A busy week of federal polling continued yesterday with a new result from YouGov, which had Labor’s two-party lead out from 51-49 to 52-48, from primary votes of Labor 33% (up one), Coalition 36% (down two), Greens 13% (steady) and One Nation 8% (up one). Leadership ratings were not included on this occasion, but there was an Anzac Day-inspired question inviting respondents to choose between assertions that Australia “should be prepared to fight for our country’s values”, favoured by 46%, and that “we should be sceptical of politicians who want to commit troops to wars not necessary to the direct defence of Australia”, favoured by 42%. There was a marked tendency for younger respondents to favour the latter (44% to 34% among the 18-to-24 cohort) and older respondents the former (60% to 34% for those aged 65 and over). The poll was conducted Friday to Tuesday from a sample of 1514.
Results from a YouGov state poll for Queensland will be published at 2pm today in the Courier-Mail. UPDATE: For now it only offers the finding that 53% would prefer Steven Miles to Annastacia Palaszczuk as Premier and 47% vice-versa. Voting intention evidently to follow tomorrow morning.
I wouldn’t think that “should be prepared to fight for our country’s values” and “we should be sceptical of politicians who want to commit troops to wars not necessary to the direct defence of Australia” are mutually exclusive. I’m not surprised by the differing preferences of the different age groups though.
Dog’s Brunch says Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 2:06 am
The Taycan sounds too much like Toucan. If I had that much money to spend on a car, I think I would prefer something that didn’t remind me of a sticky icy pole.
Which made me wonder, what ever happened to the Toucan: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-03/hunt-for-mystery-toucan-icy-pole-australian-snack/101054790
The vagaries of polling at play with the prospect of something in the Qld polling.
Where do One Nation end up in the lower house ? Or for that matter the upper house ?
The Teals option seems sure to provide even more interest at the next election (whenever) particularly if the number of candidates in this category expands.
You Gov have squared up a week of not quite enough excitement in the polling to indicate a quantitative jump anywhere.
ANZAC COVE
There’s a lonely stretch of hillocks:
There’s a beach asleep and drear:
There’s a battered broken fort beside the sea.
There are sunken trampled graves:
And a little rotting pier:
And winding paths that wind unceasingly.
There’s a torn and silent valley:
There’s a tiny rivulet
With some blood upon the stones beside its mouth.
There are lines of buried bones:
There’s an unpaid waiting debt :
There’s a sound of gentle sobbing in the South.
Leon Gellert
ANZAC COVE
There’s a lonely stretch of hillocks:
There’s a beach asleep and drear:
There’s a battered broken fort beside the sea.
There are sunken trampled graves:
And a little rotting pier:
And winding paths that wind unceasingly.
There’s a torn and silent valley:
There’s a tiny rivulet
With some blood upon the stones beside its mouth.
There are lines of buried bones:
There’s an unpaid waiting debt :
There’s a sound of gentle sobbing in the South.
Leon Gellert
Apologies for double post.
bc @ #2 Thursday, April 25th, 2024 – 3:11 am
I’ve seen one in the flesh! I parked behind this beast a couple of weeks ago outside Woy Woy Library. The guy who owned it looked like an aging, very wealthy obviously, hippy! My kind of guy 😉
https://www.porsche.com/australia/models/taycan/taycan-models/taycan/
To my 3 Great Uncles and my Grandfather who went away to the Second World War, I salute you.
Indeed, bc: the assertions in the YouGov question are not at all mutually exclusive.
Piss-poor polling.
goll: “Where do One Nation end up in the lower house ?”
Outside, looking in: where they’ve been for more that 20 years.
On the average what has been for a while now , the federal lib/nats and their propaganda media units are taking no ground off Labor
When the federal lib/nats and their propaganda media units had the political luck , and the lib/nats combined primary could not get 42/43% , that when it was over for them
Thanks, Bennelong Lurker. Anzac Cove is indeed ‘a beach asleep and drear’.
After reading through last night’s discussion about men murdering women, I posted a link to this article. It was one of the last posts before the new thread, so I’m re-posting it now in case anyone’s interested. It’s a short read.
‘Does toxic masculinity explain why men kill women? Perhaps not as much as we thought’
Samara McPhedran
Honorary Associate Professor, The University of Queensland
Published: April 21, 2022
https://stories.uq.edu.au/research/2022/does-toxic-masculinity-explain-why-men-kill-women-perhaps-not-as-much-as-we-thought/index.html
Lord Downer is on RN Breakfast, defending the UK’s ‘Rwanda Solution’.
I’d forgotten just how creepily unctuous he is.
