Miscellany: housing and Queensland polls (open thread)

Pre-election federal polling and a recent state poll from Queensland suggest few are happy with anyone on housing policy.

Nothing to relate over the past week in the way of federal polling, but past time nonetheless for a new post. We do have, courtesy of the Macquarie University Housing and Urban Research Centre, a deep dive into attitudes towards housing policy from before the May election, drawn from the Australian Cooperative Election Survey conducted by Accent Research. It finds only 16% were satisfied with the Albanese government’s housing policies, with 34% dissatisfied and 32% neither, although the high level of consistency of these results by age group, housing tenure and property investment status suggests the dissatisfaction takes on a variety of forms. On the causes of the problem, the report offers the perhaps unsurprising finding that “older and right-leaning voters” blame immigration, while “younger and progressive voters identify high interest rates, high prices and low wages”.

DemosAU does have a state poll for Queensland, which comes too soon after last week’s Resolve Strategic and RedBridge Group polls to get its own post (on a semi-related point: still no date for the Hinchinbrook by-election). In contrast to those two, it finds David Crisafulli’s Liberal National Party government well on top, despite a surge to One Nation at the expense of both major parties. The LNP has a two-party lead of 54-46, essentially the same as the 54.2-45.8 election result last year, from primary votes of LNP 37% (down by 4.5%), Labor 29% (down by 3.6%), Greens 12% (up by 2.1%) and One Nation 14% (up by 6.0%). Crisafulli leads Steven Miles 44-23 on preferred premier. Further questions find the government highly rated for handling of the Olympics but rather a lot less so for housing and cost-of-living, which also register as the two most salient issues facing the state. Extensive demographic breakdowns are available in the full report. The poll was conducted October 13 to 20 from a sample of 1006.

UPDATE (Essential Research): Had I held back a few hours I would have had a new poll from Essential Research to lead with: it has Labor up a point to 36% and the Coalition down one to 26%, and the ongoing One Nation surge pushing them well clear of the Greens, respectively up two to 15% and down two to 9%, with a steady 6% undecided. Labor holds a 50-44 lead on the 2PP+ measure, in from 51-44. Anthony Albanese is up a point on approval to 45% and down two on disapproval to 44%, while Sussan Ley is steady on 32% and up two to 43%.

A question on who should lead the Liberal Party produces indecisive results, with 42% professing themselves unsure and 12% favouring “somebody else” over six designated options: 13% for Sussan Ley, 10% for Andrew Hastie, 10% for Jacinta Namatjira Price, 7% for Angus Taylor, 4% for Allegra Spender and 3% for Tim Wilson. Forty-eight per cent felt the party should adopt more progressive positions, 24% more conservative.

Albanese’s meeting with Donald Trump was rated good for Australia’s long-term interests by 37%, bad by 18% and indifferent by 26%. Support for net zero by 2050 is at 44% with 27% opposed, and a monthly national mood reading improves a bit after a sharp downturn last time, with right direction up a point to 35% and wrong track down four to 46%. The poll was conducted Wednesday to Monday from a sample of 1041.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

1,819 thoughts on “Miscellany: housing and Queensland polls (open thread)”

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  1. … may be instead of complaining about the BoM, the QLD state gov can turn their minds to climate disruption mitigation, adaptation, even actually focus on disaster preparedness, keep the lights on?

  2. Murray Watt, the Environment and Water Minister has requested a meeting with Peter Stone, BOM’s acting CEO on Tuesday after storms hit Queensland and Victoria at the weekend with the new website leaving many Victorians woefully underprepared. “Today I requested a meeting with the Bureau of Meteorology Acting CEO, Mr Peter Stone, to discuss the public’s concerns with its updated website,” Mr Watt said in a statement. “It’s clear that the new BOM website is not meeting many users’ expectations, with a significant range of feedback provided to the Bureau in recent days. “In the meeting, I made clear my expectations that the BOM needed to consider this feedback and, where appropriate, adjust the website’s settings as soon as possible. This includes urgent consideration of improvements to the website’s functionality and usability.”
    https://www.news.com.au/national/weather/lives-at-risk-federal-government-steps-in-over-boms-website-update-farce/news-story/62d505564b6f513c21b7b2c20a805411

  3. This is too funny. Dating life as a MAGA in Washington DC.

    If she had it her way, she would be married and expecting her first kid. She says a lot of her colleagues at the American Principles Project, a conservative advocacy group whose website says “in order to save America — we have to save the family,” are settling down and having children. But it’s rough out there. When we reached Housley by phone, and she told a co-worker that she was discussing dating in D.C., a voice at the other end of the line could be heard saying, “Oh nooooo!” So, that’s where we are.

