With nearly every pollster in the game having pitched in last week, a quiet period looms. The weekly Roy Morgan should be along later today as always, and DemosAU is about due for one of its big-sample MRP projections. On the broader electoral front, there is the following to report:
• The Weekend Australian had the quarterly Newspoll detailed breakdowns from its four polls conducted in April, May and June. The state results show movement towards One Nation and away from Labor clearly evident in Victoria and South Australia, less evident in New South Wales, and not at all evident in Queensland and Western Australia, with Labor gaining three points in the former case. Breakdowns by education are distinctive in that One Nation is up six among those with technical qualifications, but effectively unchanged for everyone else. Voting intention is barely changed among 18-to-34s, whereas One Nation are up significantly among the older cohorts. Presumably inspired by the budget tax measures, the breakdowns now include housing tenure, as commonly featured by other pollsters. To commemorate the occasion, I have added tabs for these results to the BludgerTrack poll data features (keep clicking the “more” tab until you see them).
• The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters has published an interim report from its routine inquiry into the last election, which notably focuses on aggressive behaviour at polling booths. The majority report cites data on public complaints received by the AEC, and recommended that “election participants” be required to register and observe a code of conduct. The AEC, whose bailiwick currently ends six metres from the entrance, would enforce this code within a “campaign zone” around the polling place, in which signage limits would also apply. The report argued that much of the offending behaviour “seemed to involve third parties”, and while it didn’t name names, committee chair Jerome Laxale told parliament while tabling the report of “an assault by third parties identified in submissions like the Plymouth Brethren and Advance”.
• Certainly the Plymouth Brethren angle had been divined by the committee’s Coalition members, who headlined their dissenting report “less inquiry, more hyperpartisan witch hunt” – the latter having been directed against “Australians based on their religious faith”. While acknowledging aggressive behaviour was an issue, their own volunteers having been “targets for intimidation by unions and other third party organisations on polling booths for many elections”, the Coalition members forcefully rejected the recommendations as burdensome, open to abuse and possibly unconstitutional. Also in the Coalition report was a call for the early voting period, already truncated from three weeks to two before the 2022 election, to be reduced to one week, and for the AEC to be “more strident on ensuring that people accessing pre-poll are doing so for one of the reasons prescribed in the Act”.
• The official determination of how many seats each state and territory will be entitled to at the next election, which is calculated a year into each parliamentary term, will be made later this month. Antony Green has done their work for them based on the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics population data, and concludes there will be no change from the status quo, Queensland having recorded not quite enough growth to get it over the line for a thirty-first seat. Queensland will nonetheless get a redistribution under the seven-year rule, which is now overdue after being twice delayed: first because of the election, and then because there was no point commencing the process until it was clear how many seats the state would have. Proposed boundaries were published in March for South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, final boundaries for which are expected later this month.
• Wendy Askew has brought forward the retirement she recently announced for the end of her term in mid-2028, now to take effect in a “few weeks”. This means two vacancies are now available for Tasmanian Liberal Senate seats, together with that created by Jonathan Duniam’s surprise retirement announcement last month.
Congrats NSW
I’d be very surprised if we ever see the footage the bunker relied on in disallowing that Queensland try
In the end though, too much dropped ball
Good point Zoomster, relying on preferences they can’t get plus they need to finish top 2 to get any at all in the first place
Modi landed in Melbourne tonight for 3 day visit.
Apparently, he will have rousing reception from people of Indian origin. The number of people attending the reception could be 20000
Lowy Institute
As Modi arrives in Australia, the bilateral is only half the story
India, Australia and Japan are beginning to reach similar conclusions about Indo-Pacific security – Modi’s trip is the moment to connect them.
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/as-modi-arrives-in-australia-the-bilateral-is-only-half-the-story
lol BoP
I think it’s ‘L in the back of the Benz’ ( but he got that ‘EE’ on the end there)
RIP Kirsty
Unbelievable.
https://www.smh.com.au/technology/telstra-hit-by-fresh-triple-zero-fault-hours-after-outage-fixed-20260708-p60dsp.html
Omar
Pretty safe bet. Albo could be pretty sure the US Quantum Computer won’t be taking anyone’s jobs.
Fess
You’d think they could flick a switch so 000 calls went through another network.
