A couple of things to be noted as the Victorian election dominates my attention:
• The weekly Roy Morgan video update tells us that federal Labor’s two-party lead is steady at 53.5-46.5, and nothing further.
• The quarterly EMRS poll of Tasmanian state voting intention gives the Liberals their best result this year, up one to 42% with Labor down two to 29% and the Greens up one to 14%. Jeremy Rockliff’s lead over Rebecca White is 46-34, little changed from 47-35 in August. The poll was conducted November 8 to 15 from a sample of 1000.
• Something that caught my eye from Charlotte Ivers in Britain’s New Statesman, as it seems more than relevant to Australia:
In 2019 57 per cent of people aged 60-69 voted Tory, but only 23 per cent of people aged 25-29. Of course, it is news to nobody that young people vote Labour and older people vote Conservative. What is alarming Conservative MPs is that the tipping point age at which people become more likely to vote Conservative than Labour is going up, and it is going up quickly. Before the 2017 election, research by the Onward think tank found, the tipping point was 34. By 2019 it was 51.
MPs can also tell you why this is. People vote Conservative as they age not because of some innate law, but because ageing has traditionally been associated with the other markers of a Conservative vote: home ownership, a stable job, increased income or capital. It looks like this link is breaking.
What’s going on down in Tasmania? Even NSW Labor has been able to recover somewhat from their election drubbing whilst Tasmanian Labor is consistently unpopular. Sounds like it might be time for Rebecca White to go?
Breaking? It’s flat out broken. I have those markers. Still wouldn’t touch a Conservative with a 10 foot pole, regardless of whether they’re a deceptively branded “Liberal”, a Republican, or a Tory. Whatever magic they plan to work for me financially, their social agenda is just flat out evil. From its treatment of women, homosexuals, nonchristians, and other minority groups generally to its asinine science denial across multiple fronts.
And aside from that Conservatives worldwide have a recent pattern of not caring for convention, minimum acceptable standards of behavior and competence, fair play, or even democracy and the rule of law. They actively work to subvert these, seeking only to 1) win by hook or by crook, and 2) having won, do whatever they hell they feel like while taking accountability for nothing.
How anyone can decide that financial things outweigh everything else that’s terribly, glaringly wrong with today’s mainstream (and fringe) Conservative parties enough to give them a vote is beyond me. They deserve zero votes until they fix the systemic ugliness in their party.
Well said, a r. To which I would also add that Housing, even if you own your own home, is an issue which affects your children and grandchildren, as the policies of the Tories the world over to concentrate people’s asset base in property and shares and so serve that base, becomes the issue which negatively affects their family not them, the most. Only hard-hearted bastards would therefore vote for a Tory Conservative and not the party offering to do something about that problem. Which is about a solid 1/3 of the population it seems.
I’d add the environment and Climate Change issues to the list of issues which are keeping people on the Progressive side of the ledger. A lot of us came up through the Environment Movement of the 1970s and beyond. Ditto the Feminist and Gay Rights Movements, and we will forever kick against the pricks that want to take us back to the Dark Ages.
Finally, you only have job stability as you age if you are an ubermenschen. All the rest of us untermenschen could be out on our ears and homeless if we are considered surplus to requirements when and if a downturn occurs and as we age. We also have a lot of sympathy for the kids on the bottom of the ladder in the so-called ‘gig economy’ because our young working lives were never as bad as that.
Basically, if you’re not calcified in your thinking by the time you’re 50, you never will be these days.
Captain Wacky @ #1 Thursday, November 24th, 2022 – 12:25 am
Definitely time for a refresh and rejuvenation at the top of Tasmanian Labor. Too many entrenched camps of no real talent. Rebecca White included. I met her once at a conference. She believed she was better than the rest of us because she was Tasmanian Labor Opposition Leader. Lol.
Adam Liaw
@adamliaw
I’m neither a genius or a billionaire but if I had a $44 billion media company and a $500 billion electric car company about to face enormous global competition, I’d be slightly wary of positioning myself as the ideological darling of people who think electric cars are stupid.
Historyintime: “Cookers aren’t Nazis (right wing authoritarians) they are right wing libertarians.”
Libertarianism is a left-wing ideology. No, these people are confused, and helplessly indoctrinated into authoritarianism, which is why so many of them are religious nutters. They screach “freedumb”, and then regurgitate the talking points they’ve been given.
This thread is an interesting read about the interweaving between the cookers, the churches, the IPA and the Liberals:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1595311622612217856.html
Senior federal Coalition MP Stuart Robert has been secretly providing advice to a Canberra lobbying and consulting firm that helps large companies win lucrative government contracts and obtain access to senior Coalition politicians, including Peter Dutton.
