The week after the federal budget was as always a big one for federal opinion polling, which means it will be followed by a trough next week. Happily, an important milestone on the road to the federal election is looming into view:
• The Guardian relates that the proposed redistribution for Western Australia will be published on Friday, with those for New South Wales and Victoria “expected in the first two weeks of June, or perhaps slightly earlier”.
• Mark Wales, the preselected Liberal candidate for the crucial Perth seat of Tangney, has stood aside due to a health issue within his family. The West Australian reports the party’s state council passed a motion that the second-placed candidate in last month’s preselection vote will get the nod if no new candidates nominate by the May 29 deadline, that being Howard Ong, an IT consultant and former Australian Christian Lobby activist.
• The Australian’s Feeding the Chooks column reports that state Ipswich MP Jennifer Howard has withdrawn her preselection challenge against Shayne Neumann in the federal seat of Blair. Anthony Albanese threw his weight behind Neumann amid concern over the security of Labor’s hold on a seat Neumann has held since 2007, and which he retained by a 5.2% margin in 2022.
• Feeding the Chooks further reports that Katie Havelberg, policy adviser at Queensland Health and president of Professionals Australia, will join Renée Coffey, chief executive of a foundation that helps children whose parents have a mental illness, in contesting Labor preselection in Griffith, the inner Brisbane seat that Max Chandler-Mather won for the Greens in 2022. Potential nominees in the seat of Brisbane, which Stephen Bates gained for the Greens from the LNP in 2022, include Tracey Price, the party’s unsuccessful candidate for the lord mayoralty in election in March, and candidate from 2022, Deloitte Australia director Madonna Jarrett.
It looks like Labor are taking seriously regaining the seat of Griffith and running hard in the seat of Brisbane. They will be fascinating contests to watch on election night.
As will Tangney. Which now looks like a contest between the secular Asian and Evangelical Asian candidates and their respective communities. Any insight into this fight would be greatly appreciated.
Granny Anny,
On Tipping in the US:
1. With Lyfft and Uber, the fare is pre-paid and you generally tip in cash at the end of the journey if you think the service was good. Also so the bosses doing the numbers don’t know. 😉
2. If I got a taxi I paid in cash and generally rounded it up to the next note, eg $15 to $20. They don’t ask for it but I generally haven’t minded because they have been good value. Especially the African American driver who said that Donald Trump was ‘a crazy man!’ 🙂
3. Take Away fast food stores. They expect a tip even before you have eaten the food. We decided not to.
4. Restaurants. The food and service has been so good, and the prices so reasonable, that we have given a tip of about $5 American each. If you pay with cash it’s easy, but if you pay by card then you are presented with an Eftpos machine that has 4 different tiers of tip, well 5 if you choose Custom, that you can add to your bill between 5 and 20%. I’ve always chosen the lowest rate.
🙂
C@t you do realise the food and restaurants have been so reasonably priced because you have been dining off the labours of minimum wage people?
Former Tory leadership hopeful and Minister Andrea Leadsom is set to announce that she is standing down. Long term Minister Micheal Gove will also not run.
It will be interesting to see how Neumann goes next election. I’ve always been a bit sceptical as to how beneficial it is to keep running with a mediocre MP because there are supposedly a significant number of electors who will vote solely for a particular name.
The last time Neumann got his name in the national media was a bit embarrassing.
Methinks Blair might be one to watch on election night. Probably safe, but you never know.
#weatheronPB
Cold, damp penetrates.
Not bracing, just grey and dull.
Empty, in its way.
UK Labour is looking to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in its first year in government if it wins the election. The party is closely studying how Scotland and Wales lowered the voting age and believes there is no reason why lowering the national voting age for general elections would need to take longer.
A_E 9.06pm on the last thread.
Not in any way wishing to detract from your main point, I would nevertheless point out that Jewish anti-Semitism is definitely a thing. Karl Marx for one: try reading his essay On the Jewish Question.