Wells will be all over it when she gets back from the birthday parties.
It’s not like anyone could die because 000 doesn’t work or anything
Diogenes yeah we rely on the coalition to carry out the vital work of destroying jobs
Perhaps there needs to be focus on the IPA girl leading the Liberal Party in Victoria – expert at stunts at the suggestion of her father’s mate but where is any substance apart from stunts?
The only substance so far is to attack government debt – and the spending on rail, hospitals and schools (so public amenity)
So the time honoured “repair the Balance Sheet” – except that the spending on infrastructure has strengthened the Balance Sheet which feeds into public amenity and a more efficient economy
So what further assets will the Liberal Party sell off?
Will they go back to closing schools and selling off the land – for starters?
That is their DNA
The attack on debt due to investments into roads, schools and hospitals reported at The Guardian but not elsewhere
So she is free of any examination – including of character
Then there is the divide which has torn the Liberal Party asunder – between the religious right where Deeming is in the headlines and the IPA
Deeming is not the only member of this powerful faction
Once scrutiny is placed on the Liberal Party we will see what happens
There are a lot of families out there who are the beneficiaries of government policies starting with child care and education and the list goes on and on
An austerity government will threaten this
Then there is the inconvenient fact that a very capable Teal with a high profile has her High Street office in full swing so the IPA young girl not assured of a seat in the parliament – sitting on a very fine margin in a progressive seat
In terms of leadership and leadership abilities, we see what is happening right now across Markets which are open and Futures including Australia and the US
Then the Bond Yields, all trending sharply higher (including Japan) because inflation and the outlooks for inflation is elevated (led by the incompetence which is the government in the USA
With Yields up and Markets down because of inflation confidence will be (further) eroded which means some very difficult deliberations between Central Bankers attempting to avert recession and worse (because inflation limits the ability to reduce rates to provide economic stimulus)
So stagflation turning recession to depression
In Australia do we want Liberal governments during such times – subservient to the big end of town, citizens not registering (the reason so many are coming here from New Zealand)
These are times when we need very competent and experienced hands on the wheel the agenda being the well being of society (not Balance Sheets to the exclusion of all others so austerity delivering confidence and that confidence trickling down
And Diogenes, keep it up because if you and your ilk are the alternative the answer in “thanks, but no”
Just rude and ignorant people – and petty
Ven
(From earlier re Trump and ending the mid east ceasefire.)
Trump is a menace to the world economy. Is this just another tantrum? Or another attempt to play the markets? Either way Trump does Australia (and India) no good in economic or security terms.
I am not sure if India would agree to the sort of security agreement that Australia might seek. But I agree that a security agreement between India, Japan and Australia is a good idea now. It might be more stable than the QUAd with USA removed.
Too many in Australia’s defence policy establishment know US support is declining fast, bit are afraid to take the concrete steps needed to be put in place when that change is complete.
Trump decision to end the ceasefire is confirmed. Madness.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-08/trump-says-iran-us-ceasefire-over/106894644
David
Too much debt leaves less to spend on backup systems during Telstra outages.
Ghost of Whitlam
It’s been 27 years since Jeff was jeffed.
On the rural rail outages in Victoria, WTF? What are they doing with their signaling?? I know they have shifted away from copper wire, but why not go to cheaper and more reliable fibre optic cable?
If they decided to go to relying on a mobile service they don’t control, where is the backup?
This looks like cost cutting.
Boerwar says:
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 at 7:36 pm
Someone was dissing Russia’s manufacturing capabilities.
My interest was piqued because of my interest in war propaganda. What IS Russia’s manufacturing capability, I wondered?
I offered a comparison between Russia and Australia with Russia ranked in the top 10 and Australia between 20th and 30th.
______________________________________________
It is entirely conceivable, I’d say a better than 50% chance, that the Australian economy is larger than the Russian economy in absolute terms.
On an exchange basis it is about neck-and-neck, any you’d have to make some “purchasing power parity” adjustments to make the Russian headline figure look massively ahead (and I generally don’t trust PPP measures, I know they are popular but I don’t trust the comparability of “baskets” in such radically different economies).
If you look at the available economic composition data (as rough as it is) it shows that all that missing manufacturing and “industrial” capacity in Australia sits instead in services.
https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators
Hell, despite there being a war on, the Australian government is estimated to be spending a third more on general government services (which includes operational military spend) than Russia does.
