Budget week miscellany (open thread)

Not much polling, but a lot of Liberal National Party preselection news from Queensland, including the latest on the looming Fadden by-election.

Title aside, this post doesn’t actually have a huge amount to tell you about the budget, which is the reason for a polling drought this week — Newspoll, Resolve Strategic and Essential Research should all be conducting polling over the coming days to gauge response to the budget and its effect if any on voting intention, to arrive in a flood probably on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. All we have on the poll front is the usual light-on-detail weekly numbers from Roy Morgan, which have Labor’s two-party lead out to 54.5-44.5 after narrowing from 56.5-43.5 to 53.5-46.5 last week, from primary votes of 35.5% apiece for Labor (down half) and the Coalition (steady) and 12.5% (down half, so presumably the two-party movement comes off preference flows).

Other than that:

• The Australia Institute had a survey last week found 80% agreement that the budget should provide more spending on affordable housing, compared with 10% who disagreed, with only 25% considering the government’s proposed housing investment fund would provide enough of it, compared with 51% who disagreed. The survey was conducted from April 11 to 14 from a sample of 1002. Simon Welsh of RedBridge Group says the firm’s focus group research suggests the public has grown more empathetic following a pandemic that “broadened out our in-groups to include the vulnerable and the disadvantaged”, combined with “the rising influence of Millennial and Gen Z voters, with their high-levels of social progressiveness”. Together no doubt with the parlous state of conservative politics at present, this is feeding into “strong levels of support for policies/proposals like the Voice, NDIS funding, ‘raising the rate’ or restitution of single parent payments”.

• The Australian reports Fran Ward, founder of a charity supporting distressed farmers, has the support of Stuart Robert to succeed him as the Liberal National Party candidate at the imminent Fadden by-election, and is “seen as the front-runner”. Ward ran unsuccessfully to succeed Andrew Laming in Bowman at the last election and Steve Ciobo in Moncrieff in 2019. Also said to be considering a run is Gold Coast councillor Cameron Caldwell, whom Fran Ward unsuccessfully challenged at the council election in 2016. The Australian added another name to the list yesterday in Dinesh Palipana, “Queensland’s first quadriplegic medical graduate, works as an emergency doctor at the Gold Coast University Hospital”. After an initial flurry of speculation, Amanda Stoker, who failed to win re-election to the Senate from third position on the party’s ticket last year, has ruled herself out. Peter Dutton appeared to scotch the possibility of Stoker on the weekend when he said a local would be preselected, suggesting a failure to do so was the principal lesson to be learned from the defeat in Aston.

• Notwithstanding Amanda Stoker’s residence in Brisbane, The Australian’s Feeding the Chooks column related a fortnight ago that she was “sniffing around the Gold Coast” for a seat – the suggestion at the time being that she would seek to succeed Karen Andrews in McPherson when she retires at the next election. Others said to be in contention for McPherson were Ben Naday, a lawyer and rural fire brigade officer backed by Andrews, and Leon Rebello, solicitor for King & Wood Mallesons and former staffer to Julie Bishop as Foreign Minister.

• Also from Feeding the Chooks, a report that hard right Liberal National Party Senator Gerard Rennick has attracted a number of preselection challengers for his third position on the party’s Senate ticket, the most formidable of whom is said to be Nelson Savanh, a registered lobbyist who has support from James McGrath. Others in the field are “current Queensland LNP party treasurer and former Tattersall’s Club prez Stuart Fraser, serial candidate Fiona Ward (who has run for state and federal lower house seats before) and former Coalition adviser Sophie Li”, the latter of whom describes herself as “a technology entrepreneur, former banker and immigrant millennial woman”. The matter will determined by the party’s state conference on July 7.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

2,074 comments on “Budget week miscellany (open thread)”

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  1. Jury finds Donald Trump sexually abused columnist E Jean Carroll

    May 9, 2023, 3:08 p.m.

    The jury has found that Carroll did not prove Trump raped her, but they did determine that he had sexually abused her. The jurors also found that Trump had defamed Carroll when he called her accusations false. They awarded her $5 million damages.

