The Australian brings us a new result from Newspoll, suggesting it is moving to a fortnightly schedule now that the election is in view. It is only slightly better for the Coalition than the previous disaster, with Labor’s lead in from 56-44 to 55-45. Both major parties are unchanged on the primary vote, the Coalition at 34% and Labor at 41%, the two-party result reflecting a three-point drop in support for the Greens to 8%. One Nation is steady at 3%, with the lost Greens vote accounted for by a three-point increase in “others” to 14%.
The news for Labor is less good on personal ratings, with Anthony Albanese’s approval down three to 40% and disapproval up three to 46%, after the previous poll respectively had him up four and down two. Scott Morrison is up one on approval to 40% and down two on disapproval to 56%, and his lead as preferred prime minister is out from 43-41 to 43-38. The poll was conducted Wednesday to Saturday from a sample of 1526.
Greensborough Growler says:
Thursday, February 17, 2022 at 5:06 pm
There has been plenty posted about Willoughby. But, from afar, it has to be a disappointing outcome for the Greens that in a by-election where Labor were not participating, the Greens good only muster 12% of the Primary vote.
Yes you would think that would give them some pause for thought. They reckon they are attracting Labor voters with their nonsense, but even with Labor vacating the field they are still insignificant.
WeWantPaul says:
Thursday, February 17, 2022 at 5:29 pm
….
The house is the central institution in our democracy, not a place for stupid games, cowardice and a lack of integrity.
We know, the Greens were looking for the wedge just as the Liberals are. The Liberals are crying from the same song book.
It’s a bit sad that critics of ALP Parliamentary tactics from the left are like the women during World War 1 who sent white feathers to men who didn’t want to be cannon fodder.
All moral outrage and absolutely no personal risk.
Asha @ #2207 Thursday, February 17th, 2022 – 2:45 pm
Asha, you can have the best of both worlds. Run with C+ and if you feel the need to edit a post bail out, make your edit, save and start C+ again and voila. At least it does using firefox. Unfortunate choice of name by that other one.
Snappy Tom @ #2289 Thursday, February 17th, 2022 – 4:12 pm
(“2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is breathed out by God.” But as you are man of faith, I bow to your deeper understanding of the appropriate interpretation of that particular phrase.)
I would suggest that an appropriate interpretive principle should recognise that the non-word of god, also called the holy bible :
– is a grab bag of bits and pieces (literally, scraps) of documents of completely unknown authorship;
– was put together with unseemly haste, with the purpose of providing some sort of handbook for a somewhat coherent ‘religion’ to be propagated to an overwhelmingly illiterate audience;
– contains multiple deliberate lies, such as the titles given to the ‘gospels’, and the ascribed authorship of the ‘epistles’, in particular the remarkably obnoxious Timothy 2;
– contains such obvious nonsense as almost all of the Old Testament, and the raving ratbaggery of Revelations;
– is plainly and obvious self contradictory in multiple ways, often in the description of the same event by different ‘authors’.
It follows that it should be given as much respect as if it would be if presented to a group of current day, scientifically educated, rational human beings, who had not been exposed to it before, as:
– an accurate history of an itinerant tribe of middle eastern sheep herders;
– a coherent explanation of the nature of the universe, and
– a guide to ethics and morality, cleverly disguised as a rambling set of convoluted tales about a man who could walk on water and say verily a lot, and a bunch of didactic, self contradictory letters, supposedly from a ‘men’ who had some sort of fit while travelling, and wrote about himself in the third person.
In plain cover paperback, of course, and ascribed to those prolific authors, Anons. What would win acceptance, do you think, Scientology, or Christianity, or just perhaps, neither?
I suspect that the paperback might not become a best seller, unless accompanied by death threats, as it was for almost all of its long history.
Where have all the Greens votes gone?
Long time passing.
Lachlan Kennedy@lachlan_kennedy·9hWilloughby Independent candidate Larissa Penn is meeting with supporters ahead of a press conference this morning. The gap between her and Liberal Tim James is only 257 votes – thousands of postal votes are still to be counted.
That starts Saturday
@10NewsFirstSyd #nswpol
Here is some religious interpretation to contemplate, the Roman Catholic Church have decided that thousands of ‘Catholics’ are not in fact ‘Catholics’, because their baptism was invalidated by the officiating priest spoke we instead of I in the process.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60409113
The beautiful thing about stopping all the wedges in the senate, they will only get through if the Greens vote for them.
The potential wedge in the lower house becomes a wedge in the upper house for the Greens.
Oh the headlines. Labor put and voted for amendments to the hate bill, to prevent xyz, the Liberals and Greens joined forces to vote the amendment down.
It is a great pity the Liberals chickened out.
Liberal Senator James Paterson has directly criticised former spy boss and diplomat Dennis Richardson’s record on China after he took issue with the Coalition for politicising national security.
