Two markedly different federal poll results from the past few days, the more favourable for Labor being from the uneven Roy Morgan series, which has them up two-and-a-half points to 29.5%, with One Nation down three-and-a-half to 23.5%, the Coalition down half to 20.5% and the Greens down half to 13.5%. Labor is credited with two-party preferred leads on respondent-allocated preferences of 55.5-44.5 over One Nation (out from 53-47) and 56-44 over the Coalition (out from 52-48), and a lead of 55-45 over the Coalition on previous election preference flows (out from 52.5-47.5). The poll was conducted last Monday to Sunday from a sample of 1585.
Conversely, the monthly Essential Research poll gives Labor its worst result of the term, down five on the primary vote to 26% with the Coalition up four to 26%, One Nation down two to 23% and the Greens up one to 13%, with an undecided component accounting for 5%. The Coalition leads the pollster’s 2PP+ measure by 50-45, after Labor led 48-47 last time. Anthony Albanese is down three on approval to 35% and up four on disapproval to 56%, while Angus Taylor is respectively down one to 32% and down three to 41%. The regular national mood question has the “right direction” response down five to a new low of 23%, with wrong direction up six to a new high of 59%. The full report has further questions on workplace relations, social media and the “manosphere”. The poll was presumably conducted Wednesday to Sunday from a ample of a bit over 1000, though details are not yet available.
BW
I think that the original version of this undoubtedly apocryphal story was that the scion of one of the longstanding grazing families of the region who was able to see the opening ceremony for Old Parliament House from his verandah observed to his guests on that day “What a shame, a good sheep run spoiled.”
The other story (perhaps apocryphal, perhaps not) that I like in relation to that occasion is that the explanation for Canberrans pronouncing Manuka to rhyme with Chanukah rather the New Zealand style of “Marnooka” (and after all, Manuka trees come from NZ).
The story goes that the then Duchess of York (later the Queen and then the Queen Mother) was asked to open the Manuka Arcade while she and her husband were down for the opening of Old Parliament House in 1927 and, because nobody bothered to tell her how to pronounce the word, she pronounced it to rhyme with Chanukah. And because she was a member of the Royal Family, nobody dared to correct her and thus it continues to be pronounced the way she said it.
@FUBAR at 8:12pm
Several.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/28/rupert-murdoch-ordered-editors-to-kill-whitlam-according-to-us-envoy
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/11/murdochs-role-in-the-dismissal-and-my-job-in-japan/
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2022/08/murdoch-whitlam-and-the-job-in-london/
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/2014/10/21/gough-said-rupert-murdoch
https://www.themonthly.com.au/september-2013/nation-reviewed/murdochs-war-labor
Corroborated stories makes it seem pretty likely. Of course I reckon you think they’re all lying because Rupert said “no u”.
Canberra is like Glasgow – fucking cold, full of people dependent on the Government and hard drugs.
But I like living there for 18 months. Not sure that would have continued much longer.
Are these ‘dads’ who moan about not getting enough love on Fathers Day even real? They sound like pansies to me.
FUBARsays:
Sunday, September 6, 2026 at 8:21 pm
Canberra is like Glasgow – fucking cold, full of people dependent on the Government and hard drugs.
=========================================
Yes, dodgy Bruce should really have been sacked earlier.
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are in Kyiv – arrived by train, as Russia failed to honour the request by the US to hold off attacks on airports to facilitate the visit.
They met Putin in Moscow a few days ago.
Is this Trump’s October Surprise?
https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3mutrkkbtyd2w
Entropy
Ho ho. I’m not sure he was that wonderful though (although I loved him in the Adventures of Robin Hood with Olivia de Havilland and Basil Rathbone).
Kirsdarke says:
Sunday, September 6, 2026 at 8:21 pm
Thanks. I was interested to see where it came from. Looks like it is true.
I don’t understand why Murdoch would have wanted that job given his media business.