Senior Tories expect a significant number of further MP resignations over the weekend, in the wake of Gove’s and Leadsom’s decisions not to fight the election. Quite a number who have been re-approved as candidates have been in two minds, and thought they had till the autumn to decide. The party has more than 150 seats and rising with no candidate. That is a lot of candidates for CCHQ to find before 7 June and a lot of wasted campaigning days. It does rather indicate Sunak called the election before his party was ready.
Only took 5 minutes for Labor to come up with 1/2 arsed policy..
Solar households handed payment incentive to boost battery uptake
May 24, 2024 — 3.44pm
The NSW Labor government will give households up to $2400 to install a battery to store solar energy and as much as $400 to connect to a virtual power plant as part of its renewables push.
More than 1 million homes in NSW with solar panels on their roofs will be eligible for the incentive, worth between $1200 and $2400, and for households that do not, it will be considered in any quotes for a new solar and battery system.
So how much is 1 million x $2400?
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
Laura Tingle hits the nail on the head, saying that both sides of politics have decided to increase the cost of government, but no one wants to admit that means taxes must rise. She has a slap at large slabs of the media, which shrilly called out spending and red ink as far as the eye could see, despite the fact the government was actually forecasting a second surplus in a row. Angus Taylor gets some treatment, too.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-25/both-sides-politics-increase-government-spending-taxes-rise/103890828
The party cannibals have gone vegan, so Albanese and Dutton are safe (for now), declares Peter Hartcher.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-party-cannibals-have-gone-vegan-so-albanese-and-dutton-are-safe-for-now-20240524-p5jgav.html
If there was ever any doubt about what Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s likely strategy for the next election would be, he has now clearly set its tone and direction. His campaign will focus on fear and loathing. Fear about personal safety and national security, and disgust with the Albanese government. Dutton has simply adopted the wrecking playbook of the Abbott opposition, writes a strident John Hewson. He says the lack of policy detail in Dutton’s poor budget reply was compounded this week by shadow treasurer Angus Taylor’s appearance at the Press Club.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2024/05/25/peter-duttons-dangerous-opportunism
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton wants to make immigration a key policy in the next election. But its effects on Sydney’s rental and house prices is complicated, explains Matt Wade.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-truth-about-immigration-and-sydney-s-housing-crisis-20240524-p5jga3.html
Cutting migrant intake is a soft target and dead-end strategy, declares the AFR editorial. It says reducing migration will just exacerbate the housing shortages it is trying to fix. Higher education will be the collateral damage.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/axing-migrants-is-a-soft-target-and-dead-end-strategy-20240521-p5jfay
Abul Rizvi thinks Dutton’s migration cuts on parents, health workers, etc, risks a massive backlash from Australia’s migrant community. Dutton says his cuts will free up 100,000 homes, 40,000 in the first year. How he calculates that remains a mystery but perhaps he thinks his voters won’t care at all about the details or the veracity of his claims, says Rizvi.
https://johnmenadue.com/duttons-migration-cuts-on-parents-health-workers-risks-massive-backlash-from-australias-migrant-community/
Dutton has finally started to show his hand and build his campaign for the next election around energy policy and housing affordability. The problem is that his ignorance of the evidence demonstrates his incompetence, argues Michael Keating.