A cache of leaked emails reveals how Robert used his status as a federal MP in 2017 and 2018 to help the firm, Synergy 360, sign up corporate clients with the promise of helping them navigate the federal public service and political system and meet key decision-makers, including senior Coalition ministers. Synergy 360 is paid a retainer by companies to lobby officials and is paid a commission if a contract is successfully secured.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/senior-coalition-mp-stuart-robert-gave-secret-advice-to-lobbyists-20221123-p5c0kg.html
Because of course he did. There’s not a grift he won’t he won’t grift.
What a r said!
The conservative in Conservative parties is less conservative and more and more reactionary.
Dynamite allegations concerning Brother Stu Roberts…. Probably delighted he is on the Q&A panel tonight.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/senior-coalition-mp-stuart-robert-gave-secret-advice-to-lobbyists-20221123-p5c0kg.html
Re Ar @12:36. Excellent post.
The SMH shedding some light on the behaviour of the former editor of the SmearStralian…
Reports in this masthead washed away the company line about Dore quitting for “health reasons” – his departure was agreed to with senior executives last month after he made lewd comments towards a woman at an event in the United States where he’d been drinking.
Those allegations came as little surprise in the media bubble, where Dore has form, due to an incident that is something of an open secret at then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s New Year’s Eve party at Kirribilli House in 2016.
Turnbull’s 2020 memoir A Bigger Picture recounts an event that went swimmingly, only to be soiled by a “tirade of drunken abuse from one of Murdoch’s editors”.
Dore, then in charge of The Daily Telegraph, was the editor in question, according to several people at the event, who characterised his behaviour as drunk, vulgar, abusive and embarrassing.
More embarrassing was that this all went down in the presence of Rupert Murdoch’s niece Penny Fowler, who is the chair of The Herald and Weekly Times. And while you’d expect such a performance might trigger some kind of internal hand-wringing, News Corp wouldn’t comment on whether it received complaints or took any action.
In any case, Dore, who also did not respond to CBD’s requests for comment, clearly discharged his duties at the Tele well enough to land a promotion to editor of the national broadsheet two years later. A shame, really.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/barack-obama-to-land-down-under-in-march-20221123-p5c0qf.html
Holdenhillbilly says:
Thursday, November 24, 2022 at 6:09 am
Senior federal Coalition MP Stuart Robert has been secretly providing advice to a Canberra lobbying and consulting firm that helps large companies win lucrative government contracts and obtain access to senior Coalition politicians, including Peter Dutton.
A cache of leaked emails reveals how Robert used his status as a federal MP in 2017 and 2018 to help the firm, Synergy 360, sign up corporate clients with the promise of helping them navigate the federal public service and political system and meet key decision-makers, including senior Coalition ministers. Synergy 360 is paid a retainer by companies to lobby officials and is paid a commission if a contract is successfully secured.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/senior-coalition-mp-stuart-robert-gave-secret-advice-to-lobbyists-20221123-p5c0kg.html
———————————————————————————————
Just another Pentecostal politician whose true personal and political values appear to directly contradict the Christian values he hides behind. Untrustworthy, deceptive, rat cunning bordering on evil.
The Dawn Patrol will be a bit of a rushed job this morning. I uncharacteristically overslept.
ar
+1 with bells on!
BK, good for you! You deserve it.
Good job, Angus. I’m sure PK will ask him about this on RN this morning…
The federal environment department allowed the National Farmers’ Federation to attend a meeting about clearing of native grasslands in what its own officials warned could be a breach of commonwealth prosecutions policy.
The warnings are contained in documents, seen by Guardian Australia, which were prepared ahead of a 5 April 2019 meeting to discuss an allegation that Jam Land, a company part owned by the then energy minister Angus Taylor and his brother Richard, had illegally cleared 28.5 ha of critically endangered grasslands in the New South Wales Monaro region.
In 2020, an investigation concluded that grasslands in NSW owned by Jam Land had been cleared illegally.
The meeting was attended by the department’s then deputy secretary Dean Knudson, its chief compliance officer, Monica Collins, Jam Land director, Richard Taylor, the NFF’s chief executive, Tony Mahar, and another official.
“The close engagement of the National Farmers’ Federation in any type of alternate dispute resolution with Jam Land Pty Ltd and its directors and the department is unusual,” a two-page brief written before the meeting states.
