Weekend miscellany: Morgan poll and preselection latest (open thread)

The Coalition chalks up consecutive leads in Roy Morgan polls, as Labor prepares to fill a Victorian Senate vacancy created by the death of Linda White.

The Coalition has now chalked up consecutive two-party preferred leads in Roy Morgan for the first time this term, its lead out from 50.5-49.5 to 51-49. The primary votes are little changed, with Labor up half a point to 30%, the Coalition up half a point to 38.5%, the Greens steady on 13.5% and One Nation down half a point to 5.5%. The poll was conducted last Monday to Sunday from a sample of 1706. The Financial Review also published further results from its Freshwater Strategy poll showing 38% support for a longer term for the House of Representatives, with 44% opposed.

Preselection news:

• The Sydney Morning Herald reports Lisa Darmanin, public sector branch secretary of the Australian Services Union, is all but certain to win decisive Socialist Left backing to fill Labor’s Victorian Senate vacancy resulting from the death of Linda White in February. However, four further candidates are rated likely to nominate for the factional ballot, though not to win, “to force a party ballot amid frustration over ethnic diversity and union influence”. They are Wesa Chau, director of public policy at Multicultural Leadership Initiative; Pamela Anderson, chief executive of Labor women’s advocacy group Emily’s List; Nadia David, a farmer and criminologist; and Sorina Grasso, deputy mayor of the City of Knox. The party’s national secretary, Paul Erickson, and Victorian Attorney-General Jill Hennessy, have reportedly knocked back approaches to nominate.

• Samantha Ratnam, Victorian Greens leader and member for the upper house region of Northern Metropolitan, has announced she will quit state politics to seek preselection for the federal seat of Wills, which Peter Khalil retained for Labor ahead of the Greens by margins of 4.9% in 2016, 8.2% in 2019 and 8.6% in 2022. She faces a rival in the party’s candidate from 2022, Sarah Jefford, but Annika Smethurst of The Age rates Ratnam a “near certainty” in a party ballot for which voting wrapped upon Wednesday. The Age further reports the Greens hope to “unite conservative Muslim voters with young progressives”, it being presumed that the former will be disaffected over the government’s stance on the conflict in Gaza.

• A Liberal preselection last fortnight for the Perth seat of Tangney, which the party will be optimistic of recovering after Sam Lim gained it for Labor with an 11.9% swing in 2022, was won by Mark Wales, SAS veteran, Survivor winner and author of a novel about a future war with China. Joe Spagnolo of the Sunday Times reports Wales was a “clear winner” over Howard Ong, an IT consultant, and Sean Ayres, a litigation lawyer and staffer to the previous member for the seat, Ben Morton.

• The Financial Review reports Roanne Knox, former Deloitte consultant and founder of children’s fashion label Chasing Sunshine, will shortly be endorsed by the Liberal state executive as the candidate for Wentworth, where teal independent Allegra Spender defeated now Senator Dave Sharma in 2022. Peter King, who held the seat for a term before being deposed for preselection by Malcolm Turnbull in 2004, was earlier rated as a contender, has ultimately declined to nominate.

• The Sydney Morning Herald’s CBD column reports Jess Collins, conservative-aligned Lowy Institute research fellow and unsuccessful candidate for the late Jim Molan’s Senate vacancy in November, will contest the Senate preselection ballot for the next election, potentially posing a threat to Andrew Bragg, a moderate who alienated many in the party by supporting the Indigenous Voice. The other incumbent, centre right-aligned Hollie Hughes, is likely to get the top position.

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.

760 comments on “Weekend miscellany: Morgan poll and preselection latest (open thread)”

Comments Page 1 of 16
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  2. “A Liberal preselection last fortnight for the Perth seat of Tangney … was won by Mark Wales, SAS veteran, Survivor winner and author of a novel about a future war with China.”

    FUBAR will be in ecstasy.

  3. “The Coalition has now chalked up consecutive two-party preferred leads in Roy Morgan for the first time this term, its lead out from 50.5-49.5 to 51-49.”

