Friday miscellany: culture war edition (open thread)

Poll results on republicanism, Australia Day and boycotting Woolworths, plus Roy Morgan voting intention numbers and preselection latest.

Roy Morgan remains the only regularly reporting pollster to have returned for the year on voting intention, but Essential Research presumably isn’t far off. Past experience suggests it should be at least another week before Newspoll is back in the game. Which leaves us with:

UPDATE: There are now voting intention results for the YouGov poll mentioned below. Labor’s two-party lead is out to 52-48 from 51-49 in the final poll last year, from primary votes of Labor 32% (up three), Coalition 37% (steady), Greens 13% (down two), One Nation 7% (steady).

• This week’s Roy Morgan poll found Labor with a two-party lead of 51.5-48.5, after the Coalition led 51-49 upon the pollster’s return for the year a week ago. The primary votes were Labor 31.5% (up two-and-a-half), Coalition 37% (down two), Greens 12% (down one) and One Nation 4.5% (down half). The poll was conducted from a sample of 1727 last Monday to Sunday.

• Pollster DemosAU, which produced accurate polling on the Indigenous Voice referendum, has a poll showing strong support for a republic referendum in the next five years, but also that any given model for a republic will have a hard time ahead of it. On the former count, 47% said yes and 39% no, a notable contrast with Freshwater Strategy’s finding of 55% opposition to a referendum “now”. On the latter, “direct election with open nomination” trailed the status quo 38-41; “executive president/US model” trailed 35-43; “ARM ‘Australian choice’ model” trailed 32-45; the 1999 referendum proposal trailed 27-48; and the McGarvie model, for all its impeccable credentials, did worst of all at 27-49. The aforementioned are summaries of more detailed question wordings that can be found on the methodology statement. The poll was conducted January 8 to 12 from a sample of 1300.

• YouGov has an Australia Day themed poll finding 49% support for keeping the holiday as its present date, 21% for changing the date, and 30% favouring a “two-day public holiday that celebrates old and new”. Respondents were also which of three options was closest to their view concerning Peter Dutton’s call for a boycott of Woolworths and Big W: support for Dutton’s position, which scored 20%; support for Woolworths and Big W, which scored 14%; and “my main concern with supermarkets now is excessive price rises rather than this issue”, accounting for the remaining 66%. The poll was conducted Friday to Wednesday from a sample of 1532.

Other news:

Hayden Johnson of the Courier-Mail reports the by-election for Annastacia Palaszczuk’s seat of Inala simultaenously with Queensland’s local government elections on March 16, and that the Liberal National Party is expected to field a candidate for the safe Labor seat. Labor’s candidate is likely to be Margie Nightingale, former teacher and policy adviser to Treasurer Cameron Dick.

• Liberal preselection nominations have closed for Kooyong and Goldstein, where Josh Frydenberg and Tim Wilson were respectively defeated by teal independents in 2022. As previous reports indicated, Kooyong will be a four-way contest between Amelia Hamer, Susan Morris, Michael Flynn and Rochelle Pattison, with Hamer boasting the support of Frydenberg. In addition to Wilson and the previously reported Stephanie Hunt, the Goldstein preselection will also be contested by IPA research fellow Colleen Harkin. Rachel Baxendale of The Australian reports the preselections are likely to be held shortly after the Dunkley by-election.

Dan Jervis-Bardy of The West Australian reports Patrick Hill, Canning mayor and former police officer, and Howard Ong, a Singapore-born IT consultant, will seek Liberal preselection in Tangney, where the party suffered one of its worst defeats of the 2022 election at the hands of Labor’s Sam Lim. The report says the former member, Ben Morton, is understood to have ruled himself out. It also relates that Senator Michaelia Cash is marshalling support for Moore MP Ian Goodenough in the face of a preselection challenge from former Stirling MP Vince Connelly.

Author: William Bowe

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

2,286 comments on “Friday miscellany: culture war edition (open thread)”

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  1. Wow, there’s a lot of meat in that polling above.

    First, let me start with a smart arse comment. I bet Peter Dutton’s preferred candidate for Kooyong is Michael Flynn. 😉

    However, I think a woman will probably be chosen to compete against Monique Ryan. Which is the smart option. With 3/4 candidates being women, you’d hope so. Also, they better choose a Moderate because the electorate has told the Liberal Party they don’t like (Christian) Conservatives.

