Three items of electoral relevance to emerge amidst the New Year news and polling drought:
• Paul Sakkal of The Age reports Stephanie Hunt, corporate lawyer and former legal adviser to Julie Bishop and Marise Payne, will seek Liberal preselection for Goldstein, which Tim Wilson hopes to recover after losing to independent Zoe Daniel in 2022. Wilson remains the front-runner, in the estimation of a further report in The Age today.
• Lydia Lynch of The Australian reports Margie Nightingale, former teacher and policy adviser to Treasurer Cameron Dick, is the front-runner to succeed Annastacia Palaszczuk in her seat of Inala, the by-election for which is “tipped to be held in March”. Palaszczuk’s former deputy chief-of-staff, Jon Persley, had long been mentioned as her likely successor, but he has withdrawn from contention, saying the party’s gender quota rules played a “big factor” in the decision.
• Sue Bailey of the Sunday Tasmanian reports that veteran former Liberal Senator and conservative stalwart Eric Abetz will seek state preselection in the division of Franklin for an election due in June next year, assuming Jeremy Rockliff’s government is able to keep the show on the road that long.
Yesterday we learnt that Dutton wants parents and teachers to tell children how wonderful are mining moguls like Ms Reinhart.
Today he is telling people to boycott Woolworths because they have decided to stop selling Australia day trinkets due to declining sales in recent years.
Dutton is starting to display signs of screaming for attention because he has nothing to offer by way of rational policies. Have we reached Peak Dutton? He seems to be rattled by increasing assertiveness by the government in putting initiatives into action.
FUBARsays:
Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 5:08 pm
It’s not just a bakery. It’s a croissanterie. I would consider queuing for that and then send one of my kids to queue.
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Fortunately we have child exploitation laws in Victoria.
Bumper Sticker:
‘Dutton, Gina’s handbag’
Just caught up with Dutton’s calls to boycott Woollies.
But the whole reason Woolworths have reduced their Oz Day stock is because of reduced demand for these items.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dutton-calls-for-boycott-of-woolworths-for-not-selling-australia-day-items-20240111-p5ewlh.html
So customers ARE actually voting with their wallets in opting not to buy this stuff. And let’s face it, the last thing we need is more single use plastic junk circulating around the place, something I think likely means more to people than having Australia Day merch.
Confessions:
Yeah, I agree.
When it comes to Christie, it’s important to remember that right up until the 2020 election, he was fully onboard the Trump train, despite it being painfully obvious to anybody with more than two braincells to rub together – since well before 2016 – that the man is a deranged, narcissistic fascist who isn’t even remotely qualified to hold any kind of public office. And now he acts like Trump’s election denial was some big shock to him? Bullshit.
BW: ‘Dutton, Gina’s handbag’
Potato skin handbags – might catch on.
I always used to get the Australian flag thongs the week after Australia Day at a discount in the Supermarket (Like $2)
I always thought it was a little strange that I would go around walking on the National flag and how that would be unacceptable in other countries.
Robyn Brewin that her son James would probably only live another three to five years after he suffered a catastrophic brain injury during an unprovoked assault while he was out celebrating his 20th birthday.
But James Macready-Bryan has defied those medical odds, living in a special accommodation for young people with acquired brain injuries in Melbourne, where a registered nurse is always present.
His family is now facing another battle, with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) removing funding for the 24/7 registered nurse who cares for him and the other residents at the 10-bed home in Alphington. ….
https://amp.abc.net.au/article/103307234
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Disgusting. Labor penny pinching like this to cover for the massive S3 tax cuts for the rich.
meher baba,
Yes, everything you say is correct.
I just thought the video was funny, and I got it from Megan Davis (although I posted the Bevan Shields Tweet).
One good thing about France, there is a very strong grass roots movement in France to publicly acknowledge the atrocities of the past. At the level of our local community there are groups to attach alternative plaques to statues, and the plaques do not hold back about slave ownership and other brutalities.