    The Charge of the Right Brigade?

    “Half a point, half a point
    Half a point onward …”

  6. Oliver Sutton @ #1 Saturday, April 20th, 2024 – 5:09 am

    Women problem? What women problem?

    “The New South Wales Liberal party has expelled state MP Taylor Martin as a result of an investigation into text messages he sent to a woman with whom he was in a relationship.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/19/nsw-liberal-party-expels-state-mp-taylor-martin-over-undignified-breakup-texts

    That woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, is not anonymous at all, because, when the story broke she was clearly identified as Lucy Wicks, the goody-two-shoes, former Member for Robertson, who is only wishing to remain anonymous now because she is counting on people in this electorate having the memories of goldfish, as the rumour is that she wants to run again in the upcoming federal election for the Liberal Party.

    Good luck with that subterfuge, Lucy, because Labor will make sure everyone remembers who you really are.

  7. A rare unity ticket from Dutton and the PM wrt that disgusting individual and menace to society, Elon Musk (you can be a good inventor and businessman and a disgusting individual too):

    Elon Musk’s social media platform X is still allowing users to upload and share distressing content from Sydney’s stabbing attacks days after the platform was ordered to take it down and despite the eSafety commissioner’s threats of fines and legal action.

    As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was joined by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in his vow to use “whatever actions necessary to haul these companies into line”, eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said she was mulling legal action to force X to remove confronting videos in a process that had been “unnecessarily prolonged”.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/musk-s-x-ignores-australia-s-legal-threats-to-take-down-distressing-stabbing-content-20240419-p5fl6f.html

  9. The director-general of security, ASIO’s Mike Burgess, has warned Australia of security threats external and internal. An enemy state, he says, is prowling Australia’s cyber systems for sabotage openings, and an enemy state constantly seeks to subvert the political system through influence networks.

    He was too diplomatic to name the hostile state, although the national defence strategy this week frankly named China as the source of destabilisation to which Australia must respond. But the ASIO chief nominated two internal sources of threat. First, “Sunni violent extremism poses the greatest religiously motivated violent extremist threat in Australia.” Second, there was, he said, a rising risk of extremist nationalist violence seeking to provoke a “race war” within Australia. In other words, neo-Nazis and their kin.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/after-a-week-of-mass-murder-and-terror-we-must-take-a-look-in-the-mirror-20240419-p5fl57.html

    And don’t forget the ceaseless violence against women.

  10. Oliver Sutton says:
    Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 5:09 am
    Women problem? What women problem?

    “The New South Wales Liberal party has expelled state MP Taylor Martin as a result of an investigation into text messages he sent to a woman with whom he was in a relationship.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/19/nsw-liberal-party-expels-state-mp-taylor-martin-over-undignified-breakup-texts

    ———————————-

    No different to the NSW Labor Party.
    NSW Labor have a woman problem too. There was the rejection of Jodi McKay in 2021, once NSW Labor leader. For a man, Chris Minns.

    Then the case of Tania Mihailuk currently serving as member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 2023, as a One Nation MP. She initially served as a member of the Labor Party before resigning from the party in 2022.
    Her disagreement with Labor due to the preference of some Labor people of selecting a candidate she suggested who had links to disgraced Labor figure Eddie Obeid.

    Labor too prefer men in their political ranks.

  11. Insiders Sunday, 21 Apr

    David Speers and the panel Samantha Maiden, Lenore Taylor and Phil Coorey cover the week in politics including defence strategy, national security, the federal budget and more.

    GUEST : Peter Dutton – Opposition Leader

  13. Jodi McKay was given a good run but was sadly not attractive to the electorate. You can’t keep pushing someone simply because of their gender. That’s sexist.

    Tania Mihailuk was/is a disgruntled Labor rat who went over to One Nation when she failed an honest and open pre-selection. Labor are better off without her. Again, it would simply have been sexist to stick with an unsuitable candidate simply because they were female. Women aren’t perfect political specimens either.

