Roy Morgan has produced its second federal poll in a fortnight, and will hopefully make a regular habit of this going forward. The poll credits Labor with a bare lead of 50.5-49.5 (Morgan’s rounding being done to increments of half a percentage point), down from 51-49 last time. On the primary vote, the Coalition is up 1.5% to 41.5%, Labor is down half a point to 34.5%, the Greens are up half a point to 12% and One Nation is up half a point to 3.5%. State two-party breakdowns have the Coalition leading 51-49 in New South Wales, 56-44 in Queensland and 52-48 in Western Australia, but with Labor leading 55-45 in Victoria, 52-48 in South Australia and 57-43 in Tasmania.
The poll was conducted by telephone and online surveys over the previous two weekends from a sample of 2782. Since we will presumably be hearing more from Morgan in future, it’s worth pointing out that the company is not a member of the Australian Polling Council, and thus does not observe the standards of transparency demanded of its code of conduct.
Other news:
• Peter Law of The West Australian reports that Labor’s candidate for the key Perth seat of Swan will be Zaneta Mascarenhas, an engineer who runs an energy management consultancy. This comes after the state party’s Left-dominated administration committee blocked the nomination of the only other contender, former South Perth councillor Fiona Reid, on the grounds she had run as an independent candidate at the 2017 state election, to the displeasure of the Right faction Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association. Mascarenhas is aligned with the Left faction Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union. The West’s report also relates that Tania Lawrence, a manager at Woodside who ran unsuccessfully for Labor in Darling Range at a state by-election in 2018, is the party’s only nominee in the seat of Hasluck.
• Pollster John Utting has told The West Australian that his recent polling leads him to expect that Labor will win Swan and possibly Pearce. He also believes that Labor will “probably” win the election off the back of wins in Chisholm, Boothby, Longman and potentially Leichhardt, Braddon and Bass, although they could potentially lose Eden-Monaro and Macquarie. Utting has polled extensively for Labor and provided polling for The West Australian five months out from the March state election that had the measure of the eventual result.
• Roxanne Fitzgerald of the ABC reports a complaint has been lodged with the Human Rights Commission accusing the Australian Electoral Commission of discrimination against indigenous voters, having failed to provide sufficient polling facilities to remote communities and directly enrol people who do not receive mail at a residential address. The complainants are Matthew Ryan, mayor of West Arnhem Regional Council, and Ross Mandi, chairman of Yalu Aboriginal Corporation in Galiwinku, with the support of the Maritime Union of Australia and the United Workers Union.
EGT:
– GP preventative health, including referral to physio/exercise physiologist supervised gyms devoid of “gym junkies”
Bloody brilliant idea! And funded outside the 5-visits-and-that’s-yer-lot Care Plan model? The potential – improved muscle mass, improved core strength, improved fitness and balance, reduced falls risk, improvement in BP/lipids and BSL with all the benefits, including reduction in subsequent care costs – is HUGE.
The only caveat, apart from the fact that gyms currently appear to be really good Covid vectors, is that like everything else under the LNP it’d be contracted-out (to large potential donors), attract third-party investors, and would privatize the profits while socializing the losses …
Regarding the Virgin flight attendant who tested positive
“ The airline said the Sydney-based flight attendant worked on five services while potentially infectious on June 25 and 26.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-26/virgin-australia-flight-attendant-covid19-positive/100247100
What a disaster! If Gladys had gone into early lockdown when an untraced case was first identified on June 23, like other states have done, this would not have occurred.
So delays in calling a Sydney lockdown have not only increased the length and scope of the NSW lockdown, but have put the rest of the country at risk.
Unforgivable.
Cud Chewer @ #1644 Sunday, June 27th, 2021 – 1:36 am
One thing I’ve noticed comparing WA, NSW and Qld use of mandatory contact registers in those states:
– WA app is the easiest of the 3 to use and all businesses have them displayed prominently at the entry for patrons.
– NSW app is hopeless. I had to log in each time I opened the app, and until very recently had to register myself manually on the app each time I scanned. A major hassle and a serious disincentive to signing into premises!
– Qld app is similar to WA, but hardly any businesses had the contact register prominently displayed and nobody asked me to sign in upon entry.
– WA public seem very compliant to signing in. Even supermarkets have the sign in stuff at the front door.
– NSW public are very lax, probably because the app is hopeless, but in many shops it’s hard to find the sign in (app or otherwise). Not even Woolies has their QR code displayed at the entrance.
