No further national voting intention polls this week after the weekend Newspoll. Presumably this means the monthly Resolve Strategic will be along next week in the Age/Herald. Roy Morgan has for some time come along fortnightly and did not report last week, but the manner of its reporting is notoriously hard to predict. Together with the ongoing New South Wales by-elections count, which is covered in the post below this one, that just leaves the following:
• Roy Morgan did have an SMS poll of 1080 respondents conducted on Monday and Tuesday which found Josh Frydenberg favoured to lead the Coalition by 38.5%, ahead of Scott Morrison on 31% and Peter Dutton on 12.5%. The question specifically asked, “if you were a Liberal or National Party voter and helping to choose the Coalition Leader for the next Federal Election, who would you prefer”.
• The West Australian had a poll by Painted Dog Research on Wednesday which found Mark McGowan’s approval rating in Western Australia had fallen from 77% to 64% since December, having peaked at 91% in September 2020, with disapproval up from 14% to 25%. The poll was conducted Friday to Tuesday from a sample of 654.
• Recommended viewing and listening: Antony Green explains the dark art of election night results projection, while pollsters Peter Lewis and John Utting discuss the even darker art of opinion polling on 2SER’s Fourth Estate program.
‘Sir Henry Parkes says:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 5:43 pm
BK says:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 4:34 pm
How can being critical of any Israeli government action be construed as being antisemitic?
____________________________________________________________
Because that is the best and only argument one-sided defenders of Israeli government policies have.
I want Israel to survive and to thrive as a democratic state with human and equal rights for all. But far right nationalist Israelis, who believe in Jewish supremacy and the settlement of occupied Palestinian territories, wield too much power. It is a tragedy for human rights, the Palestinian people and for Israel itself.’
=======================================================
I certainly don’t regard myself as a ‘one sided defender of Israeli government policies. Far from it.
The problem for one-sided critics of Israeli government policies remains. Why do they choose Israel for criticism while bypassing states with a far, far worse record. There may be good reasons having nothing to do with anti-semitism but these cannot, in the circumstances, be assumed to be commonly understood.
Boerwar @ #329 Friday, February 18th, 2022 – 5:30 pm
I just checked and Thorpe is up for election this year. Victorians can have their say about her
Good move.
Victoria to impose $800m levy on property developers to fund social housing https://t.co/DYwEAk4pGp @GuardianAus
Thanks, Sir Henry
alfred venison says:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 5:26 pm
NOT every member of the u.s. senate voted in favor of invading iraq, far from it.
21 (42%) of 50 Democratic Senators voted against the resolution. Those voting against the resolution were:
Sens. Akaka (D-HI), Bingaman (D-NM), Boxer (D-CA), Byrd (D-WV), Conrad (D-ND), Corzine (D-NJ), Dayton (D-MN), Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Graham (D-FL), Inouye (D-HI), Kennedy (D-MA), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Mikulski (D-MD), Murray (D-WA), Reed (D-RI), Sarbanes (D-MD), Stabenow (D-MI), Wellstone (D-MN), and Wyden (D-OR).
1 (2%) of 49 Republican senators voted against the resolution: Sen. Chafee (R-RI).
The only independent senator voted against the resolution: Sen. Jeffords (I-VT)
__________________________________________________________
I stand corrected on part of the claim. I was under the impression that only a handful of US senators had opposed the war.
The main point I wanted to make was that Hillary Clinton was not the warmonger that some have liked to paint her. Many congress members were, like so many Americans, still in the grip of the 9/11 aftermath and feared that Saddam Hussein probably did have weapons of mass destruction. Ironically, the invasion of Iraq proved how effective sanctions and inspections had been in halting Saddam’s program. Clinton and others who supported the war should have had more courage and asked more questions when they voted in congress, but her explanation rings true and helps put the episode in perspective.
WA to open to the great unwashed on 3 March without quarantine (so long as triple dosed).
‘laughtong says:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 5:53 pm
Boerwar @ #329 Friday, February 18th, 2022 – 5:30 pm
frednk
The more I hear from Thorpe the less I am impressed.
How does Thorpe describe hereself?
I believe an Indigenous person designed the flag. That person sold the IP to a third party. That third party onsold it to the Australian Government.
How that is colonizing a flag I am not sure. Apart from that, it did not exist when Phillip arrived.
I just checked and Thorpe is up for election this year. Victorians can have their say about her’
—————————————
I have just checked. From the official Greens site:
(1) ‘DjabWurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman’
(2) ‘black women’
(3) ‘Aboriginal woman’.