    I do note for the record that since Christine Milne The Greens have failed to elect another female leader. Like the Liberals they are good enough for Deputy Leader though. 😐

  16. New York Police Department released details about the man who set fire to himself in a park outside Donald Trump’s trial Friday.
    He was identified as Max Azzarello, a self-described “investigative researcher” in his 30s. Police said he came to New York City from St. Augustine, Florida, just a few days ago armed with a number of pamphlets that spread conspiracy theories. Among the theories was the idea that educational systems were schemes and fronts for the mob, police said.
    Police and fire were able to respond in two minutes with fire extinguishers. He was in critical condition in a local hospital’s burns unit Friday afternoon.

  17. Huzzah!

    “There comes a point when you accept my rulings,” Merchan said, adding that proceedings were not going to be bogged down.

    “We’re going to have opening statements Monday morning,” Merchan said, “This trial is starting.”

  19. Ukrainian anti-aircraft units shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 bomber for the first time, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on April 19.
    The Tu-22M3 bomber crashed in Russia’s Stavropol Krai on the morning of April 19, just after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
    According to Stavropol Krai Governor Vladimir Vladimirov, the Russian plane crashed in the region’s Krasnogvardeysky District. Vladimirov claimed two pilots ejected from the aircraft. One pilot was allegedly killed and another crew member is missing.