    I think Zoe Daniel is going to be harder for the Liberals to shift in Goldstein. She’s not put a foot wrong as far as I can see and is a class act, with the media skills to boot, that the electorate are lucky to have as their MP. Anyway, why vote for a Liberal IPA shill, or Tim Wilson again?

    I’m also pleased to see that Peter Dutton’s culture war play around whether Woolies sells plastic Made In China Australia Day tat, has fallen flat on its face, with the vast majority of people voting for more concern please over grocery prices. I bet we don’t hear much more from Peter Dudman about that going forward to Australia Day.

    The Republic polling is ‘interesting’. But please, no ‘US President style model’! You just know the Arch Conservatives would pick a charismatic Christian Conservative like Andrew Hastie as their Trojan Horse candidate.

    Finally, Michaelia Cash going in to bat for the log, Ian Goodenough!?! That is also an ‘interesting’ bit of information. Does she want a reliable ‘Weekend At Bernies’ vote and someone who will never challenge her dominance in WA or something!?!

  2. I would suggest that last week’s Morgan poll showing a Labor primary of 29% was an outlier. The margin of error is 2.5%, so the change from last week is on the edge of that. We’ll see when more pollsters get back on board.

  3. A late New Year Resolution for “our” ABC: stop acting as a conduit to get Newscorp crap out from behind its tight paywall into the general public domain. This morning’s example was the prominence given on the ABC Radio National News to the lead article in the Australian, an “exclusive” corporate whinge about the Federal Government’s new IR laws, reported as if it was “news”. If this is deemed newsworthy, the ABC should do its own take, interviewing the main players (including staff and union reps), seek alternative views, etc. What they should do is just read extracts what is in effect a political campaigning piece.