“It is not a request that would normally be acceptable to the department and may create a precedent or perception about the inappropriate influence of third parties on our formal investigatory processes.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/24/national-farmers-federation-nff-attended-environment-department-meeting-jam-land-grasslands-clearing
You wonder what the 30 year release of cabinet documents will reveal about the Morrison government. Truly the worst government in our country’s history.
No rush BK and thanks in advance. A good sleep-in is worth its weight in gold.
Morning all. Holden Hillbilly thanks for the SMH story on Stuart Roberts acting as an advisor to lobbyist Synergy 360. Stunning! How is this even legal?
I see Synergy360 specialises in strategic advice on Defence and IT projects – areas where Roberts engaged firms as a Minister before and after! Unbelievable conflict of interest. Did any of the Robodebt firms get work out of this? The RC needs to ask Robert questions.
https://synergy360.com.au/our-services/#strategic
He must have known this was wrong ergo the secrecy. You can bet Robert never declared this on his parliamentary register.
Next obvious question – was Robert paid? Or was it for a Pentecostal mate?
Question Time Today.
Looking forward to seeing whether L-Plate Liberal, Jenny Wares, gets to stuff up another batch of pre-prepared questions.
Maybe, having been granted the honour of asking the same question, four times, by the indulgence of Speaker Milton Dick, she may have passed her newbie quota for this parliamentary term.
Great to see the House Speaker being so supportive of new members.
By the way can anyone identify the shrieking banshee, who sits behind Littleproud.
The one that has a hairdo imitating a scarecrow.
sprocket_
NFF should remember, if you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas. This seriously devalues their credibility imo, but I’m not surprised sadly.
Michael Moore is optimistic
“ The odds are long. A Hail Mary pass or two is needed. The opponent is badly bruised from a whoopin’ they took on November 8th. They are left with what will be an anemic majority in the House. But that’s not til January 3rd. Until then, we have 40+ days where we hold the lead and possess thepower. If we choose to use it strongly, wisely and with a touch of cooperation from a teeny-weeny group of Republicans who are fed up with being the villains, we have a chance to do some good.
In an amazing turn of events, a bill passed by the House last year to codify the 2015 Supreme Court decision to make same-sex marriage legal, has been shepherded by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer through the Senate where he convinced 12 Republicans to pass the House bill to make same-sex marriage the law of the land.
So I got to thinking — how many other House bills have been passed in this session of Congress and are just sitting in the Senate gathering dust waiting for a vote? Turns out a lot! Many will need 60 votes for them to pass thanks to the anti-Democracy Republicans who keep the filibuster going.
But some can pass with the 51 votes the Dems already have. Why not spend these 40 days and either convince a few Republicans to come along like they did with the same-sex marriage act or we just go ahead and pass the ones we can pass with 51 votes.
Even if we only get one of these enacted as law, it’ll be worth it. And yes, there’s so much more we needed this Democratic majority to pass. Like codifying Roe and making abortion permanently legal. The Dems in the House have had the votes to do that since the day the Supreme Court made it illegal back in June. In fact, they’ve had numerous chances to do it for 49 years. Just never got around to it. So there’s nothing the Democratic Senate has from the House that they can attempt to pass. Same for many other issues that the American people support.
In case you missed it, on Sunday’s podcast of “Rumble with Michael Moore,” I threw a few of those Hail Mary passes to see if we can squeeze a few more victories out of this Congress (until we get it back 10 months from now after two scandals, three resignations, four indictments and an untimely death during an “all you can eat” desert at an Applebee’s in suburban Virginia).
Six weeks during the holiday season makes this a difficult endeavor. But we just took Pennsylvania! Michigan is all Blue — Deep Blue! Crazy Red Nebraska passed a ballot proposal raising the minimum wage by 40%! Marijuana is now legal in Maryland and Missouri!
So how ‘bout continuing the Child Tax Credit? Extending the Civil Rights Act to the LGBTQ+ community? Passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act?
So please, if you haven’t already, have a listen to the podcast episode, it’s only 40 minutes long. Just see it as me laying out my next crazy idea like, “hey, did you hear the one where we’re going to have a Democratic woman of color represent Alaska in Congress? Or how ‘bout the one where Kansas would protect the right to abortion in their state constitution? Or the one where there would be no red wave on Roevember?” Crazy, huh?!
Pundits and bloviators will say it can never happen, but they should know by now whenever we hear that, that’s our catnip.
Are you with me Arizona and Nevada? Of course you are. You never left us.