    Trump said he would give a statement regardless of outcome, the fat head can be expected to defame Carroll again & face another defamation case this time punitive damages will be in the 10’s of millions

  2. Clear-headed reasoning from the largest party bloc in the European Parliament, the EPP, for Ukraine’s eventual inclusion as a member of the NATO alliance:

    “The European People’s Party emphasises that previous security decisions for Ukraine, from the Budapest Memorandum to the conclusions of the NATO Summit in Bucharest, did not prevent a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and its constant presence in the “grey zone” will only encourage Russia to repeat aggression in the future.

    The authors of the position paper also believe that Ukraine’s membership in the Alliance is necessary, as it will strengthen NATO forces with the integration of the Ukrainian army, unite the West around the goal of guaranteeing peace in Europe and prevent Russian revanchism.

    “An invitation for Ukraine to become a member of NATO would be the most powerful signal for Putin and the fiercest imperial hawks in Russia to finally understand that Ukraine is no longer within their reach,” the European People’s Party asserted.

    The group also believes that Kyiv’s membership in the Alliance will encourage Russia to internal transformations, since it will no longer be able to “succumb to imperial nostalgia again.” “That is why the Russian opposition is not against Ukraine choosing its own path,” they say.”

    https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/05/9/7401432/

  3. Russian soldiers are finally wising up and fleeing for their lives from the front line in anticipation of a stern Ukrainian counteroffensive:

    “The Armed Forces of Ukraine have confirmed the statement of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, that the 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces fled Bakhmut.

    Source: 3rd Separate Assault Brigade on Telegram

    Quote: “Prigozhin’s report about the escape of the 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces from the vicinities of Bakhmut and the “500 corpses” of Russians who remained there is true. The 3rd Assault Brigade is grateful for the publicity of our success at the front.”

    https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/05/9/7401428/

  4. Big difference between Labor and Lib/nats , when increasing Jobseeker
    With the permanent $50 a fortnight rise after 9 years of the lib/nats in federal government
    Morrison and his cronies threaten Jobseekers, by introducing a employer dob in a jobseeker hotline, harsher Mutual obligations and talked down all those on Jobseeker

    not even 1 year in federal government Labor gave Jobseekers under 55 permanent $40 fortnight rise and $92.10 for over 55’s

  5. Dr John

    nath is a very insecure individual, who basically can’t stand anyone being better at anything than he is (which is also why he struggles with apologies, or admissions that he’s made an error).

    His attacks on yabba, for example, are because someone has a higher IQ than he has, and he went ballistic when I talked about being a speed reader.

    I’d take derision from him as a bit of a compliment.

  6. After the budget on ABC, they did a segment interviewing uni student and living in share house.
    The crux of the story was that current Youth allowance payment is inadequate, and more should be given etc.

    No mention at any time that a student can also earn income from part time work to supplement the youth allowance. It was a striking omission.

  7. the liberals only increased job seeker in the first plae because of presure from labor now rex cant see this is a right wing government any more

  8. The corrupt lib/nats and their propaganda media, spreading more propaganda by claiming those who needed help, should not have received it because it would impact inflation , while they same corrupt propaganda media unit hacks were lapping it up while the lib/nats repaid the media and other lib/nats political donors while they were in government

  9. Victoria

    Didn’t hear that interview, but heard one recently where the ‘expert’ said that people in share houses can’t claim rent allowance.

    Which, of course, they can and do.

  10. Thanks Zoomster.

    I don’t know why Trump is whining about this on his social media platform. The verdict only confirms what he himself has bragged about doing many times over the years.

  11. YES!!! Thank you New York jury members! Thank you, E Jean Carroll!

    May this be the first of many convictions for that sleazeball, Donald J Trump.

  12. Doing the right thing by the indigent in our society has been recast as ‘stimulus’ by Simon Benson and the Right, I see.

  13. ”So does the verdict from NY mean that Trump is now a convicted sex offender?”

    This was a civil rather than a criminal trial so I am not sure whether this means Trump is “convicted”.

  14. Victoria @ #8 Wednesday, May 10th, 2023 – 6:46 am

    After the budget on ABC, they did a segment interviewing uni student and living in share house.
    The crux of the story was that current Youth allowance payment is inadequate, and more should be given etc.