https://johnmenadue.com/duttons-ignorant-incompetent-policies-contradicted-by-evidence/
The opposition’s proposed cuts to migration have not only stirred confusion within its ranks, but risk damaging the economy with the focus on foreign students. Says Mike Seccombe.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/education/2024/05/25/universities-caught-the-war-migration
Anthony Albanese has accused some right-wing media of being “stenographers” and a “cheer squad” for his opponent, the Liberal leader Peter Dutton. Paul Karp says the prime minister expressed his frustration with unspecified newspapers and radio and TV commentators in an interview with an Australian National University podcast, complaining particularly about coverage of Labor’s revamped income tax cuts.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/25/anthony-albanese-rightwing-media-cheer-squad-peter-dutton
It is clear Dutton sees talk of a “better Australia”, not a “bigger Australia”, as a powerful campaign tool. He is utilising immigration and its history of stirring prejudice and xenophobic sentiment, emulating John Howard’s success in the 2001 election when he tied threats to national security to Middle Eastern asylum seekers, says Paul Bongiorno.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2024/05/25/making-little-big-australia
“‘Beautiful one day. Nuclear the next?’ Labor can’t wait for a fight on Dutton’s energy plan”, writes Karen Middleton,
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/beautiful-one-day-nuclear-the-next-labor-cant-wait-for-a-fight-on-duttons-energy-plan
The party has learnt some lessons from the last election in its selection of professional women to contest three seats lost to independents. Can they convince voters turned off by Peter Dutton’s platform, asks Jason Koutsoukis.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/05/25/inside-the-liberals-plan-reclaim-teal-seats
Traditional wisdom dictates that young people outgrow progressive politics and become more conservative as they age. But there is increasing evidence that political parties on the conservative side of the ledger, like the Liberal Party, might not be able to rely on such changes in the future, writes Parker McKenzie who says that equally, major parties who see themselves as more progressive, like the Labor Party, cannot be certain that the move away from conservative voting as people age will benefit them.
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2024/05/24/political-divide
Staffers and politicians say workplace culture has been slow to improve. Karen Barlow explains how unredacted survey results obtained by The Saturday Paper reveal the full extent of the failures that prompted the reforms.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/05/25/exclusive-parliament-house-still-unsafe-post-jenkins-world
Right-wing and libertarian lobby groups are expanding their funding and influence since the Voice to Parliament referendum, and the free speech union is the latest addition to a growing ecosystem, writes Rick Morton.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/05/25/how-right-wing-lobbyists-are-expanding-their-reach
After a decade of golden years under Daniel Andrews, his replacement is facing a storm of problems that have trashed Labor’s vote, write Rachel Eddie and Kieran Rooney.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/jacinta-allan-s-labor-faces-trouble-as-the-west-gets-wild-20240522-p5jfty.html
A frustrated Jordan Baker explains how difficult it is for journalists to do their job in reporting certain things – and it’s getting harder.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/the-stories-we-re-not-allowed-to-write-20240524-p5jgez.html
Housing projects aimed at essential workers are gaining momentum as developers in eastern Australia expand their capacity and pipelines. Carolyn Cummins says City West Housing has acquired a fourth site in inner Sydney, adding to its $850 million affordable housing pipeline. That includes 933 affordable residences across 20 buildings, most of them within the City of Sydney boundaries, housing 1600 residents and families.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/affordable-housing-a-new-asset-class-picking-up-speed-20240520-p5jf5q.html
The SMH editorial describes the Eraring power station’s reprieve a wake-up call for renewables.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/sustainability/power-station-s-reprieve-a-wake-up-call-for-renewables-20240523-p5jfy8.html
In developed economies like Australia policymakers and engineers trying to shut down huge and complicated fossil fuel energy production and systems while deploying renewables are effectively rebuilding a clapped-out aeroplane around themselves while in flight, says the Grattan Institute’s energy lead, Tony Wood. Nick O’Malley tells us that we are not alone when it comes to transition difficulties.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/this-week-in-australia-energy-and-climate-collided-it-s-a-global-story-20240523-p5jg46.html
Stephen Brook and Colin Kruger tell us that News Corp staff are bracing for wide-ranging job cuts as part of an impending restructure that will deliver casualties across the company’s middle management and senior editor ranks.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/news-corp-s-game-of-thrones-begins-as-job-cuts-loom-20240524-p5jgbp.html
Here’s Amanda Meade’s weekly media round-up which features the visit to Sydney by the Murdoch heavies.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/news-corp-editors-try-to-impress-as-rebekah-brooks-and-lachlan-murdoch-land-in-sydney
Michaela Whitbourn reports that the owner of a luxury Sydney property where Bruce Lehrmann lived rent-free under a deal with the Seven Network has appeared for the first time in a NSW tribunal as she pursues the former Liberal staffer over alleged property damage. What a little sh1t!
