The Australia Institute has a poll out which offers the interesting finding that 41% favour the repeal of the stage three tax cuts, with only 22% on board and the remainder unsure. Forty-six per cent understood the cuts to most favour high income earners, compared with 18% for middle income earners and 8% for low income earners. Asked whether “adapting economic policy to suit the changing circumstances even if that means breaking an election promise” rated higher than “keeping an election promise regardless of how economic circumstances have changed”, 61% favoured the former and 27% the latter. The poll was conducted September 6 to 9 from a sample of 1409.
The Guardian reports on the fortnightly poll from Essential Research, which continues to hold off from voting intention and does not include leadership ratings on this occasion, and is mostly devoted to questions on incidental political relevance regarding the Optus security breach. Fifty-one per cent would support stronger curbs on information collected by private companies and 47% expressed concern about governments collecting their personal information. The full report should be along later today.
UPDATE: Full Essential Research report here.
Australia has indeed had a lucky escape by getting rid of the Morrison govt.
Also thankfully Biden as President, and the dems having control of the house and senate, has stopped the bleeding in the USA.
The UK tories and their backers have so far realised their goals, which didnt include making life better for everyone else.
Only problem is that for the citizenry, it has become untenable.
So it will be up to Labour to clean up the mess.
”
When British schools ignore Irish history, is it any wonder Brexit is such a mess, says Jennifer Horgen.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/03/british-schools-irish-history-brexit
”
This article is probably a good reading for some of the PBers, who think hardline on NI Protocol as promised by Liz Truss is a winner.
pageboi
Thank you.
1. With respect to reserving 30% of the land area, that is possible but neither sensible nor practical. The reason is that the land is not a flat surface. Some IBRA regions are very large and do not need 30% reservation. Other IBRA regions are very small and require higher levels of reservation. Some IBRA regions can no longer be reserved at 30% because they have been substantially cleared.
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/land/nrs/science/ibra
2. 30% cannot possibly be achieved without Indigenous landholders. There is a related issue. Indigenous Protected Areas are not, unlike other reserved areas, protected by legislation. Consultation on this by way of the Voice would be a perfect opportunity for the Voice. Any follow-up management arrangements could be embedded in a Treaty.
3. Reservation is a catch all term with the devil in the detail. For example it is quite common to have marine reserves that allow pelagic fishing. The reason is that pelagics are normally extremely wide-ranging. What matters there is not the reserve or its rules but fisheries management arrangements.
4. As reservation levels in Australia have increased over time the management resources have relatively declined. Reservation without management resources is no damn good.
I am encouraged by the aim as a statement of general intent but it will require massive resources and some considerable increase of applied smarts to achieve. The Coalition approach was to reduce reservation levels, reduce protection levels, increase access to industry and cattle grazing, allow feral animals to have fun (horses in Kossi) and to reduce management resources. They were extinction mongers.
What’s interesting is the disconnect between the Tory MPs (who wanted Rishi), the membership (who wanted Liz), and the general electorate.
Now the member vote is done and Liz is PM, but the MPs have the power in the party room and Parliament. I’m sure some actually wanted Sunak as leader, and others just thought he’d be more likely to win/save their seats in an election. They have the numbers to dump her if they change the rules, but over the will of the membership vote?
Ashasays:
Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at 8:53 am
Good lord, I figured all the stuff about Liz Truss being a total moron was just partisan rhetoric. Has there ever been a new PM who has managed to stuff things up so royally so early into their term?
_____________________
Gillard.
Boerwar at 8:49
“ I recall how plenty of Bludgers were actually blaming the US for encouraging the War in various ways…. but vacillating over a red line was not one of them!”
I am looking at this through the lens of the Baltic states, where the US, UK and NATO have repeatedly provided strong assurances of defence against Russian aggression.
This is not the narrative we are seeing re Ukraine, and so Putin was emboldened to keep on testing limits.
The vic liberals are beyond useless.
They had put forward a policy back in 2011 to have PSO patrolling hospitals.
It didnt happen due to rejection by health professionals and a parliamentary inquiry finding it unsuitable.
Curently they are used to patrol railway stations after 6 pm.
Now the liberals have revived it again without consulting the major hospitals, who still dont want armed PSO patrolling their wards.
Description of what they do is below.
