Miscellaneous developments of the week so far:
• Former South Australian state Labor MPs Tom Kenyon and Jack Snelling have quit their former party over “moves to restrict religious freedom” and announced their intention to reactivate the Family First party and field candidates at the state election next March. The original Family First was folded into Australian Conservatives when Cory Bernardi joined it in 2016 and wound up at his behest after its failure at the 2019 federal election. Kenyon and Snelling have long been associated with the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association sub-faction of the Right, which is in turn associated with Catholicism and social conservatism, and includes among its number the party’s state leader, Peter Malinauskas. Paul Starick of The Advertiser reports this has the approval of party co-founder Andrew Evans; presumably this explains it obtaining the old party’s database of 6000 supporters, as reported by David Penberthy of The Australian. Whereas the old party consistently directed preferences to the Liberals, Snelling has ruled out preference deals with either major party.
• In other party split news, Peta Credlin writes in The Australian that Ross Cameron, who held Parramatta for the Liberals from 1996 to 2004 but is these days noted as a staple of Sky News after dark, “could head the Liberal Democrats’ NSW Senate ticket”. Earlier reportage on the matter said only that Cameron was involved with the party’s strategy and candidate recruitment.
• Tom Richardson of InDaily reports Matt Burnell, an official with the Right faction Transport Workers Union, has been confirmed as Labor’s candidate for its safe northern Adelaide seat of Spence, which will be vacated with Nick Champion’s move to state politics. Burnell reportedly scored 88 union delegate votes and 68 state conference delegate votes, each amounting to a third of the total, to just two and seven respectively for rival candidate Alice Dawkins, daughter of Keating government Treasurer John Dawkins. The rank-and-file membership ballot that made up the remaining third went 140-42 to Burnell.
• Peter Law of The West Australian reports that first-term Liberal MP Vince Connelly, whose seat of Stirling is being abolished, “looks certain to contest Cowan, which is held by Labor’s Anne Aly”. By my reckoning, the seat has a post-redistribution margin of 1.5%, making it a seemingly unlikely prospect for the Liberals at a time when polls are pointing to a Labor swing in the state upwards of 10%.
• Phillip Coorey of the Financial Review reports a poll conducted on Monday by Utting Research from 1600 respondents in New South Wales found only 7% supported Saturday’s lockdown protests, with fully 83% opposed. The poll also suggested Scott Morrison’s standing is continuing to tumble, with 37% satisfied and 57% dissatisfied (the state breakdown in last fortnight’s Resolve Strategic poll had it at 46% apiece). By contrast, Gladys Berejiklian maintained 56% approval and 33% disapproval, while the state’s chief health officer, Kerry Chant, recorded 70% approval.
• Emma Dawson, the executive director of the Per Capita think tank who appeared set to ran as Labor’s candidate against Adam Bandt in Melbourne, has announced her withdrawal. Dawson said this was for “personal and professional reasons”, although it followed shortly upon her criticism of Labor’s announcement that it would not rescind tax cuts for high income earners if elected.
• Craig Emerson on election timing in the Financial Review:
The December quarter national accounts are scheduled for release on March 2, 2022. Morrison might feel confident that the economy will bounce back in the December quarter from the September quarter’s negative result. But would it be wise to take a chance on a double-dip recession being announced during a federal election campaign? That would be a catastrophe for the Morrison government: marked down for its refusal to accept responsibility for quarantine, presiding over the slowest vaccine rollout in the Western world, and forfeiting any claim to be superior economic managers … But an April or May election would face the same risks, since the March quarter national accounts would not be released until after the election must be held … A late-February election might be the best bet, though the federal campaign would overlap with that of the South Australian state election scheduled for March 19.
‘There’s no playbook’: John Barilaros bombshell admission on air
https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/morning-shows/theres-no-playbook-john-barilaros-bombshell-admission-on-air/news-story/62e3e47282ae8157f7bb06a1343171af
The big concern of course is the mystery case.
