I have nothing much to offer in the way of new material for an open thread post, for reasons I hope you’ll understand. My standby on such occasions is the regularly updated tracking poll of Anthony Albanese’s personal ratings from US pollster Morning Consult, which currently has him at 56% approval and 31% disapproval. This leaves his approval about where it was mid-year, with his disapproval having climbed a few points.
Alpo @ #48 Monday, November 28th, 2022 – 8:59 am
What we are seeing is the Achilles Heel of one man eternal rule in China.
To which I might add that Xi is probably fearful of Covid running rampant through the military he has so carefully built up into a strong force. So it’s Covid Zero for everyone else.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/27/alexei-navalny-aide-survival-depend-value-vladimir-putin
I follow Navalny on twitter and for a long time I’ve been amazed that he is able to tweet at all. (I assume it is him or someone sharing his views and confinement.) But he’s been silent for some time. Navalny is the face of a modern Russia. Perhaps he will survive and one day be Russia’s “Nelson Mandella”. The article offers little hope.
Salon regular : Lucian K. Truscott IV
In the US – Who missed Thanksgiving dinner this year? Everybody who got shot
There have been 607 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, the most authoritative source. It defines a mass shooting as an event when at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter
We are the only country in the world with more guns than people, the only country in the world with an excess of 30,000 gun deaths each year,
So far this year, 639 people have been killed in mass shootings. More than 2,500 were wounded, according to records kept by CNN. During the month of November alone, there have been 35 mass shootings, with a total of 185 people shot with a firearm, and 49 of them killed.
So if you made it through Thanksgiving without being shot, watch your step this weekend in grocery stores, bars, nightclubs and even walking down the street. There are enough guns out there in private hands to put a bullet in every one of us with plenty of ammunition left over.
I hope you have a nice weekend, if you survive. If not, you’ll have plenty of company as a statistic.
https://www.salon.com/2022/11/26/missed-thanksgiving-dinner-this-year-everybody-got-shot/
The Teals aren’t a party and there’s some significant differences between the Melbourne Teals and the others as seem with the IR laws. They can’t form an opposition.
I know the Libs went on about them being a party but they genuinely are not.
Their appeal is also limited to certain types of seats, it isn’t broad.
Is there room for a Turnbull-esque socially Liberal with real climate change policies but otherwise economically conservative Liberal Party to eat the main Liberal Party’s lunch if they won’t reform? Sure. Would SOME current Teals possibly join such a thing? Maybe.
Remember that the Turnbull brand of Liberal turned off some types of voters who then swung in droves back to Morrison, catching everyone off guard in 2019. A “Turnbull Liberals” party would need some kind of ironclad coalition agreement with the Nats and give the Nats free reign to target more conservative current Liberal seats.
Morning all. On a flight back to Adelaide catching up with the news. Thanks for the roundup BK, particularly helpful.
Getting Pocock on board for the IR reform bill is another great reform achievement for the Albanese government. This is the first reform that should increase real wages Australia has seen in over a decade.
Having Pocock in the Senate ahead of Seselja is priceless for Labor.
“ Will her voters in Tasmania ever understand that simple concept? More than an “underdog”, Jacquie looks like the lapdog of the Big-end-of-Town.”
Alpo: I think changing perceptions of Jacquie amongst Taswegians needs a movement over the next 2.5 years. It needs to consistently expose her to the folk that she relies upon, and also present an alternative voice: and not a Labor, Liberal or Greens voice – as she is cashing in on the ‘independent / truth teller’ market – so what is needed is someone personable and ‘interesting’ to BE everything that she claims to be, but isn’t.
C@t at 6.09
…We just have to be there when people come to their senses…(from Lib volunteer in Vic)
____________
In May federal voters just wanted to “change the curtains”; now Victorian voters are “senseless”.
