The only new item of federal polling this week has been the weekly result from Roy Morgan, which takes some of the edge off an unusual result last week in finding Labor up two to 28.5%, the Coalition down one-and-a-half to 24%, One Nation down one to 22.5% and the Greens down two to 12.5%. Labor leads the Coalition 54-46 on respondent-allocated two-party preferred, in from 54.5-45.5, but by only 52-48 when preferences from last year’s federal election are applied, in from 53-47. The poll was conducted March 9 to 15 from a sample of 1654.
For Bludgers intetested in more non-hysterically opinionated, journalistic international news, I’ve been finding the Breaking Points News channel quite useful.
https://youtube.com/@breakingpoints?si=3zGXtYWMFO274cWY
I think they come from the “reformed right-wing” end of political journalism, with a bit of “Never Trumper” thrown in. But I’ve found their panel discussions go into useful, intelligent detail without getting too nerdy, and their straight news coverage to be pretty comprehensive. They have a more “formal” or traditional “cable news” look about them than, say, Meidas (which is increasingly becoming The Ben Meiselas Has A Big Dummy Spit Show). But they stop short of the cloying, over-produced – and WAY over-paid – look that the legacy cable channels exhibit with their phony “balance” (which boils down to six people all shouting at each other along partisan lines), regulation crystal glass tables as big as a tennis court, swimming pool blue sets, million-dollar hairdos, layered makeup, and robot cameras swirling around the studio floor like Daleks to add some “kinetics” to the talking heads, as they yell workshopped talking points over the top of each other.
If I see another clickbait title starting with “All Hell Breaks Loose As…”, “Trump Has Meltdown Overnight When…”, “{So-and-So Politician} Get News He Feared The Most… “, or the increasingly ubiquitous “It’s Bad…” overlay bug from the man-and-a-microphone YouTube outfits, I may lose my mind.
In my opinion Breaking Points News’ professionalism and intelligence offers refreshing relief from some of the “Please press LIKE and smash that SUBSCRIBE button” emotion wranglers at the amateur end of the scale (with honourable exceptions). The one man bands have their place, but only a place, in the grand scheme of things.
C@tmomma talks about ‘nuance’ when it comes to Iran war, when she won’t Brook any contrary opinion from others with regards to regime change by extra judicial killing .
She thinks others, the way the Iran regime change happened is wrong, are wrong and regime appeasers.
Whether one hates Iranian mullahs or not is not important.
Ven, don’t tell me what I can and cannot think.
Also, your bald statements lack sophistication. For example, Ukraine is prepared to aid the war effort by supplying anti drone technology and experts that can help to defeat Iranian drone attacks on the Gulf States and shipping. As Iran has now stated that it will not stop its military efforts until America and Israel are ‘brought to their knees’, then you have to say that Iran doesn’t support the Rules of Engagement either. Are you okay with that? Attacks on innocent parties, Iran’s cyberattacks, and terrorism, which includes terrorist attacks within Australia. All while they continue to subjugate their people. Sorry, but your abstruse reasoning doesn’t convince me.
Thanks SL. Isnt there a big hybrid project in the ‘wind’ in Burra? The Goyder project? Multi staged with storage?
Interested in Hydrogen for Green steel mainly. It seems to have not been part of the election campaigning and I assumed dying a quiet death.
Looks like the ‘utterly hopeless machete stopping’ Jacinta is up for the chop, good.
“Allan dismisses leadership whispers as gossip ‘from a few scallywags’”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2026/mar/19/australia-news-live-jim-chalmers-tax-inflation-budget-cost-of-living-war-fuel-crisis-shortage-inflation-cyclone-narelle-queensland-ntwnfb
C@tmomma talks about ‘nuance’ when it comes to Iran war, when she won’t Brook any contrary opinion from others with regards to regime change by extra judicial killing .
She thinks others, the way the Iran regime change happened is wrong, are wrong and regime appeasers.
