The Australian reports the latest Newspoll records Labor’s two-party preferred lead out from 53-47 to 54-46, with the Coalition taking a three-point tumble on the primary vote to 36%, Labor up a point to 40%, the Greens down one to 10% and One Nation steady on 3%. Despite this, Scott Morrison is up two on approval to 49% and down two on disapproval to 47%, and has slightly widened his lead as preferred prime minister from 49-36 to 50-34. Anthony Albanese is up two on approval to 40% and up one on disapproval to 47%. The poll was conducted Wednesday to Saturday from a sample of 1528.
“The latest Guardian Essential survey of 1,100 respondents finds only 12% of the sample would be comfortable with any transition that increases deaths and hospitalisations.”
https://t.co/4awPzetym0
Expat follower
The question of perspective is very interesting. Outrage at where we are at given where the previous six months had been; on the other hand, given where most other countries are at, our predicament such as it is remains pretty mild relatively speaking. Those of us who have people elsewhere in the world, find this frothing at the mouth just a little ott… we are incredibly fortunate here.
Coalition taking a polling beating for obvious reasons at where we are at, but have an opportunity to turn that towards the end of the year. ALP have an opportunity to embed the idea that they are ready and trustworthy to take the reins. Guess psephologically, we shall see what happens
_____________________________________
Interesting discussion. I think the uncertainty of the times means more than ever that the response of voters at actual elections will depend on how they perceive things at that time. This has been happening for some years but the pandemic has accelerated the prospect of voting in the moment.
The thing I find particularly interesting is your comment about Australian versus overseas perceptions.
If, say, we achieve 70% full vaccination (using overseas best experience of achievement to date), there will be an opening of businesses, even if under very limited restrictions. Using overseas current data, this means that the proportion of serious cases, and the number of hospitalisations and deaths will have risen dramatically compared to where we were 6 months ago, while overseas they will have fallen compared to where they were a year ago.
Personally, I would prefer very strongly no serious covid, no hospitalisations and no deaths (particularly given the ongoing risk of one of them being me). If Morrison could pull off that miracle, even I would vote for him! But the scary reality is that the high likelihood this country will a whole lot worse off on every metric at the election than it was six to 12 months earlier. In that environment there will be serious challenges to Scummo to convince Australians that he should be trusted going forward, rather than anyone else.
More Morrison and his cronies lies being exposed
Wasn’t the promise of enough Pfizer from Mid July announced
Not only wasn’t there enough , Morrison and his cronies had to ask Poland and now Singapore
According to the TGA, Ivermectin is “a prescription medicine that is not approved in Australia (or in other OECD countries) to prevent or treat COVID-19 disease, and should not be imported for this indication”. But the lack of TGA approval hasn’t stopped people like Craig Kelly from promoting its alleged COVID-19 benefits.
Despite there being no clinical evidence to support the theory that ivermectin can treat COVID-19, more Australians are importing the horse drug than ever before. And, as you’d expect, it doesn’t look like its for deworming their horses.
“The TGA works closely with the Australian Border Force to detect potentially unlawful imports of therapeutic goods for assessment by the TGA. As a result of this work, detections of ivermectin have increased significantly, more than tenfold,” a TGA spokesperson told The Guardian Australia.
“An unexpected increase in consumer demand resulted in a recent shortage of Stromectol 3mg ivermectin tablets between 2 August 2021 to 20 August 2021. This shortage has been resolved.”
When it comes to “worst opposition party eva” the current WA State Libs would surely be a nominee. Take 1 “duopoly party’ and create a lower house caucus which looks like this,
Morrison looks deflated and defeated
Scott
If only…
@WalshFreedom tweets
I helped to radicalize the Republican Party base. And for that, I am profoundly sorry. And I am dedicating the rest of my active life to do what I can to deradicalize them.
I’m hoping that WA holds out on opening our borders until we reach at least 80 percent of over 12’s vaccinated.
The vaccination doesn’t prevent people from transmitting the virus and the health risks may be ameliorated but in all age groups with other health issues getting covid will still be a long illness or even a death sentence .