Again, I’m using straight exchange rate conversion (fixed at 2015 values as a “real” measure, so happy if people prefer PPP but I don’t), but there is a significant about of services activity, government social spending, or basic household consumption that just does not happen in Russia. Just some more tanks and rockets instead.
Is Telstra still a public entity?
No doubt therefore on the radar for privatisation IF the Liberal Party ever regain the treasury benches
What could they flog the Shares for?
It may be that the government needs to recapitalise the Telstra Balance Sheet to address its deficient technology (at our expense)
Or engage a competitor to Telstra to provide the service to the community
In regard the promotion of Trump invading and taking over another sovereign state
Vietnam anyone
How did that go?
Is it still run by America?
Bizzcan
There are people who argue manufacturing is the new agriculture. That is the thing trailing economies do. Service is where the action is.
There are people who argue, why build cars when other economies are willing to put several grand into your economy to get you to buy one of their cars.
China build bloody good electric cars, they are cheap and they have spent billions to get there. Why not allow them to push the benefits our way.
The biggest technical con:
quantum computing.
AI
fusion power.
Had to pick the top contender.
Have some sympathy for Telstra. The whole telecommunication industry has gone through a revolution in the last two decades, they have done a reasonable job of keeping up. We are now using wifi services for critical infrastructure, which we shouldn’t.
As socrate says, we should be using fiber optics, but those days are gone ( only one decade ago), and are not coming back, too much communication has to be implemented.
Fire alarms, solar farm control, all wireless. All dependent on large computer farms.
We do have two independent networks ( one Singapore owned, which is not smart) and you should have two telco connections.
Boerwar at 7.36 pm and Socrates at 8.32 pm and frednk at 8.52 pm
There was a thorough study of Putin’s Russia in historical perspective by Marshall Goldman titled Petrostate (2008). It should be available here:
https://archive.org/details/petrostateputinp00gold/page/n9/mode/2up
He had previously published a critique of Yeltsin’s privatisation program, which led to Putin’s Russia.
BW: “I note in passing that, after four years of war, Russia still manufactures around three quarters of a million cars a year.”
One reason is the Western sanctions, which have intensified an import-substitution economy in Russia.
Socrates: “Russia has lots of minerals and an engineering workforce but less leading science. I would put its productive capacity on a par with Japan, but its innovation ability less than South Korea’s. Even during the cold war a lot of USSRs technical advances were via espionage (e.g. nuclear weapons and stealthy subs).”
Generally correct, but the comparison to Japan is exaggerated. One thing that Gorbachev got right in terms of identifying a chronic problem (but not a solution) was low labour productivity in the USSR. Productivity in Russia is nowhere near what it is in Japan, with all Japan’s problems since the 1980s.
After 35 years that problem remains chronic, because Putinism is a stronger version of Brezhnevism, based on an elite assumption that the future can be buggered for the sake of enjoying present power.
During his first decade in power Putin brought stability, which was Brezhnev’s watchword (the key phrase in elite discourse was “stability of cadres”, i.e. sinecures for life). Already 15 years ago serious Russian academics were comparing Putin’s regime to the years of corrupt stagnation under Brezhnev.
The old aphorism with which Marx began his 18th Brumaire on Louis Bonaparte, that history repeats the first time as tragedy, the second as farce, is reversed. Brezhnev was the farce, Putin is the tragedy.
Dr Doolittlesays:
The old aphorism with which Marx began his 18th Brumaire on Louis Bonaparte, that history repeats the first time as tragedy, the second as farce, is reversed. Brezhnev was the farce, Putin is the tragedy.
____________________________
Nice.
David
Telstra has been fully privatised, making it different to the privatisation of rail services that remain government controlled.
Vicky Brady has been an improvement on recent Telstra CEOs.
Boerwar at 9.12 pm, Holdenhillbilly at 9.21 pm and Steve777 at 9.55 pm
BW: “The interesting thing from my POV is the sneaking suspicion that they don’t really get it at all. In other words, they are not posturing. The serial political stupidity we are witnessing is the real thing.”
Yes, they are facing some solid batters on a flat wicket and they don’t know how to spin, just like Hanson.
