The Financial Review reports the final monthly Freshwater Strategy poll for the year (no link as of yet) has voting intention results identical to last time, with the Coalition leading 51-49 from primary votes of Labor 30%, Coalition 40%, Greens 14% and others 16%. Anthony Albanese is at 34% approval and 51% disapproval, up one on both counts, while Peter Dutton is steady on 37% and down one to 40%. Albanese’s lead as preferred prime minister widens from 44-43 to 46-43, but a suite of questions on the leaders’ attributes produces better results for Dutton, including a 44% to 31% lead for being a strong leader. The poll was conducted Friday to Sunday from a sample of 1051.
UPDATE: Presumably paywalled report here. The poll finds 48% expect the Coalition to win the election, 18% in majority and 29% in minority, compared with 39% for Labor, 25% in minority and 14% in majority.
The first post Lars did tonight was this:
Lars Von Triersays:
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 8:28 pm
entropy is a Geotech engineer and govt finance expert to boot!
I assume he was saying it to try and belittle. Don’t you?
_________________
Are you serious? Or are you that precious?
timbosays:
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 10:51 pm
Entropy Tuesday, December 17th, 2024 – 9:42 pm
“Are you off grid with batteries or just doing a lot of feeding into the grid most days?”
=============================================
Thanks for that update. Please keep posting on this topic at times. Particularly if you go for complete off grid status. It would be very interesting to know how that goes.
nadia88 @ #1085 Tuesday, December 17th, 2024 – 10:37 pm
The way these things work, and it has ever been thus on both sides of the political equation, is that the closer you get to the election the less ‘messy’ political parties want pre-selections to be. They want to get all their ducks in a row and then it’s off to the races.
Head Office and the FPLP leadership team is acutely aware of who would be best suited to run because these people are in the background being tested with internships and placements in electorate offices on staff, to the point where when it comes time to pick a replacement, if it’s early enough in the cycle then these people go around the branches and campaign, but if it’s getting too close to the election then pressure is brought to bear and the person the hard heads think will have the best chance of doing well is chosen. And the rank and file pre-selection is forsaken.
Yes, Kristina Keneally was a square peg in a round hole in Fowler, but that was an example of head office and the FPLP leadership team creating the mess.
Coincidentally, on the other side Alex Hawke and Scott Morrison were creating their own mess at the same time in their own way with pre-selections.
davesays:
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 10:56 pm
The first post Lars did tonight was this:
Lars Von Triersays:
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 8:28 pm
entropy is a Geotech engineer and govt finance expert to boot!
I assume he was saying it to try and belittle. Don’t you?
_________________
Are you serious? Or are you that precious?
====================================================
I must be that precious as i’m finding you to be a bit of a tosser too.
Stinker,
You may want to see my latest post before this. 🙂
nadia88 at 8.23 pm (+ goll) re Lingiari
Issue is not whether you (or anybody else) have blown through Lingiari, but whether you have assessed both the main candidates, their likely profile and campaigns, and historical trends.
Do you know that CLP candidates in both NT seats are both called Lisa and both police officers, Siebert in Lingiari and Bayliss in Solomon?
Lingiari will be close but it would be very surprising for Scrymgour to lose, because Labor have never lost the seat, though W. Snowden went close in 2013, Scrymgour is well known, and because it is likely that the Green preference flow to Labor will rise from a low 76.6% in 2022.
In the end, Scrymgour is significantly more experienced than her opponent. That will help her.
Unsurprisingly, the CLP campaigns will mostly be conventional ‘Laura Norder’ stuff. Worked very well in Darwin seats in NT election, but likely to be inadequate in Lingiari.
One factor is the weather. The end of the wet season in Katherine in March, but 1996 was then.
Division of Lyons (TAS – central east & largest geographical TAS electorate)
Last election:
* LIB 37%
* ALP 29%
* GRN 11%
* JLN 11%
Bec White has been selected as the ALP candidate.
At the last 3 elections in Tassie, as leader, she scored the following state primaries (all election losses):
* 2024 – 29%
* 2021 – 28%
* 2017 – 33%
On the face of it, she doesn’t look like much of a vote winning machine.
Maybe I’m misreading these figures, or being harsh, but she had three goes.
I understand the state ALP, with her as leader, was also wracked in conflict.
Perhaps there is a move to “get her out of Tasmania”, via Lyons.