No, Ven, I just have an opinion which differs from yours and you don’t like it.
To which I can only add that by not agreeing to Iranian regime change, by whatever means necessary, then you support the continuation of the Iranian regime as it is now. Did you not feel physically ill today when you saw the footage of the return of the Iranian Women football players to Iran? How those poor Women were exploited for pure propaganda, probably while their families were likely being held hostage by the regime out of sight. And if you don’t believe this regime of vicious and violent religious extremists would do such a thing then you are just proving how naïve in the extreme you are.
Also, you keep carrying on about ‘extra judicial killing’. I bet you’d approve, though, if the Iranians found an ‘extra judicial’ way to kill Trump. 😉
There’s the old:
https://explore.openelectricity.org.au/facility/au/NEM/GSWF/?range=7d&interval=30m
And the new:
https://reneweconomy.com.au/wind-plans-for-huge-south-australia-renewables-precinct-get-federal-green-light/
Bushfire Billsays:
Thursday, March 19, 2026 at 9:40 am
———————————
+1 to all that.
Even my preferred podcasters like BTC and Bulwark go in for the splashy headlines and ‘please subscribe’ crap. And, please, put some clothes on, the ‘just got out of bed in my old tshirt cause I do so many podcasts i barely have time to sleep’ look is a bit pathetic imho. I much prefer The Daily Show takes. I like that they put in the effort.
Pete Hegseth said “no stupid rules of engagement” wrt to Iran war and Trump did not contradict him.
If one side is not following rules of engagement and obliterating that invading country, you cannot expect or blame other side to follow rules of engagement, (that doesn’t mean I don’t support rules of engagement.
IRAN WAR IS AN ILLEGAL WAR, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.
The sale of Whyalla is yet to be finalised, so who knows. However, the SA govt seems to rarely mention hydrogen anymore and when they talk about green steel, they pretend that includes the use of methane from Santos.
This is a brutal and complicated mess. The Iranian regime committed heinous acts on it’s own people for generations and supported terrorism abroad. Removing its leadership seems justified. But what comes next is completely unclear and looks like a total mess. There seems to be no coherent plan, just decisions made on instinct, no strategy, no planned outcome. He does not even know apparently he is waiting on his bones to tell him. The longer it goes on it looks like one regime is simply being replaced by another, what’s actually been achieved? Maybe Iran’s nuclear timeline is pushed back a few years. The U.S. has made this mistake before, assuming that removing a regime will naturally lead to democracy. The Middle East has repeatedly shown that’s not how it works.
Thanks again SL. Looks like a lot of that energy is contracted elsewhere. BHP and ACT? That’s good. But it doest look like SA is fast tracking away from gas reliance any time soon. And it is gas that has driven recent price rises.
It will be fascinating to see what comes of the next lot of retail pricing when they factor in the 3 free hours. I just moved retailers. They said they do not expect much of a change to their existing contract.
Sussan Collins will probably say, although she is concerned about Mullin, she would vote for him.
Lisa Murkowski would say she is afraid of Trump. Hence, she would vote for Mullin.
Ven
I wish you would not lump us all together like that. I am a Labor supporter on this blog. I have not supported the Israel – USA war with Iran from day one. I think it is illegal, unethical and foolish.
IMO many Labor supporters on this blog do NOT support the Iran war.
Dispatchable nuclear could end gas and power steelmaking and the growing transport grid use.
Ducks, weaves, hurriedly leaves for site visits…….
IRAN WAR IS AN ILLEGAL WAR, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.
________________________________________________
Pretty much all wars are illegal. So are “special military operations”. There have been a couple sanctioned by the UN, especially the Korean War, but that is about it.
From the BBC, Angela Rayner’s explosive speech reignites leadership speculation.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpd8d10n9x5o
TK
While BHP and the ACT might have contracts for the new Goyder supply it all just feeds into the SA grid and displaces gas.
