After a week of post-Ipsos hype, The Australian reports the latest Newspoll finds absolutely no change whatsoever on voting intention since a fortnight ago: Labor’s two-party lead is at 53-47, and the primary votes are Coalition 37%, Labor 39%, Greens 9% and One Nation 5%. Scott Morrison is down one on approval to 42% and up three on disapproval to 48%, while Bill Shorten is down one to 35% and up two to 53%. Morrison’s lead as preferred prime minister is unchanged at 44-35. The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1582.
Knock on effects of the demise of the Bogong Moth..
A statement has been elicited from Melissa Price!
“The environment minister, Melissa Price, said she was aware of the reports of low bogong moth numbers and the government was working with a leading possum researcher “to understand the potential toll that reduced number of moths may be having on the species”.”
And the sad tale itself….
“Numbers of unique Australian moths that migrate in their billions to alpine areas have crashed, ecologists say, putting extra pressure on the endangered mountain pygmy possum.
Scientists believe the “astonishing” drop in bogong moth numbers is linked to climate change and recent droughts in areas where the moths breed.
At the same time checks on the endangered mountain pygmy possum, which exists only in Australia’s alpine regions, have revealed dead litters in the pouches of females. The moths are a key food source for the possums as they wake from hibernation.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/25/decline-in-bogong-moth-numbers-leaves-pygmy-mountain-possums-starving?CMP=soc_568
ItzaDream
great memories – I am envious of an Australian couple I know who were in Little Rock Arkansas on the night of the election. “I still believe in a place called Hope”
Agree Rex… religion, the last vestige of primitive medievalism.
itzadream: “After the speeches, there was a magic moment where the candidates threw (fake) doubloons out into the crowd, a shimmering spray of glittering gold coins, everyone trying to catch one or scramble them from the ground. It was a tradition that harked back to when the electorate was literally bribed.”
I find it extremely odd that any political organisation or community would wish to celebrate a past in which people were literally bribed to vote one way or the other!
The USA is such a fascinating mixture of cultures.
Rex Douglas @ #532 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 12:33 pm
Which are at least more sophisticated than your blogging skills.
Simon² Katich®
says:
I like pies. Meat pies. Kangaroos, football and Holden cars.
___________________________________
You can get it jumpin’
You can get it pumpin’
You can get it pressin’ a suit
A hard earned thirst needs a big cold beer
And the best cold beer’s VIC
A LONG COLD VIC
You can get it liftin’
You can get it shiftin’
You can get it any old how
Matter o’ fact, I got it now
VIC BITTER!
Onebobsworth says:
Monday, February 25, 2019 at 12:11 pm
@ Yabba
Dog no! That idea would put the wind up me! Curried egg and baked beans?
Gotta love baked beans though. My favourite brekky is eggs,bacon and baked beans (strictly ham-flavoured) on fresh white bread. Yum..
——————————
I think you will find the wind will travel down not up.
yabba: “I would also note that, a couple of months ago, our blog-god William chided me for dubbing the organisation in question the “Roman Paedophile Protection Society” (RPPS). ”
On first glance at your post, I thought you were referring to the “Roman Polanski Protection Society.”
That “society” – which once boasted many celebrity supporters – would now seem to have been wound up. But it is a case study of the fact that the tendency to sweep things under the carpet and try to rehabilitate people who arguably should consigned to the dustbin of history (not to mention the clink) is not confined solely to the Catholic Church.
I think that’s a gotcha, Melissa.
Chris Kenny just said 53/47 puts the gov in the Moe and makes it 50/50 really.
The anti-Catholic sentiments expressed here at PB also worry me. I’m not a deist and have no ax to grind with any particular branch of deism. However, sectarian jibes are just intrinsically phobic. They are intended to invoke religiously-specified contempt. This is very regrettable. They rely on – they propagate – stereotypes that are inherently dehumanising. I think they are as unfortunate as any sexist, homophobic or racist trope-making.
Player One @ #549 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 12:59 pm
This ‘climate solutions’ policy is an absolute gift to an opposition capable of communicating.