Then the issue for many families will be the likelihood that your younger children and grandchildren will get sick. In general parents are in favour of vaccinating their children so they don’t have to worry about illnesses, it will be hard to accept that we will open up knowing we are potentially putting them at risk. This in my opinion will result in some parents deciding not to risk child care and if children do get ill the Mums will be tasked with staying home and doing the caring, this will negatively affect womens careers and family incomes. What will be the economic toll if families stop going to restaurants and other social outing because of the increased risk of bringing home covid. You can justify going to work and taking the chance, but going to a party might not be as popular.
We have endured 18 months of this virus, some have had it easier than others. It would be a shame to throw in the towel now when in six months we could have higher vaccinations across an extended age base and maybe even as young as six months.
So I am not thinking we will be sheltered forever but I don’t see an upside to throwing in the towel just yet.
@crikey_news tweets
Who’s up for a mass act of political trolling? Since Craig Kelly is spamming people’s mobiles, why not give him a dose of his own medicine?
@BernardKeane offers several ways to hack Kelly and the UAP – and the contact details to do it [Unlocked] #auspol
https://www.crikey.com.au/2021/08/31/hacking-kelly-how-to-let-craig-kelly-spammer-know-how-you-feel/
Expat Follower @ #881 Tuesday, August 31st, 2021 – 1:16 pm
Brave to assume that voters who have rewarded effective covid management (as in, placing the priority on public health and eliminating covid down to zero when outbreaks occur) at every opportunity will suddenly turn around and do the opposite. And merely on the basis of NSW having fucked up, and then started running the line that disaster was inevitable to cover for it, no less.
Literally the only reason why we have lockdowns going on right now is because one state wasn’t serious about doing covid zero. Covid zero isn’t the problem; letting public health be the priority is the best way to minimize lockdowns and other restrictions. Doing anything else self-defeats, brings in harsher (and longer) restrictions, and gets people killed.
If Morrison wants to fight an election on those grounds, let him. 🙂
‘TPOF says:
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 1:49 pm
Expat follower
The question of perspective is very interesting. Outrage at where we are at given where the previous six months had been;…’
_______________________________
We just got an extra fortnight solely because Berejiklian exported the disease to the ACT. She should stop jibberjabbering and resign now.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E-Fww28X0AEU3KG?format=jpg&name=large
Trump sold Afghanistan to Taliban
Mike Pompeo with Taliban leader
TPOF:
interesting to me is comparing us to what ScoMo is advocating to what the EU are doing. I think we can agree that the EU in general are not right wing zealots? They have reached a vax point, there is a channel of free movement now, and there are mortalities and infections per capita well in excess of NSW. On what basis have they chosen this path? Could it be for reasons that might resonate here too? Yes in a perfect world there would be zero covid – but my honest belief is that if the price to pay is endless border closure and snap lockdown for new cases… more Australians will eventually vote for De Santis than this as a long term reality
AR:
“If Morrison wants to fight an election on those grounds, let him” – well its not really a question of if, he is signalling this pretty explicitly isnt he? And as much as you obviously hate the idea, he has a very good chance of winning it on that basis. Making him out to be De Santis or Abbott is just puerile nonsense and only extreme tribal diehards will be persuaded by that – worse still be comforted that its just so true then he cant possibly win an election. One could argue he is in fact heading towards an EU position, hardly the bastion of republican rednecks
Boerwar:
resign now eh… i’m sure you were bloviating that with full gusto at Gilliard, at Biden, at Whitlam, at Keating circa 1991. Give it a rest – it convinces nobody of anything other than you being a tribal diehard, which i dont think anyone needs convincing of
”
Expat Followersays:
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 1:16 pm
Hugo,
I agree with your post and those are the questions we’re going to increasingly be asking.
Calls for Scomo/Gladys to resign for screwing things up… yeah well good luck with that, about as much chance of Biden resigning for screwing up the Afghanistan evac.
Having said that, there’s a very good chance of seeing 2000 cases a day in the next 10 days with an Reff of 1.2+. The chance of containing this outbreak at relatively insignificant levels in NSW was 2 months ago and is long gone.