RIP to my great Uncle, Isaac Mills, killed at Bullecourt, France 1917.
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/rockhampton/the-story-of-an-emu-park-boy-killed-in-action/news-story/a2a8a5a50f29a03312479cde993c4c3a
Also respects to my grandfather who served in WWI and WWII and my uncle Robert Sutton, who served in the RAN including in Vietnam during that war.
Respect to your Uncle Isaac, Soc.
It seems we both have familial links to the Capricorn Coast.
(In my case, not under the name Sutton, though.)
‘AFP reviewing whether police leaked material from Bruce Lehrmann’s criminal trial’
Well, sort of …
“Without me getting technical, there is not an investigation,” Kershaw continued. “But reviewing the material to see if there is a threshold for an investigation.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/25/afp-review-bruce-lehrmann-criminal-trial-leaked-material-allegation-ntwnfb
Racing animals is not sport, it’s gambling. It’s cruel and should be banned.
‘During a race at Mount Gambier on April 21, nineteen-month-old Menari One fell while running more than 60km/h, fracturing his hind-leg.
According to the steward’s report, the young dog was later assessed by the track vet and euthanised.
Menari One was only running his second ever race and is now the youngest dog to die on Australian tracks in 2024.
His death marks the fourth greyhound death in South Australia within the space of 2 months and the second in the space of just 10 days.’
adelaidenow.com.au
Remember that croc on the old pub’s wall, stuffed with kapok, there were a few splits in the side by the time I first saw it in the early 60s.
The United States on Wednesday rushed to send ammunition, weapons and other war supplies to Ukraine, after President Joe Biden signed a much-delayed bill to support the country as it struggles to hold back Russian advances.
The final approval of the legislation comes after months of political wrangling, during which Ukrainian forces ran short of ammunition and suffered setbacks on the battlefield.
“I just signed into law the national security package that was passed by the House of Representatives this weekend, and by the Senate yesterday,” Biden told reporters, saying he is “making sure the shipments start right away, in the next few hours.”
“It’s going to make America safer, it’s going to make the world safer and it continues American leadership in the world and everyone knows it,” he said of the legislation.
Minutes after Biden spoke, the Pentagon announced a $1 billion package for Kyiv using the new funding, including air defense munitions, artillery rounds, ammunition for HIMARS precision rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons and armored vehicles.
The United States has revealed it recently secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine for use in that country’s battle to fight off Russian invaders. The missiles were used for the first time in the early hours of April 17, launched against a Russian airfield in Crimea that was about 165 kilometres from the Ukrainian front lines, the official said. The official said Ukraine used the weapon a second time overnight against Russian forces in south-eastern Ukraine.
Capricornia connections: et tu, Badthinker?
#TeamChewy
#weatheronPB
Thin fog hides the sky.
A soft reboot for the day,
cool dull and faded.
Washington would create global financial instability, while damaging the United States’ already tenuous ties with Beijing, if it carried out reported threats to sanction Chinese banks over their trade with Russia, and even cut China out of the Swift global interbank system, analysts said on Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, without elaboration, that Washington was drafting sanctions to help US Secretary of State Antony Blinken persuade Beijing to stop any commercial support for Russia’s military production.
Blinken arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday at the start of a three-day visit to China, which will include a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss a range of issues, including Taiwan, perceived unfair trade practices and industrial overcapacity.
But any financial sanctions against China as a major trading partner with much of the world would set back transactions in Europe and the US, where merchants conduct brisk business with China, the analysts said. The US would be creating a gargantuan source of financial instability for not only China, but also itself,” said Brian Wong, a fellow at the Centre on Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Kong.
https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3260216/us-sanction-threats-against-chinese-banks-over-russia-trade-ties-risk-gargantuan-financial
Not impressed with the ANZAC advertisement, all white actors, claiming ANZAC is inclusive. White is not modern Australia.
In the USA and this should happen in Australia ASAP:
Good news for airline travelers: the Department of Transportation on Wednesday announced it is rolling out new rules that will require airlines to automatically give cash refunds to passengers for canceled and significantly delayed flights.
“This is a big day for America’s flying public,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at a Wednesday morning news conference. Buttigieg said the new rules — which require prompt refunds — are the biggest expansion of passenger rights in the department’s history.
Airlines can no longer decide how long a delay must be before a refund is issued. Under the new DOT rules, the delays covered would be more than three hours for domestic flights and more than six hours for international flights, the agency said.
France’s army has been placed on high alert, as fears of terrorist attacks on the Olympics grow.
As part of measures to beef up security in the French capital, construction on a gigantic military camp capable of housing 5,000 soldiers will start in the coming days.