A dolt like Abbott can run amok every day with ‘carbon tax’ messaging, why can’t Labor… ??
A key design principle of the Emmissions Reduction Fund was to use taxpayers money to pay polluters to limit or lessen their pollution. And to count the bought lessening as ‘abatement measured in tonnes of abatement’. An example of what is allowed:
“Guardian Australia recently reported that the Vales Point coalmine has been registered under the fund for a project to upgrade some turbines, a project that would reduce its emissions by just 1.3% over a decade. It may yet not qualify to bid into the auction as the project will not reduce its emissions intensity below the average of the national grid. But the revelation that a coal plant could qualify for climate funding sparked campaigns from environment groups calling for the scheme to be changed.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/25/emissions-reduction-fund-to-pay-for-fossil-fuel-plant-that-would-be-built-anyway
So devoid of any wit, what has Scotty done? Given this crock of merde another $2b claiming it will improve the environment. The fact that all he can down is rummage through Abbott’s dumpster for polices is stunning. What next to come out?
Boerwar
I imagine there would be few Islamic Gilets Jaunes. I will try and find out.
Of course their “uniform” yellow vest comes out of a car – in France (same in Spain and Portugal, maybe all of the EU??) you are required to have within any vehicle a yellow vest and also I think a small reflective traffic warning plastic triangle thing like a small traffic cone, both of them for use in case of a breakdown or accident.
Car ownership in the poorer Islamic population largely on the outskirts of Paris would probably be quite a bit lower than the average – ironically as you point out thus a very poor demographic not being represented in the Gilets Jaunes movement for the most part, because they may not have the means to own a car.
Morrison humiliates Chester in public; RSL says it has no problems with Chester’s decision.
When Morrison goes from attacking Shorten to publicly attacking one of his own ministers, you know he is losing it. The lead up to the election should be very interesting.
nath
Or of course 56/44 ! And given the WA and Victorian elections that may be the case.
Plastic straws have been banned haven’t they – is Chris Kenny clutching at some of those new paper ones?
clem attlee says:
Monday, February 25, 2019 at 12:55 pm
Love the way Briefly throws around generalizations willy nilly. Tell me, Briefly what are the ALP doing about all the racists and anti Semites in it’s rank? Are you of the belief that there are none? I’m sure there are some, just as there are some in British Labour Is it a ‘carrier’ too? You do spout some ridiculous, but offensive guff at times.
_________________________
Says the poster who believes that all allegations of anti-semitism are just a smoke-screen to deflect from criticism of Israel.
briefly @ #561 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 1:04 pm
Hear! Hear!
briefly @ #555 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 1:04 pm
I think the cult has lost all rights to existence given the conduct of its leadership.
Chris Kenny in cloud cuckoo land.Why Sky pays this plonker I will never know.
The Pennsylvania report into Child abuse in the Catholic Church in that state recently found that more than 300 paedophile priests had been operating for over 30 years:
The charges detailed in the report go back as far as 30 years, and implicate 300 priests in the abuse of more than 1,000 victims. (The report stresses that the actual number of victims and abusers in the state is probably much higher, given how common it is for victims to refuse to come forward.
The report details a number of disturbing and lurid cases, including a priest accused of raping a 7-year-old girl in the hospital after she had her tonsils removed, and a ring of priests in the Pittsburgh area who traded pornographic photographs of their victims.
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/15/17689994/catholic-sex-abuse-priest-crisis-pennsylvania-report
Boerwar @ #543 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 11:44 am
Ms Triggs has always been awesome, and remains so.
Rex Douglas @ #562 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 1:05 pm
A “dolt like Abbott” won an election on this, or have you forgotten?
Blaming Labor for the behaviour of the electorate is something you love to do, but it is disingenuous to say the least.
Rex Douglas
says:
I think the cult has lost all rights to existence given the conduct of its leadership.
_________________________________________
Yes and here comes the self appointed defender of institutionalised child abuse and torture to tell us to be nice to these people.
briefly @ #561 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 10:04 am
The Catholics have made their bed on pedophiles, forced adoptions, physical and emotional abuse, now they’ve got to lie in it.
