Category: General

On 28 March 2021 I published content containing false and damaging comments that Andrew Laming MP was a sociopath, a bully and that he had unlawfully taken a picture up a young woman’s skirt.

A complaint to the Queensland Police on 29 March 2021 cleared Andrew Laming MP the following day of all wrongdoing, because there was no evidence to suggest any offence had been committed in respect to the complaint.

I apologise for, and regret, making the damaging comments about Andrew Laming MP. I unconditionally withdraw these comments, which were wrong, inaccurate and unsubstantiated.

At the end of every second month, this site offers a gentle reminder of its reliance on your patronage. This can be provided through the “become a supporter” buttons at the top of the page and the bottom of each post. Some specific reasons why you might think this particularly worth doing at the moment:

• The site is now free of advertising. This particular income stream had in any case dwindled to practically nothing over the years — until a few months ago, when Google Ads added an exciting new pop-up ad feature (“vignette ads”, as it would prefer they to be called) that resulted in a surge in both revenue and user complaints. Responding to the latter has meant forsaking the former, and ad revenue has duly returned to where it was before, i.e. nowhere. So better to do away with them altogether and ask doubly nicely for reader contributions (albeit that these too are not what they used to be).

• I’ve been working especially hard for my diminishing earnings of late, thanks to two state elections. Much of this effort has been devoted to my acclaimed live election results features – including the one I have ready to go for tomorrow’s state election in Tasmania, which you can acquaint yourself with here.

• Resolving technical issues that caused the were causing the site to go offline intermittently a few weeks ago involved considerable hassle and a certain amount of expenditure, for which regular users in particular might think me deserving of a contribution.

Every two months this site runs a post to raise awareness about its dependence on readers’ contributions – usually at the end of the month, but I’ve brought it forward on this occasion to maximise exposure from tomorrow’s Western Australian election. Donations can be made through the “become a supporter” links that appear in the blue bar at the top of the site and the red buttons at the bottom of each post.

To offer some insight into the extent of my efforts of late, and also to help you find your way around:

• I’m planning on publishing live results from the Western Australian election tomorrow night and in the days that follow, in a format similar to the one you can see here for the Queensland election. I’m fairly confident that everything will run smoothly on this occasion.

• My critically acclaimed guide to the Western Australian state election can be found here, telling you everything you want or need to know about tomorrow’s big day and no doubt more besides. It features detailed overviews of each of the 59 lower house seats and six multi-member upper house regions, including interactive maps and past results displays, together with a general overview of the electoral terrain.

• My latest post on the Western Australian election is below this one; among other things, it relates today’s small-sample YouGov poll in The West Australian showing Labor ahead 60-40 in Zak Kirkup’s seat of Dawesville (and also the belief of Labor strategists that it will be quite a bit tighter than that).

• A new federal post and general discussion thread can be found in the next post along.

At the end of every second month, this site offers a humble reminder to its valued readers of its reliance on their patronage for its survival and prosperity. This particular occasion coincides with me doing something which I like to think might warrant a small reward from those of you who have an interest in the subject in question, namely the publication of my Western Australian state election guide.

Donations can be made by clicking on the PressPatron button at the top of the page, or the “become a supporter” buttons that appear at the foot of each post. If you are having technical problems with the donation facilities, which have been known to crop up from time to time, please drop me a line at pollbludger-AT-bigpond-DOT-com.

At the end of every second month, this site humbly beseeches its readers to spare a few pennies through the PressPatron “become a supporter” buttons that feature at the top of the page and the bottom of each post. I’ve usually got some reason why this would be a particularly opportune moment to show your support, and now is no exception: COVID-19 travel restrictions cost me the extracurricular election work I normally rely on, and I was reduced to covering the campaign on my blog like a bum.

For readers, this had the upside that I was able to hustle together a live results reporting facility, and while it didn’t work too well on the night (all part of that learning curve), in the days that followed it was surely the best place on the internet to follow the late results, as it featured such detail as the preference flow by candidate data in considerably more accessible form than the Electoral Commission of Queensland site. Even now it remains the only place where you can find two-candidate preferred results by booth, which the ECQ in its wisdom removed from its reporting as the counting reached its conclusion. Then there was my Groom by-election live results reporting, which continues ticking over as we speak, and was the only place where booth results were publicly available on the night.

There are also some of you out there who are still in my system as donors but whose payments are not being processed due to expired credit cards — if that sounds like you, you can update your details by logging in at PressPatron and clicking on “edit payment” under “payment details” on the “My Contributions” page. If you encounter technical problems, which have been known to crop up from time to time, please drop me a line at pollbludger-AT-bigpond-DOT-com.

At the end of every second month, this site rattles its tin in the hope of unloosening some spare change from the pockets of its valued readership. Donations are gratefully received via the PressPatron button at the top of the page, or the “become a supporter” buttons that appear at the foot of each post. If you are having technical problems with the donation facilities, which have been known to crop up from time to time, please drop me a line at pollbludger-AT-bigpond-DOT-com.

Motivations to donate might include my just-published guide to the Queensland state election, the guide to the looming Australian Capital Territory election that will be along fairly shortly, and the deluge of effort that will be put into covering these campaigns over the coming month, together with the elections that loom in New Zealand and especially the United States.

To donors and non-donors alike, thanks are due for all who contribute to the Poll Bludger experience. If you encounter technical problems with the payment facility, which have been known to crop up from time to time, please drop me a line at pollbludger-AT-bigpond-DOT-com.