Two polls and a by-election date

Daniel Andrews continues to keep his head above water, despite waning patience with Victoria’s lockdown measures.

Opinion poll and by-election developments:

• Roy Morgan has published another of its SMS polls from Victoria, which records little change on state voting intention from a fortnight ago: Labor leads 51.5-48.5 on two-party preferred, as they did last time, from primary votes of Labor 40% (up one), Coalition 36% (down one) and Greens 9% (down one). Daniel Andrews records a 59-41 approval/disapproval split, in from 61-39 last time. However, support for existing lockdown measures is fast dissipating: there is now a 73-27 split in favour of allowing visits to immediate family members (out from 59-41 last time and 55-45 three weeks previously); 62-38 in favour of allowing table service (56-44 in favour last time and 63-37 against the time before); and 72-28 in favour of relaxing the five kilometre rule (61-39 in favour last time, 50-50 the time before). The poll was conducted Monday and Tuesday from a sample of 899 for voting intention and 1163 for the lockdown questions.

• The Australian had results from a further question on the weekend’s Newspoll yesterday, which found 54% were more concerned about moving too quickly to relax lockdowns and restrictions, down two from mid-September, and 43% were more concerned about moving too slowly at the expense of the economy, jobs and mental wellbeing (up four).

• The date for the Groom by-election has been set at November 28.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

1,416 comments on “Two polls and a by-election date”

Comments Page 21 of 29
1 … 20 21 22 … 29

  1. No one takes Trump, Giuliani or Bannon, seriously any more.

    I mean, what are they accusing Hunter Biden of? Arranging a meeting with his father with a business contact in the Ukraine-which Biden Sr. can prove never happened. Plus, Joe Biden as VP aiming to get a corrupt Ukrainian Public Prosecutor sacked. Which happened because the Ukrainian WAS corrupt and for no other reason.

    And they expect the American electorate to think THAT is the greater crime, compared with all the self-dealing of the Trumps, from Donald Sr. on down through the family and their associates, accumulated over the last 4 years!?!

    Yeah right.

  2. Another important poll:

    With a half-million votes already cast, President Trump and Senator Thom Tillis trail their Democratic challengers in North Carolina, according to a new poll from The New York Times and Siena College, signaling potential trouble for Republicans in a state critical to both the presidential race and the battle for control of the Senate.

    Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. leads Mr. Trump among likely voters, 46 percent to 42 percent, while Mr. Tillis is behind Cal Cunningham, his Democratic challenger who is embroiled in a scandal over flirtatious text messages, 41 percent to 37 percent.

    Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, leads his Republican challenger, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, by a larger margin: 51 percent to 37 percent.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/us/politics/north-carolina-trump-polls.html

  3. “ Live: National Cabinet postponed due to ‘technical problems’ with the PM’s plane in Cairns (ABC)”

    Gee that is bad luck! Not a single high speed fibre internet connection in the whole of north Qld? Also the commander of the RAAF base at Townsville, only a half hour flight away, should be sacked for not getting alternative transport there when required.

    Albanese should raise this in parliament next week and demand that a fibre internet connection be provided to north Qld immediately.

  4. Cat

    Have you also looked at the US Senate forecasts and polls? 538 now has the democrats at >70% to gain a majority in the Senate as well as 86% for Potus.

    Despite his lies to the contrary (which only prove that he does look at polls) Trump is obsessed with his popularity and surely knows he is sinking, and taking 3-4 Republican Senators with him.

    This site has an interactive map you can play with. On current states with >80% chance for Biden, he has 290 EC votes sewn up.
    https://www.270towin.com/

  5. Mark McGowan ·
    I just wanted to clear a few things up about our official health advice regarding WA’s hard border.

    Yesterday the Chief Health Officer provided new official advice to the Police Commissioner which I received this morning.

    I’ve just tabled that advice in Parliament, as we have done with previous advice. You can read the advice for yourself here – and I would encourage you to do so.

    As you can see, the Chief Health Officer outlines a number of ongoing concerns with regards to Victoria and how that situation could impact neighbouring States. He advises that we continue to monitor the trend of cases there over the next four weeks before reviewing the situation again.