  20. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Laura Tingle’s contribution today on the trial says Justice Lee’s words “Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins” were important because they brought the Higgins story back to its central proposition after more than three years when it had become the subject of political and culture wars and of an unrelenting attack on Higgins in some sections of the media.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-20/justice-lee-bruce-lehrmann-defamation-political-leaders-words/103744482
    Justice Michael Lee distilled the essence of the omnishambles – “from the first moment, the cover-up component was promoted and recognised as the most important part of the narrative”. His judgment has destroyed one of the most extraordinary and consequential conspiracies hatched in the annals of Australian politics, writes Pontificating Paul Kelly in another rearguard action for The Australian.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/allegations-of-political-coverup-in-higgins-saga-finally-debunked/news-story/e5216a6f3d5f75b35c2d8700b7cc5c74?amp=
    Bruce Lehrmann’s rape of Brittany Higgins has dragged in dozens of people, almost all of them damaged by the scandal and its fallout, says Rick Morton who takes us through them one by one.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/media/2024/04/20/every-player-the-lehrmann-scandal
    “Rape myths are extremely dangerous. Did the Lehrmann verdict bust them?”. Julia Baird explores the long-held beliefs that have held women victims back from getting justice. She concludes that after the awful, vitriolic and often ignorant public debate we’ve seen during the Lehrmann trial, now is the time to elevate the best drivers of change: experts, evidence and experience.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/rape-myths-are-extremely-dangerous-did-the-lehrmann-verdict-bust-them-20240419-p5fl54.html
    The editorial in The Saturday Paper is a character assessment of Janet Albrechtsen.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2024/04/20/who-janet-albrechtsen
    Who were the Wakeley rioters and why did it descend into violence? Michael Koziol has a look for us.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/who-were-the-wakeley-rioters-and-why-did-it-descend-into-violence-20240418-p5fkvk.html
    After a week of mass-murder and terror, we must take a look in the mirror, urges Peter Hartcher. He points out that for Australia, a violently riven community is an existential threat. We are the most multicultural among the substantial developed nations, with double the US proportion of immigrants, for example.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/after-a-week-of-mass-murder-and-terror-we-must-take-a-look-in-the-mirror-20240419-p5fl57.html
    Ed Husic has conceded many Muslim and Arab Australians do not feel the Albanese government has listened to their concerns about the war in Gaza, while saying he is speaking out despite his role as a cabinet minister to amplify their views. Ed Husic has told Daniel Hurst he had felt driven to make several public interventions against the scale of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, in part so that people believed “that their concerns have somewhere to go to be vented and aired”.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/20/muslim-arab-australians-labor-war-in-gaza-ed-husic-minister-for-science-and-industry
    The response of politicians to the growing repugnance to social media’s malign influence following the Sydney stabbings is big on rhetoric, but a large gap yawns between their words and actions, says the SMH editorial.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-beginning-to-look-impotent-in-its-failure-to-rein-in-x-20240419-p5fl3z.html
    Stan Grant tries to make sense of the Bondi Junction knife attack.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2024/04/20/making-sense-the-bondi-junction-attack
    Is violently terrorising a community ‘terrorism’? It’s an uncomfortable debate to have, writes Karen Middleton.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/20/is-violently-terrorising-a-community-terrorism-its-an-uncomfortable-debate-to-have
    The ethnic and religious divisions over the war in Gaza are further exacerbating threats to social cohesion and broader community harmony. This is something about which Albanese is particularly worried, says Paul Bongiorno.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2024/04/20/albanese-sets-tone-amid-days-horror
    “Why has one knife attacker been labelled a terrorist, and the other, not?”, askes Deborah Snow.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/why-has-one-knife-attacker-been-labelled-a-terrorist-and-the-other-not-20240416-p5fk7x.html
    The killing of six people, most of them women, at a Bondi Junction shopping centre is a reminder of the unique and unaddressed nature of male violence opines Louise Milligan.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/2024/04/20/bondi-junction-attack-women-are-sick-being-afraid
    Shane Wright reports that speaking in Washington, Jim Chalmers has warned global tensions are among five key threats to next month’s federal budget, which he has promised will focus on cost-of-living relief, repairing the nation’s finances while reforming the economy in areas stretching from energy to supply chains.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/chalmers-lists-the-five-threats-to-the-federal-budget-20240419-p5fl2n.html
    Greg Sheridan reckons Albanese and Marles will cripple our defence capability for at least a decade.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/albanese-and-marles-will-cripple-our-defence-capability-for-at-least-a-decade/news-story/59de56428113f059ba12b514e6a93f6a?amp=
    Mike Seccombe tells us how sales reps for surgical hardware companies are becoming a common presence in operating theatres – selling medical devices, sometimes without the consent of unconscious patients.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/health/2024/04/20/sales-reps-have-infiltrated-operating-theatres
    John Lord entertains us with “Nuclear Energy: A Layperson’s Dilemma”.
    https://theaimn.com/nuclear-energy-a-laypersons-dilemma/
    Channel Seven seeks ‘people and culture manager’ amid Lehrmann fallout, but where is the head of news, asks Amanda Meade in her weekly media round-up.
    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/apr/19/channel-seven-seeks-people-and-culture-manager-amid-lehrmann-fallout-but-where-is-the-head-of-news
    Anne Hyland goes into great length to examine the government’s Future Made in Australia Act.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/grand-designs-the-high-risk-plan-to-make-australian-industry-great-again-20240418-p5fkoj.html
    John Hewson thinks that Anthony Albanese has cleverly set the framework for the contest at the next election with his recent speech outlining his vision for this country as a low-carbon economy. With his emphasis on reform, advanced manufacturing and “A Future Made in Australia”, he sees the potential for this country to be a renewable energy superpower with solid industrial foundations. Hewson says that, true to form, Dutton’s initial response has been negative – to shout, without any evidence or detail, that Albanese is taking our country down a “dangerous path”.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2024/04/17/dutton-squints-labors-industrial-vision
    Anthony Albanese is staking a significant part of his re-election on an interventionist plan to revitalise investment in industry, explains Jason Koutsoukis.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/04/20/inside-albaneses-industrial-re-election-strategy
    According to the AFR, Star Entertainment is eating itself alive. It says the latest inquiry into the Sydney casino operator is getting ugly.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/games-and-wagering/star-entertainment-is-eating-itself-alive-20240417-p5fkn2
    As Anzac Day approaches, Gerard Kennedy can’t resist having a culture war whine.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/were-it-not-for-those-who-fought-thered-be-no-freedom-to-protest/news-story/c3157933957bf689df0c99c9801f071c?amp=
    A group agitating for change at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club has claimed the club spent $800,000 on wagyu beef in a financial year when the club reported a $2.4 million loss from its hospitality operations. The allegation is one of several claims made by the Kooyong for Members group in a letter sent to fellow members on Monday and obtained by The Age. Anyone feeling sorry for them?
    https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/member-group-claims-kooyong-lawn-tennis-club-spent-800-000-on-wagyu-beef-20240418-p5fkq2.html
    Upper House MP Taylor Martin has been expelled from the NSW Liberal Party more than nine months after a former female federal MP lodged a formal complaint against him, which included allegations he described her as a “dumb slut” and a “pig”. Nice guy.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/liberal-mp-expelled-after-investigation-into-abuse-complaint-20240419-p5fla4.html
    Benjamin Netanyahu’s popularity in Israel is at an all-time low. Yet, we are waiting, helplessly, to see what risk he will take next, writes Geraldine Brookes who says only one man can stop the world plunging into full-scale war.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/only-one-man-can-stop-the-world-plunging-into-a-full-scale-war-20240419-p5fl2i.html
    Israel and Iran are following the rules of the jungle, not the rule of law, decvlares Ben Saul.
    https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/israel-and-iran-are-following-the-rules-of-the-jungle-not-the-rule-of-law-20240419-p5fl7p.html
    With the instigator of the Capitol Hill riot standing a good chance of returning to power, the question of whether the US is headed towards Civil War 2.0 no longer feels hyperbolic, writes Nick Bryant.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/civil-war-is-a-movie-if-trump-wins-could-it-be-a-reality-20240419-p5fl2q.html

