The government introduced four electoral reform bills to parliament yesterday. Antony Green offers a good overview that notes what’s missing from the recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters’ inquiry into the 2019 election: the particularly contentions measures of voter identification and optional preferential voting, and arrangements for handling an election during the pandemic, which will presumably have to follow at a later time.
To summarise:
• The most striking is a bill to triple the number of members required of a registered political party to 1500 and to disallow the registration of parties whose names contain, with limited exceptions, words already used in the name of a pre-existing party. The former requirement does not affect the significant exception that exists for parties with seats in parliament, as applies to Katter’s Australian Party, the Centre Alliance and the Jacqui Lambie Network (Antony Green notes it also helped Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party to both register and blag free ABC air time before the last election, not that this proved notably helpful to them). Parties will have three months after the passage of the bill to either pass muster or face deregistration, in which case they will not be identified on ballot papers or eligible for public funding. This would appear to be one in the eye for the Liberal Democrats, who this week confirmed Campbell Newman as their Senate candidate in Queensland.
• A bill encompassing “counting, scrutiny and operational efficiencies” gives effect to JSCEM’s recommendation that the pre-poll voting period should be cut from three weeks to two, which the Coalition, Labor and Greens members were all on board with. It also allows for pre-poll votes to be pre-processed in the two hours before polls close so the actual counting of the votes can begin without delay, which should address an issue of recent election nights in which election day booths are mostly in by 8pm but pre-poll voting centres often aren’t until 11pm to midnight. Similarly, the bill allows for postal votes to be pre-processed so more of them can be counted on Sunday.
• An “electoral offences and preventing multiple voting” bill includes a measure to prevent those suspected of multiple voting from persisting in doing so, and one to target behaviour the Liberal Party has complained of being subjected to by GetUp! activists, specifically “violence, obscene or discriminatory abuse, property damage and harassment or stalking”. Former electoral administrator Michael Maley wonders if the latter measure might capture heckling or asking difficult questions; electoral law expert Graham Orr notes it brings the activities of FriendlyJordies to mind.
• A bill to lower the threshold for which third parties campaigning at elections will have to register as political campaigners, requiring them to file annual financial disclosure returns. The current six-figure threshold does seem on the high side, but the cause of “public confidence in Australia’s political processes” would surely be better served by lowering the threshold for declaring donations to political parties.
Other news:
• The Australian Electoral Commission has published the full panoply of reports and data relevant to the now finalised federal redistributions of Victoria and Western Australia. Antony Green has worked his estimated margins into a finalised 2022 federal election pendulum.
• Rachel Siewert, Greens Senator for Western Australia, announced on social media this week that she will resign her position in the Senate next month. This will allow the party’s preselected lead Senate candidate, Dorinda Cox, to build her profile ahead of next year’s election, a common practice for the Greens.
Well done on the midnight shift William. Will be very interesting to see how debate develops on some of these issues. The 1500 minimum will affect most minor parties depending how strict the rules about membership are.
The requirement to have 1500 members to qualify for Party status is a significant increase. Doubtless it will have its greatest effect on front/phoney outfits such as ON and Palmer’s UAP (or whatever pretence he next chooses). If so, this will maybe arrest the fragmentation of Right-leaning political opinion. I wonder how many members SFF have. 1500? In WA they would likely not have 100.
Maybe the number of splinter groups will shrink. This would have an effect on Senate contests. Interesting change. The Greens are constituted as a coalition of State Parties without a single federated national centre. Would they have 1500 members in each State? Is that a requirement of the new legislation?
From Mary Trump:
‘ I felt as though I had stumbled across a crime scene so violent that I couldn’t process it, let alone synthesize the images in front of me. The parts remained stubbornly separate, and there was no way to grasp the meaning of the whole.
