The second and third federal polls for the year have been published over the last few days, the more recent being a Roy Morgan result that has Labor down two on last month to 30%, the Coalition up four to 30.5%, One Nation down half to 15% (a distinctly different result from the other two recent polls) and the Greens steady on 13.5%. Whereas Morgan’s practice since the May election has been to publish large-sample monthly results compiled from its regular surveying, this result is limited to a 1676 sample over a one-week period from January 5 to 11, the former date marking the resumption of its surveying after a break that began in mid-December. Labor is credited with a 52-48 two-party lead using both respondent-allocated preferences and previous election preference flows, compared with respective leads of 55-45 and 55.5-44.5 last month.
The other comes from Fox & Hedgehog, a new outfit founded by former Peter Dutton staffer Michael Horner, and has Labor leading 53-47 from primary votes of Labor 29%, Coalition 25%, One Nation 21% and Greens 14%. Also featured are further two-party preferred match-ups showing Labor leading One Nation 56-44 and the Coalition leading One Nation 63-37, and a “three-party preferred” result with Labor on 46%, the Coalition on 29% and One Nation on 25%. Together with Anthony Albanese (33% approval and 48% disapproval) and Sussan Ley (19% approval and 32% disapproval), personal ratings were included for six further politicians, with Pauline Hanson scoring 38% approval and 41% disapproval. Albanese leads Ley 39-31 on preferred prime minister.
As well as extensive breakdowns on voting intention, the poll further offers the striking findings that 51% consider the Australian political system “fundamentally broken”, with only 22% disagreeing, and 55% in favour of “a pause to all migration to Australia other than tourists”, with only 22% disagreeing. Twenty-eight per cent favoured the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, with 32% opposed. The poll was conducted January 5 and 6 from a sample of 1608.
The Board of Peace sounds like a protection racket with very high recurring fees.
The key indicator will be that the US pays no fees and The Don has the power of veto over everything.
“What will it take for policymakers to take this more seriously?
That’s the question a desperate-sounding Jeremy posed on local ABC talkback radio as he drove through central Victoria, which has been ravaged by bushfires for the past week, while his family was on the Great Ocean Road trapped by floodwaters ”
What will it take? The people who live in those areas to stop voting for climate change denialists would be a great start.
“A boycott of teams or better still, playing the matches elsewhere would indicate to Chump what the rest of the world really thinks of him.”
——————————————-
The World Cup to consist of one match USA vs Argentina. In the battle of the fascist states. Apologies I forgot Chile.
@Matt – “I’d hope that even this SCOTUS, as pathetic as it is, wouldn’t allow the “POTUS” to flat-out ignore an Act passed by the current Congress!”
I wouldn’t stake my life on it. Or anything else for that matter.
“Trump’s DoJ now claims no US Court can force release of Epstein files”
No shit, the entire Trump presidency flagrantly ignores the law literally daily because that disgrace to the legal profession Roberts and his band of Trump sycophants effectively declared Trump above the law. The long term history of this period is not going to be kind to Roberts.
I’m guessing the world cup itself will be handed to trump after the captain of the winning team acknowledges that trump would have played better
I found out the other day from Jeffrey Toobin that John Roberts is a Unitary Power in the Presidency guy.
So don’t expect enlightened rulings from him.
Leave the FIFA World Cup in America. And have the games played in virtually empty stadiums, save for the Trumps and their obvious sycophants in the stands.
The concern with the World Cup isn’t so much about empty stands, although that is concerning. The real concern is whether players in competing teams will be able to get visas or if they do get visas would be inadvertently rounded up by ICE and CBP.
Michael Cohen who was supposedly the reformed Trump fixer, has been deplatformed by Meidastouch.
I did occasionally listen to his podcast. As soon as he started saying that during his time working for Trump, there was never a time that Epstein saga crossed his path. I knew he was lying and he was covering up stuff. Not to protect Trump, but his own involvement insofar s covering up for Trump.