I suspect the vast majority of people would be a bit more concerned about Woollies’ blatant and predatory price gouging in recent years than whether or not they are stocking green-and-gold stubby holders. Dutton needs to get out of his bubble and engage with the real world.
FUBARsays:
Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 5:08 pm
============================================================
So Fubar what do you think about Dutton telling us where we should or shouldn’t spend our money?.
Or is that only problem when it is recommendation from the Australian Institute that you object to it?.
Asha @ #1309 Thursday, January 11th, 2024 – 5:16 pm
Oh, so you’d rather he was still on the Trump train? What a fatuous position. At least Chris Christie broke from the Trump cult. And he decided to use every available opportunity he has been given to call Trump out. Something not one of the other pusillanimous pretenders to Trump’s throne have had the guts to do. But yeah, let’s engage in a smear of Chris Christie based upon things he did 4 years ago.
Obviously you refuse to comprehend the enormity of the actions Chris Christie HAS taken. Also completely understandable considering something else you fail to mention, Asha. The fact that Donald Trump nearly killed Chris Christie by not telling him he had Covid, which saw Chris Christie put into ICU. But yeah, a sardonic ‘bullshit’ from you really covers it all. 🙄
Does Bill Shorten regard NDIS funding of a registered nurse in a 10 bed care home a rip off or a rort…?
Boerwar @ #1303 Thursday, January 11th, 2024 – 5:11 pm
“Dutton – Gina’s spare handbag”…or maybe the Beetrooter has lost the number 1 spot. I hope they cleaned it out for Spud the Dud.
That is it!
I am boycotting Woolworths!
Traitors!
Fifth Columnists for Commie Running Dogs!
2024 is going to be no different to 2023 for the lib/nats as the Turnbull’s still coming out for revenge
Lucy Turnbull AO
@LucyTurnbull_AO
Seriously enough with the call to boycott a leading Australian company because of what it freely decides to sell (or not). Stop the culture wars! Stop cancel culture! Please make it stop.
Voters in Dunkley couldn’t give a spud’s frack about cheap Chinese made plastic crap that ends up in landfill.
Angus Taylor is the next cab off the rank. That’ll keep both Gina AND Albo happy.
Confessions @ #1308 Thursday, January 11th, 2024 – 5:14 pm
Dutton probably pines for the days of Howard era jingoism. Remember all the flag poles in front yards, a la America? Dutton thinks he’s got this Kulcha Wars thing worked out, but today’s stunt mainly appeals to the people who already are all in for it. Anyway, it was good to see the story covered in a very balanced way by the 4pm Ch9 News which had an Indigenous Uncle on to comment. Plus a couple of vox pops with one guy saying it’s outrageous and another going, meh! 🙂
Rossmcg
“The leader of the party of free enterprise calls for a boycott of a retail giant because they won’t stock stuff he wants them to.”
Thats nothing. The Free Market guys were arguing for restrictions on which shares industry super funds could buy the other day in case their capital growth left them in effective control of corporations i.e. because they owned the majority of the shares!
If the person or organisation that owns a majority of the shares in a company can’t influence its management, then adieu capitalism. We are returning to feudal robber barons wearing business suits.
The LNP do not care about free enterprise any more. They only want to be tax free.
Boycotting one of the two main grocery chains is probably easy for a privileged city boy like Dutton, whose hometurf of Dickson has plenty of Coles and Aldis and IGAs to go to instead. Less so for those living in more remote areas, where the local Woollies may well be the only supermarket within any reasonable distance.
Ha ha! No one taking Rex Douglas’ bait. So he dangles it out there again. 😆
One day with Reinhardt
Next day “we are no longer the party of big business”
Noting the Liberal Party has the history of not making submissions to Fair Work Australia during wage increase cases
So will that change when next wages come before Fair Work Australia?
And what does the IPA think?