I don’t think this will work. Voters see through this.
JLN vote will probably drop, some of which will return to the Libs.
Looking like a Lib pick up to me.
Nice to see your change of approach, c@t (and your implicit acceptance that your previous posts towards nadia were out of line).
Dr.D – It will be a toughie to unseat a Minister in Lingiari. She has a high profile & I have no grudge against Minister Scrymgour.
I’m more concerned about the “remote booth” turnout.
If that sinks, then she sinks.
A lot of work was done by the AEC during 2022/2023 to boost enrolment, however it appears fruitless.
Reasons why – it may be as Irene has suggested or it may be about the failure of the voice.
In either case, for Aboriginal voters, it may be simply a case of “why bother”.
Fine me for not voting!
PS – I hope they’re not being chased around by the NTEC for non-voting.
nadia88 says:
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 11:21 pm
I think they are both gone in the NT and I say that as a personal friend of Luke.
Cat at 11.04 pm
Do you know of any winnable seats where Labor has yet to finalise their candidate? Candidate in Sturt is a keen runner, while the candidate in Griffith could benefit from LNP preferences. The sporty man in Leichhardt may be in with a chance, as Entsch is retiring, and RW nutter vote dropped a bit from 2019 to 2022. See:
https://www.alp.org.au/our-people/our-people/claire-clutterham/ (Sturt)
https://alp.org.au/our-people/our-people/renee-coffey/ (Griffith)
https://www.alp.org.au/our-people/our-people/matt-smith/ (Leichhardt)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_results_for_the_Division_of_Leichhardt
What about Flynn? Nobody yet. Why not? Unwinnable. Dead weight of coal in energy election.
https://www.facebook.com/FlynnLabor/
C@tmomma @ #1062 Tuesday, December 17th, 2024 – 9:40 pm
From what I gather, he was Shaun Micallef’s partner in comedy at the time, them being bonded in a similar extent to how the Monty Python crew and The Goodies were in the UK in the 1960’s, and how other comedy partnerships played out in a similar direction, such as Mitchell and Webb, Armstrong and Miller and Harry and Paul.
“Reasons why – it may be as Irene has suggested or it may be about the failure of the voice.”
Irene as far as i know lives in Newcastle NSW. I doubt she has any real (as distinct from fabricated) insight into what is going on in Lingiari.
nadia88 at 11.21 pm
CLP candidate in Lingiari in 2022, Damien Ryan, was a Mayor of AS yet Scrymgour got a majority after prefs in AS, even in the pre-poll. The CLP lady this time will not have the profile of Ryan. See:
https://results.aec.gov.au/27966/Website/HouseDivisionPage-27966-306.htm
nadia88 at 11.09 pm
You must give more attention to candidates and their history, in the context of the times. As Tassie Labor leader, White was nobbled by the pokie push in 2017, the 2021 result was influenced by Covid (and she did better than expected in that context), while 2024 was riddled by division.
“On the face of it, she doesn’t look like much of a vote winning machine.”
Seriously, you could say that about A. Constance in Gilmore (look up his performance in Bega). Yet, because of the very low margin, he starts favourite in Gilmore, despite himself. So is White.
nadia88 says:
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 11:21 pm
Really?
Why shouldn’t people who don’t vote be prosecuted?
It’s the law.
I would fully expect to be fined for not voting.
One of FUBAR’s regular fantasies is the mass prosecution of indigenous people for failing to vote.
Stinker
C@t’s comment comes on the back of her targeting of nadia, based on her view that nadia isn’t even-handed in her analysis (read: nadia isn’t sufficiently deferential to the view that Labor is infallible and its polling woes are nothing of the sort). C@t outright accused nadia of being a Liberal the other night, for suggesting that Labor’s primary vote in the current polling is poor.
———————
Labor’s polling is poor so Nadia is spot on but labor’s problem is it’s not listening because some of its supporters refuse to listen so pity labor MPs turning up to branch meetings being told everything is fine when the polling is screaming it’s not.
So I was right. Until I wasn’t. Okay, got it.
And I’m not targeting nadia88. I just don’t get why she shouldn’t have her contributions held up to the same sort of scrutiny that anyone else’s is?
Is this a site where we can converse about such things, or are some people’s contributions out of bounds for discussion and debate?