But what did the sheep paddocks ruin? It is possible to spot the old sheep camps in the ACT’s nature reserves by the invasive weed patterns.
There are a few other weird pronunciations.
We first shifted to Canberra from near Arrente country. The suburb called Aran-dah mystified me for a while.
As part of our little spat I checked the percentage of ACT residents who were born overseas. It is just below the national average.
On a related matter, it concerns me that more and more of the APS public servants are born and bred Canberrans. We need more axemen, fishers and farmers, IMO.
@FUBAR
Alright, sorry for presupposing your intent.
I don’t know why Rupert was after the job so much either, I can only guess that either it was due to a falling out with the Gorton-McMahon government or something to do with his father Keith.
We forgive you, FUBAR.
We do have a climate problem… continental summer temperatures are going to be pretty bloody unbearable as the planet heats up. OTOH, global warming has reduced our average number of frosts considerably. And for the snowbirds there is less and less reason for living within striking distance of where the snow used to be.
FUBARsays:
Sunday, September 6, 2026 at 8:21 pm
Canberra is like Glasgow – fucking cold, full of people dependent on the Government and hard drugs.
____________________________
Where’s your sources for this outrageous claim?
According to My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Flynn’s autobiography, there is a childhood Tasmanian story involving ins and outs.
It is many decades since I read the book and there is only one fragment that has stayed with me. I am not sure exactly why.
According to Flynn, who IMO did not let the facts get in the way of a good story, one of his childhood escapades was to tie globs of fat along a length of string. This had a purpose.
The first glob was then fed to a duck and several globs thereafter. The duck quickly passed this fat through at which point Flynn the child had the immense joy of having his duck with a length of string for and aft and through the duck.
I assume that the modern urban child does screen time instead.
BW
I understand that some of the westernmost members of that Central Australian community still prefer “Aranda” to “Arrernte” (You left out an “r”: easy to do with the currently fashionable – but impossible to spell – orthographies for Indigenous languages. No wonder quite a few Indigenous people are throwing up their hands and going back to the colonial-era spellings, which are less accurate but far easier to remember.)
He probably copped a Canberra Kiss at Mooseheads.
Yep, especially if they are Indigenous people whose first language has become english.
BW: the general consensus is that Errol Flynn was always a pretty nasty piece of work. As apparently was his father, who was professor of zoology at the University of Tasmania and was known in Antarctic science circles (he went on one of the sub-Antarctic cruises that were part of the Douglas Mawson expedition of 1911-15 and has a lake named after him on Macquarie Island).
I have no doubt about that at all. Inter alia, he was a slaver in Papua New Guinea.
Trump sidelined professional diplomats for negotiations during Iran and Ukraine wars for real estate agents in Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.
Nobody trusts them after what happened to Iran (they were bombed) during Iran negotiations with above jerks.
Added to that Jared Kushner has business interests in middle east
Hence, he has conflict of interest wrt these negotiations.
What he appeared to have said to Iran is that if Iran didn’t comply with his demands, they would be bombed to stone age.
The sandman beckons. I wish you all a good night’s sleep and pleasant dreams.
https://kevinbonham.blogspot.com/2026/09/ucomms-tas-labor-getting-run-out-of.html
uComms Tas (state) Lib 26.8 ALP 21.8 ON 18.4 Grn 15.9 IND 15.0 SFF 1.6 Nat 0.1 others 0.5
Seat estimate Lib 10 ALP 9 ON 8 Grn 4-5 IND 3-4
Today came the unexpected surprise of a new uComms poll of Tasmanian state voting intention commissioned by the anti-stadium group Our Place, trading for polling purposes as Macquarie Point Vision Limited. The poll had a sample size of 1164 and was taken 26-27 August by robopoll and SMS. Before we get too carried away with this poll I should point out that these are both methods I treat with a high degree of caution and that uComms’ record in recent Tas state final polling has been erratic. It underestimated the Liberals by 7 points in 2021 and underestimated Labor by 6 in 2024. Nonetheless I’ll unpack the voting intentions in this poll for those interested and then comment on the stadium questions.