    No mention at any time that a student can also earn income from part time work to supplement the youth allowance. It was a striking omission.

    Exactly my thoughts. Plus they only highlighted the half dead runners, which were probably half dead from … checks notes … running in them. They did forget to remove the expensive shoes beside them though. 😉

  15. For a summary of other T**** investigations see this unlocked NYT article.

    Manhattan Criminal Case
    Classified Documents Inquiry
    New York State Civil Inquiry
    Georgia Criminal Inquiry
    Jan. 6 Inquiries

    Meanwhile the “billionaire grifter” is behaving as if he’s merely swatting at flies, or hoping his fans see it like that.

  16. Enough Already:

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The FBI has sabotaged a suite of malicious software used by elite Russian spies, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday, providing a glimpse of the digital tug-of-war between two cyber superpowers.

    Senior law enforcement officials said FBI technical experts had identified and disabled malware wielded by Russia’s FSB security service against an undisclosed number of American computers, a move they hoped would deal a death blow to one of Russia’s leading cyber spying programs.

    “We assess this as being their premier espionage tool,” one of the U.S. officials told journalists ahead of the release. He said Washington hoped the operation would “eradicate it from the virtual battlefield.”

    The group has been active for two decades against a variety of NATO-aligned targets, U.S. government agencies and technology companies, a senior FBI official said.

    Russian diplomats did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Moscow routinely denies carrying out cyberespionage operations.

    U.S. officials spoke to journalists on Tuesday ahead of the news release on condition that they not be named. Similar announcements, revealing the FSB cyber disruption effort, were made by security agencies in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

    Turla is widely considered one of the most sophisticated hacking teams studied by the security research community.

    “They have persisted in the shadows by focusing on stealth and operational security,” said John Hultquist, vice president of threat analysis at U.S. cybersecurity company Mandiant. “They are one of the hardest targets we have.”

    (Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

  17. The drovers dog line could have delivered a surplus will backfire on the lib/nats on the lib/nats propaganda media units hacks as per usual, and gives Labor a political gift

    The evidence Josh Frydenberg could not deliver a surplus , even though they were claiming they were back in black

  18. Late Riser

    The US is indeed at an inflection point. Trump and his fellow travellers are continuing to do everything to bring about the collapse of the system as it is.

    Enough of their bases has been brainwashed to conduct terrorism on its own citizens. It was no accident that Trump started off his campaign rallies in Waco Texas.

    Having said all that. I do not underestimate Biden.

  19. Angus Taylor proving that all the Liberals have got to offer is more division and being despicable demagogues:


    Lousy_cricketer
    @RadioPhysician

    Angus Taylor being a pr*ck as he trots out the Liberal talking point to an equitable Labor party budget that helps the disadvantaged.
    “We don’t want a budget that divides Australia into those who get a handout & those who pay for it”.

    Demonising the poor. It’s the Liberal way.

  20. And as I mentioned yesterday, seven countries have given travel advisories for travel in the USA. Four of them including Australia is part of the five eyes. They obviously see what a powder keg it is currently.

    And for all the talk that Tucker was let go due to his rants behind the scene. The reality is that he was spouting disgusting tropes and ideas on his show each and every night. Therefore in my humble opinion,Tucker was really let go due to national security.

  21. Angus Taylor proving that all the Liberals have got to offer is more division and being despicable demagogues

    Amy Remeikis (The Guardian) called him on it yesterday morning:

    I guess Taylor didn’t pay attention to previous budgets his party handed down, because that tends to be how budgets work – some groups get more than others. It’s just sometimes those groups are high-income earners receiving massive tax breaks that will mean the budget forgoes billions of dollars in revenue over a decade it really needs that revenue and other times it’s low-income earners getting a little help with their electricity bill.

  22. Rep. George Santos has been charged by federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York, according to sources familiar with the matter.

    The charges are under seal so the nature of the allegations is currently unclear.

  23. Victoria

    Agreed. And the US has survived inflections before. There are still many good people. T****’s media support is also softening.

  24. So little time to read and digest…. One Q. Aren’t those on and around the median wage esp and up to $100k gonna be significantly worse off this year than last with the middle income lamington gone (on top of all the other pressures)? July is the first time people will see the effect of that. The assistance the ALP has announced is welcome but will it help/placate these people or is it more for lower incomes?

