The latest weekly Morgan face-to-face poll has Labor shedding another two points on the primary vote – down over the last three surveys from 42 per cent to 40 per cent to 38 per cent – and the dividend again being picked up by the Greens, who have gone from 8.5 per cent to 11 per cent to 13 per cent. The Coalition is down half a point to 41 per cent. As a result there is only a slight change on the two-party vote, with Labor’s lead down from 52-48 to 51.5-48.5. There seems to be an anomaly with the “others” rating, which has supposedly jerked up from an anomalous 2 per cent to 6.5 per cent. The fact that last week’s figures only add up to 97 per cent probably has something to do with this.
Elsewhere:
• New South Wales Labor is bracing itself for tomorrow’s Penrith by-election, which you can discuss here. Tune into this site from 6pm tomorrow for live coverage.
• The Senate passed legislation yesterday that will allow pre-poll votes cast within the relevant electorate to be treated as ordinary rather than declaration votes, and thus to be admitted to the count on election night. This will account for about 4500 votes per electorate – roughly 5 per cent of the total. Nearly 20 per cent of the votes cast in 2007 were declaration votes of various kinds, slightly under half of which were pre-polls. The bill also allows changes to enrolment to be made online, and will prevent a repeat of the Christian Democratic Party’s effort from last year’s Bradfield by-election where it fielded nine candidates without having to go to the bother of obtaining the 50 supporting signatures required of independent candidates.
• Wyong councillor John McNamara has been chosen as the new Liberal candidate for Dobell. The nomination had been vacated by the withdrawal of original nominee Garry Lee, who seems to have been pushed because his establishment of a company to take advantage of the government’s insulation scheme threatened to muddy the election campaign waters. VexNews published a colourful account from a local Liberal who tipped the outcome earlier in the week, which suggested the party does not fancy its chances in the seat.
• The Queensland Times has published a list of eight starters for the June 27 Liberal National Party preselection in the new seat of Wright, to be held following the disendorsement of Hajnal Ban. Not included are the previously discussed Bill O’Chee and Ted Shepherd. Former Blair MP Cameron Thompson appears to be the front-runner, the others being Scott Buchholz, chief-of-staff to Senator Barnaby Joyce; Richard Hackett-Jones, “a long-term tax-review campaigner who helms the Revenue Review Foundation which advocates for a uniform rate of income tax”; Bob La Castra, Gold Coast councillor and perennial preselection bridesmaid; David Neuendorf, a Lockyer councillor; Scott White, an aircraft engineer; and the unheralded Erin Kerr and Jonathan Krause.
• Yet more trouble for the Liberal National Party, with the Courier-Mail reporting local members are calling for Forde candidate Bert van Manen to be disendorsed because “he had not kept his promise to fund his own election”. While van Manen was reckoned safe for the time being, “sources admitted there had been problems and his position might come under scrutiny if there were any further issues”.
• The Liberal National Party has preselected Logan councillor Luke Smith to run against Craig Emerson in the safe Labor southern Brisbane seat of Rankin.
• The Illawarra Mercury reports former rugby league player David Boyle will withdraw as Labor candidate for the winnable south coast New South Wales seat of Gilmore, after his installation by the national executive caused an uproar in local party branches.
• Following the withdrawal of original nominee Tania Murdock, the Nationals will preselect a new candidate tomorrow for the Labor-held north coast New South Wales seat of Richmond. The preselection has attracted four candidates, an interesting turnaround on the first round when Murdock was the only person interested. According to Alex Easton of The Northern Star, the nominees are “Richmond Nationals president Alan Hunter and lawyer Jim Fuggle from the south of the electorate; and businessman Phil Taylor and pharmacist Brian Curran from the seat’s north”. Oddly, Hunter was quoted on Wednesday saying “party members would not automatically appoint a candidate if there were no stand-out nominations”, with suggestions the one-time Anthony family stronghold should be left to the Liberals.
