YouGov, from which we can expect federal polling every three weeks in future (give or take a looming seasonal furlough), had a federal poll yesterday showing Labor’s lead at 51-49, narrowing from 53-47 in a poll conducted shortly before the referendum. On the primary vote, Labor is down two to 31%, the Coalition is steady on 36%, the Greens are down one to 13% and One Nation are up to 7%. Net satisfaction ratings find both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton at minus 7%, marking a four point decline in Albanese’s case and a five point improvement in Dutton’s. Albanese nonetheless leads 48% to 34% as preferred prime minister. The poll was conducted last Friday to Tuesday from a sample of 1582.
In other news, there are the following developments from the world of preselection, once again relating entirely to the Liberal Party:
• Gisele Kapterian, international trade lawyer and executive director of cloud computing firm Salesforce, has been preselected as the Liberal candidate for North Sydney, notwithstanding the possibility that it might be abolished or effectively merged with a neighbouring seat as part of the looming redistribution. The latter course is the effective recommendation of the Liberal Party’s own submission to the redistribution, which proposed maintaining North Sydney as the name of a seat encompassing most of an abolished Warringah. Grahame Lynch of the North Sydney Sun reports the moderate-aligned Kapterian won a ballot over Jess Collins, conservative-aligned researcher for the Lowy Institute (also a candidate for the preselection that will be held next weekend to fill Marise Payne’s Senate vacancy), by 145 votes to 106. Other nominees were Georgia Lovell, policy manager at the NSW Department of Customer Service, and Sophie Lambert, media manager at the NSW Education Department.
• Russell Broadbent has quit the Liberal party room after losing a preselection vote for his regional Victorian seat of Monash on Sunday to Mary Aldred, Fujitsu executive and daughter of the late former Liberal MP Ken Aldred. Aldred secured a sweeping victory with 162 votes against 16 each for Broadbent and a third contender, South Gippsland mayor Nathan Hersey. An ABC report cites a Nationals source saying that party was “likely to aggressively campaign for the seat”.
• Josh Zimmerman of The West Australian reports a view among Liberals that Moore MP Ian Goodenough is likely to lose preselection next month to Vince Connelly, who narrowly failed to topple Goodenough after his own seat of Stirling was abolished in 2022.
• Angira Bharadwaj of News Corp reports Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley has said it would be “totally unacceptable” if Lindsay MP Melissa McIntosh succumbed to a preselection challenge from Mark Davies, Penrith councillor, factional conservative and husband of state Mulgoa MP Tanya Davies, and that “we would not let this occur”.
YouGov’s 51 – 49 is consistent with this week’s Essential and Morgan.
(edit)
Essential’s ‘2PP+’ 49% to 47% ~ 51 – 49.
Morgan 51 -49 by William’s reckoning.
I don’t think The Greens are on 1%. 😐
Big D isn’t a new persona for Australia’s opposition leader, of course. Apart from that very brief, surreal, interlude in 2018 when he wondered out loud whether or not he should smile more, Peter Dutton is a tub-thumping law-and-order populist, ready to roil, ready to rumble.
Now I’m all for blokes finding new hobbies in midlife, but Dutton ululating about social cohesion strains credulity. Big D lives for othering. That’s his brand, his mode, his methodology.
Check the record. Dutton didn’t seem worried about social cohesion when he declared Malcolm Fraser made mistakes in bringing some people (particularly Lebanese Muslims) into Australia in the 1970s. Or when he claimed Victorians were “scared to go out to restaurants” because of “African gang violence”. Or when he contended pregnant victims of rape on Nauru were “trying it on” by seeking abortions in Australia.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/18/peter-dutton-strongman-persona-matches-our-grim-times-but-has-he-fired-up-his-opponents-as-well
“I don’t think The Greens are on 1%.”
We can dream.
Indonesia is facing a renewed refugee crisis after the arrival of three boats in as many days with nearly 600 Rohingya people on board.