Calls for covid zero – well, lets see if they remain mainstream relevant or a nice idea while it lasted… hard to preserve and requiring a bunch of settings that suck as years pass. Am pretty sure ScoMo would love an election on that basis.
The question of perspective is very interesting. Outrage at where we are at given where the previous six months had been; on the other hand, given where most other countries are at, our predicament such as it is remains pretty mild relatively speaking. Those of us who have people elsewhere in the world, find this frothing at the mouth just a little ott… we are incredibly fortunate here.
Coalition taking a polling beating for obvious reasons at where we are at, but have an opportunity to turn that towards the end of the year. ALP have an opportunity to embed the idea that they are ready and trustworthy to take the reins. Guess psephologically, we shall see what happens
”
You criticise Albanese although he is opposition leader endlessly although ALP leads on polls 54-46 but you don’t criticise Morrison for his approach. Why don’t you criticise Morrison, who is the PM of this country?
”
C@tmommasays:
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 12:48 pm
Ven @ #801 Tuesday, August 31st, 2021 – 11:45 am
”
phoenixREDsays:
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 11:17 am
U.S. COVID update: Nearly 265,000 new cases as many states dump weekend backlogs
– New cases: 264,629 ………………………. – New deaths: 1,661
– In hospital: 100,854 (+673)
– In ICU: 25,883 (+240)
656,379 total deaths now
”
Staggering numbers. Is there outrage over these numbers either on this blog or in US Media outlets like there was about other countries with far lesser numbers?
The numbers are there even after more than half the US population is fully vaccinated.
Ven, have you acknowledged you attempted to mislead us yesterday with that Twitter video of the Indian vlogger? So, how can we believe you today then, Ven?
”
I did not mislead anybody. I just presented a video which looked authentic.
The numbers I commented are based on PhoenixRed numbers
The election date has been called, then?
If Labor can’t win on that basis, they don’t deserve to. Though the same could be said of 2019, I suppose…
Though on what basis do you make that claim? It can’t be polls, because those have the Coalition well behind at the moment. And even the covid-specific polls are a mixed bag with something for everyone depending upon how the questions were phrased.
Expat Follower,
“but my honest belief is that if the price to pay is endless border closure and snap lockdown for new cases… more Australians will eventually vote for De Santis than this as a long term reality”
Do not fear – that is not the price. We will open up. It is a matter of WHEN. The simple facts of the matter are as follows:
Problem
20% of our population is aged below 15 years. We need them vaccinated to get anywhere close to herd immunity.
Solution
1. Open up before children are vaccinated = a shit show of overwhelming hospitalisation, ICU use and death,
OR
2. Open after the children are vaccinated = spot fires and outbreaks. Ongoing low-level restrictions and intermittent moderate/high level restrictions required.
Implications
Solution 2 timeline doesn’t work out for the next Federal election. it also doesn’t work out for NSW and maybe Victoria due to ongoing higher level restrictions. ACT should be OK.
That is why Morrison is in such trouble and why Berejiklian is enabling him.
”
guytaursays:
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 12:49 pm
@michellegrattan tweets
Today another change of tone by PM. More understanding of states that are resisting him. What has driven this?
”
Newspoll
The vaccine numbers are becoming incoherent. Briggs is right about the missing Victorian component and the NSW figure must include the numbers missing on Saturday.
“casey briggs
@CaseyBriggs
·
6m
GEE WILLIKERS! 276,925* vaccine doses reported across Australia today. By state:
ACT: 8,508
NSW: 148,297 (daily record!)
NT: 1,898
QLD: 34,616
SA: 14,468
TAS: 5,159
VIC: 41,690*
WA: 22,289
*It looks like Victoria’s state-run clinic doses are missing again today”
Morrison should have done a deal with the big time drug importers to obtain Pfizer. They obviously know how to obtain supplies of their product, organise importation and distribute within Australia.
They certainly wouldn’t do a worse job than Morrison, Hunt and Murphy.
Expat
“Calls for covid zero – well, lets see if they remain mainstream relevant or a nice idea while it lasted… hard to preserve and requiring a bunch of settings that suck as years pass.”