    Cartoon Corner

    David Rowe

    Glen Le Lievre with a gif


    https://twitter.com/i/status/1781107833070841977
    Fiona Katauskas

    David Pope

    Mark David




    Jon Kudelka

    Mark Knight

    Spooner – Johnny One Note

    From the US












  21. Finally, the US House of Reps has voted to proceed with the Ukraine funding bill.

    Still at the procedural level, with the final vote tomorrow our time – but once the House got the chance from MAGA Mike to actually vote…

    VOTES
    Yea: 316
    Nay: 94
    Present: 0
    Not Voting: 21

    https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2024142?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

    The House took a critical step on Friday toward approving a long-stalled package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and other American allies, as Democrats supplied the crucial votes to push the legislation past Republican opposition so that it could be considered on the floor.

    The 316-94 vote cleared the way for the House to bring up the aid package, teeing up separate votes on Saturday on each of its parts. But passage of those measures, each of which enjoys bipartisan support from different coalitions, was not in doubt, making Friday’s action the key indicator that the legislation will prevail.

    The rule for considering the bill — historically a straight party-line vote — passed with more Democratic than Republican support, but it also won a majority of G.O.P. votes, making it clear that despite a pocket of deep resistance from the far right, there is broad bipartisan backing for the $95.3 billion package.

    The vote was an enormous victory in the long effort to fund Ukraine as it battles against Russian aggression, a major priority of President Biden that has met with bitter resistance from the right. It was a triumph against the forces of isolationism within the G.O.P. and a major moment of bipartisan consensus in a Congress that for the past year has been mostly defined by its dysfunction

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/us/politics/congress-vote-ukraine-bill-house.html

  23. I’d forgotten these comments from Morrison. Thank god he’s gone.

    There is an uncomfortable truth here though that, whatever the story was about who said what to who about Higgins within the Morrison government, what most Australians would have taken away from the whole affair was not those details, but the various public reflections of the prime minister of the day.