———
It’s baseless to be making a criticism that Nadia is picking seats to analyse due to an anti-Labor bias. Maybe Labor is just in a position where people logically think they will lose more seats than the opposition at the next election? If you were able to escape your extreme Labor bias maybe you’d be able to see that.
Deserving more of Dutton every day in every way.
Dr Doolittlesays:
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 11:31 pm
nadia88 at 11.21 pm
CLP candidate in Lingiari in 2022, Damien Ryan, was a Mayor of AS yet Scrymgour got a majority after prefs in AS, even in the pre-poll. The CLP lady this time will not have the profile of Ryan. See:
https://results.aec.gov.au/27966/Website/HouseDivisionPage-27966-306.htm
===============================================
I think the fairly far right CLP territory Government is a plus for Federal Labor too. Like with the new Qld state Government. They are both getting a reputation as being draconian. With their answer to everything being to lock more people up.
Problem: To many illiterate 10 year olds at school.
LNP or CLP answer: Put more of them in prison.
This site has always talked more about labor’s chances so there’s nothing unusual about the seats Nadia talks about.
steve davis says:
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 11:50 pm
Deserving more of Dutton every day in every way
———
You sound like you deserve him.
The whole whinging fucking country deserves him.
nadia88 at 11.09 pm re details from Lyons
The prior results that matter are the votes in Lyons, not elsewhere in Tassie when White was leader. See:
https://pollbludger.net/tas2024/Results/HA.htm?s=Lyons
The lead Lib candidate dropped on primary by 10%, whereas White dropped by 2%, in a context where a lot of fluffy electors went for the Lambie charade (8.4%). No reason to suppose those Lambie voters will go Lib rather than Labor, since, apart from being low information types, they are likely poorer.
In simple, Hare-Clark terms, White got 1.69 quotas herself in Lyons while the lead Lib got only 0.89.
steve davis says:
Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at 12:05 am
The whole whinging fucking country deserves him
———
People are unhappy for good reason, it’s pretty obvious why whether you like it or not.
Tasmanian Labor had the best opportunity for a talented Federal politician in Lisa Singh, but they killed her career off for the sake of worthless nameless hacks. So now they are where they are.
Dr.Doolittle
re: the 1.69 quotas for Bec White. She still only scored a vote of 21%. This is shitful!
The hare-clark nonsense can’t surely be converted to a Federal seat where the winning candidate federally needs around the low 40’s. Lower if he/she can rely on preferences.
The figures quoted up thread ranged between 28-33%. This is no where near a seat winning primary vote for a Federal division.
Is she a candidate which voters in Tasmania will gravitate around (doesn’t look like much evidence of that, and I understand she’s hated within the TAS ALP), or is her candidacy a joke.
Isn’t the former ALP leader sitting in parliament as a disgruntled indie. Clearly she is/was unable to reach out to him and the Greens. What would be the point sending her to Canberra?
Kirsdarke at 12.15 am
Yes, in fact Labor had two opportunities, first when she was elected in 2010 and later when re-elected in the DD of 2016, against the higher-placed Labor hack.
“She was the first Australian senator to win election over a high-ranked candidate on the same ticket since Bill Aylett in 1953, who was also a Tasmanian ALP senator.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Singh
So why was Ms Singh scrubbed? For independent thinking, e.g. on pulp mills and on asylum seekers.
“Singh has been a vocal opponent of Australia’s offshore detention of asylum seekers. She broke with the Labor Party’s official position to call for an end to indefinite offshore detention on the ABC TV Q&A program.” (ibid.)
Yet that was in 2015, before the DD. She is now Director of the Australia-India Institute in Melbourne.
paul A at 12.22 am
Now compare the federal 2022 results with 2024 state results:
Lab primary in Lyons: in 2022 federal was 29%; in 2024 state total (not just White) was 32.7%. See:
https://pollbludger.net/tas2024/Results/HA.htm?s=Lyons
https://results.aec.gov.au/27966/Website/HouseDivisionPage-27966-196.htm
Mitchell won the seat with a 29% primary and locals say White is better than him, so she is looking OK.
I would give Labor about a 20% chance at best in Lyon 30% yes vote in the referendum, low education white anglo seat, probably getting old as well .Labor will probably lose it with about an 6% swing against them and never win it again.
Entropy at 11.53pm
I think the fairly far right CLP territory Government is a plus for Federal Labor too. Like with the new Qld state Government. They are both getting a reputation as being draconian. With their answer to everything being to lock more people up.