  4. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    After the rejection of the Voice at the October referendum, Albanese needs a sharper focus on the domestic agenda. And that means one thing: help for households, writes David Crowe who says, “One idea is leading the agenda. The government is considering another round of subsidies for household energy bills after the success of the $3 billion package it rolled out last year.” He also pours scorn on some of Dutton’s contributions.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-s-light-bulb-moment-to-ease-the-cost-of-living-crisis-20240117-p5ey08.html
    Targeted price cuts would dent margins and be distasteful for the supermarket chains’ investors, but might be less damaging than onerous regulatory changes, writes Sue Mitchell who suggests that Woolworths and Coles should act pre-emptively to avoid big stick.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/retail/woolworths-and-coles-should-act-pre-emptively-to-avoid-big-stick-20240116-p5expr
    According to Nick Bonyhady, the militant MUA will ramp up its work stoppages in a months-long dispute snarling ports across the country after Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke attacked the company.
    https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/burke-lashes-ports-boss-refuses-to-intervene-in-wharfie-dispute-20240118-p5eyb6
    Woolworths will fly Indigenous flags at some of its key locations despite a Coalition call to boycott the supermarket giant because it does not stock Australia Day merchandise, intensifying a political brawl over the national day. The company confirmed it would fly the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags alongside the Australian flag at some of its offices but said this did not mean putting them at its 1400 stores, reports David Crowe.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/woolworths-to-fly-indigenous-flags-despite-coalition-boycott-call-20240118-p5eyf6.html
    Tony Burke has refused to intervene in DP World’s pay dispute with wharfies, accusing the port operator of waging a media campaign and warning that people were “sick to death” of profitable companies using wages as a scapegoat for soaring prices.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/sick-to-death-burke-refuses-to-intervene-in-wharfs-dispute-20240118-p5ey64.html
    Former commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the first commissioner of the NSW ICAC, Ian Temby, writes that in recent times state courts have been largely overlooked when it comes to High Court appointments. Surely it is time for the state attorneys-general to press harder to obtain preferment for their judges. Otherwise, talent from state Supreme Courts, rather than advancing to the High Court, is likely to drift increasingly to the Federal Court, whose work is less important than that of the state Supreme Courts.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/high-court-is-missing-out-on-some-top-talent-in-the-states/news-story/dcc25f9aea8e2a8b34cffce3be1deb2d?amp=
    Bank giants have done well during past cycles of rate cuts, partly by dudding borrowers. That trick will be harder for the banks to pull off this time, explains Clancy Yeates.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/bank-investors-rate-cut-exuberance-doesn-t-stack-up-20240118-p5eybc.html
    This week, the Victorian premier signalled a broadening to her outlook when she hinted the state’s long-standing opposition to pill testing may finally be up for debate, reports Annika Smethurst.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/how-allan-s-regional-practicality-could-change-victoria-s-stance-on-pill-testing-20240118-p5ey9a.html
    The Liberals have won over the battlers before. Now they have a new cause in voters’ fears that their children will never be able to afford a home, says the IPA’s John Roskam.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/enter-the-liberal-party-working-class-heroes-20240118-p5ey9j
    Elizabeth Knight examines the job in front os Qantas to recover the ordure associated with it Frequent Flyer program. Not since the massive peso devaluation crisis of South America in the 1990s have we seen such a currency collapse, she says.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/the-one-thing-qantas-must-fix-to-win-back-loyalty-20240118-p5eyau.html
    Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful termination case against the ABC will continue after the sacked journalist said a resolution could not be reached by her and the organisation’s lawyers in a mediation hearing yesterday. Her colleagues are not at all happy with the ABC management’s incomplete response.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/the-fight-continues-lattouf-versus-abc-hearing-ends-in-stalemate-20240118-p5ey7d.html
    Something stinks at Ita’s ABC and it’s not just the journalism, says Michelle Pini.
    https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/something-stinks-at-itas-abc-and-its-not-just-the-journalism,18250
    A common theory that there are bounteous employment opportunities in Australia is incorrect and governments, the media and economists must do more to secure our economic future, argues John Haly.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/employment-opportunities-sorry-no-vacancy,18251
    Up to 20 per cent of the state’s property developers are “risky”, Building Commissioner David Chandler has warned, vowing to spend this year chasing them out of the industry, writes Anthony Segaert. Good luck!
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/dodgy-developers-days-are-numbered-warns-building-commissioner-20240118-p5ey9l.html
    The revelation by the Building Commissioner David Chandler that up to 20 per cent of property developers in NSW are “risky” must send shivers down the spines of apartment owners and those looking to buy, declares the SMH editorial which advocates for government to ensure that rectification orders are distributed further than the bureaucracy and developers and made available to would-be purchasers to see what potential problems they are buying into.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/apartment-purchasers-need-to-be-warned-about-defects-20240118-p5ey86.html
    Welfare advocates have renewed calls for the Labor government to drop the work for the dole program after one of the country’s most well-known not-for-profits announced it was cutting ties with the scheme over concerns it pushes participants into hardship. Cait Kelly tells us that the Brotherhood of St Laurence announced this week it would no longer participate or use jobseekers from the program, saying it is “not in the best interests of people who are unemployed”.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/19/renewed-calls-for-labor-to-ditch-work-for-the-dole-scheme-as-major-charity-walks-away
    While improvements have been made to Australia’s fibre broadband network, a study has revealed that users are still relying on slower download speeds, explains Paul Budde.
    https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/more-fibre-connections-but-users-stick-to-lower-speeds,18246
    Imagine, if you have the stomach, that Donald Trump romped back into power and decided to create a public holiday to celebrate the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. It sounds a ludicrous prospect but, horrifically, not an impossible one, and a move that would strike fear and loathing into the hearts and heads of most rational onlookers. At the same time, however, here in Australia, we hold our biggest annual celebration of nationhood on January 26, the very day of a remarkably similar assault on the sovereignty of the populace, writes Sue Williams.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/if-we-needed-yet-another-reason-to-cancel-australia-day-here-it-is-20240117-p5exxj.html
    Australia’s corporations laws are a tangled mess, difficult to navigate, costly to comply with, difficult to enforce and need an overhaul that could take up to a decade, a report tabled in parliament showed yesterday. Ronald Mizen reports that the Australian Law Reform Commission’s final report into corporations and financial services laws was scathing, reflecting judicial commentary that the current laws are like “porridge”, “tortuous”, treacherous”, and “labyrinthine”.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/corporations-laws-a-tangled-mess-costing-business-too-much-report-20240118-p5eyby
    A senior government minister in Singapore has appeared in court charged with accepting thousands of dollars in gifts from a billionaire, including tickets to the F1 Grand Prix and numerous theatre productions, in a rare high-level case of alleged corruption in the island nation. Chris Barrett tells us the case is linked to a billionaire hotelier who owns the rights to the city’s signature F1 night race.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/free-flights-gp-tickets-singapore-minister-charged-in-rare-corruption-case-20240118-p5eyac.html
    Boeing’s legacy vanished into thin air, and saving it will take years, declares Bloomberg.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/transport/boeing-s-legacy-vanished-into-thin-air-saving-it-will-take-years-20240118-p5ey6n
    Here’s another classic excoriation of Rishi Sunk from John Crace.
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/18/rishi-sunak-rwanda-press-conference-will-of-the-people
    “EU citizens are being kicked out of the UK. In Spain people are asking: why not treat Brits the same way?”, wonders Maria Ramirez.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/18/eu-citizens-entry-britain-spain-europeans-uk-border
    It isn’t ‘anti-democratic’ to bar Trump from office. It’s needed to protect democracy, argues Steven Greenhouse who says if it lets an insurrectionist like Trump on the ballot, the supreme court will be putting out a welcome mat to autocracy.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/18/trump-supreme-court-barring-from-office-us-constitution

