First up, please note two other important posts above and below this one: the former asking for money, the latter offering an opportunity for on-topic discussion about the Senate election to mark the happy occasion of the publication of my new Senate election guide, complementing the already published seat-by-seat guide to the House.
With that out of the way, three new items of federal election news to ring in the new year:
• State MP Andrew Constance is now effectively confirmed as the Liberal candidate for the key seat of Gilmore on the New South Wales South Coast, which forms a major part of the government’s re-election strategy given its hope that Constance can recover a seat that was lost in 2019. His main rival, Shoalhaven Heads lawyer Paul Ell, withdrew from the race last week, saying he had formed the view that Constance was best placed to win, a view that was backed by a Liberal source quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald based on party polling. Others to withdraw over the past fortnight were Jemma Tribe, a charity operator and former Shoalhaven councillor, and Stephen Hayes, a former RAAF officer and staffer to Christopher Pyne, who said he was concerned he would face Section 44 issues due to his business dealings with the government.
• The Liberal candidate to succeed Christian Porter in the northern Perth seat of Pearce is Linda Aitken, a nurse and Wanneroo councillor who has run unsuccessfully three times for the state seat of Butler. Peter Law of The West Australian reports Aitken won a ballot of local party members ahead of Miquela Riley, a former navy officer who ran unsuccessfully for the state seat of Fremantle in March, by 31 votes to 23. Aitken is a member of the Victory Life Church, founded by tennis champion and noted social conservative Margaret Court. Riley had conservative credentials of her own, with earlier reports suggesting she had support from The Clan, the factional group that achieved notoriety after an extensive WhatsApp discussion between its principals was leaked to the media.
• Elizabeth Henson of The Advertiser reports a uComms phone poll of 828 respondents for the Australia Institute suggested Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie to be headed for another comfortable win in her Adelaide Hills seat of Mayo, with a 58.5-41.5 lead over the Liberals on two-party preferred, compared with her 55.1-44.9 winning margin over Liberal candidate Georgina Downer in 2019. The primary vote figures quoted are 30.9% for Sharkie, 30.8% for the Liberals, 13.3% for Labor, 7.7% for the Greens, 6.5% for One Nation, 3.3% for the United Australia Party and 3.0% for independents, with the spare 4.5% presumably being undecided. As reported on the Australia Institute website, the poll also found overwhelming support for an integrity commission and truth in political advertising laws.
Re a r Tue at 8.57 pm
The extroverts are running rampant in Ireland.
Prof. Christina Pagel
@chrischirp
·
8h
i still can’t get over that positivity rate
Quote Tweet
COVID-19 Data Ireland
@COVID19DataIE
· 11h
20154 positive swabs, 56.93% positivity on 35,402 tests.
7 day test positivity is 50.3%.
– Tuesday, January 4th 2022
#COVID19Ireland
“Adam Liaw
@adamliaw
Guys, it’s important to note we don’t *know* Djokovic got an exemption because he’s a famous tennis player. It might have just been because he’s rich.”
I know executives at a US based multinational have been flying in and out all pandemic (they did have to do the 14 days in WA hotel quarantine, but in their own chosen 6 star hotel) without regard to the rules that applied to the rest of us. Why would a super rich tennis player be subject to any rules? That isn’t how neo-feudal late capitalism works.
Lars Von Trier @ #2933 Wednesday, January 5th, 2022 – 9:29 am
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/05/victorian-catholic-diocese-found-vicariously-liable-for-child-sexual-abuse-in-landmark-ruling
The survivor said the church’s approach to the case had caused him significant distress. “They wanted to drag me through it, and they dragged me through it.”
He had been cross-examined for three days and forced to relive painful memories.
The church argued Coffey’s home visits were “social outings” not connected to his work for the church.
The judge in the case, Justice Jack Forrest, described the suggestion as “sheer nonsense”.
I suggest, l’arse, that you get on to Justice Jack Forrest, and explain to him that he is just a bigot, like Paisley. As usual, your contribution is disingenuous, insincere drivel, which avoids the point actually being made.
Liberal ideology, incompetence, stupidities and cynicism are responsible for the RATS debacle.
On a polling note…usually the media, the politicians and the electorate get a break from politics over Xmas/NY. This usually helps re-set the mood and lifts the approval ratings for incumbents. Obviously covid has upset that cyclical swing this year. So covid continues to frame politics and this surely will be the dominant factor in the election, whenever it’s held.
Covid is changing behaviours and expectancies in all kinds of ways. It is also revealing the very deep ideological fixity of the Liberals. They are constitutionally incapable of handling the pandemic. They just can’t do it.
Yabba one case doesn’t make an entire organisation criminal.
Based on your logic – Keith wright was a paedophile and leader of the Qld alp – so the whole organisation should be so tainted.
yabba says:
Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 10:02 am
Spot on, yabba.