    One has to wonder if many people who benefit from middle income lamingtons aren’t aware of it going – including the RBA chair.

    If you had a family of two parents earning around that median wage, it will be a big hole in their budgets. If you had only one parent working on/around that median wage – it will really hurt.

    I have briefly seen some commercial networks covering this – tied in with how stage 3 will help those over $120k. Dutton can’t highlight and run with it considering it was Liberal policy and doing so will give the ALP an out to scrap stage3. But Nine and Murdoch can stir the pot.

  25. There is actually much more to advance the progressive cause in this Budget than the headlines and rent seekers are opining about.

    Unwinding of many Coalition rorts is one, another more relevant is the further acceleration of action on Climate Change, and improving Australia’s diplomatic effort. And much more.


  26. Ashasays:
    Tuesday, May 9, 2023 at 11:30 pm
    imacca:

    So…..who reckons Dutton’s Budget in Reply will be a true exemplar of the form?? Whats teh theme going to be??

    Not sure, but he’ll probably manage to work a sexual assault reference into it somewhere

    I have a strong feeling that he will include “a sexual assault reference ” in his budget reply

  27. Late riser

    Yes they have. But this time they have a population of 335 million and over 400 million guns, which 25 percent compromise the weapon of war. The AK 15.

  28. Katich

    The lamington was only received as a tax refund – post lodging your tax return. So a windfall most spent at Harvey Norman.

  29. Good morning Dawn Patrollers. There is so much to trawl through this morning that it is taking a lot of time to pull this together.