Dawn of the world’s largest all-electric commercial flight:
The historic aircraft, the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, took off from an airport in Moses Lake, Washington last week and used a 751-horsepower all-electric motor developed by magniX and engineered in Queensland.
The successful 30 minute, 160km test flight used less than USD$6 worth of electricity and Aerotec stated that the flying of the eCaravan served as another critical step in the certification and approval process of the magni500 propulsion system, enabling future conversions of additional aircraft to magniX’s all-electric propulsion technology.
https://aemo.com.au/newsroom/energy-live/largest-all-electric-commercial-flight
If Australia can make electric motors for planes it can make electric motors for cars.
plus you had the lobeying ferm dgdpg group ran buy two of morrisons mates brigs and gazard former nsw liberal deputy head and costelow advisor mean while the despetrrate nsw liberals are using a mp acused of bulying in mihayliuk to bring down khal asfour upper house labor candadate with aligations he was cloose to obead over a decade a go meanwhile lib rising star chris rath who wants union leaders cicked of labor nsw egzecutive thanked john sidoty in his first speech after icac released findings against him
Is Nick McKenzie going to do a 60 minutes expose of Brother Stuart Robert? Sinister overtones? Geoffrey Watson of NSW ICAC fame starting at some grainy footage of Brother going to an ATM and saying oh that could be corruption?
wonder what morrison knew about robberts activities acording to reports robbert along with allex hawke and the litle known steve irons and ben mortin were morrisons closist advisors even closer then frydenberg along with finkielstien after he lost the federal election perrottit thinke he can fix the nsw liberal preselections and be his stratigistt desbite his focus on focus groups and failure to improve morrisons popularity on tasmanian labor maybi david oburn would have been able to improve tasmanian labors tallent and performents but the right bought him down over herasment to re install white who lead the party to two defeats
The Oz
“Andrew’s at risk of losing his seat”.
Seriously? This reporting is literally out of control, absolutely absurd.
(I won’t insult Bludgers with the link)
sprocket_ says:
“Good job, Angus. I’m sure PK will ask him about this on RN this morning…”
Angus with PK now. Let’s see if she asks about Money-For-Jam-Land.
Roy Morgan Summary
Labor strategists believe that the party could potentially lose 8-10 seats at the Victorian election on Saturday, and these seats are likely to be targeted by both major political parties in the final days of the election campaign. The loss of so many seats could reduce Labor to a minority government, as some of these seats are likely to fall to Greens and independent candidates rather than the Coalition. Meanwhile, the state government’s Suburban Rail Loop dominated the election on Wednesday, with the Opposition pushing Premier Daniel Andrews to release costings for the project.
PK squibbed.
“In 2019 57 per cent of people aged 60-69 voted Tory, but only 23 per cent of people aged 25-29. Of course, it is news to nobody that young people vote Labour and older people vote Conservative. What is alarming Conservative MPs is that the tipping point age at which people become more likely to vote Conservative than Labour is going up, and it is going up quickly. Before the 2017 election, research by the Onward think tank found, the tipping point was 34. By 2019 it was 51.”…
Hey, British Tories, I told you that your mishandling of Covid would affect your electoral prospects: You have been “killing” your major constituency!
Number of deaths by Covid in the UK so far: 196,241…. 7th largest number of deaths in the world, most deaths are older people.
Cronus says:
Thursday, November 24, 2022 at 7:51 am
The Oz
“Andrew’s at risk of losing his seat”.
Seriously? This reporting is literally out of control, absolutely absurd.
——————
They did it with Rudd and Albanese claimed they were in danger of losing their seats
When reality was on election day Rudd and Albanese were never in danger
theunaustralian.netn@TheUnOz
BREAKING: Former PM (yep, really) Scott Morrison Has Strongly Defended His Former Cabinet Minister Stuart Robert Against Corruption Allegations, Declaring: ”Brother Stuey Is The Best Minister Money Can Buy!’
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Nick McKenzie and David Crowe reveal that senior federal Coalition MP Stuart Robert has been secretly providing advice to a Canberra lobbying and consulting firm that helps large companies win lucrative government contracts and obtain access to senior Coalition politicians, including Peter Dutton. FFS! (By the way, Robert is scheduled to be a panellist on QandA tonight).
