Essential Research seems to have a new routine of discreetly slipping out federal voting intention numbers without trumpeting them in their weekly report. Labor is on 35% (up two), the Coalition 30% (down one), Greens 13% (steady), others 17% (steady) with 5% undecided (down one). The “2PP+” two-party measure has Labor steady on 51%, the Coalition up one to 44% and undecided down one to 5%. The weekly report has the monthly personal ratings for Anthony Albanese, which have him unchanged at 60% approval and 27%.
A forced response question on a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice to parliament runs 63-37 in favour, in from 65-35 in August. Respondents were presented with four questions querying their understanding of the issue, which found 25% holding the incorrect view that the proposed body would be able to block parliamentary legislation, with 26% believing otherwise and 50% not sure. Forty per cent expected 2023 would be a better year for Australia, compared with 24% for worse and 25% for no difference. The poll was conducted Wednesday to Sunday from a sample of 1042.
Roy Morgan’s weekly video informs us that their latest federal two-party numbers have Labor’s lead out from 54.5-45.5 to 56.5-43.5.
Congratulations to all the Legalise Cannabis candidates who have had the guts to stand up for what they believe is right and subsequently to be elected to the Victorian Upper House. 🙂
”
Confessionssays:
Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 6:08 am
C@t:
Sounds like Musk is simply using the News Ltd approach to garnering new subscribers.
”
Yes.
Well, I think most of the usual suspects interested in new tech (fusion) or improving old tech (fission) worth listening to want to see rapid reduction of fossil fuel extraction and burning AND continue to invest in and prepare for other sources of energy production that may be needed to allow that to continue to happen. Wind and solar and batteries may have limitations if you consider expected future changes to energy use; EVs come on line, removing gas from cooking and heating, replace metallurgical coal and the possibility that we may need to start using energy to sequester CO2 out of the atmosphere. And the fact that in a +2°C world, we will need more energy to heat/cool etc.
Be sceptical. By all means. But we need to experiment, invest, keep our minds open and be prepared to quickly introduce new tech that stacks up.
A bit of reform to get these local minor cases out of the Federal Court would be good.
I do like the harassing reporter asking the dog who he wants as a parent, though.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/14/one-mummy-and-two-daddies-sydney-barristers-husband-allegedly-stalked-by-nine-reporter-about-ownership-of-dog
Steve777 @ #42 Wednesday, December 14th, 2022 – 8:03 am
Yes, I share both your cynicism and your skepticism.
To tie together a couple of the themes in this morning’s posts – I’m reading a science fiction book at the moment whose premise is that the reason we can find no evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe is that “intelligent” civilizations last only a millenium or so on average, which is the length of time between a civilization inventing the printing press and inventing social media.
We seem to be slightly ahead of the curve.
Oliver Sutton @ #9 Wednesday, December 14th, 2022 – 6:22 am
It can be argued, with justification, that the main difference between QAnon and religion is the age of the ridiculous stories/conspiracies. The religious fervour of devout followers is very similar. Susceptible personalities can both switch allegiance or, commonly, hold to both sets of delusions at the same time.
Throughout history, many have been prepared to die for their beliefs, and become duly sanctified by fellow believers.
Had a great night seeing the Killers in concert.
They are so good live.
Victoria
How much of their new stuff did they play and what time did they come on stage.
Seeing them Monday night in Sydney.
Someone is not happy with Labor’s stage 3 tax cuts …
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2022/dec/14/australia-news-live-brittany-higgins-settlement-scott-morrison-robodebt-hearings-wieambilla-shootings-queensland-police-gareth-nathaniel-train-tax-energy-talks-greens-albanese?page=with:block-6398f3f58f0834f3c0578911#block-6398f3f58f0834f3c0578911
Labor’s policy is either a “phoney” commitment or a “stupid” commitment. Either way, it is a very bad policy and it needs to be rectified before it does Labor any more damage.
Stephen Koukoulas @TheKouk
In the last 5 months, US inflation has been running at an annualised pace around 2.5%.
Good bye high inflation.
Speaking of concerts.
I didnt go myself. But Billy Joel played at MCG on weekend in only Australian concert. It was part of the vic govt initiative ‘Always Live’.
People came from interstate etc.
Dan Andrews was in attendance at concert.
