Next week being budget week, we’re likely to see little in the way of polling beyond the usual Roy Morgan, followed by a deluge the week after as the main players to take the field to gauge the public’s response. For now, there’s the following:
• YouGov has published a further result from its April 19-23 survey showing 35% support for Australia recognising Palestine as an independent state with 27% opposed and 44% unsure, with Greens supporters the most enthusiastic and One Nation supporters the least.
• The Australian Electoral Commission, which hitherto offered only the second quarter as the time when the proposed redistributions for New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia would be published, is now saying “late May/early June”. I’ve also noticed for the first time that a redistribution process for the Northern Territory began in late February. With 81,170 voters presently enrolled in Lingiari and 72,748 in Solomon, this is likely to involve a transfer of voters in Palmerston from the latter to the former. This will be welcome for Labor, as the loss of this conservative-voting area will boost their 0.9% margin in Lingiari while reducing their 9.4% margin in Solomon.
• The Liberals have announced Brendan Small, managing director of a local cleaning products firm, as candidate for the New South Wales Central Coast seat of Dobell, held for Labor by Emma McBride on a margin of 6.5%.
• Weeks after I’d forgotten about it, an advisory from the AEC that they are about to archive their Cook by-election media feed prompted me to update my own results page with what are the definitive final results. Liberal candidate Simon Kennedy scored 62.7% of the primary vote, winning at the final count ahead of the Greens with 71.3%.
• The Nationals have preselected Brendan Moylan, a Moree solicitor, as their candidate for the New South Wales state by-election for Northern Tablelands, the date for which the government appears in no hurry to announce. The by-election will choose a successor to Nationals member Adam Marshall, who was re-elected last year with 71.6% of the primary vote and is abandoning state politics at the age of 39, with media reports suggesting he hopes to succeed Barnaby Joyce in New England.
“… followed by a deluge the week after as the main players to take the field to gauge the public’s response.”
Ah, yes: the annual hunt for that fabled creature, the Budget Bounce.
Have a great Friday everyone. Hopefully we can leave behind the vitriolic conversations of yesterday.
#weatheronPB
The small, lonely clouds,
set across the morning’s stage,
are lit, one by one.
With most of the population out beyond the political rabbit proof fence, the celebration of the “fabled bounce” is now just a jamboree for political insiders, desperately seeking significant impact.
They are often disguised as journalists, intertwined with wannabe political influencers and remnant political tribal warriors.
Headlines, in a vastly changed technological era, are found in the strangest places, using the latest to capture the image of the “fabled bounce”.
Some of the best views are often found and illuminated by political bludgers.
Just how good are shares?…
The London Stock Exchange has inspected the public numbers (as it would) and found that, of the 20 UK companies that have raised over $100m in the US over the last decade, eight have already delisted, only three are trading above their IPO price, and the rest are trading down by an average of 71%.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/article/2024/may/09/cazoo-car-crash-skidding-on-a-shares-fall-of-999-ends-an-american-dream
And if you take out all that superannuation money the implosion would be even bigger.. basically it’s a mugs game..
‘What happened in the former prime minister’s seat of Cook, described as “blatant, arrogant and overt” by one Liberal hopeful, was a concerted campaign driven by some of the country’s most influential figures.’
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-10/how-cook-was-won/103629376
Chalmers’ call for Australians to have more babies is one of the most politically clueless things he’s done in a long time.
We know why birth rates are falling: in very large part, income and housing insecurity causing people to delay having children or not have them at all. He’s not willing to make the hard choices to address those issues – and while there’s arguments for that, he also needs to accept the consequences of those decisions.