Might I point out that Gladys’s promise/belief/projection (call it what you like) that cases will peak in October has an underlying assumption about the effect of vaccines + current restriction settings which will, if you crank the handle, result in covid zero around Xmas/New Year.
Not that I think Gladys won’t then ease restrictions in order to keep cases flowing, but I’m just pointing out that covid zero is technically possible (if you believe Gladys’s unstated assumptions) and its not years away. We do have a choice about this.
Or put another way, if Gladys were to choose covid zero, we’d see it in January and Gladys/Scomo would pick up the kudos for it. Of course they’re not going to do this but lets look at the alternative.
Short of covid zero, Gladys could follow two approaches.
1. Attempt to “titrate” the case load versus restrictions, starting with minor “freedoms” in October. This is good PR for a while but a) cases WILL continue to rise (from somewhere between 4 and 8 thousands to closer to 10 thousand by the end of October) and this will inevitably result in horror stories and it won’t be good economically as only the brave will shop anyhow. Also there will be more protests over the lack of “real freedom”. A pyric victory.
2. Ease restrictions sooner. That’ll buy votes from the freedom lovers. But it will see cases head way past ten thousand and almost certainly see a near disaster health wise. Plus, limited economic effect anyhow.
So, if Gladys/Scomo weren’t idiots, they’d go for covid zero in the short term (January) and millions of people would go back to having real freedoms. A win-win for them. But, they’re idiots.
It’s taken a pandemic to unequivocally demonstrate that Morrison & his underlings are almost completely inept, other than at rorting, lying & prattling, which they’re most proficient at. And had it not been for C.19, the Morrison Government’s failings would not have been put under the microscope in the manner it has.
Yes, there’s been much suffering & death through the pandemic but in relative terms, we’ve done pretty well.
But that has little to do with Morrison who should’ve foreseen that viruses mutate and planned accordingly. He more or less sat on his posterior, failing to procure sufficient vaccines, failed in his duty to provide adequate quarantine facilities, stuffed up the logistics of the roll-out, and arguably worst of all, emboldened Berejiklian to proceed on what appears to be a disastrous path on the specious basis that vaccination of 70 to 80% of the adult population will result in the economy returning to normal – whatever normal is now.
This country is extremely fortunate to have three Labor premiers who each in their own way have placed fetters on Morrison’s extremely questionable judgment. Without them, who incidentally rate well in the latest Essential, this country’s hospital infrastructure could have collapsed as it has in other countries.
Now I see that Morrison’s back-peddling in his threat to withdraw financial support to the so-called recalcitrant states, and after defending Job Keeper overpayments in QT yesterday, Harvey Norman has thrown sand in Frydenburg’s face by undertaking to repay some of the monies it was overpaid.
Labor’s pursuit of this government should continue unabated as it’s resulting in political dividends. Lastly,
although C.19 may be contained by year’s end, I doubt that it will result in a reversal of Morrison’s standing. He had the chance to lead but has failed miserably.
What a bit of public pressure can achieve:
Expat
“but my honest belief is that if the price to pay is endless border closure and snap lockdown for new cases… more Australians will eventually vote for De Santis than this as a long term reality”
Umm.. if we want covid zero forever then we need at the very least very good quarantine at the international border. However, as I’ve said before, there’s a very big difference between opening up prematurely and opening up at a time when it is possible to slip into effective herd immunity. The difference is a matter of months.
Ven
I am no fan of Morrison but i am more interested in a strategy and approach that is going to win the next election. I know what ScoMo is going to do, i can see why he is doing it… rather than bandwagon on “ScoMo sux” i would like to see Albanese actually step up and do what he needs to do to win. Actually more than that, i would like him to do something to positively earn my vote than depend on my distaste for ScoMo. You can choose to resent this as “Albo sux” if you must.
Disliking the incumbent is no guarantee of winning if you cant positively show that you are up to the job yourself. And if you can accept the mere possibility that the reasons ScoMo is in the crapper atm might not exist to the same degree by April/May next year, then the need to positively show that you can be trusted to lead only gets higher.