In the early afternoon of January 6, while the mob was still swarming the stairs of the Capitol, I was asked in an interview what I thought of the unfolding situation. I watched the crowd that had been stoked that morning by my uncle, and by Republicans like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Mo Brooks, with their Confederate flags, their MAGA hats, and their Camp Auschwitz shirts; I watched the smoke (the origin of which I couldn’t yet discern) drift through the air, and I heard their shouts of grievance and anger. It looked like a scene from a failed country whose government had just been toppled, a banana republic; but it was the United States of America, my country, our country, and, knowing who was responsible for the chaos here, the first word that came to my mind was “tawdry.”
Of course, it was so much more than that—so much more dangerous and serious than that, as we would eventually find out. At around 2:15, while Republicans Cruz and Paul Gosar were objecting to the legitimate results of the election, the insurrectionists breached the Capitol, Congress was adjourned, and frantic attempts were made to get the vice president and all of the senators and representatives to safety.
Two hours later, the Georgia Senate race was called for Jon Ossoff. It mattered, certainly; it meant that the Democrats would control the Senate. But there was no room for celebration. After four years of Donald’s incessant attacks and ineptitude, we were already exhausted. Joe Biden’s victory was supposed to have offered us some reprieve, but having given Donald room to promote his Big Lie, elected Republicans had now granted him the opportunity to incite an insurrection. So there would be no respite from the madness, from Donald’s particular blend of mendacity, cruelty, and destructiveness. There would be no celebrating.
That horrific day—which we now know General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, referred to as a “Reichstag moment”—was bracketed by Donald’s incendiary speech given just before noon and a video released two hours after the Capitol had been breached that added more fuel to the fire. The speech itself was full of grievances—lies about the “landslide election” that had been stolen from him, threats to Mike Pence, whom he led the crowd to believe had the power to overturn the results of the election, fabulations about people voting as Santa Claus and Democrats’ taking down statues of Jefferson and Lincoln, and calls to action demanding that the crowd force Congress to “do the right thing.” In the 62-second video, Donald says the word peace three times, presumably because somebody convinced him he had to distance himself from the role he played in stoking the mob’s violence; but, because he can never help himself in these instances, he kept hammering away at what was supposedly stolen from them. The video sickened me just as the “apology” video he recorded after the Access Hollywood tape was released had sickened me. I feared the same result—that there would be no consequences.’
https://newrepublic.com/article/163115/donald-trump-plot-against-america
Hopefully this will result in a significant shrinking in Senate ballot papers!
Maybe I’m just paying more a Leigh Sales after Larua Tingle’s stint in the chair. But her questioning seems quite sloppy. Take her opening question to Lt Frewen.
“All the time cases are popping up around the country, in the race between cases spreading through the population and vaccinations spreading through the vaccinations (pause) through the population, the vaccination is winning. But is it moving fast enough that when lockdown end and case number inevitably move into much higher figures that death and serious illness will remain low?
It sounds a like a tough question, but the rambling nature meant there was ample opportunity for Lt Frewen to segue into his talking points – which he did. The rest of the interview followed that same pattern.
A bill encompassing “counting, scrutiny and operational efficiencies” gives effect to JSCEM’s recommendation that… also allows for pre-poll votes to be pre-processed in the two hours before polls close so the actual counting of the votes can begin without delay, which should address an issue of recent election nights in which election day booths are mostly in by 8pm but pre-poll voting centres often aren’t until 11pm to midnight. Similarly, the bill allows for postal votes to be pre-processed so more of them can be counted on Sunday.
About time! It was just silly that these votes, legally cast, unable to affect people’s voting intentions and just sitting there, weren’t able to be counted.
Also, I think it’s sensible to have counting start two hours before the counting of on-the-day votes begins so the Liberal Scrutineers can’t leak the results to ScoMo and have him race to do a last minute stunt in a seat that looks like it’s going against the Liberals. 😉
Confessions @ #4 Friday, August 13th, 2021 – 5:33 am
Hopefully it will result in Clive Palmer having to prove he is actually a real political party.