Her call, IMO.
https://greens.org.au/vic/person/lidia-thorpe
Sir Henry Parkes: i get you, though i think they were more worried about being labelled disloyal. -a.v.
Boerwarsays:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 5:50 pm
The problem for one-sided critics of Israeli government policies remains. Why do they choose Israel for criticism while bypassing states with a far, far worse record. There may be good reasons having nothing to do with anti-semitism but these cannot, in the circumstances, be assumed to be commonly understood.
___________________________________________________________
Just because other states have poor, even considerably worse, human rights records than Israel, does not somehow exempt that state from just criticism. If anyone criticises Australia for its treatment of indigenous people I don’t point to some other country and say, “what about them?”
Whataboutism is a cop-out. One reason I do criticise Israel is because I care about it and want it to be a better place than it is. A bit like why I am sometimes critical of Australia.
‘Strategic own goal’: Defence reviews Port of Darwin’s Chinese ownership
The Morrison government has asked the Department of Defence to review the Northern Territory’s 99-year-lease of the Port of Darwin to the Chinese-owned company Landbridge – a deal that has unsettled national security figures in the federal government since it was signed six years ago.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/strategic-own-goal-defence-reviews-port-of-darwin-s-chinese-ownership-20210502-p57o49.html
I don’t know about an own goal but definitely 2 feet firmly planted in cow pats
Boer,
I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear that Lidia’s mother is running as a Greens candidate.
“Greens voters have selected Marjorie for the seat of Gippsland in the upcoming federal election. Marjorie is a proud First Nations woman and elder of the Gunnaikurnai peoples.
Marjorie was a co-commissioner on the ‘Bringing them Home Report (1997)’, a member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and successfully applied for an injunction to stop the destruction of the DjabWurrung birthing trees. Her activism makes her well-equipped for politics.
After growing up in Yallourn, where her father worked in the power industry, Marjorie has been an active campaigner for the environment, forests, social justice and community. Having spent much of her adult life in East Gippsland, in and around Lake Tyers, Marjorie knows Gippsland well.
Marjorie is Senator Lidia Thorpe’s mother. In 2017, Lidia became the first Aboriginal woman in the Victorian parliament. In 2020, Lidia became the first Aboriginal representative of Victoria in federal parliament.”
Boerwar 2 at 6:02 pm
Are you sure they called her ‘woman’ ? In the super ‘political correct’ realm use of such a terms can be fraught.
Liberal members are preparing to go to court to block a decision that could help Prime Minister Scott Morrison choose candidates for the coming election in a brawl over the rights of party members to vote on whom they want in Parliament.
The legal moves are likely to escalate a dispute over Liberal Party decisions that prepared the ground for a federal intervention to end a deadlock over crucial seats the government must win to stay in power.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/political-bastardry-liberals-prepare-court-action-as-preselection-for-key-seats-stalls-again-20220218-p59xq7.html
‘Political bastardry’: Liberals prepare court action as preselection for key seats stalls again
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/political-bastardry-liberals-prepare-court-action-as-preselection-for-key-seats-stalls-again-20220218-p59xq7.html
What a rabble ….. is this clusterfu*k a legacy from Scotties time as NSW state director ?
Boerwar Friday, February 18, 2022 at 5:34 pm
I assume that Putin has withdrawn all tanks and other armoured vehicles because he has been listening to Bludger experts who have explained to him that tanks are useless, especially American tanks.
—
Tell us again how tanks are going to be used to stop boats from landing in Australia?
We were talking about the HC earlier and then I get a summary of the decison in CFMMEU v Personnel Contracting Pty Ltd, detailing Steward J’s dissent.
Lets just say it didn’t alter my previous view.
Catprog
Easy peasy. We drop the tanks on top of the boats.
An artists impression of a full scale attack.
Tonga Volcano Plume Reached the Mesosphere
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149474/tonga-volcano-plume-reached-the-mesosphere
Sir Henry Parkes says:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 6:05 pm
Boerwarsays:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 5:50 pm
The problem for one-sided critics of Israeli government policies remains. Why do they choose Israel for criticism while bypassing states with a far, far worse record. There may be good reasons having nothing to do with anti-semitism but these cannot, in the circumstances, be assumed to be commonly understood.
___________________________________________________________
Just because other states have poor, even considerably worse, human rights records than Israel, does not somehow exempt that state from just criticism. If anyone criticises Australia for its treatment of indigenous people I don’t point to some other country and say, “what about them?”
Whataboutism is a cop-out. One reason I do criticise Israel is because I care about it and want it to be a better place than it is. A bit like why I am sometimes critical of Australia.
