Novak and Nicholls

A poll supports suspicions that the federal government was following the public’s lead in deporting Novak Djokovic. Plus preselection news, though not very much of it.

Another week of the sillier-than-usual season goes by without a great deal to report, with the only new poll result I’m aware being a Painted Dog Research poll for The West Australian finding 81% out of 1224 WA respondents surveyed around a week ago believed Novak Djokovic should be deported. Lest anyone doubt the international reach of this particular story, a British poll by YouGov found 62% believed Djokovic should not be allowed to play in the open, with only 18% believing he should. (UPDATE: And now a national poll by Resolve Strategic for the Age/Herald finds 71% believe he “should not be allowed to stay and play”.)

The biggest preselection news of the week related to Gladys Berejiklian’s former seat of Willoughby, which I’m holding off on doing a post about until a date is set for state’s looming quartet of by-elections. At federal level, both the Nationals and the Liberals now have candidates for the rural Victorian seat of Nicholls, to be vacated with the retirement of Nationals member Damian Drum. These are, respectively, Sam Birrell, an agronomist and former chief executive of the Committee for Greater Shepparton, and Stephen Brooks, a Cobram high school teacher and farmer. Also in the field as an independent is Greater Shepparton deputy mayor Rob Priestly.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

1,093 comments on “Novak and Nicholls”

Comments Page 18 of 22
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  1. lizzie at 2:40 pm

    What’s Morrison playing at by saying that Djokovic can come back before 3 years?

    Because
    “When I use a word Immigration law ,‘ Humpty Dumpty SfM said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.

  2. lizzie – we want Novak to be playing aussie open. he is a legend and adds a lot to the tournament

    if we all on pavlovix by year end and covid infection or vax status a relative non-issue, then keeping him out for 3 years would be a lousy result for tennis? big if, but cannot foretell much a year away

    this is also why cancelling his visa was unnecessary esp in light of Jim Courier’s statement above – he wasnt coming this year, no need to can him for that long. Until he got that bogus exemption, then the visa cancel toothpaste could not be put back in the tube

  3. Snappy Tom @ #824 Monday, January 17th, 2022 – 12:33 pm

    Steve777 at 1.54pm

    I agree, although I would modify it to “Liberal waste and mismanagement.”

    Some steps need to be taken to reset the overall ‘better economic managers’ bullsh1t, so I would like it broadened beyond Morrison’s name.

    Yes, don’t let the Libs get away with pinning it all on Scrotty. The whole brand and party need and deserve to be thoroughly tarred with that brush.

    –––––––

    Bushfire Bill @ #841 Monday, January 17th, 2022 – 12:53 pm

    Whatever the scenario, it’s only peaking because the punters are staying away in droves. If they go back to normal social mingling and interaction, it’ll start up again.

    There are millions here yet to be infected.

    And re-infected. Having it is no guarantee it won’t visit you again.

    Not to mention that Delta is still getting around. What happens once Omicron passes? Does Delta get another crack at us?

  4. To use a popular phrase, I don’t think you’d need to be a Rhodes scholar to work this out. We all knew Dom was the fly in the ointment wrt opening right up.

    “Ray Hadley claims Gladys Berejiklian leaked against Dominic Perrottet

    Ray Hadley has sensationally outed Gladys Berejiklian as leaking against her successor Dominic Perrottet and his approach to dealing with Covid.”

  5. “Support them to support us”
    The Greens worried about their Nimby voters?

    “Stop making their life hell, Go get vaccinated”
    would have been a lot clearer.

  7. If new case numbers in NSW are peaking about now (and that’s a very big if), then hospitalisations would be peaking in 7-10 days, so maybe mid-next week. The rate of growth of NSW hospitalisations seem to be slowing, but what role are capacity / staffing constraints playing in that? We’re not being told. Assuming that this slowdown reflects the real number of serious cases, maybe they peak by the end of next week between 3,500-4,000, with ICU cases peaking around 250-300.

    The rest of the country except WA seems to be following NSW, maybe a few days behind.

    If cases do peak this week or next, Covid deaths wouldn’t peak until mid-next month. I won’t speculate on that number.

  8. Zwaktyldsays:
    Monday, January 17, 2022 at 2:17 pm
    s

    Agree flat unresponsive pitches are not good but no room for the spinners! Lyon did not get to bowl at all. Root did bowl a few, but it was a seamers paradise.

  9. Steve777 says:
    Monday, January 17, 2022 at 2:53 pm

    Chant says there will be increase of deaths over the next few days in today’s press.

  11. lizzie @ #853 Monday, January 17th, 2022 – 2:50 pm

    To use a popular phrase, I don’t think you’d need to be a Rhodes scholar to work this out. We all knew Dom was the fly in the ointment wrt opening right up.

    “Ray Hadley claims Gladys Berejiklian leaked against Dominic Perrottet

    Ray Hadley has sensationally outed Gladys Berejiklian as leaking against her successor Dominic Perrottet and his approach to dealing with Covid.”

    I think that was fairly obvious from the get-go.