    With regards to New South Wales, he advises that “the border controls are considered appropriate and proportionate at this time, but it is recommended that they be reviewed in 4 weeks.”

    In his conclusion, for the reasons he outlines in the letter, the Chief Health Officer has advised us that with “the Quarantine (Closing the Border) Directions should remain as currently promulgated but should be reviewed in 2 weeks’ time.”

    The Chief Health Officer’s written advice is clear – it is not currently safe to remove the border and open to low risk states – because those states do not have satisfactory border arrangements with higher risk states, like NSW and Victoria.

    I’ve been consistently clear about this – we have followed the official, formal advice that we’ve received regarding our response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    And we continue to review that advice, regularly.

    As our country continues to emerge from this crisis, I will keep you up to date on the advice I receive and the steps we’re able to take.

    I understand the hard border does create consequences for some people, especially family separation.

    It is a difficult issue to grapple with. My parents live in NSW and I would also like to see them – but right now, we just can’t take that risk.

    Our cautious approach has served our State well so far – and as we’ve seen today it’s allowed Western Australians to get back to work and get our economy moving faster than any other State.

    Right now, compared to anywhere in the world, Western Australia is safe and strong – and we just can’t afford to take that for granted.

    Link to the CHO letter here:
    https://www.facebook.com/MarkMcGowanMP/photos/a.432761316741748/4787144237970079/

  6. Sarah Elks
    @sarahelks
    EXCLUSIVE: Clive Palmer’s massive spending on Qld election is in question after it emerged the billionaire is trying to get two huge property developments approved on the Gold Coast. Property developer donations are illegal in QLD #qldpol @australian

  7. Oakeshott Countrysays:
    Thursday, October 15, 2020 at 6:07 pm
    The thing is journalism isn’t brain surgery.
    The path to brain surgery is straight forward and takes 15 years after the HSC – then you get on a public register
    Give someone a typewriter or a microphone and they can call themselves a journalist
    There is a reason for this – brain surgery requires a very specific set of skills, in Australia being a journalist requires talking to people and then putting your, or more likely you boss’ spin on it.
    ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
    I see where your coming from OK, but as a retired journalist I have to take issue with one of your implications.
    Journalism is a skill, not just writing down or saying whatever comes into your head. For that reason, I would not call Alan Jones or Andrew Bolt and some others journalists either. They’re just opinionated talking heads with a bit of polish.
    It took me years, even after collecting my degree, to become a good journalist. A journalist has to not only have a grasp of the English language, a journalist must write or speak in such a manner as to draw the public’s attention and then explain the article in sharp, easy-to-read sentences which details the who, what, where, how and why, in logical sequence.
    It’s not as complicated as brain surgery, but such skills are not as easy to acquire as some think, even for some brain surgeons.

  8. Sir Henry Parkes…good points..it is important to never underestimate other peoples skills in life. People who are good at their craft make it look easy.

    My partner was Managing Editor of BRW…and a commentator at the AFR for 30 years, and he makes good journalism look like a piece of cake. I have a journalism and Masters degree, worked at the Bulletin, but couldnt hack it- it is a hard job.

  9. Lizzie:

    He’s not confined to the house. He’s allowed to exercise outside. Perhaps he just doesn’t have any friends and no significant other to visit him.

    He (Julian Gerner) does have friends, at least of the paid variety: he hosted them at a Chalet in Aspen, and several of them then returned to Australia carrying the virus with them…

  10. meher baba @ #793 Thursday, October 15th, 2020 – 11:59 am

    …

    A lot of the brouhaha between Credlin and Andrews revolves around a press conference on 27 March – which was allegedly before the decision to use private security firms was made – in which Andrews said:

    “Police, private security, all of our health team will be able to monitor compliance in a much easier way, in a static location, one hotel or a series of hotels, as the case may be.”

    …

    IF this is proof that a decision had already been made, what happened to the police?