– Qld public seem to have a zero care factor for signing in.
I don’t know what the situation is in other states, but would be surprised if they didn’t have variants on the above.
Given all the above, plus the fact that people can be infectious and not know it, much less recall exactly where and with whom they’ve been in contact with over a 14 day period, I’d not be putting any faith in contact tracing being the panacea of Covid management that some Bludgers have claimed it to be.
America ‘freedoms’.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/26/health/covid-vaccine-teens-consent.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/us/arvada-police-shooting.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces-engagement-combo-cutoff&block=trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=497509134&impression_id=c25060fc-d6be-11eb-9642-d5ba513b42e9&index=0&pgtype=Article&pool=pool%2F91fcf81c-4fb0-49ff-bd57-a24647c85ea1®ion=footer&req_id=742275556&surface=most-popular-story&variant=5_bandit-all-surfaces-engagement-combo-cutoff
Cud Chewer @ #1644 Sunday, June 27th, 2021 – 1:36 am
“Virgin said the crew member was a close contact of another Sydney case but they did not know that while they were flying.”
So much for contact tracing being a magic shield.
Contract Tracing worlds, just like it does in China.
However, not enough resources or priority will kill it.
IN China they have QR Codes for everything now.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1227120.shtml
The top epidemiologist revealed that the international health station that Guangzhou plans to build will cover an area of 250,000 square meters with 5,000 independent rooms in accordance with strict quarantine standards to prevent cross infection, Zhong said.
He also revealed that Guangzhou’s neighboring city Shenzhen is also preparing to build such health station to reduce COVID-19 imported cases.
Zhong warned that the highly contagious Delta variant is likely to be a major prevalent virus strain in the future and it is necessary to be highly vigilant against the risks of the mutated strain spilling out to surrounding communities and other cities and provinces, as well as the risks of its spread to schools.
This reminds me of those Sydney buildings which were collapsing a few years ago. Weren’t there warnings from engineers and others about the lax building inspection and sign off approval procedures at the time the buildings were completed?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/champlain-towers-south-surfside/2021/06/26/a509519a-d5de-11eb-a53a-3b5450fdca7a_story.html
Fess the QLD QR Code is becoming more widespread and is easy to use. I believe it becomes compulsory for all establishments shortly.
davidwh – my experience as well.
davidwh:
If it contact registers aren’t mandatory that would explain why hardly any businesses had them and those that did people weren’t signing in!
So how does the Farmer find a Mate?
He goes on ‘Farmer Wants A Wife’. Except, of course, he wants a husband. However, I remember the stir caused by the gay farmer who was on Big Brother years ago, well, you could always search him out and put him on Farmer Wants A Wife/Husband. He’s familiar with Reality TV so it shouldn’t be a problem for him. Also, if you put out a cattle call ( 🙂 ) others would emerge from the woodwork. It’s no longer controversial and other shows have started including a gay couple.
Problem solved for our lonely gay farmer. 🙂
Confessions
SA has a fairly easy to use Cov QR scan App similar to WA. Once you have logged in on your mobile it remembers you and all subsequent recordings are simply a single scan followed by pressing two buttons. All shops and businesses have a laminated QR scan card on their entry doorway, or next to it. Acceptance and usage have been fairly good.
In fact the SA Liberal State government have closely copied WA, Qld and Tas for covid responses, including rapid lockdowns when needed. Criticism from the Murdoch press has been conspicuously absent.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers. It’s Sunday, and this is all you get.