Anyhoo the opening act was none other than Tina Arena, a fan of scomo, who is a fan of her.
Ironies of all ironies. She spent the whole pandemic etc rallying against the vic govt and calling for the sacking of Dan Andrews.
Save to say, it wasnt lost on many in the crowd.
Shellbell
They came on stage at 9 pm and concert finished after encore after 11 pm
They played a few of their newer songs including latest Boy.
It was their classic stuff that got the crowd pumping.
For eg
Read my mind
When you were young
Smile like you mean it
Mr Brightside
Human
Spaceman
It was great. We all sang along. My voice is croakey today. Lol!
This article starts out being mildly critical of the current government’s shambolic fossil fuel policies …
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/14/anthony-albaneses-latest-plan-to-subsidise-foreign-coal-and-gas-companies-is-just-absurd
And then it really gets going. It is short and pithy and I recommend reading it. It concludes with …
yabba @ #57 Wednesday, December 14th, 2022 – 9:05 am
Religion = Politics.
‘Simon Henny Penny Katich says:
Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 8:37 am
….
Be sceptical. By all means. But we need to experiment, invest, keep our minds open and be prepared to quickly introduce new tech that stacks up.’
———————————–
It is an interesting proposition. There are lots of potential opportunity costs… take your pick.
But, if all the investment in fusion to date had instead been invested in wind and solar…
The Train brothers like millions of others have fallen victim to the conmen exploiting the irrational minds of people.
Ive said it ad nauseum, Qanon is a psyop.
There has been much criticism here in victoria regarding the militarisation of the police during the pandemic. Ie the wearing of tactical gear during protests. The joke was that police were a version of robocop.
The reality is that the landscape during the pandemic had created more unhinged people such as the Train brothers.
Hence why i am surprised how these young police officers were not afforded any protection.
Like lambs to the slaughter. It is beyond tragic.
Morrison won’t get away with, “I don’t agree with the premise of your question”. Holmes will put her foot down early in the proceeding. He’ll no doubt be his usual arrogant, assured self but
he’ll be out of his comfort zone. Should be interesting. Catherine Dalton (former DSS director) will follow him in the box.
______________________________________
My QPS nephew says police were lured to the property & then ambushed, and the four cops were rookies.
Mavis
That is what it looks like. Sigh…
BK
Greatly appreciated fella.
I share your pain, literally, over-exercised yesterday and ended up at the physio. A regular member of the stupid old bugger club I am.
Mavis,
This will result in the hackles of the cops going up nation wide. Expect a steady push for police to start carrying assault rifles now.
IMO there needs to be a dedicated gun search going on in rural areas.
You can ask any police officer. Espcially if they are going to a rural property, or one known to police.
They get background information via the social media of these people, to get a picture of what type of people they are dealing with.
The social media posts which have been circulated in the public, show that these cookers were unhinged.
Why were the police so unprepared. It is a dereliction of duty
Boerwar @ #66 Wednesday, December 14th, 2022 – 9:00 am
Fossil fuels were incredibly good for energy production. There is no single simple quick substitute. Wind and Solar didnt need huge R&D (although solar has had some and could certainly use more) – low hanging fruit that comparably easily and quickly were able to do some heavy lifting in the transition. But they have limitations. I suggest the big interest in fusion is that it may be able to create large amounts of energy with minimal ground area and do it exactly where you want it. Marketing material claim fusion reactor on a truck can power a town of 100,000 people. Seems too good to be true. But maybe……
UK Cartoons:
Peter Brookes on #MickLynch #RMTUnion #RailStrikes #WinterOfDiscontent
Kal: The appeal of cryptocurrency was that it would operate free of the regulations that constrained conventional currencies. I’m now thinking regulations aren’t so bad
Patrick Blower on #MickLynch #RMTUnion #RailStrikes #WinterOfDiscontent
Dave Brown on #JeremyHunt #RishiSunak #MickLynch #RMTUnion #RailStrikes #WinterOfDiscontent #CostOfLivingCrisis
Martin Rowson on Rishi Sunak’s striking dogma #Strikes #RishiSunack
Christian Adams on #RailStrikes #RailStrike
Morten Morland on #RishiSunak #growth #JeremyHunt
Becky Barnicoat on the government’s response to December #strikes #WinterOfDiscontent #CostOfLivingCrisis #RishiSunack
Matt on #BritishArmy #WinterOfDiscontent #Strikes #nhsstrikes
Christian Adams on #SnowMan #WinterOfDiscontent #Strikes #CostOfLivingCrisis #RMT
Patrick Blower on #MickLynch #WinterOfDiscontent #Strikes #CostOfLivingCrisis #RMT
Brighty on #NHSStrikes
Graeme Keyes on #Bitcoin #BitcoinCrash
Morten Morland on Rishi Sunak’s Christmas cheer #Strikes #RishiSunack
Nicola Jennings on Rishi Sunak’s Christmas cheer #Strikes #RishiSunack
maxsays:
Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 8:18 am
While I’m not sure why anyone would have scurried over here and breathlessly reported Antony Green’s comment in any case, it’s a misrepresentation in my opinion.