Two of the boats, the first with 146 passengers and the second with 194, were able to land on beaches in Pidie on Aceh’s east coast on Tuesday and Wednesday, with refugees including women and children pictured collapsed on the sand after reportedly spending a month at sea.
On Thursday, a third boat carrying some 249 people was met with resistance from locals in Bireuen who refused to allow it to land and pushed the vessel back out to sea.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/17/indonesia-faces-new-refugee-crisis-as-rohingya-boat-pushed-back-to-sea
The sound you hear in that big building on the Hill is the heavy breathing of Jim Chalmers and Tania as they contemplate how they will conduct themselves in the months following the very next You Gov poll.
I see tart comments from the SmearStralian, who have missed the inside scoop on Jim Chalmers.
And the usual suspects aping the tartness.
Having just read the full article, it contains a lot of insight into what drives the rising star of the ALP…
https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-don-t-do-moderation-in-anything-why-treasurer-jim-chalmers-went-on-the-wagon-20231016-p5eciv.html
Greetings from a grey and gloomy Melbourne. I guess this is just typical Melbourne weather.
sprocket:
I recall a few years ago watching Chalmers and wondering if he was sick. Now it’s all explained.
We all agree that is Spring in Southern Hemisphere especially in Brazil. Nobody can deny that. Not even LNP and Peter Dutton.
Heat Index in Rio de Janeiro hits 137.3 degrees Fahrenheit.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/17/2206375/-Heat-Index-in-Rio-de-Janeiro-hits-137-3-degrees-Fahrenheit?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
“More than a hundred million people in Brazil endure extraordinary and lethal temperatures. The heat index, a combination of temperature and humidity, shattered records in Rio de Janeiro with 108.5 degrees and a feel-like temperature of 137.3 F.
The gobsmacking temperatures are a November heat record for the sprawling city of Rio de Janeiro, which has approximately fourteen million people. ”
“From the BBC:
Inmet has issued red alerts for a large part of the country. These indicate that temperatures may be 5C above average for longer than five days and could pose a serious danger to health.
The heatwave, which comes more than a month before the beginning of summer in the southern hemisphere, has seen Brazil’s energy consumption soar to record levels as people try to keep themselves cool”
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
Albanese, the prime minister leading a government that’s actually trying to fix a few problems, has fallen hard in the public’s estimation. And the doorman to discontent, Peter Dutton, is not popular, either, yet his net approval rating has improved to the point where, at minus four, it is now in the same range as Albanese’s minus six, writes Peter Hartcher.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/besieged-by-resentment-albanese-gets-a-taste-of-midterm-misery-20231117-p5ekv3.html
James Massola writes about Dutton’s Abbott-style strategy to regain power.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-politics-of-grievance-dutton-s-abbott-style-strategy-to-regain-power-20231116-p5ekiq.html
In the space of 12 hours on Thursday, the Australian Parliament passed legislation about what remains, to the public, a largely ill-defined and unknown group of people — but variously described by some of our MPs as “hardened criminals” and “absolute animals” — in a legislative exercise alarming in its chaos and deeply concerning in its origins, writes an unimpressed Laura Tingle who says the politics has been driven by the populism of Peter Dutton’s Coalition which, through the week, has variously conflated the issue with the government’s approach to the Gaza-Israel conflict, the prime minister’s overseas travel, the spectre of criminals being paid welfare, and even the housing crisis.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-18/confusion-over-high-court-indefinite-detention-ruling-response/103119836
NineFax reports that twenty-seven of the foreigners whose indefinite detention was quashed by a landmark High Court decision are cases that have been referred to immigration ministers over several years under the category of “very serious violent offences, very serious crimes against children, very serious family or domestic violence or violent, sexual or exploitative offences”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/very-serious-crimes-details-revealed-of-the-92-detainees-affected-by-high-court-ruling-20231117-p5ekvh.html
And Peter Dutton is pushing Labor to re-detain a cohort of non-citizens who cannot be deported, as immigration lawyers representing the newly released group of 84 claim new laws passed yesterday to curtail the group may be unconstitutional. Raw meat is back on the table for the shock jocks.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dutton-pushes-for-more-laws-to-re-detain-those-released-by-high-court-ruling-20231117-p5ekq9.html
An obviously disillusioned John Hewson says, “Several developments recently have made it obvious that politics has become a most unedifying race to the bottom. Facts and evidence are usually ignored in favour of emotive, baseless assertions, and truth and morality are clear casualties. The political debate displays a certain meanness and is deliberately divisive. It’s a short-term political pointscoring game, rather than a crucial element of constructive government in the face of what are now myriad serious challenges. It is all about trying to create a pathway to win the next election.”