Still nothing to stop the liberal and National Partys committing fraud , by misleading the public claiming they are seperate political entities ,despite having majority of the same policies and National Party members on the liberal party website
You’ve got to wonder whether Jacqui Lambie or Centre Alliance will be able to get the numbers to retain naming rights on the ballot paper for the Senate.
If I were Rex Patrick I’d be knocking on Labor’s door in SA. He’d be good value to them.
I wonder how it will affect Rebekha Sharkie in the Lower House? Will she become just another Independent in the mould of Zalli Steggall and Helen Hayes?
The uproar by the lib/nats corrupt propaganda media units , if they catch Labor or Greens members handing out how to vote cards for each other.
And the uproar if Labor and Greens had each other members on their political websites.
C@tmomma @ #7 Friday, August 13th, 2021 – 6:37 am
Oh yes, absolutely!
Scott @ #10 Friday, August 13th, 2021 – 6:47 am
Well, I’ll be waiting to catch Liberal Party members handing out HTVs for Clive Palmer’s UAP at the next election then, camera at the ready. Just like they did in 2019.
C@tmomma says:
Friday, August 13, 2021 at 6:49 am
Well, I’ll be waiting to catch Liberal Party members handing out HTVs for Clive Palmer’s UAP at the next election then, camera at the ready. Just like they did in 2019.
—————————————–
Lol C@tmomma
WorktoRule
When I was a political candidate, one thing I knew I could rely on (from experience) was that no journalist would ever ask me a direct yes/no question – they would always come at whatever it was sideways, which (in my mind) meant I was quite justified in giving an equally indirect answer.
It seems to be one of those things they teach them in journalism school.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
With mandatory Covid vaccines or a passport, this week Morrison has been handed a hot potato he really doesn’t want, writes Michelle Grattan.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-13/mandatory-covid-vaccines-or-passport/100373454
And David Crowe says Morrison has handed the wheel to the states on the road to workplace vaccination.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/vacillation-rollout-morrison-hands-the-wheel-to-the-states-on-the-road-to-workplace-vaccination-20210812-p58i99.html
“If we don’t have a climate policy, the world will give us one”, declares Waleed Aly who takes it right up to Barnaby Joyce.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/if-we-don-t-have-a-climate-policy-the-world-will-give-us-one-20210812-p58i0z.html
Barnaby Joyce says Labor has to speak to two different constituencies on climate policy. But his party’s stubbornness is creating the same problem for the government, writes Phil Coorey.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/nationals-tail-wags-coalition-dog-on-net-zero-target-20210810-p58hi9
Pandemic lockdowns over the past nine weeks have already dealt a $17b hit to the economy and Australians are becoming increasingly reliant on government support, explains Shane Wright.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/cost-of-lockdowns-is-17-billion-and-counting-20210812-p58i58.html
Phil Coorey and Andrew Tillett tell us that Scott Morrison, senior ministers and diplomats are all involved in ‘a mad scramble’ for extra supplies of Pfizer and other vaccine doses.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/australia-scours-the-globe-for-surplus-vaccines-20210812-p58i20
Catherine Bennet goes into detail of how contact tracing and associated actions are used to eliminate Covid from the community. Says that now, more than ever, “go early, go hard” has never been a more appropriate strategy.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/delta-danger-means-lockdown-extension-crucial-to-contain-spread-20210812-p58i3p.html
Leading epidemiologists say countries including Israel demonstrate the need for tough suppression strategies alongside a high vaccination rate, writes Tom McIlroy. Ponting at Gladys Berejiklian, he says that relying on vaccinations alone to reopen would be ‘foolish’.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/relying-on-vaccinations-alone-to-reopen-would-be-foolish-20210812-p58i4d
Anne Davies is concerned that Gladys Berejiklian is offering slogans in place of solutions as the NSW Covid crisis deepens.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/12/gladys-berejiklian-offers-slogans-in-place-of-solutions-as-nsw-covid-crisis-deepens
Michelle Grattan reckons passports would be a better tool than mandating jabs for all jobs.