• The Tasmanian Liberals are hawking internal polling which it says shows Labor in trouble in as many three seats, although the only figure provided – a 37 per cent primary vote tie in Bass, which would translate to a comfortable win for Labor – doesn’t bear this out. The other two seats are Braddon and, it seems, Lyons. Barnaby Joyce has today been talking of a Queensland hit-list consisting of Leichhardt, Dawson, Flynn, Longman and Wright (a slightly creative inclusion given it’s a notionally LNP new seat), with Forde as a roughie.
• Left faction powerbroker and state party assistant secretary Luke Foley has taken the place of Ian Macdonald in the New South Wales Legislative Council, following the latter’s resignation after an adverse review finding into travel expenses.
Skybeau@293
LOL@Their ABC being impartial – they make Goebells look like a rank amateur.
Skybeau
What rock do live under?
It was actually a well established firm that was responsible for one of the deaths and a qualified electrician was on site.
It was also found that many of these fly by-nighters subcontracted others to canvas for insulation job to secure a higher proportion of the market.
So these lovey dovey feel good hard done by insulating institutions were in fact using inexperience aspirationals to rip the public off. Do we hear Abbott call for them to stand up to their responsibilities? Hell no. Business, employers are responsible for nothing as far as he is concerned. Ask you’re local fire brigade to get some housefire figures up for you. The majority of housefires over the last 15 years have been through insulation.
Obviously, you haven’t bothered to read the Hawke report because it doesn’t pander to your political agenda.
For a start read Poss’s analysis.
[152
Mr Squiggle
I have been for most of my life a centre-right, leberal voter with green tendencies. I wish there was more of me]
You must be a somewhat tangled character, in which case you are very aptly named, Mr Squiggle.
Hahaha Frank I was making the point that if I had just posted links from News Ltd I can imagine the reaction I would get!
Jenauthor that’s the ones I can think of off the top of my head – and still doesn’t address the concerns raised with Keneally or the fact that the State Government approved projects are costing 4 times as much as the projects where the Catholic schools get their own say. And I would also wonder about the wisdom of building on a flood prone area? Frank Grossens from Berwick Lodge PS (sorry not Springs) has also raised the point that the buildings still require fitout paid for by the school’s own funds
@ Gud
[Good to see labor has won the RSPT debate]
You have inside info on something?
Dee most of the fly by nighters have now disappeared, so the homeowners have no recourse. Labor have said on many occasions as well that if the homeowners have problems they should deal with it through the installer – heartless much? People having installation done by genuine companies have nothing to worry about, the homeowners affected by dodgies are left to suffer and possibly burn. Try (as I just did) Google-ing “insulation scheme victim” and look at the huge amount of items that come up – this scheme has been a complete fiasco
To whoever wrote this claptrap:
I know 24,000 is a really, really, big number, but that’s the number of projects that were rolled out under the BER.
The list you presented contained precisely FOUR examples of alleged rorts.
The rest was “Why is The Australian making a big noise about the BER?” And something tacked on about Kristina Keneally. Talk about irrelevant! Why is The Australian “investigating” alleged rorts? Because it is owned by wizened old prune-faced fascist who hates Labor, that’s why, you fool.
It’s easy to pad out a recitation of woes to make it look like the world’s falling in.
But the world’s NOT falling in…
I know, for one, that the head of the P&C at Abbottsford (the guy who was on TV complaining about it to anyone who’d thrust a microphone under his chin) is a senior copper at Gladesville who has run for the Liberal Party (unsuccessfully) at local government level. But of course, no secret agenda there. Perish the thought! When it comes to the BER, all critics are purer than the driven snow. Politics never comes into it. No sir!
The fact remains that for every 1 instance of complaint (and there have only been 200 of them) I can list 99 instances of joy and gratefulness for what the BER has delivered.
As von Manstein said, “One single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a matter of public sanitation”. You list single deaths, isolated instances. But where’s the tragedy? It doesn’t exist.
If there had been 24,000 complaints, or even 2,400, you might – might – have a case. But 200 complaints in a project involving 24,000 represents to me not a “debacle” but a major triumph in economic engineering. It was put together on the fly, rushed out and so of course there will be mistakes, which can be rectified in due course, if necessary.
But “debacle”? No way, Jose.