So leaving the Liberal Party as the party of god botherers exclusively
No wonder Morrison still hangs around with his leadership ambitions
He is who the Liberal Party court
Dutton is on borrowed time, history being that Morrison defeated Dutton in a leadership contest
And just to add, unless Company Law has changed, if you own a certain percentage of Shares you are obliged to make an offer for total ownership
And Woolworths advertise – so will receive the attention they do from a waning media
With Dutton and the Woolies boycott, my guess is that he is trying to rally the 60% of voters who said “No” to the Voice.
This is classic Crosby / Textor strategy. Find a culture wars issue that will get low-information voters outraged, and make sure they stay angry until the next Federal election, when they will vote against #woke #inner-city #elites.
It works well in the US, and worryingly well in the UK, where getting out the vote is paramount.
Will it work here? With white low-information voters perhaps, but the outer metro seats that Dutton needs to flip are also quite multicultural, and Australia Day brings out the worst in some really rough white demographics.
We will see.
The next opportunity for a good Cultcha war is ANZAC day. Watch for Dutton outrage peaking sometime around then.
Socrates @ #1323 Thursday, January 11th, 2024 – 5:42 pm
Crony Capitalism or bust. Anyway, I believe Peter Dutton has made his first big political mistake here. He’s letting us know how he would govern, and that is via autocratic government diktat. Isn’t that what we threw out at the last election?
Now that you mention it I can’t remember seeing cars driving around with huge-ass Australian flags flying or draped all over them for the past couple years.
Maybe people are prioritising their spending on actual essentials. Like the food they get from Woolworths.
Dutton will be a backbencher by the time ANZAC day rolls along…
No wonder Morrison still hangs around with his leadership ambitions
He is who the Liberal Party court
Good point, HWGA. Dutton is too afraid to give Morrison his marching orders because he doesn’t want to piss off the Evangelicals that Morrison is the hero of.
‘fess,
I didn’t even see much of that sort of thing at Summernats. Or notice many Southern Cross tattoos on people. I hope it’s peaked.
Stephen Koukoulas @TheKouk:
The current RBA & Treasury forecasts for inflation, growth & unemployment fully incorporate the Stage 3 income tax cuts & all other legislated fiscal measures.
It is simple.
And even with those tax cuts, inflation is forecast to fall, unemployment rise & GDP is as weak as water.
A supermarket free of Peter’s “patriots”? Where do I sign!
Boycotting Woolies – it’ll be about as successful as running a no campaign to the voice.
Being in a Murdoch media dominated jurisdiction, we know this playbook ‘All Too Well’
https://youtu.be/nJr_8l0AEWE?si=CTIlGixmcknIv7if
There may be bad blood between Taylor Swift and Fox News — but the Pentagon is coming to her defense.
The Department of Defense on Wednesday responded after Fox News host Jesse Watters suggested this week that pop star Taylor Swift could be “a front for a covert political agenda.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/10/pentagon-taylor-swift-fox-00134866
Possibly by far the most interesting and even important article anywhere within our ambit.
I suggest you read between the lines:
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202401/1305132.shtml
C@tmommasays:
Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 5:46 pm
Socrates @ #1323 Thursday, January 11th, 2024 – 5:42 pm
Rossmcg
“The leader of the party of free enterprise calls for a boycott of a retail giant because they won’t stock stuff he wants them to.”
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Crony Capitalism or bust. Anyway, I believe Peter Dutton has made his first big political mistake here. He’s letting us know how he would govern, , and that is via autocratic government diktat.
======================================================================
Yep. a lot of people on this blog like to claim due to the current polls. If a election was held today it would be a minority Government. What they fail to take into account is if an election was being held this Saturday. We would of had 6 weeks of electioneering before that election. Where Dutton would need to present his policies and argue why they are better. He can’t do an Abbott where he just goes on about debt and deficit. Claiming they will fix the budget and be better economic managers and everyone will be better off as a result. They have totally poisoned that well with their economic incompetence. With Labor proving they are far better at achieving surpluses than them. So Dutton’s only pathway to victory is to present policies that the majority think are better than Labor’s. I really seriously doubt he has any to do just that. So currently we get polls based on many people unhappy about the costs of living and giving the Government a kick over that and Dutton given a free ride criticising the Government but not having to say what he would do differently. This would not happen during an election though. Dutton would need to front up with policies to and that is his just one of his achilles heel, in fact he is pretty much all heel.