The now you see me/now you don’t argument submitted by the diocese is about as disingenuous as it’s possible to get. It is extraordinary that they tried it on. They have done whatever they can to utterly discredit themselves.
Domicron doing a presser saying nothing.
Griff
“The offences for which Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty were “sex trafficking of a minor, enticing a minor to travel to engage in criminal sexual activity, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and three counts of conspiracy.”
You consider these ” hardly the most egregious of offences”.
Others think differently.
——————-
Absolutely agree. If that’s not egregious I’m not sure what is – irrespective of any comparison with sentencing of other notorious criminals. One thing that does stand out however is that so far the only criminal to be punished as a result of Epstein’s criminal and predatory behaviour is a woman. The other men involved (apart from the deceased Epstein himself) have so far suffered no legal consequences.
Sportsbet. Lab $1.58. LNP $2.32
”
sprocket_says:
Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 9:01 am
”
We:meet and beat’ Health Hazzard prediction of 25000 cases/ day by 10000. What a proud it must be for Health Hazzard that we obliged him.
Come on down Mr. Hazzard for your felicitation.
Another spike in case numbers and more deaths in NSW and VICTORIA was to be expected. However, I am cynical about the Government giving the impression that OMICRON is no big deal and we have to “learn to live with it” like we do the common flu.
I don’t believe the furphy that Corona Virus is the same as the flu in many ways and that the death rates are similar.
ABS statistics for January to October 2021 showed
“There were 1,816 deaths due to influenza and pneumonia recorded between January and October 2021. All but two deaths in this category were due to pneumonia.”
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/provisional-mortality-statistics/latest-release
The common flu accounted for 2 deaths in 10 months in 2021 including the peak flu season.
In comparison, in December 2021 235 people of died of Covid in Australia of a total of 2,239 since the pandemic began back in January 2020.
https://www.covid19data.com.au/deaths
8 people in one nursing home in Tasmania were reported to have the virus yesterday. Who knows if it is Delta or Omicron. You have to wonder if they are going to “live with it” or not.
All I’m hearing from Perrottet is “get a booster”, “get a booster”.
Lars Von Trier says:
Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 10:12 am
Yabba one case doesn’t make an entire organisation criminal.
One case? You are out of your cotton-pickin. There was a Royal Commission into these matters. (Thank you, Julia Gillard.) The abuse of children by persons in positions of trust was/is endemic. Access to the legal process by those abused is fundamentally important. In this case, the original abuse by the cleric has been supplemented by attempted abuse at law. Fortunately the court was having none of it.
I don’t like Socialist. They destroyed India
————————
A simplification at best. A vast, diverse country with a complicated history. I have heard compelling arguments that socialism in India (other than a few areas) never really took hold. That may be socialism’s fault, or poor implementation. Or corruption. Or simply stating the obvious that cookie cutter solutions from other places don’t work; ideologies and policies must be tailored to local conditions and cultures.
If you are looking for a wrecking ball, look no further than the British.
Paul Bongiorno
@PaulBongiorno
Replying to
@vanOnselenP
Red tape for the “untrustworthy poor” – let it rip with billions of unaccountable dollars for rich mates. JobKeeper the biggest waste of taxpayers dollars since Federation: $20 billion making Pink Batts miserly and school halls parsimonious,
”
Vensays:
Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 10:14 am
”
sprocket_says:
Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 9:01 am
We ‘meet and beat’ Health Hazzard prediction of 25000 cases/ day by 10000. What a proud it must be for Health Hazzard that we obliged him.
Come on down Mr. Hazzard for your felicitation
”
The positivity rate is 32% with 108844 tests. i.e. 1 in 3 people are testing positive to COVID-21.
Yes briefly – there has been more than one paedo unmasked in the alp.
Still it doesn’t make the alp institutionally paedo – nor would the same apply to the Catholics.
I thought Libertarians didn’t tell people what to do and how to live their life.
”
Simon Katichsays:
Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 10:19 am
I don’t like Socialist. They destroyed India
————————
A simplification at best. A vast, diverse country with a complicated history. I have heard compelling arguments that socialism in India (other than a few areas) never really took hold. That may be socialism’s fault, or poor implementation. Or corruption. Or simply stating the obvious that cookie cutter solutions from other places don’t work; ideologies and policies must be tailored to local conditions and cultures.
If you are looking for a wrecking ball, look no further than the British.
”
Ok let us discuss other countries, which implemented ‘socialism’.