When people don’t vote Liberal they’re either superficial or out of their minds. Either way, it’s never the Liberals’ fault when they lose. Must be a nice world to inhabit – never wrong, never need to learn lessons, certainly never need to change direction…
Ian Whitchurch @ Monday, November 28, 2022 at 7:38 am:
“Yes. That is all feelgood Euro-posturing. Arrest warrants for Putin mean nothing while he has a working army.
I would rather say “Keep sending 155mm, and 152mm. Continue to cycle modern artillery through Ukraine, using Lithuania and Poland as maintenance bases. Provide more anti-missile systems, especially those we can resupply with ammunition. Provide more trucks, more tank transports and more bridging. Warm blankets, generators and winter gear generally. Provide Ukraine with the support, and they can win the war”.”
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Ian, me too. Your suggestions here are basically spot on. You are particularly right to include maintenance support in nearby NATO states, as Russia is effectively deterred from targeting logistical support which is located there. If only Hungary were a more reliable element of NATO when it comes to making moves Russia might not like, they would be an excellent choice for such logistical bases as well, given the war is more in Ukraine’s south than north.
IMHO Jacquie Lambe signed her own political death warrant this morning.
Socrates says:
Monday, November 28, 2022 at 9:12 am
Having Pocock in the Senate ahead of Seselja is priceless for Labor.
______________________________________
Despite BW’s constant grousing, it’s priceless for Canberra too.
The problem with Jackie Lambie is that she has a severe case of irrelevancy syndrome
On twitter
Malcolm Turnbull
At the heart of the Liberal Party’s defeat in the Victorian election on Saturday is the paradox that in this, the most small “l” liberal state in Australia, the Liberal Party has been taken over by the hard right and is therefore at odds with the electorate whose support it seeks
Terminator @ #59 Monday, November 28th, 2022 – 9:18 am
Yeah, you can’t see the Aged Care, Child Care, Disability Care, Hospitality workers and Cleaners of her bailiwick agreeing that the profiteer employers should be the ones that she listens to.
Arky @9.10am,
That’s what I was trying to say, yeah. 🙂
And yet – Brian Harradine?
Thanks BK.
Murdoch’s tabloids and Sky News opened seemingly never-ending culture wars about which the average Australian knows little and cares less, says Matthew Ricketson. And Victorians ignored it.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/28/victorias-voters-ignored-news-corps-anti-labor-campaign-but-the-controversy-let-dan-andrews-skate
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What, no mention of Costello Media?
As the federal Libs try to pin all their problems on Morrison, even the Guardian plays the game of “blame Murdoch for all media ills”. Did they not read the anti-Dan/Labor propaganda in The Age?
Smells a rat, I do…
Snappy Tom @ Monday, November 28, 2022 at 9:32 am
The ABC Melbourne gang hardly covered themselves in glory, complaining about other media after the election.
I watched some snippets of sky.
Hearing the likes of Rita Panahi, Rowan Dean, John Roskam etc.
Their take on the result of the victorian election, would put Fox news to shame. The cray cray is through the roof.
Well, a good weekend i think.
The IR Bill will provide for actual, real negotiations. And, provides for “incentive” to reach an agreement that IS NOT strike action or lock out………. as the Minister has said, Guardian blog this morning:
“Also, any businesses that are concerned, like … that actually don’t want to be involved in multi-employer bargaining, the simple fix for them is for them to negotiate with their staff now.
And to do it over the next six months. So, that opportunity will happen. You will see some workers where the movement happens very quickly. There will be others where it’s a longer process. Importantly, the framework will finally be there. ”
THE FRAMEWORK WILL BE THERE!!!!!
Lambie just doesn’t get it. Doesn’t make her evil, but she has ALWAYS had certain RW leanings and on some of the nuanced stuff not actually the sharpest knife in the drawer. Now that Pocock has gone his own way on this she may go through a bit of a pissed off stage. 🙂
I am actually happy to hear of the “unrelated” matter of making sure that welfare payments are looked at / discussed prior to every Budget. Makes sense to me, and keeps a very important matter up front for this election / govt cycle. Yah…use your position in the Senate to your constituencies advantage as you can……..but hey……this is reasonable and not the kind of pork some others have insisted on for their vote.