“France drops renewables targets, prioritises nuclear in new energy bill”
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20240109-france-drops-renewables-targets-prioritises-nuclear-in-new-energy-bill
Keeping Dutton as leader condemns the Liberal Party to a generation in Opposition.
During this time of cost of living issues, I am glad we have an opposition leader who is laser-focused on what matters.
Also good to see Woolworths get held accountable for umm… not stocking up on some Australia Day kitsch? Yeah, that’s the thing that Woolworths needs to be taken to task for.
Imagine the position the Coalition would be in right now if they weren’t bogged down by identity politics.
C@t:
To be honest, I couldn’t really give a shit what train he’s on. It’s not like it makes a difference. The Republican base stopped listening a long time ago.
Eh, good on him for not being a total fascist, I guess. Makes him somewhat better than his primary opponents, sure. But talk about a low fucking bar! It’s like praising someone for not going on a murder spree.
If you think I’m somehow on Team Haley or something and pissed that he didn’t endorse her, you’re wrong. She’s worse than he is. All of the GOP candidates are various flavours of terrible, some just more than others. Frankly, anyone who is still willing to run under the Republican banner after the events of the last eight years has no place in public office.
Nah, fuck him. Dude’s just another right-wing prick like all the rest, he just had the self-awareness to get out once things went full fascist. I’m sick of seeing people on the left side of politics lionese these conservative bastards just because they still retain some basic respect for democratic traditions. That’s not an achievement, its the bare minimum expected of anybody who wishes to hold the levers of power.
Anybody who saw what Trump was offering to the American people in 2016 and said “Yeah, I want to help make that happen!” can go get stuffed. Anybody who witnessed Trump’s four years in office, with all the abuses of power and nepotism and blatant incompetance, with its sociopathic policy agenda and brutal treatment of immigrants and the gutting of anything resembling environmental regulations and the stacking of the supreme court with fundementalist nutters, and said “Yeah, I want to help facilitate another four years of that!” can go get stuffed.
Oh, boo hoo, he caught Covid? Well, maybe don’t hang out with a guy who spent his final six months in office actively undermining measures to fight the virus, then. You reap what you sow.
Fuck him.
Liberals the party of business.
Maybe they could open a shop selling Aus Day merch.
All locally made of course.
FUBAR – are you picking up some Aussie thongs and green and gold bucket hat for the big celebration?
A summary of the bad climate news for 2023:
https://citynews.com.au/2024/record-heat-worsened-global-droughts-floods-and-fires/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=canberra-daily-today-s-news-today_7801
Lars Von Triersays:
Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 5:58 pm
Boycotting Woolies – it’ll be about as successful as running a no campaign to the voice.
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If Woolworths loses money from this. I would suggest the Woolworth shareholders take a class action against Dutton and the LNP for loss of revenue due to their unjustifiable actions.
I gather the QLD LNP is suggesting they would sue Unions over industrial action that lost money on Government projects.
LNP would sue unions for delays on public works caused by …
“Courier Mail
https://www.couriermail.com.au › News › Opinion
Outside the House he told me a future LNP state government will sue militant unions to recover losses on public works projects disrupted by unlawful stoppages.”
Don’t get me wrong. Most Australians are protective of their national identity and, if the debate becomes “pro and anti-Australia Day” the pro side wins every time. But, in a vacuum, this is just a tacky identarian stunt. Reminiscent of Dutton passionately sulking over the King not being on the $5 note earlier last year.
If I were Labor, my response would be to avoid weighing in on the issue, itself – instead saying they’re more focused on making the more essential items in Woolies (and other stores) more affordable again (or something to that effect – keep it bread and butter – let the right languish in their culture war nonsense.)
FUBAR says:
“It’s not just a bakery. It’s a croissanterie.”