Making that public call with the current economic and housing situation just makes him look phenomenally out of touch in a way that was needless when he could have just shut up.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
Shane Wright reckons that if Jim Chalmers gets the budget wrong, interest rate rises may kill his government.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/if-chalmers-gets-the-budget-wrong-interest-rate-rises-may-kill-his-government-20240506-p5fpcg.html
The Australian thinks Jim Chalmers’ third budget will take Australia down a new economic path from the “orthodoxy” embraced by Labor and Coalition governments since the 1980s, promoting a bigger role for government as Treasury forecasts a looming slowdown in private-sector investment growth. Acknowledging Labor’s shift away from the small government and less interventionist approach backed by the Hawke and Keating governments, the Treasurer said he would preside over a “new growth model for a new generation of prosperity”.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/era-of-jim-chalmers-in-gospel-of-paul-keating-out-treasurer-heralds-new-economic-orthodoxy-in-budget/news-story/1fb191cd14fa7bb1451cff1770ffd531?amp=
The federal government is poised to expand rebates and concessions available to jobseekers in next week’s federal budget, which is also expected to increase rent assistance. Karen Middleton reports that Jim Chalmers has confirmed that Tuesday’s budget will not increase the jobseeker payment but suggested it would boost concessions linked to social security payments, among a suite of measures designed to offer cost-of-living relief without pushing up inflation.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/10/jim-chalmers-flags-budget-relief-for-income-support-recipients-after-ruling-out-jobseeker-boost
Mike Foley writes that a government push for new gas projects will make climate change worse according to teal independents and Greens who will target Labor’s support for the fossil fuel at the next election after doing the same to defeat the former Morrison government. He reports that Grattan Institute energy director Tony Wood said the gas strategy was an opportunity for the government to detail its solutions for “serious challenges” on gas supply, but it had only offered broad principles without specifics. Absolutely!
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-s-gas-boost-opens-new-front-in-crossbench-election-battle-20240509-p5iysn.html
The bottom line of the “future gas strategy” isn’t what it might mean for the government’s political fortunes, despite what Labor pollsters and political commentators might argue. It’s this, writes Adam Morton – the gas industry, one of Australia’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters, is getting what it wants. What it wants, in simple terms, is government approval to make multibillion-dollar investments in new gas reservoirs that will lead to billions of tonnes of emissions.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/09/labors-strategy-is-to-reduce-emissions-from-gas-but-not-if-that-means-doing-anything-to-cut-its-use
Simon Johanson tells us that a major manufacturer has said the high cost of gas in Australia is skewing investment decisions towards other countries, and the Albanese government’s pledge to approve new gas projects and deliver affordable gas to customers won’t fix today’s problems.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/orica-boss-says-gas-pledge-won-t-fix-today-s-soaring-price-problem-20240509-p5ir22.html
In the meantime, it has come out that Donald Trump dangled a brazen “deal” in front of some of the top US oil bosses last month, proposing that they give him $1bn for his White House re-election campaign and vowing that once back in office he would instantly tear up Joe Biden’s environmental regulations and prevent any new ones, according to a bombshell new report. According to the Washington Post, the former US president made his jaw-dropping pitch, which the paper described as “remarkably blunt and transactional”, at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago home and club. WTF!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/09/trump-oil-ceo-donation
“What’s the economy for? How does it work? What does it do? Who owns it? Who runs it?”, Ross Gittins asks and he sets out to answer the questions.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/the-economy-s-just-the-means-to-an-end-so-are-we-getting-our-money-s-worth-20240509-p5jcei.html
According to Angus Thompson, Home Affairs officials only began drafting emergency legislation to monitor criminals released from detention two days after a High Court judgment freed them, even though officials met Immigration Minister Andrew Giles’ office several times in the lead-up to the November 8 ruling.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/laws-for-immigration-detainees-only-drafted-after-landmark-high-court-ruling-20240507-p5fpm4.html
Parents whose children will never attend promised childcare or see promised school upgrades are unlikely to be satisfied by the Victorian treasurer’s postponement of election pledges, writes Annika Smethurst.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/pallas-says-labor-s-promises-have-been-delayed-many-would-say-they-ve-been-broken-20240509-p5isfh.html
Shane Wright and David Crowe tell us that Jim Chalmers has done a Costello by asking Australians to have more kids.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-let-s-have-more-babies-says-jim-chalmers-20240509-p5jb5y.html
Troy Bramston revels that Queen Elizabeth II penned a letter of sympathy to Peter Hollingworth after he resigned in disgrace as governor-general over his past handling of child sexual abuse as Anglican archbishop of Brisbane and lashed “activists” and their “horrid media campaigning” against the church. It is one of several extraordinary letters from senior members of the royal family, including then-prince Charles, offering consolation to Dr Hollingworth, who has since been found guilty of serious misconduct by the Anglican Church. Cringeworthy stuff!