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/bruce-lehrmann-pursued-by-former-landlord-over-alleged-property-damage-20240524-p5jgbj.html
Jesinta Burton writes that now Linda Reynolds will attempt to add a fresh claim to her high-stakes defamation row with Brittany Higgins, after WhatsApp messages tendered as evidence allegedly showed the former staffer colluded with fiancée David Sharaz on a now-deleted tweet.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/western-australia/reynolds-fights-to-add-whatsapp-collaboration-to-higgins-defamation-row-20240524-p5jgd5.html
Stuart McCarthy writes that a report critical of Australian generals’ leadership in Afghanistan was given to the Defence Minister in November 2023, but was not published until after the McBride sentencing hearings.
https://michaelwest.com.au/richard-marles-concealed-war-crimes-report-denying-justice-for-david-mcbride/
Karen Maley takes us inside the unstoppable rise of Australia’s mortgage brokers.
https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/inside-the-unstoppable-rise-of-australia-s-mortgage-brokers-20240524-p5jg8b
Jenna Price reckons Gina Rinehart and her supporters need to take a good look in the mirror.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8638835/gina-rinehart-and-supporters-need-to-take-a-look-in-the-mirror/?cs=14329
The billionaire’s generosity to Olympians means she is adored by athletes. But her company’s demands to install Dawn Fraser to head Olympic swimming reveals a desire for something in return, write Chis Barrett and Tom Decent.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/influence-and-access-what-gina-rinehart-wanted-in-return-for-olympic-sized-sponsorship-20240524-p5jgcv.html
Two polarising political figures, both on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, had long threatened to cast a shadow over Britain’s general election. Rob Harris says the presence of Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn, adored and detested by their respective tribes in equal measure, promised to pull the Conservative and Labour parties away from the centre.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/the-ghosts-of-nigel-farage-and-jeremy-corbyn-haunt-uk-leaders-20240524-p5jga0.html
A boring prime minister in Keir Starmer may be the best Britain can hope for if it’s to end the omnishambles era, writes Nick Bryant. He points out that sometime in the future the Brexit question will surely have to be revisited, but perhaps the best that can be hoped for in the meantime is a period of stability and half-decent governance under a boring prime minister, Keir Starmer.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/britain-s-best-hope-is-a-pm-with-the-charisma-of-frozen-peas-20240523-p5jg05.html
Allies enraged and enemies emboldened – Sunak’s campaign is already a fiasco, says Gaby Hinsliff.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/rishi-sunak-pm-weapon-surprise-election
Make this the punishment election – damning the Tories for 14 years of cruelty and lies, urges Jonathan Freedland.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/punishment-election-tories-voters-lies
Russia and China have traditionally treated each other with mutual suspicion and loathing. But now they are closer than ever., writes the London Telegraph’s Liam Cunningham who says Xi and Putin’s love-in is an ominous sign for the West.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/xi-and-putins-love-in-is-an-ominous-sign-for-the-west-20240519-p5jeuo.html
Overnight, judges at the top United Nations court ordered Israel to halt its military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, in a landmark emergency ruling on South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide. While the International Court of Justice, or World Court, has no means to enforce its orders, the case was a stark sign of Israel’s global isolation over its campaign in Gaza, particularly since it began its offensive against Rafah this month against the pleas of its closest ally the United States.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/world-court-orders-israel-to-halt-assault-on-gaza-s-rafah-20240524-p5jgjk.html
