The Australian reports the latest fortnightly Newspoll is unchanged at 55-45, from primary votes of 32% for Labor (steady), 46% for the Coalition (down two) and 10% for the Greens (down one). Gillard is up two on approval to 30% and down two on disapproval to 60%, while Abbott is up one and down one to 36% and 53%. Abbott’s lead as preferred prime minister is up slightly, from 40-37 to 40-35.
Also out today:
• The weekly Essential Research records no change on last week on voting intention, with the Coalition leading 55-45 on two-party preferred from primary vote of 34% for Labor, 48% for the Coalition and 9% for the Greens. The poll also finds 51% thinking Australia made the wrong decision going to war against Iraq against 23% for the right decision; support for same sex marriage at 54% and opposition at 33%; and 68% supporting the Gonski report recommendations against 13% opposed, but 43% opposed to the government’s specific plan against 40% in support.
• The Morgan multi-mode poll has Labor up half a point to 32.5%, the Coalition down 2.5% to 44% (their weakest result since this series began eight weeks ago) and the Greens steady on 10.5%. That pans out to 54.5-45.5 on respondent-allocated preferences (down from 55.5-44.5), which Morgan prefers, and 54-46 on previous election preferences (down from 56-44), which I and every other pollster prefer. The sample this time around was 3270.
rummel@148
rummel, we should put all the name callers in a room together. Should be fun to watch!
[rummel, we should put all the name callers in a room together. Should be fun to watch!]
🙂
its called a branch meeting.
spur212@144
The expression used several times last night was “It’s over.”
Resignation and acceptance we are going to cop a drubbing has settled in.
It’s now all about minimising it’s extent as far as possible.
guytaur @ 146
You do realise that universities plan their budgets well into the future based on funding they have perviously been told they will be getting. Unlike the federal government which forms policy ten seconds before its triumphantly announced by Gillard on TV. Same issue with the Victorian healthcare funding which the ALP suddenly and retrospectively changed. So while the changes are small they will have an impact regardless how many times Gillard drones on in a monotonous robotic voice about how the funding is just not going up as much.
rummel @148
obviously the stench of the left has overcome me 🙂
morpheus
You do realise that the LNP have a proven track record on education and funding.
Its not good.
Bemused
Ugh! That’s a horrible feeling
rummel@148
I don’t know about that, but I do know the term ‘retard’ has previously been banned.
The term that can be used, with William’s endorsement, is ‘dickhead’.
rummel:
[So really, on your account, it is not sad that some drown.
]
Of course not. That would give the game away. You show faux concern, because that covers the underlying reality — that really your game is to channel ethnic animus and xenophobia to undermine the ALP regime. The people whose votes the Libs want fear that they will be swamped by foreigners who in some way will be better off than them or change the country in ways they don’t like.
Saying that would make you sound narrowminded and bigoted and saying you didn’t care about them drowning would make you sound like a monster, so you (and to be fair, the ALP too) pretend it’s about stopping people drowning or “evil people smugglers” but you’re not fooling anyone who is paying attention. Those “Lindsay voters” are hearing your party’s dogwhistle loud and clear. They may be bigots but they know what the real game is here.
“Poor people waiting patiently in camps in Africa” and “people smugglers” are “look over there — a unicorn” and “drownings, so sad” are the policy equivalent of someone wearing a g-string on a non-nude beach.
The people who get onto unseaworthy boats are clearly aware of the risks they are taking — which include a palpable prospect of drowning and watching their family drown. Unless you are saying they are irrational, the conclusion is forced — they believe that their lives in some country or camp amount to a fate equal to or worse than prospective death. That in their judgement, makes this tough choice rational.
You claim to be a Liberal. What stops you from respecting the choices of these people, especially when you expressly compare their condition to those “waiting patiently in camps in Africa without the money for a plane ticket halfway around the world”? Is it really your view that the Australian government knows their interests better than they do? That sounds like a quintessential nanny state paradigm to me. I don’t believe you believe it for a second. No rational person could. Sure you’d be happier if they suffered and died someplace else — a camp in Africa perhaps. But ultimately, you don’t care about them at all.
This is just utterly fraudulent, self-serving posturing by you and your much more noisy big brothers. You want the votes of bigots and misanthropes for your party. If they get in, drownings will continue. At least have the courage to look into the mirror and recognise the person staring back.
spur212@157
Perhaps that explains the appeal of self delusion which is so apparent on PB.
I agree referring to people as retards is not good on a number of levels. Mind you referring to people as monkey isn’t too flash either regardless of how the man walks and acts.
79
The Radial smart buses (901, 902 and 903) should be improved with better priority and higher frequency. In parts they could be upgraded to trams.
Most radial route would have a rather lower patronage than would justify rail, especially because they would need to be tunnelled.
The greater CBD (including Docklands, Southbank, St Kilda Rd and the like) is not the only place that is served by the rail system. Many of the large activity centres in Melbourne are served by rail. Southland can be served by just building a station on the Frankston line (the state government has been dragging its heels on this).
Monash Clayton and employment around Mulgrave need to be provided with rail with a radial Rowville line.