Michael Koziol reckons Morrison’s leadership is missing and there’s no sign of it on the horizon. IMHO Koziol misses the key point that vaccination confers neither immunity nor prevention of spreading the virus.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/morrison-s-leadership-is-missing-and-there-s-no-sign-of-it-on-the-horizon-20210623-p583pl.html
Jon Faine, in a cracker of a contribution, goes right to the double standards that have been applied to NSW and Victoria with respect to Covid management.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/what-is-good-for-sydney-in-fighting-this-cluster-is-good-for-all-of-us-20210625-p5849p.html
Alezandra Smith says the Sydney lockdown is a humbling moment for NSW and Berejiklian’s brand.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/sydney-lockdown-is-a-humbling-moment-for-nsw-and-berejiklian-s-brand-20210626-p584ik.html
Cait Kelly writes that New South Wales has put the rest of the country at risk by delaying going into lockdown as the coronavirus spread through Sydney, say epidemiologists who are demanding a national approach to combatting the COVID pandemic. Several of them have said the lockdown was a week late.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/coronavirus/2021/06/27/nsw-lockdown-delta-covid/
Health experts have warned it could take longer than a fortnight to bring the highly contagious outbreak under control.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/the-horse-has-bolted-experts-warn-two-week-lockdown-may-not-be-enough-20210626-p584ja.html
Health experts have also given up on the states and the federal government working more closely together but say purpose-built quarantine facilities are still needed, writes Rachel Clun.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/we-have-to-work-with-the-reality-uniform-approach-to-quarantine-border-restrictions-unlikely-experts-say-20210625-p584by.html
Clay Lucas reports that official numbers from the Health Department show that two-thirds of staff working in aged care homes across Australia remain unvaccinated.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/two-thirds-of-staff-in-aged-care-homes-not-vaccinated-20210624-p583vv.html
A very good Sunday column from Peter FitzSimons here.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/don-t-forget-where-this-pain-in-the-arse-disaster-rolling-over-sydney-came-from-20210625-p584e8.html
Lucy Cormack tells us that NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller says there is insufficient evidence to establish whether the eastern suburbs driver (or his employer) at the centre of the Bondi COVID-19 outbreak had breached public health orders.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/no-evidence-to-charge-limo-driver-police-commissioner-20210626-p584iu.html
Scott Morrison should intervene if necessary to bring the Nationals into line on the River Murray or risk losing Boothby at the next federal election, South Australia’s Water Minister has warned.
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/boothby-at-risk-if-federal-coalition-gets-river-murray-politics-wrong-sa-water-minister-david-speirs/news-story/027f7a77857a0ab5993005febaf172af
Policies which prolong the life of coal shorten the lives of many Australians and must be confronted – they are preventable deaths. It is distressing that ideology and ignorance have come to this, laments Daid Shearman.
https://johnmenadue.com/the-curse-of-coal-and-government-health-malfeasance/
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley has made good on her National Press Club threat to put the solar industry “on notice” on waste management, giving the sector less than 12 months to finalise an industry-led nationwide solar panel recycling scheme.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/solar-industry-frustrated-by-sussan-leys-panel-recycling-scheme-ultimatum,15232
Food farming is an important source of air pollution, no matter how much the industry denies it. Urgent measures needed to ensure that the energy transition has the metals it needs. Thirty years of climate change diplomacy doesn’t seem to have achieved much, says Peter Sainsbury.
https://johnmenadue.com/sunday-environmental-round-up-11/
A Senate inquiry has recommended the creation of a federal regulator for the gig economy as yet another death of a food delivery rider was revealed on Friday. The inquiry has also recommended that the definition of “employee” should be expanded to include gig workers, and a low-cost tribunal should be created so poorly paid contractors could bring their cases before it.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/27/call-for-federal-regulator-for-australias-gig-economy-after-sixth-delivery-rider-death-revealed
Caitlin Fitzsimons writes about the one in four people in the workforce over the age of 50 do not believe they will ever retire – but it’s evenly split whether they’re working for love or money.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/retirement-20210622-p583ae.html
The UK Health Secretary has just admitted his government’s “moral responsibility” for the UK’s contaminated blood scandal of the 1970s and 1980s. Meanwhile, the Liberal/National government still refuses to apologise and offer financial support to the up to 20,000 victims as recommended 17 years ago by a Senate Committee. And Labor, which has similarly ignored the recommendations, has just acknowledged the “historic injustice” but says it can’t do anything. Why is it so hard for the victims asks Elizabeth Minter? Is it because CSL, the darling of Australia’s business community, lies at the heart of the scandal?
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/csl-and-contaminated-blood-scandal-uk-accepts-moral-responsibility-australia-still-silent/
There’s a lot more to picking the right university course to study than just the subject. Making a wrong choice could mute your employment opportunities and even hurt your long-term financial future, explains Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/how-university-fee-debt-can-affect-your-ability-to-get-a-home-loan-20210625-p584ct.html
In what many observers see as a growing episcopal polarization, the US Catholic bishops, the USCCB, in their 2021 spring meeting, voted to advance their “Communion document”. The draft document passed by 75% of the bishops’ conference advances a push by conservative US bishops to deny President Biden communion because of his support for abortion rights.
https://johnmenadue.com/us-catholic-bishops-have-president-biden-in-their-sights-over-abortion-rights/
Cartoon Corner
Peter Broelman
Matt Davidson on Jon Faine’s article
Matt Golding
Glen Le Lievre
From the US
And, in your good news story for the day, just to prove there are good people in the world doing good things 🙂
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jun/24/june-design-news-ice-cream-guitar-straps-and-lego
Socrates:
Yes, it goes without saying that if you make things easier for people to use, there’s more chance of them using it.