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/hounded-out-by-activists-queen-elizabeth-iis-backing-for-disgraced-peter-hollingworth/news-story/fbcfee94b809d50b9953e6a15bbc06d6?amp=
Social media giants will be called before a parliamentary inquiry into the societal damage done by Facebook, TikTok and other platforms as Elon Musk expands his legal challenge against Australia’s online watchdog. And Musk’s company X this week launched a case in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal testing the merits of eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant’s order to remove videos of the April stabbing of a Sydney priest.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/musk-widens-legal-fight-with-australia-as-labor-pushes-social-media-probe-20240509-p5jb54.html
David Crowe declares, “When uni students endorse terror, it’s time for political intervention”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/free-speech-or-threat-to-society-uni-tensions-demand-political-intervention-20240509-p5ir0w.html
Meanwhile, Victoria Police has told universities there is a strong likelihood of violence if they don’t break up pro-Palestine student encampments on their campuses, warning that agitators who are not students are inflaming tensions.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/police-warn-unis-to-break-up-protests-as-staffer-threatens-to-burn-camp-20240508-p5gqiv.html
Henry Reynolds argues that the West believes antisemitism is a more egregious problem than genocide.
https://johnmenadue.com/the-west-believe-antisemitism-is-a-more-egregious-problem-than-genocide/
The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi has applied to the federal court to reopen her racial discrimination case against Pauline Hanson, in a bid to air new evidence alleging that the One Nation leader knew Faruqi was a Muslim when she tweeted for her to “piss off back to Pakistan”. Amy Remeikis reports that Faruqi has alleged she had been racially discriminated against and vilified by Hanson under section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act and last week the federal court spent four days hearing evidence from both senators.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/09/faruqi-v-hanson-greens-senator-seeks-to-reopen-racial-discrimination-case-citing-new-evidence
Andrew Tate’s extreme views about women are infiltrating Australian schools. We need a zero-tolerance response, urge these contributors to The Conversation.
https://theconversation.com/andrew-tates-extreme-views-about-women-are-infiltrating-australian-schools-we-need-a-zero-tolerance-response-229603
The epicentre for boys behaving badly might have been Yarra Valley Grammar this week, but it would be foolhardy not to think the same ratings are delivered at other schools. They are, writes Madonna Kong, and they spike in the last two years of high school ahead of semi-formals and formal celebrations.
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2024/05/10/madonna-king-yarra-valley-grammar
“Crackdown on money launderers!” they cried. But are laws promised 17 years ago to stop lawyers, accountants and property developers from laundering money any closer. Asks Michael West.
https://michaelwest.com.au/australia-money-laundering-to-keep-driving-up-real-estate/
Nearly 50,000 new homes could be constructed by 2029 if the government forgoes two taxes and turbocharges planning approval times, with major housing developments in Sydney’s west considered financially unviable, reports Max Maddison.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/new-taxes-impeding-delivery-of-50-000-new-homes-in-sydney-developers-claim-20240508-p5gvar.html
The Australian Financial Review will be forced to stop its physical edition in Perth this month after billionaire Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media abruptly doubled the cost of printing the newspaper for distribution in Western Australia. Nine Entertainment has said the decision would end seven decades of the financial journal’s distribution as a printed newspaper in the state. (This will have the effect of increasing the standard cost of Stokes’ own printed product).
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/afr-to-cut-print-in-wa-after-seven-s-abuse-of-power-20240509-p5jb72.html
The SMH editorial posits that Biden’s curb on bomb delivery could be a catalyst to end the Rafah standoff. It says that while politicians position and negotiate, urgent assistance must be afforded to this shameful scene of ongoing famine and disease.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/biden-s-curb-on-bomb-delivery-could-be-a-catalyst-to-end-rafah-standoff-20240509-p5ir1h.html
The US decision to pause the delivery of bombs represents a significant turning point in its relationship with Israel. But it may not necessarily be a breaking point, suggests The New York Times’ Peter Baker.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/frustrated-at-being-ignored-biden-chooses-a-dramatic-way-of-making-himself-heard-by-israel-20240509-p5jb64.html
The oil super majors are eyeing shifting their primary stock exchange listings to New York as a stronger push to reduce fossil fuels in their home markets weighs on their share prices, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz who says it’s not easy being green for UK and European oil giants
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/it-s-not-easy-being-green-for-uk-and-european-oil-giants-20240509-p5ir0x.html
Stormy Daniels’s testimony paints a dark picture of Trump’s view of sex and power, writes Moira Donegan who opines that Trump’s hush-money trial is, at heart, about the ways powerful men work to prevent women from telling ugly truths.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/09/stormy-daniels-testimony-trump
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe
David Pope
Andrew Dyson
Matt Golding
Cathy Wilcox
John Shakespeare
Simon Letch
Fiona Katauskas
Mark Knight
Leak
From the US
Sceptic, that’s the UK which hasn’t been a great performing market post brexit. Up 16% over 5 years, ASX 22% and Nasdaq is up 138%.
