Yesterday’s interest rates cut has put election timing speculation into sharper focus, but the most widely touted option all along has been April 12, the earliest date that avoids overlap with the campaign for the Western Australian election on March 8. Labor MPs cited by The Australian today were “unanimously against a March budget, given the deficits it would forecast”, which is to say they would favour the three week window from March 29 to April 12 over an election on the other side of Easter in May. The first of these dates is rated a “small possibility”, and would help Labor prosecute the case that a corner has been turned on interest rates, which would be complicated in the very likely event that rates are kept on hold at the Reserve Bank’s next meeting on April 1. However, Labor sources cited by David Crowe of Nine Newspapers “play down the idea of an election being called this weekend”, as March 29 would require. Counting against April 12 is its being the date of Passover, sensitivity towards Jewish concerns being a priority at the moment. No one seems especially discouraged that it would land in the middle of school holidays in Victoria and Queensland.
The latest on the polling front:
• The fortnightly Essential Research poll has Labor steady on 30%, the Coalition down one to 35%, the Greens steady on 12% and One Nation up one to 9%, with a steady 4% undecided. The 2PP+ measure has both Labor and the Coalition on 48%, after the Coalition led 49-47 last time. Monthly leadership ratings have Anthony Albanese down two on approval after an unusually strong result last time to 43%, and up three on disapproval to 48%. Peter Dutton is down one on approval to 41% and up two on disapproval to 45%. The monthly “national mood” question likewise erases an anomalous improvement last time, with right direction down seven points to 31% and wrong track up five to 51%, both results being identical to the December survey. A quite of questions on “awareness of Labor’s achievements” records high awareness of $300 energy bill rebates (77% aware, 23% unaware) and TAFE and HECS debt cuts (66% and 34%), but relatively low awareness of consecutive budget surpluses (46% and 54%). The poll was conducted Wednesday to Sunday from a sample of 1146.
• The weekly Roy Morgan poll has the Coalition with an unchanged two-party lead of 51.5-48.5 based on respondent-allocated preferences, and a narrowing from 51.5-48.5 to 51-49 going off 2022 election preference flows. The primary votes are Labor 28% (down one), Coalition 39.5% (down one), Greens 12.5% (up one-and-a-half) and One Nation 5.5% (up one-and-a-half). The poll was conducted Monday to Sunday from a sample of 1666.
• The Australian yesterday has a supplementary result from Monday’s Newspoll finding 25% of the view that inflation would be higher than it is now if Peter Dutton and the Coalition were in government, 24% lower and 31% about the same.
This White House tweet on X/Twitter is referenced in an NBC article describing how Trump has vetoed congestion pricing in Manhattan and described himself as king. It is one thing for Trump to post his own tweet; it is another thing entirely for the official White House account to repeat it, along with a picture of Trump wearing a crown. They’re making the US appear a laughing stock in the eyes of the world.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/king-trump-rcna192912
@WhiteHouse
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
–President Donald J. Trump
“The problem with Kamala was the announcement well before her selection that the V-P would be a “woman of colour.” Apart from anything else it did her a massive disservice.”
The problem with Kamala is the people who choose to abuse her because of her race and her sex. They would have done so regardless of anything. I mean, history is a bit of a precedent. Women have always been slurred in the workplace. Only the language gas changed.
@citizen at 9:05pm
I could’ve sworn that the Americans have an amendment in their constitution as well as a key point to their existence as a nation as to how to deal with Kings and Tyrants.
Oh well, I suppose it must not matter that much.
Meanwhile police from China’s poorer provinces are extorting money from businesspeople based in China’s wealthier provinces. This is known as ‘distant water fishing’. The comrades have now taken to threatening the police.
Was Vance a DEI hire? Or was he chosen on merit?
K
Kings and tyrants are fine as long as their selection is merit based. Otherwise they would be DEI hires and not up to the job.
”
meher babasays:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 7:24 pm
Confessions: “She was the Vice President. Even a straight white male VP would’ve expected to have at least the opportunity to decline.”