https://www.smh.com.au/national/senior-coalition-mp-stuart-robert-gave-secret-advice-to-lobbyists-20221123-p5c0kg.html
Another FFS! The federal environment department allowed the National Farmers’ Federation to attend a meeting about clearing of native grasslands in what its own officials warned could be a breach of commonwealth prosecutions policy. The warnings are contained in documents, seen by Guardian Australia, which were prepared ahead of a 5 April 2019 meeting to discuss an allegation that Jam Land, a company part owned by the then energy minister Angus Taylor and his brother Richard, had illegally cleared 28.5 hectares (70.4 acres) of critically endangered grasslands in the New South Wales Monaro region.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/24/national-farmers-federation-nff-attended-environment-department-meeting-jam-land-grasslands-clearing
A decade of policy inaction, misstep and failure is coming home to roost – and Australian taxpayers are being warned the cost of that will be borne by them, explains Shane Wright.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-economic-issues-the-federal-government-cannot-ignore-20221123-p5c0jv.html
Australia’s economy remains afloat – but there are choppy waters ahead, warns Greg Jericho.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2022/nov/24/australias-economy-remains-afloat-but-there-are-choppy-waters-ahead
Michael Pascoe opines that interest rates won’t work like they used to. This is a very good read that contains a telling chart.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2022/11/23/interest-rates-rba-philip-lowe/
Angus Thompson reports that Scott Morrison and former ministers Alan Tudge, Michael Keenan, Stuart Robert, Christian Porter and Marise Payne will also have expenses covered by taxpayers, but the approval of the public money does not cement their appearance at future hearings, which begin again next month. Regardless, it’s going to be an interesting two weeks of hearings to watch.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/taxpayer-funds-approved-for-morrison-s-robo-debt-royal-commission-appearance-20221123-p5c0se.html
Rachel Clun tells us that banking executives will face fines of up to $1.1 million for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent systemic misconduct in a significant strengthening of the laws introduced in the wake of the Hayne royal commission. She outlines the amendments that were proposed by the Greens have been accepted by the government.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/million-dollar-fines-for-dodgy-bankers-20221123-p5c0nt.html
Mark Kenny explains how years of bipartisan neoliberalism have tightened the screws making the public service less capable and also less competitive in the broader labour market. To that we might add less adventurous. Successive iterations of government have contracted out some of the best thinking work, and in 2018, Scott Morrison basically told public servants to stay out of the ideas business which was the province of ministers.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7993450/public-service-shiny-bum-jokes-are-starting-to-wear-a-bit-thin/?cs=14329
The Victorian election campaign has provided a compelling illustration of how the state’s anti-corruption and donation laws interact with our political leaders, serving to highlight the integrity framework’s strengths and deficiencies, write Josh Gordon and Paul Sakkal.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/rollercoaster-election-campaign-has-highlighted-importance-of-integrity-20221123-p5c0jy.html
Bob McMullan thinks that the return of Labor government in Victoria is likely amid tightening polls.
https://johnmenadue.com/victorian-election/
Lucy Hamilton explains how the Victorian Liberals are under siege from extremist religious groups. She says, “The Victorian election is a mess. This is the product of the destruction of our conservative forces by international right wing radicalism; for people in that sphere discrediting democracy is the desirable first step in dismantling the status quo. For the rest of us, it is a threat.”
https://theaimn.com/victorian-election-liberals-under-siege-from-extremist-religious-groups/
The AFR’s editorial says that sometimes a bad government, especially one headed in an even worse direction than the opposition, just needs to be thrown out of office.
https://www.afr.com/politics/victoria-cannot-afford-more-labor-20221122-p5c07o
Far from implementing the vision of COP26 in Glasgow, as intended, COP27 in Egypt signed the death warrant for 1.5°C, laments Alan Kohler.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2022/11/24/climate-change-action-kohler/
Whistleblower protection must not be an afterthought – it is the main game of integrity, argues Kieran Pender.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/23/whistleblower-protection-must-not-be-an-afterthought-it-is-the-main-game-of-integrity
Australia needs a countrywide scheme to cut the cost of insurance premiums for homes at risk of escalating natural disasters, says the national consumers’ lobby as it warns that flood, fire and storm-surge protection is unaffordable or unavailable for many. Mike Foley tells us about a submission given to a government inquiry.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scheme-needed-to-cut-insurance-premiums-amid-market-failures-consumer-lobby-20221123-p5c0nk.html
The NSW Liberal minister grappling with repeated strikes has backed the federal Labor government’s push under its contentious workplace bill to give the Fair Work Commission power to end industrial action.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-finds-surprising-ally-in-giving-fair-work-more-power-20221122-p5c0cm.html
“I’m a doctor who’ll trust pharmacists to diagnose”, declares Nick Coatsworth. Enough said.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/i-m-a-doctor-who-ll-trust-pharmacists-to-diagnose-20221122-p5c0gk.html
“Let’s hear it for equality instead of a voice”, writes The Australian’s resident snark, Peta Credlin.