Appears this is indeed the case.
I don’t for a moment believe Roberts would have made the same ruling about say Bill Clinton. It’s giving him too much credit to say the decision was based on his view of law. It was based on his view of not wanting to disqualify the Republican Presidential candidate.
It’s like the late asshole Scalia. Some will try and tell you he was a great jurist. No, what he was was great at writing plausible sounding legal justifications for political decisions he’d already made. That’s a particularly evil skill.
This is the tweet from Meidastouch. They haven’t explained why. But I am confident they have figured out from sources that Cohen covered shit up for Trump relating to Epstein.
——-
Programming note: MeidasTouch Network will no longer be producing or carrying the shows Political Beatdown or Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen.
It you follow US politics we all know who Tucker Carlson is. The MAGA, MEGA. Fired because he cost Murdoch millions defending Trump.
This clip is interesting from four points of view. Likud is being very open about their strategy, an attempt to mix anti-semiotic with anti-Israel .it’s an indication of why Israel has to panic, as support in the USA is falling, and number 4 it is all done in a short format.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ln2ZvDaU8Bc
Arkysays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 12:16 pm
I don’t for a moment believe Roberts would have made the same ruling about say Bill Clinton. It’s giving him too much credit to say the decision was based on his view of law. It was based on his view of not wanting to disqualify the Republican Presidential candidate.
———————————————–
So a believer in revised Unitary Power theory that supreme power is invested in the President and that President must be a Republican. In fact why bother with elections. As the people have no mandate to go against the will of Republican Presidential infallibility.
I found out the other day from Jeffrey Toobin that John Roberts is a Unitary Power in the Presidency guy.
So don’t expect enlightened rulings from him.
++++
The Powell memo, the founding of the John birch society were all in service of reaching this point in time. Yet liberals ignored it.
“Perhaps more was happening in the 20th Century than we grasped. Perhaps the tumbling succession of moments between the Smolensk crash (Polish president and other killed in Russia) and the Trump presidency was an era of transformation.”
From “The Road to Unfreedom (Timothy Snyder, 2018). Highly Recommended!!
Snyder introduces some of the actions which resulted in the 2016 election of Trump.
He resigned from Yale last year and moved to Toronto.
Apparently there is a new poll out showing that 76% of Australians favour leaving January 26 as Australia Day while 88% said they were proud to be Australian. Both figures are up on the previous time the poll was conducted.
Bystandersays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 12:33 pm
Apparently there is a new poll out showing that 76% of Australians favour leaving January 26 as Australia Day while 88% said they were proud to be Australian. Both figures are up on the previous time the poll was conducted.
===========================================
Do we know it wasn’t a push poll, like something the IPA would do?
Arky says:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 12:16 pm
I don’t for a moment believe Roberts would have made the same ruling about say Bill Clinton. It’s giving him too much credit to say the decision was based on his view of law. It was based on his view of not wanting to disqualify the Republican Presidential candidate.
It’s like the late asshole Scalia. Some will try and tell you he was a great jurist. No, what he was was great at writing plausible sounding legal justifications for political decisions he’d already made. That’s a particularly evil skill.
Absolutely and I should have fully contextualised the comment:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Roberts
Entropy
I don’t know. I’m just passing on what I heard. You’ll need to check it out.
phylactella,
I’ve always been suspicious about the Paul Wellstone plane crash in America. That guy had transformation of American politics written all over him.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-17/legal-rights-groups-call-nsw-police-commissioner-end-protest-ban/106240338
There is a protest happening in the city right now with a seriously heavy police presence. How can this be if protests are banned?
“Some criticized the service for having an inappropriate tone
and resembling a “pep rally”
or “partisan foot-stomp”.
Wellstone’s campaign manager Jeff Blodgett noted after the event that it had not been scripted. He apologized to people who were offended or surprised by it.
”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wellstone#cite_note-48
I wonder what those critics would have thought about Charlie Kirk’s funeral?