The contrasting treatment, especially at the UN, of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash on May 19, starkly presents the morally inverted, politically corrupted and more than half insane nature of what passes for liberal internationalism today, whines Greg Sheridan.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/icc-a-sign-of-a-deep-sickness-that-could-kill-us-in-australia-too/news-story/c7aed54870343aa9f2c42cdb74e456fb?amp=
Texas’s pardon of the killer of a Black Lives Matter protester sends a chilling message, writes Tayo Bero.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/daniel-perry-pardon-texas
Darren Wick, the recently departed head of Channel Nine’s news and current affairs division, has been accused of engaging in drunken, lecherous behaviour in what furious staff say was “an open secret” for more than a decade. Michaela Whitbourn reports that three women have now alleged to The Age that Wick, the powerful news and current affairs chief for the last 13 years, brazenly groped them in public view of their colleagues. He has to be a candidate for “Arsehole of the Week”.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/former-nine-news-boss-darren-wick-accused-by-staff-of-drunken-lecherous-behaviour-20240523-p5jg48.html
Cartoon Corner
John Shakespeare
Andrew Dyson
Jon Kudelka
Fiona Katauskas
Alan Moir
Glen Le Lievre
Geoff Pryor
Leak
From the US
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-party-cannibals-have-gone-vegan-so-albanese-and-dutton-are-safe-for-now-20240524-p5jgav.html
I’m sure there will be some who are disappointed. 😀
US wage rates in hospitality vary between $7 & $15// hour…
Having to rely on tips for a living wage is an obscenity, what else can you expect from the home of greed?
Thanks BK. Laura Tingle’s article is good reading this morning.
Insiders Sunday, 26 May
David Speers joins Katina Curtis, Sean Kelly and Samantha Maiden to discuss energy policy, extending the life of NSW’s largest coal-fired power station, nuclear power and a transition to renewables. Plus Israel and Palestine.
GUEST : Adam Bandt – Greens Leader
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/beautiful-one-day-nuclear-the-next-labor-cant-wait-for-a-fight-on-duttons-energy-plan
Peter Hartcher obviously doesn’t read PollBludger..
Canberra notoriously earned itself the title of “coup capital of the Western world” as it churned through prime ministers faster than a car crash. Five prime ministers in five years was dizzying. And dismal.
But a new reality is unfolding. This week marks two years since the last federal election. Yet there is not a whisper of speculation about Anthony Albanese’s prime ministership. Neither is there the least hint of speculation about Peter Dutton’s tenure.
I notice Hartcher doesn’t mention Adam Bandt
Or David Littleproud.
Morning all. Thanks for the comprehensive roundup BK; it must have taken ages to compile. On the basic evidence this week that Dutton and Taylor both plan negative, no policy detail campaigns:
“ Dutton has finally started to show his hand and build his campaign for the next election around energy policy and housing affordability. The problem is that his ignorance of the evidence demonstrates his incompetence, argues Michael Keating.”
https://johnmenadue.com/duttons-ignorant-incompetent-policies-contradicted-by-evidence/
I don’t think ignorance is the problem with either of them. This week proved that neither Dutton nor Taylor are geniuses. Yet there will be no nirvana moment of enlightenment. They don’t care.
Ideologically they are part of the same element fo the Federal Liberal leadership that saw Morrison become leader. If overwhelming negativity is what will get them the lodge, they will do it. An army of advisers have probably already told them the facts. They are ignoring them. Taylor’s NPC speech was proof. He ignored his own past statements when he needed to.
”This week marks two years since the last federal election. Yet there is not a whisper of speculation about Anthony Albanese’s prime ministership.”
…except on PB, but that’s clearly made up / wishful thinking.
Fess, yes both Shoebridge and Barnyard are trailing their coat for the top job
Albo and Chalmers have done as good a job as possible with the budget and family assistance in difficult circumstances (Scomo had spent all the money). But if there is one area Labor has not appeared to make any progress reforming it is Defence under Marles. The problem is not just AUKUS, but the way Russell Hill works.