    Morrison’s comments — he said his wife had explained the significance of Higgins’s claims to him, and later, that the women who marched in their thousands were lucky not to have been met with guns — would have to rank as some of the more tin-eared observations of recent times.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-20/justice-lee-bruce-lehrmann-defamation-political-leaders-words/103744482

  24. Good morning all, thank you BK.

    I might just add this one to the list.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/19/iranian-air-defence-systems-activated-israel-launches-strikes-visual-guide

    If you study the graphics you will see that one Israeli town, Kiryat Shimona, has been the subject of around 200 attacks by Heshbollah. It also identifies the dozens of Israeli towns and kibbutzim that have been evacuated. Around 100,000 Israelis have been forced out of their homes, farms and businesses since Oct 7. It also identifies the hundreds of attacks by Israel into Syria and Lebanon. The scale and the intensity of the suffering is nothing like in Gaza but the general reporting from the MSM has been relatively, and I mean relatively, silent on this aspect of the War.

    Other than that it seems to me that the forces of calm and order appear to have to found a way of winding back the mutual escalation triggered by Netanyahu.

    It seems to me that the stage might now be set for a negotiated settlement to be agreed.

    Cross fingers.

  25. Good morning BK

    As there is no Dawn Patrol tomorrow, it being Sunday, may I say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you, one day ahead of the actual date. I hope you have a wonderful day with members of your family.

  27. The four further candidates for the Senate vacancy all look good quality, but my money is on the candidate with the Union background.

  28. OS: “Women problem? What women problem?
    ‘The New South Wales Liberal party has expelled state MP Taylor Martin as a result of an investigation into text messages he sent to a woman with whom he was in a relationship’.”

    The content of the texts can be found here.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13327435/Liberal-MP-Taylor-Martin-learns-fate-investigation-vile-text-messages-former-lover-Lucy-Wicks.html

    the Daily Mail being far less coy about reporting them and also in identifying the person to whom they were sent.

    I’ m not really sure what to think. The messages were of course vile, but I wouldn’t think hat the angry things that lovers or ex-lovers sometimes say to each other in person or by SMS are necessarily in the public domain. But it seems like nothing’s private nowadays.

    Certainly, people who want to have political careers need to be extremely careful about what they put into text messages and social media posts. He wasn’t, so he certainly deserves his fate.

  29. Yesterday Bludgers had a bit of somewhat despairing discussion about DV. It was, at any rate, generally well-intentioned.

    Today we have a pile on against a woman who received texts bad enough for the perp MP, a male, to get the heave ho from his Party. Firstly, good on the NSW Liberals. They got this right.

    Secondly, the woman may have political skin in the game. Nevertheless, she has been the victim of the sort of verbally-demeaning texts that are often associated with DV. IMO, by all means address the politics. But please separate the politics from her being just another woman who has been subject to DV precursors.

  30. Rick Morton has written a dramatis personae article about the major and minor players in The Lehrmann Imbroglio:

    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/media/2024/04/20/every-player-the-lehrmann-scandal

    Some exerpts:

    Greta Sinclair Former girlfriend of Lehrmann
    Dumped Lehrmann in 2021 after the rape allegations went public.

    Daughter or granddaughter of Nationals royalty, Ian Sinclair?

    Lyndon Biernoff Toowoomba businessman
    Offered terrible legal advice in advance of the criminal trial. Is the multi-level marketing millionaire friend of Lehrmann’s mother, and a success coach.

    It would be advisable not to get him to be your next success coach. 🙂

    Kerry Stokes Chairman of Seven West Media, which includes the Seven Network
    Has now been on the losing side of serial defamation cases. His company has a habit of attempting public rehabilitation of the worst men and then making matters worse.

    Lol. 🙂

  32. Surely the first rule of hanging out a shingle is not to tempt the fates of your future business success by naming yourself something like ‘success coach’.

  33. William: “The Sydney Morning Herald reports Lisa Darmanin, public sector branch secretary of the Australian Services Union, is all but certain to win decisive Socialist Left backing to replace Labor’s New South Wales Senate vacancy resulting from the death of Linda White in February. However, four further candidates are rated likely to nominate for the factional ballot, though not to win, “to force a party ballot amid frustration over ethnic diversity and union influence”.”