VicGovDH
@VicGovDH
·
39m
Investigations continue into a locally-acquired case reported yesterday. The remaining six local cases are all linked to current outbreaks and were in quarantine during their infectious period. [2/2]
Show this thread
VicGovDH
@VicGovDH
·
40m
Reported yesterday: 7 new local cases and no new case acquired overseas.
– 19,118 vaccine doses were administered
– 42,009 test results were received
More later: https://dhhs.vic.gov.au/victorian-coronavirus-covid-19-data
DisplayName @ #58 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 8:29 am
What the all fuck are YOU talking about!?! Stop trying to tell me what I have or haven’t done! Who the fuck do you think you are? You’re here for two ups and you think you can tell people what they think and why they are doing things!?! What an arrogant individual you are! No one, and let me repeat that for the slow learners like you, NO ONE tells me what to think. Boerwar doesn’t tell me what to think, in fact, if you really had a brain you would have noticed me questioning boerwar quite frequently recently. The apocryphal ‘Labor Right’ that everyone who wants to slag Labor supporters here with as a slur on their character, doesn’t tell me what to think, and the only ones here whose opinion I respect are the only ones who can tell me when to apologise for something I have said, and I will because I respect them. And first among them is Mr Bowe because he is generally a fair and reasonable moderator of this blog. You? Zero respect.
lizzie at 8:55 am
Perhaps a reflection on meher baba ? In some circles a pollie being able to speak for 20-30 minutes without saying anything definite is considered a great skill.They ‘communicate’ exactly what the party wish them to communicate, as little as possible and avoiding being pinned down on anything definite. There are some real stand out performers in Scotty’s cabinet. They would get training in it from various ‘media advisors’ .
Sceptic @ #70 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 6:42 am
We????
LIAR!!!!!!!
When the CMO made those remarks he was talking about the regulation of the vaccines.
When Morrison and other Government members made their remarks they were clearly talking about the vaccine roll out, as Sceptic makes clear in the timeline.
Lizzie
The challenge is enormous – every week there is zoom meeting with our headmistress and the parent group. She looks like she has aged a generation.
But the purpose is so they do exams which they cannot do online (the exams having already been prepared).
And the schools were up and running in May 2020 (when I also had a year 12) and it worked so it is worth trying again.
This morning Morrison has been talking with Neil Mitchell on 3aw
Shellbell @ #96 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 9:10 am
The only truly Covid Safe way is with Rapid Antigen Testing (still not 100% result reliable); perspex shields on each desk; face masks, social distancing, hand sanitising, and face shields.
Is that what is planned?
I know that the inner urbs nimbies, yimbies and yappies want to pretend that the rest of Australia can live just like they live but that is simply not possible.
They need to stop pretending that the only real binary in life is between 100% nirvana and nothing. They need to stop pretending that their policies are even remotely practicable.
Further, they need to stop judging others as if their premise were correct.
Shellbell
For everyone’s sake, I hope it works. From what I read, the students are very stressed, even before the exams. Good luck to your child. 🙂
Heidi Murphy
@heidimur
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35m
Q to PM from
@3AWNeilMitchell
: “Do you reckon you can guarantee we’ll be open by the end of the year?”
A: “No-one can give those guarantees Neil. Because the virus is unpredictable; and it would be irresponsible to do so.”
Can say there’ll be enough vaccs available by then.
C@t
Have you ever thought that I have a similarly strong adverse reaction to being told what to think? What to say? To demands that I condemn this and confess that. Or to “prove” myself, and to whom? Some anonymous person who set themselves up as a “Labor” gatekeeper* on PB?
Did you ever consider that labelling people “Greens” or “concern trolls” is really just an attempt to corral their thoughts? It’s effectively saying “Don’t go there, that’s Greens thinking. That’s concern trolling”.
If you don’t like people telling you what to think, then why did you join in on someone telling me what I should think? Why did you simply accept their labelling of me and go along with it?