  12. Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #848 Monday, January 17th, 2022 – 2:42 pm

    Firefox @ #838 Monday, January 17th, 2022 – 11:19 am

    Hear, hear! Our medical professionals have done and continue to do an outstanding job in extremely difficult circumstances. They deserve our gratitude and support.

    I would have thought addressing nursing levels in normal times would be a better solution to the situation.

    More nurses to begin with would take some of the pressure off having to work such extreme hours.

    I think The Greens need a new graphic artist. That photo is just ridiculous. All smeared mascara and puppy dog eyes. I bet it’s a model too. I don’t think any self-respecting Nurse would allow themselves to be portrayed publicly like that.

  15. Bushfire Bill @ #836 Monday, January 17th, 2022 – 2:18 pm

    Quite weird down at Bluey’s Beach just now, watching the very heavy surf.

    One minute the water was a metre deep, over the waists of bathers. A minute later it would start receding violently. Then, a minute after that, the previously waist-deep bathers were standing on wet sand with the waves breaking 80 metres further out. Then suddenly a flood, right up to the back of the beach . Three or four instances of this, like high to low tide cycles, and back again, in just 20 minutes.

    The power of tsunamis.

    Putty Beach this morning the same. I didn’t know where to throw the stick for the dogs next! Not wanting to drown them if it ended up going too far out on a wave that broke a long way out, which was followed by a dumper that came all the way in. 😀

  19. A Mordor Media orc wins today’s Hyper-Bowl trophy.

    How Djokovic’s Melbourne martyrdom threatens global health

    Also, Scotty helping to ‘save the world by kicking him out ?

  20. C@tmomma:

    Monday, January 17, 2022 at 3:06 pm

    [‘When too much tennis is barely enough! Go Rafa~!’]

    He also thanks Djokovic for taking such a principled stand thereby foregoing his chance of taking the lead of grand slam singles titles,
    negativing the prospect of a calendar grand slam, and the winner’s
    paycheque of $4.4 million – possibly due to trypanophobia, coupled with a selfish disregard for the health of others.

  23. C@tmomma says:
    Monday, January 17, 2022 at 3:13 pm

    If the Greens really wanted to support workers in healthcare they would cease their campaigning in support of the reactionary Liberal and National parties.

  24. I’m not sure that the wearing of a full set of service medals is appropriate in such a circumstance but given they appear to be supporting the Labor member for Eden Monaro, all’s good.

  26. C@tmomma:

    Monday, January 17, 2022 at 3:34 pm

    [‘Mavis,

    Not sure about the trypanophobia angle, but you never know.’]

    Said in jest but the fear of needles is apparently widespread.

  27. U.S. COVID update: Number in hospital drops for the 1st time since Dec., cases down about 9%

    – New cases: 264,432 ……………………………….. – New deaths: 253

    – States reporting: 13/50

    – In hospital: 154,338 (-2,344)
    – In ICU: 25,849 (-184)

    873,564 total deaths now

  28. Well the guardian running a very soft story about the PM being inconsistent with his own Minister is probably the best we can hope for from our press.

  29. The power of tsunamis.

    Ex-TC Cody is generating swell on the east coast, but there’s probably still some sloshing from the eruption in the mix.

  30. Mainland China’s birth rate dropped to a record low of 7.52 per 1,000 people in 2021, National Bureau of Statistics data showed on Monday, accelerating a downward trend that led Beijing last year to begin allowing couples to have up to three children.

    The birth rate was the lowest since 1949 when the statistics bureau began collating the data.

    The natural growth rate of China’s population, which excludes migration, was only 0.034 percent for 2021, the lowest since 1960, according to the data.

    “The demographic challenge is well known but the speed of population ageing is clearly faster than expected,” said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset management.

    “This suggests China’s total population may have reached its peak in 2021. It also indicates China’s potential growth is likely slowing faster than expected,” Zhang said.

    There were 10.62 million births in 2021, the data showed, compared with 12 million in 2020.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/1/17/chinas-birth-rate-drops-to-record-low

  33. Dr Doolittle @ #840 Monday, January 17th, 2022 – 2:23 pm

    Re Yabba at 1.50 pm

    A revealing example of how Covid chaos is affecting government agencies.

    Why would it take 45 minutes to link the positive RAT with the infected person? Clearly there was inadequate planning, but hopefully no human error in making that linkage.

    The RATs were administered, one by one, under observation by a single staff member. There were 40 odd in line. Each test takes 15 minutes to register fully. ‘A’ was fourth last. The person identified as positive was 6th last. 45 minutes was probably quick.

    The entire exercise is a stupid farce. The very idea of commencing jury trials at present is obviously inane. We are governed by chancers, and the hierarchy in the NSW Attorney General’s Department are plainly shit scared of making any decisions at all without Perrotet’s nod, even those which are patently obvious and inevitable.

  34. AMA in WA calling for WA to go ‘Sth Australian and Tasmanian’. Apparently you guys have nailed it re Omicron.
    .
    .
    “I’m not advocating a lockdown. But I would look towards South Australia. One of the states, along with Tasmania, that has managed to flatten the rise in hospitalisations.