    I certainly agree that Labor is inclined to nominate too many union heavies for Senate spots, where – with the major exceptions of Dougie Cameron and Don Farrell – they mostly disappear without trace. The ethnicity angle is interesting. Darmanin is a French surname, and French people used to count as “ethnics” back in the day. But no longer, it appears: diversity is a highly competitive sphere, and one needs a high degree of “intersectionality” to be able to keep up with the pace.

    BTW William (and I apologise if someone else has already pointed this out to you and I missed it) the vacancy is in Victoria, not NSW. I know, I know, all of us Eastern States look the same. 🙂

  34. Boerwarsays:
    Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 7:39 am
    If you study the graphics you will see that one Israeli town, Kiryat Shimona, has been the subject of around 200 attacks by Heshbollah. It also identifies the dozens of Israeli towns and kibbutzim that have been evacuated.
    _____________________
    Know the geography well. Right up in the North east corner.
    My old stamping ground from my days as a volunteer on Kibbutz Dafna.
    We did have a couple occasions where we had head down into the bomb shelter but never had to evacuate.

  35. ‘Uncharacteristically messy’ Trump seen napping for third time in 4 days: Maggie Haberman

    Eagle-eyed New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman once again caught former President Donald Trump dozing off during a hearing related to his hush-money trial in New York on Friday.

    In an update posted to the New York Times’ live blog of the proceedings, Haberman wrote that “Trump appears to have fallen asleep in court again,” and then added that “it happened several times just now” as “his eyes were closed for extended periods and his head dropped down twice.”

    Haberman also had some observations about Trump’s appearance as he entered court on Friday.

    “His hair is uncharacteristically messy,” she wrote. “Like the wind hit it on the way into court.”

    Donald Trump allegedly keeps farting while dozing off during his trial ….. Bill Palmer

    Donald Trump dozed off in the courtroom on the first two days of his trial, according to various reporters. Now it turns out the story may be even more surreal than that.

    Medidas Touch is now reporting that according to its sources, Trump has actually been falling asleep and passing gas during the trial, causing discomfort for his attorneys seated next to him.

  36. As there is no Dawn Patrol tomorrow, it being Sunday, may I say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you, one day ahead of the actual date. I hope you have a wonderful day with members of your family.
    _____
    Thanks Bennelong Lurker. Two of our offspring have birthdays today, so we will have a combination celebration tomorrow.
    I can’t believe I am just about to enter my 80th year!

  37. Getting desperate there, Irene. Dredging up stale old grist for your Anti Labor mill. Sad. I’m so glad I’m not bitter and twisted in my Anti Labor retchings like you. Also, you still haven’t addressed the fact that The Greens haven’t elected a woman leader since Christine Milne, nor addressed the issue of sexual harassment in The Greens, or the TERFS V Transgender wars going on there. Not important to you?

    In fact, you never address any of the questions I put to you, like how much do YOU donate to The Smith Family to sponsor a poor kid? Or, The Salvos, in order to provide for their good works? Nope, all you do is scurry away and trawl your emails and the internet for another virtually baseless, bitter and twisted, Anti Labor troll. 🙄

  40. This tells you everything you need to know about the cynical, divisive Peter Dutton after this week’s horrific incidents:

    Peter Dutton, who the week before had compared a pro-Palestinian protest at the Sydney Opera House to the Port Arthur massacre, was uncharacteristically reticent in his response to the Bondi Junction knife attack. There was a sympathetic post on social media but no appearance for three days, and there was no criticism of the prime minister’s response.

    However, Dutton went on the offensive, blaming “some of the left-wing trash media” for the criticism of his conflation of Port Arthur with the protest. He repeated his claim that Albanese should have shown stronger leadership condemning the anti-Semitic sentiments that were expressed at the protest.

    Dutton completely ignored Albanese’s condemnation of anti-Semitism and the fact that, 10 days after the protest, $25 million was given to the Council for Jewish Community Security. This was to enhance “safety at Jewish schools and preschools across Australia”.