Field Marshall Montgomery spent his very early years in Tasmania. I often wondered if his ego problems were sourced there.
Boerwarsays:
Sunday, September 6, 2026 at 7:50 pm
ACT is a wonderful place to live and it is full of wonderful people.
_______________________
I have always wanted to go to Fyshwick.
My experience with living in Canberra is it would be a fine place to settle down as it is mostly suburbia with offices but pretty boring if there is no attachment to anywhere.
Taylormadesays:
Sunday, September 6, 2026 at 9:14 pm
Boerwarsays:
Sunday, September 6, 2026 at 7:50 pm
ACT is a wonderful place to live and it is full of wonderful people.
_______________________
I have always wanted to go to Fyshwick.
_____________
Porn and sex toys. I hear ya pal.
Nath – That stuff is in Fyshwick because in Canberra sex is considered a Light Industry.
Xanthippe and I lived in Canberra for a few years in the early 2000s while she finished her PhD at ANU. I liked it. We had a good life there.
The winter weather was lousy but our home was well heated and we had many enjoyable dinners with friends at some of the many good restaurants.
I worked in Federal transport (then DoTaRS) but a few things struck me. Most people in Canberra are not Federal public servants.
The “normal” Canberra economy is no different to anywhere else.
Federal funding per capita is less than average. The ACT is not subsidised. Its the opposite.
The standard of ACT governance is high. The Canberra LRT was finished on time and under budget! Not many states can claim that. Tasmania is a basket case. ACT is not.
One of my favorite Canberra stories:
SENATOR Jacqui Lambie took staff shopping for “sex toys” at adult stores, complained about needing “a root” and stumbled over words of more than two syllables when giving speeches, according to former Burnett MP Rob Messenger and his wife Fern who worked for Ms Lambie.
A letter of complaint from the couple alleges that Ms Lambie’s staff were “walking on eggshells” due to her “unpredictable” behaviour and “angry mood swings”.
Mr Messenger accuses Ms Lambie of using vulgar and obscene language in the office, describing anyone she disagreed with her as a “c..t arse”.
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/bundaberg/former-burnett-mp-accuses-lambie-of-sex-toys-and-swearing/news-story/ea98135389188d7f180232eb3c2556ca
My fav Lambie story:
Jacqui Lambie posted the cheeky photo online ahead of the 2019 election with the caption, “You guys know I like my sausage!”
Parliament would be a lot more fun if there were more bogans in there.
Maybe even a few meth heads. Imagine the shit they would get up to!
Maybe set aside 5 seats for ice addicts.
nathsays:
Sunday, September 6, 2026 at 10:00 pm
Parliament would be a lot more fun if there were more bogans in there.
Maybe even a few meth heads. Imagine the shit they would get up to!
==================================================
The parliament would need at least 2 prayer rooms possibly 3?
“Reposted by Dreadnought Holiday
madeline odent
@oldenoughtosay.com
· 17d
oh is prince harry returning to england? the same year we’ve got a tyrant beefing with the Pope?
STOP MAKING MEDIEVALISTS RELEVANT 1/2”
Well, i laughed. 🙂
I’m starting to change my mind about capitalism, it may well be more good than bad, it also appears to be self correcting ..
Have been listening & reading about Meta’s recent settlement of US attorneys general case for damages caused to children & mental health of adults due to manipulative algorithms etc. Meta settled 2 days into the court case & immediately prior Zuckerberg giving evidence
Had they lost the case they could have $1.7 trillion in damages, more than what Meta’s worth, so $18b is ultra cheap
The settlement gets rid of the States actions but not the 000’s of civil ones.. & now the evidence & findings are now public & available….plus the pending cases in EU, Australia.. everywhere really .