There is a protest happening in the city right now with a seriously heavy police presence. How can this be if protests are banned?
Obviously they are flouting the Police Commissioner’s ruling.
I wonder what those critics would have thought about Charlie Kirk’s funeral?
Entropy,
President Obama was howled down by the Right for wearing a tan suit. It’s obvious that there is one rule for them and another for Democrats and anything they do. Pretty much like Labor and the Coalition here.
“There is a protest happening in the city right now with a seriously heavy police presence. How can this be if protests are banned?”
———————————————–
Because Minn’s probably doesn’t want a constitutional challenge to his anti-protest law. Which is exactly what he would get if someone is arrested by police solely on that law.
C@t:
I think assemblies can be approved, but not marches.
Confessions says:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 12:58 pm
C@t:
I think assemblies can be approved, but not marches.
Yep. Static gatherings not marches.
C@tmommasays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 12:55 pm
I wonder what those critics would have thought about Charlie Kirk’s funeral?
Entropy,
President Obama was howled down by the Right for wearing a tan suit. It’s obvious that there is one rule for them and another for Democrats and anything they do. Pretty much like Labor and the Coalition here.
———————————————
Here is the tan suit in the photo of Obama. Also a picture of President Reagan and VP Bush wearing very similar tan suits in a White House meeting. Which apparently went without comment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_tan_suit_controversy#:~:text=For%20the%20conference%2C%20he%20wore,being%20discussed%20in%20the%20media.
Bystandersays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 12:42 pm
Entropy
I don’t know. I’m just passing on what I heard. You’ll need to check it out.
—————————————————
Not that interested. Just think Australia day poll date is an easy target for push polling. If you don’t ask the question in the poll first up.
If you want a leave as it is result. You ask all sorts of nationalistic and Australia type achievement questions first before phrasing the question as celebration of those achievements.
If you want change the date ask all sorts of poor treatment of first nations people first and then phrase the question as wouldn’t it be better if we had a different date that all people could celebrate.
China sells treasuries for 9 straight months as foreign buyers snap up debt
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/china-sells-treasuries-for-9-straight-months-as-foreign-buyers-snap-up-debt/ar-AA1Uj4gN
“China has been a net seller of U.S. Treasuries for nine straight months now, even as the overall amount of U.S. debt held by foreigners hits a record.
In November, China sold a net $5.39 billion of U.S. debt, Treasury data released Thursday afternoon show. The tally includes short-dated Treasury bills and longer-dated notes and bonds.
The news comes after China sold net $14.96 billion in October and $9.97 billion in September. China, the third- largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, has been selling the securities since March
I had to laugh at how albanese has now managed to piss off the entire gel blaster, nerf gun community as he is now banning toys as these toys are now to be classed as firearms. Everyone else in the world is pointing fingers at Australia and laughing at how stupid of a country we have become. Banning childrens toys.
I guess someone should ask albanese to show them on the dolly where the gel blaster touched him.
Labor have turned into the most stupid idiotic useless corrupt political party in the country. At this rate labor will be lucky to win ten seats next election.
Vensays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 1:34 pm
China sells treasuries for 9 straight months as foreign buyers snap up debt
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/china-sells-treasuries-for-9-straight-months-as-foreign-buyers-snap-up-debt/ar-AA1Uj4gN
—————————————————-
Selling USA debt till it reaches junk bond status. Would be one way to push back against tariffs and the imperialistic ambitions of the USA.
Jolly Jumbucksays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 1:36 pm
I had to laugh at how albanese has now managed to piss off the entire gel blaster, nerf gun community as he is now banning toys as these toys are now to be classed as firearms. Everyone else in the world is pointing fingers at Australia and laughing at how stupid of a country we have become. Banning childrens toys.
I guess someone should ask albanese to show them on the dolly where the gel blaster touched him.
Labor have turned into the most stupid idiotic useless corrupt political party in the country. At this rate labor will be lucky to win ten seats next election.