Most >$100m IPOs end up in the US anyway. Canva, despite being Australian will list there not here.
Jim Chalmers’ third budget will take Australia down a new economic path from the “orthodoxy” embraced by Labor and Coalition governments since the 1980s, promoting a bigger role for government as Treasury forecasts a looming slowdown in private-sector investment growth.
Acknowledging Labor’s shift away from the small government and less interventionist approach backed by the Hawke and Keating governments, the Treasurer said he would preside over a “new growth model for a new generation of prosperity”.
Next Tuesday’s budget will use a combination of direct public funding, new business incentives, tax breaks and streamlined regulations to turbocharge booming private sector investment and drive Australia’s net-zero transition.
“I think the world has changed and the orthodoxy is changing with it,” Dr Chalmers told The Australian in a pre-budget interview. “The big risk is that we’ll be left behind. And I think if we were to ignore the opportunities of the global net zero transformation, that would be an egregious breach of our generational responsibilities.”
In embracing a new economic orthodoxy, the Treasurer said it was not “a repudiation of the past; it’s building on the past.”
Dr Chalmers will pull multiple levers – including foreign investment rule changes, subsidies, new housing measures and co-investment with super funds – to unleash a flood of private capital into the economy.
While traditional mining companies remain a major driver of business investment and capital expenditure, Dr Chalmers’ new growth model will be anchored by government intervention in priority industries through Anthony Albanese’s Future Made in Australia agenda.
Treasury budget forecasts show soaring business investment volumes, fuelled by the post-pandemic investment binge, will continue growing but at a slower rate. Real business investment is projected to grow by 5.5 per cent this financial year, 1 per cent in 2024-25 and 2 per cent in 2025-26. Total business investment in 2025-26 is expected to hit $305.7bn, capping six years of consecutive growth.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/era-of-jim-chalmers-in-gospel-of-paul-keating-out-treasurer-heralds-new-economic-orthodoxy-in-budget/news-story/1fb191cd14fa7bb1451cff1770ffd531?amp
Sceptic @ #5 Friday, May 10th, 2024 – 7:03 am
I recall my finance lecturer telling my class that the share market is an amazing opportunity to lose money if you dont know what you’re doing. Not so much in the sense of actually losing all your cash, but mostly in the sense that it was easy to buy shares in companies that didnt return as well as simply just buying the index.
His research showed that you’d be a mug if you asked a financial advisor to invest your money on the exchanges, something like 70% didnt beat the market, basically flimflam men. He showed us all sorts of complex calculation tools to pull apart a company’s ‘s annual financial statements to predict likely share price. But he also emphasized the ‘likely’ part of that statement. CFOs jobs are often to hide bad news way down in the detail with a small foot note that then refers to another footnote which reveals starkly different advice to what the CEO’s statement is.
His advice, and I have followed it since, simply buy indexed share packages which represent a comprehensive cross section of the entire market and that’d be the best you could hope for.
Picking investment winners is as difficult for the government as it is in the stock markets.
Donald Trump’s lawyers demanded a mistrial in the Manhattan criminal case around the alleged hush money scheme, but it led to a threat from prosecutors. Trump faces 34 felony counts involving the falsification of business records for an alleged effort to cover up the hush money given to adult actress and director Stormy Daniels.
Lawyers for Trump argued that because Daniels provided so much irrelevant detail about Trump the jury was ultimately unable to make a valid ruling. In response, prosecutors explained, “Those messy details: That is motive.” The shocking information around the encounter, they argued, is the reason that Trump wanted to pay the hush money deal to begin with. They’re the reason he wanted to hide the hush money payment, they say.
