As a new financial year dawns, it’s all happening on Poll Bludger — in addition to this post, there is:
• A new post by Adrian Beaumont on Britain’s Batley and Spen by-election, French regional elections and the New York City mayoral election;
• A post on the new draft state redistribution for Victoria, including my calculations of party vote shares for the new boundaries;
• A post on the federal redistribution for Victoria, which has now been finalised, and which likewise comes with an accounting of party vote shares under the new boundaries, and some analysis of how the changes affects the Greens prospects in Macnamara and Higgins; and
• The regular bi-monthly donation drive.
Further developments:
• The Northern Territory Country Liberal Party has preselected Jacinta Price as its Senate candidate at the expense of incumbent Sam McMahon, who came to the position at the 2019 election. Price is the deputy mayor of Alice Springs Council and head of indigenous research at conservative think thank the Centre for Independent Studies, and ran unsuccessfully for the CLP in Lingiari at the 2019 election. McMahon was in the news last week after her unsteadiness while in the Senate chamber prompted allegations she was drunk, although she insisted she had in fact been suffering symptoms of severe hypertension.
• The mayor of Alice Springs, Damien Ryan, has been preselected by the CLP as its new candidate for Lingiari, which will be vacated with the retirement of Labor veteran Warren Snowdon. Labor’s new candidate is Marion Scrymgour, former Deputy Chief Minister and current chief executive of the Northern Land Council.
• Federal parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters has published the report from its inquiry on the future conduct of elections operating during times of emergency situations. After considering the recent experiences of Queensland council elections, the Eden-Monaro by-election and general elections in Tasmania and the Northern Territory, it offers fairly modest recommendations: to give the Electoral Commissioner the power to extend pre-polling periods and allow for no-excuse postal and pre-poll voting (which exists de facto in any case) should the circumstances demand it, and to change the Electoral Act to change the date of an election in an emergency, giving better effect to a power that already exists under the Constitution.
• July 24 has been set as the date for Queensland’s Stretton by-election, which will fill the vacancy created by Labor member Duncan Pegg’s resignation after a terminal cancer diagnosis in May, followed weeks later by his death. The by-election will be contested for Labor by James Martin, a former electorate officer to Pegg, and for the Liberal National Party by Jim Bellos, a police officer and former Queenslander of the Year. Labor’s margin in the seat is 14.8%; I’ll be publishing a guide to the by-election soon-ish.
Here is a new lie about western media, china building 100 missiles silo’s in china desert:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/china-nuclear-missile-silos/2021/06/30/0fa8debc-d9c2-11eb-bb9e-70fda8c37057_story.html
However, it is a desert with wind farms (Yumen Gansu Wind Farm). So the whole genocide thing is a thing of the past, so they go on the ‘nuclear’ option.
Bondi – the super spreader of Australia
Haven’t been to Bondi lately but to Lane Cove National Park and other local parks. There are lots of people around but they are staying in their own groups. Outdoors isn’t a problem, it’s shopping malls and other indoor locations where the Virus spreads. Also public transport. There is no mandate to wear masks outdoors so few wear them. In fact there seem to be minimal restrictions on outdoor activities.
Here’s a quieter corner of Lane Cove National Park today. There were people nearby:
Censorship in China over China Gas explosion?
https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3137405/corporate-esg-deadly-china-gas-explosion-pushes-industrys
There is already investigation over the China Gas Explosion including arrests of the manager of the warehouse.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1226491.shtml#:~:text=Eight%20employees%20from%20a%20gas,138%20others%20on%20Sunday%20morning.&text=A%20total%20of%20eight%20people,manager%20surnamed%20Huang%2C%20were%20arrested.
Meanwhile no arrests in the west over building collapse in the USA or Australia.
The investigation over the apartment dodges is still ongoing but no arrests have been made since the original MASCOT building.
America is blaming China for its own problems:
Solve your own problems!
TEST
Failed 🙂
Meanwhile, electric aircraft continue to evolve.