* Who demonstrably has zero insight into Labor given the ALP contradicted them just days after one of their proclamations that discussing a federal icac was a “Greens” thing to do.
I see oakeshott country hasnt regaled us with any wisdom to date.
Berejiklian is obvious a hugely successful communicator.
It is what she communicates that is suss.
Why else would the majority of New South Welshers still support her?
Barilaro is also an effective communicator.
Anyone who detonates explosion after explosion merely by using the power of his words just has to be an effective communicator.
Whether he is communicating what he intended to communicate is a different thing again.
lizzie @ #97 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 7:13 am
We recently had some classes with students back in the classroom and from my perspective there was no additional stress changing from online to offline during the day.
I found it the opposite, it was fantastic to be in one room together, despite all the extra COVID restrictions.
Lizzie
Thanks. She will be alright although she is doing drama and the completion of practical work has been understandably fraught.
”
The Australian’s Yoni Bashan begins this assessment with, “Something appears to be profoundly broken with Gladys Berejiklian’s crisis cabinet. Dysfunctional, deeply fractured, these guardians of the state’s pandemic response have spent the past month dithering over numerous strategies that have yielded higher case numbers, further restrictions and the pain of prolonged lockdowns.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/covid19-nsw-cabinet-is-the-crisis-as-it-dithers-and-dallies/news-story/5986431a933a6416a47a25c28e9a434b
”
But it appears people of NSW beg to differ with Murdoch hacks
From WB article
“Phillip Coorey of the Financial Review reports a poll conducted on Monday by Utting Research from 1600 respondents in New South Wales found
While Morrison’s standing is continuing to tumble, with 37% satisfied and 57% dissatisfied
Gladys Berejiklian maintained 56% approval and 33% disapproval.”
So the lesson is don’t believe any crap that is written by Murdoch hacks. Yes, Gladys has committed big mistakes during this outbreak but answer to many PBers queries, especially CC, of why Gladys did not follow Andrews model, is as Laura Tingle in 7:30 report said Gladys wanted to chart a different course. Maybe the reason for that is she knew Morrison will back her up with both political and economic support.
We will know in due course whether her course will be approved by people of NSW or not.
‘Victoria says:
Thursday, July 29, 2021 at 9:23 am
I see oakeshott country hasnt regaled us with any wisdom to date.’
___________________________________________
1. I sincerely hope that OC is alive and well and generally OK.
2. Other than that, there is a massive shit sandwich on his plate when he ventures back to Bludger.
poroti
There seem to be two type of LNP politicians: the ones who endlessly repeat the lesson of the day (Frydenberg, Tehan, Fletcher) and the wafflers who leave the listener confused and unsatisfied (Morrison, Gladys, Birmingham).
How lucky are we, that we have the choice to listen or turn them off!
Alpha Zero @ #94 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 9:08 am
Exactly. Why aren’t the teachers getting the vaccinations too?
Boerwar
Good point. He may have gone offline for other reasons that have nothing to do with the shit show in NSW.
Hopefully he is okay
“I see oakeshott country hasnt regaled us with any wisdom to date.”
This is not a good thing.
Having said that, i am nervous about the mystery case here in Melbourne.
If the virus has to take off anywhere, it will be here.
Says it all, really …
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-29/scott-morrison-in-trouble-with-voters/100331514
Labor is betting their entire election strategy on Australia failing to recover from Covid-19. Sure, maybe that will work … but maybe it wont.
It is clearly a risky strategy, because it means they have no control over what happens between now and the election. They are effectively just along for the ride, sitting in the back seat, occasionally saying “Are we there yet?”.
But with Albo as leader, I am guessing they decided they had no better options.
Victoria
If anyone attended the protest and is now sick, or tested positive, would they admit it? That could be a concern when the police are looking for prosecutions.