    Cartoon Corner

    David Rowe

    Peter Broelman

    Jim Pavlidis

    Cathy Wilcox

    Andrew Dyson

    Matt Golding




    Glen Le Lievre

    Leak

    From the US














  5. Steve777 @ #NaN Friday, January 19th, 2024 – 7:24 am

    A late New Year Resolution for “our” ABC: stop acting as a conduit to get Newscorp crap out from behind its tight paywall into the general public domain. This morning’s example was the prominence given to the lead article in the Australian, an “exclusive” corporate whinge about the Federal Government’s new IR laws, reported as if it was “news”. If this is deemed newsworthy, the ABC should do its own take, interviewing the main players (including staff and union reps), seek alternative views, etc. What they should do is just read extracts what is in effect a political campaigning piece.

    Did they have a representative from the Minister’s office, or the Minister himself on to balance out that reporting and rebut any of it if it needed it? I’m guessing not.

  6. ”Did they have a representative from the Minister’s office, or the Minister himself on to balance out that reporting and rebut any of it if it needed it? I’m guessing not.”

    Not as I recall. They seemed to be simply summarising the story in The Australian.

  7. Better still a representative of the ministers office in the newsroom to make sure the correct editorial perspective is taken.

    As Vladimir Illyich said freedom is so precious it must be rationed.

  8. The UK government has hired an aircraft hangar to practice “forcibly removing” migrants on to planes to Rwanda [@thetimes]
    The location of the hangar, which is normally hired as a film studio by production companies, has “not been disclosed” but the government has signed a one-year contract.

  9. The town of Kalgoorlie, in WA’s Goldfields, has been crippled by a blackout that has impacted the water supply, telephone services, internet connections, fuel stations and retail outlets.
    The situation is so bad that on Thursday evening the Department of Fire Emergency Services (DFES) said people should be prepared for power outages of up to seven days. “People planning travel to the area should reconsider their plans. Non-essential travel should be postponed,” DFES said.
    With temperatures tipped to hover around the 40-degree mark for the next five days, WA Police urged the community to “look out for each other” and to check on vulnerable neighbours.
    In the town of Kambalda, about 60 kilometres away, cars queued by the side of the road to enter a petrol station, since those in Kalgoorlie were closed.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-19/kalgoorlie-blackout-explainer/103365870

  10. “A late New Year Resolution for “our” ABC: stop acting as a conduit to get Newscorp crap out from behind its tight paywall into the general public domain.”

    I remember when every Triple J news bulletin started with “The leader of the Opposition says…”

    Nothing much has changed.

  11. Inequality of news, housing, education spending, employment, income and wealth is the backbone of all LNP decision making and after 10years of LNP federal governments, Dutton and the leftovers are fighting desperately to create a schemozzle enabling a return to government at the 2025 federal election.