“ Stuart McCarthy writes that a report critical of Australian generals’ leadership in Afghanistan was given to the Defence Minister in November 2023, but was not published until after the McBride sentencing hearings.”
https://michaelwest.com.au/richard-marles-concealed-war-crimes-report-denying-justice-for-david-mcbride/
There are many very long standing scandals with Defence that show no sign of being resolved. Defence won’t do it themselves, especially where the ones in charge are the problem. Yet I see no sign of a structural or regulatory change.
The budget also effectively killed off any hope of recovering ASC jobs in sub- or shipbuilding. But the bureaucracy grinds on. There are now 300+ people in the submarine delivery unit, despite no construction. There are only 300 left at ASC doing Collins sub maintenance. The Chiefs almost outnumber the Indians.
This can’t possibly turn around Australia’s top-heavy and high cost delivery of defence capability, or actually increase our defences.
Karen Middleton references a 2007 nuclear report that identified potential locations for nuclear power plants taking into consideration proximity to centres of demand with access to water and transport corridors, security from attack, distance from vulnerable infrastructure and populations, and geological and seismic stability. One assumes that these considerations are still critical in determining where nuclear power plants will be located. Suggested locations from the 2007 report are:
NSW:
– Port Stephens
– Botany Bay
– Central Coast
– Sussex Inlet
– Port Kembla
– Jervis Bay
Vic:
– Sth Gippsland
– Port Phillip
– Portland
– Western Port
SA:
– Mount Gambier
– Millicent
– Port Adelaide
– Port Augusta
– Port Pirie
Qld
– Gladstone
– Rockhampton
– Bundaberg
– Mackay
– Townsville
– The Sunshine Coast
– Bribie Island
Are these sites still in consideration for the coalition’s policy? If so then the majority of those are a tough sell for voters.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/beautiful-one-day-nuclear-the-next-labor-cant-wait-for-a-fight-on-duttons-energy-plan
The company, which has traditionally run in state-based fiefdoms, looks set to restructure into three silos. The metropolitan papers and websites would be in one silo, the free offerings including news.com.au in a second silo and prestige content including The Australian and luxury magazines including Vogue would be in a third silo.
To label The SmearStralian as ‘prestige content’ is the height of Orwellian double-speak.
It is a sheltered workshop for otherwise unemployable shills to pander to Rupert’s hatred of unions, women and progressive issues.
The issue of immigration,housing and Dutton is all over the news.
Great news for libs and terrible for labor.Every economic announcement,indicator,abs figure will be viewed in this prism up till the fed election.
Labor for two years has trashed its citizens and imported stupid amounts of people.
If the federal lib/nats were confident in the nuclear thought bubble, it would have been announced when first promised over few months ago
Sceptic @ #10 Saturday, May 25th, 2024 – 7:26 am
Yes, indeed. A 1/2 arsed PR stunt is how I would describe it.
Labor clearly needed something to distract attention from their announcement that they will increase their subsidies of coal burners, which went down like a lead balloon – and this is apparently the best they could come up with.
Also, potentially a huge waste of money. If they had put that money into renewables instead, problem solved. Luckily, this scheme will not cost anywhere near that.
‘Little maggot-infested man’ Tom Cotton rises to top of Trump VP list
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/5/24/2242547/–Little-maggot-infested-man-Tom-Cotton-rises-to-top-of-Trump-VP-list?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_1&pm_medium=web
”
Lars Von Triersays:
Saturday, May 25, 2024 at 6:21 am
C@t you do realise the food and restaurants have been so reasonably priced because you have been dining off the labours of minimum wage people?
”
I really hate to agree with Lars as you all know. But on this Lars has genuine point.
And unfortunately there are many people in America, who are ready to work for those low wages. Hence, tips come into play.
IMO, tips are a elitist thing.