Mr Richardson, a former ASIO director-general and secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told this masthead he was concerned with any attempt to create “artificial” differences between the Coalition and the Opposition on China policy and rejected suggestions Labor would “appease” China.
Senator Paterson told Sky News Mr Richardson has “had a very long and very distinguished career in the public” but there were issues on national security that he and the government disagreed with him on.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-news-live-labor-supports-coalition-s-criminal-deportation-plans-total-covid-19-cases-continue-to-grow-across-the-nation-20220216-p59x2c.html
Perhaps in the coming election, when it is announced and completed, it may well be that we find that a Teal trumps a Green or is that a bridge too far away.
Reminds me of the theme song written for “Sunday Too Far Away”,
with the particular line “another view was green”
Snappy Tom at 5.01pm
Thanks for your explanation Snappy Tom. So this means that knowledge of God and of Their will is not confined to the Bible, but can also be gained through lived experiences, or revelation?
That certainly allows for more modern interpretations of God’s word or words. The sort I imagine which would allow a scientist to also be a religious person.
More importantly for modern ethics, I imagine it also allows for the disregard of homophobic, sexist and violent passages in the Bible.
BTW, I’m not trying to turn Poll Bludger into a theological forum. But I am interested in what people believe and how they relate it to the world.
https://www.pollbludger.net/2022/02/13/newspoll-55-45-to-labor-5/comment-page-47/#comment-3822707
… never mind the steel coffins, watch them special forces (Ukraine with NATO watching is a unlike a non-aligned like Malaysia during Crimea, MH17, MH370), hackers, fifth columnists.
The trouble with yabba is he’s a biblical fundamentalist. 🙂
“We know, the Greens were looking for the wedge just as the Liberals are. The Liberals are crying from the same song book.”
They both win. The greens can quite honestly tell the world the ALP voted for terrible legislation. The LNP can quite honestly tell the whole world that labor doesn’t support the legislation at all, and run exactly the same wedge that they would of anyway.
Anyone objective can ask wtf are these clowns doing.
And the cultists running around declaring the self wedge a massive 8th dimensional chess masterstroke are hilarious, in a compelling weird way.
In this battle, Labor is not required to walk into a trap. If anyone out there wants to throw a lifeline to Morrison when he is on the back foot towards the cliff, for one brief wave of the virtue victory flag, they can do so without my support.
These Bills will die in the Senate.
Rakali,
AFAI am concerned he can go begat himself!
Sir Henry Parkes
I find it interesting as well.
In point of fact, Greens Leader Firefox’s anti-Labor ranting should get more encouragement.
Labor wants to distance itself from the Greens. So Angry Adam and Leader Firefox’s bleatings are best trumpeted far and wide.
The Greens hate Labor, so what’s this ScoMoLie ™ about Labor being beholden to them?
Religion and deporting crooks – not a hill anyone* is going to die on.
* Greens Leaders excepted
Rakali @ #2363 Thursday, February 17th, 2022 – 5:59 pm
No, I just have come to the reasoned conclusion, as an intelligent, educated human being, with the advantage of living in the present day, and having avoided childhood brainwashing, that the bible is just plain bullshit, and that the very idea that the Hebrew god, (which was invented by a tribe of itinerant middle eastern sheep herders as an explanation and justification for their genocidal behaviour) is a real entity is just ridiculous.
As I have pointed out multiple times, the god thing that ‘believers’ go on about exists in their minds, and nowhere else. It does not need to, to have all of the properties that they say it possesses. It is a figment of their imaginations. Quod erat demonstrandum. I challenge anyone, anywhere, any time to demonstrate otherwise, or to provide any verifiable evidence at all of its existence. And please don’t quote Scomo’s carpet, or the silly book.
“In this battle, Labor is not required to walk into a trap. If anyone out there wants to throw a lifeline to Morrison when he is on the back foot towards the cliff, for one brief wave of the virtue victory flag, they can do so without my support.
These Bills will die in the Senate.”
Why show courage and integrity in the face of an LNP wedge when you can show weakness and cowardice to ensure you are legitimately wedge from both sides.
Now I don’t think either wedge means anything at all. It is very silly stuff. But noone looks stupider nor weaker than the ALP unnecessarily jumping at the shadow of a wedge. Ok ALP cultists defending it do look stupider.
Shorter Yabba,
I am a bigot and I’m proud of it.
Yabba at 5.47pm
2 Timothy 3:16 is (mis)translated in some English versions of the Bible to read ‘all scripture is “breathed out by God” [or “God-breathed”]…’
The relevant (ancient) Greek word is θεόπνευστος, which can be transliterated as theopneustos.