Problem: To many illiterate 10 year olds at school.
LNP or CLP answer: Put more of them in prison.
——————
The Queensland “adult crime, adult time” legislation was supported through Parliament by Labor.
People are unhappy for good reason, it’s pretty obvious why whether you like it or not.
And it’s all a matter of perception, whether you like to admit it or not.
I was listening to a couple of American people discuss this same thing the other day wrt the American election and they, being of a certain age, pointed out that actually the whole, eggs are expensive! thing is so overblown. They pointed out that we used to have to pay a lot more for clothing and just about anything that comes to us from China cheaply these days, that there was expensive petrol back in the day that you could only buy every other day going by your number plate number, that travel was for the wealthy, that new cars were expensive commodities to purchase and you rarely had more than one car per family and never a collection of vehicles, people struggled to pay off one house, let alone have investment properties and there was genuinely entrenched unemployment and genuinely high inflation. However, the Central Bankers and Treasurers of the world created ‘recessions we had to have’ and they tamed inflation and so for most people that’s all they have ever experienced, a prolonged ~30 year period of low inflation and rising asset values. So now they think that egg prices going up (due to Bird Flu mainly and thus a temporary thing) and the Post Covid inflation spike is the end of the world and they vote accordingly, without having the historical perspective to compare their lived experiences with. And I think this is 100% on the money, so to speak.
Electoral college results should become available over the next few hours.
How many unfaithful electors will we see.
Going on the 2016 results, Trump supporters will be rock solid but Harris’ maybe a little flakey.
Bizcan
“ Question for tomorrow then, if the Japanese option is bigger and “better”, is there risk that it is over built/over priced for a “general purpose” frigate? No naval expert other than seeing this is supposedly the “tier 2” class.”
————————————————————————————
That is actually a good point. Hugh White (How to Defend Australia) and Sam Roggaveen (The Echidna Strategy) have both highlighted that the the ADF tends to always want the best and most costly of everything. Then budget constraints mean they get it in too small quantities to be significant in a real war to defend Australia. The Ukraine war has demonstrated that numbers win in the end, since cheap modern missiles can hit anything.
The budget is tight now, so if the German Meko is much cheaper and does the job, that is a perfectly good reason to buy it. Germany and Japan are both allies, as France is.
AE and I raised the same points about both the Hunter frigate and the AUKUS subs. In each case we are buying the Rolls Royce at huge cost. The Hunter is far too expensive (world’s most expensive ASW frigate) and more hulls of an updated Hobart air warfare destroyer design might have suited our needs better.
The AUKUS sub is more than double the cost of the French sub (even the nuclear version) so it begs the question of why we must have a sub that is not only nuclear powered, but the world’s most powerful. The. French subs are far cheaper to operate too, so getting the AUKUS sub commits us to a cost problem that is long term.
The obvious reason is that our military command is obsessed with having an ADF that is tightly integrated into the US military, using the same sorts of hardware. AUKUS subs only “advantage” is that they are not ready to build for at least ten years, so we can put off spending any real money for ten years.
We pay a high price for the opportunity to get dragged into the USA’s next war. Does that really “defend” Australia?
An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck the Vanuatu islands early this morning after a magnitude-7.3 quake yesterday.
Here’s what happened overnight:
At least six people have reportedly died from the magnitude-7.3 earthquake, according to local media
The death toll is expected to rise further as locals have described the disaster as a ‘mass casualty event’
More than 116,000 people are estimated to be affected by the quake
A seven-day state of emergency has been declared
Desperate search and rescue efforts are underway to reach people trapped under flattened buildings in Port Vila
Communication lines and critical infrastructure including drinking water reservoirs have been damaged
Australia is sending search and rescue teams, as well as emergency medical assistance, to Vanuatu today
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Shane Wright reports that the number of people funnelling money through the increasingly popular vehicle of trusts in a bid to reduce their tax levels has surged by nearly 15 per cent. He explains how the surge in housing and rental costs over the past three years is eating into the budget bottom line, data from the federal Treasury on Tuesday revealed distributions from trusts – often used by business owners, farmers and investors – have hit an all-time high. Work-related expense claims are also very high.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/never-mind-negative-gearing-australians-pushed-67b-through-this-tax-vehicle-20241217-p5kz2l.html
Treasury is forecasting a spike in people claiming investment tax breaks this financial year as experts said higher interest rates and more onerous costs on landlords imposed by some state governments were pushing investors to offload properties, report Ronald Mizen and Michael Read.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/capital-gains-benefit-spikes-to-22-7b-as-property-investors-sell-out-20241217-p5kz0q
Mark Molesworth explains the warnings put out by the ATO and how they will put shivers down the spines of some private companies.