    “And they’ve done that by effectively introducing a ‘Clayton’s lockdown”
    https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/more-wa-exposure-sites-but-no-new-covid-cases-yet-as-doctors-call-for-immediate-restrictions-20220117-p59ov9.html#comments

  36. Firefox
    You appear to be the only one thay posts Facebook CRAP on this forum.

    STOP IT!.
    It’s the biggest curse on Earth. !

  38. Sounds like a must -see:

    ‘A group of Christians are trying to overthrow the World Government by spray-painting the ichthys on fallen leaves. They meet a bitcoin miner who helps them mail out DVDs of sermons.’

  39. shellbell at 4:36 pm
    Given the ring side seats we have had during the Omicron plague ‘over East’ there will likely be a de facto ‘lock down’ with or without stricter rules.

  41. The AMA is the most effective, most ruthless most political union in the country. Do they have some kind of election coming up, or have they switched Presidents recently, they have been very noisy of late in WA. They would easily outpoll the LNP if they ran candidates in WA.

  42. During shopping today the shelves were noticeably bare all across the Coles we go to. Meat was 10 metres of empty shelves, although minced beef and lamb was available, and beef sausages (no pork or chicken though), unlike last week. But what was jaw dropping for me was the lack of chicken. I saw a single pack of Maryland (two legs) and two forlorn whole chickens. Nothing else. My wife tells me she spotted a few whole chickens in another section. And this is a large major store in an affluent suburb.

    The lack of chicken meat worried me. In October last year my father retired and sold his meat chicken farm that produces 120,000 birds every 10 weeks. His was a small to mid sized farm among many dozens in the Brisbane area. He had been in the game for 50 years. So I am familiar with how that business works. The first question is, where are all those chickens today? And follow up questions tumble over themselves. If this is widespread, then the chicken business will respond quickly by producing less chickens. Sheds will empty and not refill. Drivers and abattoirs will slow and some might stop. Feed production will slow. Fertilised eggs will be destroyed. It’s a chain of dependency. Widespread shortages of this scale won’t be restored quickly. It would take many months.

    And that’s just chicken meat. I imagine this is the same for other industries, allowing for different time scales and costs. If it was just one industry you might have a decent guess at how long it would take to ramp up again. But everything is interconnected. Something missing in one industry adds delays to another. And in the meantime banks will come looking for mortgage repayments, and that’s where all of us plug in. I’m feeling pessimistic.

    Turning to electoral ramifications, empty shelves are impossible to ignore. People will remember this. It’s worse than the toilet paper shortage of 2020. (Which incidentally was also completely bare today.) If today’s low chicken meat supply is a symptom of a widespread problem then other shelves too will be bare for a good number of months yet, and well into the election period. Chicken Little? Counting Chickens? Roosting Chickens?

    (Just a quick fly by. Take Care all.)

  43. Andrew_Earlwood @ #750 Monday, January 17th, 2022 – 11:20 am

    One wonders if P1s prime motivation is spite – against perfidious Labor, and PB ‘stooges’ who have sniffed out her bourgeoisie proclivities and general nonsense.

    Either your comprehension levels are lower than even I would have credited, or you are simply being a good little Labor stooge and parroting your party line. I will be charitable and assume the latter.

    My big issue is climate change. It is the only issue that really matters much in the long term. Covid is little more than a temporary annoyance by comparison. If Labor had a climate change policy that was substantially better than the COALition’s, I would happily support them. But they don’t, as anyone who looks into it with both eyes open would be well aware. Labor and the COALition are relying on the same broken mechanisms to tackle climate change, and Federal Labor are also relying on the real work being done by the states. But despite their rhetoric, the Labor states are all still backing fossil fuel interests as hard and fast as they can … again, as anyone who looks into it without their party-issued blinkers on would be aware.

    So make up whatever crap you like about my motivation. It has not changed in all the time I have been posting here, and would be abundantly clear to anyone who has ever bothered to scan my posts occasionally in passing.

    Your motivation for your ongoing abuse is less clear. It appears to be political, intended to obscure Labor’s lack of a credible alternative climate change policy. And, like so many here, your primary tactic is to belittle, insult and question the motives of anyone you cannot simply bully off the blog, or cow into silence.

  44. Andrew E,

    The best of luck to your brother, and also to you and your family.

    COVID is a mongrel, and certainly with the probably Delta I probably caught around 24th December, it takes a long time to get over.

    Each week I know that I am better than the last week, but day-to-day is harder tell. And brain fog is very real. I am definitely thinking more slowly about higher-level tasks – kind of like working at 5000 m.

    I was also concerned to hear Dr Chant say today (I think) that 15 of the 17 people who died today had not had boosters. Boosters are still quite hard to get, but also many people are not yet eligible.

    Does that also mean that 15 double vaxxed people died today? Also, in the ICUs are most deaths still down to Delta?

  47. Late Riser at 4:53 pm
    Have you any hypotheses as to why the chook has vanished from the shelves , panic buying ? Labour shortage ? Transport ?

  48. Thank goodness I am well-practiced at roasting a whole chook and then using it up for a slew of other meals subsequent to the roast. 🙂

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