The camp is part of an unprecedented operation to ensure the safety of athletes and visitors to the summer games, which will see 18,000 military personnel, as well as 45,000 police and internal security forces deployed to Paris. Work teams have begun levelling the ground and will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week in a race to finish the site before the start of the sporting festivities on July 26.
Holdenhillbilly @ #27 Thursday, April 25th, 2024 – 7:37 am
That’s such a sad state of modern affairs. 🙁
Some guy in Hong Kong cautions America against doing something to harm China economically for China doing business with Russia. Hmm. 😐
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
The editorial in the SMH finishes with, “Words of wisdom as the haunting bugle notes of The Last Post echo around the country – words that the global sabre-rattlers would do well to recognise. We fail to learn from past mistakes at our peril. Lest we forget.” It refers to Norman “Stormin’ Norman” Schwarzkopf, who as the commander of United States Central Command led all coalition forces in the Gulf War against Ba’athist Iraq, famously said: “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/hard-lessons-of-war-seem-so-easy-to-forget-amid-sabre-rattling-20240423-p5flzw.html
Shaun Carney describes Albanese’s motivation for the Future Made in Australia policy and how it is getting up the nose of the “economic commentators and worthies attached over the years to the Productivity Commission, who have made their careers by calling for ever more reform, hated it, denouncing it as risky, costly, wasteful and outdated.”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-s-latest-plan-is-triggering-elite-economists-don-t-listen-to-them-20240424-p5fmbe.html
From submarines to aged care, the government and opposition have grand plans. But neither know where the workers will be found for them, says Shane Wright.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/a-50k-bonus-cheap-uni-extra-healthcare-the-4400-navy-jobs-no-one-wants-20240420-p5flcc.html
Home buyers are unlikely to see an interest rate cut until closer to Christmas, and the Reserve Bank may even consider further rate rises after a lift in inflation caused by decades-high increases in education, rental and insurance costs. Annual inflation has continued to fall, dipping to 3.6 per cent in the year to March, down from 4.1 per cent in the 12 months to December, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/inflation-falls-to-3-6-per-cent-but-rents-education-costs-soar-20240423-p5flzz.html
The narrow economic path that the Reserve Bank and federal government have been walking for the past two years has just got even more slender. Shane Wright says that in a setback to the bank, and the cause of a major political headache for Treasurer Jim Chalmers, the March quarter consumer price index report showed inflation is buried deep into parts of the economy with few signs it will be easily excised.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/chalmers-high-wire-act-just-got-harder-20240424-p5fm5g.html
The government shouldn’t boast about Australia’s latest CPI figures, but it shouldn’t panic either, writes Greg Jericho. He says inflation appears to be under control, and real wages are now growing – but for those with HECS/HELP debts, the pressure is very real.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2024/apr/25/australia-inflation-rate-cpi-figures-hecs-debt-help-student-loan-debts
Nationals leader David Littleproud has conceded turning to nuclear power would mean Australia misses its 2030 emissions reduction target. James Massola and Mike Foley write that walking away from the Paris Agreement would infuriate Liberal moderates and MPs in metropolitan seats, where climate action is more popular; embolden the teals and other independents; and risk reigniting the climate wars fought between Nationals and Liberals in the former Morrison government.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/nationals-nuclear-climate-policy-puts-australia-s-paris-deal-in-doubt-20240424-p5fm8p.html
The chair of Mental Health Australia has quit his position at the peak body, citing his frustration with the Albanese government’s inaction on mental health. Natassia Chrysanthos writes that in a move that will intensify scrutiny on Labor’s dedication to the issue, Matt Berriman, a former cricketer and businessman who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and attempted suicide, resigned yesterday after three years petitioning the government to improve the system.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mental-health-australia-chair-quits-in-despair-at-government-inaction-20240424-p5fmbu.html
“Don’t let Molly Ticehurst die in vain. I don’t care if we restrict civil liberties”, urges barrister Geoffrey Watson. He argues that stronger action must be taken against men credibly accused of stalking, threatening or abusing women. History tells us that the “protection” supposedly afforded by an apprehended violence order is often no protection at all. We need to do more; we need to do things differently.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/don-t-let-molly-ticehurst-die-in-vain-i-don-t-care-if-we-restrict-civil-liberties-20240424-p5fm76.html
Elizabeth Knight tells us why Richard Goyder survived even though his climate plan was panned at the Woodside AGM.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/why-goyder-survived-even-though-his-climate-plan-was-panned-20240424-p5fm9c.html
Alexandra Smith calls for Liberal MP Taylor Martin to resign from public life.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/in-public-life-some-private-failings-can-be-overlooked-but-this-mp-should-resign-20240424-p5fm7f.html
Michael Koziol reports that yesterday police were called to a chaotic meeting of Liverpool City Council ] as union members allegedly refused to vacate the chamber for a closed-door debate about the future of council chief executive John Ajaka, a former Liberal MP. Sydney local councils really are something else!