https://www.afr.com/policy/tax-and-super/ato-warnings-will-send-shivers-down-the-spines-of-private-companies-20241213-p5ky63
The treasurer will highlight a $200bn improvement to the federal budget’s position in a mid-year economic update while acknowledging “slippage” caused by global uncertainty and unavoidable spending. Sarah Basford-Canales reports that despite the $200bn improvement, Labor is tempering expectations on the state of the budget ahead of an anticipated deficit in today’s update off the back of two full-year budget surpluses in its first term.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/dec/18/australias-budget-position-200bn-better-than-forecast-but-slippages-and-unavoidable-spending-loom
Millie Muroi tells us that Jim Chalmers has accused the Coalition of “coming after Medicare and medicines and pensions,” prompting opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston to warn that Labor was reviving its discredited 2016 “Mediscare” campaign and telling lies.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/coalition-accuses-chalmers-of-reviving-mediscare-to-defend-budget-20241217-p5kyw8.html
Labor’s blunder is to miss the truth – conservative Liberal leaders are highly effective at attacking Labor. This has been obvious for years. Yet progressive apologists typically don’t get it, pontificates Paul Kelly who concludes with, “Dutton’s biggest risk is the rollout of Coalition policies before the election. Unpopular conservatives often stumble at this hurdle – putting their money on the table. Labor hopes to thwart Dutton in the straight, calculating his skill as a policy advocate won’t match his skill as a Labor critic.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary%2Fnote-to-labor-beware-the-unpopular-liberal-leader%2Fnews-story%2Ff3ef45bfaa7239001674b969d9d64cc4?amp
The coming month of January 2025 is shaping up as Australia Day month. The Coalition has signalled it will be making heavy weather of the weeks leading up to and following Sunday, 26 January. The hubbub will likely focus on Australian flags and an intense determination to stand by the 26th as the day in January sanctified by tradition as the one when the nation contemplates the glories of our history and the impact we make on the world beyond our land of beauty, rich and rare, writes Paul Begley who reckons a Trumpian Dutton will use Howard’s legacy to march into office, and Albanese will let him
https://johnmenadue.com/a-trumpian-dutton-will-use-howards-legacy-to-march-into-office-and-albanese-will-let-him/
Labor has lashed Peter Dutton for mistakenly claiming the Coalition’s nuclear policy will cut energy bills by 44 per cent, accusing the opposition leader of torpedoing his credibility with voters, writes Tom McIlroy.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/labor-lashes-dutton-over-nuclear-savings-gaffe-20241217-p5kz38
The Opposition’s costings for its nuclear power plan released on Friday 13 December contain no references to the size and type of reactors needed and, hence, no estimate of the millions of dollars each one could cost taxpayers, writes Steve Bishop who punches several holes in the policy announcement.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/duttons-nuclear-report-hides-true-cost-to-taxpayers,19269
Chip Le Grand reports that John Pesutto was prepared to outsource Moira Deeming’s readmission to the Victorian Liberal party room to former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott in a desperate bid to prevent her defamation case against him from ending up in court. However, the radical proposal was ultimately not enough to sway the ousted MP, who wanted a guarantee she would be welcomed back into the party fold before she abandoned her Federal Court proceedings.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/howard-abbott-mooted-as-deeming-peacemakers-in-abandoned-deal-20241217-p5kz18.html
The theory that the Albanese Government needs to implement interest rate cuts before the next election is more of a gamble than pundits think, writes Stephen Koukoulas.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/interest-rate-changes-dont-always-sway-voters,19267
Poker machines losses have reached a grim new benchmark, with government data revealing NSW gamblers lost a staggering $1 million dollars an hour in a three-month period, reports Michael McGowan. The latest figures, from the NSW Department of Liquor and Gaming, reveal $2.25 billion dollars was lost to pokies in the 92 days between July and September, prompting renewed calls for the government to respond to recommendations from a long-awaited report into the state’s gambling system released earlier this month. These things are a blight!