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2023/11/18/the-relentless-election-cycle
“Dutton’s strongman persona matches our grim times – but has he fired up his opponents as well?”, asks Katharine Murphy who says that, In times of social division, politicians can either lead or stoke the flames – and the opposition leader has made his choice.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/18/peter-dutton-strongman-persona-matches-our-grim-times-but-has-he-fired-up-his-opponents-as-well
Dutton leads a party now very much in his image, deeply right-wing and reactionary on a number of social issues. This impression wasn’t helped by the shock resignation of veteran moderate Russell Broadbent to sit on the cross bench this week, writes Paul Bongiorno.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2023/11/18/dutton-tracks-the-scent-victory
“What can we take from these figures so far from the next election? Just what has Dutton done to deserve the public’s support? Well, nothing comes to mind. What Newspolls do is provide Murdoch newspapers with a solid base from which to attack Labor. They create stories around their polling that are of little substance or importance”, writes John Lord looking at the potential reasons for the change in polling results.
https://theaimn.com/the-mystery-of-polls-is-that-they-tell-us-nothing/
“If we’re willing to imprison outsiders for life, we must ask: Who are we?”, asks Julia Baird in an excellent and reasoned contribution.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/if-we-re-willing-to-imprison-outsiders-for-life-we-must-ask-who-are-we-20231117-p5eku1.html
A legal challenge to emergency legislation responding to the high court’s decision on indefinite detention is likely, with advocates warning the Albanese government the changes may be unconstitutional. Paul Karp reports that Alison Battisson, the director of Human Rights For All, and David Manne, the executive director of Refugee Legal, have both warned the changes may amount to “extrajudicial” punishment.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/18/labors-emergency-laws-after-immigration-detention-ruling-may-amount-to-extrajudicial-punishment
Phil Coorey has a look inside Labor’s horror week.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/things-are-sticky-inside-labor-s-horror-week-20231116-p5ekdy
Contrary to just about every headline you’ve seen, the federal government’s infrastructure cutbacks do not come as a surprise to the industry and actually won’t make much of a dent in the massive spending underway. You could be forgiven for thinking that the Feds are the major source of transport infrastructure spending. They’re not – the states already do most of the heavy lifting by far, says Michael Pascoe.
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2023/11/18/michael-pascoe-infrastructure-cuts
The widows of Afghan civilians allegedly killed by Australian soldiers say they have had no contact from the Australian government but are ready to testify about the war crimes, reveals Michelle Jasmin Dimasi.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2023/11/18/exclusive-afghan-war-crime-families-ready-testify
The decision by whistleblower David McBride to plead guilty to leaking classified information to the media is a chilling reminder of the flaws in Australia’s whistleblower protections, says Adele Ferguson.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-18/david-mcbride-guilty-plea-whistleblower-protection/103120544
The criminal trial of David McBride has come to an abrupt end, as a serious blow to his defence led him to plead guilty to three charges, raising concerns about the implications for future whistleblowers, says Chris Wallace.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2023/11/17/david-mcbrides-whistleblower-defence-crumbles
Afghan war crimes whistleblower David McBride has pleaded guilty today. The people who committed the crimes, and the officers who covered them up, remain without charge or investigation. Rex Patrick reports.