I obviously accept the 54-46 reflects ScoMo being in the crapper, and accept the obvious reasons for why that is the case. But i disagree that this is “hardened” locked swing.
I criticise Albo’s approach it presents like De La Hoya against Trinidad. I frikkin went nuts at Hilary Clinton in 2016 too, doesnt mean i wanted Trump to win.
Ven
The worst part is we could easily follow the US.
The US is 52% fully vaccinated plus they have a large fraction of the population who have already been infected. That’s equivalent to Scomo’s “80%”
One might argue that its unevenly distributed. But vaccinations are unevenly distributed here too. And we’ve not heard a peep about targets being met in every town/city/cohort.
Mavis @ #924 Tuesday, August 31st, 2021 – 3:01 pm
…’three Labor premiers’
And two Labor Chief Ministers….
Surely Murdoch wouldn’t be encouraging these imbeciles?
FREEDOM OF CHOICE’
Protests break out across Australia
Hundreds of people have gathered at dozens of locations around the country in a sign of defiance against vaccines and lockdowns.
By ELLEN RANSLEY
Lockdown ‘leaders’ hold a losing hand
Australians have delivered a warning shot to self-interested politicians: support for lockdowns is waning, and people are desperate to emerge into a new normal.
By EDITORIAL
Expat
A couple of things. I think people have over-rated Scomo and the level of expert advice he has behind him. He’s living in a bubble full of optimistic opinions. He’s compromised a modeller (Doherty). He believes in Divine intervention. In short, he’s gonna get mugged by reality.
So I’m not too worried (in the political sense) by the idea that Scomo will buy votes from copying Borris. Its gonna get real ugly and its going to persist well into the new year.
I agree with you that its hard for Albo to get media attention, or get much mileage out of having good (bold, visionary, nation building) policies. I’m not sure that’s going to change either. In fact I predict that even if the election is held next May, it will be to a backdrop of very high levels of covid in Sydney and quite likely closed state borders. Not a great environment for campaigning. Plus we’ll see a gigantic increase in pre-voting. So much so the election will be decided a week or two before the election.
There will be no rays of sunshine. Not in Sydney anyhow. There’s an endless supply of uninfected people.
Expat
Mavis summed it up. The pandemic has exposed the LNP. Especially in the Morrison hope of NSW.
The voters in the marginal seats are being punished. They are singled out and know the Eastern suburbs did not have to deal with insomnia due to police helicopters flying overhead.
All because the LNP have put ideology ahead of health just to stop people seeing that a UBI style income gives stability. Too late the voters saw UBI in action and how people survived the long lockdown thanks to them.
The whole country was united and Morrison was reaping political dividends.
The LNP cannot hide that failure in those SW suburbs of Sydney. Just as the LNP cannot hide it was always a race to vaccinate people.
That incompetence so obvious and affecting people directly. Others will remember it at the ballot box. Kevin Rudd pulled a masterstroke politically getting his name attached to bringing in Pfizer. It totally derailed the LNP propaganda effort.
Edit: Labor’s he had two jobs is getting under the LNP skin for good reasons. They see the polling
Cud – i’m not even sure we are disagreeing.
Its a matter of months, i am absolutely inclined to agree with you.
Take a step back and look at the narrative here, ScoMo is leading the discussion towards a point of opening up based on vax penetration. Yes, literally laissez-faire opening everything in toto at the instant that 70% of over 16 yr olds is double vaxxed would carry the same risk that the EU seem to be comfortable taking. So he could possibly go for it on that basis. Do you allow for the possibility that he is putting this out there to drive a more general acceptance level with the philosophy but wont literally do it that way? This is a three month discussion before the issue of doing anything at all even arises. What he is doing is owning the discussion… that is a good medium-term position to be in. Albo, by contrast, is absolutely nowhere.
Again just one point of perspective… which country has taken a more conservative risk-averse approach to covid than Australia/NZ?? this auto kneejerk that we’re facing Bolsonaro armageddon is hysteria.