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/callous-exploitation-nsw-losing-1-million-an-hour-on-pokies-20241217-p5kyww.html
Australians are gripped by feelings of doom about the state of the world. It’s time to throw the phone away, suggests Peter Lewis as we move into the holiday period.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/17/australians-are-gripped-by-feelings-of-doom-about-the-state-of-the-world-its-time-to-throw-the-phone-away
Sydney’s rail union risks public safety with its threatened New Year’s Eve strike threat, declares the SMH editorial.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-s-rail-union-risks-public-safety-with-new-year-s-eve-strike-threat-20241217-p5kywt.html
The Arden precinct in North Melbourne could soon be home to a towering 57-storey apartment block, almost triple the approved height limit for the area. An application was lodged this week with the state government for a tower containing 609 apartments, 6772 square metres of office space and 2278 square metres of retail space, above a three-level basement, writes Cara Waters.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/plan-busting-proposal-for-57-storey-tower-in-north-melbourne-20241217-p5kz1h.html
Alan Jones is due to face a Sydney court for the first time on Wednesday, accused of indecently assaulting or sexually touching nine alleged victims over two decades. Sarah McPhee provides some details of the charges.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/alan-jones-to-face-court-on-indecent-assault-allegations-20241216-p5kyoa.html
A coroner has asked those scrutinising the state’s voluntary assisted dying program to consider the suicide deaths of eight Victorians – and possibly a ninth – after all were knocked back from accessing the scheme. The move has given hope to some assisted dying advocates, who have for months urged Victoria to follow in the footsteps of the ACT and drop the six-month life expectancy rule for non-neurodegenerative diseases, writes Broede Carmody.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/denied-access-to-euthanasia-they-took-their-own-lives-a-coroner-hopes-their-despair-will-not-go-unheeded-20241217-p5kyzi.html
These researchers have studied 20 places around the world and found the most common diseases linked with voluntary assisted dying.
https://theconversation.com/we-studied-20-places-around-the-world-and-found-the-most-common-diseases-linked-with-voluntary-assisted-dying-245664
Qantas has agreed to pay $120 million in compensation to over 1800 staff it illegally sacked during the pandemic, marking a costly end to a long-running dispute. Dominic Powell reports that the agreement was reached following mediation with the Transport Workers Union, which first brought the case against the airline in 2020. In a statement after market close yesterday, Qantas said it had established a compensation fund to pay the 1820 former ground handlers. Another Joyce legacy!
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/qantas-to-pay-120m-in-compensation-to-illegally-sacked-workers-20241217-p5kz2x.html
The Royal Melbourne Hospital will consider stronger whistleblower protections to ensure medical registrars and junior doctors are more likely to come forward if they have witnessed a more senior colleague participating in unethical conduct. The move follows revelations in The Age that Victoria’s corruption watchdog is investigating a handful of surgeons working at the Parkville hospital for allegedly billing the Transport Accident Commission for medical procedures that were never carried out on patients and fraudulently claiming assistant surgeon fees. There are too many of these leeches ripping off sick people and the system.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/royal-melbourne-hospital-to-consider-better-whistleblower-protections-after-fraud-probe-revealed-20241217-p5kyy2.html
Jenna Price has some words of advice for the new ABC boss. It’s “leave your door open and ignore the monkeys”.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/words-of-advice-for-the-new-abc-boss-leave-your-door-open-and-ignore-the-monkeys-20241217-p5kz21.html
The ABC will have a new boss in the new year and the big question is not what Hugh Marks will do for Aunty, but whether the former Nine Entertainment CEO can survive one of the toughest gigs in the country, writes Elizabeth Knight.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/can-hugh-marks-survive-the-abc-of-minefields-20241217-p5kyy5.html
Hugh Marks is the new managing director of the ABC. Denis Muller discusses his suitability for the job. He says that from the outside it looks like an odd appointment. But Williams is a change agent, and it may be safely assumed this is part of the new direction he has sketched out for the ABC, the ultimate destination of which remains difficult to discern.