    “I felt like, being in conservative politics, there would be more, like, masculine men in the conservative movement,” Housley says, “and I find that a lot of them aren’t as masculine as I would have hoped.”

    Newly arrived MAGA singles face a percentage problem: 92.5 percent of the city voted for Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election. President Donald Trump’s decisions to cull the federal workforce and flood the streets with troops and federal agents have created an atmosphere where dating across the aisle might not be as cute as it once was. Especially for the many liberals in the Washington dating pool.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2025/10/28/maga-dating-scene-washington/

  4. Liberal voters want the party to pursue more progressive policies and not spiral further into right-wing positions, according to a new poll that shows far more Australians back a net zero climate target than oppose it. The latest Guardian Essential poll also shows Sussan Ley retains a slight edge as the most popular choice to lead the Coalition, slightly ahead of Andrew Hastie and Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
    But despite troubled waters for the Coalition, it isn’t all smooth sailing for the Labor government, with most voters unconvinced about Anthony Albanese’s meeting with Donald Trump and the much-vaunted critical minerals deal.
    The poll, which surveyed 1,041 voters last week, found an electoral appetite for the Coalition to explore a more moderate policy offering. Asked “what direction do you think the Liberal party should be taking to provide an alternative government for Australia?”, 48% said they should adopt more progressive positions, while 28% said they should maintain their current position. The least popular response, at 24%, was to adopt more conservative positions.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/29/guardian-essential-poll-liberal-voters-progressive-coalition-net-zero

  5. “The support for more progressive positions was higher among the 236 voters in the poll who identified as Coalition supporters, with 49% calling for more progressive positions, 23% backing current positions and 29% wanting more conservative policies.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/29/guardian-essential-poll-liberal-voters-progressive-coalition-net-zero

    You need to poll a lot of voters (>4000), to get n>1000 Coalition supporters 🙂

  6. World News & Politics Patrol:

    Blasts heard after Benjamin Netanyahu orders Israeli military to carry out ‘powerful’ strikes in Gaza: https://news.sky.com/story/israeli-pm-benjamin-netanyahu-orders-military-to-immediately-carry-out-strikes-in-gaza-13459403

    IDF drone captures Hamas terrorists removing hostage’s body, burying it, then calling Red Cross: https://www.ynetnews.com/article/by00ypwraeg#autoplay

    US kills 14 in strikes on four alleged drug boats in Pacific: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ex94eeljeo

    Moscow hit by drone attacks for second consecutive night: https://english.nv.ua/nation/russia-s-capital-under-drone-fire-two-nights-in-a-row-50555968.html

    China is watching’: Finland warns defeating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine key to stability in Indo-Pacific: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/28/china-is-watching-finland-warns-defeating-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-key-to-stability-in-indo-pacific

    Trump, 79, Wanders Off While Meeting Japanese Prime Minister: https://newrepublic.com/post/202339/trump-79-wanders-off-meeting-japanese-prime-minister

    Greene says Johnson refused to share health care plans on GOP conference call: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5577071-greene-johnson-health-care-plans-shutdown/

    ‘Obama 2028’ Trends on X As Donald Trump References Third Term Run: https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-third-term-barack-obama-2028-president-2053143

    Trump, 79, Gets Confused Explaining Water to the Navy: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-gets-confused-explaining-water-to-the-navy/

    Trump’s popularity dips as Americans sweat cost of living, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-popularity-dips-americans-sweat-cost-living-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2025-10-28/

    Texas AG sues makers of Tylenol, claiming they hid alleged links to autism: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/texas-ag-sues-makers-tylenol-hiding-alleged-links/story?id=126930771

    Prince Andrew hosted Epstein, Maxwell and Weinstein at Royal Lodge: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g7d39n6vgo

  7. “I felt like, being in conservative politics, there would be more, like, masculine men in the conservative movement,” Housley says, “and I find that a lot of them aren’t as masculine as I would have hoped.”

    Good grief, what does that even mean?! Too much Kool-Aid and not enough Medicaid.

  8. The good news for Ms Ley is her preferred leader % is 1 percentage point ahead of an unspecified ‘someone else’ ….. but 29 percentage points behind ‘don’t know’.