——————————————————————–
Possibly true. But she was always going to struggle with the perception of being a DEI candidate. And, much though I hate to say this, there was probably a section of the electorate that wasn’t going to vote for a black woman under any circumstances, but might have considered a white Democrat male
”
During Biden era, all top spots in the administration are DEI
Chuck Schumer -Senate majority leader (a Jew)
Nancy Pelosi (Speaker for 1st 2 years of Biden years) (a woman)
Hakim Jeffries – (Minority leader of HOR in next 2 years) (a black and Muslim)
A Blinken – Secretary of state (a Jew)
Lloyd Austin – Defense Secretary (a black)
Janet Yellen – Treasury Secretary (a woman)
Every where Biden had DEI hires for top positions. No wonder FUBAR and meherbaba are mad with Biden and his administration.
Boerwarsays:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 9:11 pm
Meanwhile police from China’s poorer provinces are extorting money from businesspeople based in China’s wealthier provinces. This is known as ‘distant water fishing’. The comrades have now taken to threatening the police.
========================================================
How backward, in Australia we don’t need the police to do that, nor wealthy business people as victims. We have the National Party who just extorts the taxpayer. Cuts out all those middle men.
Vance was an affinity hire. But merit hire also works. In the sense of merit being used sarcastically.
Speaking merit based appointments I was delighted with Trump appointing himself Chair of the Kennedy Centre.
Musk is another merit based appointment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTgCkbY_EDM
Vance being a DEI hire for white guys who have eyelashes so long that they look like a Raccoon.
E
The Comrades are the ones who do all the extorting. They don’t like the cops moving into their patch.
K
haha.
Boerwarsays:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 9:23 pm
E
The Comrades are the ones who do all the extorting. They don’t like the cops moving into their patch.
===================================================
As i said it would never happen under the National Party. The buck always stopped with them. Joh had very few principles but that is one principle he adhered to. Bags of money came in and never out.
Also King Humpty Trumpty himself being a DEI hire for being an Oompa Loompa with gigantism.
A Liberal candidate has resigned, moments after The West Australian exposed his comments about wanting to “hang” young criminals. In an interview with The West, Kimberley candidate Darren Spackman used expletives to describe young offenders he said are “broken”.
He said prolific school truancy is pushing kids in “survival mode” towards crime.
“I have changed my attitude, but 10 years ago I would have said hang the c…s, f…..if you commit the crime, bang, that’s it you’re done,” he said. “Now I’ve seen the other side of it where I’ve been to juvenile justice . . . you only been to school for three months of your whole life and you come to town and you’re couch surfing, how long until you steal food.”
Liberal leader Libby Mettam — who was this week forced to defend Mr Spackman over a social media rant — told him to resign after hearing the comments. She said his behaviour did not reflect the values of the party or herself. “I will not tolerate this behaviour and have asked the State Director to immediately obtain Mr Spackman’s resignation as a candidate for the WA Liberal Party,” she said.
https://thewest.com.au/politics/wa-election-2025/liberal-candidate-darren-spackman-set-to-resign-over-foul-mouthed-kimberley-crime-rant–c-17792913
Kirsdarkesays:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 9:33 pm
Also King Humpty Trumpty himself being a DEI hire for being an Oompa Loompa with gigantism.
====================================
Dei hire for Orange people. Does anyone know if the orange dye he uses can have side effects, like neurological impairment?
Entropy @ #1068 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 9:37 pm
On a serious note, that actually happened in history. The dye that Queen Elizabeth 1st used to mask her face in her later years involved the use of Lead and Mercury, which later on was thought to be a cause of her mental decline.
In Trump’s case though, one opinion that stuck with me is that he makes his lackeys kiss his arse to satisfy his ego, and make his opponents feel powerless to stop him to satisfy his id. The mentality of an abuser.
Because of what he thought ten years ago, or because he doesn’t still think that now? Or because he — God forbid — swore? A stupid decision by a leader completely out of her depth.
William Bowesays:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Liberal leader Libby Mettam — who was this week forced to defend Mr Spackman over a social media rant — told him to resign after hearing the comments.
