Before we proceed to a brief summary of electorally relevant current events in federal politics, please note the other quality content that it’s pushing down the order: a guest post from Adrian Beaumont on the threat of US debt default and other international events, a post on a Tasmanian poll with a summary of recent events in that state, and a detailed analysis of results from last year’s federal election in thirteen seats in inner Melbourne.
• The Fadden by-election has been set for July 25, with nominations to close on June 23. As was covered in the previous post, a Liberal National Party preselection that has attracted five nominees will be conducted today. Phillip Coorey of the Financial Review reports that Anthony Albanese would rather Labor forfeit the by-election for a seat the LNP holds on a 10.6% margin, but must reckon with a local branch “agitating to run a candidate”.
• The New South Wales Liberal Party will hold its preselection this weekend to fill the Senate vacancy resulting from the death of Jim Molan in January. The field have candidates has narrowed to three: former state Transport Minister Andrew Constance, former state party president Maria Kovacic and Space Industry Association chief executive James Brown. The Sydney Morning Herald reports the latter has a long list of high-profile backers including John Howard, Julie Bishop and Dave Sharma.
• The Byron Shire Echo reports comedian Mandy Nolan will again run as the Greens candidate for the Byron Bay and Tweed Heads region seat of Richmond at the next federal election. Nolan added 5.0% to the party’s primary vote share last May to outpoll the Nationals, although preferences from right-wing minor parties pushed the Nationals candidate ahead of her at the final exclusion.
Insiders : Sunday, 28 May
David Speers joins Karen Middleton, Dan Bourchier and Cameron Stewart to discuss the Voice following a week of
debate in the House of Representatives, the Indian PM Narendra Modi’s trip to Australia, plus the PwC tax scandal.
GUEST : Lidia Thorpe – Independent Senator
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Tasmanian MP Bridget Archer thinks the Libs are unelectable in their current form. And she wants nothing short of a revolution to “take the party back”, writes Melissa Fyfe. Archer told her that “We’ve seen an infiltration of right-wing religious conservatism that’s infected the Liberal Party and turned it into something it was never conceived to be.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/we-ve-got-to-have-a-revolution-this-liberal-mp-is-spoiling-for-a-fight-within-her-own-party-20230405-p5cygb.html
Peter Dutton treading water and simply holding the show together won’t get the Coalition into a competitive position ahead of the next election, says Simon Benson.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/not-only-must-dutton-start-winning-the-cost-of-living-contest-he-must-ensure-libs-are-ready-to-take-onlabor/news-story/062ce7acfb1a6c929dc8f90393040cf5?amp
While some inside Labor struggle to grasp the drivers of Australia’s inflation challenge, the RBA governor can still do what’s right for the country, writes Jacob Greber.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/philip-lowe-has-a-historic-opportunity-on-his-way-out-20230526-p5dbm2
The next two years look a lot tougher than the first and, like Howard in 1998, Albanese would be well advised to take some substantial economic reforms to the next election, says John Black.
https://www.afr.com/politics/why-the-signs-aren-t-as-rosy-for-labor-20230525-p5dbav
Coalition’s pity party at estimates is a sure-fire recipe for electoral embarrassment, writes Paul Karp who says the opposition’s pursuit of fringe issues and fishing expeditions are not doing Peter Dutton any favours.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/27/coalitions-pity-party-at-estimates-is-a-surefire-recipe-for-electoral-embarrassment
Michael Bachelard lays out why Dutton’s claim the Voice will ‘re-racialise’ Australia is wrong.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dutton-s-claim-the-voice-will-re-racialise-australia-is-wrong-here-s-why-20230525-p5db7i.html
Paul Bongiorno writes, “Make no mistake: the opposition leader, in the words of one of his backbenchers, ‘went for broke’. For Dutton, no exaggeration was too great. In his telling, the Voice would destroy democracy as we know it.”