What is U.S.S.R.? Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Look how it turned out implementing So called ‘Socialism’ or
Yugoslavia
“Paul Bongiorno
@PaulBongiorno
Replying to
@vanOnselenP
Red tape for the “untrustworthy poor” – let it rip with billions of unaccountable dollars for rich mates. JobKeeper the biggest waste of taxpayers dollars since Federation: $20 billion making Pink Batts miserly and school halls parsimonious,”
So GG I’m guessing PvO was on the side of the rich mates, not so much the ‘untrustworthy poor’ and definitely in ScoMo’s corner, with some welfare queen fiction logic driving him?
Simon Katich @ #2964 Wednesday, January 5th, 2022 – 7:19 am
Also I wouldn’t think that socialism fits very well into the caste system.
Lars Von Trier @ #2955 Wednesday, January 5th, 2022 – 10:12 am
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child:
“The Vatican’s moral authority has been left in tatters by a United Nations report condemning the Catholic Church’s “code of silence” on paedophile priests, allowing known sex offenders to continue working with children.
Following their interrogation of senior Holy See figures, UN children’s rights experts have lambasted the church for allowing clerical abuse to go on unchecked for decades, for its continued refusal to admit the extent
of the problem, and its failure to adopt adequate measures to prevent further crimes. The investigators estimate that “tens of thousands of children worldwide” have been sexually abused by clerics.”
L’arse, old wet fart, as usual, your contribution is disingenuous, insincere drivel, which avoids the point actually being made. Give up, while you’re behind.
(Note the use of ‘you’re’, as opposed to ‘your’. You inadvertently display your general ignorance on a regular basis)
Albo gets Labor on board the free RAT express.
Andrew Brown
@AndrewBrownAU
Just in: Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has changed track and is now calling for RATs to be made free for everyone. Previously he had said it should be affordable
10:28 AM · Jan 5, 2022·Twitter for iPhone
Lars, that’s a very flawed comparison.
Now, if there had been, say, hundreds of Labor MPs preying on children for decades on end, and an orchestrated effort by the upper echelons of the ALP to cover up these crimes by paying off the victims and moving perpetrators to new electorates where they could escape the heat and spend years abusing a brand new set of kids… Then you might have a point.
This wasn’t a case of a couple of bad apples giving the rest a bad name. This was a decades-long (at the very least) conspiracy to cover-up the existence of truly shocking number of kiddie fiddlers in their ranks, cover-ups which further traumatised the victims and resulted in the abuse of far more children than would have happened if the bastards had just been reported to the police in the first place.
Ultimately, if the Catholic Church didn’t want a reputation for enabling paedophiles, they probably shouldn’t have enabled all those paedophiles. They have only themselves to blame for this situation.
max, as you’re on the board, I’d really appreciate a link to that Conversations with Norman Swann, whom I enjoy and respect, where you say he speaks about Andrews time in Vic Health. This one is the most recent I can find, and this goes back to June 2021, but nothing referencing Andrews time as Vic Health Minister that I can pick up.
My previous ask slipped past you. Thanks in advance.
Australia to bat on an apparently humid Sydney day.
Trump abruptly cancels planned Jan. 6th speech — then throws tantrum at Capitol riot probe
Former President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his planned speech on the anniversary of the Capitol riots on January 6th.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Trump said he was cancelling the speech “in light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media.”
He then went on to lob insults at members of the committee, as well as assorted political foes, including “Adam Schifty Schiff” and “Crazy Nancy Pelosi.”
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-speech-on-january-6-2656222027/
Perrotet just threw Morrison under the bus – saying money is no object so everyone in NSW who needs a RAT will get them.
So what’s the problem, Mr Morrison?
Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #2950 Wednesday, January 5th, 2022 – 9:58 am
Why should there be any need to subsidise something that should only cost a couple of dollars?
—
Tell me where I can get a RAT for ” a couple of dollars “. Even the boss of Chemist Warehouse is calling on the Government to do something because RAT is cost prohibitive to many people.
BREAKING: The rollout of payments to qualifying applicants for rapid antigen tests has been delayed until a tailored RAT robodebt system can be developed and instituted.
Greensborough Growler @ #2966 Wednesday, January 5th, 2022 – 9:24 am
Oversimplification. Libertarians seek to maximize personal freedoms/civil liberties. Leads to conflict when some people exercise their freedom to be an asshole in a way that takes away freedoms and liberties from others.
Classic example is the wedding-cake shop refusing to serve same-sex couples because the owner’s religion says that gay people are icky or whatever. Have to come down on one side or the other; you either sit idly by and let a business trample the civil liberties of an unpopular minority group, or you tell them that as a for-profit business they don’t get to discriminate on which customers they serve.
A proper libertarian does the latter thing, because 1) businesses and corporate entities aren’t people and don’t need their freedoms and liberties protected and maximized, and 2) businesses exist to make profit and not to have or promulgate any particular religious view, and 3) they’re the ones choosing to be the asshole; the people getting married haven’t done anything wrong or harmful to anyone.