—–
As a protective services officer, your roles and duties will include:
monitoring and patrolling peak hour train services
building trust in the safety of the station and public transport system through rapport with commuters and the surrounding community
working at major events and their surrounds
As a member of Victoria Police, protective services officers employment begins with receiving 12 weeks comprehensive paid training at the Victoria Police Academy to ensure you are equipped to keep the community safe. Protective services officers are located at all 212 metropolitan train stations in Melbourne and four regional train stations across Victoria (Bendigo, Traralgon, Ballarat and Geelong).
History is a good teacher. Her students however, don’t tend to pay attention.
In 1917 the Russian Revolution was enabled by the shear number of Russian troops that were armed by the state to fight in a war they didn’t understand or believe in.
Low moral, bad logistics and increasingly desperate news from Home of privation and disease fermented revolution.
Who thinks sending 300k unmotivated, ill equipped and poorly trained conscripts is going to make any difference to the situation on the ground in Ukraine? Apart from a significantly higher proportion of dead I can’t see this making any difference. All the manpower in the world will make no difference without the supply lines. Russia’s is deteriorating daily, Ukraines is improving daily.
I cannot see any clear way out of this that doesn’t involve either Putin being removed or escalation to tactical nukes. Keeping in mind the smallest tactical nuke is equivalent to an Hiroshima bomb (tactical nukes are 10 to 100 kilotons, Hiroshima was 15 kt).
”
nathsays:
Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at 8:25 am
Of course Darwinian evolution has been challenged by humans this last century. Seed banks preserve plant species. Similarly, animal species could be granted insurance by a DNA/egg and sperm bank with enough diversity to bring back a species when required.
”
You seem to like Jurassic Park movies, don’t you?
‘Eston Kohver says:
Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at 9:16 am
Boerwar at 8:49
“ I recall how plenty of Bludgers were actually blaming the US for encouraging the War in various ways…. but vacillating over a red line was not one of them!”
I am looking at this through the lens of the Baltic states, where the US, UK and NATO have repeatedly provided strong assurances of defence against Russian aggression.
This is not the narrative we are seeing re Ukraine, and so Putin was emboldened to keep on testing limits.’
———————–
I would have thought that the Red Line for the Baltic States was that there were guaranteed by NATO. Nothing that Biden said weakened that Red Line, IMO…. not that I have a particularly refined Balto-centric view of the world!
The Guardian (or “Greens/Teals-Central”) is hanging on repealing stage-3 tax cuts as an existential political stance. After all, if the ALP suffers a backlash from repealing stage-3 because they will be deemed “LIARS” by the Coalition and the mainstream media, both Greens and Teals expect to benefit. So, Greens and Teals expect to win whatever happens: No repeal, and they argue that the ALP is in cahoots with the Libs and their mates in the 1%…. Yes repeal, and they argue that it only happened thanks to their political pressure, but the ALP is the only one to suffer the negative consequences of their U-turn.
What’s going to happen in my view?…. The ALP will not repeal stage-3 during this term, but they might take the repeal to the next federal election, to seek a popular mandate. Oh, and note that stage-3 only takes effect in 2024, that is it will only have 1 year of application before the next federal election, therefore the brouhaha is clearly more political (as explained above) than economic.
”
Steve777says:
Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at 8:34 am
” Although speculation abounds, officials never publicly state which DEFCON level the country is under, for security reasons. The U.S. has never reached DEFCON 1. The highest it’s thought to have been is DEFCON 2, which reportedly occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/02/27/defcon-nuclear-deterrence-russia-united-states/6964591001/
”
I shudder to think what would have happened during Cuban missile crisis if Chicken-Hawks and Wolverines were advisors to Kennedy.
alpo
The Guardian has turned into the Teals/Greens Gazette with a vengeance. This leaves the MSM totally in the hands of Labor’s enemies.
Eston Kohver
“Putin would have been smart not to have put the nuclear threat on the table. But he has, it has been shown to be empty, and now he is backed even further into a corner.”
Agreed.
Nath
“I prefer to consult the Doomsday Clock”.
How long is it till the Victorian State election?
I saw this on twitter and thought it was apt description of the libs in this country
————
Ignore a problem until it becomes a crisis, then mismanage it.”
That sort of issues polling (on the tax cuts or especially on whether it is more important to adapt or to keep promises) is usually pretty useless as the hypothetical and the way it is presented rarely bears much resemblance to how people consider the issue when it actually comes up in real life. Cf climate change action.