https://amp.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/lets-hear-it-for-equality-instead-of-avoice/news-story/b498c3592e01f0d7491460fed754f31d
Meanwhile Josh Butler reports that the Liberal party is expected to allow members the freedom to campaign however they wish on the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum, defying advice from former prime minister John Howard.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/24/liberals-expected-to-give-mps-freedom-to-campaign-as-they-wish-on-indigenous-voice
Rudd is right – we can’t wish away a war with China, writes Mick Ryan who says Australia needs to start thinking more deeply about the very real prospect of a war with China.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/rudd-is-right-we-can-t-wish-away-a-war-with-china-20221122-p5c0ex.html
Helen Dickinson argues that we should be proud of the NDIS, not fearful of costs.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/we-should-be-proud-of-the-ndis-not-fearful-of-costs-20221122-p5c0cn.html
Michaela Whitbourn reports that a Sydney businesswoman has been found guilty of defrauding the National Australia Bank of millions of dollars and paying kickbacks to a senior bank staffer after a jury returned a verdict to 92 charges against her.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-businesswoman-found-guilty-of-defrauding-nab-of-millions-as-jury-deliberations-continue-20221123-p5c0mp.html
Companies responsible for testing the quality of Australian coal altered “40-50 per cent of the certificates” to make dirty coal look cleaner than it was and sell substandard products for higher profits to Australia’s export partners and underplay carbon emissions, writes Binoy Kampmark.
https://johnmenadue.com/australias-fake-coal-ploy/
The travelling public’s willingness to forget the past and pay booming prices for tickets is responsible for a massive surge in Qantas’ revenue, cash flow and profit, writes Elizabeth Knight.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/traveller-amnesia-and-pricey-fares-deliver-qantas-its-best-ever-profit-20221123-p5c0oc.html
For a quarter of a century Joel Fitzgibbon was Labor’s man in the coal-mining electorate of Hunter. Now he’s the ‘‘ideal appointment’’ to the board of a company with a large stake in New Hope’s controversial New Acland coal mine. Callum Foote reports.
https://michaelwest.com.au/controversial-coal-mine-wins-water-licence-former-pollie-joel-fitzgibbon-joins-the-board/
Traders have been concerned about the volatility and lack of liquidity in the US bond market this year, fearing the world’s key financial market might seize up and trigger a global financial crisis, explains Stephen Bartholomeusz donning the black cap.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/could-the-world-s-most-important-market-crash-20221123-p5c0jn.html
The true nature of sport is being overshadowed by corporate interference, poor management and corruption, writes Dr Lee Duffield.
https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/elite-sport-has-become-victim-to-greed-corruption-and-politics,17000
Six and a half years after voting to leave the European Union, three years after the formal departure, two years after signing a post-Brexit trade deal with Brussels and one month after installing its fourth prime minister since the 2016 referendum, Britain is caught in – what else? – another debate over Brexit. They are suffering from Bregret.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/bregret-britons-are-showing-signs-of-brexit-buyer-s-remorse-20221123-p5c0n6.html
DeSantis would likely deliver the next staggering blow to liberal democracy in America. He has made his ideology unambiguously clear, and it is darker and more coherent than Trump’s. America’s allies would be well served to monitor closely the political tides as the 2024 presidential election approaches, writes Mike Scrafton.
https://johnmenadue.com/the-woke-warriors-the-authoritarian-danger-in-2024/
Matteo Vergani tells us that the US LGBT nightclub shooting shows why Australia must reform hate crime laws.
https://theconversation.com/us-lgbt-nightclub-shooting-shows-why-australia-must-reform-hate-crime-laws-195191
Former US president Barack Obama will visit Australia in March next year, delivering a series of paid speeches at leadership events in Sydney and Melbourne.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/barack-obama-to-visit-australia-in-2023-20221123-p5c0so
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe
Alan Moir
David Pope
John Shakespeare
Dionne Gain
Andrew Dyson
Fiona Katauskas
Glen Le Lievre
Spooner
From the US
Good Morning Jon Stewert puts the war hawks under pressure. Via Majority Report with Sam Seder
https://youtu.be/z0nqsycrFvw
Guys
My comments are in brackets ().
”
sprocket_says:
Thursday, November 24, 2022 at 6:55 am
The SMH shedding some light on the behaviour of the former editor of the SmearStralian…
Reports in this masthead washed away the company line about Dore quitting for “health reasons” – his departure was agreed to with senior executives last month after he made lewd comments towards a woman at an event in the United States where he’d been drinking.