If it was up to me, the Australian Catholic Church and all of its associated entities would be declared a criminal organisation followed closely by having its assets stripped, liquidated and the proceeds distributed to their many victims in Australia.
Player One @ #567 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 1:11 pm
A dolt like Shorten should grab this and do an ‘Abbott’ with it.
‘a r says:
Monday, February 25, 2019 at 1:11 pm
Boerwar @ #543 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 11:44 am
Ms Triggs should join the Greens Party and be done with it.
Ms Triggs has always been awesome, and remains so.’
I am sick of Ms Triggs cheap political shots on behalf of the Greens.
“Chris Kenny just said 53/47 puts the gov in the Moe and makes it 50/50 really.”
50/50 being the extreme end of moe. 🙂 Kenny barking again and up the wrong tree.
Rocket Rocket @ #522 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 12:19 pm
Can’t thank you enough Rocket Rocket. I’ll follow links up.
A more egregious example of what living a lie means, and its consequences, would be hard to find. And isn’t that just what we are seeing with this rotten govt, now well and truly trapped in their own mendacity. The more you think about it, the more you wonder if that is just what the electorate (PBers rabbit on about it all the time) are realising, however subliminally.
While Tingle was right I think to say that ‘inequality’ will be the abstract (my word) issue of the election, ‘honesty’ might well be not far behind, if not in front.
(I also thought the piece articulated beautifully the cruelty of denial of sexual and emotional development in emerging gay lives – the following really needs to be read in context :
In the first place, Church authority still teaches that a young gay person cannot appropriately be socialised into the humanisation of their emotional and sexual urges while dreaming of being married to someone they love.)
grimace
says:
If it was up to me, the Australian Catholic Church and all of its associated entities would be declared a criminal organisation followed closely by having its assets stripped, liquidated and the proceeds distributed to their many victims in Australia.
______________________________________
Best thing ever written on PB. Agree absolutely.
nath, I used to make fun of VB… until I moved to Mile End and tried West End Draught.
I do remember, as a teenager, sitting on a couch in a mansion in South America, being billeted by an older couple. The lady (the bloke was almost never there) offered me and a mate and some beer. It was a Swan Lager of some sort – or maybe Emu export. It was warm so the lady put ice in it for us. Then sat between us and put some soft porn on the TV.
Boerwar @ #571 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 1:14 pm
She’s not welcome in the Informal Party …?
Rex Douglas, you’re calling for the suppression of a religious organisation. That is absolutely extraordinary. Suffice it to say you are a troll. Trolls will troll.
The lady (the bloke was almost never there) offered me and a mate and some beer. It was a Swan Lager of some sort – or maybe Emu export. It was warm so the lady put ice in it for us. Then sat between us and put some soft porn on the TV.
______________________
What a woman!
The Nats don’t seem to have any awareness of … anything. Such as copyright? Or driving on the left?
briefly @ #577 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 1:16 pm
go your hardest, briefly
briefly says:
Monday, February 25, 2019 at 1:04 pm
The anti-Catholic sentiments expressed here at PB also worry me. I’m not a deist and have no ax to grind with any particular branch of deism. However, sectarian jibes are just intrinsically phobic. They are intended to invoke religiously-specified contempt. This is very regrettable. They rely on – they propagate – stereotypes that are inherently dehumanising. I think they are as unfortunate as any sexist, homophobic or racist trope-making.
_______________________________
I always considered the great genius in setting up the Institutional responses to child sexual abuse – and the way it was conducted – was to focus on the issue as an institutional one, rather than one about the Catholic Church. And what it showed beyond question is that the more powerful and controlling an institution is, the more its first response is to look after its reputation rather than victims.
In the end the pattern, regardless of the institution, was a small number of perpetrators enabled to repeat their conduct with multiple victims over years or even decades because a larger number of non-perpetrators saw protecting their institution as a much higher value than protecting the most vulnerable, let alone offering real support to existing victims.
In some ways, it’s the same as the British Labour Party leadership, and its strong supporters, suppressing criticism of the blatant Jew haters in their midst, while offering platitudes of condemnation against nobody in particular.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190225_03/
“More than a quarter of eligible voters in Sunday’s Okinawa referendum rejected the landfill work to relocate a US military base. This outcome obliges Okinawa’s governor to convey the result to Japan’s prime minister and the US president.”