This word has two parts – theos, from the Greek for God; and pneustos, a declension of the Greek for spirit, wind or breath. Pneustos does not have the sense of ‘exhaled,’ rather, ‘inspired.’
Reputable translations render the verse ‘all scripture is inspired…’
This has a fundamentally different meaning. ‘God-breathed’ or ‘breathed out’ implies that the Biblical texts come directly from God. They were ‘exhaled’ (in English) by God, and therefore cannot be interpreted. One problem here is the prefix ‘ex’ (meaning ‘out of’ or ‘from’) is absent from this phrase.
Translators who want to support Christian fundamentalism choose ‘God-breathed’ or ‘breathed out by God.’ One version even renders the verse ‘all scripture is the Word of God’!
Other translators have integrity.
I doubt the Bible is in the Pollbludger bestseller list, but if you ever want to consult one, try the New Revised Standard Version or maybe the New Jerusalem Bible.
Bert @ #2354 Thursday, February 17th, 2022 – 5:42 pm
It works with Brave and Chrome as well. 😉
Greensborough Growler @ #2366 Thursday, February 17th, 2022 – 6:08 pm
GG is of course a Pell supporter, man of faith and ‘believer’ in biblical RPPS gobbledygook, and therefore ‘an upright man’, and thus fully qualified to label those with different, rational beliefs, bigots.
‘begat’ ‘bigot’ So subtle!
Paul Tu,
+1
Not the Bible wars again! 🙄
WW P,
A lot of blah their comrade.
How’s Willoughby travelling?
Newspoll shows there’s a whole lot of shaken out of Greens vote going on.
WWP,
No one looks stupider than a so-called ALP supporter who wills the party to walk off a cliff. Because ‘principle’. When you know that the legislation is only there in order to try and wedge the FPLP. The proposed changes do not alter the power of the Minister materially. So why die on a hill for them? Get real, WWP.
What do non bolted on Labor voters see ? Labor , yet again, voting for what they say they oppose. What do you think that does to their willingness to believe what Labor tells them they stand for ?
This fucking moron:
“ Senator escalates China debate
By Anthony Galloway
Liberal Senator James Paterson has directly criticised former spy boss and diplomat Dennis Richardson’s record on China after he took issue with the Coalition for politicising national security.
Mr Richardson, a former ASIO director-general and secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told this masthead he was concerned with any attempt to create “artificial” differences between the Coalition and the Opposition on China policy and rejected suggestions Labor would “appease” China.
RELATED ARTICLE
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Anthony Albanese was the “Chinese government’s pick” at the election.
China relations
Albanese discloses conversation with spy chief to hit back at Coalition over China attacks
Senator Paterson told Sky News Mr Richardson has “had a very long and very distinguished career in the public” but there were issues on national security that he and the government disagreed with him on.
“Probably the best example of that is [Chinese telco] Huawei,” said Senator Paterson, who is chair of Parliament’s security and intelligence committee.
“It’s been publicly reported that in 2011, when he was secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, he went on leave from DFAT to negotiate on behalf of the Canberra Raiders a lucrative sponsorship agreement from Huawei for the Canberra Raiders.
“And in 2018, when the Cabinet was considering whether Huawei should be allowed to be involved in the 5G rollout, he publicly advocated that they should be involved in the 5G rollout.
“Now we had very good advice from our intelligence agencies that the national security risks of Huawei being involved in the 5G rollout could not be mitigated, and it is one of the best decisions our government has made, and I stand by it even if Dennis Richardson disagrees.”
The head of Australia’s counter-espionage agency ASIO, Mike Burgess, this week raised concern about the politicisation of national security, saying it was “not helpful”.”
__________
Patterson, the young fogie from the IPA, conveniently forgets that it was the then Labor Government that blocked Huawei from being involved in the NBN in 2011/12; or that the then Labor opposition expressed concern with The Abbott-Turnbull Government (of which the boy was a child senator at the time) treating with Huawei over the 5G rollout, only to finally and abruptly change course mid stream in 2018.
The chutzpah!
Now, hes going after Denis Richardson – a China hawk if ever there was one – because he apparently facilitated Huawei sponsoring the Canberra raiders in 2011. I mean, who cares? Huawei at the time and now were/are able to sell their wares in Australia. Why shouldn’t they be able to advertise or sponsor stuff? A massive deflection from the present government’s lack of consistency, hypocrisy and frankly very very bad decision making over the past 9 years.
WWP
Now I don’t think either wedge means anything at all. It is very silly stuff. But noone looks stupider nor weaker than the ALP unnecessarily jumping at the shadow of a wedge. Ok ALP cultists defending it do look stupider.
__________________________________
Quite apart from the sneering ‘ALP cultists’ (which undermines the validity of your comments), who do you think is even looking?
An awful lot of brisk walking ( head down) by LNP members as they rush past the press at parliament house today… things can’t be going their way.