Because of what he thought ten years ago, or because he doesn’t still think that now? Or because he — God forbid — swore? A stupid decision by a leader completely out of her depth.
===================================================
So if she was already defending him over his 10 year old social media posts. Then it wouldn’t be that. I’m going with his swearing in the interview. The west must be the only paper that has its puzzles and news stories in the one article.
Here’s some straightforward, non-sensationalised information about asteroid 2024-YR4, which NASA now estimates has a 3.1% chance of hitting Earth on 22/12/2032.
https://youtu.be/s0wOgYFYmh8?si=3MXpa8WrhZ59z4v0
Of course, that means it has a 96.9% chance of missing Earth.
Being about 50 metres across, it would produce an air burst estimated at several megatons, similar to that of the Tunguska event of 1908, a massive air burst that occured over a remote area of Siberia. It would cause local devastation and, if it exploded over a populated area, mass casualties, but it would not be a global disaster.
NASA and astronomers worldwide will be keeping a close eye on the thing in coming months and years. If it still looks dangerous a few years out, a mission to divert it could likely be arranged.
Steve777 @ #1072 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 9:53 pm
Or alternatively Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos decide to carry out the plot of “Don’t Look Up” to the letter and try to exploit it and in the end let millions die while they escape the danger zone in their megayachts, given the danger apparently doesn’t warrant the use of colony spaceships yet.
William I thought he resigned due to a 2022 social media post where he referred to a break in at his pub as welcome to country?
Steve777says:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 9:53 pm
Here’s some straightforward, non-sensationalised information about asteroid 2024-YR4, which NASA now estimates has a 3.1% chance of hitting Earth on 22/12/2032.
=======================================================
This could be Elon’s chance to be a hero and redeem his image. Which by 2032 one would think could be pretty low. By steering a Space X rocket ship packed with explosives straight into it.
Quote: “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
Entropy @ #1074 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 10:03 pm
Going by how Elon is like these days he’d use it as a trick to direct it on a 100% collision course into Earth and do a Dr. Evil Laugh Ceremony about it.
Mettam stood by him over that. I’m not sure what Spackman’s own story is, but Mettam looks weak, fickle and confused.
Kirsdarkesays:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 10:08 pm
Entropy @ #1074 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 10:03 pm
====================================================
Direct it to hit directly on the San Andreas fault, after buying up all the desert real estate to the east of it. As Elon never does anything original. Always just pinches someone else’s great idea. In this case Lex Luther’s
Thanks William. Your post makes sense now.
meher baba says:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 8:33 pm
F__k knows why Vance was appointed. Trump doesn’t seem to want to include him in anything. The de facto V-P is Musk.
Vance is the Big Head of this administration (Big Head was a character in Silicon Valley). He fails upwards in a spectacular fashion.
He might even be in the running for the 2028 presidential race.
”
Steve777says:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 8:11 pm
The US claim to moral superiority was always a bit dubious. With Trump, it’s no longer pretending:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/20/us-moral-supremacy-donald-trump-president
”
Now, you can understand my criticism of USA.
As I posted, although the MAGAs were always hiding in plain sight, US leadership always proclaimed till Trump became POTUS, they are but afew bad apples.
Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt saved Americans from themselves.
Entropy @ #1078 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 10:14 pm
Indeed, although by now Elon’s pumped so much botox into his face that he probably couldn’t even pull off a proper Lex Luther-style supervillain laugh, just his usual weird half-arsed smirk.
“Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has accused Labor of fast-tracking Australian citizenship for people who fled Gaza to win votes in marginal seats at the upcoming election, even though nobody who has fled the war-torn strip since 2023 is eligible for citizenship.
Dutton made the series of unfounded claims about Gazan visa holders at a Sky News summit on antisemitism on Thursday, following reports the government planned to grant 12,500 people citizenship in a series of 25 ceremonies that the Home Affairs Department will hold across Australia by March 4.”
This, from the leftist Sydney Morning Herald.
Yawn. Only the totally naive would restrict themselves to tell only the total objective truth during an election campaign.