https://michaelwest.com.au/whistleblower-david-mcbride-pleads-guilty/
The attorney-general has ignored a ‘lynchpin’ recommendation of the robodebt royal commission, claiming it is not a recommendation at all, complains Rick Morton. He points to the recommendation, to amend the Freedom of Information Act and the Commonwealth Cabinet Handbook “so that the description of a document as a Cabinet document is no longer itself justification for maintaining the confidentiality of the document”
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2023/11/18/serious-flaw-the-robodebt-response
Wendy Touhy lifts the lid off the very high cost of funerals. It’s well past time to disrupt this rapacious profession!
https://www.theage.com.au/national/a-diy-option-for-everything-how-families-can-cut-the-cost-of-death-20231114-p5ejs8.html
Australia’s deal with Tuvalu is the first in the world to relocate a population stranded by rising sea levels, and highlights the cynicism of policy that avoids addressing the causes of climate change, writes Mike Seccombe.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/environment/2023/11/18/the-art-the-tuvalu-deal
In an interview with The Saturday Paper’s Karen Middleton, Penny Wong notes the way events in the Middle East are ‘refracted’ in Australia, while continuing to call for ‘restraint and protection of civilian lives’.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2023/11/18/penny-wong-the-israel-hamas-war
Years later, after reporting extensively in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Antony Loewenstein realised the fallacy of the unattainable two-state arrangement and embraced the far more democratic and realistic option, a one-state solution, crafted by Israelis and Palestinians.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/two-state-solution-won-t-deliver-peace-for-israel-palestine-but-this-might-20231117-p5ekse.html
Too many taking sides in this conflict miss the true nature of Hamas – and Netanyahu, writes Jonathan Freedland who says those calling for a ceasefire and those opposing it are both making assumptions that don’t stack up.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/17/hamas-benjamin-netanyahu-ceasefire
UN aid deliveries to Gaza have been suspended again due to shortages of fuel and a communications shutdown, deepening the misery of thousands of hungry and homeless Palestinians as Israeli troops battle Hamas militants in the enclave. The United Nations’ World Food Programme said civilians faced the “immediate possibility of starvation” due to the lack of food supplies.
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/middle-east-news/2023/11/18/aid-suspend-gaza
Is criticism of Israeli settlement policy anti-Semitic? Israeli nationalists insist it is, writes Bob Carr.
https://johnmenadue.com/is-criticism-of-israeli-settlement-policy-anti-semitic-israeli-nationalists-insist-it-is/
Barely an hour after a gag order prohibiting Donald Trump from commenting about court staff at his civil fraud trial in New York was temporarily lifted, he was at it again – unleashing a blitzkrieg of social media outrage at a clerk who has become the lightning rod for the former president’s rage.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/17/trump-gag-order-social-media-posts
A prominent Adelaide cardiologist who downloaded more than 9000 images of “deviant” child abuse has been banned from working in the medical profession for 10 years. Andrew McGavigan, 51, of Hawthorn was jailed for three years and four months, with a 12-month non-parole period, in August 2021. He had pleaded guilty to three offences including accessing and possessing or controlling child abuse material using a carriage service. “Arsehole of the Week” material!
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-sa/disgraced-deviant-cardiologist-andrew-mcgavigan-banned-from-practising-medicine-for-a-decade/news-story/66a7be6ce3790cb4dd036c68785a6d43?amp=
Cartoon Corner
David Pope
Alan Moir
David Rowe
Fiona Katauskas
Jon Kudelka
Andrew Dyson
Glen Le Lievre
Matt Golding
Jim Pavlidis
Matt Davidson
John Shakespeare
Simon Letch
Mark Knight
Leak
From the US
Continuing from @7:45am
Monga Bay on climate change role with fires in the Pantanal.