That’s even without casting aspersions on how the question was presented as I haven’t looked at this particular poll, but most issues polling is, if not as blatant as one recent example, presented with a slant or the possible responses are slanted.
I just find it grossly dishonest that a debate about tax cuts not due for 2 years is being pushed now when there are more immediate economic problems to deal with. It feels purely like an attempt to wedge Labor, not achieve something.
Vic election to take place on saturday 26th november.
Thanks for the morning roundup BK.
On this story, Defence has stalled committing to the $18-27 billion Land 400 IFV project.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-03/australia-s-largest-weapons-fair-opens/101497972
Good! We will struggle to pay for the things we need in Defense as it is, never mind wasting billions on things we don’t need.
David Shoebridge’s criticisms are correct but for the wrong reason. He wants minimal defense; I’d like effective defense.
“I am looking at this through the lens of the Baltic states, where the US, UK and NATO have repeatedly provided strong assurances of defence against Russian aggression.
This is not the narrative we are seeing re Ukraine, and so Putin was emboldened to keep on testing limits.”
This would suggest that Putin was provoked by Ukraine *not* joining NATO like the Baltic states have.
”
Steve777says:
Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at 9:01 am
Gareth Quarry, 63, said that Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng were “zealots” following a policy of “GCSE economics” [junior high school] whereas Sir Keir Starmer and his team were “sensible people who have got their feet on the ground”.
You can say something similar about our “Liberals” and Labor. Combined with the Year 10 economics is a simplistic, often nasty and sometimes dangerous culture-warrior populism.
”
The most horrible thing about S3 cuts is that they passed through parliament at all when push came to shove and the Australia media did not find anything was wrong about it till ALP came to power. Shame on Australian MSM.
Putin did not just suddenly form. The West was not in control of Putin’s behaviour and never has been.
He has been a megalomaniacal imperialist militaristic arsehole for ages. Xi? Same same.
Boer – it always was. Lest we forget the burning hatred the Guardian had for Shorten and the love-in for Malcolm Turnbull. They hire the trendiest progressives to talk social issues, so that looks Green even when it has nothing to do with the actual party, but Taylor and Murphy are still who they always have been when it comes to Federal politics.
North Korea has launched a missile, likely as part of test, however it has prompted a Japanese emergency alert for citizens in Hokkaido to seek shelter in either a building or basement.
Federal funding was systematically cut during the tenure of the fibs, and healthcare has suffered Australia wide at every level of service.
When Covid hit our shores, the slow vaccine rollout and the fibs anti health response put unprecedented pressure on the already stretched system.
Investment is badly needed.
Im looking at Albo and co now.
Boerwar
I would say that the west enabled Putin and co. They loved the money coming into their countries. Particularly the UK.
Agree – Alpo and Boerwar. Even Malcolm Farr got into the act on the weekend, with a piece titled:
“The idea that MPs only look after themselves lingers, as pressure builds over closed anti-corruption hearings”.
Where is the pressure coming from? All the state commissions have the far far majority of hearings in PRIVATE. So the majority are closed!
If this ALP government doesn’t get much credit for its reforms and struggles at the next election, the Teals/Greens will be to blame, but then again, that is their business model – to get and keep Labor as a minority government. Over the top of local Greens requests (so contrary to stated policy), Greens head office decided to preference the Teal IND in the one seat (North Sydney) where an ALP candidate could have one beaten the Teal IND into second place and seriously challenged the sitting Liberal MP. Don’t expect it to change.
“GoldenSmaug says:
Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at 9:19 am”
Very good point, GS, re: the return of the Russian soldiers from the Eastern front during WWI, that contributed to spark the October revolution.
Putin is currently using the rhetoric of being some sort of Lenin-“II”, to gather popular revolutionary fervour behind him (although this time around with a Nationalistic stance, also supported by the Russian Orthodox church)…. But rather than Lenin-“II”, he is looking more and more like tsar Nicholas-“III”.
BK @ #18 Tuesday, October 4th, 2022 – 7:23 am
Is the juxtaposition of these two stories accidental, or does BK have a highly nuanced sense of humour?