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2023/05/27/duttons-vicious-attack-the-voice
In post-war Australia there has rarely, if ever, been a political alignment like this. Our elites have come together – political, corporate, financial, university, media, sporting, trade union and religious – to persuade and intimidate the Australian people to put an Indigenous voice to parliament into the Constitution, complains Pontificating Paul Kelly.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/division-is-no-path-to-reconciliation-via-the-indigenous-voice-to-parliament/news-story/b48c599822686f80098a83d05722b57f?amp
The SMH editorial is concerned that it saddens, given all that is at stake, that the war for the Voice will be so bitterly fought. What began six years ago at Uluru as a historic decision to call for a meaningful referendum to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians risks being derailed by fear, anger and re-surfaced outright racism, particularly in the cesspools of social media.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/voice-debate-must-not-be-pulled-into-vitriol-20230526-p5dbo5.html
John Lord tells us why the Conservatives cannot win the next election and why Labor will go early.
https://theaimn.com/why-the-conservatives-cannot-win-the-next-election-and-why-labor-will-go-early/
In this op-ed, Senator Deb O’Neill tells us why former PwC boss Luke Sayers has questions to answer on tax scandal.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/former-pwc-boss-luke-sayers-has-questions-to-answer-on-tax-scandal-20230525-p5dbe9.html
In a very long exposition, Jack Waterford tells us why sending police into PwC is the tamest possible response to fraud on the taxpayer.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8210326/the-afp-investigating-pwc-is-a-terrible-idea-here-are-some-better-ones/?cs=14329
And Karen Middleton says that questions have been raised over police conflicts of interest as the PwC scandal engulfs multiple departments.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2023/05/27/police-doubted-pwc-scandal
There is a legitimate concern that Australians have become addicted to debt, begins John Hewson in this contribution on afterpay products. He says that, just as lay-bys and hire purchase had an easy appeal for Mum 60 years ago, this new form of credit is a tantalisingly simple form of stress relief. But it can have similar, and indeed far worse, financial consequences.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2023/05/27/afterpay-and-our-addiction-debt
According to Annika Smethurst, the national rail safety regulator and rail operator Metro Trains are also investigating the claims of fraudulent invoicing and “ghost” shifts by labour hire companies contracted to remove level-crossings and build Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel rail project. Hello spivs!
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/ghost-shifts-big-build-invoicing-claims-referred-to-police-20230526-p5dbnm.html
Ross Gittins explains what they don’t tell us about how the budget works.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/what-they-don-t-tell-you-about-how-the-budget-works-20230525-p5dbdr.html
The solution to Melbourne’s rental crisis won’t come easily – or quickly – but as build-to-rent moves from a niche product to the mainstream, it will pave the way for more diverse housing options for our rapidly growing population, explains Josh Rutman.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/build-to-rent-paves-way-for-housing-crisis-solution-20230526-p5dbkt.html
David Littleproud has offered to help Labor bolster competition law protections for farmers and suppliers in a bid to prevent potential abuses of market power by Australia’s big supermarkets. Paul Karp writes that the Nationals leader proposes making the grocery code of conduct compulsory, boosting penalties to a “punitive” $10m maximum and adding powers to break up grocery giants in the event of misconduct.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/27/nationals-push-for-10m-fines-and-ability-to-break-up-coles-and-woolworths-if-they-abuse-market-power
Michael Pascoe argues that we urgently need a real national security review.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2023/05/27/michael-pascoe-urgently-need-a-real-national-security-review/
Australia’s peak medical lobby group is set to lose its veto power over who runs a key regulator as part of efforts to restore public confidence in the integrity of Medicare following a landmark review of non-compliance and fraud in the $38 billion system.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/medical-lobby-set-to-lose-veto-power-over-who-runs-key-regulator-20230526-p5dbk9.html
The death of the grandmother has shone a spotlight on a swathe of policing issues, from oversight, their presence in aged care homes and the use of Tasers, write Mickael McGowan and Perry Duffin.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/the-system-did-this-after-clare-nowland-s-death-a-reckoning-on-who-polices-the-police-20230525-p5db9j.html
The death of Clare Nowland this week underscores the failings in aged-care policy and policing, explains Rick Morton.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/health/2023/05/27/charges-laid-aged-care-taser-killing
Stan Grant is always intelligent, insightful and provocative. He demonstrated this in his extraordinary farewell piece last Monday night on the ABC’s Q+A, writes Paul Collins.
https://johnmenadue.com/vale-stan-grant-pic/
Megan Gorey reports that unscrupulous builders and developers would be forced to fix serious defects in new detached houses under a crackdown on shoddy operators flagged by the NSW’s building commissioner. About time!