The worst kept secret in AFL. WA to host AFL GF
The “How I learned to Live with the Covid (bomb) and Love It” crowd are disingenuous in that they are unwilling to put any type of death figure on their “let it rip” approach. All you get from them is mealy-mouthed references to such as …………..”Look who many are dying from the flu/alcoholism/smoking/road deaths/family violence/suicide/shark attack ……..”ad nauseum……as if these unfortunate events (many preventable) are some kind of rational comparison.
When the likes of Morrison (which he will not do) is willing to state – when 70-80% of double jabs are completed, there will be x, y or z number of deaths….then he might have some credibility. Even more honest from him would be to suggest who it is among the Oz population who are most likely to die…… ?
For those that missed it.
@coopesdetat tweets
“You can manage a pandemic of the unvaccinated when the unvaccinated is a small group” – @DanielAndrewsMP
Guytaur,
with respect i think you overestimate the level of irredeemable hatred out there. I am not disputing current levels of frustration as evidenced in the polls
can i ask you a question – do you think if Gladys was facing an election this saturday that she would lose it? because i dont think she would – and trust me that is not because i think she hasnt royally messed things up here back in early July
Expat
In a normal election i would be arguing that Morrison isn’t out of it but the vibe amongst conservative voters is dark and this is why the vibe reminds me of the early 1990s when it was conservative voters that were angry.
Murdoch’s DT and Hun landing pages just now.
DT – No new cases and no lockdown in NSW but Morrison gives us a present of 500,000 vaccines.
Vic – Absolute disaster in Vic but Morrison gives us a present of 500,000 vaccines.
Well well well. To give some context……
Re MONICA SMIT
After she failed to find fame as a Survivor contestant in 2017, Monica Smit has found another high-profile career: as a firebrand of the anti-mask-wearing movement and a ferocious critic of the Victorian premier, Dan Andrews.
According to her website, Reignite Democracy Australia (RDA), the 31-year-old Smit was motivated by her personal outrage at restrictions imposed by Andrews in July as the Covid-19 infections surged in the state. But there is much more to Reignite Democracy and Smit than meets the eye – and certainly more than is disclosed on the site.
In 2017 Smit was selling project home designs. In late 2019 she restyled herself as a hobby journalist and by mid-2020 had become an activist and wannabe YouTube celebrity.
How Victoria’s Covid lockdown protests are galvanising Australia’s right
She is part of a cabal of mainly far-right activists who are leading the charge against mask wearing, mandatory testing for those in quarantine or isolation, and vaccination. Their claims vary from concerns about civil liberties and health fears to conspiracy theories involving Chinese influence.
https://t.co/uds6RjxGPF
Anyhoo she was arrested today for incitement.
If as believed, she is controlled opposition, the fiberals in Victoria wont be happy. Lol. Happy days….
The exasperation though https://t.co/2dy9ziKVqK
expat follower,
“Yes, literally laissez-faire opening everything in toto at the instant that 70% of over 16 yr olds is double vaxxed would carry the same risk that the EU seem to be comfortable taking. ”
No it is not the same risk. For those jurisdictions currently without Covid, the risk is immeasurably greater (there is a zero in the equation!). For those currently with Covid the risk is also much greater.
Why do I say this? You have ignored the proportion that have already been infected with a reasonable level of immunity.
You have now posted over 20 posts over the last couple of days maintaining that the Morrison strategy is potentially election-winning and that Albanese needs to improve his presence. I pointed to bludgertrack that shows that Albanese has improved. I claim that you also haven’t factored in the black swan event of COVID as you keep maintaining it may be over by the election. It won’t. As you haven’t changed your argument or explained the reason for the improvement in Albanese’s numbers, it looks like we are at an impasse 🙂
Expat
The reason is simple. Despite the propaganda the reality hits home.
Morrison has done a Trump with the Pandemic. His actions have told the story and Labor will use those failures to defeat Morrison.
Remember I am not talking landslide though it could well be. It’s enough for a few thousand in a few marginal seats to change their vote. The best indication is that like with Marriage Equality right wing groups are gaining political momentum as political parties splitting the right wing vote.
The right knows it’s in trouble. The right knows they need to use every trick in the book to cover up their failure as your reply to me indicates.