    The capture of a demoralised and underfunded ABC is part of the institutionalized arsenal at the LNP’s disposal.

    Nothing is “out of bounds” for the LNP!

    Labor and Albanese have fronted a hostile media and wealth from the first day of the election win.

    And as the financial indicators show, Labor has again performed in Government with balanced decisions and a steadfast resolve.

    If a “Tim Wilson” from Labor were a candidate for the next election there would be an outrage in the “unfree press”.

    If the imbalance of gender occurred with Labor as it does with the Coalition, the “unfree press” would adorn their front pages of the “dead tree” newspapers and “pay for opinions” TV every day with outrage.

    If the “wealthier housed” LNP had their houses deemed unsafe the calls
    for compensation demands would be deafening!

    If the private schools were made pay taxes on profits from private schools and their associated investments, the “big end of town” would be off to the specialists.

    The LNP over many years have “fubarred” a country “blessed” with much.

    The indigenous remnant population of Australia are “aghast” at the ” breaking of tribal totems” by the LNP at every opportunity.

    Another Australia Day and another day of uncontrolled inebriation and self righteous opinion making by those longing “to make a difference”.

    Just imagine the hullabaloo if Labor had a “Morrison” sitting in Parliament awaiting his “second coming” !

    The Teals at the next election should be in a great position to dominate at the next election thanks to the leaders of the LNP and their lack of foresight and gender imbalance.

    As Hanrahan once proclaimed, a return to to a LNP Dutton government would see Australia getting ready for another “piss up” on that day, moving a step closer to becoming “completely fubarernised”.

  12. ”Better still a representative of the ministers office in the newsroom to make sure the correct editorial perspective is taken.”

    You know that’s not what I meant.

    If the ABC wanted to cover this story, they shouldn’t just repeat what is reported elsewhere, especially a story from a non-credible source like The Australian. That story would have been selected and slanted to support an agenda that Newscorp is pushing.

    First, the ABC needs to decide whether or not the story newsworthy. Being the lead in a Newscorp outlet is not sufficient criteria. If deemed newsworthy, they should have investigated it independently, spoken to the main players, including the Minister’s office if appropriate, asked their own questions and drawn and presented their own conclusions.

  13. Pueo @ #11 Friday, January 19th, 2024 – 8:55 am

    “A late New Year Resolution for “our” ABC: stop acting as a conduit to get Newscorp crap out from behind its tight paywall into the general public domain.”

    I remember when every Triple J news bulletin started with “The leader of the Opposition says…”

    Nothing much has changed.

    No wonder Triple J have been losing Gen Z listeners in droves.

  14. Steve777 @ #7 Friday, January 19th, 2024 – 8:09 am

    ”Did they have a representative from the Minister’s office, or the Minister himself on to balance out that reporting and rebut any of it if it needed it? I’m guessing not.”

    Not as I recall.

    FCS! That’s just a complete abandonment of the principle of giving someone the right of reply! The ABC has been captured by the Reactionary Right. No one can credibly say anymore that the ABC is a safe space for Lefty journalists. Hard evidence credibly suggests otherwise.

  15. ‘A hundred people evacuated from Top End amid rain and high winds

    A remote Northern Territory community could be inundated for a week after days of heavy rain as another tropical cyclone building in the Coral Sea has Queensland in its sights, AAP reports.

    Flooding has hit Australia’s Top End with motorists stranded and about 100 people evacuated. There was a report last night of a helicopter pilot rescuing three people from a truck roof and taking them to the Victoria River roadhouse, west of Katherine.

    About 40 people from Pigeon Hole, a settlement on Bilinara Aboriginal land trust surrounded by Victoria River Downs pastoral property, have been relocated while another 50 at nearby Daguragu left for Kalkarindji.

    Some Pigeon Hole homes were inundated, with police predicting the community would be flooded for up to a week. About 35 Pigeon Hole residents were expected to be transported to Darwin with another five medically vulnerable people sent to Katherine.’