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/judgment-day-is-near-building-commissioner-to-target-new-homes-20230524-p5dauj.html
David Livingstone opines that the frigates disaster is a taste of the AUKUS catastrophe to come.
https://johnmenadue.com/frigates-disaster-a-taste-of-the-aukus-catastrophe-to-come/
The Conversation invites us to picture green hydrogen plants next to green steelworks to boost efficiency and kickstart both industries.
https://theconversation.com/picture-this-green-hydrogen-plants-next-to-green-steelworks-to-boost-efficiency-and-kickstart-both-industries-205845
The coming months will be fraught for immigration policy and administration as the Government tries to fix the mess inherited from the Coalition, writes Dr Abul Rizvi.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/immigration-policy-about-to-undergo-massive-shake-up,17537
Sumeyya Ilanbey reports that the Andrews government is considering overhauling the way pokies venues are taxed after a local council accused pubs and clubs of widely abusing generous concessions designed to pump money back into local communities.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/pokies-taxes-to-be-reviewed-after-claims-venues-are-cashing-on-loophole-20230525-p5db6g.html
Wendy Touhy writes that, as stigma about mothers working full-time plummets and living costs rise, data shows the proportion of dual-earner families has increased to 71 per cent, nearly double the level of 1979.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/australian-families-changing-as-more-mothers-return-to-work-full-time-20230523-p5daml.html
If you feel disposed to read it, here is dear old Gerard’s weekly rant at the ABC.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/abc-apologises-all-around-for-stan-grant-saga-except-for-lack-of-balance/news-story/a1404c4d2ad4ac3b9374a531ed0d472f?amp
US president Joe Biden’s plan promises billions for Australian companies, while securing minerals for the US military, explains Mike Seccombe.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/economy/2023/05/27/pentagon-secure-australian-minerals-green-deal
Angus Thompson reports that an ACT deputy chief police officer who oversaw the Lehrmann rape investigation said the intense media pressure hanging over the police motivated him to direct the former Coalition staffer be charged in late 2021.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/higgins-sharaz-used-media-as-tool-investigator-20230525-p5dbey.html
The detective superintendent in charge of the investigation into Brittany Higgins’s rape allegations said that pressure to make progress had led to errors in police handling, reports Marilyn McMahon.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2023/05/27/top-cop-fronts-lehrmann-inquiry
The “overwhelming majority” of submissions to a confidential Greens inquiry argued that trans activists are more harmful to the party than transphobia, writes Chip Le Grand.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/lost-in-transition-report-lays-bare-greens-gender-rift-warns-of-split-risk-20230526-p5dbgu.html
According to Colonel Richard Kemp, the coming Russian revolution will unleash horrifying new demons.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/mobs-with-pitchforks-the-coming-russian-revolution-will-unleash-horrifying-new-demons-20230526-p5dbfx.html
Federal prosecutors have evidence Donald Trump showed classified documents to people, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources, as the investigation into his handling of national security materials and obstruction of justice approaches its conclusion. The development could raise the stakes for the former president as it exposes him to serious action under the Espionage Act, of wilfully communicating national security materials rather than simply retaining them, which is rarely charged.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/26/trump-classified-documents-workers-moved-boxes
Cartoon Corner
David Pope
Alan Moir
David Rowe
Andrew Dyson
Matt Golding
Mark David
Jon Kudelka
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/sites/default/files/styles/cartoon/public/Cartoons/toonmay27.jpeg
Simon Letch
Jim Pavlidis
Matt Davidson
Glen Le Lievre
Mark Knight
Leak
From the US
Tasmanian MP Bridget Archer thinks the Libs are unelectable in their current form. And she wants nothing short of a revolution to “take the party back”, writes Melissa Fyfe. Archer told her that “We’ve seen an infiltration of right-wing religious conservatism that’s infected the Liberal Party and turned it into something it was never conceived to be.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/we-ve-got-to-have-a-revolution-this-liberal-mp-is-spoiling-for-a-fight-within-her-own-party-20230405-p5cygb.html
And I’d add that Peter Dutton is trying to introduce Trumpy hate of the other and division, into politics and Australian society.
Another disgusting and defamatory-adjacent cartoon about the President of the United States by Gary Varvel today, I see. 😡
Much appreciation BK
Rusty Groupy Stoogesays:
No-one complains that Ukraine mostly exports wheat instead of flour or baguettes. Likewise, we should not take such criticisms of Australian resource exports at face value. They are mostly cringe.
___________________
Bravo Briefly. Very wise post, and a curative to nationalist dreams of somehow perverting the nature of the global economy.