https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-vaccine-passports-are-a-better-tool-than-mandating-jabs-for-all-jobs-166045
“The NSW government is suffering an outbreak of gross incompetence or has simply lost the plot, parting ways with reality as most of us know it. Or both.” Is a good summary of this criticism from Michael Pascoe who says the Premier keeps putting on a daily media show where she paints pandemic pictures everyone knows are fake.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/nsw/2021/08/13/michael-pascoe-covid-casinos-nsw/
Professor Garry Jennings explains how Covid-19 affects the heart. He also touches on “long Covid”.
https://theconversation.com/how-covid-affects-the-heart-according-to-a-cardiologist-165446
More than 560 public transport workers are currently in COVID isolation across NSW, with the state government warning Sydneysiders to prepare for the risk of widespread disruptions.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/hundreds-of-transport-workers-thrust-into-covid-isolation-sparking-major-disruption-warnings-20210812-p58ia0.html
State and federal health departments have been accused of leaving Aboriginal communities of western NSW as “sitting ducks” for a major Covid outbreak with vaccination rates in the region among the lowest in the nation, writes Larena Allam.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/12/anger-as-slow-vaccine-rollout-leaves-western-nsw-aboriginal-communities-exposed-to-covid
Victorian health authorities are scrambling to find the source of six separate chains of COVID-19 transmissions as the number of mystery cases in the state grew by another four on Thursday.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/glenroy-puzzle-gives-tracing-team-a-headache-as-mystery-cases-grow-20210812-p58i8s.html
Josh Butler tells us why the government won’t (and can’t) take more action on George Christensen.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/2021/08/13/george-christensen-misinformation-covid/?breaking_live_scroll=1
A growing COVID-19 outbreak has forced a Sydney school for children with autism spectrum disorder to shut its doors, with 18 cases linked to the cluster. Health authorities say three staff members and seven students at Giant Steps special education school in Gladesville have tested positive to COVID-19, as well as eight family members.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/desperately-worried-outbreak-at-sydney-school-for-children-with-autism-20210812-p58ic3.html
Hospitals across Sydney are under “significant strain” with growing Covid case numbers likely to worsen the burden for healthcare workers, the nurses’ union has warned, as the New South Wales health minister, Brad Hazzard, acknowledged virus exposure continued to place hospitals under “substantial pressure”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/13/sydney-hospitals-under-significant-strain-with-staff-shortages-as-covid-outbreak-grows
Ninoy Kampmark explores the role of Australian Defence Force with respect to the COVID-19 response.
https://theaimn.com/call-in-the-khaki-the-australian-defence-force-and-covid-19/
David Penberthy writes that the impact of Beijing’s trade war has been grossly understated and exporters must work harder to find new markets and stem a potential $23bn economic hit, a new study authored by three former Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials has found.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/beijing-trade-war-far-worse-than-we-think/news-story/5da5d185634b031ea5db22b5cc83b6d1
Peter Hannam reports that a coal mine in the NSW Hunter Valley has leaked the equivalent of more than a million tonnes of carbon dioxide since it was mothballed in 2014 without any penalty or restriction.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/defunct-nsw-coal-mine-belches-1-million-tonnes-of-co2-without-penalty-20210811-p58huv.html
More from Hannam who tells us that Australia’s charge into large-scale wind and solar is faltering, with investment in new projects drying up and construction jobs in the industry diving.
https://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/energy-chaos-wind-and-solar-industry-facing-roadblocks-in-australia-20210812-p58i6j.html
The IPCC report is a massive alert that the time for climate action is nearly gone, but crucially not gone yet, writes Greg Jericho.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2021/aug/12/the-ipcc-report-is-a-massive-alert-that-the-time-for-climate-action-is-nearly-gone-but-crucially-not-gone-yet
The technology roadmap sketched by Morrison and Taylor is a con. It is in fact a statement of support for the fossil fuel industry which is heavily subsidised by and a significant donor to the Liberal and National Parties, writes Richard Hil.