This is expedient, normal politics, plain and simple.
Geez is that two nats and a lib gone in the WA state campaign ?
Three days before pre polling.
Not a lot has changed labor is still in control of the narrative.
Elon -Tony Stark
Kirsdarkesays:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 10:18 pm
================================================
“If Elon Musk was a supervillain which supervillain would he be?”
Since we first started on this topic, Elon has only shown that maybe we had it all wrong. The new topic should read. “which supervillian, if they upped their game, could most likely emulate Elon Musk”.
pied pipersays:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 10:25 pm
Geez is that two nats and a lib gone in the WA state campaign ?
Three days before pre polling.
Not a lot has changed labor is still in control of the narrative.
==================================================
Not long ago that would be about the whole party.
My memory fails me. Can someone let me know what the add on is that enables you to determine the number of blogs on each page i.e. 50 or 100 etc. Time stamp etc.
Holdenhillbilly @ #1067 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 9:35 pm
This sounds like the guy had a change of heart? Which would be a good thing, no?
So…if Spackman’s behaviour ‘does not reflect the values of the party’, does that not mean, ipso facto, that the party does not value mitigating circumstances to criminal behaviour?
enjaybee @ #1087 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 10:31 pm
C+
Look for PB Comments Plug In
Go to the 3 dots in the top right hand corner of the page and it should be under Extensions
enjaybeesays:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 10:31 pm
My memory fails me. Can someone let me know what the add on is that enables you to determine the number of blogs on each page i.e. 50 or 100 etc. Time stamp etc.
============================================
It’s 50, the software i use to determine this. Is called scroll and count.
Jokes aside, i think it could be C plus?
Entropy @ #1085 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 10:27 pm
Honestly that’s really hard to say. When writers think of supervillains, they usually think of characters who would eventually be thwarted by the forces of good and justice.
I would say however that Elon would most likely be closest to being a Vogon from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Although Elon could be described as actually evil in his case.
‘The Leftist Sydney Morning Herald’
Lol, is that a crime in Oz now, FashoII?
C@t now I fully understand William’s comment earlier. Seems like the bloke has matured his attitude in the past 10 years so why the sacking?
Elon Musk was the inspiration for Tony Stark/Ironman. I certainly wouldn’t characterize Elon as a supervillain, or as evil. I admit he’s racking up douchebag points but he’s also done a lot of good. On a good day, I still have high hopes for him.
dave @ #1094 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 10:38 pm
Yeah, of course, when Tony Stark/Ironman first appeared in 1962 and Elon Musk was born in 1971. I suppose Stan Lee had a time machine to make the link happen.
Rossmcg @ #1023 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 8:38 pm
Jeez, how fast does he think they can do it!?! At light speed!?! 😆
That man is such an unreconstructed, bigot-adjacent human being, as he trawls for votes in the murkiest of waters.
davidwhsays:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 10:37 pm
C@t now I fully understand William’s comment earlier. Seems like the bloke has matured his attitude in the past 10 years so why the sacking?
==================================================
The comment dave pointed out, that was pretty gross too.Was from 2022. Though both his 10 year old comment and his 2022 one. Had come out a few days ago and the opposition leader had defended him over it. It appears his swearing in an interview, which does appear a lesser misdemeanour than others, is what finished him. I’m going with last straw that broke the camels back on this.
davidwh @ #1093 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 10:37 pm
dwh,
As WB said earlier, the actions of Libby Mettam seem to be those of a leader out of their depth. I’d add that as she is under the stress of an election campaign she is not making sound judgements on the fly.
Thank you to C@t and entropy for helping this 85 year old geriatric out. My son changed the settings of browsers. All is good now.
Kirsdarkesays:
Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 10:35 pm
Entropy @ #1085 Thursday, February 20th, 2025 – 10:27 pm
I would say however that Elon would most likely be closest to being a Vogon from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
===========================================================
The supervillian i think who could have been Elon Musk if he had upped his game. Is Rupert Murdoch, he needed to have ditched print media and went total internet earlier to achieve it. Now he is only Pruneface.