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/no-one-leave-police-called-to-chaotic-council-meeting-as-ceo-suspended-20240424-p5fmb4.html
Michaela Whitbourn tells us that now Lisa Wilkinson is locked in a fresh fight with Ten over her million-dollar legal costs of defending Bruce Lehrmann’s failed defamation suit, after the network suggested it should not be ordered to foot the bill for all the work performed by her lawyers.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/lisa-wilkinson-and-ten-at-loggerheads-over-lehrmann-costs-20240424-p5fmdc.html
Karen Middleton reports that the Australian federal police are conducting an internal review to determine whether any officers leaked material or otherwise breached professional standards in handling evidence obtained for the criminal investigation and rape trial of the former ministerial adviser Bruce Lehrmann. She says that the decision over whether to investigate Lehrmann for any potential contempt of court now lies with the ACT director of public prosecutions, whose office made the decision to discontinue the rape prosecution in 2022.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/25/afp-review-bruce-lehrmann-criminal-trial-leaked-material-allegation-ntwnfb
Seven teens alleged to adhere to a “religiously motivated violent extremist ideology” have been arrested as part of the investigation into the Wakeley stabbing attack. Twisted minds!
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/joint-counter-terrorism-police-execute-search-warrants-in-sydney-20240424-p5fm9y.html
The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) has today urged a suite of actions and investments to protect the future of the Murray-Darling Basin in the face of climate change, which is threatening the river’s health and sustainability.
https://theaimn.com/top-water-experts-urge-renewed-action-to-secure-future-of-murray-darling-basin/
The debate continues to rage over Elon Musk’s refusal to take down videos of the church stabbing from X. Musk claims freedom of speech, and the Government wants to censor the world, writes Dan Svantesson who wonders if the global content take-down will do more harm than good.
https://michaelwest.com.au/elon-musk-vs-australia-global-censorship/
Sydney’s stretched passenger rail network faces challenges from replacing old trains, protracted delays to technology upgrades, workforce gaps and risks from rolling out a new timetable in the next few months to incorporate a $21 billion metro line into the system, explains Matt O’Sullivan.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/old-trains-delays-and-timetable-risks-the-truth-about-sydney-s-strained-rail-network-20240423-p5fm2o.html
The Australian federal police are conducting an internal review to determine whether any officers leaked material or otherwise breached professional standards in handling evidence obtained for the criminal investigation and rape trial of the former ministerial adviser Bruce Lehrmann. The decision over whether to investigate Lehrmann for any potential contempt of court now lies with the ACT director of public prosecutions, whose office made the decision to discontinue the rape prosecution in 2022.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/25/afp-review-bruce-lehrmann-criminal-trial-leaked-material-allegation-ntwnfb
“Everyone laughed at Hitler in the 1920s. A century on, are we making the same mistake?”, asks Adrian Chiles.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/24/everyone-laughed-at-hitler-in-the-1920s-a-century-on-are-we-making-the-same-mistake
A New York court has heard evidence of how Donald Trump’s long and tumultuous journey to secure the Republican nomination – and later the presidency – was aided by a US tabloid known for printing gory pictures of murder scenes and questionable journalistic ethics. Prosecutors say an alleged “catch-and-kill” scheme saw the National Enquirer catching a potentially damaging story by buying the rights to it and then killing it through agreements that prevent the paid person from telling the story to anyone else.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/24/trump-national-enquirer
Trump’s hush-money case might finally show him what accountability feels like, says Margaret Sullivan in quite a good read.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/24/trumps-hush-money-case-accountability
Cartoon Corner
David Pope
Matt Golding
Cathy Wilcox
Glen Le Lievre
Spooner
From the US
Media Watch on the Lehrmann story, with a special focus on Janet Albrechtsen:
https://youtu.be/hRqnWeWje7M?si=mlVlOuaitswy-5iW
Frednk
White is not modern Australia but what the ANZACs fought for was.
Australia’s reward for 60,000 dead was some trust territories and international acquiescence to the White Australia Policy.
Q: White is not modern Australia but what the ANZACs fought for was.
Indeed. My Great Uncle George, a Kamilaroi man, died in Ypes a few months before the end of the war. For the freedoms he and his family did not enjoy…..