Prosecutors went so far as to say that they had pages of information going into great detail about the former president that they intentionally didn’t ask about to avoid doing what the defense was accusing them of doing. They went so far as to offer to submit those details to the court under seal.
“… Queen Elizabeth II penned a letter of sympathy to Peter Hollingworth after he resigned in disgrace as governor-general over his past handling of child sexual abuse …”
Head of State + Head of Church.
What’s wrong with this picture?
“The Australian Financial Review will be forced to stop its physical edition in Perth this month after billionaire Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media abruptly doubled the cost of printing the newspaper for distribution in Western Australia. … (This will have the effect of increasing the standard cost of Stokes’ own printed product).”
Losing money does not seem to concern Stokes.
He’s breezily blown millions backing lost-cause legal cases brought by a killer and a rapist.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-a-nuclear-reactor-we-ask-france/
Cost-of-living relief will flow to pensioners and Australians on fixed incomes struggling to pay energy bills, healthcare and other essentials, as Treasurer Jim Chalmers declares Labor’s budget will help those doing it tough. A cut to the fuel excise has been ruled out despite soaring petrol costs, but supporting renters by boosting new home builds to increase housing supply will be a key feature of the May 14 federal budget.
While the government is not expected to raise the pension or other payments, it is understood Australians who won’t benefit from tax cuts will be eligible for other help. In an interview with News Corp, Mr Chalmers confirmed there will be cost-of-living relief for pensioners and others who do not benefit from the stage three tax cuts. “We do understand that people who might be on fixed incomes, pensioners, aged pensioners and others, they need our assistance and our support as well, and that’s on the way,” he said.
The energy-relief-payments-delivered-by-way-of-state-arrangements thing is a political and policy dud, as well.
It’s confusing, the overwhelming response last time was that people didn’t know if they even received it, and even in the event that they do and it gets noticed, the federal government isn’t likely to get a lot of the credit because it’s delivered by the states. The very strange eligibility criteria also excluded a heck of a lot of people living on Centrelink benefits.
It is a stark contrast to something like Victorian Labor’s now-wound up energy payments which were very clear, very easy to claim, had really clear and sensible eligibility criteria, and for which they deservingly got credit for.
It’s another one of these areas where there’s a baffling lack of concern about the detail beyond having an announceable, and at least to much to the detriment of federal Labor (in ensuring that one of their major announcements has far less cut-through with target voters than just about any alternative option) as to the people who may or may not receive it.
Sussan Ley as Environment Minister okayed Glencore plan to pump CO2 from Millmerran Power Station into the GAB:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-10/carbon-capture-storage-project-causes-coalition-rift/103826724
Rebecca says:
Friday, May 10, 2024 at 8:35 am
The energy-relief-payments-delivered-by-way-of-state-arrangements thing is a political and policy dud, as well.
It’s confusing, the overwhelming response last time was that people didn’t know if they even received it, and even in the event that they do and it gets noticed, the federal government isn’t likely to get a lot of the credit because it’s delivered by the states. The very strange eligibility criteria also excluded a heck of a lot of people living on Centrelink benefits.
It is a stark contrast to something like Victorian Labor’s now-wound up energy payments which were very clear, very easy to claim, had really clear and sensible eligibility criteria, and for which they deservingly got credit for.
It’s another one of these areas where there’s a baffling lack of concern about the detail beyond having an announceable, and at least to much to the detriment of federal Labor (in ensuring that one of their major announcements has far less cut-through with target voters than just about any alternative option) as to the people who may or may not receive it.
____________
Parsing your comment, you are unhappy with it being an announcent without detail prior to the budget, but have already led with the conclusion it is a dud. Do I have it correct? I get the feeling that you are a tough audience 🙂
Morning all. Thanks for the roundup BK. I was busy with work or out for much of yesterday and mercifully missed the Labor gas policy release and following debate.
“ Mike Foley writes that a government push for new gas projects will make climate change worse according to teal independents and Greens who will target Labor’s support for the fossil fuel at the next election after doing the same to defeat the former Morrison government. He reports that Grattan Institute energy director Tony Wood said the gas strategy was an opportunity for the government to detail its solutions for “serious challenges” on gas supply, but it had only offered broad principles without specifics. Absolutely!”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-s-gas-boost-opens-new-front-in-crossbench-election-battle-20240509-p5iysn.html
That being said, based on information released so far Labor’s gas policy is a cave in to the gas industry.