================================================
I explicitly rejected the idea that Israel is exempt from criticism. It is not.
The questions are these:
Why choose Israel for criticism when many states have far worse record?
What makes criticizing Israel your priority?
My premise is that choosing one state before others for criticism is not a random activity. It therefore requires, in the circumstances, an explanation.
Tom @ #281 Friday, February 18th, 2022 – 3:43 pm
Gave us the standard rail gauge,the distance between the wheels on a chariot or so I’m led to believe.
4′ 8 1/2″
”
WeWantPaulsays:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 4:51 pm
“While personally not being a fan of Pell, I doubt that a 7-0 decision is arguable. Perhaps you could proffer an argument of where the HC got it wrong?”
Yeah. And to be clear I haven’t gone anywhere near a court for decades and judge courts solely within the tax frame.
However as I read the decision it is 7 people who weren’t in either the court or the jury room saying the 12 that were in it f*cked it up in a way no reasonable person would.
Now if I had to chose between the 7 on the HC and a randomly selected jury, the HC would not ever get the gig.
Maybe I’ve got it wrong.
”
I don’t like Jury system because those people don’t have legal expertise and most of time pass verdict based on emotions rather than evidence. The bed rock of our legal system is based on evidence and the trained legal professionals like the judge and the lawyers. The judgement should be based on the legal arguments and evidence and not what some common man thinks.
speaking of tanks & heavy infantry brigades, and earlier upthread of sanctions & weapons inspection re: iraq, here’s scott ritter’s view on the current state of u.s. ground forces vis a vis “going toe to toe with the rooskies” (major kong). -a.v.
UKRAINE CRISIS: US ‘Toolboxes’ Are Empty
January 22, 2022
The toolbox is empty. Russia knows this. Biden knows this. Blinken knows this. CNN knows this. The only ones who aren’t aware of this are the American people, says Scott Ritter (*).
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/01/22/ukraine-crisis-us-toolboxes-are-empty/
(*) Scott Ritter is a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the former Soviet Union implementing arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm, and in Iraq overseeing the disarmament of WMD.
‘Catprog says:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 6:25 pm
Boerwar Friday, February 18, 2022 at 5:34 pm
I assume that Putin has withdrawn all tanks and other armoured vehicles because he has been listening to Bludger experts who have explained to him that tanks are useless, especially American tanks.
—
Tell us again how tanks are going to be used to stop boats from landing in Australia?’
————————————————————
I assume from your general approach that you are a devotee of the Greens Light Mobile Force combined with their cunning plan to deploy Peace Studies?
I thought that one major party was politicising national security, while the other major party was setting the record straight.
Surely the toolbox for a densely-packed mass of tanks is a large number of cruise missiles or a smaller number of A-10’s. Or whatever the drone equivalent of an A-10 is. The US should have plenty of both.
“Why choose Israel for criticism when many states have far worse record?
What makes criticizing Israel your priority?”
Which states in the last 100 years have a worse record with the original population colonised by force? True South Africa also had an apartheid govt worse in many respects but it was ended and the colonisation was much earlier, when it was still ‘cool’.
I think you’d need a pretty focused / warped assessment criteria to create a framework that would give you 20 countries worse than Israel.
Putin has no doubt imbibed the immortal line attributed to Stalin: numbers have a quality all of their own.
Quasarsays:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 4:50 pm
Can someone tell me how to copy threads from twitter?
Copy and paste is ok for just a tweet but often a thread provides much more info.
_____________________
Don’t waste your time.
Twitter is meaningless.
Thorpe is not going to help the Greens cause at all this election. I can see stories about her and her outburst dominating the media coverage of the Greens.
Plus within indigenous circles within Victoria she is extremely unpopular as she is a bit of “her way or the highway” type (and I mean they really really really don’t like her).
There are three reasons to believe that Putin will not invade over the next couple of days.
The first is his agreement with Xi not to suck oxygen from Xi’s glorious reprise of Hitler’s Berlin Games.
The second is the reported agreement that Blikin will meet next week with his opposite number on condition that Putin has not invaded in the interim.
Then there is wonderful news that Putin is withdrawing tanks from the Crimea!!!
But… as today’s shelling of a kindgarten shows when you pack around 150,000 troops in a small area and add generous dollops of tanks, artillery SS missiles and hundreds of military aircraft anyone might cock up anything and get the ball rolling.
Speaking for storms, Europe is copping a beauty. If this looks like open seas, it’s not; it’s the River Elbe, although up near Hamburg, where it’s pretty wide, and certainly wide enough to whip up some big waves.
https://youtu.be/pvZTKTIxnzM
WeWantPaul says:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 6:48 pm
“Why choose Israel for criticism when many states have far worse record?