Some academics have studied the Libs over the years. It always looked like a boring topic without much substantial change, but McPhee and Fred Chaney would feel totally excluded in the current Libs.
The main author of the long-term demise of the Libs is J.W. Howard, no admirer of multiculturalism. That is the irony. The previously failed leader {Mr 18 per cent} who became, through cunning and luck, the second longest-serving PM after Menzies, spurred on the narrowing right wing drift which is what has got the Libs into their current fix, where they can conceive of a victory only with the Hanson cult.
It is also ironic that Abbott, who helped to put Hanson in gaol, now legitimises her as a serious partner. The one Lib leader who has won from Opposition in the 21st C now says Hanson is the Lib path back.
Note the Lib rhetoric, still mouthed without appreciation of its likely effect in the electorate by such failures as Ms Hume. Her stock phrase is that Australia must look to the Libs to get “back {on track}”.
It is the simplest of metaphors, going forward or back, yet the current Libs have a car with only reverse.
frednk says:
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 at 11:29 pm
Bizzcan
There are people who argue manufacturing is the new agriculture. That is the thing trailing economies do. Service is where the action is.
There are people who argue, why build cars when other economies are willing to put several grand into your economy to get you to buy one of their cars.
China build bloody good electric cars, they are cheap and they have spent billions to get there. Why not allow them to push the benefits our way.
__________________________________________
Because if “manufacturing is the new agriculture”, that’s fantastic, Australia has a world class agriculture sector that is so hugely productive we are a net exporter of food.
Because if in the end we can remove the human element from manufacturing (like “dark factories”), there is zero case for not having it in Australia. We have the materials, and will soon have the energy advantage.
https://www.industry.gov.au/news/domestic-gas-reservation-scheme-secure-supply-australian-market
You raise the question of “chinese EVs” and trade. My view is that there is a crunch point where this is no longer viable – no, not the “Chinese will hijack our cars”, but a simple trade accounting crisis that, in a future world where China aims to buy nothing from the world and only export, that’s a current account crisis world were trade is not sustainable.
https://www.ft.com/content/f294be55-98c4-48f0-abce-9041ed236a44?syn-25a6b1a6=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD1eGSCvUO0
There is the meme, why is “Australia seeking to defend from our biggest trading partner”? Well all else being equal, China is actively working to not trade from us. Thats not our choice, thats the choice they are making.
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/commonwealth-bank-warning-as-china-unleashes-mega-iron-ore-project-dubbed-the-pilbara-killer-214636526.html
So re-industrialization is a no-brainier for Australia. We will need to do it anyway as our mining exports unwind. Services can only get you so far, there is only so many uni courses you can flip (and students to house) before it is totally devalued.
… for which, sadly, there is less and less fuel available. Petrol queues in Petersburg today were 5 kilometres long.
The ‘Islamic Republic of Japan’ has been firing missiles, according to Trump
From The Guardian:
IMHO, in some ways this is scarier than a cyber attack. “To err is human. To really f*ck up, you need a computer.” With configuration management.
Socrates @ 10:59 pm
Cutting costs is good! We lost our beautiful trains altogether. “Cost benefit analysis”.
Dr Doolittle
Not quite right IMO. Howard is of course very right wing: he used to tell Liberal Party members who complained that he wasn’t running hard enough with the sort of agenda they’d like to see implemented that they needed to accept that he was “the most right-wing Liberal leader they were ever likely to get.”
However he loves using the cliche about the Liberal Party being a “broad church.” He neither likes nor especially respects the moderates but, unlike Abbott, he has never wanted to drive them out of the party. As leader, he was always prepared to tolerate their being a little socially progressive as long as they didn’t show any signs of sympathy for socialism. He assisted in the rise of Costello and (once he had reached the conclusion that the hammock-dweller wasn’t up to the mark) Turnbull.
Of course, he also encouraged Abbott, but he sought to constrain Abbott’s ambition to clear all of the moderates out of the Liberal Party. He also suspected Abbott of having quasi-socialist views on economic issues (of the Catholic “give every many two acres and a cow” variety.) And Howard has always cared about economic policy more than anything else. His support of Abbott as party leader was therefore never quite as strong as it might have been and, while he was of course delighted to see the Libs back in office in 2013, he was a little concerned about what an Abbott Prime Ministership would actually be like. And, after the wheels inevitably came off, I am told by someone who was there at the time that Howard unsucessfully tried to encourage Abbott to leave politics for good rather than to stick around and most likely be seen as undermining Turnbull.