Further if this is the best Labor can do selling it, then they deserve to end up in minority government. It makes Albo look like Scomo light.
PS Carbon capture and storage is more of the same BS, aimed at the ignorant.
Griff: It appears to be a repeat of the same thing federal Labor did in the previous budget.
Did you not know that federal Labor made energy relief announcements in the last Budget, or are you just being querulous for the sake of it?
The 2023 policy was a dud – both on a political and a policy basis – for the reasons I noted. Merely repeating the same thing after the very muted response and significant delivery issues last time suggests a real lack of interest in policy detail beyond having an announceable, to their own political detriment if nothing else.
Badthinker @ #19 Friday, May 10th, 2024 – 8:36 am
I always put carbon capture in the same book as, clean coal, cost effective small modular reactors, and hover cars. ie fantasy cooked up by someone not wanting to face hard truths.
And then there’s this glaringly problematic issue.
The chemical reaction between water and carbon dioxide is : CO2 carbon dioxide + H2O water ⇔ H 2 CO3 carbonic acid. When carbonic acid flows through the cracks of some rocks, it chemically reacts with the rock causing some of it to dissolve. The end point is groundwater acidification, releasing potentially hazardous pollutants including arsenic, cadmium, and lead.
No probs at all.
Rebecca says:
Friday, May 10, 2024 at 8:59 am
Griff: It appears to be a repeat of the same thing federal Labor did in the previous budget.
Did you not know that federal Labor made energy relief announcements in the last Budget, or are you just being querulous for the sake of it?
___________
I prefer to wait for the detail. If I am convinced I know what the detail will be, I would qualify my conclusion as a prediction. Your first line in your response saying “it appears” is a suitable qualifier now, it works for me 🙂
Looks like Labor’s pretension of having a serious climate change policy is running out of gas …
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-s-gas-boost-opens-new-front-in-crossbench-election-battle-20240509-p5iysn.html
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/09/labors-strategy-is-to-reduce-emissions-from-gas-but-not-if-that-means-doing-anything-to-cut-its-use
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-s-gas-boost-opens-new-front-in-crossbench-election-battle-20240509-p5iysn.html
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/orica-boss-says-gas-pledge-won-t-fix-today-s-soaring-price-problem-20240509-p5ir22.html
This looks like being a potentially catastrophic own goal by Labor. Labor should thank their gods for the cross bench, who will very likely be the ones to save them from their own incompetence.
Hey, Glencore only want to pump 13,000 tons o0f CO2 in per year, and it’s a pretty big aquifer!
Badthinker @ #26 Friday, May 10th, 2024 – 9:08 am
Take your victory on gas policy and be content. You don’t also need to damage the livelihoods of millions.
Perhaps Chris Bowen could hit two birds with the one stone by proposing gas powered submarines?
On a different topic, Xanthippe and I are boycotting Eurovision this year following their decisions to permit Israel to stay in, whilst banning palestinian flags (or any form of protest). Classic white-washed, sanitised TV.
There are now pro-Palestinian protest camps at most Australian universities. There are parallel pro-Israel camps at some campuses as well. The latter are typically outnumbered 10 to 1. The (pro-Israel) one at Adelaide Uni is mainly occupied by 40-something men who do not look like students. Most of the Jewish students are at the pro-Palestine camp.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/10/its-unacceptable-as-pro-palestine-encampments-grow-at-australian-campuses-so-do-claims-of-antisemitism
I still agree Australia should avoid taking sides in the Hamas – Israel war since Hamas is a terrorist group. However IMO the Israeli assault on Gaza is also plainly illegal (disproportionate response is not self defence) and Australia needs to walk away from any military links with Israel. How does Israel help defend Australia?
Have a good day all.
Mostly Interested
PS on shares my thesis supervisor said the same thing. Only 20% of shares beat the index in Australia and USA.
Player One @ #25 Friday, May 10th, 2024 – 9:07 am
Nah, it’s 3D chess. Labor are giving the cross bench some reelection fodder.
