The Australian has published Newspoll’s quarterly geographic and demographic breakdowns, which are notable in having both major parties well down on the April-June aggregation in Queensland (Labor down five to 25%, the Coalition down three to 19%, the Greens up three to 12% and One Nation up four to 36%) and the Coalition running fourth in South Australia (Labor steady on 32%, One Nation down one to 31%, Greens steady on 14%, Coalition down three to 13%), albeit that the sample in the latter case is only 369.
As well as being well ahead of both major parties in Queensland, One Nation is one point clear in New South Wales and only one point behind Labor in Western Australia and South Australia. Labor is down five among the 35-to-49 age cohort, compared with one to three among the other three, and One Nation is up four among 18-to-34 and three among 35-to-49, while being little changed among the older cohorts, although the party’s support is still by some distance weakest among 18-to-34. Labor is down six points among those on incomes below $50,000 and, no doubt relatedly, eight points among renters, while One Nation is respectively up four and five.
The results are combined from four polls conducted between July 13 and September 18 from an overall sample of 4967.
Mr Koch, a long-time financial commentator and the Economic Director for Compare the Market Australia, argues high oil prices are also driving up inflation, but Canberra’s spending has “gone unchecked and under the radar” for several years while the Iran war has become a “convenient scapegoat”. “The other big driver is government spending, which is at levels equivalent to the pandemic, when they actually had to spend a lot of money to stop us from going into a great depression, so it was warranted,” he told news.com.au.
“Now it’s business as usual and they’re spending at the same level. You talk to builders and they go, ‘God, we can’t get any staff because all of these government projects are paying so much money’.
“All these infrastructure and energy transition projects are bumping up the cost of labour. Public sector wages are growing about one per cent more than private sector wages… These sorts of things, I reckon, need to be called out.”
https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/interest-rates/breaking-point-david-koch-unleashes-on-government-rba-before-expected-interest-rate-hike/news-story/d796b807fef6a8484e36275704d33ff6
Well I’ll be, Mr Koch.
A government spending money on needed infrastructure and the renewable transition.
We need to stop that right now or we’ll go broke and interest rates will go up.
Let’s just stop government spending now and spend massively to catch up in a few years.
We are so lucky that people of the mindset of Koch are nowhere near the treasury benches
Some of these economists have NFI!
Go the SA Greens, hopefully just the first domino to fall
Seem a no brainer that there should be law changes to clarify the position here. Providing board and lodging should be treated differently, on all fronts, to being a traditional landlord. Rules could be around the owner remaining a resident of the property
So many empty bedrooms while we have people living in tents and cars
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-28/homeowners-who-want-to-rent-spare-bedrooms-worry-tax/107174184
Mary Peltola, Democratic senate candidate for Alaska is leading in the polls. She has an authentic back story…
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/us/politics/mary-peltola-alaska-senate.html
I’ve been busy and have only just got to AEMO’s last Quarterly Energy Dynamics report:
https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files/major-publications/qed/2026/qed-q2-2026.pdf
Mild weather, an increase in renewable energy and an influx of batteries (large and small) in the National Electricity Market led to plummeting fossil fuel use and prices in the second quarter.
The increase in renewable energy at the expense of fossil fuels was notable with gas-fired generation 30% lower than in Q2 2025 and at its lowest Q2 average since 2003:
The Cheaper Home Batteries program proved its worth:
That and the tripling of big batteries squashed the duck curve:
Reduced peak prices lowered wholesale prices across the board:
The ABC have an article about the SA blackout from 10 years ago. Their idea of an impartial commentator is Danny Price, an agricultural economist who is best known for the dodgy nuclear modelling (which he provided for free) used by Dutton in the last election. The following article is written by a competent person:
https://theenergy.co/articles/lessons-from-south-australias-2016-blackout
Re Ireland, it is clear that “Loyalists” have not been loyal for decades, least of all to his Majesty’s elected government and by extension, His Majesty, and I suspect they actually despise him.
Nor are they Unionists, for much the same reason. Union with an entity they obviously despise, and if Scotland leaves not sure what they are. And even if by some Nationalist fantasy had them all repatriated across the Irish Sea, I doubt Scotland would want them.
We saw this in South Africa, one of the Afrikaaner resistance militia called themselves the “Low German/Dutch Resistance Movement” and I thought there is no way you guys would survive in modern Netherlands. You are pathetic Boers, farmers in a world that doesn’t need boorish stockmen, in the Netherlands farming means giant greenhouses with people who’ve studied plant husbandry to the nth degree.
A transplanted identity no longer relevant in the modern world. I doubt more than a few English kids these days have heard of King Billy and the Boyne and all that.
Kochie & Hughsey, figures
Having travelled extensively across Iran- it is not a full of religiously crazed ideologues….. Guess what, it is full of friendly ordinary people getting on with their lives. And by friendly I mean the most open and friendly people – highly educated and civilised.
Women do wear a head covering though. I mixed in Christian and Jewish communities- even gay areas. I am sure there is some hostility to minorities- but have we noticed the rantings of One Nation here or Trump?
People openly hated the religious regime- and I mean everyone…sadly they are trapped.
Been There
David Koch is not an economist. He has never trained or worked as one. He is a former finance journalist who now works promoting financial products.
He is no better qualified to understand or run the economy than Barnaby Joyce.
Nicely said, Socrates. Koch is a third-rate product of commercial TV. And a boofhead to boot.
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out from Thursday
Good move from the government, the fact the fees cost us $6 billion per year shows how much little amounts add up
Hopefully business is transparent about how they apply the changes. I’d rather know what I’m paying up front than copping a fee when I pay, even if that means small price increases
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-28/surcharge-ban-interchange-fees-impacts-businesses-and-customers/106660248
I see that the dirt file units have finally done some forensic work on the Rhinehart grab for backroom political power.
Elon Musk eat your heart out.
The Newspoll Quarterlies are trending to a Hanson/Taylor government by 2029.
The various anti-Labor slaggers will then have their heart’s desire.
Anyway, the big news of late is moths – mostly Bogongs, but also others. On the S-Coast, in addition to the more populated areas:
https://thenightly.com.au/australia/why-are-there-so-many-moths-bogong-moths-swarm-sydney-illawarra-and-central-coast-c-22932303
E. coli outbreak linked to raw milk cheese brand: CDC, FDA: https://abcnews.com/GMA/News/coli-outbreak-linked-raw-milk-cheese-brand-cdc/story?id=136766868
Trump, 80, Gets Loudly Booed at College Football Game: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-80-gets-loudly-booed-at-college-football-game/
Trump Heckled With Profane Accusation on Live TV: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-heckled-with-profane-accusation-on-live-tv/
Amnesty International calls for abolishing ICE: https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2026/09/24/amnesty-international-ice-abolition-chicago-minneapolis-immigration-enforcement-abuses
White House airs another government-funded ad, this time with Trump warning of ‘final battle’: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/27/politics/white-house-trump-government-funded-ad
OpenAI halts training of latest models as reports mount of AI agents going rogue: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/27/openai-halts-training-of-latest-models-as-reports-mount-of-ai-agents-going-rogue