No surprises that the Murdoch press has gone easy on the SA Liberal govt.
He isn’t the only one. I constantly have to remind people that just because they’ve had their two doses of the vaccine, doesn’t mean they can’t contract and/or spread the virus.
Latika Bourke is another who needs this reminder. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve read a Fb post of hers that infers fully vaccinated people are immune and don’t need to uphold the general Covid safety stuff like hand hygiene, masks and physical distancing.
What a load of bollocks. The AFP would be proud of his effort.
No Frydenberg, No Hunt, No federal chief medical officer
To talk about the Sydney lockdown and restrictions to regional NSW , if this was a labor state
They would likely to be having their 5th press conference about the lockdown
Scottsays:
Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 7:38 am
sacrificial lamb?
The best places I’ve been to wrt the QR code are the ones who station someone at the door to make sure you flash your green tick after checking in before they will let you in to their establishment.
Scott Morrison isn’t a leader, he’s a Stuntmeister!
Confessions
You are not ‘bulletproof’ once vaccinated but you are far less likely to transmit it or suffer any symptoms and waaaay less likely to suffer serious complication. There is a choice and if people choose to reject the vaccination then I am quite happy to let them to take the consequences.
Thanks BK. That collapsed tower in Florida is exactly how faulty buildings like Opal would end up if not fixed.
I wonder if there will be any last minute withdrawals from Insiders this morning?
No doubt the RWNJ Murdoch media hack of the week will be practising their distraction lines as we speak:
“I think its too early to tell how the NSW lockdown will go”
“Gladys was practising the precautionary principle in not locking down too soon”
“The real question is whether Dan Andrews would have done any better if faced with the Delta strain”.
Etc etc.
Have a good day all.
Why Scomo doesn’t care one bit about Covid:
https://www.theage.com.au/national/a-wild-ride-with-the-bushwhacker-barnaby-joyce-s-return-transforms-morrison-s-easy-dominance-of-his-government-20210625-p584el.html
He’s at the Federal level.
The apology from Canada PM is nothing but grandstanding:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadian-first-nation-finds-751-unmarked-graves-former-residential-school-2021-06-24/
The ripples from the mismanaged NSW Gladys Outbreak continue to spread outward……..
.
More than 250 FIFO workers in Perth told to isolate after NT mine site positive case
About 900 people have left the mine site since June 18 via charter flights to Darwin, Alice Springs, Perth and Brisbane.
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/west-australians-caught-up-in-nt-gold-mine-covid-case-20210626-p584ic.html
5 flights to 3 states by Virgin attendant carrying Covid. Oh dear.
poroti, C@t:
This is why you lockdown early and extensively.
‘fess,
He should have been with his children INSTEAD of having an affair. 🙄
‘E. G. Theodore says:
Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 1:06 am
ItzaDream:
LOD @ #1031 Saturday, June 26th, 2021 – 12:12 pm
Off topic but this is a really good short 23 minute video published earlier this month that people might enjoy viewing.
A Gay Farmer on Love, Isolation, and Disrupting the Meat Industry in Australia | The New Yorker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EQ5G2HC7Gg
Thanks. I found it touched some serious issues, about honesty, and purpose. I’ve posted it twice but didn’t get any traction I think.
I watched it the first time.
It seemed to me that the Farmer was in much better shape than the former mayor of Cowra, who (at least from limited knowledge based on outside observation) seemed to be representative of the depression (?) afflicting an alarmingly large fraction of single gay men of that sort of age. It seems almost certain that this state of affairs is the result of a lifetime of unfair ‘legal’ discrimination, and that leads to the hopeful thought that the recent removal of the discrimination causing unwanted singleness will lead rapidly to the end of this kind of society inflicted mental un-health.