GG:
“ Shorter Yabba,
I am a bigot and I’m proud of it.”
______
I’ll see you a Yabba and raise you a Hitch and a Mildred:
https://youtu.be/wMRuCS7MCG8
https://youtu.be/0Erg09oOpmo
The trouble with Labor’s Parliamentary tactics is that they are working in practice, but not in theory…. 🙂
TPOF @ #1872 Thursday, February 17th, 2022 – 6:43 pm
You left out WWP’s sneering reference to the FPLP ‘jumping at the shadow of a wedge’.
Good to see that Anthony Albanese doesn’t care for the opinion of chavs like WWP, who it seems would be happy for the ALP to lose another election because of his warped conception of what ‘principle’ is. Hint: whatever he thinks it is. Which Albanese makes clear in his letter to supporters today is not the same thing:
This guy knows how to have a crack at winning an election. WWP can’t buy a clue.
c@t: “Not the Bible wars again! ”
The Greens are responsible for the Bible wars.
“WWP,
No one looks stupider than a so-called ALP supporter who wills the party to walk off a cliff. Because ‘principle’. When you know that the legislation is only there in order to try and wedge the FPLP. The proposed changes do not alter the power of the Minister materially. So why die on a hill for them? Get real, WWP.”
If opposing this measure is walking of a cliff the ALP have walked off that cliff because everyone knows they oppose the legislation.
I think it is a nothing burger and noone would have cared if they’d opposed it.
I personally would prefer to think an incoming labor govt will have courage and integrity, this tells anyone watching they do not. To me that is the only matetial outcome of this deeply stupid deep in the bubble stuff.
meher baba @ #2387 Thursday, February 17th, 2022 – 6:51 pm
If they could wedge Labor with it they would! 😀
Torchbearer.
Is that how you met your wife?
Watching the Channel 7 news. Palmer ads becoming very annoying
Hey BK
Glad to here you’re emerging from the viral woods.
Being a long-term chronic fatigue sufferer, I’d like to offer two cents’ worth…
You might consider temporarily taking herbal things like Ginseng 5 or Astra 8. Can often be found in herbal sections of pharmacies, or online.
When I’ve found an appropriate acupuncturist (tricky in itself) that treatment has sometimes been very helpful.
If a doctor ever says you have ‘post viral fatigue’ it means you have chronic fatigue symptoms but not for long enough to qualify as ‘chronic.’ That is the time to do things like desperately explore Chinese medicine (herbs, acupuncture, qigong) and/or get on Pollbludger and yell at me. Hopefully I’m not snoozing at the time.
I don’t think the FPLP are listening to you, WWP.
Thank goodness.
Oh well you can pat yourself on the back over there outside ‘the bubble’. I guess.
Dunno if we can blame the Greens for this but it sure as hell is chaos. Disarray even.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-liberals-again-refuse-to-endorse-sitting-federal-mps-20220217-p59xgq.html
“This guy knows how to have a crack at winning an election. WWP can’t buy a clue.”
Cute but every single thing Albo said in his epistle to the faithful would have resonated more strongly if they had not just jumped in terror at the shadow of a lame wedge that was never going to shift a vote to the LNP and might have shifted them away from them.
None so blind as those that will not see.
laughtong @ #2391 Thursday, February 17th, 2022 – 6:58 pm
They are all over the Winter Olympics too. Problem is they are all polemic, zero solutions. I think they might have shot their load too early this time. People are just going to switch them off by the time the campaign proper is called. They have probably got some longer form propaganda spots planned that they hope will trick people into voting for them. I just think that unless you are one of the loons that believe the Anti Vaxxer/Freedumb/SovCit guff, then you have figured Clive Palmer’s schtick out already.
WWP,
Anyone ever told you you love the sound of your own voice? 🙂
I’m pretty sure if I accosted randoms on the street, none of them would know a thing about the Bills posters here are angsting about.
I’m also pretty sure that if Labor had opposed them, I would very soon be hearing that Labor was soft on crime, was encouraging discrimination against religion and allowing dangerous enemy aliens to stay in our country.
Snappy Tom,
You could call it Myalgic Encephalomyelitis if you like:
https://www.cdc.gov/me-cfs/about/index.html#:~:text=Myalgic%20encephalomyelitis%2Fchronic%20fatigue%20syndrome%20(ME%2FCFS)%20is,is%20not%20improved%20by%20rest.
Visiting US General going the hard sell on more unless hardware…
“I believe that in the future for a peer or near-peer fight, that the impact of combined arms manoeuvre – particularly in dense urban areas – you’re going to want armour forces, you’re going to need tanks,” said General Flynn, who is visiting Canberra.
So we can rely on “our” new tanks to defend Melbourne a street at a time…
I think he is on a commission of sale price.