Because of the continuous expansion of Chadstone, that probably does need a rail link and it would have to be an extention of the Alamein line and thus non-radial.
Spur
It’s kind of like a poster a Project Manager friend had on his office cubicle:
[“A THOUGHT!
The really nice thing about failure to plan is that failure comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by months of anxiety and depression.”]
Tom the first and best@162
Big fail there Tom in the first line.
They are not ‘radial’ but ‘orbital’ if that is the right term.
The present radial layout of rail simply drives further consolidation in the CBD area as that is about the only area readily accessible. Then there is more pressure to improve that service rather than any alternatives. A classic feedback loop.
morp
“”1934PC @ 124
No, some men don’t like Gillard in charge.
Also, many women don’t like Gillard in charge. How does that compute ?
Turning the negative polling on Gillard’s popularity as some sort of sexism is just the putrid tired excuse the leftards use when they have nothing else.
Ouch: sounds like you too suffer?.
Good job Fran
Let them come when they want and die when they want. To argue otherwise is racist….
Anyway, till tonight i bid you farewell.
Thanks Bemused
[In other words ‘all things to all men’. I am of course in the third category.]
I’ll keep you guessing where I would sit. 😉
Universities need to get over themselves. I mean, whinging about the increase in funding going from 18 to 16%. Get a grip.
164
Beyond the odd link up, Melbourne rail will remain radial. There is not the demand for orbital. The greater CBD is well located for access from the whole of Melbourne. No where else is. Encouraging decentralisation encourages car use as the more dispersed job centres would be less conjested with more and cheaper parking.
Chadstone rail would be mainly orbital, still running into the CBD but via Camberwell.. The Rowville line would be decidedly radial because it would link directly into the Dandenong line and run into the CBD.
[Same issue with the Victorian healthcare funding which the ALP suddenly and retrospectively changed. So while the]
Whether that totally ill informed or a lie it leaves you without any credibility.
Can anyone explain the Harrison Ford vs Chewbacca thing to me?
Bemused
[The term that can be used, with William’s endorsement, is ‘dickhead’.]
Really? I got a rap over the knuckles 12 months ago for using that term. Is it now politically correct on this blog?
Rummel:
[Let them come when they want and die when they want. To argue otherwise is racist….]
It is. It’s every person’s right to do what they can to safeguard themselves from harm, or to minimise that harm. If you say that they are not entitled to flee misery and death if that entails being in your face you are a misanthrope. If the main reason you don’t like them is that they are from some other ethnic group that’s a subset of misanthropy known as racism.
Arguments about what is reasonable ought to give primacy to what the person facing the harm and taking the risks thinks is reasonable — after all — they have more at stake and will almost certainly know more than you about it. To declare that you know better than them is outrageous — unless you think the person is mentally ill. And if they were mentally ill, then the arguments against locking them up to deter others would be even stronger than they are now.
It is sad when people drown. What’s sad about it is that this outcome was seen by them at the time they took the risk as no worse than all the other options. For those not playing soundbyte dogwhistling politics, that is the substantive problem to be addressed rather than “border security” or “drownings”.
Lynchpin:
[Really? I got a rap over the knuckles 12 months ago for using that term. Is it now politically correct on this blog?]
Bemused is using you to take a swing at William. I suspect the term is the privilege of the moderator, rather than general participants. I’m relaxed about him having that privilege because I’d prefer we kept things substantive.
This will be the first election night since 1996 I’ll be going out instead of watching events unfold on the ABC. The Labor caucus decided the result of the election a month ago and all is going to plan. It’s a shame the only big band in town that night is One Direction. Still there’s always something on at the local pub. I can find out whose left on September 15. What I don’t get is why 80% of the caucus wanted to resign with 6 months notice or pre-emptively fire themselves. Isn’t self preservation coded into our DNA?
Lynchpin@168
Wherever you sit, we are in the same boat.
Powerless as we watch a tragedy unfolds. 🙁
For those interested in privacy laws in Oz, a very good and detailed analysis of failed proceedings in the South Australian Supreme Court arising from a horrible unsolved murder
http://defamationwatch.com.au/no-tort-for-breach-of-privacy-in-south-australian-epic-sands-v-south-australia-2013-sasc-44/
Sri Lanka is keen for Australia to turn back the boats, why hasn’t Gillard and Co done it? What about reintroducing TPV’s which like the Houson Panel recommended doesn’t allow family reunions?
It seems to me that Labor have admitted defeat on border protection and are desperately hoping the coalition will win to fix it up for them. Their dithering confirms this.
Tom the first and best@170
And while it remains radial, it drives development in such a way that the demand remains largely like that. As I said before, a feedback loop. But one I think we need to break out of.
Take a look at the Singapore system where it is easy to get from anywhere to anywhere else. And they keep on building.
Lynchpin@173
Oh yes indeed it is approved.
William used it on me so I used it on him and noted he had apparently given approval to it’s use.
He did not demur.
This was a couple of weeks ago now. I should have bookmarked such an important development. 😉
Fran –
Right. So when people drink and drive they’ve obviously decided that the risk of death is no worse than all the other options. Similarly people choose to speed and risk death obviously because all the other options are worse.