The weird thing about Howard – something that is extremely rare among former Liberal leaders – is that he has always deeply loved his party and cared about its ongoing viability. There haven’t been that many other former Liberal leaders in recent times who have made an effort to nurture the party: Nick Greiner is one who comes to mind, but I can’t think of too many more. I don’t think he has ever had any ambition to see it marginalised on the far right of politics.
I don’t think the current problem facing the Libs is of their own making. They have always had to manage the fact that a largish part of their support base have a visceral commitment to a nasty shock jock sort of agenda that, at least until recently, looked and smelt like it would be electoral poison. As even Tony Abbott once put it, the type of policy discussion you will find in an average Liberal Party branch will be an intense debate between those who would like to bring back hanging and those who would prefer to bring back flogging.
Until recently, the hard core Liberal base grudgingly accepted that they couldn’t expect their party to implement the policy agenda of their heart’s desire. And then Trump came along, and showed the supporters of the political right around the Western world that it was possible for someone who espoused the policy agenda of their dreams to win government. (He’s also demonstrated that trying to implement the sort of agenda they would like is fraught with problems, but they don’t really seem to care about that.)
And now the right wing supporters of Britain, many European countries and Australia have all decided that they want one too. And they way that the Australian enthusiasts for Trump see it is that, if the Libs won’t get with the programme, then they’ll make do with Pauline. And, as Pauline becomes more powerful, she starts attracting some votes from former Labor supporters as well, many of whom are not keen on socially progressive policies. And she is getting stronger and stronger and now here we are: seemingly on the verge of the Liberal Party disappearing out the back door.
I can’t see that much of this has anything to do with Howard’s legacy. It’s got far more to do with the rise of Trump as well as the very high migration rates we now see in most western countries as their governments try to compensate for the continuing decline in birthrates.
The SBS anchors including Kewell and Boateng have been very good.
Better than listening to Slater and Bosnich.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/08/standout-pundits-2026-world-cup-joe-hart-clarence-seedorf-harry-kewell
Zelenskyy started his career as a comedian, and he hasn’t lost the touch given this exchange with Trump.
WSJ
Non-paywalled AFR article about Modi visit (atleast I could read it)
Real Modi mission is greater buy-in to India by Australia
Media coverage and rhetoric about “natural partners” can gloss over a more complicated reality: this relationship is building strategic trust despite structural limitations.
https://www.afr.com/world/asia/real-modi-mission-is-greater-buy-in-to-india-by-australia-20260707-p60d6f
One Nation MP sponsors petition to sink sheep farmer-led solar and battery project
https://reneweconomy-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/reneweconomy.com.au/one-nation-mp-sponsors-petition-to-sink-sheep-farmer-led-solar-and-battery-project/amp/?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQGsAEggAID#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17835435864166&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Freneweconomy.com.au%2Fone-nation-mp-sponsors-petition-to-sink-sheep-farmer-led-solar-and-battery-project%2F
The United States in 1906 planted Australian melaleuca trees to drain Florida’s wetlands, but scientists now say they spread across nearly 500,000 acres, replacing native sawgrass marshes with dense invasive forests that alter fire and water cycles
https://timesofindia-indiatimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/the-united-states-in-1906-planted-australian-melaleuca-trees-to-drain-floridas-wetlands-but-scientists-now-say-they-spread-across-nearly-500000-acres-replacing-native-sawgrass-marshes-with-dense-invasive-forests-that-alter-fire-and-water-cycles/amp_articleshow/132213334.cms?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQGsAEggAID#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17835435864166&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Ftimesofindia.indiatimes.com%2Fworld%2Fus%2Fthe-united-states-in-1906-planted-australian-melaleuca-trees-to-drain-floridas-wetlands-but-scientists-now-say-they-spread-across-nearly-500000-acres-replacing-native-sawgrass-marshes-with-dense-invasive-forests-that-alter-fire-and-water-cycles%2Farticleshow%2F132213334.cms
Australia just ordered 40 drone patrol boats that buy no fuel and carry nobody, 24-foot hulls that harvest sun, wind and waves at the same time and hold station for six months straight, taking its drone fleet to 55 while its nuclear submarines stay stuck in the 2030s
https://www.autonocion.com/us/australia-40-drone-patrol-boats/
OC: Carmody should have stuck to opera criticism. https://www.science.org/content/article/british-first-fleet-brought-smallpox-australia-and-may-have-killed-millions
Morning all. The actions of our “great and powerful friend”, Donald Trump, have had their predictable results.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-09/asx-markets-business-news-live-updates-thursday-9-july/106895366
Is Trump playing the market again, or is his dumping of the Iran ceasefire another temper tantrum? Australia and the world economy is caught either way.