Natural wildfires are a common natural phenomenon in the Pantanal, a biome ruled by the extremes of the annual wet and dry seasons. “The fire is part of the ecological system of the Pantanal and some species are very well adapted to it,” Tortato said. But environmentalists point to unusual weather patterns in the wetlands, sparking unprecedented and atypical fires. “The problem is that we have more and more fires every year,” Tortato said.
Experts say these irregular fires are becoming increasingly normal in the Pantanal, serving as a striking example of real-life climate change impacts. “The tendency is for it to get hotter and drier,” Figueirôa said. “The park is suffering a lot from recurring fires that occurred not long ago.”
Previously, fires would occur less frequently, giving affected areas time to recover, thanks to what Figueirôa called the Pantanal’s “window of resilience.”
“The fauna and flora are used to fires, but at a lower intensity and less frequency,” he said. “With the current frequency of fires and this increased intensity, you reduce this resilience.”
The Pantanal has been hit by a series of severe fires in recent years, with 2020 considered the worst in the wetland’s recorded history. An estimated 17 million animals were killed in the flames, although other estimates go much higher. More than 85% of Encontro das Águas State Park was burned that year, and in total, approximately a third of the Pantanal was hit by fire. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires across the world, with the Pantanal forecast to experience a 30% decrease in rainfall between 2070 and 2100. “It’s important to reinforce prevention work. We will have to adapt,” Figueirôa said.
Enjoying purchasing Teslas?
‘NineFax reports that twenty-seven of the foreigners whose indefinite detention was quashed by a landmark High Court decision are cases … under the category of “very serious violent offences, very serious crimes against children, very serious family or domestic violence or violent, sexual or exploitative offences”.
So — notwithstanding Dutton’s tarring of them all with his broad brush — more than two-thirds of the cases are not under that category?
This whole High Court decision furore is a fake crisis, whipped up by a cynical and opportunistic Opposition abetted by media allies. There is no problem with the decision that can’t be addressed through the exercise of common sense and good will. Sadly, these are both lacking.
Criminals are sentenced to terms of imprisonment. All but the most heinous, sentenced to life without parole, are eventually released. It’s a situation we deal with all the time. We don’t keep people in prison because they might commit a crime. They have to commit the crime, be charged, tried and sentenced first. What’s the alternative? Well, arbitrary detention, as we see under authoritarian regimes.
If a criminal is a non-citizen, we have the option of deportation to their country of citizenship. In a few cases, that is not possible. We can deal with it, as Labor was until it allowed itself to be spooked.
Labor should never let the Opposition dictate terms like it just did. It will happen again. Maybe a boat will arrive. Maybe another unwelcome High Court decision. “Events” that the Government will have to deal with. Maybe not even a proper “event” but one wildly exaggerated and beat up in right-wing media. How should it be handled? Labor shouldn’t try to match or out-nasty the “Liberals”. Ethical and governance considerations aside, it can never work except as a stop-gap.
Labor needs to think this through and have some contingency plans in place for when it happens again.
The “accidental” death of another Russian general – this time no fall was involved
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/16/2206296/-The-accidental-death-of-another-Russian-general-this-time-no-fall-was-involved?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
”
A mysterious death
Lieutenant General Vladimir Sviridov (68), the former commander of Russia’s 6th Air Force and Air Defense Forces Army, once criticized Putin’s Air Force as “third-rate.”
On Wednesday, according to the state-run news agency RIA Novosti, he and his wife, 72-year-old Tatyana, were found dead in their bed at home in Stavropol Krai’s Andzhievsky village. The news agency’s source, a member of Russian law enforcement, said there were no signs of foul play.
In addition, the Russian Telegram channel Baza said there were no signs of violence, and no toxic substances were found in the blood of either victim according to preliminary tests. (There had been some scuttlebutt that carbon monoxide poisoning was suspected.)