Watching ABC24 and Business already having a go at Pocock. Reckon he will survive.
AND, the VIC Libs are FWARKED!!!! 🙂
Good Morning
The evidence keeps coming in.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/28/climate-concern-the-main-reason-voters-swung-to-independents-at-federal-election-study-finds
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Congratulations on passing the IR Bill
A good step forward for the country in my opinion.
BK @ #28 Monday, November 28th, 2022 – 7:45 am
“We’ve entered a frightening new era of climate-driven “unnatural disasters”. And to put it bluntly, Australia’s disaster planning, management and recovery systems are regularly overwhelmed.”
Yup. I would urge everyone to read the latest Climate Council report – you can find it here:
https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/the-great-deluge-australias-new-era-of-unnatural-disasters/
Another Dawn Patrol item…
Former Victorian Liberal leader Michael O’Brien has told colleagues that he will not run for leader of the battered party, paving the way for the progressive John Pesutto to seize the reins, should he close out victory in Hawthorn over his teal opponent. Pesutto should make a difference IMHO.
https://www.afr.com/politics/pesutto-to-run-for-liberal-leadership-as-new-mps-key-to-renewal-20221127-p5c1li
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Appointing any “moderate” to lead the Liberals anywhere confronts the party with a test: will the moderate’s (in this case Pesutto) leadership go the way of Turnbull?
Clarke and Dawe nailed the Turbull era with their school locker room analogy…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV_HxDVP5Io
To appoint a “moderate” also involves the Liberals acknowledging they have a problem and are prepared to make changes (policies, campaign tactics, diversity of candidates etc) to address it. All the while, their chief propagandists are screaming that they lost ’cause they’re to “woke”.
Pesutto should defect to Labor.
BK @ #28 Monday, November 28th, 2022 – 7:45 am
There is no “nearly” about it. COP27 was a complete failure. We are heading for a climate catastrophe and the fossil fuel cartel just stole the handbrake.
All of the msm has been pathetic before during and after the height of the pandemic.
Having said that. I attended an event yesterday and caught up with an aquaintance who said that now works as purchasing officer for building supplies.
I asked if we should expect prices to stabilise or increase.
The response was now that dan andrews was re elected, it is a guarantee that prices will increase.
Why would that be the case, as it has been worldwide supply chain issues causing inflation.
Response yeah but covid and being forced to get vaxxed to work.
Oh dear. I thought to myself. Another cooker.
John Pessutto only seems progressive cos he knows which way the wind is blowing.
The likes of sky and news corp will shred him if he behaves like Labor lite.
Lol
UK Cartoons:
Nicola Jennings on public-sector strike action
Patrick Blower on #chinalockdown #ChinaLockdownThread #lockdown #ChinaProtests
Morten Morland on #chinalockdown #chinaprotest #Covid
Aw. Bless them. Look, they are playing doctors and nurses.’ Mac on #NursesStrike
Morten Morland on #RishiSunak #NursesStrike
Matt on #Strikes
The Libs became addicted to ‘Murdoch Approval’ received for joining in and like so many addicts ended up overdosing on it. Junkies do not make a pretty sight.
Demonstrations have continued into the night in the capital Beijing and China’s biggest city, Shanghai – where some have called for President Xi Jinping to resign.
Trump runs a personality cult that makes him money out of the pockets of the ‘rubes’. Local conservative politics has the aim of exercising their power in politics and business to favour themselves or their donors.
To this end they need policies that will keep them in power; unfortunately that meaning you have to get people to vote for you in numbers that are too numerous to be able to share the monetary spoils with without diluting your returns.
You can, like Trump and MAGA, fool a significant section of the public to vote for you based on stirring up discontent that can be falsely sheeted home to those dastardly liberals.
Fortunately this last weekend showed that, despite similarities , we are not the USA. We still have good politicians that care about our society , not just an economy.