  11. Correction.

    E. G. Theodore:

    He (Julian Gerner) does have friends, at least of the paid variety: he hosted them at a Chalet in Aspen, and several of them then returned to Australia carrying the virus with them…

    The organiser of the Aspen Chalet Superspreader Event was in fact one Andrew Abercrombie, an associate of Mr Gerner, rather than Mr Gerner himself.

    It is thus unclear whether Mr Gerner has friends.

  14. Zerlo @ #1006 Thursday, October 15th, 2020 – 10:20 pm

    Sarah Elks
    @sarahelks
    EXCLUSIVE: Clive Palmer’s massive spending on Qld election is in question after it emerged the billionaire is trying to get two huge property developments approved on the Gold Coast. Property developer donations are illegal in QLD #qldpol @australian

    YES! Got him by the short and curlies! This is how you kill Queensland Cane Toads of the Clivus Palmeris variety! 😀

  15. Good morning Dawn Patrollers

    David Crowe describes Morrison’s corruption watchdog as “tamed, toothless and lying doggo”. He says that only the shonks and crooks who thrive in the dark corners of politics will thank Morrison for the lousy proposal Porter is working on.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/tamed-toothless-and-lying-doggo-that-s-the-pm-s-corruption-watchdog-20201015-p565go.html
    Euan Black writes that Greg Combet, who says “the Morrison government has left the stage of national leadership”, treads a fine line when assessing the Morrison government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2020/10/15/greg-combet-morrison-leadership/
    Alexandra Smith and Lucy Cormack provide coverage of yesterday’s often private ICAC hearing. It didn’t help Gladys much.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/secret-records-of-berejiklian-and-maguire-accidentally-published-by-icac-20201015-p565k2.html
    Former NSW DPP, Nicholas Cowdery, soberly explains why he says that Berejiklian should stand aside while this cloud is hanging over her. He concludes by writing, “While the present proceedings may not encourage federal parliamentarians to move forward more speedily with a federal ICAC, they are certainly encouraging the electors to push for one.”
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/stand-aside-premier-while-this-cloud-hangs-over-you-20201015-p565dj.html
    Aaron Patrick writes that ICAC is moving closer to exposing how much the NSW Premier knew.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/icac-moves-closer-to-exposing-how-much-the-nsw-premier-knew-20201015-p565ec
    Michelle Grattan says Gladys Berejiklian has governed well but failed an ethical test.
    https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-gladys-berejiklian-has-governed-well-but-failed-an-ethical-test-148184
    Phil Coorey says if people are unwilling to acknowledge error on their own side, politics collapses because there are no agreed norms.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/dan-s-fans-and-trump-s-base-spot-the-difference-20201015-p56592
    Zoe Samios extensively examines the amount of reach and influence the Murdoch media have in Australia.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/how-much-influence-does-the-murdoch-media-have-in-australia-20201015-p565dk.html
    Young, healthy people should be prepared to wait more than a year to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, the World Health Organisation’s chief scientist has said.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/young-healthy-people-may-have-to-wait-until-2022-for-vaccine-top-who-scientist-says-20201016-p565mb.html
    Nick Bonyhady tells us that the national wages watchdog recovered more than $123 million for 25,583 workers last financial year, more than three times its total for the previous period.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/fair-work-ombudsman-recoups-123m-for-workers-as-underpayment-recoveries-triple-20201015-p565iy.html
    The Australian reveals that Clive Palmer’s massive spending on the October 31 Queensland election is in question after it emerged the billionaire is trying to get two huge property developments approved on the Gold Coast.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/queensland-election-watchdog-eyes-property-developer-palmer/news-story/679b3751c188a677791c90045664a0e6
    Samantha Dick reports that Victorian contact tracers could be forced to pull mobile phone GPS data to zero-in on the movements of known coronavirus cases – the job the COVIDSafe app was supposed to do.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/coronavirus/2020/10/16/covidsafe-app-gps/
    Dana McCauley writes that Greg Hunt has promised to fix the crisis facing regional hospitals after a woman bled to death at a regional NSW hospital without a doctor on site, as experts call for significant additional funding to boost the rural health workforce.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/health-minister-vows-to-fix-regional-hospital-crisis-after-tragic-death-20201015-p565ee.html