After an awkward few minutes my mate and went and played tennis.
Rex Douglas says: Monday, February 25, 2019 at 1:05 pm
Shorten is no “dolt”. He doesn’t wish to be a Tony Abbott style wrecker. His key pitch is to restore trust in the institution of government and belief in democracy. Running around screeching that the sky is falling in runs counter to Shorten’s goal. The public knows that the Coalition aren’t serious about addressing climate change so there is no need for Labor to run a daily scare campaign.
Simon² Katich®
says:
Monday, February 25, 2019 at 1:20 pm
What a woman!
After an awkward few minutes my mate and went and played tennis.
_________________________
Oh no! you ruined it. 🙂
Player One @ #573 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 12:11 pm
Wait, I thought we all agreed last week that Abbott won on “stop the boats!”, which was why the Medivac thing was going to be Labor’s downfall.
It’s like
everyonea large cohort on here has some sort of revisionist memory where Tony Abbott won government from Labor in 2013 purely by campaigning on <whatever the government is trying to campaign on this week>. And then they use it to feed their own fears about Labor’s inadequacies and as an excuse to encourage or praise Labor for for adopting inadequate positions if/when doing so undercuts the government’s fear campaign du jour.Where’s Freud when you need him? Having fantasies about his mother, I suppose.
This isn’t 2013. The crap that worked then won’t work now. Labor doesn’t need to hide in the Coalition’s shadow. The electorate wants leadership and strength. Labor should show some.
Rex Douglas says:
Monday, February 25, 2019 at 1:10 pm
briefly @ #555 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 1:04 pm
The anti-Catholic sentiments expressed here at PB also worry me. I’m not a deist and have no ax to grind with any particular branch of deism. However, sectarian jibes are just intrinsically phobic. They are intended to invoke religiously-specified contempt. This is very regrettable. They rely on – they propagate – stereotypes that are inherently dehumanising. I think they are as unfortunate as any sexist, homophobic or racist trope-making.
I think the cult has lost all rights to existence given the conduct of its leadership.
—————————————-
I am no friend of the catholic church. I grew up watching it tear my fathers family apart. However it is not the only guilty party in the child abuse issue. I grew up in a medium size town in the 1950s. All the children knew to keep away from a particular catholic priest and several other men. If the children knew so did the adults but nothing was done about their behavior. It was not just the catholic church, it was the whole society.
Has anyone pointed out to Chris Kenny yet that there is an equal (and just as remote) chance
of the true 2PP being roughly 56/44 as it is of being 50/50?
Alan Shore @ #584 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 1:20 pm
There is most definitely a need for the wrecking of this Govt and it’s incompetence, rorting and deceit.
No holds barred !
grimace, I can see you’re angry. However, it would not stop with the Catholics. The churches of the Adventists and the Methodists, the Anglicans, the Greeks and the Pentecostals, the Muslim Mosques, the Jewish Temples and the Hindu Shrines would have to follow. Revenge would have no rest.
Not for nothing, freedom of religion is a foundational human right.
P1
Abbott won the election because the Labor government was riven with dissension. The boat issue was very important, but mainly because it signalled that Labor had lost control of the borders and could not regain it, playing into the idea of a non-functioning government. Much of the problem was due to the Opposition doing everything possible to stymie any attempt by Labor to deal with the problem. It should have been called out by the media, but was not called out by any single mainstream commentator.
Labor will win the next election not on any particular policy but because the current mob is an irredeemable rabble.
Citizen’s post @1.07 pm tells us that the original decision to move the Villers-Bretonneux service was at the request of the local French authorities.
Wonder how they will respond to Morrison’s “decision” to have it at dawn….
a r @ #586 Monday, February 25th, 2019 – 1:21 pm
A campaign against ‘climate solutions’ has depth, truth and substance, unlike Abbotts ‘stop the boats and ‘carbon tax’.
Lettuce is for San Choy Bau. End of …