    The Liberals had nine years. It took Labor just one to snatch the Holy Grail, writes Peter Hartcher with the Liberals’ most sacred treasure being its brand advantage as the party that better manages the nation’s finances. But today it is the Labor government of Anthony Albanese that is about to deliver a budget surplus.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-liberals-had-nine-years-it-took-labor-just-one-to-snatch-the-holy-grail-20230504-p5d5ld.html
    The Australian has gone troppo over the budget! Geoff Chambers leads off with, “Jim Chalmers has splashed an extra $21bn in a populist budget that hikes welfare payments, expands bulk-billing and increases rent assistance for millions of Australians, piling pressure on the Reserve Bank in a high-inflationary environment.”
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/jim-chalmers-splashes-21bn-in-risky-populist-pitch/news-story/3d8d1a9417a757ef8afb34616e31abf4?amp
    And Paul Kelly says, “The lucky country has rarely been more lucky. Labor did not make this luck – but Jim Chalmers is using it to immense political and economic advantage.”
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/federal-budget-2023-nations-unprecedented-fiscal-miracle-comes-with-three-catches/news-story/de3a2699ff0c6d8bd20ef8ae569d324f?amp
    The Albanese government could have used this year’s tax bonanza to start locking in surpluses. Nobody should be thanking them for leaving it all to be done later when things will be tougher, declares the AFR’s editorial.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/spending-and-taxing-puts-off-all-the-hard-decisions-20230507-p5d6cl
    More than 11 million Australians will gain from a $5.7 billion funding boost for Medicare that aims to lower the cost of visiting the doctor as part of a federal budget that promises to subsidise energy bills, increase rent assistance and expand income support for people out of work, explains David Crowe who describes it as a “spending splurge”.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/record-boost-to-medicare-drives-budget-s-cost-of-living-measures-20230504-p5d5kc.html
    Mark Kenny writes that the budget rides a revenue wave, but risks abound.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8189237/budget-rides-a-revenue-wave-but-risks-abound/?cs=14329
    Alan Kohler describes a “beautiful, lucky, meaningless budget”.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/news-federal-budget/2023/05/10/federal-budget-2023-alan-kohler/
    This budget is a critical step towards more tax rises and spending cuts to take to the next election, including a possible reappraisal of the stage three tax cuts, writes Phil Coorey.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/this-toe-in-the-water-exercise-points-to-tougher-tax-increases-20230509-p5d707
    Michael Pascoe says that, hiding in plain sight, Labor has committed to further big fossil fuel projects.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/news-federal-budget/2023/05/09/michael-pascoe-prrt-budget-labor-fossil-fuel/
    Tuesday’s budget announcement was rather short on excitement. Much of it has already been announced or leaked over the last couple of months. Superannuants and retirees in general had low expectations of any major changes, and their expectations were met. Harry Chemay reports.
    https://michaelwest.com.au/a-not-so-super-budget-for-superannuants-and-retirees/
    “Jim Chalmers big moment arrives and, damn it, inflation acts as a handbrake on his transformational policy ambitions”, says Richard Holden.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/chalmers-trades-off-how-much-inflationary-fuel-is-poured-on-the-fire-20230507-p5d6cg
    “Hang in there, Labor tells hard-hit Australians. But will voters keep faith?”, wonders Lenore Taylor.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/09/budget-2023-hang-in-there-labor-tells-hard-hit-australians-but-will-voters-keep-faith
    Labor could and should have gone stronger on the petroleum resource rent tax, opines Rod Sims.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/09/labor-could-and-should-have-gone-stronger-on-the-petroleum-resource-rent-tax
    According to Ross Gittins, “The best word for this budget is “complacent”. There’s nothing wrong with it; it’s keeping us from getting further into trouble. But it’s doing little to deal with the many troubles we already have: the transition to renewable energy, declining home ownership, the rental crisis, and problems with Medicare and education.”
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/chalmers-wanted-a-responsible-and-sustainable-budget-this-one-is-neither-20230504-p5d5kq.html
    The public service’s workforce will be raised by more than 10,000 places this year with nearly a third of those workers having previously been hired under labour hire and contractor arrangements. The figure in the Albanese government’s May federal budget marks the single biggest year-on-year increase of the bureaucracy in at least 15 years.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8189383/public-service-to-grow-by-10000-as-labour-hire-workers-conversion-gets-under-way/?cs=14329
    Surplus or not, the budget papers show us living through pretty awful times, writes Peter Martin.
    https://theconversation.com/budget-2023-budgeting-for-difficult-times-is-hard-just-ask-chalmers-205209
    In Michelle Grattan’s opinion, Chalmers’ budget delivers modestly to the vulnerable while keeping the inflation ogre in mind.
    https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-chalmers-budget-delivers-modestly-to-the-vulnerable-while-keeping-the-inflation-ogre-in-mind-205208
    With the Coalition misfiring and floundering, Labor has so much political capital that a second term looms invitingly. If ever there was a time to take risks with the budget, this was the moment to strike, declares the SMH editorial which says the biggest issue is tax reform, a subject unmentioned in Chalmers’ budget speech.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/this-was-the-moment-for-labor-to-use-its-political-capital-20230509-p5d6zo.html
    The taxman plans to raise an extra $3.8 billion in GST by extending a compliance crackdown on businesses as part of the government’s efforts to lift tax receipts and repair its bottom line. Clancy Yeates explains how multinationals also face a new minimum tax rate, while gas companies will be taxed an extra $2.4 billion over five years under changes to the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax that were announced in the lead-up to the budget.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/gst-crackdown-on-business-to-raise-an-extra-3-8-billion-20230509-p5d70l.html