You use this argument a lot, but it’s very well known that people are notoriously bad at reasonably assessing risk of death. “It won’t happen to me” is very common thinking – not least amongst speeders or drink drivers, why shouldn’t it also be common in boat-boarders? Our solution to drink driving risk takers and speeding risk takers is to say “DO NOT DO THIS”, and back it up with legal force. Your arguments say that saying “DO NOT GET ON A BOAT” and attempting to back that up with legal force is racist/bigoted/whatever when applied to asylum seekers getting on boats.
shellbell
Re your posted link about the Upper House vote in the NSW Parliament relating to SSM.
I once worked with Helen Westwood MLC in a State Member’s office and she is a smart passionate woman. She was advocating for SSM on ABC 702 last week.
Glad to see that they got the vote through.
Maybe NZ has shown us how to do it. Good luck to them!
Fran Barlow@175
Typical humourless Green! 👿
The Houston panel did not recommend reintroducing TPVs.
Rummel just got pwned by FRAN BARLOW @ 174.
And in fewer than 2,000 words.
How embarrassment.
Bemused, I will take that reservedly. Endorsement is a different creature to a word used in frustration.
Fran Barlow@175
Oh, and another thing.
I am not ‘taking a swing at William’.
I thought it was quite a funny exchange actually, and William showed some good humour at the time which I appreciated.
Silky38@176
Unfortunately, the ‘stupid gene’ asserted itself in a majority of caucus.
The rest of us are stuck with it. 🙁
Jackol
The Houston Panel said that family reunions should not be allowed by people arriving illegally.
It also said that people who arrive by boat should also have a “no advantage” test applied to them.
TPV’s do not allow for family reunions… this was the biggest complaint by Labor about it. It also gives no advantage over those in refugee camps as the individual could be sent home at any time(no right to Permanent residency).
Seems to me the panel was saying they were wanting TPV’s but without speaking it’s name.
Chewbacca is my favourite Wookie and Harrison Ford is my favourite Hans Solo. Other than that I don’t know Dio.
Just received an email from Skye Laris (Labor Digital) laborconnect@australianlabor.com.au.
[bemused,
People have contacted us today saying they heard Tony Abbott attack some of the savings that will be made to pay for the biggest reform of schools funding in nearly 50 years.
After responding to questions about higher education funding, it prompted me to get in touch with you all and correct the record.
Take a look at this graph below. It shows you that funding for higher education has increased by 50 per cent (the red line) under Labor. The green line shows the total higher education funding, less the savings announced last week.
Higher education will continue to be funded at the highest levels in Australia’s history.
As you can see, Tony Abbott doesn’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to university funding.
We know Labor supporters are passionate about improving education at all levels. Here are some more facts about Labor’s investment in higher education.
Kind regards,
Skye Laris
Labor Digital Director
PS: Can you help spread the word by sharing the facts on higher education funding on Facebook and Twitter? ]
A pity the graph in it does not appear here, but you can see it and other good information here: http://www.alp.org.au/the_facts_on_university_funding
Frank Keany @redneckninja 4m
Sources confirm NSW will sign on to the Gillard Government’s Gonski reforms – more details shortly on @NewsTalk2UE
Tony Abbott’s claim that bureaucratic red tape could prevent him from cutting the salary of a staff member whose ”booze-fuelled brain snap” at a cocktail party made national headlines has been thrown into doubt.
Under guidelines that dictate pay rates for parliamentary staff, it is possible for the Opposition Leader to reduce the salary of Mark Roberts, a legal academic told Fairfax Media.
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/doubt-over-abbotts-claim-on-staffer-pay-cut-20130423-2ibgw.html#ixzz2RFTOsPyo
Silky- down in here in Victoria there will be a new member for Coorangamite, deakin, latrobe, chisolm, quite possibly Bruce, and possibly Melb ports.
I suspect Melbourne will be won back as the Liberal policy to put Greens last everywhere may well happen.
In queensland Labor will hold the seat of Griffiths (ah the irony)
Fred Nile has pulled his crucial support for state government legislation after Premier Barry O’Farrell’s public comments in favour of same-sex marriage.
In a letter sent to Mr O’Farrell on Monday night, the Reverend Nile said he was “very upset at the Premier’s public support for homosexual marriage and his challenge to Tony Abbott’s rejection of a Conscience Vote on the Homosexual Marriage Bill”.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/not-happy-barry-premier-loses-crucial-nile-vote-20130423-2ibij.html#ixzz2RFUBV0JM
The utter lie that is the use of the term “illegal” for asylum seekers arriving by boat, clearly explained. One or two Labor people around here who have taken to using the term would be well advised to read this too. And stop using it.
http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/use-of-term-illegal-is-ignorant-or-mischievous-20130423-2ibqv.html?rand=1366681455319
centaur009@195
That assessment is chillingly accurate.
But hey, Julia is still PM for now and that’s all that matters isn’t it?
jv
We are all illegal in some sense my ancestors were either convicts or fleeing the plague in Ireland.
The only non illegals are the aboriginals in my view.
24 reporting presser coming up and ABC understands NSW has signed up to Gonski.
Also next 15 minutes or so Abbott presser