The BER did a great deal towards saving Australia from the fate that was suffered by other countries, and which would have been inflicted here if the Coalition had been in power… and if they’d been in power we’d have still had Work Choices, remember that.
Gillard is spending money on auditing the BER precisely because that’s what responsible governments do. What any responsible government would do.
I’m proud of what’s gone on in fighting the GFC. Proud that I voted for the government that had the balls to do it, rather than dither about it. And so should you be, you ungrateful sod, whoever you are.
That’s Gus — wasn’t taking the micky
[Scorpio, I’m sensing you don’t have a terribly good grasp of the whole defamation situation, but for your enlightenment I will email the revelant comments to you.]
Just from memory, there could be upwards of a hundred other comments that mentioned that particular person in a similar vein.
I would be very interested in recovering those also. Just for comparative purposes mind.
Thank you for the e-mail.
But I can assure you I have as good a grasp on the laws of libel and defamation as most.
Skybeau
1.6% of problems in 16000 projects?
Theiss, Grollos,Holland & Leightons would be ecstatic with these statistics.
MWH
My friends down at the RSL, whom I have just taken leave of, would be amazed at level of the revelations on PB tonight. (If they even knew it existed, or could exist.)
Michael Wilbur-Ham, you have single-handedly brought all the currently available core ALP‘s blog soldiers out of their cocoons in one day, firing wildly at you. This has not been engendered by you being provocative in any objective sense, but by being reasonable and tolerant.
I think that’s what hurts the battalion. Reading over the last few pages, it seems that the Soldiers of the Rudd Regiment think it is important to repeat their operational notes ad nauseum, in case someone from the media is watching – or some innocent ingenue, who might be inveigled into joining the party. And that is regardless of the merit of the point made. Sometimes that unthinking intransigence gets awfully close to trolling, and this is one of those days.
@BB
Thanks for the ringing defence – couldn’t have put it better!
What strikes me as odd — all the caterwalling comes from admitted Lberals, whose favoured party brought us AWB (now there was a real value-for-money experiment) and the ‘regional rorts’ program — sorry I don’t know the actual name.
Not to mention $100s of thousands to pay for each refugee who rightfully claimed asylum just to keep them offshore.
Right BB so you’re quite happy to support a program that has blown billions on waste are you? And if it was properly implemented in the first place it wouldn’t need ANOTHER $14m thrown at it to find out what went wrong would it?? Where could that money have been better spent? Oh that’s right, Rudd & Co happily chat away in millions and billions like its 20c to you me, not their money after all is it? It’s ours!
[I would be very interested in recovering those also.]
Enjoy. But if you want my opinion, your time could be spent more profitably.
[Right BB so you’re quite happy to support a program that has blown billions on waste are you?]
Where is the evidence for the waste?
Re #311
Sorry, Sir Winston would have said, “My friends, of whom I have just taken leave.” The original prepositional construction is something up with which he would not have put.
You love poking people with sticks, don’t you?
Actually, why don’t you tell them all about it?
Or wouldn’t they add anything, because they all agree with everything you say?
How much is the huge increase in asylum seekers costing us now? Especially all the private jets flying them to the newly opened centres on the mainland?
jaundiced view (311) – Thanks for your support.
Correction to my comment 302
“It was also found that many of these fly by-nighters subcontracted others to canvas for insulation job to secure a higher proportion of the market.”
Should have read: It was found that many of these fly by-nighters had been subcontracted by well established insulation firms to canvas & secure a higher proportion of the market.
[To whoever wrote this claptrap:
I know 24,000 is a really, really, big number, but that’s the number of projects that were rolled out under the BER.
The list you presented contained precisely FOUR examples of alleged rorts. ]
Labor is building the worlds most expensive buildings. Forget New York, forget London… heck forget Dubai, Rudd’s got some of the most expensive cost per square buildings in the world.
Yes the tuckshop is too small to house a decent size fridge and stove, but it’s built using the tears of unicorns and the finest brick mortar the world has ever known.
[How much is the huge increase in asylum seekers costing us now? Especially all the private jets flying them to the newly opened centres on the mainland?]
Truthy’s soulmate?