DisplayName @ #112 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 9:23 am
Because I didn’t. I have been spending most of my days and nights this week either watching Australian Survivor (don’t shoot me), or the Olympics. If it seemed to you that I supported something that has obviously hurt you deeply, then I apologise. Just like you should apologise for calling me, repeatedly, a ‘Labor gatekeeper’ on this blog. I assume no role with that name, I merely have my opinions, like anyone else. Not that anyone really cares what I think. And that’s the truth of the matter. They are all capable of thinking for themselves and I appreciate that.
Lizzie
Observing the mindset of those people tells me that they wont admit it.
Hopefully they will get to the bottom of this case quick smart.
I’m really hoping it was a false positive.
We will know soon enough.
Victoria @ #123 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 9:29 am
Were they a participant at the march? And yes, I understand they would likely have been infected prior to the march but it would not be a good sign for future cases if they had been.
Victoria @ #111 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 9:23 am
But he’s going to keep inferring it until then anyway. 🙄
Will Scott Morrisons “Its not a race” be the “Birthday Cake moment” of the next election?
C@t
Then I apologise.
Sorry for the length.. but only sensible thing SfM has said.
7m ago
09:29
Tighter restrictions on unvaccinated people will eventually be considered, PM says
Daniel Hurst Daniel Hurst
Scott Morrison says leaders will eventually consider imposing greater restrictions on people who choose not to get vaccinated against Covid-19 “because they’re a danger to themselves and others”.
The prime minister made the comment during a radio interview with the Melbourne radio station 3AW. Morrison said he could not guarantee the country would open up by the end of this year, “because the virus is unpredictable and it would be irresponsible to do so”.
But he said the vaccination program was on track to allow people who wish to be vaccinated to have that opportunity by the end of the year. It was, he said, “up to all of us to come forward and get those vaccines”.
The 3AW interviewer Neil Mitchell pressed Morrison on the consequences for those who chose not to be vaccinated. The PM said it was “ultimately everybody’s personal decision about their health” but vaccination provided protection against Covid-19.
If you’re vaccinated, you’re less likely to get it, you’re less likely to transmit it, you’re less likely to get a serious illness, and you’re less likely to die – they are four good reasons why people should get the vaccination.
Of course if you’re not vaccinated, Neil, well, you don’t have that protection and that is just a simple fact. And what that would mean is, particularly when we go into the next phase … which is what we’re discussing at national tomorrow, then in those circumstances the people who choose not to get vaccinated, well they can’t expect to have the same restrictions [as those] who are vaccinated.
When Mitchell said it sounded like a vaccine passport, Morrison disagreed, saying he “wouldn’t use that phrase”.
What I’m simply saying is that if you’re not vaccinated, you’ve made a choice, and you’re entitled to make that choice … but if you’re not vaccinated you present a greater heath risk to your self and to others than people who are vaccinated. That’s just a simple fact and public health decisions would have to be made on that basis … It means if people aren’t vaccinated they’re more at risk and we’d have to have more restrictions on people who are unvaccinated because they’re a danger to themselves and others.”
But Morrison said leaders were still working through the details
C@tmommasays:
Thursday, July 29, 2021 at 9:32 am
Because I didn’t. I have been spending most of my days and nights this week either watching Australian Survivor (don’t shoot me)
__________
I can’t believe the Brains team has failed to win one Reward challenge. They must be starving while the Brawn team has been greedy little pigs. There are a few hotties on that show, which is entertaining. George is not doing the Labor party any favors I think.
I am forced to watch this show due to a matrimony agreement but it is a guilty pleasure at times.
Cameron @ #130 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 9:37 am
Considering we are now in a national ‘Olympic’ race to get to the vaccination finishing line by Xmas. 🙄
Player One @ #124 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 7:30 am
Why are you so keen to see Labor’s vote fall to the level of the Greens?
Victoria,
I hope OC is alright. Busy and stressful times.
Sceptic @ #132 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 7:38 am
Whether you use that phrase or not the only way it could work is to issue some sort of pass to those vaccinated.
Griff
Agreed
It looks like Morrison has a merkin on his head!
Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #135 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 9:39 am
Why are you so keen to misrepresent what I post?
”
CommSec’s latest State of the States report scores Tasmania in first place over eight key indicators – economic growth, retail spending, equipment investment, unemployment, construction work done, population growth, housing finance and dwelling commencements. This is the sixth quarter in a row that Tasmania has taken the top spot. By now, it clearly isn’t a fluke, says Michael Pascoe.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2021/07/28/tasmania-econo
”
From basket case to top spot.
It clearly isn’t a fluke, says Michael Pascoe.
I want to hear from Greens supporters why this happened during LNP government time and not during ALP+Greens time.
Some LGAs should be freed from lockdown: MPs
By Daniella White
Eastern suburbs MP Dave Sharma ( Or is that “shaman”) has suggested that local government areas recording few COVID-19 cases should be freed from lockdown.
For the moment though, the Member for Wentworth is not including his own electorate – which includes suburbs that were initially hotspots in the outbreak including Bondi, Double Bay and Waverley – in this group.
“We have good data in NSW, we don’t have the disease going through aged care facilities, our contact tracing and testing facilities are all working so let’s use this data to our advantage,” he said on 2GB radio this morning.
“We know where the new cases are, we know where the sources of infection are.”
Maybe he should call NSW health contact tracing & tell them .. they will be surprised
Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #135 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 9:39 am
What a silly thing to say.
P1, and some others here are simply pointing out the obvious.
Be prepared for disappointment.
The only thing the killers are interested in, the one thing they care about is keeping Labor out of government.
Albo vs SfM is not a fair fight.
Albo is Beasley and Crean rolled into one amorphous entity.
The killers will have to defeat themselves.
the CommSec report gives you a boost if you are historically shithouse
“Just as the Reserve Bank uses long-term averages to determine the level of “normal” interest rates; we have done the same with the economic indicators. For each state and territory, latest readings for the key indicators were compared with decade averages – that is, against the “normal” performance.”
Cameron @ #130 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 9:37 am
Depends on whether Labor decides it’ll be useful.
Campaigning is not Labor’s forte.
Player One @ #140 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 7:51 am
How is it a misrepresentation?
You clearly think that Labor’s policies should align more closely to the Greens and that they should fight the election on those issues, so why should Labor’s vote hold up any more than the Greens vote does.
lizzie @ #119 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 9:26 am
Well voting them out of office would be preferable but I realise that’s a big ask.
Is head trying to copy Malcolm’s coif?
Two great wins by Ariarne Titmus. Full praise to her and her coach.
However – and this of course has absolutely nothing to do with Ariarne – each time the cameras switch to images of her mum and dad jumping up and down with joy in Noosa, my mind keeps wandering back to the role that Steve, her sports journalist father, once played in the mainly Launceston-based part of the Liberal Party that for many years worked hart to boost the forestry industry, the doomed Gunns corporation, etc., etc.
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned previously on PB, but Steve Titmus once ran as a candidate for the Libs in Bass in the 2010 Federal election, and was defeated fairly convincingly by Geoff Lyons, thereby helping to pave the way for Gillard to hang on to government.
And I wonder if Steve still reckons the forestry industry is the go? Many of his former colleagues in the Liberal Party have basically given up on it, although State director Sam McQuestin – who, along with his deceased sports journalist father David (who I believe might have been something of a mentor to Titmus) – still seems to carry a torch for the industry to a certain extent. It’s understandable because, since the passing of Gunns, the Launceston economy has been a shadow of its former self (which wasn’t that tremendous anyway). But, in my view, the Tasmanian forest industry is as dead and buried as the tobacco industry of north Queensland: in both cases, totally outmanoeuvred by their ruthless opponents.
Obviously this is all a bit parish pump, but perhaps some of you will find it interesting.
boerwar @ #114 Thursday, July 29th, 2021 – 9:24 am
I might just add, Albo is also an extremely effective communicator 🙂
Tell me I’m wrong.