It’s not the voters will forget. It’s the voters know Morrison kept them in lockdown longer by his failures. Edit: And Morrison cost them income as well. The Franking credits thing working against the LNP.
Expat Follower is just so transparent. Everything they say is designed to fuel doubt in the possibility of Labor winning. I’d say it probably represents a distillation of what is being discussed in government circles as an election strategy. They obviously have good connections.
I wouldn’t comment on anything specific that they say becasue it will probably be fed back to be used to fine tune the strategy. Best not to help your opponents improve their game.
MexB – I seriously think the outrage on the conservative side in NSW is that Gladys has locked down TOO MUCH as opposed to not enough!
i dont know where you get this dark vibe among conservative voters from… those i know are obviously not doing cartwheels atm but were in a far worse place in 2018-19 at peak leadership mayhem.
im not saying this as a defence of them but we were in a feelgood place only 10 weeks ago and are all now in a state of delta system shock + trauma. I dont think its safe to assume that current shock/trauma levels will persist through to May 2022 for many reasons
Thousands of Australians have unleashed on state governments around the country by holding a series of coordinated ‘silent protests’ against never-ending lockdowns and compulsory Covid-19 vaccination.
There were 69 separate demonstrations across NSW alone on Tuesday, with police arresting 135 for breaking health orders banning gatherings to stop the spread of Covid-19.
NSW Police confirmed by 1pm they’d handed out 436 fines across the state.
Similar protests have been seen outside government buildings and police stations in Melbourne and Queensland in what has been dubbed ‘Shut Down Australia Day’.
While the rallies were meant to be peaceful, the Queensland Parliament building was forced to lock down after one protester tried to break into the chamber.
ajm
Their problem is it’s too late. Not just Expat. Labor can be fully up front. It’s voters giving the LNP consequences for their actions. Voters will not forget they were in lockdown longer thanks to the LNP.
I’m not sure its accurate to say Albo and federal Labor have put all their eggs in the Covid basket. They’ve been going hard on other things lately too, like the government’s many rorts, the need for a federal anti-corruption commission, and the recent changes to Medicare.
It should be remembered that while the the government’s current polling position is almost certainly the result of the bungled rollout and the latest outbreaks, the decline started sometime before that, during the Christian Porter and Brittany Higgins revelations.
If everybody is mostly vaccinated by the end of the year, we are able to safely open up, and the election is called for early next year, then, yeah, Labor will probably have to change direction somewhat. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t value in focussing on the Coalition’s many stuff-ups re Covid right now, when it is relevant.
Personally, I think Albo’s mostly taking the right approach for this point in the electoral cycle. Then again, I spent six years believing Shorten was doing a great job as opposition leader too, so it’s quite possible that I simply have no idea what I’m talking about.
“Look at us, we’re ever so peacefully bringing you the gift of plague, infection, and death!”
Also, vocal minority.
My view, as I’ve expressed here prevoiusly, is Labor should run against the Government on three key planks.
1. Incompetent – COVID – align you strategy not just to deal with THIS pandemic, but be ready for the next one – and the opportunity for further research.
2. Cold – the Bushfires and COVID – the millons not yet reaching communities – running off to Hawaii. The PM going missing during key COVID periods, abandoning jobkeeper too soon – outline a plan to deliver all promised support and have an economic recovery strategy in place
3. Corrupt – allowing mates to keep Jobkeeper underspends, rorts etc etc. – Federal ICAC.
Labor is talking about all of this, but it will have to come together once the public has the headspace for a Federal campaign.
@Asha – I think Shorten did do a good job as OL – but he failed in that core requirement. He went too hard on policy reform, to an electorate that wasn’t convinced and he allowed Labor and Shorten himself to become the story of the election.
The parallels between Shorten and Hewson in 1993 are pretty strong, and Albo is clearly doing everything possible to avoid that path.
Expat
I get the vibe from conservative people and you can see it in the polling because Morrison’s approval ratings has dropped from 68 to 49 and looking back at 2019 is misleading because after the ALP ran a bad campaign Morrison only won 76 seats.