Nuclear is no replacement for gas – it ramps ups and down way too slowly and would be insanely expensive.
Ven – If they don’t vote for Mullins, Trump is allowed to appoint an acting Sec. of Homeland Security. They don’t want that either.
Mullins is as thick as a brick. He and Rand Paul are the only two senators who don’t have a bachelors degree – Rand Paul didn’t need one to get his MD.
Another Typo
“then we are supporters of Trump regime” should read “then we are supporters of Iran regime”
TPOF
Iraq war 1 is legal and well executed without mission creep.
Holdenhillbillysays:
Thursday, March 19, 2026 at 9:02 am
HUUUUGE change in direction for the Albo led ALP government as it embraces protectionism – what ON and some coalition have been talking about for a while
___________________
What do you mean by “huuuuge change”? Labor spent most of the first terms setting up China-lite policy investment banks precisely so that the government invests in (and takes equity stakes from) emerging industries. What do people think the NRF, HAFF, critical minerals reserve (amongst others) are for?
Its just that barely anyone has talked about it despite numerous announcements, save:
-Confused “progressives” like Crikey who put a gender lens on it:
https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/04/17/future-made-in-australia-protectionism-anthony-albanese/
– And of course Friendljordies:
https://youtu.be/-UeOYmSzv2s?
Do people really not realise what’s going on around here?
Socrates
The key phrase is “who support Iran war” and you are not one of them.
But giving support to any support to illegal wars like Iran war will only hurt countries like Australia in the long run (I hope Australia is never hurt). But it is what it is.
Cat and HH
Thanks for the roundups this morning. Despite the constant distractions from the Persian Gulf, I think this article is important:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-19/donald-trump-nato-anthony-albanese-iran-andrew-hastie-budget/106464586
They say, “never waste a crisis”. I hope Chalmers takes that advice to heart.
Ven
OK thanks.
Not all wars are illegal. A proportionate response to aggression or fighting in genuine self defense is legitimate. Beyond that is not.
Breaking points is very good, although the lead guy is not very sharp.
Crystal, Ryan, Emily and the others are all pretty sound as people even if you disagree with their views.
I found the Bulwark interesting for sometime, their vaules are hard republican, even if they dressed them in soft anti trump vibes and they would hate almost all Labor values, so very little I could agree with, but then Israel started its genocide and the rubbish seemed straight from AIPAC that was the end for me. I wasn’t going to support an outlet that cheered for a genocide.
This is SA’s generation profile on a windy day last week.
Note the huge amounts of curtailment and negative prices for everything except exports (to Victoria) and battery discharge, while big batteries were paid $144.59/MWh to charge. If you add nuclear to that mix, it needs to run 24/7, exacerbating the negative prices and forcing AEMO to switch off people’s solar panels.
IRAN WAR IS AN ILLEGAL WAR, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.
So is the illegal and immoral killing of 30000+ of your own citizens for no legal reason.
Pretty much a textbook definition of ‘extra judicial’.
C@tt to Ven:
Not necessarily. You don’t destroy the village in order to save it.
There are better ways to “rescue” Iran than deliberately wiping out their infrastructure – industrial, economic and leadership – thus wrecking the lives of the very people you are claiming you want to save.
It’s never worked before, anywhere, and there are no reasons to believe it will work now. The idea that the Iranian people will magically rise up if Trump and Netanyahu bomb the shit out of them and their country for long enough is absurd on its face.
Trump has openly admitted several times, that he is “having fun” killing people in Iran, and laying waste their nation. He effects an arrogantly casual tone as he tells reporters that he decides who will die and who will live, depending on how he feels when he wakes up in the morning. Why would anyone put their faith in such a psychopathic monster, or attribute good intentions to anything he does? Why would anyone have any faith that some kind of “Trump Plan” (à la the “Marshall Plan”) for the rebuilding of Iran post “liberation” exists, beyond vague brain farts about building a few hotels and pegging out a couple of golf resorts?