Australia deliberately set out to make itself completely dependent on the exploitation of fossil fuels. Both major parties have been complicit in the simplification – if not outright destruction – of our economy for decades. Areas of the economy that are critical but less “profitable” – by which I mean less amenable to corruption and cronyism – have simply been left to wither (such as our manufacturing industry) or even deliberately sabotaged (such as our arts and education industries).
This has generated massive wealth … but for a very small number of people. And the other result is that we now find ourselves at the mercy of unscrupulous people who see how vulnerable we are and who specialize in exploiting this for profit.
We thought we were the clever country. But we were only the lucky country.
@Socrates: Indeed. I’m always mindful that we’re a small population country and our ability to resist invasion from a major power is not high if our allies can’t or won’t intervene. We shouldn’t spend billions on Defence just to spend – there needs to be a rationale as to how it will help in any realistic scenario.
Ironically, one of the best reasons for Defence spending is on materiel that allows us to participate in the sort of actions that help us get brownie points with allies and neighbours.
If China wants to invade us and the US is unwilling or unable to help a couple of divisions more or less, a tank battalion more or less, these will make no difference so actually defending against invasion isn’t a great rationale for expanding defence spending.
I have been persuaded the subs can be effective Defence spending because they would be part of an effective alliance approach to patrolling the seas and if push comes to shove interdicting enemy shipping in the Indo-Pacific, and we have to contribute not just rely on the Americans to do it all for us. If we were buying them with the idea of standing up to an invader by ourselves they would be a terrible purchase.
If we thought an invasion was genuinely on the horizon surely guerilla warfare supplies and training of potential guerilla cells would be the way to go.
UK Cartoons:
Martin Rowson on Truss and Kwarteng’s response to #minibudget2022 mayhem
Graeme Keyes on #ToriesDestroyingOurCountry #LizTruss
Matt on #UTurn #EconomicCrisis #ToryConference
Guy Venables on #UturnTories #Kwarteng #LondonMarathon
Christian Adams on #KwasiKwarteng #EconomicCrisis
Brighty on #LizTruss #MichaelGove #EconomicCrisis #ToryConference
Morten Morland on #LizTruss #MichaelGove #EconomicCrisis #ToryConference
Ben Jennings on #LizTruss and #KwasiKwarteng and his ‘growth plan’ #EconomicCrisis
Former U.S. president Donald Trump sued CNN for defamation on Monday, seeking $475 million in punitive damages and claiming that the network had carried out a “campaign of libel and slander” against him.
Trump claims in his lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that CNN had used its considerable influence as a leading news organization to defeat him politically.
CNN declined to comment on the case.
Trump, a Republican, claims in the 29-page lawsuit that CNN had a long track record of criticizing him but had ramped up its attacks in recent months because the network feared that he would run again for president in 2024.
“As a part of its concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the left, CNN has tried to taint the Plaintiff with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist,’ ‘Russian lackey,’ ‘insurrectionist,’ and ultimately ‘Hitler,'” the lawsuit claims.
In other words Dismal Science ‘101’ is dismal. What a surprise.
Well that’ll go nowhere. If it does Fox News, Breitbart, Infowars, etc. are all fucked.
Taylormade @ #55 Tuesday, October 4th, 2022 – 9:16 am
Lol, Taylormade.
I’d nominate Malcolm Turnbull. Everyone expected him to be this freaking political genius who could craft a 3rd way through Australian politics that would see him reign until forever. Instead he turned himself into a craven cuck for the Conservatives and didn’t even last one term.
@Bw completely agree, the devil will very much be in the detail with the environment announcement
I was pleased to see the Qld government bring in new limits for Spanish Mackerel, and would like to see the NSW follow suit. I love chasing spannos in the autumn season here in Coffs, but 2 per boat is plenty, that’s a lot of meat if you land 2 good sized ones, and it makes no sense for Qld to protect them, only for those that make it down here to get smashed.
I think the rules McGowan is proposing over in the cave go WAY too far though and do not share the pain equally between rec and commercial fishos
a r @ #83 Tuesday, October 4th, 2022 – 10:14 am
Yep, the 1st Amendment will see to it that it goes out backwards. Otherwise, like you say, it will provide a base for many other organisations to sue the RW disinformers.
Page b
Ocean fish?
Too many people. End of.