How Rupert Murdoch quietly helped Mike Johnson survive Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ouster attempt
https://amp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/05/09/media/rupert-murdoch-mike-johnson-marjorie-taylor-greene?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQGsAEggAID#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17152964305360&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fmedia%2Frupert-murdoch-mike-johnson-marjorie-taylor-greene%2Findex.html
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australia-let-s-have-more-babies-says-jim-chalmers-20240509-p5jb5y.html
This just seems incredibly tone-deaf, considering just how expensive raising a child is… I couldn’t imagine balancing a child, a mortgage, and the general cost of living blow-out that your average individual must be facing… cross bench fodder indeed
Not even getting started on the ethical and moral questions parents must be asking themselves about having children on a 2.5 plus world
Jim Chalmers gives a long form interview on the upcoming Budget….
https://youtu.be/JLzp53D6thg?si=qWHoRudTrnjMKuxQ
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Mostly Interestedsays:
Friday, May 10, 2024 at 6:27 am
Have a great Friday everyone. Hopefully we can leave behind the vitriolic conversations of yesterday.
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MI
No. It was not vitriolic. Otherwise, WB would have shut it down since it is a sensitive topic.
As far as I can remember (I could be wrong), WB never imposed moratorium on any topic other than this one.
Yes, he issued moratoriums when people talked absolute crap but that was not subject specific.
I would say there was vigorous debate without anyone trying to insult anyone personally.
Ven @ #30 Friday, May 10th, 2024 – 9:25 am
I think the big story here is that the Democrats clearly saw that more chaos in the house would lead to poor outcomes nationally and globally. So they didn’t partake in cheap partisan politics.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/us/politics/mike-johnson-speaker-vote.html
Ven, I checked in at about 5pm to read the afternoon’s posts and the amount of personal sniping had reached extreme levels. Then there was the morning fly by carpet bombing. I remember Wednesday as being quite a pleasant day on PB, the contrast to Thursday was stark. That’s what I’m referring to, not the actual topics under discussion which were of some value.
Mostly Interested @ #35 Friday, May 10th, 2024 – 9:38 am
I think you’ll find a correlation between how poorly Labor is traveling on the day and the level of snark here on PB from Labor partisans directed at anyone who dares to post commentary on that. On that basis yesterday was a shocker, and today may not be much better.
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Scepticsays:
Friday, May 10, 2024 at 7:03 am
Just how good are shares?…
The London Stock Exchange has inspected the public numbers (as it would) and found that, of the 20 UK companies that have raised over $100m in the US over the last decade, eight have already delisted, only three are trading above their IPO price, and the rest are trading down by an average of 71%.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/article/2024/may/09/cazoo-car-crash-skidding-on-a-shares-fall-of-999-ends-an-american-dream
And if you take out all that superannuation money the implosion would be even bigger.. basically it’s a mugs game..
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Playing with shares maybe a mugs game. But it is also one of the indicators how badly economies in the West are performing.
Yes, UK, USA and Australia voted for issues in a wrong way
For example
UK voted for Brexit
UK voted for Boris Johnson with huge majority.
USA voted for Trump
Australia continuously voted L-NP governments in the last decade.
I can go on and on and on….
But the thing they are all symptoms and not the causes. The cause was laid out in the previous decade, some say even earlier with West supporting dictators like Putin and Chinese Presidents out of greed. Also, USA waged multiple wars in Iraq, Afghanistan . Europe also waged their wars with balkanisation of Yugoslavia and allowing brutality of Serbia over other Yugoslav nations.
Mostly Interested at 0938: +1
Mostly Interested yes there was a bit of name calling and temper tantrums but also a lot of good discussions yesterday.
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In the meantime, it has come out that Donald Trump dangled a brazen “deal” in front of some of the top US oil bosses last month, proposing that they give him $1bn for his White House re-election campaign and vowing that once back in office he would instantly tear up Joe Biden’s environmental regulations and prevent any new ones, according to a bombshell new report. According to the Washington Post, the former US president made his jaw-dropping pitch, which the paper described as “remarkably blunt and transactional”, at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago home and club. WTF!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/09/trump-oil-ceo-donation
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BW will insists on Plan B for Australia. But Australia is increasingly in uncharted wars by being joined at the hip with AUKUS deal.
US can do whatever it wants to Australia without worrying about voter backlash. Biden is doing it much more gently by implying that he has to win the re-election, otherwise it would be even worse under Trump.