_____________________
The recent Victorian election has been the worse election coverage I have seen on this blog for many a year.
Too much barracking and not enough analysis. Let alone simply parroting what the ABC has to say. I expect more than that for my monthly contribution.
Something happened when William decided to take the Teals money.
It made him a player and the blog has been on a downward spiral ever since.
Simon Henny Penny Katich
My thought was had all the fission research funding gone into actual panels and turbines…
Fission or fusion are probably the only options for some nations, should they desire national energy autarchy. On the basis of historical and current experience, such a wish is not irrational.
Love hearing the news about fusion, but practical fusion power is still decades away. We have to be well on our way to the renewables transition long before then. One day it closing out the last 10% of fossil fuels will be fantastic, and even the expansion of energy production. But the benefits of renewables aren’t just the carbon-less energy, it’s the decentralization of energy supply. Not being dependent upon some foreigh supply-chain. I can’t see fusion as anything other than large centralized energy suppliers. And it’s still an open question as to the cost per MWh.
Victoria: “The Train brothers like millions of others have fallen victim to the conmen exploiting the irrational minds of people.”
For every set of Train brothers there are 100 other cookers just like them that haven’t had a visit from the police yet.
“Too much barracking and not enough analysis.”
LOL, Taylormade!
Thanks Victoria
11pm is normally past my night night time, but I will push through.
On the QLD Ambush yesterday, I find myself sad and angry in equal measure.
There are many who were not happy with rooftop solar as they saw utility scale solar being more efficient and egalitarian.
However, in general, yes, I dont think there is a place for large fusion or fission power stations in Australia – even allowing for the potential to replace large Coal PS with them where the infrastructure is already there. Mainly because by the time such tech is ready to go (hopefully), interconnected wind solar and batteries will already be doing the bulk work.
Taylormade says:
Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 9:54 am
maxsays:
Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 8:18 am
While I’m not sure why anyone would have scurried over here and breathlessly reported Antony Green’s comment in any case, it’s a misrepresentation in my opinion.
_____________________
The recent Victorian election has been the worse election coverage I have seen on this blog for many a year.
Too much barracking and not enough analysis. Let alone simply parroting what the ABC has to say. I expect more than that for my monthly contribution.
Something happened when William decided to take the Teals money.
It made him a player and the blog has been on a downward spiral ever since.
———————————————————————————————
Conversely, I thought it was excellent, accurate and showed how much more was known and understood by Bludgers than the entire msm and their resources combined.
Taylormade @ #76 Wednesday, December 14th, 2022 – 9:54 am
I understand your comments now.
Lols Taylormerde.
We can agree that the coverage of the Victorian election campaign was terrible: you have you buddies in the MSM media – all of them – to blame for that. Endless campaigning against Andrews from Newscorpse, Costello World and even Their ABC. You were obviously thrilled by that and most certainly drunk the cool-aid that in some way that ‘coverage’ reflected the zeitgeist. It must have come as a shock that other voices were a bit more sane … and as it turned out far more accurate as to what the pulse of the electorate was. Now you want to shoot the messenger and take a pot shot at our host.
Frack off.
Boerwarsays:
Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 9:30 am
Then these physicists wouldn’t have expanded our knowledge in this area. This knowledge gained has probably had impacts in other areas, facilitating progress in them.
You’re suggestion leads to stagnation in science, where the focus is on applying what we know, to the exclusion of progressing our knowledge further.
Thanks for the roundup BK. A lot of interesting stuff today.