Thanks as always BK. That John Black analysis in the AFR, if taken at face value, puts the income quartile conventional wisdom to the sword.
The Coalition have destroyed their traditional constituency, whilst Labor’s preference harvesting amongst the lower income group requires continuing attention.
https://www.afr.com/politics/why-the-signs-aren-t-as-rosy-for-labor-20230525-p5dbav
C@tmomma @ Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 8:09 am:
“Another disgusting and defamatory-adjacent cartoon about the President of the United States by Gary Varvel today, I see. ”
==================
With just a dash of Putin-bot propaganda too. 😡 😡
Debt ceiling deadline extended to 5th june.
So where are the poorest electorates? And who benefits most from the Budget’s targeted boost?
Another one of John Black’s tables today, which his commentary doesn’t consistently support..
https://www.afr.com/politics/why-the-signs-aren-t-as-rosy-for-labor-20230525-p5dbav
”
US president Joe Biden’s plan promises billions for Australian companies, while securing minerals for the US military, explains Mike Seccombe.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/economy/2023/05/27/pentagon-secure-australian-minerals-green-deal
”
Hah!
Although I did not specifically mention one section of US society I mentioned that whether I am cynical in thinking that US is hoarding mining industry market especially lithium for themselves, which has a side benefit of not selling to China.
Another disgusting and defamatory-adjacent cartoon about the President of the United States by Gary Varvel today, I see.
_______
At his very worst, C@t!
C@tmomma @ #236 Friday, May 26th, 2023 – 11:32 pm
You must have misunderstood. We are on track to pass 1.5 degrees in a few years. We will very likely pass 2 degrees within a few decades, and there is no guarantee we will not go quite a bit higher.
”
Victoriasays:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 8:31 am
Debt ceiling deadline extended to 5th june.
”
How can they do that? Seriously.
Is it because the country is US? They have already used all the measures to extend the deadline from end of January, 2023. Only one is left. President’s power to raise Debt ceiling using amendment 14.
Thanks BK.
Those are weird tables.
Families of all kinds on one side but men and women aged 35 – 50 years (that is, mums and dads) on the other.
Looking at the tables side by side, you’d have thought that Labor was the one losing votes with the Liberals having a fairly easy time of it, only having to win back some very niche cohorts (if only ‘women earning over $150k” were lost to the Liberals, they’d basically have no women problem).
”
sprocket_says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 8:36 am
So where are the poorest electorates? And who benefits most from the Budget’s targeted boost?
Another one of John Black’s tables today, which his commentary doesn’t consistently support..
”
Sprocket
What the table says is that National party areas are 100% winners. UNBELIEVABLE!
Cat so you think that the probably most credential climate scientist on the planet is a catastrophist. Fair enough. Your reading of that 2 page update is not one that I would make. The following link is to the full 60 page report.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2212.04474
What he has said with regard to the paleo climate data is that with the current forcings already in place we have a lot more warming to come even if we could magically stop all emissions today.
As someone who started as a fire-fighter over 30 years ago and trained in environmental science and resource management might I suggest that you get ready for a repeat of 2019/20 in the next few years.
The latest COVID-19 news and case numbers from around the states and territories
New South Wales :
The state has recorded 14,409 new COVID cases, down slightly from last week’s total of 14,699.
There are 1,366 cases in hospital with the virus, 34 of those in intensive care.
There were 69 new deaths announced today.
Victoria :
There have been 10,642 new cases in Victoria this week.
The state has 407 people in hospital with COVID-19, and 17 in intensive care.
There were 63 new deaths recorded.
MORE : https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/the-latest-covid-19-news-and-case-numbers-from-around-the-states-and-territories/ar-AA1bHvO3?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=281ec1ec99a3416195f304a40f32ec77&ei=46
”
In post-war Australia there has rarely, if ever, been a political alignment like this. Our elites have come together – political, corporate, financial, university, media, sporting, trade union and religious – to persuade and intimidate the Australian people to put an Indigenous voice to parliament into the Constitution, complains Pontificating Paul Kelly.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/division-is-no-path-to-reconciliation-via-the-indigenous-voice-to-parliament/news-story/b48c599822686f80098a83d05722b57f?amp
”
It has ever been thus ponderous, pontificating Paul Kelly. The prime example is you and your media organisation (if you can call that). You live in such a bubble you don’t even realise that but have the gall to say that. (Shaking my head in disgust emoji)
Morning all and thanks for the roundup BK. Quite a lot to get through.