    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2024/04/20/albanese-sets-tone-amid-days-horror

    Grub.

  41. Taylormadesays:
    Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 7:42 am
    “The four further candidates for the Senate vacancy all look good quality, but my money is on the candidate with the Union background.”

    Do you have a good superannuation scheme?

  42. The real disservice to Jodi McKay was when she was the Member for Newcastle. Joe Tripodi, a leader of the dominant Terrigal faction conducted a secret campaign to ensure her defeat at the 2011 election.
    It is alleged that Tripodi took a commission from the Boganaire, Nathan Tinkler, to promote his plan for a new coal loader which McKay opposed.
    This will be coming before the courts sometime this year.

  44. A good read…

    Marjorie Taylor Greene Is No Neville Chamberlain

    https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/wanderland/marjorie-taylor-greene-is-no-neville-chamberlain/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Marjorie%20Taylor%20Greene%20Is%20No%20Neville%20Chamberlain&utm_campaign=The%20Dispatch%20News%20and%20Updates_Everyone_Marjorie%20Taylor%20Greene%20Is%20No%20Neville%20Chamberlain&vgo_ee=HKtCG9GFGaTFIpdKxi3Jh782U9UR0CEZz4mrj52TUpzjZKhII%2Fo%3D%3AuUlUaf%2FHb4bIjwkpS%2B%2FufNUAb4PjjoNL

  46. As I predicted months ago, Labor under Globo is a one-term joke. Turns out Australians don’t like having their living standards crush-loaded by runaway immigration and seeing their fellow Australians turfed-out on the street. Time will tell if the Libs are any better in minority government at not importing a population the size of Canberra into Australia every year. The same is happening in Canada where the young have finally woken up to Justin’s insane ‘let the entire world into Canada’ and completely distort what should be a basic human right of having a roof over one’s head. I wonder if the young here will do the same and vote for parties that actually recognise the underlying issue: Sustainable Australia Party and unfortunately ON seem to be the only ones not completely captured by vested interests in the media and the infinite growth lobby of big business.

    This poll will be the best Labor will do. The demise of the Labor/Liberal party stranglehold on Australia’s political system will be of great benefit to Australia. Labor are NOT the natural party of government. They are an elite globalised abomination that has completely forgotten their worker roots and has sold Australia out to India, the Chinese and the infinite growth mantra of the business lobby. Shame on anyone who is a Labor partisan hack with wishy-washy excuses like ‘Labor are much better than the Libs!’ – pathetic.

  47. No one said that Jodi McKay was treated fairly over that incident, but it had zero to do with her gender. It had everything to do with her integrity against the lack of same wrt Joe Tripodi.

  48. ”
    Oliver Suttonsays:
    Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 5:13 am
    “A Liberal preselection last fortnight for the Perth seat of Tangney … was won by Mark Wales, SAS veteran, Survivor winner and author of a novel about a future war with China.”

    FUBAR will be in ecstasy.
    ”

    Which one is more grammatically correct?
    FUBAR will be ecstatic
    Or
    FUBAR will be in ecstasy.
    Just asking.

  50. The U.S. House of Representatives advanced a $95 billion legislative package on Friday providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific in a broad bipartisan vote, overcoming hardline Republican opposition that had held it up for months.
    Friday’s procedural vote, which passed 316-94 with more support from Democrats than the Republicans who hold a narrow majority, advanced a package similar to a measure that passed the Democratic-majority Senate in February.
    Democratic President Joe Biden, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell and top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries had been pushing for a House vote since then. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson had held off in the face of opposition from a small but vocal segment of his party.
    In addition to the aid for allies, the package includes a provision to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, and sanctions targeting Hamas and Iran and to force China’s ByteDance to sell social media platform TikTok or face a ban in the U.S.
    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-advances-95-billion-ukraine-israel-package-toward-saturday-vote-2024-04-19/

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