  9. nadia88says:
    Tuesday, October 28, 2025 at 9:32 pm
    Arange,

    I’ve learnt to ignore that posters posts, especially when she’s shooting the messenger.
    {ie: when it’s something she doesn’t want to hear, she attacks the poster who relays the info, often in a personal manner}.
    There are a couple of other posters here who regularly report on the U.K. polls from time to time, who aren’t referred to as being “nasty” when they do so.
    I generally ignore it, as most other posters thankfully do likewise.

    Best to scroll bar along.

    I was pleading for people to stop calling Keir Starmer ‘Paddington’. It’s offensive and unnecessary and at least Kirsdarke had the good graces to acknowledge the point. Unlike you, nadia88, who seems to think she can pass a character judgement and give directions to others about people who have been here 10 times as long as you. Not that it qualifies my contributions as better than yours, it just puts up in lights your ego.

    Finally, the polls from the UK are what they are and I don’t object to them being put here. Never have. All I have done is make the point that people like you spent a great amount of time before the Australian federal election pronouncing, due to the post Voice polls, that federal Labor would probably lose the federal election as their polls were so dire. Remember your constant refrain that the Liberals would likely ‘pick up 7 seats in Victoria’? Or your latest prediction that Reform would win the Caerphilly by-election? I think my note of caution about the UK polls is better than your bold predictions so far out from the next UK election.

    So, to reiterate my point, I simply object to people writing off UK Labour so soon into their tenure. As you and Lars Von Trier gleefully did, day after day and week after week, to Australian Labor. And some of us will not forget that, as much as you want to wave us away with your high-handed put downs and your direction to people to scroll by my contributions. Which are just as much a personal attack as anything you accuse me of.

    The other reason that I object to the death-riding of UK Labour that you, again, and others are engaging in, is because I know that the Australian campaign team will again be helping out their counterparts in the UK when the time comes. But also from the experience of Labor in Australia who, after being unbalanced by the Voice referendum, found their feet and went on to win the federal election comfortably against a Reform Farage/Temu Trump wannabe. Which as John Howard was wont to say, the people work you out and they did to Peter Dutton and they will to Nigel Farage. Not that you did.

    So scroll by if you want, nadia88, I will still keep contributing my opinions, but I would appreciate it if you stop trying to tell people that they should be ignored. With your record, that’s what I call hubris. Which you don’t seem to have learned from the last time you fell over it.

  10. DemosAU QLD state poll provides the first direct evidence of One Nation stripping primary votes away from both the LNP and Labor.

    Assuming unemployment continues to rise and today’s CPI data confirms inflation is now back on the increase eliminating any further reductions in RBA rates, then I would expect that first direct evidence of both major parties losing primary votes to One Nation to become the norm across Australia.

  11. It looks like the Bibi-sitting by Jared Kushner, Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff isn’t working. 🙁

    Blasts heard after Benjamin Netanyahu orders Israeli military to carry out ‘powerful’ strikes in Gaza: https://news.sky.com/story/israeli-pm-benjamin-netanyahu-orders-military-to-immediately-carry-out-strikes-in-gaza-13459403

    Then again, Hamas aren’t behaving themselves either:

    IDF drone captures Hamas terrorists removing hostage’s body, burying it, then calling Red Cross: https://www.ynetnews.com/article/by00ypwraeg#autoplay

    Plus ca change…

  12. Morning all. THanks for the international roundup HH.

    Hurricane Melissa is landing on Jamaica right now. Its a small island and damage will be severe. Will Trump’s USA assist? There is a large USN task force nearby that could. If not, USA’s credibility in Latin America will decline further. Trump’s failure to assist Puerto Rico after its hurricane in his first term was one of the stages to his becoming a pariah.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-29/storm-melissa-jamaica-live/105945328

  13. Good morning all.

    Doubtless there will be mass peaceful protests and national marches including across Sydney Harbour Bridge and at the Opera House to protest the latest bout of ethnic slaughter by arabs in the Sudan. There is no nonsense about targeting soldiers or collateral damage here. This is targeted mass slaughter of civilians. Just to get a hold on the scale, the death toll now something like three-four times that of Gaza and the number ethnically-cleansed now something like seven times that of the West Bank.

    I must have missed the dozens of articles and news items of Greta Thunberg and the food relief convoy heading towards El Fashir as the city, with a peace time population of a quarter of a million was being starved into submission.