The Australian has been caught out doctoring letters to the editor to say things their authors did not write. Shameless fraud. Who still reads the rag?
https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/2023/may/26/the-australian-blames-production-error-for-attack-on-noel-pearson-added-to-readers-letter
Rusty Groupy Stooge @ #243 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 6:02 am
The technology didn’t fail. It used successfully throughout the world. It is us who failed.
Effectively, you are agreeing that Australia cannot manage to do what the the rest of the world can do very effectively. I certainly agree with you on that. But it is not because we cannot. It is because we choose not to. Because those who benefit most from our unprocessed exports don’t see any need to spread the benefits. They are able to get obscenely rich without bothering with any of that complex value adding that enriches the rest of the economy. An economy that is increasingly a hollowed out shell. Or, as another poster put it yesterday – a donut. The mining companies get the dough, and the rest of us get the hole.
When the FBI raided Tampa journalist Tim Burke’s home earlier this month, seizing electronic devices and turning the house upside down, observers were left both alarmed and stumped. But the Tampa Bay Times provided a crucial piece of the puzzle on Friday, reporting in a bombshell story that the raid was related to a criminal investigation into possible “hacking” at Fox News that resulted in embarrassing videos of Tucker Carlson being obtained by Vice News and Media Matters for America.
Vice’s story included damning outtakes from the since-fired host’s interview of Kanye West, including wildly antisemitic rants that Carlson edited out of his show. MMFA’s coverage has included a drip-feed of behind-the-scenes clips showing Carlson asking Piers Morgan about sexual techniques, trashing Fox’s own streaming service, and making creepy comments about “premenopausal” fans and women having pillow fights.
The FBI executed a search warrant at the home Burke shares with his wife, Tampa City Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak, in the early hours of May 8. Burke, who worked as The Daily Beast’s director of video from July 2018 to April 2019, now runs a media and political consulting firm called Burke Communications. He was also one of the former Deadspin reporters who broke the Manti Te’o girlfriend hoax story in 2013.
Hurtak later said the surprise raid was related to her husband’s “work as a journalist.” Burke also told the Tampa Bay Times at the time that it was his name on the warrant but he had no idea what it was about. On Friday, The Tampa Bay Times reported on a letter sent by Tampa Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Trezevant to Fox News about a federal probe into allegations of unauthorized computer access, wire hacks, conspiracy, and other federal crimes related to the Vice and MMFA articles.
The Daily Beast’s Confider newsletter obtained the document, which refers to Fox News as one of the probe’s “potential victim-witnesses,” and asks the network to preserve information and records related to the probe for at least 90 days. The “United States believes Fox is in possession of information, records, and documents… which is material to the ongoing investigation, and which may assist the United States in reaching a proper resolution of its investigation,” the letter reads.
yes Zoom, the Black commentary is inconsistent with his data.
I do like the way he identified the QLD LNP as a seperate party to Liberal and National, which is true on many levels.
In the article he points out that the QLD LNP domination, now with Dutton leading Libs and LittleProud leading the Nats – is unlikely to win back any seats they lost south of the Tweed.
There is a big difference between a “reporter” ( a person who reports newsworthy happenings) and an “influencer” ( a person employed by a newspaper or TV station who sets out to influence public opinion on behalf of their employer).
True reporters have nothing to fear from social media. Influencers and their employers are on a par with the “keyboard warriors” they complain about.
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/05/25/how-to-get-more-bang-for-the-buck-in-western-defence-budgets
RP @ #268 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 8:55 am
Indeed. C@t’s optimism flies in the face of all available scientific evidence. It is quite bizarre.
”
RPsays:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 8:55 am
Cat so you think that the probably most credential climate scientist on the planet is a catastrophist. Fair enough. Your reading of that 2 page update is not one that I would make. The following link is to the full 60 page report.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2212.04474
What he has said with regard to the paleo climate data is that with the current forcings already in place we have a lot more warming to come even if we could magically stop all emissions today.
As someone who started as a fire-fighter over 30 years ago and trained in environmental science and resource management might I suggest that you get ready for a repeat of 2019/20 in the next few years.
”
The world is not ready for the repeat of 2019/20 in the next few years.