Those allegations came as little surprise in the media bubble, where Dore has form, due to an incident that is something of an open secret at then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s New Year’s Eve party at Kirribilli House in 2016.
Turnbull’s 2020 memoir A Bigger Picture recounts an event that went swimmingly, only to be soiled by a “tirade of drunken abuse from one of Murdoch’s editors”.
Dore, then in charge of The Daily Telegraph, was the editor in question, according to several people at the event, who characterised his behaviour as drunk, vulgar, abusive and embarrassing.
More embarrassing was that this all went down in the presence of Rupert Murdoch’s niece Penny Fowler, who is the chair of The Herald and Weekly Times. And while you’d expect such a performance might trigger some kind of internal hand-wringing, News Corp wouldn’t comment on whether it received complaints or took any action.
In any case, Dore, who also did not respond to CBD’s requests for comment, clearly discharged his duties at the Tele well enough to land a promotion to editor of the national broadsheet two years later. A shame, really.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/barack-obama-to-land-down-under-in-march-20221123-p5c0qf.html
”
A couple of things from that article:
1. His departure was agreed to with senior executives last month after he made lewd comments towards a woman at an event in the United States where he’d been drinking.
(See it is not a one off incident)
Those allegations came as little surprise in the media bubble, where Dore has form
(that is clincher. What it means he behaved like that many times).
2. (There is an example verified by Turnbull.) an incident that is something of an open secret at then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s New Year’s Eve party at Kirribilli House in 2016.
Dore, then in charge of The Daily Telegraph, was the editor in question, according to several people at the event, who characterised his behaviour as drunk, vulgar, abusive and embarrassing.
3. (Did you notice editors of Murdoch rags are at New Year’s Eve party of this country’s PM. Why should an editors of newspapers be at PM’s New Year’s Eve party?)
4. Dore, who clearly discharged his duties at the Tele well enough (sarcasm?) to land a promotion to editor of the national broadsheet two years later. A shame, really.
(So people at Murdoch organisation get promotions for bad behaviour. It is not a shame. It is complete and utter disgrace)
“Holdenhillbilly says:
Thursday, November 24, 2022 at 7:57 am
Roy Morgan Summary
…Labor strategists believe that the party could potentially lose 8-10 seats at the Victorian election on Saturday, and these seats are likely to be targeted by both major political parties in the final days of the election campaign. The loss of so many seats could reduce Labor to a minority government”
Will a loss of 10 seats by the ALP produce a “hung parliament”? Currently, the ALP holds 55 seats, the Coalition 27 and Others 6. If the ALP loses 10 seats, they end up with 45 seats, and everybody else combined will have 43…. Where is the “minority government”?
“Attacks on RBA a Lowe point for business good will
“Just because he was wrong about inflation a year ago, it doesn’t mean Reserve Bank governor Phil Lowe is wrong about it now.”
The problem I highlighted some months ago, credibility is the RBA’s greatest asset. Conversely, its loss is its greatest risk as its almost impossible to regain such credibility.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Fattacks-on-rba-a-lowe-point-for-business-good-will%2Fnews-story%2Fdd1e883acfec5251519afa3a051e7ae9&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-groupb-control-noscore&V21spcbehaviour=append
#weatheronPB
The grey flat lid,
though marked by glowing scribbles,
fails to excite me.
“Captain Wacky says:
Thursday, November 24, 2022 at 12:25 am
What’s going on down in Tasmania? Even NSW Labor has been able to recover somewhat from their election drubbing whilst Tasmanian Labor is consistently unpopular. Sounds like it might be time for Rebecca White to go?”
The Tasmanian Liberals were smart during the pandemic (and they didn’t have major natural disasters to test them). The NSW Liberals, on the other hand, were crap during the pandemic and failed as they were facing some serious natural disasters (bushfires and then floods). Potentially, next year, Tasmania may be the only major jurisdiction under Liberal party control.
Poor Libs, “isolated” on a small place at the bottom of our national map.
I have said before the LNP talking up the neo liberal idea of small government leads to incompetence. You gut the resources out of something and it just can’t do it’s job.
See Mark Kenny on the public service.
Combine that with what I regard as malicious policy like Robodebt punish the poor and it’s a disaster.
So as I have retweeted a bit the poor get the rough end of the pineapple and for them protecting contracts doesn’t matter as the single mums huddle in their cars. Labor’s we need more time rings very hollow to them.
Labor could have paused mutual obligations even if it wasn’t going to raise the rate. The Robodebt Royal Commission has certainly given the political air to do so.