Hillary Clinton has been sitting in the courtroom during Trump’s trial in NY. 😀
Timothy Snyder talks about bloodland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y6EaZ1nKHEI
I never knew my Grandmother, great aunts and great uncles a family of 10, all died as part of this.
Torch
Do you know why he joined up?
C@tmomma @ #31 Thursday, April 25th, 2024 – 7:50 am
Thanks C@t, I hadn’t seen that one.
Watching the grabs of The Oz’s stories I wonder again whether all that one-sided coverage lured Lehrmann into a false sense of victimhood, such that he genuinely felt he had a realistic chance of atonement via a defamation suit.
And I literally laughed aloud at Albrechsten’s statement about the Spotlight program. “That comment hasn’t aged well,” deadpanned the host.
Thanks BK!
Good morning, all.
As usual, a thoroughly conflicted day.
I give my respect to all those who faced death on our behalf based on their convictions of what was right and wrong.
I give my respect to all those who refused to fight based on their convictions of what was right and wrong, noting in particular that moral courage can be as hard to find as physical courage.
I express my concern at the people who are too ready to go off but not ready enough to think before it comes to that.
My contempt to all the politicians who sent good people to unnecessary deaths for political ends.
My contempt to the yellow journalism school of scribblers including those who failed to tell truth to power during the Afghanistan War.
My respect to all the politicians who led our country with great moral courage during its existential crisis.
My honour to a father not because of why he fought but because he survived the Burma Railroad and who came back damaged by that.
My respect to the families, friends and colleagues who faced with courage and kindness the returnees who were damaged and who could not contain the damage within themselves.
My contempt for a nation that has yet to face fully the realities of our longest war and to address the shattering consequences of that war.
Oakeshott Country says:
Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 7:53 am
Frednk
White is not modern Australia but what the ANZACs fought for was.
Australia’s reward for 60,000 dead was some trust territories and international acquiescence to the White Australia Policy.
Agreed.
It is a problem, the advert underlined that problem.
Q: Do you know why he joined up?
No, but that generation of my aboriginal family was very integrated into the pastoral community in the New England (they were prized labour for the wealthy estates there), and they were also the ‘elder’ family….
It was sad to see his grave in Ploegsteert Belgium..so far from country.
As for the ANZACs.
Just have a look at the lists on the plinths on the statues in country towns around Australia.
They were overwhelmingly white.
They were overwhelmingly christian.
They were overwhelmingly anglophone.
They were still massacring Indigenous people back home.
And, as OC points out, they were there to maintain white domination in an empire in which the vast majority of inhabitants did not have the vote, had a separate ‘rights’ to freedom of expression and assembly as well as lesser access to education, health and fair wage regimes.
Did Wilkinson suspect that Ten was going to settle with Lehrmann?
Else, why hire separate representation?
Unless Counsel and Solicitors are the debt forgiving type [ha ha], like BL, LW may rue the decision to go to Court?
I am very pleased that Albanese is in PNG for ANZAC Day. Australian soldiers died in PNG defending Australia. Australian soldiers died at Gallipoli defending a nasty colonialist empire.
This is worth thinking about.
I would extend the thinking to family members who suffer physical and emotional violence at the hands of veterans – sometimes a lifelong ‘contribution’ to the defence of the realm.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/25/adf-should-formally-honour-personnel-who-lose-lives-away-from-battlefield-royal-commission-chief-says
Torch
The community expectation to enlist would have been intense. I spoke to a lot of WWI diggers in Concord Repat in the late 70s.
The story was common; sense of adventure (particularly to get out of country towns); community pressure (everyone else was doing it), “for King and Country” i.e. the British Empire.
There was not a lot of knowledge of European tribalism and the need to prevent the Hapsburgs from dominating the Balkans.
The most poignant story was a 14 year old who ran away to war and lost his arm at Gallipoli. As soon as he left home, he wanted to get back but the wheels were in motion and no one cared he was underage.
We need to think seriously about changing some of our medals.
The Victoria Cross is one such, and the most important.
It is tied to a colonial and imperial heritage which is increasingly irrelevant to the majority of the population.
The cross is also a christian symbol.
Around half of the population is secular.
Much of the religious population do not follow the cross.
We need the ADF to be representative in the broadest sense – across genders and reflective of our multicultural nation.
It can’t do that if the highest individual battle honour is compromised.
Torch
White feathers?
Badthinker: “… like BL, LW may rue the decision to go to Court?”
Why, is she at risk of being adjudged to be a rapist, too?
Arizona Republicans could see the writing on the wall.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/24/arizona-abortion-ban/