    Lockdown has been an essential crisis intervention, but policies that actually respond to the “stubborn tail” and its specific causes are now key, explains surgeon, Dr Neela Janakiramanan.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/we-are-relying-on-the-wrong-science-to-crush-melbourne-s-stubborn-tail-20201014-p564z1.html
    The Age tells us that Victoria’s Department of Health has been asked to supply fresh documents to the hotel quarantine inquiry relating to questions over the accuracy of testimony provided by Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/sutton-evidence-to-inquiry-on-security-guards-under-question-20201015-p565gh.html
    Law professor, Simon Rice, who was arrested this week at a university protest, point out the current disproportionality of NSW law enforcement.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/my-accidental-arrest-amid-a-protest-rally-exposes-a-deeper-concern-the-abuse-of-state-power-20201015-p565cq.html
    When the Coalition quietly changed the regulations to enable access to millions of unlisted mobile phone numbers for ‘political research’, the Liberal Party’s pollster Crosby Textor was quick out of the blocks with an application to access the database, writes Jommy Tee. Now, the lobby group closest to Scott Morrison has access to 27 million phone numbers heading into the next Federal election.
    https://www.michaelwest.com.au/a-pushy-number-libs-pollster-crosby-textor-granted-access-to-27-million-unlisted-mobiles/
    Kevin Rudd’s petition calling for a royal commission into Australia’s Murdoch media concentration and its effects on democracy has captured public sentiment. Michelle Pini and David Donovan discuss this development.
    https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/rudd-calls-time-on-murdoch-dominance,14412
    According to Dominic Powell, the parent company of hardware chain Bunnings has said it will carefully assess if it will participate in the government’s $4 billion JobMaker scheme. Yesterday we heard that Woolworths ruled itself out of the scheme, saying that it would not be right, given its record sales during the pandemic.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/bunnings-owner-won-t-rule-out-using-4b-jobmaker-scheme-20201015-p565gv.html
    The International Monetary Fund this week delivered a somewhat surprising message. It warned Earth was on course for “potentially catastrophic” damage under climate change and called for green investment and carbon prices to put the global economy on a stronger, more sustainable footing. John Hawkins wonders if Scott Morrison is listening.
    https://theconversation.com/some-say-neoliberals-have-destroyed-the-world-but-now-they-want-to-save-it-is-scott-morrison-listening-148167
    Anthony Galloway reports that the French company building Australia’s new $90 billion submarine fleet has committed to manufacturing a number of key parts locally, which it says will support hundreds of jobs. Based on what has previously transpired, this should come back to about half of the $0.9b locally sourced proportion IMHO.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/french-company-commits-to-900m-for-local-submarine-manufacturing-jobs-20201015-p565bc.html
    Defence has underspent almost $6.7 billion on new weapons, vehicles, equipment and bases for servicemen and women since 2016, despite the Coalition government’s boasts about growing the local industry and providing budget certainty for the military.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/not-enough-bang-for-defence-bucks-labor-claims-20201014-p564xl
    John Warhurst opines that the born-again states’ house Senate has its dangers, and introduces an unpredictably random character to the passage of national legislation, but despite this, it is still better than party-dominated legislation.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6966653/the-senate-is-becoming-a-states-house-once-again/?cs=14258
    The AFR says that Jayne Hrdlicka’s appointment to the top job at Virgin Australia has raised doubts about its future, with unions concerned it means the relaunched airline will become a low-cost carrier as chief executive Paul Scurrah exits.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/transport/hrdlicka-installation-sparks-fears-of-low-cost-virgin-20201015-p565fe
    Countries like Australia, whose economy is tightly coupled to fossil fuels should anticipate economic shocks ahead unless we move swiftly to diversify our economy, writes Cheryl Durrant. She is not impressed with Morrison’s Australia, and Trump’s America who have three-word slogans and a lot of misplaced optimism.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/china-s-power-game-puts-the-pressure-on-australian-coal-20201015-p565hs.html