800 km range, 400 km/hr speed, 9 passengers..
https://www.eviation.co/
Only bad things happen in China!
‘Eye of fire’: Gas leak sparks huge blaze on ocean surface off Mexico:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/03/eye-of-fire-gas-leak-sparks-huge-blaze-on-ocean-surface-off-mexico
Possible Failure Point Emerges in Miami-Area Building Collapse:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/27/us/miami-building-investigation-clues.html
Owners in last-ditch attempt to recoup losses two years after Mascot Towers evacuation:
https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/owners-in-last-ditch-attempt-to-recoup-losses-two-years-after-mascot-towers-evacuation
Fair Trading inspectors find ‘structural issues’ at major Sydney apartment development:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-13/fair-traiding-finds-issues-at-major-sydney-apartment-development/100107048
Residents banned from Imperial Towers complex in Parramatta until ‘serious defects’ fixed:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-01/nsw-parramatta-twin-towers-development-defects/100255704
I seen some of Gladys green shoots going across the sky early this morning
Steve777,
I remember going to Lane Cove National Park for picnics and swinging from ropes people had attached to tree limbs out over the water and dropping into the cool water on a hot Summer’s day. 🙂
I wouldn’t be surprised if the ropes had been removed from the trees for health and safety reasons in the intervening years though.
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148530/blazes-rage-in-british-columbia
So far in 2021, British Columbia has already seen dangerous wildfires and heat. More than 40 wildfires were burning across the Canadian province by the end of June 2021, including a cluster of substantial blazes located about 200 kilometers northeast of Vancouver.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-20 satellite acquired this image (above) around 2 p.m. local time (21:00 Universal Time) on June 30, 2021. By the morning of July 1, the McKay Creek fire (left) and the Sparks Lake fire (right) had burned an estimated 150 and 200 square kilometers (60 and 75 square miles), respectively. A smaller fire is visible just south of the town of Lytton.
Notice the bright white areas over the two larger fires. According to Michael Fromm, a meteorologist with the Naval Research Laboratory, these are the onset of pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds—towering clouds created by the convection and heat rising from a fire. The clouds are a mixture of brown smoke and white ice, so they show up whiter than the dry smoke plumes to the west of each fire.
The second image (below) shows a detailed view of the McKay Creek fire, acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 at about 12 p.m. local time (19:00 Universal Time) on June 30, 2021. The natural-color image was overlaid with shortwave-infrared light to highlight the active fire.
Bondi Beach during Lockdown yesterday:
C@t:
Apparently Cronulla was the same.
‘fess,
I believe the health authorities have determined that being outside in the fresh air for a bit of exercise is okay but it’s the inside situations where transmission occurs.
C@t:
Yes outdoor exercise is permitted. But the perception of people continuing to go about their normal business is arguably what is fuelling the notion that it’s okay to keep doing so.
And what cafes are open for takeaway at the beaches? The more people out and about, the more people visit these places. It just increases the exposure and transmission risk.
I just read the morning news and apparently the NSW numbers are down substantially. So maybe it’s working the way it is?
Can’t see any green shoots in this ..
Hot spots added last night
Double Bay, Bake Bar, L/15 Kiaora Lane, Sunday, June 20, from 11am to 11.30am
Homebush West, Ram’s Food, 17c/16-20 Henley Road, Friday, June 25 from 11.10am to 12.10pm
They go back to June 20 & 25 which means lots of potential undetected contacts..
The Sun-Herald understands the number of new cases recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday – to be confirmed on Sunday – decreased significantly with very few mystery cases, suggesting the Greater Sydney lockdown was working.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/glimmer-of-hope-with-new-sydney-covid-cases-expected-to-decline-20210703-p586k3.html
It’s a constantly evolving situation and so we definitely need to try every different modality to get the right balance between mental health and physical health.
And no, I’m not turning Liberal! 😆
The gate was left open by Gladys and Co’s reluctance to lock down and now they’re herding chooks.