__________________
While I am sympathetic to gell blasters as a harm minimisation option, it is really on a QLD issue.
WA banned gel blasters outright and it didn’t harm WA Labor one bit.
Ven says:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 1:34 pm
China sells treasuries for 9 straight months as foreign buyers snap up debt
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/china-sells-treasuries-for-9-straight-months-as-foreign-buyers-snap-up-debt/ar-AA1Uj4gN
“China has been a net seller of U.S. Treasuries for nine straight months now, even as the overall amount of U.S. debt held by foreigners hits a record.
In November, China sold a net $5.39 billion of U.S. debt, Treasury data released Thursday afternoon show. The tally includes short-dated Treasury bills and longer-dated notes and bonds.
The news comes after China sold net $14.96 billion in October and $9.97 billion in September. China, the third- largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, has been selling the securities since March
Which is still only a fraction of the $38 Trillion US Debt. It’s likely sending a smoke signal to the US but that’s it. Anyway, China has a global trade surplus, so why bother buying a shonky country’s debt? They don’t need a safe harbour.
Jolly Jumbucksays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 1:36 pm
I had to laugh at how albanese has now managed to piss off the entire gel blaster, nerf gun community as he is now banning toys as these toys are now to be classed as firearms. Everyone else in the world is pointing fingers at Australia and laughing at how stupid of a country we have become. Banning childrens toys.
===============================================
LOL, one can only laugh at the stupidity of someone who actually believes this to be true. We already have laws about imitation weapons that look real in Victoria. Gel blasters and nerf guns are fine as long as they don’t look like real lethal weapons. So you can’t fool people you are actually pointing a murderous gun at them.
Jolly Jumbucksays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 1:36 pm
I had to laugh at how albanese has now managed to piss off the entire gel blaster, nerf gun community as he is now banning toys as these toys are now to be classed as firearms. Everyone else in the world is pointing fingers at Australia and laughing at how stupid of a country we have become. Banning childrens toys.
And they huffed and they puffed….. and they huffed and they puffed……and they huffed and they puffed.
Keep it up mate, it’s good for the soul to see a gun nut upset.
frednksays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 1:51 pm
Jolly Jumbucksays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 1:36 pm
I had to laugh at how albanese has now managed to piss off the entire gel blaster, nerf gun community as he is now banning toys as these toys are now to be classed as firearms. Everyone else in the world is pointing fingers at Australia and laughing at how stupid of a country we have become. Banning childrens toys.
And they huffed and they puffed….. and they huffed and they puffed……and they huffed and they puffed.
Keep it up mate, it’s good for the soul to see a gun nut upset.
———————————————
Rather them in the cross hairs than me.
Saw a Grog posting on Bluesky that our AUKUS partners are now in a military standoff.
True. We should get out of that.
I quite enjoy the One Nation fan-fic from the Jolly Jumbuck. The stories are a bit far-fetched, but highly imaginative.
That Jolly Jumbuck fool obviously hasn’t played Paintball in his life and thus seen the sort of harm those guns can do. Anyway, it is simply its way of mangling the truth about what the PM has done, and how it relates to those ‘toys’ this person is attempting to mock to serve his own self-created perverse reality. I imagine that the Prime Minister may be laying the predicate for the fact that these guns are able to be modified for lethal use by self-interested parties. Though the Authoritarian Sheep would never admit as much. Instead it’s all censorious bluster from the Gun Lobby advocate about ‘toys’. And don’t forget that the Gun Lobby have been organising their campaign of attack for weeks now, and this is but a part of it.
I see what you’re up to Serious Sheep (nothing ‘Jolly’ about you) and you’re not convincing me. Talk about ‘toys’ while Advancing the cause of lethal killing machines to be allowed unfettered use in this country. Which would be your ultimate aim, though you don’t have the guts to admit it.