    Australia’s domestic spy agency is reviewing the language it uses to refer to terrorism after some conservative government senators argued its warnings about the increasing threat posed by the “extreme right wing” caused “unnecessary anxiety”.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/15/asio-to-review-terror-terms-including-rightwing-extremists-which-liberal-mp-says-causes-anxiety
    The announcement that the Chinese Government has ordered a number of State-owned enterprises to stop buying Australian coal should not have come as a surprise to anyone, says John Quiggin.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/china-tightens-the-screws-on-australian-coal-imports,14410
    Eryk Bagshaw writes that Germany is watching Australia’s deteriorating relationship with China with “great concern”, warning that Beijing is seen as a threat in part of the Indo-Pacific as the superpower becomes more assertive.
    https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/with-great-concern-germany-watching-australia-china-relationship-20201015-p565ej.html
    Isabelle Lane writes that Woolworths plans to spend more than half a billion dollars on a food services company, but competitors fear the move will lead to reduced choice for consumers and put “thousands” of jobs at risk.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/consumer/2020/10/06/woolworths-pfd-ifda-accc/
    Anthony Galloway reports that ASIO has foiled a plot by foreign intelligence operatives to recruit senior government staffers to provide classified information about Australia’s counterespionage activities.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/asio-foils-plot-to-infiltrate-australian-government-20201015-p565lp.html
    From less-dire global forecasts and earnings from banking giants, the corner appears to have been turned on a disastrous period of economic history. But the skid marks won’t easily be scrubbed away, says Bloomberg’s Daniel Moss.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/we-re-looking-at-the-glass-half-empty-recovery-20201014-p5653x.html
    The SMH editorial says that Jacinda Ardern’s leadership makes her deserving of another term.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/ardern-s-leadership-makes-her-deserving-of-another-term-in-office-20201015-p565jy.html
    Fears are rising that Europe is running out of time to control a resurgence of the coronavirus, as infections hit record daily highs in Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/europe-reels-as-it-sets-coronavirus-records-slaps-on-new-rules-20201016-p565mf.html
    As Congress remains deadlocked on a new coronavirus economic stimulus package, two new studies show at least 6 million more people in the US are in poverty due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/15/coronavirus-pandemic-plunges-millions-of-americans-into-poverty
    The Guardian tells us that the agriculture secretary is the latest of 14 political appointees to be cited by the government watchdog for violating the Hatch Act
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/15/trump-administration-partisan-campaigning-hatch-act
    The US electoral system is not a pretty sight and Australia should take heed warns Philip Citowicki, former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop and a former political aide to Australia’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/15/the-us-electoral-system-is-not-a-pretty-sight-australia-should-take-heed
    Three Jewish congregations, based in Rockland County, are suing New York state and Governor Andrew Cuomo, saying he engaged in a “streak of anti-Semitic discrimination” with a recent crackdown on religious gatherings to reduce the state’s coronavirus infection rate.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/jewish-leaders-call-covid-rules-blatantly-anti-semitic-20201016-p565mp.html
    The outcome of the upcoming U.S. Presidential Election rests largely on female voters standing up for their rights and a more equal future, writes Claire McMullen.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/american-women-hold-the-keys-to-the-white-house-in-this-presidential-election,14409
    Francine Prose writes that Trump’s macho bravado is an embarrassment, yet it puts us all in danger.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/15/trumps-macho-bravado-is-an-embarrassment-yet-it-puts-us-all-in-danger
    Twitter temporarily restricted Trump’s election campaign account from tweeting yesterday saying a video from the account about Joe Biden’s son violated its rules.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/twitter-restricts-trumps-campaign-account-from-tweeting-20201016-p565md.html