Hence talk of Mark leaving.. he’s toast, Meta investors want to see the back of him so the company has a chance of survival.. good residence to the psychopath… the same fate awaits the other boy genius Musk.. investors want certainty & calm waters .. look at Apple’s Cook as a good example
It would certainly liven up Question Time.
According to the front page article in Mondays Australian One Nation may be about to give Victorians an Ice user as a new politican.
malcolm – yes, here is the first bit of the story. It’s a fair bit longer than what’s below and there are various pictures.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/drugs-deviance-questions-warren-pickering-refuses-to-answer-about-his-past/news-story/7876b192aeee9c325e7027bed206d3b5
‘Drugs, deviance’: Questions Warren Pickering refuses to answer about his past
Warren Pickering rejects explosive historical allegations from his former partner – supported by his own handwritten letters – just weeks before Victoria’s state election.
Jamie Walker
One Nation has called in lawyers to defend the party’s Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, against contested historical allegations by his former lover and partner of 18 years that he led a secret life of illicit drug taking and “sexual deviance” while they were together.
Jo Scott’s explosive claims are supported by handwritten letters and texts from Mr Pickering apologising for his behaviour when “on the shit”, “on the gear” and “using substances”.
During a low point in their relationship in 2011-12, he wrote that “the drugs” were responsible for his self-described “sexual deviance”.
“After I’v (sic) come down Im (sic) disgusted in myself & vow never again,” he wrote.
Ms Scott said she and Mr Pickering used marijuana and amphetamines including highly addictive ice in the homes they shared with their daughter and her three sons from a previous marriage. She is now estranged from them.
Ms Scott, 54, became addicted to ice, also known as crystal meth, and was charged with possession of the drug, compounding her struggles with depression and suicidal self-harm, she said.
A member of the couple’s social circle at the time told The Australian that they witnessed Mr Pickering smoking ice at a “party house” in the west Gippsland town of Garfield on numerous occasions between 2006 and 2010.
Rejecting Ms Scott’s claims in their entirety, Mr Pickering said she had sought to use “false and salacious” allegations in family law disputes since 2010, which had been routinely dismissed.
“These allegations are false,” the 43-year-old said in a written statement. “They are extremely hurtful and I just hope the public can see through them.”
However, he repeatedly declined to answer written questions from this masthead about his alleged ice use and his apparent admissions to Ms Scott that he consumed illicit drugs during their long and tumultuous relationship
During the Secret Harbour by-election campaign, Facebook posts emerged in which Luke Herdegen spoke of “doing large amounts of cocaine” and being “pretty close with some Albanian underworld figures”. And that was the end of that.
I remember in the early 2000 going out to Fyshwick to buy fireworks before they stopped it in 2009.
The Courier Mail has a DemosAU Queensland state poll that I won’t be doing a post on until tomorrow.
Primary: LNP 34 (-), ALP 26 (+1), ON 21 (-3), GRN 11 (+1).
TPP: LNP 56 (-2), ALP 44 (+2).
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qld-politics/lnp-extends-lead-over-labor-as-one-nation-support-slumps-in-new-poll/news-story/55601e0dcc46b984200376096fa069c7
Daily Kos
Of course, CM will have regular polls because LNP is in driver’s seat.
Interesting story
A decades-long friendship, tested by Trumpism
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/9/5/800093632/news/a-decades-long-friendship-tested-by-trumpism/
A lots of cartoons
Sheep to the slaughter
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/9/6/800092026/series/sheep-to-the-slaughter/
Me: Sheep always believe the butcher.
What is that BW usually says about this situation.
Just following up Leroy’s post on the alleged crackhead and sexual deviant installed as One Nation’s Victorian leader, my guess is that the ‘oppo research’ teams in the major parties are working overtime.
ON have a sullied history of either doing no candidate vetting, or overlooking past misdemeanour, criminal history, bankruptcies and now ice use and sexual deviancy. Something about the party and its structures which attracts these narcissistic chancers, and there is much more to come.
I used to play football for the Fyshwick Beavers.