C@tmommasays:
Saturday, May 25, 2024 at 3:40 am
“It looks like Labor are taking seriously regaining the seat of Griffith and running hard in the seat of Brisbane. They will be fascinating contests to watch on election night.”
Garbage. Labor will probably be an even more distant third in both of those seats than they were in 2019. They need to concentrate on trying to retain Blair. The good news is the discontinuation of the preselection challenge to the sitting member.
What will be interesting is whether or not the Labor and Greens votes slide far enough in Brisbane and Ryan for the LNP to regain those seats from the Greens. About 50-50 at the moment I think.
After a decade of golden years under Daniel Andrews, his replacement is facing a storm of problems that have trashed Labor’s vote, write Rachel Eddie and Kieran Rooney.
_____________________
The money was always going to run out at some stage.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/bruce-lehrmann-pursued-by-former-landlord-over-alleged-property-damage-20240524-p5jgbj.html
Lehrmann sounds like a textbook example of ‘no care, no responsibility’.
Liberal Lehrmann and, one presumes, his Liberal mates are alleged to have had some destructive fun at someone else’s (Lady Gaenor’s) expense?
And that is supposed to be news?
Higgins no care no responsibility getting pissed and struggling to remember clearly what happened.
Ven 8.32am
[I really hate to agree with Lars as you all know. But on this Lars has genuine point.]
Lars doesn’t do “genuine”
For those cashed up Boomers with $150,000 to spare from their maxed out SMSFs – here is just the investment…
They haven’t yet worked out what to do in the year 2224, but hey, you may be able to spend your own inheritance
A human storage building at Holbrook, NSW, has housed its first patient with the aim to bring them back to life in the next 200 years.
Southern Cryonics transferred a Sydney male in his 80s to the southern Riverina warehouse after he died on Sunday, May 12.
The man was transferred to the A. O’Hare funeral home in the inner city suburb of Leichhardt where a team of six people from Australian Blood Management worked for 10 hours to stabilise the body and cool it to dry ice temperature, approximately minus 78 degrees, before it was transported in a hearse to Holbrook.
Upon arrival, the patient was gradually brought to liquid nitrogen temperatures, approximately minus 196 degrees, in a computer-controlled cooling chamber and then transferred to a dewar, a large vacuum flask.
The body is stored head down in the event of a leak to ensure the brain remains immersed in the freezing liquid.
“Even though we had everything in place, luckily the patient was at a hospital near the funeral home near where we needed to do our work.
“We picked them up at the hospital after legal death, took him to the funeral home, did the work, which was essentially work associated with stabilisation, perfusing with certain anti-freeze chemicals when the temperatures are dropped, and then we got the patient to the facility.
“We went from dry ice temperature (minus 78 degrees and below) to liquid nitrogen temperature (about minus 196 degrees) and you have to do it this particular way. You have to pass a certain transition state to get it to the glass state.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8639738/first-human-stored-at-holbrooks-southern-cryonics-warehouse/?cs=9676
sprocket
I an considering getting myself launched into a beyond-the-solar system trajectory.
My eventual arrival at some another sentient settlement should be a hoot.
UK and miscellaneous cartoons
Banx
Harry Burton (Irish Examiner)
Tom Gauld (This encompasses my life and death!)
Morton Morland
Guy Venables
Creator Unknown
Guess who is taking over from Phillip Adams
Ben Jennings
Larry the Cat #Larry4Leader #YesWeCat #GeneralElection
Peter Brookes
Mike Luckovich
Matt
Graeme Keyes
Andy Davey
Martin Rowson Thiiiiiiiiiings can only get Weeeeeeeeetttttttter!
Tom Red
Trumpton (Stop the Votes)
Jonsey
Confessions 8.17am,
Dutton will have tribal success with the nuclear gambit but on the ground……
It’s hard to imagine enough willing to jeopardize their real estate wealth, the measure of an Australian’s success, with the plonking of a nuclear facility in the vicinity.