    The loud and long complaints from various international aid agencies who were blockaded from even approaching the starving civilians are still ringing in my ears.

    Chalk meet cheese. Goose me no ganders.

    The cacophony of silence abounds.

  14. A senior Border Patrol official in charge of the so-called “Operation Midway Blitz” of Chicago must appear in federal court this week after allegedly violating a court order by throwing a tear gas canister into a crowd.

    Seen in the footage is Border Patrol sector chief Gregory Bovino, who has become a figurehead of heavy-handed tactics of the Trump administration in federal raids sweeping liberal-leaning U.S. cities. Bovino, an official at a civilian agency, accused the U.S. major general who commanded the troop deployment in Los Angeles of possible disloyalty for questioning the need to send the military to MacArthur Park.

    In June, Bovino made headlines for falsely claiming to have captured dozens of criminals in a raid, only for local outlets to uncover that 77 out of 78 of them have no criminal record.

    Now, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis appears to be throwing down the gauntlet: She ordered Bovino to sit for a five-hour deposition, and she demanded that he appear in person for a status conference on Tuesday. She is deciding how she will enforce her order blocking excessive force against journalists, protesters and clergy.

    https://www.allrisenews.com/p/gregory-bovino-ice-blanche-rtw

  15. Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg portending this morning…

    Host, James Glenday, asks Bragg about comments by Bridget McKenzie earlier this week that it’s not her job to get Liberals elected.

    Somewhat dryly, Bragg says that while the Liberal party has to “look after itself” they are still in a Coalition with the Nats.

    “I know that you probably find it all very interesting to talk about, but we do have a culture of openness in the Liberal Party and the National Party, and we seem to talk about a lot of things. I mean, frankly, I wonder what the nation will talk about if the Liberal Party died, because I think we’d sort of run out of things to discuss”.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/oct/29/federal-politics-parliament-victoria-queensland-bom-labor-coalition-anthony-albanese-sussan-ley-abs-inflation-apec-summit-afp-press-club-ntwnfb#top-of-blog

  16. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
    ‪@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social‬

    Follow
    BIG changes happening — ICE leadership is being purged tonight. The old guard, which prioritized targeted enforcement operations aimed at people with criminal records, is being replaced with Border Patrol and Gregory Bovino’s “Midway Blitz” style.

    Think things are bad now? It’ll get worse

    https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2vtbmhmrwzbqcfv4we4uxzzt/post/3m47odlcu4k2w?ref_src=embed&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.dailykos.com%252Fstories%252F2025%252F10%252F27%252F2350807%252F-Perhaps-the-tipping-point-has-been-reached

  17. You make a good point c@t, there are a lot of parallels between Starmer and Albo.

    Landslides with superficial mandates for one.

    To govern is to choose. 94

  18. It feels like all the talent in the Australian women’s football team is being, and has been, frittered away.

    Alanna Kennedy, 139 games for Australia basically passing the ball sideways, sent off and we get 30% possession.

    Meanwhile Andrew McDonald talking Mitchell Marsh in the test team again:

    https://thesportstak.com/cricket/story/we-still-havent-given-up-on-him-andrew-mcdonald-hints-at-mitchell-marshs-comeback-in-the-ashes-3210661-2025-10-27

    If you are not developing talent, you are going backwards.

  19. Looks like Rio wants a permanent electricity subsidy to keep Tomago going. And Glencore has decided the money they got for mt isa is not enough and they want to renegotiate .

    Seems like the miners have worked out the rubes with free cash have turned up ready to be fleeced.

  20. Bridget has a go at Ley over PM’s Joy Division T-shirt on Sunrise

    Look, there’s a lot to legitimately criticise the prime minister about trillion dollar debt, skyrocketing house prices and job losses in our heavy industrial sector wearing a T-shirt is not one of them … So yeah, get on with acting on antisemitism,” McKenzie said.

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-news-live-matildas-face-england-for-first-time-since-world-cup-loss-hurricane-melissa-makes-landfall-in-jamaica-netanyahu-orders-powerful-attacks-on-gaza-as-hamas-delays-body-handover-20251029-p5n62q.html

  21. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/29/guardian-essential-poll-liberal-voters-progressive-coalition-net-zero

    Guardian Essential poll: Liberal voters want more progressive Coalition as most Australians back net zero

    report: https://essentialreport.com.au/reports/29-october-2025

    Voting figures on this page: https://essentialreport.com.au/reports/federal-political-insights

    TTP+: ALP 50 (-1) L/NP 44 (0)
    Primary: ALP 36 (+1) L/NP 26 (-1) GRN 9 (-2) ON 15 (+2) IND/OTH 7 +(1) UAP 2 (-1) Undecided 6 (0)

    Figures don’t exclude undecided, so they will seem lower and can’t be face value compared to other polls.