https://johnmenadue.com/political-and-media-failure-on-climate-in-australia/
At a critical time for the climate and environment, the Young Liberals in the Australian Capital Territory saw fit to auction off a piece of coal as part of a fundraiser, writes Michael Mazengarb.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/amid-ipcc-report-young-liberals-auction-off-lump-of-adani-coal,15396
Shareholders in AGL Energy have little choice but to support the costly, drawn-out process of splitting into a green retail operation and a coal-fired power rump. The alternative is too awful to contemplate, explains the AFR.
https://www.afr.com/chanticleer/agl-s-desperate-salvage-operation-20210812-p58i8o
Just when we thought there were no Crown Resorts’ associates left to implicate in the casino group’s wide-ranging probes, counsel assisting Ray Finkelstein in his Victorian royal commission have in recent weeks opened the door to making findings against Crown’s external lawyers, MinterEllison reports The Australian.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/margin-call/crowns-lawyers-minterellison-and-richard-murphy-feel-heat-from-victoria-royal-commission/news-story/17dc0a1e8f20a75e76fa02f78510f7c5
Telstra boss Andy Penn should be congratulated for publicly inking his profit aspirations for 2023. Most CEOs are reluctant to provide profit forecasts for the next financial year, let alone the year after that, says Elizabeth Knight in her evaluation of Telstra’s report from yesterday.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/headwinds-become-tailwinds-as-andy-penn-turns-around-the-telstra-titanic-20210812-p58i8r.html
The ATO Commissioner Chirs Jordan has refused to provide the Senate with its requested list of companies that received eventually unjustified JobKeeper payments and did not return them. The ABC’s Nassim Khadem tells us about the Senate’s next moves.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-13/jobkeeper-ato-chris-jordan-rex-patrick-overpayments-centrelink/100370626
As a background to this, Luke Henriques-Gomes writes that an age pensioner slugged $1,000 by Centrelink over jobkeeper payments has accused the Morrison government of double standards for its failure to clamp down on businesses who got the subsidy and then turned a profit.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/13/pensioner-slugged-with-jobkeeper-debt-accuses-coalition-of-double-standards
Nothing says “we are the government for big business only” like doling out money for nothing to multinationals with one hand, while simultaneously clawing back cash from the impoverished with the other, writes Michelle Pini.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/corporate-welfare-for-the-greedy–robodebt-20-for-the-needy,15394
Voters will have no more than 12 days to cast their ballot ahead of the next election as part of a suite of new measures to modernise electoral processes, improve services and grow confidence in the democratic system. Rob Harris takes us through the many changes to the electoral rules being introduced to parliament.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/early-voting-to-be-cut-back-under-proposed-electoral-reforms-20210812-p58i7t.html
Paul Karp reports that these electoral reform bills are being criticised by small parties, green groups and charities.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/aug/13/federal-electoral-reform-bills-criticised-by-small-parties-green-groups-and-charities
Mark Buckly looks at the current applicability of Donald Horne’s “Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people’s ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise.”
https://johnmenadue.com/australia-a-lucky-country-run-by-second-rate-people/
ABC News is showing its extensive audience that growth in gross domestic product (GDP) currently ranks third in the world. The ABC knows this is false. Yet this “news” is still visible on the ABC’s website. Alan Austin reports on another case of politically compromised data.
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/third-oh-really-abc-news-swallows-coalition-data-spin/
Nick Bonyhady tells us that the building watchdog has defended its decision to spend more than half a million dollars unsuccessfully pursuing the CFMEU to the High Court over a dispute where union organisers demanded a women’s toilet on a Melbourne worksite.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/construction-watchdog-spent-half-a-million-dollars-fighting-cfmeu-on-toilet-case-20210811-p58hsk.html
“Why is the Queen still interfering in our history and why is the National Archives allowing this?”, asks historian Jenny Hocking.
https://johnmenadue.com/why-is-the-queen-still-interfering-in-our-history-and-why-is-the-national-archives-allowing-this/
America had a chance to crush COVID but they blew it, opines Matthew Knott. He says, “Forget so-called vaccine hesitancy; America is now in the grip of outright vaccine refusal.”