Always money for war not for poor people in our landlord politicians thinking. Cue the cries of free money and we face a debt we can’t ignore for daring to say think of poor people.
These issues of gutting the public service and punishing the poor are directly linked to that neo liberal ideology of small government as Ronald Reagan made clear with his Welfare Queen https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/05/21/she-was-stereotyped-welfare-queen-truth-was-more-disturbing-new-book-says/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/05/21/she-was-stereotyped-welfare-queen-truth-was-more-disturbing-new-book-says/
All for an attack on social security to enable the ability to cut it. I think this is a great example of the culture war and why Labor can never pretend wokeness isn’t a Labor value. Labor have been very woke on both the public service and the poor for some time.
”
Dog’s Brunchsays:
Thursday, November 24, 2022 at 7:27 am
Michael Moore is optimistic
“ The odds are long. A Hail Mary pass or two is needed. The opponent is badly bruised from a whoopin’ they took on November 8th. They are left with what will be an anemic majority in the House. But that’s not til January 3rd. Until then, we have 40+ days where we hold the lead and possess thepower. If we choose to use it strongly, wisely and with a touch of cooperation from a teeny-weeny group of Republicans who are fed up with being the villains, we have a chance to do some good.
In an amazing turn of events, a bill passed by the House last year to codify the 2015 Supreme Court decision to make same-sex marriage legal, has been shepherded by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer through the Senate where he convinced 12 Republicans to pass the House bill to make same-sex marriage the law of the land.
So I got to thinking — how many other House bills have been passed in this session of Congress and are just sitting in the Senate gathering dust waiting for a vote? Turns out a lot! Many will need 60 votes for them to pass thanks to the anti-Democracy Republicans who keep the filibuster going.
But some can pass with the 51 votes the Dems already have. Why not spend these 40 days and either convince a few Republicans to come along like they did with the same-sex marriage act or we just go ahead and pass the ones we can pass with 51 votes.
Even if we only get one of these enacted as law, it’ll be worth it. And yes, there’s so much more we needed this Democratic majority to pass. Like codifying Roe and making abortion permanently legal. The Dems in the House have had the votes to do that since the day the Supreme Court made it illegal back in June. In fact, they’ve had numerous chances to do it for 49 years. Just never got around to it. So there’s nothing the Democratic Senate has from the House that they can attempt to pass. Same for many other issues that the American people support.
”
As Michael Moore, the US Congress should pass the law to Abortion legal before Jan 3rd.
Only thing is does it require 51 votes or 60 votes?
Alpo
Will a loss of 10 seats by the ALP produce a “hung parliament”? Currently, the ALP holds 55 seats, the Coalition 27 and Others 6. If the ALP loses 10 seats, they end up with 45 seats, and everybody else combined will have 43…. Where is the “minority government”?
———————–
There’s always a bit of confusion after a redistribution but isn’t the ALP on 57?
Ven
Moore does talk about getting Republicans on side thats for the 60 vote thing. His talking about the 51 votes is when the Vice President breaks the tie as she has done for what the US calls reconciliation where policy is budget related. And maybe wishful thinking Manchin will abolish the filibuster for the voting rights act
The premier who will be sweating and shaking with the corrupt media propaganda not working will be
Dominic Perrottet
Whoa. More than that.
I have had many a delightful discussions over grape and grain with some libertarian friends – so taking an interest in recent comments on L v R, Conservative, authoritarian and libertarian yadda yadda. Especially as I am confused anarchic socialist.
Vv briefly, I have some time for the libertarians argument that if you take the money away from government (v small gov) you take away the spivs and all that goes with it. Clearly we have a spiv/lobbyist/foot in door problem. Yet the simple counter is that if you create a void someone or something will fill it. In a laissez faire, v small government scenario – that void is filled by people who are unelected, unaccountable, invisible, power hungry, mega wealthy peeps hell bent on control and coercion to THEIR benefit. And that is just the good ones. A system like this will quickly attract those that are are far more nefarious. And that looks a lot less like democracy and a lot more like authoritarianism. You think the current system is prone to corruption and cronyism – it could be worse.
Now that doesnt mean government should be huge and run everything. Of course. But it must remain in control of some things and be able to control most things (within the bounds of being reelected).
And yes, as you say, for this to work, they must be capable of running things rather than being bullied and corrupted by big companies in tender and PPP projects. Otherwise they are just producing cream and gravy for their donors and mates and the national interest be damned.
Now, I use corruption in a very general sense – as I believe it should be.