Morrison was in lockdown and stuck his head under the doona. (again)
Rabble is the missing word in Morrison’s cryptic for dummies!
C@tmomma @ #2016 Sunday, July 4th, 2021 – 7:48 am
Or it’s the weekend and testing turnout is lower than during the week?
Re C@t @7:05
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the ropes had been removed from the trees for health and safety reasons in the intervening years though.”
The ropes are long gone.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Katherine Murphy tells us all about fifty shades of bad: the Coalition’s $660m taxpayer fund for marginal seat MPs. This mob is shameless!
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/03/this-is-fifty-shades-of-bad-the-coalitions-660m-taxpayer-lifeline-for-marginal-seat-mps
Lindy Edwards writes about what Scott Morrison’s latest debacles have in common, namely, bully, bluster and cajoling.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2021/07/04/carpark-rorts-vaccine-rollout-morrison/
We should thank the unemployed for their service. They’ve been used to control inflation, explains Gareth Hutchens.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-04/the-unemployed-have-been-used-to-control-inflation/100259072
Australia’s GP receptionists have been at the receiving end of much of the public’s anxieties and frustrations with the pandemic and the health response, writes Aisha Dow.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/gps-receptionists-in-firing-line-face-anger-threats-and-ignorance-20210703-p586in.html
A very good Sunday column from Peter FitzSimons.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/only-now-aged-care-workers-have-to-get-the-jab-seriously-20210702-p586fq.html
Cait Kelly writes that the generals in our war on COVID all agree: Australia needs specific vaccine targets.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/coronavirus/2021/07/04/australia-vaccine-transparency-targets/
The Prime Minister said Australia is likely to get to the point coronavirus can be treated “like the flu” – but the experts don’t agree, write Aisha Dow and Rachel Clun.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-lot-more-dead-people-covid-too-dangerous-to-be-treated-like-flu-20210702-p586d5.html
Roy Ward reports that for the third day in a row there were no new local cases in Victoria, but the state’s move out of restrictions will be linked to how the outbreak is managed in NSW, where there were 35.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victoria-records-no-new-cases-of-covid-19-20210703-p586hq.html
The SMH editorial says that it is unfair for Australians abroad to pay the price for our delayed vaccine rollout.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/unfair-for-australians-abroad-to-pay-price-for-delayed-vaccine-rollout-20210702-p586h6.html
Our state premiers matter more to us that ever and that means their private lives will be talked about, writes Stephen Brook.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/dan-and-gladys-and-the-goodness-of-gossip-20210702-p5866q.html
Luke Henriques-Gomes writes that The federal government’s overhaul of the national disability insurance scheme plans to ban certain forms of support it considers “ordinary living expenses”. A leaked agenda for the next meeting of disability ministers, seen by Guardian Australia, reveals the federal NDIS minister, Linda Reynolds, will seek “in principle” agreement from states and territories for a sweeping overhaul of the scheme.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/03/disability-related-transport-and-other-ordinary-living-expenses-to-be-banned-in-ndis-overhaul
Christopher Knaus outlines the newly released records that point to a man who gave everything for his country, first through his wartime service then as a decorated ASIS officer (Witness K) with a ‘moral compass’.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/04/sailor-spy-whistleblower-grandfather-the-life-of-witness-k-revealed-in-court-documents
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will for the first time open up to 400 information hubs across the country in a bid to curb census hesitancy amid rising misinformation and scepticism during the pandemic.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7324345/abs-tackles-census-hesitancy-with-nationwide-info-hubs/?cs=14264
And the Canberra Times editorial tells us why the census is vital for telling our story the right way.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7324636/census-is-vital-for-telling-our-story-the-right-way/?cs=14258
Naaman Zhou reports that Australian teachers have revealed the personal toll of the increasing casualisation of the workforce, saying short-term contracts for years on end force them to forego holiday pay and frequently reapply for their position.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/04/everyones-bailing-australian-teachers-speak-on-stress-and-uncertainty-of-increasing-casual-contracts
Climate change is having a disastrous impact on both the Queensland environment and the health of its residents, writes Todd Green.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/queensland-beautiful-one-day-gone-the-next,15255
Lisa Visentin tells us that NT Country Liberal Senator Sam McMahon will push for a conscience vote in the Coalition party room in her bid to overturn a 24-year ban on the territory’s ability to pass voluntary euthanasia laws but has left the ACT out of her plans. Bloody dill!