Even the Liberal diehards on PB, with all their keyboard bravado, and despite being so “brass necked” and hypocritical, will have difficulty with a nuclear installation next door.
Dutton only hope will be desolate stretches coastal land belonging to the Indigenous owners, a “million miles” from where the power is needed.
Dutton will be advised to “hold off” till after an election.
Dutton will then claim a mandate in the unlikely event of an LNP win at the next Federal election.
The concept of small, medium or large nuclear power generation is not going to happen due the “set up” costs and the “running costs”.
Nuclear is as “horse and buggy” as is coal.
Albo must be close to the bottom of the Brought up by a Sngle Mum in a Housing Commission Unit in Camperdown barrel.
Then there’s the Higgins/Reynolds Trial starting July 24.
Will Don Farrell and Bill Shorten act before it’s too late?
goll @ #40 Saturday, May 25th, 2024 – 9:23 am
And which one is Labor is investing our money in ?
Ven: “‘Little maggot-infested man’ Tom Cotton rises to top of Trump VP list
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/5/24/2242547/–Little-maggot-infested-man-Tom-Cotton-rises-to-top-of-Trump-VP-list?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_1&pm_medium=web”
———————————————————————–
That article is clearly written by someone who is a long way to the left of centre. Like all but a handful of Republicans at the moment, Cotton is a gutless wonder who is trying to crawl up Trump’s bum. But he’s one of the less MAGA-infested potential VPs who have been mentioned so far.
Yes, he’s against Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project, hates Iran and the Chinese Communist Party, is concerned that leading US Muslim citizens might be anti-Israel, takes partisan positions on some government appointments, and wanted to see stronger law enforcement and even military action to be taken against the rioters and looters who took advantage of the protests against George Floyd’s death to commit acts of vandalism and theft.
These things don’t make him an extremist, they make him a Republican. The only members of the Republican Party who don’t agree with all the above positions I have listed are those who want to take them much further. Cotton has not been at the forefront of Trump’s election scam nonsense and has not been calling for the Constitution and the US government agencies to be dismantled. That makes him a relative moderate these days. Which is a sad thing.
Where do the vast majority of the voters live?
Nowhere near proposed Nuclear Power sites.
Labor/Greens beaten by NIMBY-ism?
Ahahaha …
A belated thanks BK. Just got through it all.
In memory of KayJay, it is time to mow.
We are building a new house and one thing we have been acutely aware of is how many (and how good they are) immigrant tradespeople are doing the subbie work. Roofing, bricklaying, tilting, and painting are all being done by apparently highly skilled people who have come to live here.
I see this pattern being replicated in the other houses around ours in the new subdivision.
Dutton might have to do some homework on the immigrant housing line of dog-whistle.
goll:
Yes, I’m curious to see where they plan to locate these nuclear plants. But I imagine the political reality is that Dutton will keep being vague on the detail lest it scare the horses.
Deadset stitch up
”Where do the vast majority of the voters live?
Nowhere near proposed Nuclear Power sites.”
Central Coast 300,000+, within 80 km of Sydney and Newcastle CBDs, 6 million people within 100 km.
Port Kembla: in the suburbs of Wollongong, 300,000+, 80 km from Sydney CBD.
Botany Bay – in Sydney suburbs
Port Stephens 30 km from centre of Newcastle.
Ain’t going to happen.
meher baba @ #8 Saturday, May 25th, 2024 – 7:00 am
I know a person well, who sings in the Sydney ‘Great Synagogue’ choir in Castlereagh St every Saturday morning, and walked the 300 metres each Saturday after the services to take part in the ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Hyde Park. Several others of the congregation also did the same. I assure you that he is not in the least bit antisemitic, having a beloved grandmother who was in Auschwitz, and who still participates in family Passover seder and other such events.
A lot of Jewish people are sickened by the wholesale, random slaughter of children by blowing them to bits, or burying them alive or starving them. Funny that!