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2024/jan/19/australia-news-live-nt-remote-towns-evacuated-storm-top-end-cyclone-coral-seas-yang-hengjun-china-welfare-work-for-the-dole?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-65a954478f088780e8cdbd59#block-65a954478f088780e8cdbd59

    There were calls to shift it after the last flood, which was not all that long ago.

    But, no.

    It is right on the banks of the Victoria River, on a flood plain. It is located there because the ‘hole’ part of Pigeon Hole was a prime year round watering point for cattle and thus began a mustering outstation for Victoria River Downs station. The Homestead is on the Wickham River. Pigeon Hole has also been subject to terrible droughts such that it is surrounded by nothing but red dust.

    Pigeon Hole is just one of hundreds of towns and suburbs that are going to have to be shifted. As individuals we can agitate for faster progress towards zero net fifty.

    We can also vote tactically to get governments that get progress towards that outcome. (Well done, the Albanese Government!) We can also make personal decisions not to fly, to use public transport, to wear out our clothes, to reduce our housing footprint and not to eat meat and dairy.

    None of these decisions are mutually exclusive.

    Alternatively we could all do “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!’ I note in passing that this is humanity’s currently preferred option.

  16. BK
    There goes two-state solution out of the window after Netanyahu rejected creation of Palestinian state.

    He has thrown gauntlet to Western democracies especially Five-eye countries and in particular to US, UK and Australia, who were advocating for it.
    Good luck to ME peace in near future if at all.

  17. Holdenhillbilly @ #10 Friday, January 19th, 2024 – 8:51 am

    The town of Kalgoorlie, in WA’s Goldfields, has been crippled by a blackout that has impacted the water supply, telephone services, internet connections, fuel stations and retail outlets.
    The situation is so bad that on Thursday evening the Department of Fire Emergency Services (DFES) said people should be prepared for power outages of up to seven days. “People planning travel to the area should reconsider their plans. Non-essential travel should be postponed,” DFES said.
    With temperatures tipped to hover around the 40-degree mark for the next five days, WA Police urged the community to “look out for each other” and to check on vulnerable neighbours.
    In the town of Kambalda, about 60 kilometres away, cars queued by the side of the road to enter a petrol station, since those in Kalgoorlie were closed.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-19/kalgoorlie-blackout-explainer/103365870

    No mention of Climate Change in that article I’m guessing? 😐

  18. ‘Ven says:
    Friday, January 19, 2024 at 9:11 am

    BK
    There goes two-state solution out of the window after Netanyahu rejected creation of Palestinian state.

    He has thrown gauntlet to Western democracies especially Five-eye countries and in particular to US, UK and Australia, who were advocating for it.
    Good luck to ME peace in near future if at all.’
    ——————————–
    Now, now Ven. Always the lack of perspective. Your seeming loathing of the West may be the reason.

    I will fix your post for you:

    … with Iran which opposes a two state solution and which is backed by Russia and by China, throwing down the gauntlet with military actions in Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, Iraq and Yemen, determined to push the jews into the sea and with Israeli Government determined to support ‘settlers’ who are pushing West Bank Palestinians to the other side of the river…

    …a general ME peace seems but a distant dream.

  19. A-E
    It appears time is fast approaching for you to make preparations to move to your favourite location, whereever it is.
    Now Trump and Dutton will be breathing down the necks of Biden and Albanese respectively after two-state solution has become a mirage.
    It looks like the quiet thing is said of loud.

  20. So yesterday FUBAR brought us ‘how great are US multinationals at paying tax’ based on a Chevron promo piece, perhaps today he could bring us ‘climate change facts and myths’ written by Exxon, it would make as much sense.


  21. C@tmommasays:
    Friday, January 19, 2024 at 6:34 am
    Wow, there’s a lot of meat in that polling above.

    First, let me start with a smart arse comment. I bet Peter Dutton’s preferred candidate for Kooyong is Michael Flynn.

    However, I think a woman will probably be chosen to compete against Monique Ryan. Which is the smart option. With 3/4 candidates being women, you’d hope so. Also, they better choose a Moderate because the electorate has told the Liberal Party they don’t like (Christian) Conservatives.

    I think Zoe Daniel is going to be harder for the Liberals to shift in Goldstein. She’s not put a foot wrong as far as I can see and is a class act, with the media skills to boot, that the electorate are lucky to have as their MP. Anyway, why vote for a Liberal IPA shill, or Tim Wilson again?