If truth is a defence Trump is cooked.
a r at 10:14 am
Think of it as an early start to his presidential election campaign. All that free publicity and martyrdom. Donald, yet again, the centre of attention. It’s made for winding up the supporters and collecting donations.
p
yep
Boerwar
“Putin did not just suddenly form. The West was not in control of Putin’s behaviour and never has been.
He has been a megalomaniacal imperialist militaristic arsehole for ages. Xi? Same same.”
Yes exactly. As per Victoria’s point I can accept that western economic policy facilitated Putin’s rise once in power, but the west neither created Putin nor got him in power.
I have been reading Bill Browder’s book “Freezing Order” and Xanthippe has another, “Putin’s Men” about the rise of Putin and his oligarch cronies. They are all from the same cadre of KGB officers from the 1980s St Petersberg office. Their behaviour is more like that of a crime gang than a political party, complete with large-scale money laundering.
Xi is different in that he is a militarist as opposed to the former spymaster/internal security guy that Putin is/was. But both Putin and Xi are imperialists, and have said so in their own writing.
poroti @ #88 Tuesday, October 4th, 2022 – 9:28 am
But I thought he loves free-speech so much that he made his own social network. And now he’s suing because some people have said things he doesn’t like.
Do people too stupid to spot the obvious hypocrisy really have that much cash to donate?
Well, here is a big surprise. My view is that Xi should be encouraged to keep pumping out the CO2 and the methane. The systemic problem by now may be that the technocrats are too bloody frightened to tell Xi the truth:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2334921-heatwave-in-china-is-the-most-severe-ever-recorded-in-the-world/
I love the smell of compromise in the morning, with commentators and polling urging a cautionary government to make sensible easily justifiable economic decisions despite whatever ultimately superficial political blowback might be risked. It’s usually the other way round.
Welcome home D&M. We’ve putting on another special rain show, just for you.
Yep Trump is doing this as a publicity stunt.
It serves more than one purpose.
Distract from his current woes and whatever he is actually doing behind the scenes.
Why didnt he sue MSNBC? Cos they are so much more anti Trump than CNN.
CNN are in fact more sympathetic to Trump.
Trump has always used the court system at every turn to delay distract and divert.
This is his modus operandi.
He is beyond evil and narcissistic.
Wish his number was up sooner than later.
That goes for Putin as well.
#weatheronPB
Looking up, distant clouds fade.
Looking down, the ants are busy, searching.
Warmth settles on my back.
Socrates
Whats not to like about Putin and the oligarchs.
Controlling the finances of the state to distribute amongst your friends, and keep the populace in control by feeding them a daily diet of propaganda.
You can see where Trump and his friends are getting their ideas from.
The apologists for Putin and co. Quite frankly disgust me.
Arky
“I have been persuaded the subs can be effective Defence spending because they would be part of an effective alliance approach to patrolling the seas and if push comes to shove interdicting enemy shipping in the Indo-Pacific, and we have to contribute not just rely on the Americans to do it all for us. If we were buying them with the idea of standing up to an invader by ourselves they would be a terrible purchase.”
From what I’ve read subs, aircraft and missiles (land or ship launched0 are the most effective things to deter an enemy naval force from approaching Australia, because they can sink ships. Aircraft and air defense are also essential to shoot down approaching planes. Without those two things enemy troops can’t get here. SSNs are also attractive because their range allows the possibility of other things. For example, one of the most effective ways Australia could put pressure on China would be to blockade or interdict trade, especially oil supplies, from the Middle east to China, through one of the four narrow Indonesian straits. SSNs range allows them to defend Australia from a distance beyond the range of missiles on any approaching ships. This is the strategy advocated in Hugh White’s book, How to Defend Australia, which I found a clear and logical read.
“If we thought an invasion was genuinely on the horizon surely guerilla warfare supplies and training of potential guerilla cells would be the way to go.”
Yes again. As you say, a single battalion of tanks would make no difference to a huge army like the PLA. Like Ukraine, we would be better off with a larger army reserve that could be mobilised if needed, and equipped with SAMs and Javelin-type AT missiles. Far cheaper too. One Abrams costs the same as 10 Bushmasters or 50 Javelins.
With reference to the above conversation, the aim seems to be to halt the ‘extinction crisis’. This is NOT the same as halting all extinctions. The former seems to be what Labor intends. The latter is Greens policy.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/04/australia-announces-plan-to-halt-extinction-crisis-and-save-110-species