https://theconversation.com/hugh-marks-is-the-new-managing-director-of-the-abc-is-he-the-right-person-for-the-job-246124
China is already in deep trouble. Trump will make things worse, opines Stephen Bartholomeusz.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/china-is-already-in-deep-trouble-trump-will-make-things-worse-20241217-p5kyvs.html
A top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops was assassinated in Moscow by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service in the most high-profile killing of its kind. Strange, that.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/bomb-kills-russian-general-in-charge-of-nuclear-forces-in-moscow-reports-20241217-p5kz4g.html
A former Israeli Defence Minister and IDF chief of staff has accused his nation of carrying out ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Northern Gaza, writes Dr Ibrahim Natil.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/former-israeli-defence-minister-admits-to-gazan-genocide,19268
The legal battle over abortion-by-mail in the US has begun – and the stakes are high, explains Moira Donegan who says this fight will test whether pro-choice states can protect providers who mail abortion pills to anti-choice states.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/17/abortion-by-mail-lawsuit
Caroon Corner
Matt Golding
Cathy Wilcox
David Pope
Glen Le Lievre
Mark David
Geoff Pryor
Mark Knight
Spooner
From the US
A Happy MYEFO Day to everyone
The RFK Jr. confirmation saga rolls on and it seems as though he is somewhat chastened(if only to get confirmed by the Senate):
(The Bulwark)
Discussion last night about the Electorate of Fowler, based in Sydney’s West. Currently held by Independent Liberal leaning Dai Le, following the botched preselection of Kristina Keneally for the 2022 election.
Demographics are interesting, with the much touted Vietnamese cohort very visible in Cabramatta – roughly 20% of the electorate. But this number is equaled by the Middle Eastern cohort from Iraq and Syria – and a variety of other migrants and second generations. Plus a growing number from the sub-continent.
These people are not the angry voters whingeing about the white picket fence paradise lost, shopping solely at Colesworth, complaining about Boomers, reading the Daily Telegraph, listening to 2GB and watching SkyNews. And Peter Dutton’s dog whistling does not play well.
They do on the other hand, wonder at (and appreciate) the free education, health care, clean environment and general amenity and safety this part of the world provides. And Labor’s focus on providing good services plays into this, as does the more accommodating approach to international relations.
And what do you ask has Labor done for the working people of Fowler?
Quite a lot it turns out…
Poker machines losses have reached a grim new benchmark, with government data revealing NSW gamblers lost a staggering $1 million dollars an hour in a three-month period, reports Michael McGowan. The latest figures, from the NSW Department of Liquor and Gaming, reveal $2.25 billion dollars was lost to pokies in the 92 days between July and September, prompting renewed calls for the government to respond to recommendations from a long-awaited report into the state’s gambling system released earlier this month. These things are a blight!
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/callous-exploitation-nsw-losing-1-million-an-hour-on-pokies-20241217-p5kyww.html
Wrt this I shall be going to a meeting tonight with the Minister who is responsible for the NSW government’s response to this issue and I will be asking him for a concreted in timeline that tells me exactly how and when they are going to do something about this scourge.
It appears William has a new Open Thread…..
Thanks for the roundup BK. Paul Kelly’s article in The Australian is perhaps a bit modest about the role of that paper in attacking Labor politicians, including himself. And I doubt that Labor politicians fail to see it.
Irish President, replies to Bibi while accepting the credentials of the Palestinian ambassador:
“deep slander” and “a very serious business” to describe the Irish people as anti-Semitic because they disagree with the actions of the Israeli Prime Minister.
Irish President Michael D Higgins replies to Bibi while accepting the credentials of the Palestinian Ambassador.
President Higgins said that said that it is a “deep slander” and “a very serious business” to describe the Irish people as anti-Semitic because they disagree with the actions of the Israeli Prime Minister. Benjamin Netanyahu has breached “so many bits of international law and the sovereignty of three of his neighbours”.
He reiterated condemnation of the actions of Hamas on 7 October 2023, but said the response by Israel has resulted in the deaths of more than 45,000 people, including children, in Gaza.
All of the details of the tragic breaches of international law have informed the Irish position, the president said.
He added that the Irish psyche understands the words: dispossession, occupation and so on.
https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/1217/1486987-ireland-israel/
I am in Paris to see one of my progeny and will be visiting my granddaughter in the UK. I went to Notre Dame, which is magnificent and so stunning with all the candle smoke and pollution gone. The last time I was here 30 years ago, it was amazing but I mostly remember how grey everything was.
It is good to be in the shops and restaurants seeing people from different cultures in many roles. I especially like the Christmas markets of which there are many around the neighbourhoods. I have sore feet because Paris is a place for walk