    I’m also pleased to see that Peter Dutton’s culture war play around whether Woolies sells plastic Made In China Australia Day tat, has fallen flat on its face, with the vast majority of people voting for more concern please over grocery prices. I bet we don’t hear much more from Peter Dudman about that going forward to Australia Day

    C@tmomma
    From Dutton’s Woolworths stunt, we came to know that 20% of Australian public is his voting base, who will not waver come what may, which 40% for Trump ( that is another story).
    The thing is all the PB Liberal party die-hards can be classified under that 20%.
    That is what is intersting.

  22. Looking at the detail of some of the posts that Lattouf put up and trawling carefully through the ABC’s Code of Conduct it is difficult to see that ABC management had much choice.

    It is not just one element of the Code of Conduct by which Lattouf was bound contractually. (short term contract terms). Having had a bit of experience in this particular HR neck of the woods it seems to me that there is rather strong evidence for several elements having been broken. Not just as one-offs or perhaps an accident.

    But, it seems to me, repeatedly and deliberately.

    For those interested in the quality of Austalia’s journalism there is an open question about whether Lattouf was/is a journalist or a player.

    I know that it is now usual for Sky After Dark and The Australian ‘journos’ routinely to be both.)

    It is little wonder to me that mediation failed. It is little wonder to me that the MEAA failed to go on strike in support of their member.

    Having made various very serious accusations (‘racism’ etc) IMO Lattouf could well find herself with a defamation action on her hands.

    I look forward to the court case.

    There is a separate but related and highly significant public policy issue that needs to be addressed: the right of employees to have separate lives, including in particular social media lives, to their employment lives.

  23. Ven,
    I think the base for the Liberal Party/Coalition has shrunk, as you observed. It used to be approximately 1/3 of the electorate, now with the Teals peeled off the outside of the Liberal Abbottesque onion, it’s down to ~20%. Good observation.

  24. The media power of Colesworth is immense.

    It spends many hundreds of millions on advertising, promotions and branding.

    Dutton, used to being protected by Murdoch, Stokes, Costello and Buttrose, dipped his filthy toe in the wrong pool.

    My advice to Dutton is that he should stick to bashing up defenceless minorities.

  25. I can tell you all that it isn’t a “Woke decision” that Woolies isn’t selling Australia day merch, even when discounted from the 27th of Jan onwards to about 1/10 of the pre 26th of Jan price – the I love Australia Paper plates were still not selling…

    Maybe people are tiring of buying cheap rubbish for “special” days and don’t feel the need to wear Novelty Sunglasses.

    Maybe the rubbish disposal bill was getting a bit big…

  26. AZ

    Indeed.

    There may also be a somewhat general issue with shrinkage of the disposable income that formerly went to buying disposable trash in a disposable planet.

  27. ‘VCT Et3e says:
    Friday, January 19, 2024 at 9:42 am

    Tony Burke doesn’t seem to muck around, be it (social/ the infotainment) media or DPW’
    ———————-
    Will we see him bring in hired thugs with hired dogs to chase port owners around the docks?

    We watch and we wait.

  28. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2024/jan/19/australia-news-live-nt-remote-towns-evacuated-storm-top-end-cyclone-coral-seas-yang-hengjun-china-welfare-work-for-the-dole?page=with:block-65a9acc88f082472faf427d5#block-65a9acc88f082472faf427d5

    The Executive Council of Australian Jewry says it is “perplexing and difficult to comprehend” why the Albanese government is still “considering” whether to make a terror ruling on the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel.

    I trust “Lawyers for Israel” will start making calls to roll Albo.

    No? Why not?

  29. I don’t think there’s a shortage of cheap Made In China plastic tat to ‘celebrate’ Australia Day with if you are really concerned about tracking it down to ‘celebrate’ the day. I stopped in at a General Store for a cool drink yesterday and they were selling the same sort of thing that Woolies would have sold, except for the thongs. Which I have to admit I have never seen anyone wear on Australia Day.

  30. Re BW @9:37.

    ” The media power of Colesworth is immense.