Meanwhile at the NATO summit Trump has made a surprising decision that will help Ukraine a lot. USA will let them make Patriot missiles.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-09/donald-trump-says-iran-is-scum-as-ukraine-gets-nato-summit-win/106894912
If Trump follows through with this Ukraine could defend itself from:Russian IRBMs, which would end Putin’s ability to attack Ukrainian cities. This would also make Ukraine a real force in the weapons market after the war. The backlog of Patriot orders for Israel, EU, gulf states is years.
Ukraine has some cards after all, Trump admits:
“Trump says US will buy drones from Ukraine”
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/07/08/8043089/
“Trump makes U-turn on Ukraine drone deal”
https://kyivindependent.com/trump-makes-u-turn-on-ukraine-drone-deal/
I thought we reached peaked woke* years ago. Apparently not, Hastie reckons there a woke right also. I guess he’s referring to Abbott.
* Not actual woke, just the right using a term they can’t define for culture warring.
Jeff might not be around anymore (politically speaking) but he deliberately left some timebombs ticking.
The changes he made to schools, for example, weren’t so much of a problem when basically most of the teachers were on permanent contracts. It’s taken a long while for these teachers to filter out of the system, because the teaching force consisted mainly of baby boomers, in their thirties or forties.
Being a permanent gave you a certain leniency. You could, for example, criticise the school’s admin freely. Can’t do that when you’re on a contract which will be up for renewal on a regular basis.
This was important because Kennett made changes to school boards and financing which older hands could challenge. School boards are now dominated by parents, who don’t have the educational knowledge to tackle the academic and disciplinary problems schools face. Instead, they focus on school uniform and the use of grading in report writing (the focus had been shifting to focussing on the comments).
Schools also have control over their budgets. Great in theory, and again, not so much of a worry when most of your teachers were permanent, because you had a base of experienced staff. Now permanency only works at the school you’re teaching at – leave and there’s no guarantee you’ll get it at the next school.
Schools are incentivised to hire younger teachers, because they’re cheaper. And on contract, so that once the younger teacher gets a bit more expensive, they can get rid of them. If you do get to stay a few years, other schools won’t hire you because you’re too expensive.
(NSW solves the problem of allowing schools to select staff without these restrictions by funding each school at the top rate for all staff – any money you don’t take from that pool goes back to the department at the end of the year. So for NSW, this means genuinely hiring the best person for the job, regardless of cost).
The boards he put in place are responsible for hiring casual teachers – and that’s why I teach in NSW, when across the border they’re screaming for casuals. The amount of paper work each individual school expects you to complete before they even hire you for a day is absurd. Once upon a time, I would rock up for my first day of casual work with my teacher ID, my tax file number and fill out a couple of ‘who’s your next of kin’ things and that would be it.
They’re just the changes Kennett put in about education. Hard to roll back, because the idea that schools are autonomous is lovely on paper.
There are similar problems with health – my local hospital is in charge of its own budget and staffing. Great on paper. But it means that small local hospitals HAVE to have their own Financial Manager (rather than accountant), HR personnel, etc.
And I look out at pine plantations which have been granted to the local timber industry in perpetuity. By Jeff.
I’ll blame potholes on roads on Jeff as well, because they’re now fixed by private contractors. And private contractors put government projects far down their list of priorities.
Railways have been raised here. It took probably a decade (and a lot of money) for the State to buy back bits of the railway network that Kennett had sold. Some bits they still can’t, and that complicates issues such as upgrading tracks.
Privatising electricity has slowed the transition to renewables….
As a friend of mine once said, everyone concentrates on Federal governments, but it’s the state ones that can really hurt you.