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/america-had-a-chance-to-crush-covid-but-blew-it-20210812-p58i0v.html
London’s Telegraph reports that a lawyer has claimed new evidence that links Prince Andrew with his alleged victim is set to emerge after other women indicated that they were prepared to testify against him.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/additional-evidence-other-women-to-testify-against-prince-andrew-says-lawyer-20210812-p58i4y.html
Cartoon Corner
Cathy Wilcox
David Rowe
David Pope
John Shakespeare
Andrew Dyson
Matt Golding
Mark David
Glen Le Lievre
Jim Pavlidis
Simon Letch
Mark Knight
John Spooner
From the US
zoomster
One of the things that I have found most annoying is the way that in QT, Labor questions are often designed in such a way that Morrison is able to answer a flat No and sit down. As he did yesterday.
Thanks BK.
Love today’s Rowe, but who is in the syringe with Barnaby?
I like George Christensen as a Drop Bear.
Confessions
I reckon it’s Georgie Porgie Christensen
I love this comment from Niki Savva’s column yesterday:
‘Morrison couldn’t lead a flock of homing pigeons.’
😆
Gladys has brought the inequalities of Sydney society into sharp relief.
poroti:
Of course! I can see the resemblance now.
And another:
Scotty is doing the Dance of the Seven Fails.
🙂
I wonder how much of this legislation is designed to stop The New Liberals from muddying the conservative waters and will labor support it?
I usual LOL looking at some of the alternative medicine ‘qualifications’ and titles but I came across one that really is a blood boiler. When he is not telling people how dangerous covid vaccines are this Mercan chap, Dr. Greg Nigh, calls himself a Naturopathic Oncologist. FMD How many people has he killed because they only used his ‘treatment’ and or bank accounts drained when desperate people turn to him after all else has failed ?
[‘How deadly is the coronavirus delta variant?
Although this variant is more transmissible, whether it causes more severe disease and death is still unclear.
The coronavirus delta variant is more infectious than previous versions of the virus, but is it deadlier?
Early data suggests the delta variant may cause more severe disease, but more studies are needed to know if this variant is indeed deadlier.
Several studies hint that, compared with the original strain of the virus, the delta variant can make people sicker if they are unvaccinated. One study from Scotland, published June 14 in the journal The Lancet, found that people infected with the coronavirus delta variant had a nearly twofold higher risk of being hospitalized between April and June 2021, compared with those infected with the coronavirus alpha variant, or the variant first detected in the U.K. But those who were vaccinated had a 60% reduced risk of being hospitalized with the delta variant than unvaccinated people who caught delta.’]
https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-delta-variant-severity.html?utm_source=SmartBrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=368B3745-DDE0-4A69-A2E8-62503D85375D&utm_content=6E328FEB-C0CB-4643-9C16-99F7A9B7B7A2&utm_term=7a58df7e-3b9c-40d8-abaf-dcf8e3e40fc2
poroti:
Yep that stuff makes my blood boil too.
C@tmomma at 7:57 am
With Scotty forcing GPs and other vaccinators to do ‘The dance of the just seven phials’
Morning all. Thanks BK for the roundup.
On this story, obvious question: If Greg Hunt had really “secured” 20 million doses of Pfizer vaccine in 2020 and another 20 million doses in January 2021, why are we still scouring thew world for more? Obviously, Hunt lied, and we had no firm order.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/australia-scours-the-globe-for-surplus-vaccines-20210812-p58i20
I may seem to be harping on the past but this failure to order sufficient vaccine was the failure that led to all the other failures. Hunt should resign.
The belated procurement of 10m Moderna, with another 15m boosters next year, hopefully will not be shattered by Morrison and the dunderhead ministers Hunt and (remarkably) Christian Porter – who has been given the task of progressing mRNA manufacture onshore.