Pocock would be at home in a big company boardroom , he has the looks and pedigree courtesy of his rugby prowess. However he has just made a decision that ,on the face of it, thumbs his nose at the business community/winners who count on conservative politics.
Hopefully the event of the last few days tell us that we don’t have to follow the septics and that we have a voting public who, as Albo said yesterday, get it right. That may mean chucking Lambie out as soon as practicable.
Billy Kaplan @ #70 Monday, November 28th, 2022 – 9:39 am
And not to the more extreme position of The Greens, who ran candidates for the choosing in all 151 electorates.
Agree with this assessment.
—–
Kos Samaras
What contributed to Dan Andrews’s win. Summed up with 4 points.
Millennials
Middle class professionals
Work from home cohort
The Liberal Party 😉
9:10 AM · Nov 28, 2022
·Twitter Web App
Victoria @ #62 Monday, November 28th, 2022 – 8:27 am
Hah. And there’s only two things I can think to say to that.
– No shit Sherlock.
– They’ve stopped listening to you.
OK, maybe three.
– How is it a paradox?
Without a complete policy change and a move back to the centre right from the faaaaaaarrrrr right they find them selves in the “Liberal” party is toast .
As for Jacky , i have just spent 12 years in Tassie and saw a lot of her, she has the IQ of a steam iron.
After several years on 200+k she ended up couch surfing on the dole, and they voted her back in.
After 12 years i accepted the fact that Tassie is a long way from pulling its head out of its arse.
I now reside in Brizvagas where stuff is Happening.
Was it Kennett who brought in the statue thing, thinking he would meet the criteria to be so honoured himself?
Our Government made an apology to mothers of children forcibly removed from them for adoption. Russia’s Government boasts about doing so on a much vaster and more rapid scale than what occurred here:
“Russian officials are continuing efforts to deport children to Russian under the guise of medical rehabilitation schemes and adoption programs. The Ukrainian Resistance Center reported on November 26 that the Russian occupation administration in Luhansk Oblast conducted medical examinations of 15,000 children between the ages of two and 17 and found that 70% of the children (10,500) are in need of “special medical care” that requires them to be removed to Russia for “treatment.” The Resistance Center stated that Russian officials intend these forced deportation schemes to lure children’s families to Russia to collect their children after the children receive treatments, at which point the Resistance Center assessed Russian officials will prevent those families from returning home to Ukraine. The Center‘s report is consistent with ISW’s previous assessment that Russian officials are conducting a deliberate depopulation campaign in occupied Ukrainian territories.
Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova additionally posted an excerpt from a documentary film chronicling the story of the children she adopted from Mariupol. Lvova-Belova has largely been at the forefront of the concerted Russian effort to remove Ukrainian children from Ukrainian territory and adopt them into Russian families, which may constitute a violation of the Geneva Convention as well as a deliberate ethnic cleansing campaign. Lvova-Belova’s documentary is likely meant to lend legitimacy to the ongoing adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families, just as the guise of medical necessity is likely intended to justify mass deportations of Ukrainian children to Russian territory.”
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-november-26
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As Kyiv Mayor, Vitali Klitschko, has succinctly put it: “it’s obvious what Putin wants: Ukraine without Ukrainians.” How much longer will the West accommodate genocide? When will the West create and enforce no-fly zones over Ukraine and demilitarized zones across Russian territory neighbouring Ukraine? When will the West arm Ukraine with truly potent, armoured counter-offensive capacity? How many deaths, rapes and abductions does the West expect Ukraine to suffer out of a misguided fear of Russian “escalation”? Has Russia not escalated matters to an unacceptable extent already?
Alpo says:
Monday, November 28, 2022 at 8:46 am
An existential question to the Liberal party from Alan Kohler:
“Can the Australian Liberal Party actually pull itself out of this dive while remaining a centre-right party that is relevant to urban conservatives, in coalition with the rural National Party?
Maybe not.”