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/nt-senator-pushes-to-repeal-territory-euthanasia-ban-but-excludes-act-20210701-p58612.html
Australia’s defence reporters are being denied access to senior Department of Defence officials under a clampdown imposed by new Defence Minister Peter Dutton.
https://johnmenadue.com/australia-is-suffering-from-a-defense-information-dearth/
Over the past few years, we have witnessed extremist politics penetrating the U.S. Republican Party, alongside the burgeoning of insane conspiracy theories like QAnon, explains Bilal Cleland.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/conspiracy-theories-and-religion-invade-political-mainstream,15254
Today’s “Arseholes of the Week” nomination goes to the owner and an employee of The Organic Store in Bowral who were arrested for the second time on Saturday over defiance against public health orders.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/wacko-views-third-day-of-charges-at-bowral-organic-food-store-over-covid-19-breaches-20210703-p586jo.html
Cartoon Corner
Peter Broelman
Matt Golding
Glen Le Lievre
Matt Davidson
From the US
Apparently Morrison’s mate, Commissioner Mick Fuller, isn’t going to be standing in Hughes for the Liberal Party(from Peter FitzSimons’ column):
We may as well be a communist at this rate:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/03/this-is-fifty-shades-of-bad-the-coalitions-660m-taxpayer-lifeline-for-marginal-seat-mps?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Wanting to hold all that power !
Bucephalus says:
Saturday, July 3, 2021 at 10:34 pm
>If you believe that CO2 drives climate change then it is only the quantum that matters and per capita numbers are irrelevant.
The rest of the world is at 62% of CO2.
China is at 28% of CO2.
Once the rest of the world gets down to China’s level then the rest of the world can start to tell China to reduce? After all 62% > 28%.
boerwar says:
Saturday, July 3, 2021 at 10:28 pm
>China has promised to TALK ABOUT achieving zero net emissions by 2060
Better then Australia, we don’t even have a date to start talking about it.
Yep! And as usual it’s the satirists who sum it up best. 😆 😆
https://www.theshovel.com.au/2021/07/01/pm-reassures-australians-there-will-be-enough-carparks-for-everyone/
For me, this is absolutely the most believable explanation of Morrison’s modus operandi. He doesn’t have a political view of leadership. He has no ability to plan for the future. He’s not a leader, he’s a selfish bully.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2021/07/04/carpark-rorts-vaccine-rollout-morrison/
Poll Bludgers don’t need to feel guilty any longer…
research shows that gossip can actually be good. University of Queensland school of psychology researchers Professor Jolanda Jetten and Dr Kim Peters and I were part of a recent ABC Radio Nightlife panel where they explained that gossip serves an essential function: it is social glue, it brings us together. It signals that I trust the people I gossip with. That we share the same underlying values.
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/nightlife/gossip-devious-or-social-interaction/13386528
I didn’t take quite as definite a message from ABCNews, but it may be true. Perhaps I was half asleep.
It sounds like a very Biblical transactional politics to be sure:
Morrison has a different model of politics. He see politics as about gathering numbers and building networks of patronage. He understands leadership as a carrot and stick exercise. You win backers by granting largesse to those that please you. You punish those that dare cross you.
C@t:
It’s also very Trumpian!
Delta has arrived in Japan:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/07/02/national/delta-variant-japan-challenges/
In time for the Japanese Olympics!
Japan has a massive landslide:
https://amp.9news.com.au/article/ff650a4f-035c-42a2-b2ef-0288c8a4a6e1
There is idle gossip, and then there’s malicious gossip.