Moderna’s offer to set up shop here could be stymied by the ‘what’s in it for Liberal maaaates’ criteria which needs to be applied. Let’s see.
Meanwhile, the technology is looking good…
Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq:MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced the publication of new data on the durability of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in generating neutralizing antibodies against variants of concern. The manuscript was published in Science. According to the paper, the majority of individuals vaccinated with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine maintained both binding and functional antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants for six months after the second dose.
“We are pleased with these new data showing that people vaccinated with two doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine maintained antibodies through six months, including against variants of concern such as the Delta variant. Along with our partners, we are committed to generating data on the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and sharing this as available,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. “These data support the durable efficacy of 93% seen with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine through six months. We expect that these data and the growing body of real-world evidence will help inform health regulators’ approaches to how and when to administer additional boosting doses.”
This study used a variety of assays and showed that after two doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, binding and neutralizing antibodies were generated against ancestral strain of the virus and against the variants of concern, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Iota. While some waning in antibody levels was observed over time, the majority of participants had detectable neutralizing antibody titers at six months after the completion of the primary series.
A trend towards lower antibody levels against SARS-CoV-2 spike variants was observed in the oldest individuals at Day 209 (through six months). Differences were small, however, and there was overlap between age groups. Importantly, many individuals in the oldest group retained neutralizing activity against the variants six months after the second vaccine dose.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210812005877/en/Moderna-Announces-New-Study-Showing-Its-COVID-19-Vaccine-Maintains-Antibodies-Against-Variants-of-Concern-and-Interest-to-6-Months
And the full study..
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/08/11/science.abj4176
Almost everything the Morrison Government does has to been seen through the prism of self and not the national interest. With this in mind, Labor needs to consider electoral reform with skepticism. And no doubt the small parties in the Senate will too.
On electoral reform, while I am sure Mavis is correct about the Morrison government’s motives, philosophically I find it hard to argue against the 1500 member requirement. Suburban football clubs have more members than that. If you can’t scrape up that many members across the nation you are not national.
Some high profile independents with strong community support (e.g. Haines in Indi) would have more supporters than some of the micro political parties have members.
Same with the naming rule. If you cannot articulate a new name for your party that is not simply a rebadging of the name of an existing party, you are merely gaming the system.
”
Work To Rulesays:
Friday, August 13, 2021 at 6:20 am
Maybe I’m just paying more a Leigh Sales after Larua Tingle’s stint in the chair. But her questioning seems quite sloppy. Take her opening question to Lt Frewen.
“All the time cases are popping up around the country, in the race between cases spreading through the population and vaccinations spreading through the vaccinations (pause) through the population, the vaccination is winning. But is it moving fast enough that when lockdown end and case number inevitably move into much higher figures that death and serious illness will remain low?
It sounds a like a tough question, but the rambling nature meant there was ample opportunity for Lt Frewen to segue into his talking points – which he did. The rest of the interview followed that same pattern.
”
Isn’t she daughter of a Military man?
I’m think that working for one of Clive’s companies might get you membership of his latest party. The membership requirement won’t stop him. As for names of parties – there was a time they were not even included on the ballot paper, imagine a candidate having to actually get their own profile in an electorate by actually doing something (anything)
”
zoomstersays:
Friday, August 13, 2021 at 7:01 am
WorktoRule
When I was a political candidate, one thing I knew I could rely on (from experience) was that no journalist would ever ask me a direct yes/no question – they would always come at whatever it was sideways, which (in my mind) meant I was quite justified in giving an equally indirect answer.
It seems to be one of those things they teach them in journalism school.
”
But I did not see Laura Tingle ramble like Sales.
On the legislation proposals, Dr Bonham points out party names can’t be ‘frivolous or vexatious’..
‘On “frivolous or vexatious”, examples given are “an applicant seeking to register
‘Australian Electoral Commission’, or ‘Australian Government’ as a political party.’