Socrates @ #271 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 8:57 am
And the Australian wouldn’t feel a hint of shame at being exposed.
Surely there’s a media licence or something that can be revoked for anti-truth in reporting.
”
Player Onesays:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 9:04 am
RP @ #268 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 8:55 am
As someone who started as a fire-fighter over 30 years ago and trained in environmental science and resource management might I suggest that you get ready for a repeat of 2019/20 in the next few years.
Indeed. C@t’s optimism flies in the face of all available scientific evidence. It is quite bizarre.
”
Is it possible that the optimism comes from the belief that Biden and Albanese are in-charge of their countries and Starmer will be in-charge of his country. Or leaders like Macron and Scholz are in-charge of their countries.
The articles in John Menadue and the New Daily (Pascoe) raise valid concerns about the DSR and the frigate contract. The DSR is inadequate in the details. The frigate contract clearly went to the wrong design under suspicious circumstances and we are paying for it.
Yet I disagree with Menadue blaming ASC over the frigate failings. Past ministers, admirals and defence officials yes. But ASC did not choose the frigate type or delay the design. They are waiting to build.
The last ships ASC actually built (two Arafuras) were finished on time and budget. The problem was the choice of a virtually unarmed warship because the intended gun was not available.
ASC routinely gets blamed for decisions they have no say over. It is convenient for those who want to shut down local manufacturing to suit their ideology.
looks like the nsw liberals are in trouble again over donations from property developers a liberal faction leader close to alix hawke joe tannous is a lobeyist plus there is natulie ward nsw liberal deputy leader with michael photios a lobeyist as her mentore
what happind to the farmasee guilds scaire campaign on the changes to scripts after Entsch revealed twomie was promised his seat at next election the campaign seems to be failing to causthe government any problims the guilds president is a long time liberal plus stone still nsw liberal director will payne leave senate
the liberals like to dismiss union leaders who are members of the labor party as hacks or facelis men not any more but lobey groups with liberal links Twomie the minerals council which has strong liberal national links business groups arnt attacked in the same way like media refering to union chiefs as bosis and twent twomie as a small business owner despite him leading a lobey group
in terms of senate so its ruston v antic but what about wa Renyalds term is up will the liberals want to improve there female vote by removing her from the senate at the next election her term is up
Thanks as usual BK. The story behind this cartoon:
If DeSantis were to become president (unlikely I know) the US could suffer a massive withdrawal by “woke” companies and investors. Not a good outcome.
Emerging debt ceiling deal is a dud
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/26/2171573/-Emerging-debt-ceiling-deal-could-harm-the-needy-coddle-the-rich
“Reports indicate that the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are nearing an agreement to raise the debt ceiling for two years. McCarthy would release the fiscal hostage in return for concessions from President Joe Biden that have congressional Democrats up in arms, and that are just objectively bad policy. One of these would impose tougher work requirements on food assistance and/or Medicaid. The other would shift some of the new funding Democrats provided to the IRS over to defense and veterans. Both would reinforce bogus Republican narratives.
The New York Times reported the outlines of the emerging deal late Thursday: strict caps on discretionary spending for the next two years, increases in defense spending and for veterans, and a shift of $10 billion in new funding for the IRS to other programs. Semafor and Punchline report that stiffened work requirements for social welfare programs are still in discussion. None of this is good or necessary.”
“House Democrats are particularly unhappy about this potential part of the deal, and leadership has told the White House so. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark, and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar called White House negotiators Thursday to inform them they could not count on as many as 100 Democratic votes for a deal if these kinds of concessions are included. “We’ve been exceedingly clear where we are depending on what’s in it,” a senior Democratic aide told Punchbowl.”
Citizen
De Santis won’t be the next President. He is going to crash and burn.
the herald is reporting that brown is the faverite but andrew constence appears to be the faverite dutton is sending payne who is backing constence as is gladist
The Democrats will need to abolish the debt ceiling at the first political opportunity. The Right don’t care about the debt, they spend like drunken sailors on stuff they like. It’s only ever a problem for the Right when they’re out of office.
Ven @ #280 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 9:10 am
One key point that Hansen et al makes in their paper is that we are almost beyond the point where a political solution is still practical. To quote:
We don’t currently have either the technical capabilities or the political will to apply them even if we had them, but we may still have a very short period in which to develop them.
But instead we are frittering the time away … and what happens when we run out?