All so that women don’t have to wear hijabs? Surely there are better ways, and if there are not immediate opportunities (remember: the dissidents are not armed or organised; there is no Oppositon Leader, now that all the suitable candidates have been murdered), isn’t it better to be alive and have a job, with food to eat, rather than be bombed back to the Middle Ages? Does anyone – most of all, the Iranians – really want 90 million refugees loose in the Middle East?
Ven: ‘Pete Hegseth said “no stupid rules of engagement” wrt to Iran war and Trump did not contradict him.
If one side is not following rules of engagement and obliterating that invading country, you cannot expect or blame other side to follow rules of engagement, (that doesn’t mean I don’t support rules of engagement.
IRAN WAR IS AN ILLEGAL WAR, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.’
To add to this, for eight years in the 1980s Iraq used chemical weapons – which were supplied by the USA – against the Iranians in their war (and the Americans’ proxy war). The Iranians never retaliated in kind because the use of such weapons (and nuclear ones) was considered haram. However, that may have changed with the recent assassination of Ali Khamenei.
Thanks BB, so many people seem to have a logic that lacks the complexity of binary true / false.
Surely the military leaders can tell Trump to f off if he tells them to follow any illegal orders.
Sohar – The Iraqi Chemical weapons were not supplied by the US. Their chemical weapons were domestically made nut some the precursors were sold illegally by West German companies.
The biggest supplier of conventical weapons overall to Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war was the Soviet Union. The American involvement during that war was mixed. Originally they not on either side as both nations were seen as baddies, they flirted with the Iraqis around 1983-84 and the started secretly selling weapons to the Iranians later on in 85 and 86 (Iran Contra).
Victoria
But the whole US works on the principle that if the President does it, it can’t be illegal.
Some Cartoons
Wilcox
Pope
Golding
Megan Herbert
Katauskas
Rod Emmerson NZ Herald
“reads the comments”
So, has Trump freed Iran or not?
Seriously though, when even the LNP are backing away from supporting Trumps crazy little stunt, you would have to be pretty rusted on to continue supporting the war.
Washington Post SCOOP: The Pentagon asked the White House today for more than *$200 billion* for the Iran war supplemental, sources say. Some White House aides think Congress won’t support b/c it’s so big. Will tee up giant battle in Congress.
“Declassified documents later revealed that the United States was both aware of Iraq’s use of chemical weapons, and also facilitated its acquisition of chemical and biological precursors which were used to make weapons.”
Victoria
Yes, but since Trump as US President is also commander in chief of their armed forces, he can also sack them. It is a regrettable weakness in the US system.
He has probably let it be known that he will pardon them if they are ever convicted of anything.
Same would go for any charges against the likes of, say, Pam Bondi who, according to some reports, has let it be known she will refuse any Congressional subpoenas to testify further.
Trump himself is immune, from the questioning of even his motives in executing his authority as CinC of US Armed forces. And he has an absolute pardon power. It’s unquestionable, even if it is discovered he was bribed to do it, because it’s a black letter Constitutional power, as are his CinC functions.
Put the two together – Presidential immunity and an unquestionable pardon power applied to war crimes by subordinates under his orders – then add in Trump’s clear mental issues (to put it mildly), and it becomes apparent we’re in for a bumpy ride, as his malignant psychopathy needs more and more raw meat to feed it.
All that’s left is impeachment, and we can make a good guess at the chances of that getting through both houses.
https://fortune.com/2026/03/18/inexplicable-oil-prices-arent-higher-heres-why-markets-resilient/
As I said yesterday, the moment Iran mines the Straits of Hormuz it will be a sign that the Iranian regime is under extremely stress. This is because it will harm Iran as well as everyone else because it will take months to clean up. It will be like pouring salt onto one’s own fields so it is not a step they will want to take unless things are really dire.
This step might come if the Arab states join the fight against Iran including Ground forces.
“Surely the military leaders can tell Trump to f off if he tells them to follow any illegal orders.”