Last night, at about 9.30 pm, my partner read a tweet from a woman in Sydney saying that she just tested positive, and that her father who is in a nursing home is also positive. Will it be reported?
Not surprising but entirely avoidable. Berejiklian’s lockdown is more of a luckdown than anything else.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-04/western-sydney-auburn-becomes-nsw-health-focus/100265646
As soon as authorities try to keep figures quiet, suspicions arise.
Lizzie..
Found this
I’m fully vaccinated. I want to travel to Europe. And fully vaccinated visitors are welcome.
But I can’t get in.
That’s because the vaccine I received is not on Europe’s list of four approved vaccines: Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Oxford-AstraZeneca, but only the version manufactured in the United Kingdom or Europe and known as Vaxzevria. The version that’s much more widely used around the world, which is made by the Serum Institute of India and branded as Covishield, is not on the list of vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency. And that’s the vaccine I got — along with hundreds of millions of other people, mostly in lower- and middle-income countries.
If correct @lee_manwaring is tell 1/2 the story
Sceptic
Thanks for that. I’m not a traveller, but I can understand some people’s concern.
Crikey
I’m longing to see positive signs of panic from Morrison.
Just been rung by a friend to say that their son is going to the Olympics!
Coming up on Insiders – the effusive, interesting and entertaining Simon Birmingham. Fifteen minutes you will NEVER get back.
This article suggests that any AZ variant is OK for the EU
https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-57665765
‘Your paperwork may show Indian-made batch numbers, but the Department for Health says: “All AstraZeneca vaccines given in the UK are the same product and appear on the NHS Covid Pass as Vaxzevria.”
“The European Medicines Agency has authorised this vaccine and we’re confident travel will not be affected.”‘
Of course, any statement made by the UK in relation to the EU does need to be treated with caution
Zoomster
HUGE blow is misinformation..
Europe’s travel list of four approved vaccines: Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Oxford-AstraZeneca, but only the version manufactured in the United Kingdom or Europe and known as Vaxzevria.
Its not a ban on AZ
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/06/30/1011750263/opinion-im-nigerian-im-vaccinated-europe-wont-let-me-in
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2038258
“America Was No More Great In the Past Than Your Childhood Was a Blooming Garden of Eden.
I’ve found that almost all humans suffer from nostalgia. One of the only virtues of chronic, major depression is that I don’t have this problem. However, since it is so prevalent, I suspect there must be some benefit from this peculiar detachment from past reality. This is just unqualified speculation, but maybe nostalgia exists so that old people don’t kill themselves when reviewing their pasts.
It is just this kind of misremembering that caused the Make America Great Again movement. Just as riding in cars without seatbelts, drinking out of garden hoses and riding bikes without helmets were not good ideas, neither was racism, sexism nor the House Un-American Activities Committee. My fellow senior citizens from the Boomer generation conveniently forget that we were told we’d survive a nuclear attack if we ducked and covered under our school desks.
“
The US thing might be speculation – there’s nothing I can find via google which is recent.
“[Morrison] sees politics as about gathering numbers and building networks of patronage. He understands leadership as a carrot and stick exercise. You win backers by granting largesse to those that please you. You punish those that dare cross you.”
That’s a neat summary.
And here we go again. What’s the bet that some people who live in the Western suburbs, work in the Eastern suburbs?
Sceptic
As I said, take anything from the UK regarding the EU with a grain of salt – however, the article was saying that AZ has been approved and where it’s manufactured is irrelevant to that approval (bc it’s the same stuff).
I’ll repeat: take anything from the UK regarding the EU with a grain of salt, but on the other hand, I don’t think that either the EU or the US is going to ban millions from travelling on what is basically a technicality.
The one good thing about National Cabinet is that the Labor Premiers and Chief Ministers are seeing how Morrison makes sausages, up close and personal.
Why is a Chinese agent so desperate to defend China on this site is what I don’t understand?
It is not a site where what government thinks is espoused.