposition party and really take a stick to Scrooter. Lord knows someone has to.
In every department, this gov seems either lazy or inept.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/abc-board-member-s-run-in-with-a-cow-exposes-a-board-in-strife-20210505-p57p4q.html
Lizzie
Thanks.
Over the past five years, we have been dealing with my dads back and leg issues. He had a spine fusion done, and 18 months later he managed go get a blood infection which miraculously didn’t kill him. He is now in is mid 80s and his mind is as sharp as ever. As difficult as that has been, mums dementia is on another level.
Mum is nearly 79, and has suffered chronic diabetes for years, and managing her in the home has been beyond exhausting.
I am running out of steam.
I see mundo has started the day completely ignoring the article by David Crowe about his interview with Albanese, wherein Albanese makes many good points, of which Crowe could only find one to disagree with:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-needs-to-commit-to-boosting-wages-not-just-jobs-albanese-20210505-p57p7e.html
But hey, mundo, those snappy one liners are golden. Oh wait…
Bucey
2 million out of 23/24/25 million is very botched.
1. Lack of Leadership to get people vaccinated.
2. Lack of Leadership to get people to do basic Hygiene, PPE, Social Distancing.
Nobody in NSW gives a fuck about the Virus, unless you are a victim of the virus.
Meanwhile in the USA – A Police Officer is reinstated after murdering someone:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/us/atlanta-rayshard-brooks-garrett-rolfe.html
‘The officer, Garrett Rolfe, faces murder and aggravated assault charges, but officials determined that his firing violated his due process rights.’
Vic:
One of the residents in the place where I volunteer has been sliding into cognitive decline over the past few months. Just little things at first were noticeable but then I had a couple of weeks break recently when I had a cold and when I went back I was shocked at how fast she’d declined.
They are talking about moving her into the secure wing of the facility because her cognitive impairment is now advanced to the point she can’t really manage in the wing where she currently lives. It’s very sad to see such a robust individual at the point where she is now. I can only imagine what it must be like to see a loved one decline like that.
Vic,
All you can do is try and make her feel special for Mothers Day. After that though the hard decisions need to be made. And don’t forget Respite if you want to keep your mum at home. You need to take care of yourself as well. 🙂
An update on my son… he’s out of the danger zone and back on his feet mentally.
‘Fess,
Great to hear about your loved one too. I hope you can get to see them soon. 🙂
It isn’t a debt in the normal meaning of the word, so everyone really just needs to stop calling it a debt. It is non-government sector financial wealth held in Securities Accounts at the RBA instead of transaction accounts at the RBA. It doesn’t have any implications for current or future tax rates. It isn’t a burden on the government or on taxpayers. IT IS NOT A PROBLEM.
Maybe you should be explaining why you think the non-government sector’s savings need to be destroyed (which is what “paying down the debt” would actually entail).
Cartoons of the world – I hope everyone is enjoying these still:
From the UK – The Hatlepool By-Election receives a fair bit of coverage:
Canada:
Ireland:
India:
South Africa:
New Zealand:
Netherlands:
Research from @guardian shows that #Frontex planes helped getting #boats with #refugees back to dangerous #Libya.
Big #infrastructure-#projects. #EU stops the unfair #competition. Especially #China is getting a lot of projects with lower offers because of state funding.
Germany:
Thailand:
Belgium:
USA Birthrate dropped again:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/us/us-birthrate-falls-covid.html
“The birthrate declined for the sixth straight year in 2020, the federal government reported on Wednesday, early evidence that the coronavirus pandemic accelerated a trend among American women of delaying pregnancy.”
“Early in the pandemic, there was speculation that the major changes in the life of American families could lead to a recovery in the birthrate, as couples hunkered down together. In fact, they appeared to have had the opposite effect: Births were down most sharply at the end of the year, when babies conceived at the start of the pandemic would have been born.”
“Births declined by about 8 percent in December compared with the same month the year before, a monthly breakdown of government data showed. December had the largest decline of any month. Over the entire year, births declined by 4 percent, the data showed. There were 3,605,201 births in the United States last year, the lowest number since 1979. The birthrate — measured as the number of babies per thousand women ages 15 to 44 — has fallen by about 19 percent since its recent peak in 2007.”
Fess
Similar to what has happened to my mum.
The deterioration has been quite dramatic
It’s great that you do this volunteer role.
Kudos to you
C@t
Thanks.
Yay.
Excellent to hear son is doing well!
Alpha Zero,
Yes I enjoy them, even when they are in another language! 😀
C@tmomma @ #1240 Thursday, May 6th, 2021 – 6:18 am
Thanks C@t. On that I hope to have some exciting news to impart in the next few weeks!
Fingers crossed, ‘fess. Just don’t venture into NSW! 😆