“Gas service workers have already taken measurements and no excess of the permissible concentration of harmful substances has been detected.”
The General’s complaints
While in his command, Sviridov complained about the condition of the Air Force and the poor training of Russian pilots. In one interview, he said:
“A pilot must have about 100 hours of flight time per year for full combat readiness. However, this is not yet the case. The average flight time in the army is currently 25-30 hours.”
In another, he said: “We are forced to appoint not fully trained officers because there are no better ones.”
Does anyone know where the yougov poll is. Can’t find it. Was it in a newspaper. Do you need a subscription. Just want to see if there is a gender breakdown.
”
michaelsays:
Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 8:20 am
Does anyone know where the yougov poll is. Can’t find it. Was it in a newspaper. Do you need a subscription. Just want to see if there is a gender breakdown.
”
michael
Don’t you believe what WB posted?
Of course what WB posted is correct. Just wanting see if there is more detail available as I can’t find any info about anywhere. Only an idiot posts bullshit polls.
”
Steve777says:
Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 8:10 am
”
We don’t keep people in prison because they might commit a crime.”
Steve777
Didn’t you see movie ‘Minority Report ‘?
It was was a futuristic movie where We keep people in prison because they might commit a crime.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_(film)
UK Cartoons:
Finally Dave Brown:
The original Ohara Koson – Bats under the full moon:
Major advertisers are pausing their ad campaigns on Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
The film studio Lionsgate said Thursday that it would be pulling its ads from the platform, just as its Hunger Games prequel is hitting movie theaters.
A spokesperson for Lionsgate confirmed the decision Friday. This follows in the wake of companies such as IBM and Apple pulling ads from the platform, in light of a new report from nonprofit Media Matters for America Thursday, which found that the platform was placing ads for companies such as “Apple, Bravo (NBCUniversal), IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity (Comcast) next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.
Are people only starting to realise now that Elon Musk is a bad actor? Sheesh……….
#weatheronPB
Large, soft clouds swim by,
slowly scanning every yard.
Searching for something?
Victoria @ #23 Saturday, November 18th, 2023 – 8:53 am
Oh, but they love, love, love their Teslas. 😐
Clare O’Neil needs to take a good hard look at herself.
Too busy blaming the previous govt for this, that and everything else which left no time for her to do her proper job as Home Affairs Minister.
She definitely has egg on her face after this week.
Richard Marles is happy to let other ministers take the blame for everything. That guy is frowned upon even in Labor circles.
michael says:
Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 8:20 am
Does anyone know where the yougov poll is. Can’t find it. Was it in a newspaper. Do you need a subscription. Just want to see if there is a gender breakdown.
===============================================================
Here’s the link, michael
https://au.yougov.com/politics/articles/47889-latest-yougov-poll-labor-narrowly-leads-the-coalition-by-51-to-49
What would a Coalition- Teal government look like? Would the Teals demand to be given cabinet positions?
How do we describe Albo’s status? It seems “embattled “ might be premature perhaps “troubled”?
S. Simpson @ #29 Saturday, November 18th, 2023 – 9:15 am
The Teals had more than enough chances to be Liberals. They chose not to. They chose to run against Liberals. And they won. So I don’t think they would agree to a Coalition with an angry Populist Authoritarian like Dutton. They’re not into power that way.
S. Simpson @ #27 Saturday, November 18th, 2023 – 9:09 am
How do you know that? Be specific. Or is it just what you fantasise about and the sort of rumour and lie that opponents of the Labor Party like you like to spread?
Is Albo going to the Paris Olympics next year ?
Taylormade @ #26 Saturday, November 18th, 2023 – 9:04 am
And speaking of lovers of the Hard-faced Right in this country, Taylormade pops up to show his true colours.
Lars Von Trier @ #33 Saturday, November 18th, 2023 – 9:19 am
Why shouldn’t our national leader show his support for our national team?