  22. Boerwar @8.12
    It does look like good news that the CIS is letting people see what they really stand for, and how “Independent” they are not, also how calling what they do “Studies” is also complete BS.
    Even the liberals are telling us the report was funded by a “high net worth individual”
    The lack of transparency about funding of these propaganda centres remains a blight on our democracy, and a risk in the trumpian direction.
    Perhaps the blatancy of this latest piece of deception will help vaguely decent coalition supporters wake up to what a sham their pet party is. The truth about this can only help the ALP and Teals.
    Also agree with you how shameful our lack of reporting on the Sudan is

  23. Inside the Trump family’s global crypto cash machine.
    The U.S. president’s family raked in more than $800 million from sales of crypto assets in the first half of 2025 alone, a Reuters examination found, on top of potentially billions more in unrealized “on paper” gains. Much of that cash has come from foreign sources as Donald Trump’s sons have touted their business on an international investor roadshow.

    https://www.reuters.com/investigations/inside-trump-familys-global-crypto-cash-machine-2025-10-28/

  24. The Caravan has moved on for labor regarding Middle East just like it did for Higgins who was weaponised.Partly Higgins own fault regarding defamation.Still.
    Carnage left behind maybe labor will indirectly help Higgins out to avoid bankruptcy?
    Mind you 83% of Gaza is rubble ,me thinks some of it due to the progressive left soft on Hamas .
    Will Australia put billions into that rebuild Labor?

    Where’s the next subject labor will park their caravan for votes?

    BTW Nvidia and Nokia partnership wow!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQHK61IDFH4

    Why hasn’t Huang won a Nobel?

  25. FOI requests using AI are now automated and virtually endless. The transactional costs are a huge drain on the bureaucracy.
    But hey, let’s block sensible reform.

  26. VAD debate in Victoria – GA

    “Labor MPs are expected to exercise their conscience vote to oppose a bill put forward by their own party to amend the state’s voluntary assisted dying scheme.

    The lower house debated the proposed VAD changes well into the early hours of Wednesday morning before adjourning about 2am. It will resume this morning.

    With MPs from both Labor and the Coalition granted a conscience vote, the outcome will cut across party lines – as it did during the debate.

    The Labor MP for Greenvale, Iwan Walters, who is aligned with the SDA faction, moved an amendment on Tuesday afternoon to prevent the bill from being read a second time to allow for further consultation.

    Walters told parliament the bill had “come to this place in haste, without due consideration of the anticipated and unintended consequences and with little robust consultation beyond a select group of advocates.”

    He went on:

    If enacted, these measures would substantially weaken the safeguards in the 2017 VAD act, with profound consequences for the safety of vulnerable people in our community.

    The motion was defeated 66 votes to 17 but Labor MPs Anthony Carbines, Natalie Suleyman, Anthony Cianflone, Kathleen Matthews-Ward, Nathan Lambert and Daniela De Martino supported it.”

  27. Good Morning! Here’s Your Daily News and Views Roundup

    Guardian Essential poll: Liberal voters want more progressive Coalition as most Australians back net zero. Voters also unconvinced by Albanese’s Aukus and critical minerals deal with Trump
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/29/guardian-essential-poll-liberal-voters-progressive-coalition-net-zero

    Sussan Ley goes after Anthony Albanese’s Joy Division T-shirt as the Coalition tears itself apart, again.
    While the opposition leader criticised the prime minister’s clothing as a ‘profound failure of judgment’, Albanese posted he was ‘getting things done’. Josh Butler
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/28/sussan-ley-goes-after-anthony-albaneses-joy-division-t-shirt-as-the-coalition-tears-itself-apart-again

    Jacinta Price ‘didn’t care’ defamatory press release was wrong, court told
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/jacinta-price-didn-t-care-defamatory-press-release-was-wrong-court-told-20251028-p5n5v6.html

    AFP asks top builders for details on payment to underworld figures. Nick McKenzie
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/afp-asks-top-builders-for-details-on-payment-to-underworld-figures-20251028-p5n5z2.html