#309
[ But I can assure you I have as good a grasp on the laws of libel and defamation as most.
]
EXCEPT that you don’t appear to have a grasp on the concept that defamation is the term that covers all actionable statements, whilst libel is merely a subset of defamation (written form) with the other subset being slander (oral).
All libel is defamation. Thus to speak of libel and defamation is a tautology.
Apart from the word “Rudd”, we all think these thoughts here, JV- every time we stick our noses in!
And, of course, it can be summarised as “…and they still don’t agree with me!”.
Or perhaps I’m just jaundiced.
[How much is the huge increase in asylum seekers costing us now? Especially all the private jets flying them to the newly opened centres on the mainland?]
And when they get here they are housed at the 4 Star Virginia Palms hotel in Swanny’s electorate at the taxpayers expense.
That’ll teach em to abide by Australia’s laws. I can only imagine the phones running hot there with them making calls back home… “Hey Uncle Ted… I paid a people smuggler, jumped the queue, broke Australian immigration laws and you won’t BELIEVE where I am now!”
Kersebleptes@318
Do I bring up politics? In that hard school? No, I don’t. (Note the self-answering Rudd touch). I wait for politics to be brought up, if ever (sigh), so I can start where they are, and maybe throw a little idea in here or there that might make them think of another element. Mostly waiting though. 😆
Although it’s educational over a few beers to listen to these blokes.
Skybeau
“Labor have said on many occasions as well that if the homeowners have problems they should deal with it through the installer – heartless much? People having installation done by genuine companies have nothing to worry about, the homeowners affected by dodgies are left to suffer and possibly burn.”
What the? My house was at risk and it was done 5 years ago. My husbands former employer was burned to death 3.5 years ago due to insulation coming into contact with electricals. What a load of crap you spew.
Never mind that insulation related housefires were prevalent before the scheme which says a lot about reputable firms.
Why is it that under Howard’s Airport Noise Insulation Scheme, insulation related roof fires were solely the contractors responsiblity? And the court upheld that finding.
SNIP: Unhelpful, though not entirely inaccurate, comment deleted – The Management.
Trying to support your argument by reasserting it is a pathetic waste of my, and everyone else’s, time.
You listed FOUR controversial projects, out of 24,000, at least one of which has been agitated for by a declared Liberal local government candidate.
This fairyland dreamtime notion that, when it comes to the BER, partisan politics has no writ, and that P&C leaders and school principals are completely objective in their assessments and complaints, is absurd.
But even granted that – that there is no politics at all involed in any of these complaints – you still only come up with FOUR of them. Looking at the BER project as a whole, there are only 200 complaints in toto.
ONE per cent.
Get a life, Skybeau. Go and bother someone else who cares.
Sounds a bit rougher than my local razzle pokie-pit!
[What the? My house was at risk and it was done 5 years ago. My husbands former employer was burned to death 3.5 years ago due to insulation coming into contact with electricals. What a load of crap you spew.
Never mind that insulation related housefires were prevalent before the scheme which says a lot about reputable firms.]
What nationally accredited qualifications and training in insulating homes were staff required to have for a company to recieve Rudd’s cash handouts?
http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/story/2010/06/11/parents-angry-at-ber-cost-blowout/
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/schools-watch/julia-gillard-denies-misleading-parliament-on-ber-cost-blowout/story-fn56ulhe-1225862915845
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/frustrations-build-around-the-states-as-costs-blow-out-well-beyond-needs/story-e6frgczf-1225872379542
http://www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au/news/local/news/general/cost-blowout-fear-for-mount-victoria-public-school-building-program/1802638.aspx
http://www.portlincolntimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/school-building-cost-blowout/1859029.aspx
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/school-blowouts-win-cash-bonuses-20100615-ydav.html
How’s that?
http://www.nswtf.org.au/edu_online/136/berinq.html
http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/brungle-schools-library-blowout-bungle/1849476.aspx
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/05/2891384.htm
http://www.adrianpiccoli.com/media/media-releases/nsw-labor-ber-blowout-schools-to-miss-out.aspx
Just dropped in to see what’s happening and I find someone even more offensive than Truthy.