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2022/11/28/liberal-party-losing-alan-kohler/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning%20News%20-%2020221128
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A sound article imo too, not much to argue against. All indications from what I’ve heard so far is that regardless of recent election outcomes, there are no signs of genuine change in the Libs. At best, they’ll fiddle around the edges as their financial and media supporters apparently try to push them further right and away fro centralist Australians.
ATO second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn said several major coal and gas exporters had exhausted losses carried forward from setting up projects, and were now paying significant income tax.
And just in case we forget about the important things in life, we have Madj to remind us
C@tmomma says:
Monday, November 28, 2022 at 8:57 am
Ouch!
In return, on current counting, it has handed back only one seat, Nepean, to celebrity Liberal candidate Sam Groth.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/daniel-andrews-the-dominant-political-figure-of-his-generation-20221127-p5c1m9.html
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Sorry, is this the same “Age Newspaper” we were reading before the election? Talk about a change of tune.
From Deutsche Welle https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-kyiv-administration-says-power-restored/a-63906223:
“UKRAINE NUCLEAR BOSS SEES SIGNS RUSSIA MAY LEAVE ZAPORIZHZHIA PLANT
The head of Ukraine’s state-run nuclear energy firm said there were signs that Russian forces might be preparing to leave Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. “One gets the impression they’re packing their bags and stealing everything they can,” Petro Kotin, head of Energoatom, said on Ukrainian television.
The plant, Europe’s largest, was seized by Russian forces in March. Ukraine and Russia accused each other on Friday of risking catastrophe by shelling the nuclear power facility. Last weekend, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said whoever was responsible for the attacks was “playing with fire.” The UN’s nuclear watchdog has repeatedly called on both sides to implement a nuclear safety and security zone around Zaporizhzhia.
“There are a very large number of reports in Russian media that it would be worth vacating the [plant] and may be worth handing control [of it] to the IAEA,” Kotin said.
Russia has not indicated a withdrawal but has previously said it would hand over control of the plant to the IAEA if Ukraine drops any plans to retake the area.”
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First, if true, this is a good sign that Russia sees its military position along a central sector of the Dnipro left bank as untenable, which means they expect any forces they have in that area to be successfully encircled by a Ukrainian offensive down towards Melitopol.
Secondly, trust the Russians to try have the genocidal dismissal of Ukrainian nationhood, in their framing of a withdrawal from territory they have no right to as a bargaining chip for Ukraine desisting from re-entering their own sovereign territory.
For months, House conservatives have pressed the case for impeaching Biden and members of his cabinet if the House were to change hands — a warning to both the administration and any GOP leaders who might be reluctant to take that step.
On Tuesday, McCarthy threw those Republicans a bone, saying he would consider impeaching Alejandro Mayorkas next year if the Homeland Security secretary refused to resign beforehand. Republicans have long been critical of Mayorkas’s handling of the migrant crisis at the southern border, and Republicans in this Congress have already introduced resolutions to remove him.
“If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate, every order, every action and every failure will determine whether we can begin impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy told reporters in El Paso, Texas.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3748749-gop-prepares-for-house-takeover-five-things-to-watch/
If, as she contends, Lambie is the worker’s friend she should have had no trouble in supporting Labor’s IR bill. But I think she sees herself as a reincarnation of Harradine but without the bargaining
power that he enjoyed. Thank Gawd for Pocock & well done Burke.
The fundamental problem that employers see at the moment is that a pay rise is looming and they’re going to have to pay it.
That has nothing to do with the government’s proposed IR legislation: it’s an inevitability based on labour/employee shortages and years of wage stagnation. The IR legislation is just a stalking horse for employer group agitation.
But I could be wrong. The sky may well fall in before Christmas – as Michaelia Cash asserts. But somehow I think that turnover and profits will skyrocket as it usually does at this time of year – if the employers can find enough staff to stay open.