Kennett did a lot of damage. It still affects Victorians today.
The NRL blaming having had to set up temporary bunker because of the Telstra outage on the crucial error that was made. Might not have cost Queensland the game but they were coming back hard at the time. A billion dollar game shouldn’t make mistakes like that
Speaking of the outage, the old saying re a cock up vs a conspiracy comes to mind. It’s almost always a cock up
Credit to Anika Wells for cutting her holiday short and being on deck to manage the fallout
Andrew Hastie was on 730 last night, I watched it on YouTube overnight. He is a much better communicator than Taylor even if I don’t agree with what he is saying. Talked us up as a country of immigrants by talking about a 3rd way rather than the loaded woke phrases of monoculture and multiculturalism. Said everyone should speak English even if they have a second or third language. Also big on supporting the flag
Mentioned his experience growing up with different cultures in inner west Sydney with the church his father was a minister for
He said Taylor is doing good work on developing policy. I’m guessing that’s being done in a less consultative way than Ley. They’ll land on the same rubbish though
Called out One Nation for making his family unsafe but got the messaging right about their supporters more broadly in that he understands their frustration
Big on saying the war in Iran starting in February was a mistake and his important the institutions and rule of law are in reference to Trump, Farage and One Nation
Funniest thing was Sarah finished the interview by calling him Angus Taylor lol
It’s worth a look. I think the polls would move pretty quickly if he became leader
Time for work, enjoy your day
World News & Politics Patrol:
Russian Lawmaker Says Half of Ukraine’s Population Must Be Killed to ‘Eliminate Nazism’: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/79834
Trump gives Zelensky green light to produce Patriot missiles: https://kyivindependent.com/make-them-yourself-trump-gives-zelensky-green-light-to-produce-patriot-missiles/
Russia Is Hiding Fuel for Crimea in Water and Milk Tankers. Ukrainian Drones Still Find It: https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/russia-is-hiding-fuel-for-crimea-in-water-and-milk-tankers-ukrainian-drones-still-find-it-20577
Trump tells the world that Iran ‘scum’ want to assassinate him: ‘I’m the No. 1 target’: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iran-assassination-threat-b3011422.html
Denmark ready to defend ‘every inch of NATO’, including Danish kingdom: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/denmark-ready-defend-every-inch-nato-including-danish-kingdom-pm-says-2026-07-08/
Trump orders complete trade cutoff with NATO ally Spain: https://tvpworld.com/94233896/nato-ankara-summit-trump-orders-cutoff-of-us-trade-with-spain
Italy arrests two over alleged spying for Russia: https://www.reuters.com/world/italy-arrests-two-over-alleged-spying-russia-2026-07-07/
‘He can spend the summer arguing with a bin’: Rachel Reeves mocks Farage as she clears the way for Clacton by-election: https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/rachel-reeves-confirms-she-will-accept-farages-resignation-as-she-insists-he-can-5HjddMF_2/
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear requests update on Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health: https://www.whas11.com/article/news/politics/national-politics/kentucky-governor-andy-beshear-requests-update-senator-mitch-mcconnell-health/417-b9252baa-29ab-489e-94f1-147aa41e78ed
Why is everyone saying they talked to Mitch McConnell for 20 minutes? https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/07/08/mitch-mcconnell-20-minute-talks-hospital/90845137007/
Trump Begs Judge to Stop $5M E. Jean Carroll Payment: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-begs-judge-to-stop-5m-e-jean-carroll-payment/
Trump Has Blown More Than $100 Billion on Iran War: https://newrepublic.com/post/212846/donald-trump-spent-100-billion-iran-war
MAGA Representative Drowned Out by Boos at His Own Town Hall: https://newrepublic.com/post/212813/maga-representative-town-hall-donald-trump-medicaid
Israeli strike kills World Cup screening organizer in Gaza just before kickoff: https://apnews.com/article/gaza-world-cup-strike-egypt-israel-8fae6d465136e7f1a7d1bb03e805c0a0
United Airlines must face lawsuit over ‘window seats’ that lack windows: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/united-airlines-must-face-lawsuit-over-window-seats-that-lack-windows-2026-07-06/
Socrates, Thursday, July 9, 2026 at 7:51 am
Socrates – great news for Ukraine, particularly for the future.