    ‘Heat deaths aren’t a thing’: Coalition MPs weighing net zero given sceptical briefing on climate science
    Exclusive: Briefing by conservative thinktank Centre for Independent Studies was arranged by a Coalition backbench committee
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/29/coalition-mps-net-zero-doubts-climate-science

    Watt defends intervention powers, saying it will not be used to fast track coal and gas
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-29/watt-environment-laws-intervention-coal-gas/105942950

    Nature waits as Labor’s environmental wedge hits Coalition. Mike Foley
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/nature-waits-as-labor-s-environmental-wedge-hits-coalition-20251027-p5n5hj.html

    Environment Minister Murray Watt has been warned by pro-environment Labor MPs not to water down the government’s nature law reform in an attempt to win over the opposition and big business.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/don-t-gut-these-laws-backbench-warning-to-watt-on-environment-20251028-p5n5wp.html

    Political reporter Dan Jervis-Bardy tells Nour Haydar why the government is racing to negotiate a deal with either the Coalition or the Greens to fix Australia’s broken nature laws. Full Story podcast
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/audio/2025/oct/28/labor-environment-deal-full-story-podcast

    ‘Shock and anger’ as Labor proposes giving states more power over fossil fuel projects
    Extracts of planned changes to the EPBC Act prompt ‘anger’ from conservation organisations that fear nature protection will be weakened
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/28/nature-laws-epbc-expanded-fossil-fuel-water-powers-betrayal-australians

    Biodiversity is in catastrophic decline. Here are three ways to ensure Australia’s conservation law actually works.
    The highest priority must be to ensure land-clearing is properly regulated to save our native forests
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/28/australia-conservation-law-biodiversity-decline

    Marine wildlife fleeing to poles due to global heating as Australian oceans face ‘uncharted’ future
    From 2040 onwards the average year for marine ecosystems is likely to be more extreme than the worst years experienced up until 2015, researchers say
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/29/climate-change-global-heating-warming-oceans-uncharted-future-australia

    Bill Gates says climate change ‘won’t lead to humanity’s demise’.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/bill-gates-rejects-doomsday-view-of-climate-change-20251029-p5n62z.html

    The year of the bailout: Australia’s biggest aluminium smelter next in line for taxpayers’ cash
    Patrick Commins
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/29/the-year-of-the-bailout-australias-biggest-aluminium-smelter-next-in-line-for-taxpayers-cash

    The $4.1 million question: How did the BOM get its new website so wrong?
    https://www.smh.com.au/technology/the-4-1-million-question-how-did-the-bom-get-its-new-website-so-wrong-20251028-p5n5uh.html

    Demand for weather bureau to explain how it will fix ‘flawed’ website
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/not-good-enough-crisafulli-slams-flawed-bom-website-in-storm-aftermath-20251028-p5n5xd.html

    Australian-first bill to ban use of NDAs to silence sexual harassment victims introduced in Victoria
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/29/bill-to-ban-ndas-sexual-harassment-victoria-parliament-australia-first

    Victorian Labor-led committee backs calls for new costing of Suburban Rail Loop
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/labor-led-committee-backs-calls-for-new-costing-of-suburban-rail-loop-20251028-p5n5xb.html

    Victorian Political parties’ hidden war chests exposed in election year High Court battle
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/political-parties-hidden-war-chests-exposed-in-election-year-high-court-battle-20251028-p5n5vq.html

    ‘We are the party of choice’: NSW Liberals divided on voluntary assisted dying changes
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/we-are-the-party-of-choice-liberals-divided-on-voluntary-assisted-dying-changes-20251028-p5n5uv.html

    The five metro extensions at the top of the NSW Lib hit list. Funded by ‘Asset Recycling’.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-five-metro-extensions-at-the-top-of-the-nsw-lib-hit-list-20251027-p5n5md.html

    Queensland vowed to update board job processes in 2022. It still hasn’t.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/queensland-vowed-to-update-board-job-processes-in-2022-it-still-hasn-t-20251028-p5n5zp.html

    ‘They are sadists’: How abusers are using the dark web to infiltrate childcare centres
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/they-are-sadists-how-abusers-are-using-the-dark-web-to-infiltrate-childcare-centres-20251028-p5n5uz.html

    ‘Sadistic’ online gangs hunting Australian girls like a video game, AFP chief warns
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/reluctant-but-compliant-snapchat-tiktok-and-meta-yield-to-social-media-ban-20251028-p5n5rs.html