Russia has no idea how to defeat Ukraine militarily, so it is resorting to the cowardly bully’s method of hurting those who can’t strike back in an attempt to emotionally blackmail Ukraine and its allies into capitulating to its insane demands:
“RUSSIA INTENSIFIES BOMBINGS IN KHERSON
Russian forces have shelled the Kherson region more than 50 times over the weekend, according to Ukrainian authorities. Yaroslav Yanushevych, governor of the region, said towns along the northwestern bank of the Dnipro River had been targeted. Russian forces were dug in on the eastern bank of the Dnipro after withdrawing from the city of Kherson and other settlements on the western bank. At least 32 people have been killed in intense shelling since the withdrawal, police said on Saturday. Only around 5% of the city residents had power in their homes after Russian forces shelled the power lines that connect the city.”
https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-kyiv-administration-says-power-restored/a-63906223
================================================
How many more deaths is Ukraine expected to suffer and then ultimately forgive?
With the current downwards trajectory of the Coalition/Conservaitives, one has to wonder if Crosby – Textor are getting a little unpopular with the those right wing parties?
Dog’s Brunch @ #87 Monday, November 28th, 2022 – 10:14 am
Okay then Marj, show us your real survival skills, move to a Yert. 😐
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Phil Lowe apologised to Australians if they listened to the central bank’s guidance that interest rates wouldn’t increase until 2024.
“Okay then Marj, show us your real survival skills, move to a Yert. ”
This isn’t just Greene, it’s cultural thing.
My father was brought up surrounded by this mentality in the 60s in California. The motivation then was surviving an impending nuclear war. Dad still comments on how relaxed Australians are, with a not completely positive tone.
[‘The second key reform area is providing adequate protections. “Like most whistleblowing laws”, the authors explain, the PID Act and its private sector counterpart the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) “provide immunity from criminal, civil or administrative liability for disclosures of wrongdoing”.
However, the case of ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle is then cited as revealing how uncertain these immunities actually are, as the whistleblower is potentially facing 24 criminal charges, relating to the means he took to expose a corrupt practice that was stopped once a light was shone upon it.
So, currently, whilst the PID Act is supposed to cover the whistleblower in their attempts to uncover corruption, what’s happening is that the truth-teller is being turned on and punished at the federal level for speaking out, whilst those practising corruption are overlooked and walk free.’]
https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/protecting-australian-whistleblowers-the-federal-roadmap-report/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=week-49
Dreyfus should exercise his power by presenting a nolle prosequi in respect of Boyle & McBride, just as he did for Collaery. Whistleblowers should be encouraged, not charged. Perhaps if
someone had exposed the illegality of Robodebt early in the peace, the trauma it has caused may have been stopped in its tracks.
From the BBC, another reminder of Russia’s genocide against Ukraine:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63773654
“Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure amount to genocide, a top Ukrainian official says. Strikes on key facilities targeted “the full Ukrainian nation” and were an effort to force Kyiv to surrender, the prosecutor-general told the BBC. The term genocide refers to an effort to wipe out a group of people. Russia denies having any such aim. …
Genocide involves “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”, according to a definition provided by the UN Genocide Convention. Among the acts which may qualify are killing or causing serious harm to members of that group – or forcibly transferring its children elsewhere. In his BBC interview, Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Andriy Kostin said that, as well as the attacks on the energy grid, 11,000 Ukrainian children had been forcibly deported to Russia. Mr Kostin said his office was investigating reports of more than 49,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on 24 February. The “same pattern of conduct” was being seen in every Ukrainian settlement occupied by Russian forces, he observed. A war crime constitutes a violation of the so-called “rules” of war set out by international treaties including the Geneva Conventions. Among other things, the Conventions stipulate that civilians must be protected. Russia has been repeatedly accused of breaking this rule. Shelling of residential buildings in Dnipro over the weekend left one person dead and 13 others injured, according to the governor of the wider region. Meanwhile, police said 32 civilians had been killed by strikes in Kherson since Russian troops left the southern city earlier this month.”
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“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.” – David Morrison.