I only go into a pharmacy when I need something so until yesterday hadn’t seen any of the Pharmacy Guild signs attacking Albo and Labor. At one shop owned by a NSW/ACT chain of “discount” chemists the sign was prominently displayed on screens facing customers as they paid. No good saying anything to the hapless sales assistant of course.
WeWantPaul says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 7:02 am
“Seriously, if Australian resources were to be mostly allocated to value-adding rather than to bulk export, the economy would shrink.”
Yeah we shouldn’t think above our station. Dumb c*nts is us.
The derision directed against exporters of bulk commodities is entirely misplaced. Their success is very impressive. The whine is that “we” have failed because value-added manufacturing has been declining as a share of the economy. This is not a “failure”, though if it is it’s not at all clear who has failed. Somehow the blame for this “failure” is pinned on those who are not responsible – on those who have succeeded in bulk commodities. This is nothing but a cultural cringe. It is a form of jealousy.
I know about this stuff. I started a value-adding manufacturing business. It was insanely difficult. Just insanely difficult. The returns were utterly pitiful most of the time. The terms of trade for manufacturing are dreadfully challenging and in the absence of scale make it almost impossible for businesses to function. There are many start-ups and many innovators and entrepreneurial ventures. I know lots of them. Manufacturing requires constant innovation. Nearly all manufacturers eventually fail. The most common cause is absence of scale, which means margins are never adequate. The problem is not making things. The problem is always about turning products – embodied costs – into money.
The business I started still exists. But it makes no money at all these days. It’s now a pilot manufacturer in the hands of a dreamer who has made a great fortune from importing. I hope the dream is realised. I will help them. But at present its contribution to GDP or employment is not worth counting.
zoomster @ #266 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 8:48 am
Just my regular reminder that John Black’s analyses are a best idiosyncratic and at worst laughed at by serious students of electoral data. You can save yourself hours of your short life by skipping over anything from him.
Player One says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 9:39 am
‘We don’t currently have either the technical capabilities or the political will to apply them even if we had them, but we may still have a very short period in which to develop them.
But instead we are frittering the time away … and what happens when we run out?’
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I am not in anyway in disagreement with your argument Player One but ‘frittering’ surely has to be the word of the day.
Thinking about it as I literally fritter off to Ladbrokes Park races.
BHP’s HBI plant failed
BHP-Billiton’s hot briquetted iron (HBI) plant in Port Hedland, in north-west Western Australia, is being demolished.
Production at the plant stopped in 2004 when a gas explosion killed one worker and seriously burnt two others.
It took BHP three years to build and produce the first briquette from the $2.4 billion plant.
A year later, the company had to write off the entire value of the plant because of low production, low prices and expensive modifications.
Mike Buzzard, a spokesman for BHP, says Australian company Able Demolitions won the demolition tender.
“Able’s tender was based on the majority of the HBI facilities being removed as scrap. However, if people are interested in any of the plant and or equipment they can forward inquiries direct to Able,” he said.
The terms of trade….no $…
Rusty Groupy Stooge @ #293 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 9:59 am
This comment would be laughable, except it is actually sad. It epitomizes what is wrong with Australia. We have become so addicted to relying on our luck that we pretend there are no benefits to be had from application and innovation – “it will eventually fail”.
Player One says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 10:09 am
Rusty Groupy Stooge @ #293 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 9:59 am
Nearly all manufacturers eventually fail.
This comment would be laughable, except it is actually sad. It epitomizes what is wrong with Australia. We have become so addicted to relying on our luck that we pretend there are no benefits to be had from application and innovation – “it will eventually fail”.
My comment is accurate. Most manufacturing fails eventually. I know a few who have sustainable small-scale outfits. They survive in niche markets. Some are import-competing. Some are export-dependent. They are not big businesses and they are a great credit to those who started them. They operate in confectionary, in beverages – brewing and distilling – in technology and in customised engineering. Their markets are intensely competitive, crowded with players from all corners. I’ve known dozens and dozens of similar starters, nearly all of whom have been beaten into closure eventually. They were brave and clever and dedicated and this was not enough.
Bludgers can be as sentimental about these things as they like. The truth is it is profoundly difficult to survive in manufacturing….which is why they comprise such a small share of the economy.
Rusty Groupy Stooge @ #298 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 10:21 am
I think you have the EV before the Engine.
JFC, there’s a Ladbrokes Park, now!?