    As alarms are sounding about national debt, Trump deepens U.S. debt by one trillion dollars in eight weeks, as Alan Austin reports.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/australia-thrives-while-usa-struggles-in-challenging-economic-times,20306

    Trump’s third term? Don’t laugh. He’s never let the rules stop him before. Arwa Mahdawi
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/28/trump-third-term-president-us-constitution

    Trump would ‘love’ a third term as president. Here’s how his backers reckon it could happen
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-rules-out-2028-vice-president-bid-but-says-he-d-love-a-third-term-20251028-p5n5r0.html

    Former US vice-president Kamala Harris is contemplating a second run for the presidency and says she was “reckless” to not act to stop Joe Biden running for a second term.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-29/kamala-harris-says-she-may-run-again-for-the-white-house/105943576

    ‘Anything you want’: Trump’s love-in with Japan’s new leader
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/anything-you-want-trump-s-love-in-with-japan-s-new-leader-20251028-p5n5ta.html

    Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim discusses Donald Trump, China and Gaza. Laura Tingle
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-29/malaysia-prime-minister-anwar-bin-ibrahim-on-gaza-trump/105941600

    South Pacific defence ministers want to transform a military disaster response group into a taskforce that could also conduct Pacific “stabilisation” missions. The shift would mark an ambitious expansion of the Pacific Response Group’s remit just a year after it was created to help respond to humanitarian catastrophes. The move could prove controversial in other Pacific nations, which have established security and policing links with China.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-28/australia-part-of-pacific-taskforce-with-expanded-remit/105942604

    Most nights, Ukrainian-born performer Sergiy Mishchurenko spins gracefully through the air above his audience, making shapes and pointing his feet as he dreams of a new life in Australia.
    https://www.smh.com.au/culture/theatre/this-circus-performer-was-once-a-vegetarian-then-he-came-to-sydney-20251023-p5n4p0.html

  28. Fastwheels,
    I can give you a taste of that article if you would like? It was also in the DP above ^

    Major political parties are accused of using secretive investment vehicles to funnel millions of dollars into their election campaigns ahead of a high-stakes High Court challenge to be heard early in the 2026 election year.

    Fresh court documents, filed on Monday, expose the vast war chests of Victoria’s major parties, whose multimillion-dollar fundraising arms are shielded from donation caps through a special exemption in Victoria’s electoral laws.

    Two independent candidates – Paul Hopper, who contested the Werribee byelection in February, and Melissa Lowe, who ran as a “teal” independent in the seat of Hawthorn in 2022 – are seeking to have this exemption removed, and argue it gives Labor and the Coalition an unfair edge over independents and newer parties, and breaches the implied freedom of political communication.

    The plaintiffs’ submission shows the three nominated entities – the Liberal Party’s Cormack Foundation, Labor’s Labor Services & Holdings and the Nationals’ Pilliwinks – collectively directed millions of dollars to their respective political parties before the 2022 election while remaining exempt from the same cap of $4850 per donor that applies to other candidates.

    The carve-out dates back to 2018, when then-premier Daniel Andrews overhauled political funding laws in a move he promised would give Victoria the “strictest donations laws in the country”.

    While the overhaul sharply tightened donation caps, it provided an exemption to pre-existing entities under a legacy clause that allows them to move uncapped amounts to Labor and the Coalition parties. Critics say that carve-out undercuts the integrity claim it was meant to serve.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/political-parties-hidden-war-chests-exposed-in-election-year-high-court-battle-20251028-p5n5vq.html

  29. Is Gen-Z the transformative generation?

    https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/10/is-gen-z-the-transformative-generation/

    “So, will activists from among the Gen-Z generation suffer the same fate as the Baby Boomers? Will they too become a compromised generation? Possibly not. They are less corruptible than the Boomer radicals of yore. They are no longer a small minority in the voting population. They are better educated and more in touch with local and global political developments. They are in regular contact with like-minded young people around the globe (a positive result of social media). They are globally conscious. They are aware of the need to close the dangerous wealth divide between rich and poor economies. They know that a co-operating world already has the resources to end famines (nearly all human-made) and provide medical care to the majority of the world’s population suffering from preventable diseases. They want practical solutions to these problems, not high-minded speeches by dithering politicians in global forums.