Porcupine is possible.
Telstra is scrambling to fix a “secondary issue” impacting triple-0 calls just hours after a nationwide outage sparked chaos across the country.
The massive outage, first reported at about 4am on Wednesday, left customers in every major city unable to access mobile services for several hours.
The telco’s chief financial officer Michael Ackland said the outage was caused by a software defect and was “not the result of a cyber incident”. “That is the current understanding … there was a software fault that caused the GPS node to reset, which changed the time and caused the time desynchronisation,” he said.
While he didn’t confirm if the issue was caused by human error, he said “there is something in our process that we need to fix and change”. More than 300 welfare checks linked to unsuccessful or dropped triple-0 calls were carried out. Mr Ackland said a “secondary issue” affecting triple-0 calls was identified at about 9pm on Wednesday.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/telstra-hit-with-secondary-issue-affecting-triple0-calls-hours-after-nationwide-outage/news-story/a79c3bd0d8242d8a28c00a0b1eebfbce
Howard was responsible for the preselection of both Sussan Ley and Mirabella.
The point being, he recognised the need for the party to preselect relatively young women.
He then promoted Ley far more rapidly than Mirabella, who only got near a Ministry (Shadow or otherwise) once he’d gone (and clearly as a reward for supporting someone’s leadership challenge…)
mb
IMO you ignore Howard’s speciality: plausible deniability.
We all knew what he really meant but he was rat cunning enough to always be able to deny it ‘plausibly’. He knew how to have his anglo political cake and eat it too. Until it wore too thin for him to survive at all.
Who was Howard? Howard vibrated personally with the anglo project. Its markers were: wealth, patriarchy, english language, white, christian (preferably protestant but if needs be, rc), mother england and big brother united states.
Naturally, history had to be prismed through anglo eyes. The invasion of australia had to become the settlement of australia – ‘justified’ by way of being a superior race and/or a superior culture and/or a superior civilization and/or a mandate from heaven.
Every single thing Howard did came from that personal core. It was the authentic Howard.
Those outside that core – indigenous people, women, people of colour, non-anglo migrants and non-christians, got that message perfectly clearly.
But there was always plausible deniability to fool the natives.
Howard’s successors were not nearly as adept at the plausible deniability. ATM bumbled along in that space, getting away with it. In the process they eliminated the moderates and the wets who provided the veneer for the plausible deniability. That was, until the women, via the Teals, ripped off the facade.
Hanson, who is a Howardite at heart, eschewed plausible deniability altogether. She is the Acme Anglo with Wily Coyote and with Dingo instincts and capacities.
The anglo heart of all this is still there. The problem for the project is that huge numbers of voters no longer adhere to the anglo project. And the plausible deniability is a dead parrot.
Hh
Thanks for the round up. If Trump were trying to imagine language use that would reinforce the Iranian regime he has done an excellent job.
Boerwar @ #1195 Thursday, July 9th, 2026 – 8:11 am
Good post. The anglo heart is colonialist – it’s plantations all the way down. That sort of multi-generational bastardry requires legends of innocence (or at least bumbling incompetence) to absolve the guilt of the inheritors. Hence the History Wars, smallpox in the Americas & Australia, and, ultimately, White Supremicism.
After watching the State of Origin last night as a Queensland supporter, I now know how Egypt felt after the refereeing of their world cup game with Argentina.
It wasn’t just the inconsistency with “bunker” calls and excuses being made over Telstra outages. Early on there was a head high tackle call where the ref did not send a NSW player off despite sending a Qld player off for a shoulder charge in game one. The game had multiple HIAs yet no punishments for causing them.
Refs can set the bar high or low, but they need to be consistent to be credible.
Bird of paradox @ 9.50pm
As an atheist, I loathe Christmas shopping !
However, Kirsty Mc Coll & The Pogues – “Fairy Tale of New York” is the exception, and often gets multiple plays on our sound system, all year round.
Yeah I don’t think they even managed to be consistent between the first and second half last night, let alone across the series where it is a send of if Qld do it but not even a sin bin when NSW do it.
Very FIFA.
But as much as it hurts to admit Qld were not the better side last night, even if NSW got to knock on and then score tries which I understand was a special rule for them and isn’t normally the way league is played.