Morning all. Thanks for the roundup BK. The poll is not great news for Labor and unfortunately confirms other similar ones recently. Dutton is not popular, but Albo and Labor have lost popularity.
Labor should not cave in to Dutton’s racist, fear-mongering populism. It won’t make RW voters favour it ahead of the LNP, and it might send enough LW voters to the Greens to wind up in minority government. I agree with Steve’s excellent post at 8:10am
There are a few related issues Labor has stalled on that it should deal with. The Teals bill about truth in political advertising should be passed. It will help Labor against a Republican style Murdoch media offensive in the next election.
Similarly, I cannot comprehend why Labor has been so slow to amend whistleblower protection and even accurate reporting from departments like Defense. These problems were not created by Labor, but in failing to deal with them, it ends up being blamed for the consequences.
The Teals would prefer to be in the Liberal Party, but the party has moved too far to the right for them. At the end of the day the Teals are basically wet Libs. I could see someone like Allegra Spender as a minister.
Cat, Richard Marles is widely seen as a dud and a liability to the Labor government, at least in left of centre circles. That said, Cat has no respect for Labor legends like Paul Keating.
Unlike the Albanese government ministers who are representing Australia in their official capacity, there was a congaline of Coalition nobodies on the gravy train to a London Cooker Conference a few weeks back.
What benefit is there to the nation in this junket?
High-profile conservative politicians, including Barnaby Joyce, were among those gifted fully funded trips to attend the recent conference of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), led by controversial Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson.
The three-day inaugural conference in London’s O2 Arena drew a number of Australian conservatives, with the former prime minister John Howard and opposition Indigenous affairs spokesperson, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, attracting headlines for their speeches.
A number of other members of the Coalition’s right wing were also present, including Andrew Hastie and James Paterson, along with backbenchers Alex Antic and Matt Canavan.
Former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet was also in the audience.
At least a few of those politicians did not need to dig far into their own pockets for the privilege of being there.
Updates to the register of members’ interests this week show Joyce was flown business class return between Sydney and London for the conference. The deal also included accommodation and “hospitality” for four nights – all paid for by the Peterson-led group.
It appears the same deal was offered to at least two others. Paterson, who was the first to update his register of interests, declared he had also been gifted a return flight, accommodation and hospitality by ARC to attend.
Nationals MP Anne Webster also declared she was a fully funded guest.
ARC was founded in June this year and is financially backed by pro-Brexit hedge fund billionaire Sir Paul Marshall and Dubai-based investment group Legatum Ventures, according to corporate records. It has been steadily accumulating high-profile figures from across the US, the UK and Australia.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/10/barnaby-joyce-among-politicians-gifted-trips-to-jordan-peterson-led-conservative-conference
I presume Lars Von Trier and Taylormade no longer revere Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan any more. They are more Trump Groupies now. And Duttonistas. They love a hard man. Because they could not agree with this sentiment of Thatcher’s, it’s Anti Dutton:
While Dutton was fully extended being incendiary, the Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan – generally a mild-mannered sort – went to town on the high court’s decision. Tehan struggled to comprehend why the government wouldn’t respond to the ruling by locking people back up again.
Aided by a rising media clamour, Tehan professed himself more interested in the court of public opinion than a ruling from the highest court in the land. He demanded ministers ignore any rule-of-law-hugging shiny bums in their own departments. “Direct your department to get you the outcome that the Australian people want, and it’s very clear what that outcome is … they want these people re-detained,” Tehan said. “We need a new regime in place to do it.”
Regime felt like a well-chosen word, in context. Margaret Thatcher once said the road to tyranny starts with undermining legal rights and the rule of law. She’s dead right about that – but these days, the Iron Lady would be howled down for her heresy.
Contemporary rightwing populists masquerading as conservatives aren’t great champions of the rule of law, because it constrains their illiberal impulses.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/18/peter-dutton-strongman-persona-matches-our-grim-times-but-has-he-fired-up-his-opponents-as-well
Victoria @ #23 Saturday, November 18th, 2023 – 8:53 am
He’s a Trumpist troll.