Pretentious? Moi?
meher baba,
“But it’s arguably a little bit rich for anyone from France to be sarcastic about our colonial past.
We’re talking about a country that still refuses to relinquish a number of its colonial possessions around the globe (French Guyana, Martinique, Gaudeloupe, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, etc., etc. and, within the lifetimes of many living people, fought unbelievably bloody wars in a failed attempt to preserve some of its African colonies: most particularly Algeria.”
No, not everything you say is correct MB. France moved away from the colonial empire mindset decades ago. Algeria was 70 years ago. De Gaulle died in 1970 FFS. Algerians in France today are the great-grandchildren of those who fought in the civil war.
I’m certainly not defending France in the Algerian civil war. There were many atrocities on both sides. But France today is not refusing to “relinquish” colonies. It has offered them votes. The colonial populations want to stay in France.
Most French colonies these days get full rights as French citizens and have seen how things have gone in neighboring former colonies of other nations who are on their own economically.
New Caledonia has the most vocal independence movement, but all three referenda have failed. The locals want IN not OUT. The last time French Guiana and Martinique voted it was a decisive “Non” with over 70% against.
https://www.france24.com/en/20100111-french-guiana-martinique-vote-against-more-autonomy
France supports colonial departments financially. If French Polynesia ceased being French, it would immediately go from being one of the richest Pacific island communities to one of the poorest.
Speaking of nuclear proponents, has anyone seen anything resembling a business case yet?
Some of the key parameters might be changing on our endowed continent…
Steep falls in wholesale electricity prices may be good for customers, but they are bad for developers of urgently needed wind and solar projects that already face obstacles from tight supply chains, rising costs and glacial approvals processes, industry experts say.
Wholesale prices in the eastern states’ National Electricity Market have fallen by more than two-thirds from their peak in the winter of 2022 to the December quarter.
……..
Lengthening periods of negative prices during daytime solar floods that are bringing down average grid prices are a signal to developers to invest in battery storage, said Simon Corbell, head of the Clean Energy Investor Group.
“Generally, our position is that negative price episodes are a clear price signal to invest in storage, particularly for utility scale solar,” Mr Corbell said.
Falling wholesale prices hit solar and wind projects hardest because – unlike coal and gas plants – they cannot choose to generate when prices are high, Dr McConnell said.
Solar farms, which can only generate when rooftop solar is flooding the grid, had an average “capture price” in Victoria of minus $3/MWh in the December quarter, down from $18/MWh in the same quarter of 2022.
The discount from average National Electricity Market prices for solar capture prices ranges from $30-$55/MWh, and is largest in Queensland, he said.
Wind farms, which depend on weather patterns that do not always coincide with solar peaks, typically face discounts to NEM prices of $10/MWh in the larger eastern states, and $20/MWh in South Australia.
https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/power-price-plunge-complicates-the-energy-transition-20240110-p5ewc4
Supermarket giant Aldi joins Woolworths and confirms it won’t be selling any Australia Day merchandise ahead of the long weekend: Dutton snowflakes outraged.
C@tmomma @ #1328 Thursday, January 11th, 2024 – 5:51 pm
There was an article in the Guardian the other day basically saying we have likely reached peak tattoo.
Entropy says:
Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 5:30 pm
“So Fubar what do you think about Dutton telling us where we should or shouldn’t spend our money?.”
I doubt it will have much impact. Do think there’ll be a rush of anti-Dutton types to shop there?
We shop at Coles mostly so it won’t bother us and I don’t get to make that decision. I do most of my shopping at Dan Murphy’s.
Woolies could have quite easily not stocked the stuff without it being a big deal for anyone but they insisted on releasing a political statement about the decision so that was always going to attract attention.
“@LucyTurnbull_AO
Seriously enough with the call to boycott a leading Australian company because of what it freely decides to sell (or not). Stop the culture wars! Stop cancel culture! Please make it stop.”
It’s ok if it runs one way, but not the other. Got it.