Winston
The hounds of the desperatevilles have been unleashed
God have mercy on our ‘soles
Skybeau, quantity does not prove quality.
All these newspapers are owned by Murdoch.
They are clones of Head Office, The Australian.
Enough said.
I didn’t know Murdoch owned the NSW Teachers Federation
Or the ABC, or the Sydney Morning Herald
#337
[ I didn’t know Murdoch owned the NSW Teachers Federation ]
Maybe he will make a take-over offer shortly.
😆
You wanted evidence of the blowouts – here’s the blowouts!
Skybeau, quoting newspaper articles which are principally ‘opinion’ pieces doesn’t qualify as evidence.
The opposition have been doing that in parliament a lot of late — and it holds as much water as quicksand.
Official, independent inquiries I’d be willing to believe, but media stories — hardly. I see stuff on the ground — and on the ground, the overwhelming response is positive.
You can jump up and down as much as you want — it doesn’t ‘make it so’
[Just dropped in to see what’s happening and I find someone even more offensive than Truthy.]
I am sure Scorpio’s just having a bad day
Skybleau
The only blowout seems to be coming from you ass
or was that a donkey
Gus — you mentioned the RSPT and Rudd winning something earlier — what was that about?
Paul Krugman rails against the fashionable but empty-headed hypocrisy that is driving austerity in the US and Europe. He is a good read.
His arguments apply equally well in Australia, where the conservatives try to make political capital out of programs that have warded off recession and helped maintain economic stability.
[Suddenly, creating jobs is out, inflicting pain is in. Condemning deficits ….. has become the new fashion everywhere….]
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/opinion/18krugman.html?ref=opinion
[German deficit hawkery ….. has nothing to do with fiscal realism. Instead, it’s about moralizing and posturing. Germans tend to think of running deficits as being morally wrong, while balancing budgets is considered virtuous, never mind the circumstances or economic logic. “The last few hours were a singular show of strength,” declared Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, after a special cabinet meeting agreed on the austerity plan. And showing strength — or what is perceived as strength — is what it’s all about.
There will, of course, be a price for this posturing. Only part of that price will fall on Germany: German austerity will worsen the crisis in the euro area, making it that much harder for Spain and other troubled economies to recover. Europe’s troubles are also leading to a weak euro, which perversely helps German manufacturing, but also exports the consequences of German austerity to the rest of the world, including the United States.
But German politicians seem determined to prove their strength by imposing suffering — and politicians around the world are following their lead.
How bad will it be? Will it really be 1937 all over again? I don’t know. What I do know is that economic policy around the world has taken a major wrong turn, and that the odds of a prolonged slump are rising by the day.]
Latte sipping whingers.
Lock, stock and barrel.
Look, mate, you have to learn that just plonking a list of links for everyone to read before they can come back and rebut your arguments one by one is a fool’s quest. Things don’t work that way.
If you want to make a point make it yourself. don’t just give us a library list for homework and, if we don’t read it, we’re somehow or other not doing the research.
A list of links is just that. A list of links. It doesn’t prove anything other than that you’ve got a quick index finger on the mouse click button.
Make your point by doing the work YOURSELF. Then bring it here and see it shot down in flames.
I doubr articles which quote parents, school principals, and actual figures can be considered “opnion pieces” – did you read them?
[What nationally accredited qualifications and training in insulating homes were staff required to have for a company to recieve Rudd’s cash handouts?]
TTH, to at least have the ability to spell ‘receive’ correctly?
[EXCEPT that you don’t appear to have a grasp on the concept that defamation is the term that covers all actionable statements, whilst libel is merely a subset of defamation (written form) with the other subset being slander (oral).
All libel is defamation. Thus to speak of libel and defamation is a tautology.]
I don’t know what we would do here, without your wonderful words of wisdom, Peter.
I’m flattered that you care so much. 😉
BB you asked for evidence – I’ve given you evidence.If it comes just from me it’s hardly impartial and you’re going to argue on the grounds I have no evidence!
Not gonna fall for that one
BTW where’s your evidence that the BER hasn’t been rorted?