The John Menadue article on ACT police “running dead” in the Lehrmann prosecution is disturbing. That requires investigation regardless of the facts of the case. Really, why doesn’t ACT have a proper police force separate to the AFP? ACT now has a population comparable with Tasmania.
On Fusion energy, until we have a workable full scale prototype it i a distraction. Even then, it would be more than ten years away from grid scale implementation. Fusion is irrelevant to solving climate change within the timeline that matters.
I’m not sure why Catherine King is meeting gas companies tomorrow? Giving in to blackmail is neither wise nor a good look politically.
Reportedly the locals knew what the Train bros were up to and apparently, alarmingly, they had started taking ice on top of the existing paranoia.
““He said it had tunnels, fortified and barred doors and windows, guns everywhere and the boys [the Train brothers] had been taking ice lately,” a resident told the outlet.”
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2022/12/14/nathaniel-gareth-train-conspiracy/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning+News+-+20221214
On the latest episode of AUKUS:
“Matthew Knott writes that a senior US congressman says Australia should not give up hope of purchasing nuclear-powered submarines off-the-shelf from the United States, insisting the strained American shipbuilding industry can rise to the challenge of the AUKUS pact.”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/ready-made-nuclear-subs-still-a-stop-gap-option-for-australia-20221213-p5c5uc.html
Getting US help to supply the first one or two AUKUS SSNs to avoid a capability gap would be great. More than that would mean giving up on local sustainment and capability. If we have to pay to set up an SSN manufacturing capability anyway, why do it in USA? Plus it is a betrayal of promises to ASC workers.
Your a cooker Taylormerde
The is a lot of wish making regarding AUKUS subs. It is way past time for the adults to recognise it for what it was: another Morrison brain fart that only had a anti-labor domestic policy wedge at its heart.
It is time for the Americans to fess up, talk directly to the one country that actually has the spare capacity and the perfect SSN submarine for Australia that can be delivered in a relevant timeframe, fill it with America kit and get the deal done.
I find it hard to believe that Commissioner Holmes + Counsel will not have prepared for Morrison’s industrial scale bullshitting & prevarication. He was the Minister & the loudest proponent on getting tough with welfare recipients. As the saying goes, he has questions to answer so let’s hope we get some justification.
“Mr Morrison, you’re on in 30 minutes.”
On the tragic Qld police shootings, my sympathies to the families of the victims, and their colleagues.
Yet it is too easy to write this off to mental illness and drugs. There are two groups that have a lot to answer for:
1. Who supplied the Trains with semi-automatic weapons?
2. All the public figures who have given oxygen to the crazy conspiracy theories. Pauline Hanson is close to top of the list. She has made a career appealing for the votes of the RW lunatic fringe.
https://thewest.com.au/politics/one-nation/one-nation-leader-pauline-hanson-reportedly-filmed-suggesting-port-arthur-conspiracy-theory-ng-b881149525z
AE
Obviously at this point I hope you are right on subs and realistically considering French SSNs for the RAN. All those working on it at the Australian end have been conspicuously silent in recent times. We shall see in March.
Socrates, Nathan Train chose to raise his perceived issues at his Walgett school with PHON’s Latham.
Oliver,
Wasn’t the final witness listed for yesterday (Mr Bamford?) postponed until this morning’s hearing? I’m hoping so, as I have a medical appointment a bit after noon and I hope I don’ miss all the fun.
You may be right, BL.
Socrates says:
Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 10:10 am
I’m not sure why Catherine King is meeting gas companies tomorrow? Giving in to blackmail is neither wise nor a good look politically.
_________________________________________
An awful lot of what Albanese and his government are doing in this period of government is based on what it learnt from avoidable errors the last time Labor was in government. One example is Rudd’s aggressive taking on of the resources industries. That allowed the fight to be framed as Labor attacking the “wealth creators”, rather than getting a fairer dividend from businesses exploiting public resources.
This time round, the energy resources industries are fighting from the same playbook, but Labor are doing everything possible to look like they are listening and considering the issues, rather than aggressively attacking. Other things have changed as well, especially the high cost now of energy to Australians, but appearing to bend over backwards to listen to industry concerns will change public perceptions to one where the resource industries are seeking to consolidate their greedy windfall, rather than a rapacious government seeking to screw the resource industries.