There should also be a ‘misleading name’ ban, for example:
The Liberal Party is NOT a classical liberal party. The terminology causes great confusion with the US usage of the term ‘liberal’, and with other true Liberal Parties (such as the Canadian party of Trudeau, who is said to call an early election this weekend, 2 years early)
The party of Morrison would be better off rebadged as the Tory Party, in-line with the British heritage to whom they tug the forelock..
“As a political term, Tory was an insult (derived from the Middle Irish word tóraidhe, modern Irish tóraí, meaning “outlaw”, “robber”, from the Irish word tóir, meaning “pursuit” since outlaws were “pursued men”) that entered English politics during the Exclusion Bill crisis of 1678–1681.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tories_(British_political_party)
Morning all. Thank you, BK.
Another sort of light at the end of the tunnel?
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/covid-90-percent-of-patients-treated-with-new-israeli-drug-discharged-in-5-days-675961?fbclid=IwAR3GGBXkE7kSAy8XTPqVWuKPCvU3S2PRSACFYr27o1j52WdbDAvj4ey7Kyw
”
Phil Coorey and Andrew Tillett tell us that Scott Morrison, senior ministers and diplomats are all involved in ‘a mad scramble’ for extra supplies of Pfizer and other vaccine doses.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/australia-scours-the-globe-for-surplus-vaccines-20210812-p58i20
”
What is Coorey writing about? I thought we already have ordered and promised delivery of millions and millions of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for this, next year and the year after.
Victoria records 15 new local COVID-19 cases, Melbourne mystery cases under investigation
Victoria has recorded 15 new local COVID-19 cases, eight of whom were in quarantine during their infectious period.
Eleven of the cases are linked to current outbreaks.
The results were detected from 40,737 test results processed on Thursday and 27,427 vaccine doses were administered at state-run sites.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-13/victoria-melbourne-lockdown-new-covid-mystery-cases/100373616
Josh Butler in The New Daily (linked by BK).
”If you start prodding the bear, you’re gonna make the situation worse for us as a government,” Mr Joyce, the deputy PM and Nationals leader, told the ABC.”
What Barnaby is effectively saying is that the Australian Government is hostage to the Far Right.
Mad scramble ? Was it not just 3-4 days ago Bullshitman told us of vaccines arriving/ordered that totalled 200,000,000 ?
I’m having a “we are one” morning!
Yeah nah.
Media
Likes
VicGovDH’s Tweets
VicGovDH
@VicGovDH
·
15m
Of the 15 new locally-acquired cases, 11 have been linked to current outbreaks and 4 have sources of infection still under investigation. 8 have been in quarantine throughout their infectious periods.
[2/2]
Show this thread
VicGovDH
@VicGovDH
·
15m
Reported yesterday: 15 new local cases and 0 new cases acquired overseas.
– 27,427 vaccine doses were administered
– 40,737 test results were received
More later: https://dhhs.vic.gov.au/victorian-coronavirus-covid-19-data
Re GG @8:55.
That sort of makes sense in a very cynical way…
Poroti @ 8.56
“Bullshitman”
It has come to this unfortunately.
”
Anne Davies is concerned that Gladys Berejiklian is offering slogans in place of solutions as the NSW Covid crisis deepens.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/12/gladys-berejiklian-offers-slogans-in-place-of-solutions-as-nsw-covid-crisis-deepens
”
She certainly used those slogans and a lot of her political capital to scare the shit of people to take vaccines. IMO, people are taking record number of vaccines because She gave the impression that by taking the vaccines alone the lockdowns will be thing of the past.
”
“The NSW government is suffering an outbreak of gross incompetence or has simply lost the plot, parting ways with reality as most of us know it. Or both.” Is a good summary of this criticism from Michael Pascoe who says the Premier keeps putting on a daily media show where she paints pandemic pictures everyone knows are fake.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/nsw/2021/08/13/michael-pascoe-covid-casinos-nsw/
”
“Hugo Weaving from matrix” will disagree with that assessment of Pascoe