    Moreover, thoughtful Gen-Z members realise that the actual political structures of modern states and the mind-sets of their political leaders — especially states with vast military-industrial complexes dominating their economies — have reached their use-by date. They are no longer fit for purpose. They recognise that states (especially those claiming to be “democratic”) are nothing more that politico-cultural structures for entrenching localised power elites, enabling them to exploit their societies and economies in their own interests.

    The orthodox Westphalian apology for state sovereignty has proven to be fiction entrenching the privileges of the few at the expense of the many. The most heinous feature of the state sovereignty fiction is that it is the incubator of war. As research and development of war technologies become ever more evil (stealth drones, far-range nuclear missiles, the militarisation of space), Gen-Z understands that war itself must be rendered obsolete if the obliteration of humanity and the destruction of the physical world is to be avoided.

    And then there is arguably the wickedest problem of all: global warming and climate change. Astute Gen-Z members are profoundly angry at the abject failure of governments the world over to swiftly and comprehensively adopt measures to ameliorate, if not halt, the ravages that a heated globe means for their futures and the futures of those to come after them. Their understanding is far deeper than the blinkered pragmatism and counterproductive thinking that clouds the vision of the Boomer generations and their immediate successors who presently sit in the seats of power around the contemporary world.”

  30. Severe cyclonic storm Montha crosses Andhra coast, to weaken in next six hours
    The IMD said Cyclone Montha, a severe cyclonic storm, crossed the Andhra Pradesh and Yanan coasts between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam near Kakinada and is expected to weaken into a cyclonic storm soon.

    https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/cyclone-montha-lanfall-process-has-begun-will-cross-andhra-coast-during-next-3-4-hours-weather-department-2809786-2025-10-28

    “Cyclone Montha, upgraded to a severe cyclonic storm, swept across the Andhra Pradesh and Yanan coasts between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam early hours of Wednesday, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

    “The latest observations indicate that the severe cyclonic storm ‘Montha’ has crossed the Andhra Pradesh and Yanan coasts between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, to the south of Kakinada,” the IMD said in a post on X, confirming the landfall process had been completed shortly after midnight.

    In its 12:30 am update, the IMD added that the system was expected to weaken into a cyclonic storm within six hours. Coastal areas experienced heavy rain and gale-force winds as the cyclone barreled through, uprooting trees and disrupting power supply in several districts.

    These are some of the most heavily populated areas in India.

  31. Thanks, C@t and Hh.

    This is a predictable but interesting article:
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/29/coalition-mps-net-zero-doubts-climate-science

    Once again, a so called moderate stands up for their convictions by whinging off the record:
    “.. you could not help but to think that we heard from a thinktank with a special affection for coal”

    The appointment of long time AFR editor, Michael Stutchbury as CIS executive director is a reminder of the close links between the CIS and the AFR.

  32. Sudan is one thing I do agree with Boerwar on. But the only way for us to pressure the RSF is via the UAE, their materiel supplier whose military employs plenty of mercenaries, including ex-ADF. Eg the head of their presidential guard is an Aussie, a General Hindmarsh. I remember reading that a whole chunk of Australian logistics personnel joined them while they were warring in Yemen, but can’t find a reference

  33. HH at 6.41am.

    It must be difficult to get accurate results when polling. If I was asked what the Libs should do I would say go to the right of Genghis Khan.

  34. Boerwar says:
    Wednesday, October 29, 2025 at 7:28 am
    Good morning all.

    Doubtless there will be mass peaceful protests and national marches including across Sydney Harbour Bridge and at the Opera House to protest the latest bout of ethnic slaughter by arabs in the Sudan. There is no nonsense about targeting soldiers or collateral damage here. This is targeted mass slaughter of civilians. Just to get a hold on the scale, the death toll now something like three-four times that of Gaza and the number ethnically-cleansed now something like seven times that of the West Bank.

    I must have missed the dozens of articles and news items of Greta Thunberg and the food relief convoy heading towards El Fashir as the city, with a peace time population of a quarter of a million was being starved into submission.

    The loud and long complaints from various international aid agencies who were blockaded from even approaching the starving civilians are still ringing in my ears.

    Chalk meet cheese. Goose me no ganders.

    The cacophony of silence abounds.

    ————————-
    Boerwar, you are right on this. The difference of course is Sudan is in Africa and Gaza is effectively in Europe. Skin colour makes a difference. US strategic interests make a difference. Trade makes a difference. Money talks.

    My friend, why don’t you organise the march?

    Do a press release. Make a sign.

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