    Here, several NineFax journos give their verdict on the budget.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/did-they-get-the-budget-right-our-experts-deliver-their-verdicts-20230509-p5d71z.html
    Tony Wright tells us why Jim Chalmers hasn’t really been blowing his trumpet over the budget surplus.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/no-trumpets-for-salesman-jim-chalmers-20230509-p5d70z.html
    There is a $44b inflation fib in the budget, say John Kehoe who tells us that Jim Chalmers says this budget will help the RBA bring down inflation, but the failure to offset new social spending won’t help ease the pressure on interest rates.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/there-is-a-44b-inflation-fib-in-the-budget-20230508-p5d6i6
    Annika Smethurst points out that the Andrews government’s call for answers on funding for its Big Build and the Commonwealth Games were notable omissions from the federal budget.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/victoria-s-biggest-budget-questions-left-unanswered-20230505-p5d5x9.html
    The Victorian Liberals will forge ahead with a vote to expel Moira Deeming from the parliamentary party despite a shadow minister saying it risked “a very messy legal dispute” and should be cancelled.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/liberal-leaders-asked-to-delay-deeming-vote-or-risk-a-very-messy-legal-dispute-20230509-p5d6vz.html
    NSW will suffer a major exodus of residents to other states over the next five years, as Queensland becomes the favoured destination for interstate moves amid soaring housing prices and low wage growth, writes Alexandra Smith.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/more-people-are-leaving-nsw-than-any-other-state-20230504-p5d5kw.html
    Billionaires fund bodies with excellent PR strategies to ensure they achieve their goals. Amongst the strategies, “astroturf” organisations use good-sounding names to confuse us in a chaotic information moment. We need help to know which organisations are reliable and which aim to deceive and distort the debate, implores Lucy Hamilton.
    https://theaimn.com/dark-money-funding-weaponised-unreality/
    NBN Co is once again facing an uphill battle as the ACCC has rejected its proposal for pricing over the coming decades, writes Paul Budde.
    https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/watchdog-rejects-nbn-co-pricing-proposal-,17498
    Embattled PwC is attempting to rehabilitate its image without firing any of the executives involved in the tax avoidance scandal, including its former CEO, but questions about the accounting firm’s integrity are not going away, writes Colin Kruger.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/devoid-of-an-ethical-backbone-pwc-scandal-raises-questions-about-the-firm-20230509-p5d6xt.html
    Construction companies that made it through the pandemic because of COVID-19 support measures are in an increasingly vulnerable position as insolvency experts warn rising costs will continue to bite their industry, says Emma Koehn.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/cracks-in-construction-sector-grow-as-cost-blowouts-bite-20230509-p5d6xc.html
    When profits and misery are soaring, fairness has been abandoned, writes Andy Banks in the wake of the big banks reporting of large profits.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/when-profits-and-misery-are-soaring-fairness-has-been-abandoned-20230509-p5d6x8.html
    “Yes” advocates have been warned, this Voice model is flawed, says barrister, Gray Connolly.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/yes-advocates-have-been-warned-this-voice-model-is-flawed-20230509-p5d6wx.html
    The top prosecutor who ran the rape trial of former Coalition staffer Bruce Lehrmann told an inquiry into the abandoned case that he may have broken the law when he looked at confidential counselling notes about Brittany Higgins.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/i-m-resigning-detective-said-lehrmann-was-innocent-lawyer-says-20230509-p5d6ws.html
    Scott Burchill says, “In international politics, how the worm has turned for the United States”.
    https://johnmenadue.com/in-international-politics-how-the-worm-has-turned-for-the-united-states/
    A civil jury has found that Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed New York author E. Jean Carroll, awarding her $US5 million in damages, but stopped short of ruling that he raped her. Cop that, Trump!
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/jury-finds-trump-sexually-abused-carroll-awards-millions-in-damages-20230510-p5d74n.html
    The conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas must resign, an ethics watchdog said yesterday, citing revelations about Thomas’s failure to declare lavish gifts and financial support from a Republican mega-donor, Harlan Crow.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/09/clarence-thomas-supreme-court-resignation-crow
    Ben Cubby writes about an inquest hearing that a Jehovah’s Witness entered an operating theatre with a surgeon who thought her patient had refused blood transfusions on religious grounds and an anaesthetist who thought the patient had agreed to a transfusion if needed, an inquest has heard. Enough!!!!!
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/she-felt-this-was-what-the-church-was-telling-her-to-do-20230509-p5d6zj.html

    Cartoon Corner

    David Pope

    Cathy Wilcox


    Mett Golding





    John Shakespeare


    Glen Le Lievre

    Joe Benke

    Simon Letch

    Spooner

    From the US















  30. I have to say I rarely have followed the post budget media, but does it appear that there’s more sad face this time around than usual? The ‘what about me’ crowd seem to be getting a lot of air time.

    Also News seems to be saying only the rich benefit from this budget because of the S3 tax cuts, but they’ve got nothing to do with this budget, bad faith reporting?

  31. Victoria @ #36 Wednesday, May 10th, 2023 – 8:01 am

    Rep. George Santos has been charged by federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York, according to sources familiar with the matter.

    The charges are under seal so the nature of the allegations is currently unclear.

    But I thought George Santos was President of the United States and couldn’t be charged while in office!?! 😉

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