Fuck off. That’s not what Australians want. Piss off to America if you want to fulfil your warped fetishes. None of your perennially pathetic attempts to humiliate the federal Labor government via your condescending and misleading posts here will change the mind of the PM about tightening Australia’s gun laws after the Bondi Massacre on December 14, 2025. Even if you may wish not to focus on that as the reason why it is happening next week in parliament and are hoping that it is fading from our memories, such that you can get away with flooding the blog with shit posting. As you have just tried to do.
We are better than being intimidated by the likes of people like you. We can see right through you.
While I thought it possible that the ACT Greens and Liberals were having some discussions I found it hard to believe that they would come to a landing involving forming government.
First, the peeps involved are notoriously fractious and that is before you even get beyond the Liberals. Herding cats would be a doddle in comparison.
And that is before you get to the policy disparities which are enormous. And THAT is before you even get beyond the Liberals.
They would all have to be pretty desperate… which, after a couple of decades of Labor Government… they might just be…
Shogunsays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 1:58 pm
I quite enjoy the One Nation fan-fic from the Jolly Jumbuck. The stories are a bit far-fetched, but highly imaginative.
———————————————–
Pretty much what I expect from a whole lot of baboons on type writers, though in this case they are probably on 4chan and it’s not Hamlet they are trying to write.
Thanks for the comments, people coming here and reading them will be quite enlightened.
Jolly Jumbucksays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 2:17 pm
Thanks for the comments, people coming here and reading them will be quite enlightened.
——————————-
We aim to please and not kill, unlike gun nuts.
imacca says:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 1:56 pm
Saw a Grog posting on Bluesky that our AUKUS partners are now in a military standoff.
True. We should get out of that.
It’s not quite at that level of confrontation yet.
‘Trump Threatens Europe Over Greenland. Europe Responds’:
https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/breaking-trump-threatens-europe-over?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Thanks for the comments, people coming here and reading them will be quite enlightened.
The sense of superiority you arrogate unto yourself over us and our opinions is typical of the hyper assertive Authoritarian mindset. It may work in your head to come here and behave that way, but I, for one, am not easily intimidated by such tactics, especially when they are thrown down from behind a keyboard.
Also, I severely doubt your covert assertion that people coming here and reading our comments will identify with you and be more inclined to your pov because they think that your snowflake act will be convincing them to change their mind.
C@tmommasays:
Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 2:31 pm
Thanks for the comments, people coming here and reading them will be quite enlightened.
The sense of superiority you arrogate unto yourself over us and our opinions is typical of the hyper assertive Authoritarian mindset. It may work in your head to come here and behave that way, but I, for one, am not easily intimidated by such tactics, especially when they are thrown down from behind a keyboard.
———————————————-
They are just the sort of personality one would rather didn’t have access to guns.
I think WA has got it right on this:
“Western Australia (WA): Under new gun laws, WA is implementing mandatory, recurring psychological testing (every few years) to prove mental fitness to hold a firearm licence. (from google AI)”
Anti renewable Trump policy starting to bite!
A quick scan of the comments seems to indicate that many believe that it is renewables pushing up prices!
Hard to see anything positive ever happening with this lot.
Tony Seba, an American, must despair as the US falls further and further behind his prediction of energy abundance from solar, wind and batteries.
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/soaring-electricity-costs-are-now-a-hot-political-issue-d0319a1d?st=d48Kvs&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
The problem is expecting Conservatives to do anything but cement Conservative power.
They don’t care about anything else. You can’t gotcha them, you can’t whataboutism them, you can’t shame them.
They do not care. They’re on a mission from god. Either the god of supply side economics, or fairy tale god of the christian bible. Nothing you say can change their minds.
Just like Scomo has no shame. Just like Tony Abbott has no shame.
Conservatives care about power, money and doing the bidding of the billionaire donor class.
How did Melbourne become the most affordable city to rent a house
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/how-did-australias-most-liveable-city-become-the-most-affordable-to-rent-a-house/hw9jrpncd