I was never likely to vote against same-sex marriage. I don’t actually know anyone of my age who would, though in the past three year in restaurants I’ve twice overheard men much younger than myself lecturing their (temporarily I suspect) attached females on the topic – truly bizarre. However, what moved me from “society should not be discriminating against homesexuals becuase it’s none of my fucking business, and therefore not society’s” was the realisation that “society is (still) killing people, and it’s very much my business to make the killing stop”
The Farmer is an innovative farmer, of course, and (now being legally entitled to marry) but wanting to be a farmer, he can freely make a logical choice between the two and choose the one he values more highly (which seems to be farming). Having to choose logically between two imperfect alternatives is a much better situation than being denied the freedom to choose.
The numerical question is interesting too: what happens if “the only two gays in the village” happen to hate each other (as a result of a year six prank, perhaps), or one of them happens to be a total dickhead? Heterosexuals can just move on (though we don’t always, of course…). So how does the Farmer find a Mate? – best bet is probably at a Meat Industry Meetup (or an Ag Science meetup) – find someone with shared interests in applying science to farming but a different perspective who would be willing to move to the farm. So, probably not himself a farmer (with farm) but an Ag Scientist?’
_____________________________________________________
Thank you for an interesting post. Having grown up in farming communities in which homophobia was the norm (which I shared as a child and young man) I make one point: gays are evenly distributed through society. If you are a gay farmer and looking for a mate then your potential mate is much more likely to be a farm worker than an ag scientist simply because there are far more workers than ag scientists.
So he is resigning because it was during the pandemic rather than bonking ‘The Staff’ ? 😆
Fess:
Haven’t experienced what its like in other states, but the QLD check-in app is great. Super quick and simple to use, and a massive improvement over the billion different check-in websites businesses were using before
I agree that the app sadly doesn’t seem to really get used as much as it should. The QR code, etc, are pretty prominently displayed in most places I’ve been to, but it’s pretty common for a lot of people not to bother with them. Queensland being a bit of a victim of its own success, I guess.
The ACT QR is fantastic. Phone out. Tap app thingy on screen. Point phone at QR thingy. Receive an immediate message on your screen telling which business you are entering. Done. Less than a minute. Works ever single time. Warm inner social consciousness glow goes with using app.
Asha:
Yes I found the Qld app easy to use, like the WA app.
‘poroti says:
Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 8:09 am
Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock quits for conducting affair with staffer during pandemic.
So he is resigning because it was during the pandemic rather than bonking ‘The Staff’ ? ‘
_______________________________________________________
A closer contact?
Yes, if Michael Koziol can finally come out and give us some straight talk about Scott Morrison, Insiders should bite the bullet and do it too! Though I imagine Chris Bowen won’t hold back. 🙂
Confessions, re the NSW App, for locals it works well once you have downloaded the Services NSW App. Once your phone sees the code, a Services NSW window pops up, you open that, and it knows all, and all is needed is to touch the ‘Sign In’ logo.
I completely understand the tedium in needing to reenter personal data every time. I used to do it.
Thanks, BK. The Jon Faine story sums up perfectly what many of us feel in Victoria when confronted and abused by the Morrison government, Gladys, the entire media (MSM and ABC*), and the Victorian Liberal Party throughout the pandemic.
*Raphael Epstein is the exception
“Jon Faine, in a cracker of a contribution, goes right to the double standards that have been applied to NSW and Victoria with respect to Covid management.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/what-is-good-for-sydney-in-fighting-this-cluster-is-good-for-all-of-us-20210625-p5849p.html
This flight attendant positive case could potentially plunge Victoria again and Queensland into lockdown.
Thanks to Morrison and Gladys for that.
The problem with the NSW QR code app is 2 fold:
1. Services NSW who run this, tacked in the QR code reader to their existing app – which does everything from licensing your dog to discount vouchers for hospitality. Bloated software.
2. Unlike other State apps I’ve used, Victorian and ACT, the NSW one ask you to Check Out as well as Check In.
Of course if the Federal CovidSAFE app – which sQomo was our ‘sunscreen against COVID-19’ – was functional and widely used, the States could have added their QR code requirements. But that assumes a lot.
Sohar
Faine could have been many of us saying what he did.
Jon Faine expressed my feelings perfectly.
I think there would be quite a large % of people outside NSW who would say “Je Suis Jon Faine” 🙂
It will be such fun – if he comes out of hiding – for us to see Morrison’s verbal contortions over the NSW lockdown.
He made a rod for his own back and deserves all the ridicule coming his way.
Insiders has Chris Bowen as Shadow Health Minister as the guest. This is his opportunity to clearly point out the failure at multiple levels of the Liberals response to the pandemic..