Thanks Nadia for the link and you go to the politics section to check on any polls.
Looking at the yes/no voice polling at 70% either way if the country is going down the tube, certain seats that voted yes need a different strategy and the more marginal no seats go full on.
‘Widely seen’ by who, S.Simpson? Pusillanimous underminers maybe. ‘Labor Left circles’, huh? Not the ones I move in. And I’m Vice President of one of my state’s biggest Left of Labor organisations.
Are you even a member of the ALP, S.Simpson?
And, as for Paul Keating. That’s right, I’m no cultist. It’s time the scales fell from the eyes of people about him. He’s no Gough Whitlam. Never will be. Gough would never have privatised as much of the public realm as Keating did, nor concentrated media power in the hands of one man as Keating did.
It was not so long ago that RoboDebt Robert was using his ministerial position to spruik his donor mates in China, and lead pilgrimages to the Holy Land.
On the contrary, Marles is in Indonesia shoring up the relationship there, after it was trashed by the provincial Morrison/Dutton wall builders.
The macro issues are bad for Labor at present. Interest rates and housing prices are disastrous, and Labor should be doing more about housing.
Labor increased immigration massively, which partly created the housing shortage. I presume this was deliberately done to prevent the economy from falling into a recession after various economy boosting but unaffordable covid measures and pork were removed. Avoiding recession is not a bad thing, so Labor might feel it had to do this. The failure was in not communicating its intentions to the electorate.
The consequent problem is we are importing people faster than we are capable of building homes. Just as Labor promised to act on renewable energy at a speed that the industry is currently incapable of delivering. In both cases Labor either needs to remove regulatory barriers to speed things up, or change its rhetoric.
The cuts to Scomo’s fake infrastructure project list were sensible and I have not criticised them. However as I said earlier in the week, the system that created that stupid list has not been fixed, and Catherine King is another Minister who does not often explain her policy to industry, or well.
In fact sorry to say, but Labor’s decision making is generally sensible, yet it still ends up losing popularity. Part of the problem is communication. Several Ministers have been slow to take up the challenge of explaining and selling their policy. In several cases this has been due to difficult personal circumstances, like Dreyfuss and Birney, or being in policy areas they have little knowledge of, like King and Marles.
This is a luxury Labor cannot afford. Albo needs to reshuffle Cabinet. Politics is a ruthless business, and Albo is a decent man IMO. He needs to make a few tough decisions on the domestic front. All governments have to.
Katherine Murphy has pegged the genesis of Dutton’s ouvre via the results in the latest Essential poll. And he’s playing that banjo for all it’s worth:
Events have pulled Anthony Albanese on to the world stage, but the latest Guardian Essential numbers tell us many Australians are in an insular mood. More than half of the poll respondents felt isolationism was better than engagement in world affairs at the moment.
sprocket_ @ #44 Saturday, November 18th, 2023 – 9:34 am
And how quickly the Opposition and their associated white ants want us to forget.
Cat, I am certainly no member of the ALP and have zero intention of joining. I am happy to remain part of the 99.75% of Australians that are not Labor Party members. The major parties are on the nose and the Greens are obsessed with politics and not outcomes.
So who is on the advisory board of this RWNJ outfit Alliance for Responsibility?
Even Tony Abbott gets a nod, along with Vivek Ramaswamy and unindicted insurrectionist Mike Lee.
https://www.arcforum.com/advisory-board
Senator Mike Lee was up to his neck in the Jan 6 plot https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2023/01/04/how-utah-sen-mike-lee-tried-make/
Is it 0.25% S.Simpson?
26m population – so it would have to mean 65,000 ALP members nationally? Most of them seem to be repeat posters on here.
Wikipedia cites a figure of 60,000 in 2020 but we don’t know if that figure is true, especially with some of the stack revelations in Victoria.