Phew! Now it’s on to the secondary and primary mirror deployments.
Sunshield Successfully Deploys on NASA’s Next Flagship Telescope
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/sunshield-successfully-deploys-on-nasa-s-next-flagship-telescope
The point is that RAT price is not a once only cost, it may be required daily (or more) for employment or contract work, such as tradesmen visiting several houses.
Any insight into these circumstances, let alone general appreciation of employment hierarchies, would confirm that they are only *allowed* to speak anonymously, either by direct threat or by implication for future working conditions. I know nurses who never speak out because they would never be granted the privilege of an honest reference in the job market, once the position that they dared voice ill of had been rendered intolerable, by the likes of impossibly difficult rostering, for example.
Victoria records 17,636 COVID-19 cases, 11 deaths, hospitalisations rise to 591
lizzie @ #2634 Wednesday, January 5th, 2022 – 10:44 am
Or an unemployed person required to attend job interviews? So how can they afford them repeatedly? I just saw the counter lady at Coles sell them for $30 for a pack of two. $30 can buy a few good quality, nutritious meals.
sprocket_ @ #2629 Wednesday, January 5th, 2022 – 10:39 am
He wants to run on what a great economic manager he and Josh Boy are, in the election campaign. So the better the bottom line, the better his prospects. WGAF about the Poors? Not him. Though he will construct a jerry built ‘cash payment’ scheme for ‘eligible’ pensioners etc. Just like the Bushfire Recovery Fund. Illusory.
“although I’m never entirely comfortable when most of the “news” on a particular topic consists of backgrounding by people who are only prepared to speak anonymously”
the brilliance of having a politicised partisan public service in its current broken and corrupt state, is that noone who wants a job next week will speak other than anonymously, it is even more helpful to the ruling class if those who do speak anonymously are ignored or disregarded as troublemakers.
The whole public service is broken, most aren’t as broken as ASIC, the ACCC and law enforcement, but they are all hopelessly broken.
phoenixRED @ #2628 Wednesday, January 5th, 2022 – 10:38 am
Yep, so ‘Schifty’ and ‘Crazy’, they’re in government, and he’s not. 😀
Is anyone else sick to the back teeth of the constant reports about Prince Andrew? He is completely irrelevant. Just a fill-in for lazy journos.
Horses can twitch a muscle when a fly lands on them. Why can’t humans do the same with mosquitoes?
China Semi
@Chinatech_kl
BREAKING: WHO says China’s Sino-Pharm and Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing hospitality and death caused by Omicron variant.
meanwhile…..
BNO Newsroom
@BNODesk
·
58m
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declares state of emergency due to COVID, mobilizes 1,000 members of the National Guard to assist state and local health officials
Australia…..? *birds chirping*
Communism in Russia dragged a backwater basketcase into being a superpower. No doubt at all that it failed the people in the end (and that is without going through the horrors of Stalin etc).
I have no time for broad inflexible ideologies like Communism. Or Socialism. And laissez faire capitalism would end up looking nothing like free market capitalism and destroy democracy in the process. I do have time for cherrypicking. Australia has, at times, adopted socialist style policies. Nationalised sectors were important in building nations – from the road network to the phone (landline) network and beyond. And there are examples where selling off nationalised elements of the economy have not served the people well. And there are still examples nationalised elements of our society that function more equitably and efficiently and high quality that privately run alternatives.
My point is; blaming Indias woes on socialism is probably wrong and certainly distracts from the other factors that need addressing.
Extended news reporting about US court cases bores me shitless. On the other hand, reporting on the NBA…
“No soup for you!”
Part time Prime Minister Scott Morrison has today taken time off from his busy schedule of cooking barramundi and not holding hoses, in order to inform the public that they’re on their own when it comes to dealing with Cyclone Seth. “We can’t keep bailing the public out every time their houses go under water,” explained Morrison while being fed hand peeled grapes from his tanning bed. “At some point you’re all just going to have to grow up and take some personal responsibility for your own helicopter evacuations.”
Asked whether he might consider at least sending in the SES using government money, Morrison explained that people can’t keep expecting to get emergency relief for free. “Mate the government isn’t made of money,” explained Morrison while booking a helicopter to take him to the shops. “Plus if we go paying for Cyclone relief, have you ever considered the devastating effect that might have on Kayaks’R’Us? Not to mention the fact that Harvey Norman has just order 12 million rain jackets that they really need to sell.”
“Besides, if the tests are paid for with your tax dollars then you pay for it anyway,” explained Morrison. “I’d much rather see that money being spent on more important things, like helping Rupert Murdoch buy another yacht.
https://chaser.com.au/national/morrison-announces-govt-wont-help-cyclone-seth-victims-to-avoid-undercutting-harvey-normans-umbrella-sale/