It seems Trump’s officials can’t even speak up when he buys them shoes that are way too big for their own feet
https://www.9news.com.au/world/male-shoe-anxiety-hits-oval-office/78564fb8-5679-41c0-9c6a-1e2fe38b250a
“What’s happening with Steelworks” deserves a podcast in Australia.
I think I mentioned a day or so ago that the SA government had pulled the plug on the “hydrogenification” of the Whyalla steelworks. I can understand their hesitancy. It’s owned by GFG Alliance, led by British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta. He seems to know not much about running a steelworks and our best hope is that Bluescope steps up to buy it. I think they’re waiting for some substantial SA govt investment – which is on the cards.
Sanjeev Gupta also owns the Liberty Bell Bay manganese steelworks in Tassie. It’s a dog’s breakfast and has ground to a halt because they stopped buying iron ore. This place – built by BHP in 1962 – was known as the Tasmanian Electro Metallurgical Company (TEMCO) and was intended to produce Australia’s only ferromanganese and silicomanganese steel. It’s a crucial national asset that has been allowed to become unproductive. Tassie is broke, so we need Federal cash to toss Gupta out and give it back to a BHP offshoot.
Meanwhile, Bluescope is doing nicely in Port Kembla and has embarked on the first steps toward green hydrogen steel with the CSIRO. I mentioned this earlier too.
Unemployment up to 4.3% in February (January was 4.1%).
“Surely the military leaders can tell Trump to f off if he tells them to follow any illegal orders.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
The last time a group of Americans said wtte, Trump started waving around threats of trials for sedition and treason. Much better career move to follow the order and get the pardon.
It only takes two eyes and a brain to realise that in a conflict women are always the first and most impacted by violence and decline in service quality. I worked with a bloke from Sierra Leone and he told me that during the civil war, most people relied on subsistence farming to get by. As a result, manpower was more valuable than money. Everybody chipped in to work the farms, man, woman, child and neighbour, but women were also expected to have the children, work while pregnant, do the house labour too. When medical supplies were scarce and hospitals under resourced, pregnancy became life threatening and illnesses common. You can see even in the ongoing war in Gaza the impact it has had on the women and children. Medicine becomes scarce and you have to travel, at risk to your life and security in order to access essential medicines required for the simple task of being pregnant and wanting to birth a healthy child. As the stress of warfare builds up and hazardous materials enter the atmosphere (like in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza) the risks are amplified and the need for medicine is greater.
All this is to say is that I genuinely don’t understand how you can be a feminist and pro- any war let alone one that seeks to erase a nation state.
Bluescope are happy to fartarse around with the CSIRO, but they’ve never shown any interest in actually making green iron or steel:
https://climateenergyfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/CEF_Transformation-and-Decarbonisation-of-Whyalla-Steelworks-Report.pdf
More recently:
https://ieefa.org/resources/south-australia-squandering-world-leading-green-iron-and-steel-opportunity
News update: Anthony Albanese has appointed a fuel supply taskforce co-ordinator as the war in Iran deepens. The Prime Minister met with state and territory leaders in Hobart on Thursday for an urgent meeting of national cabinet. Addressing the media, Mr Albanese said former Australian Energy Regulator CEO Anthea Harris has task force co-ordinator.
Already underway, the taskforce will also provide updates to the federal government and the states on the fuel supply outlook, and will act as a “single convening point” for fuel supply and forward planning. “This is a sensible measure to put in place,” Mr Albanese said. “The commonwealth government is, of course, responsible for fuel security and supply … states and territories that are responsible for distribution within their jurisdictions. “The best outcome is to ensure Australia is over prepared and today’s announcement reinforces that approach.”
B.S. Fairman @ 11:07 am
That’s what the RBA and the government want to see, so for most Australian’s it is good news as it makes another interest rate hike less likely … unless you happen to be one of those unemployed, of course, in which case it sucks.