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David Crowe declares, “When uni students endorse terror, it’s time for political intervention”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/free-speech-or-threat-to-society-uni-tensions-demand-political-intervention-20240509-p5ir0w.html
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WTF! WTBF!!
My questions are:
1. Does News Ltd use Stokes’ presses for its physical copies in WA?
2. If so, was News Ltd also told its costs would increase 100%?
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Meanwhile, Victoria Police has told universities there is a strong likelihood of violence if they don’t break up pro-Palestine student encampments on their campuses, warning that agitators who are not students are inflaming tensions.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/police-warn-unis-to-break-up-protests-as-staffer-threatens-to-burn-camp-20240508-p5gqiv.html
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And BW thinks it is a passing fad.
Labor have finally had a win on UA’s with the High Court dismissing the Iranian man’s case.
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Troy Bramston revels that Queen Elizabeth II penned a letter of sympathy to Peter Hollingworth after he resigned in disgrace as governor-general over his past handling of child sexual abuse as Anglican archbishop of Brisbane and lashed “activists” and their “horrid media campaigning” against the church. It is one of several extraordinary letters from senior members of the royal family, including then-prince Charles, offering consolation to Dr Hollingworth, who has since been found guilty of serious misconduct by the Anglican Church. Cringeworthy stuff!
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/hounded-out-by-activists-queen-elizabeth-iis-backing-for-disgraced-peter-hollingworth/news-story/fbcfee94b809d50b9953e6a15bbc06d6?amp=
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There was a discussion last week regarding monarch and GG, where someone said that British Monarch is just a figurehead and GG has all the powers.
The Monarch may not sign off on any of Australian Legislative bills but the GG still has to ask the permission of the Monarch to dismiss an Australian government. The Queen knows that and probably was sympathetic because she could not do anything to stop the resignation of the GG.
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The SMH editorial posits that Biden’s curb on bomb delivery could be a catalyst to end the Rafah standoff. It says that while politicians position and negotiate, urgent assistance must be afforded to this shameful scene of ongoing famine and disease.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/biden-s-curb-on-bomb-delivery-could-be-a-catalyst-to-end-rafah-standoff-20240509-p5ir1h.html
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On the same day of this SMH editorial David Crowe of SMH declares, “When uni students endorse terror, it’s time for political intervention”.
Are David Crowe and SMH editorial board living in parallel universes?
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Mostly Interestedsays:
Friday, May 10, 2024 at 9:38 am
Ven, I checked in at about 5pm to read the afternoon’s posts and the amount of personal sniping had reached extreme levels. Then there was the morning fly by carpet bombing. I remember Wednesday as being quite a pleasant day on PB, the contrast to Thursday was stark. That’s what I’m referring to, not the actual topics under discussion which were of some value.
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That is the usual vitriol between BW, C@tmomma, A_E, P1, Rex and Lordbain regarding climate change topic.
People like Taylormaid, PP and gympie loved it. 🙂
You know what I was referring to when I posted that discussion was not vitriolic.
davidwh says:
Friday, May 10, 2024 at 10:08 am
Labor have finally had a win on UA’s with the High Court dismissing the Iranian man’s case.
__________________________________________
And the far right and far left posters on this site are united in their grief.
TPOF 7-0 decision. Yes I heard this morning that the Coalition had delayed legislation to address the situation which was pretty blatant.
Both sides have expressed genocidal vision statements.
Hamas, given a limited opportunity, demonstrated who it would implement its vision statement if only it had the power so to do. I believe there would be no difference between Heshbollah, Iran, the Houthis, Assad or various Iranian supported terror groups operating in Syria and Iraq. All have expressed genocidal intentions. For them it is not a matter of if. It is a matter of when.
On Israel’s implementation of its genocidal vision statement we get daily feeds in the MSM.
The only real ethical difference between any of the players seems to me to be ability to deliver.
Demonstrating in support of either Hamas or Israel is, IMO, demonstrating in support of genocide. State terror or non-state player terror, choose your poison.
Demonstrating in support of a unified Palestinian state is, IMO, a legitimate focus.
However, I doubt whether the various student demonstrators are at all interested in the genocidal vision statements and activities of Hamas, Heshbollah, Iran, the Houthis or Assad. Those that express open support for Hamas are, beyond a shadow of a doubt, supporting terrorism.