    It spends many hundreds of millions on advertising, promotions and branding.

    Dutton, used to being protected by Murdoch, Stokes, Costello and Buttrose, dipped his filthy toe in the wrong pool.

    My advice to Dutton is that he should stick to bashing up defenceless minorities.”

    An entry for comment of the day.

  31. Where was the outrage when Kmart dropped Australia Day tat last year?

    No Australia Day products – even if date changed

    Kmart has largely managed to stay out of the Australia Day fray; that’s despite it ceasing the sale of Australia Day merchandise last year.

    But talking to news.com.au, Ian Bailey, managing director of Wesfarmers’ Kmart Group which also includes Target, said the discounter wouldn’t bring back Australia Day products even if the date was changed from January 26 adding that, in terms of customer pushback, there had been “nothing”.

    https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/kmart-boss-says-chain-wont-stock-australia-day-products-even-if-date-changed/news-story/c025235d578939d4f1e089991c2d90db

  32. A belated morning all. Thanks for the roundup BK. The polling is good news for Labor and shows that Dutton’s Australia day dog whistle wasn’t heard by most.

    The DP World ports dispute has the potential to do further damage to the economy, not helped by stories written up like this:
    “According to Nick Bonyhady, the militant MUA will ramp up its work stoppages in a months-long dispute snarling ports across the country after Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke attacked the company.”
    https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/burke-lashes-ports-boss-refuses-to-intervene-in-wharfie-dispute-20240118-p5eyb6

    The MUA is called “militant” (it is) yet no mention of several years of hugely increased logistics workloads without corresponding wage rises. Meanwhile DP World gets off without comment despite the fact that it has made a small fortune in recent years and ships most of it back to Dubai (100% foreign owned) without paying much tax here. It is not a good corporate citizen IMO.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/01/dp-world-port-operator-australia-zero-tax

    This dispute has the potential to drag on. Despite the damage it might do, I hope the MUA do not settle. They have a strong case IMO.

  33. Australia day polling shows around 50% of the population are for keeping it exactly as it is and 50% are for some sort of change. Though the majority of those for change are more for a minimalist form of change. What the current polling suggests is that about 50% of population recognise that it is not good idea to have a national day which celebrates an event that was hurtful to a percentage of the population. So want some form of change to remedy this. It reminds a little of the same sex marriage situation. Where slowly the population realised it was not nice to exclude a percentage of the population from an institution available to the rest. In the end the numbers came down on the side of fairness. I have no doubt with the fullness of time the population will also the population will also decide on fairness on the date of Australia day or abolish all together as i note one poster advocated.

    Currently the numbers are not there to make any change on the date of Australia day. Also i don’t think it is job of Government to call the tune on this. Governments need to just listen to the public on this and when the majority of the public are for a change, as i believe one day they will, make that change then.

    My preferred date for Australian day is the day Australia becomes a republic and has an Australian head of state. As this event hasn’t occurred yet we can contrive this event to occur on any day we wish. Obviously we are also a little off this occurring too. I think we need to have a few more scandals involving the philanderous Prince William, which i have no doubt he’ll oblige, before we completely ditch the house of Windsor as a pack of weird deviants.


  34. Boerwarsays:
    Friday, January 19, 2024 at 8:55 am
    Dunkley byelection to be held on 2 March.

    My prediction is that ALP will lose Dunkley by-election because of loss of Voice referendum and ME situation.

  35. The Republic polling is interesting in the context of the Voice defeat. It shows a path to success.

    Obvious lesson 1: start a public information campaign about Republic models well before any vote.
    Obvious lesson 2: ask a general question about support for a republic first, then republic model second.
    Obvious lesson 3: choose the most popular model.

  36. Vensays:
    Friday, January 19, 2024 at 11:41 am

    Boerwarsays:
    Friday, January 19, 2024 at 8:55 am
    Dunkley byelection to be held on 2 March.

    My prediction is that ALP will lose Dunkley by-election because of loss of Voice referendum and ME situation.

    ====================================================================

    Are you saying the people of Dunkley support Dutton’s position on the ME situation over the Governments?. Yes Victoria voted No but it wasn’t by as big a margin as other states. Dutton is very much on the nose in Victoria too.

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