What makes criticizing Israel your priority?”
Which states in the last 100 years have a worse record with the original population colonised by force?
…’
——————————
That is the question, IMO.
Boerwarsays:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 6:47 pm
All I see is that tanks are not very useful against a navy.
If the US has made this offer then there is a real chance of things settling down. As long as the article I posted yesterday was right. It argued that these missiles, which the US claims are defensive but the Russians argue can be easily swapped to offensive, are what is really at the heart of it all . An offer like this would definitely ease Russian fears. Pay walled , Google trick.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/17/world/europe/ukraine-conflict-russia-military.html
The timing of the talks gives NATO a chance to see what happens on Monday, the day after the war games are scheduled to conclude and the point at which Russia has suggested troops would disperse.
“During WWII tanks from the British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught’s Own) sank at least one German war ship (and “salvaged” the ship’s bell which is kept on display in the Officer’s Mess of that Regiment.”
Rewis at 6:58 pm
Monday is also one of the dates forecast for the ‘invasion’ . Straight after the closing of the Winter Olympics.
Putin has seen Morrison shouting very loudly at Xi and China and he’s afraid that Morrison might turn his shouty attention to himself and Russia…
Steve777 at 7:17 pm
Scotty’s threatened to send Abbott over to give Putin a’shirt fronting’
I see we have Sir Henry speaking considerable sense on issues about Israel. Thankyou sir.
” Scotty’s threatened to send Abbott over to give Putin a’shirt fronting’”
That’d do it…
”
ItzaDreamsays:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 6:52 pm
Speaking for storms, Europe is copping a beauty. If this looks like open seas, it’s not; it’s the River Elbe, although up near Hamburg, where it’s pretty wide, and certainly wide enough to whip up some big waves.
https://youtu.be/pvZTKTIxnzM
”
Awesome!!! Climate change says 2.0°C here it comes. Stop it if you can.
Pfft goes 1.5°C up in the air.
Taylormade @ #377 Friday, February 18th, 2022 – 6:49 pm
Especially for Vic Libs who block everyone.
Steve777 at 7:21 pm
It would give Vlad nightmares. Imaging kicking back on the beach in front of your holiday villa in Sochi and having to worry about the prospect of this emerging from the water in front of you 🙂
The Covid R(eff) number in NSW is back up to 1.00, having increased from below 0.7 in the last couple of weeks. Omicron looks set to roll on rather than tail off. It may be about to take off again. Meanwhile, the Federal and NSW Governments have given up.
https://chrisbillington.net/COVID_NSW.html
Liberals preselection chaos:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/political-bastardry-liberals-prepare-court-action-as-preselection-for-key-seats-stalls-again-20220218-p59xq7.html
Liberal members are preparing to go to court to block a decision that could help Prime Minister Scott Morrison choose candidates for the coming election.
‘bakunin says:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 6:13 pm
Boer,
I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear that Lidia’s mother is running as a Greens candidate.
….’
——————————-
On the brief face of it, she is an accomplished person. It is a pity that she is foolish enough to throw in her lot with the Party that could not leave well enough alone in relation to ‘The Statement from the Heart’.
‘Catprog says:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 6:53 pm
Boerwarsays:
Friday, February 18, 2022 at 6:47 pm
All I see is that tanks are not very useful against a navy.’
—————————————-
A cracker of a simplistic binary there! Don’t forget the tanks could carry binders full of peace studies courses!
CORRUPTION:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/police-launch-investigation-into-mick-fuller-over-racing-interests-20220218-p59xtl.html
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has launched a probe into predecessor Mick Fuller over his horse racing interests while he was the state’s top officer.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/former-surf-life-saving-nsw-boss-jailed-for-defrauding-the-organisation-20220218-p59xl0.html
Matthew Hanks will spend at least 19 months behind bars after pleading guilty to six counts of fraud in what he saw as a series of “mutually beneficial” arrangements.
My view on Pell, which obviously breaks all considered legal reason of course, is thus.
I thank the jury. They made him pay for his actions. It seems possible he paid not for what he did as the HC found. I hope he had every day in his cell where he had to think about what he was a part of over many years and how it lead him to where he was. He’s not a martyr he’s a lucky man that his actions couldn’t get a reasonable legal sentence under the law.
The victims had a win in court, he spent time in jail, his reputation amongst most thinking humans (I’ll include my religious self) is shot. Perhaps not the best win but if that’s what’s on offer then it’s reluctantly livable.
I completely understand why the victims would feel otherwise.