    Cartoon Corner

    David Rowe

    David Pope

    Mark David

    Jim Pavlidis

    John Shakespeare

    Matt Golding



    John Spooner

    Mark Knight

    Alan Moir

    Simon Letch

    From the US












  16. Cripes, Strewth and By Jingo BK you’ve been up and about since 4 A.M. I guess producting the always welcome Dawn Patrol.

    Please don very dark glasses for the following ….which quite rightly comes under the heading “Amazing stories” courtesy of “The Daily Telegraph”.

  18. @jommy_tee
    ·
    1h

    Hello media – “it is understood there is no secure facility in Cairns”….

    There is a thing called HMAS Cairns – a 900 person naval base that, which includes as its functions the Fleet ICT Support function. Not secure enough? – then our whole military strategy is compromised.

  21. Lizzie

    ICAC continues today. Imagine the awkwardness of national cabinet meeting taking place, whilst GladysB is being further exposed at ICAC.

    He knows the jig is up for Gladys

  22. Victoria

    Once again Scotty has made the wrong call, backing Gladys before enough evidence had appeared. Now he’s trying to avoid the embarrassment of a National meeting. The man’s a coward.

  24. Australians on cashless welfare card express ‘hopelessness’ after Coalition’s plan to cement scheme

    Welfare recipients on the cashless debit card say they feel a sense of “hopelessness” after the federal government announced plans to make the scheme permanent across four trial sites.

    The decision in this month’s federal budget comes as the most recent figures show a provision to allow cardholders to exit the scheme has only approved one in four applications.

    It means most of the 12,000 welfare recipients living in Ceduna, South Australia, the East Kimberley and the Goldfields areas of Western Australia, and Hervey Bay and Bundaberg in Queensland are likely to be stuck on the card until they move off benefits.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/15/australians-on-cashless-welfare-card-express-hopelessness-after-coalitions-plan-to-cement-scheme

    Absolutely disgraceful. Scamming vulnerable people and belittling them with this Indue card was wrong before COVID and it’s even worse now. Just another Coalition con to line their own pockets at the expense of people who are doing it tough.

  26. Bruce Guthrie
    @brucerguthrie
    ·
    5m
    So, the bloke who proved at the outset that he really couldn’t give a flying you know what about public health, is leading the charge against Melbourne’s lockdown. A downhill skier, if there ever was one.
    @7NewsMelbourne happy to give him airtime.

  27. Lizzie

    I don’t watch channel 7; But based on what I am seeing on social media, it is exponentially worse than anything channel nine dishes out on a daily basis.

  28. lizzie @ #1022 Friday, October 16th, 2020 – 8:11 am

    Victoria

    Once again Scotty has made the wrong call, backing Gladys before enough evidence had appeared. Now he’s trying to avoid the embarrassment of a National meeting. The man’s a coward.

    Drawing a very very long bow there.
    Scrooter’s got more front than Myer.
    Scrooter fears nothing and no one.
    Not even Anthony ‘The Mauler’ Albanese.

  30. Victoria @ #1021 Friday, October 16th, 2020 – 8:05 am

    Lizzie

    ICAC continues today. Imagine the awkwardness of national cabinet meeting taking place, whilst GladysB is being further exposed at ICAC.

    He knows the jig is up for Gladys

    I suspect that is not just Berijiklian’s stench that Scummo from Marketing is avoiding this week – Dan Andrew’s is reasonably sick of Abbott’s Nanny chewing his ankle – and is quite capable of returning fire (particularly on the inconvenient fact that it was senior Vic Police who refused to do hotel quarantine security in that missing 6 minutes). Scummo can’t relay on “gold standards” to avoid scrutiny any more. The Murdorc’s are running out of time and money, and the inevitable result of Nov 3 ain’t gonna save ’em.

  31. Such beautiful writing from Francine Prose in The Guardian about the subject of bombastic leaders like Donald Trump (and our own Scott Morrison, I might add):

    I, for one, just can’t see it: Donald Trump as the masculine ideal. It’s not merely that an unfit old white guy with tiny pudgy fingers isn’t the cowboy-warrior-samurai hero of our dreams. He’s not Gary Cooper or even early Clint Eastwood. But the gaping distance between masculine pretense and reality is about more than just physical appearance.

    So much of Trump’s self-presentation (I’m sorry for resorting to the most odious gender stereotypes) seem like a caricature of old-fashioned “femininity”. The prissy delivery, that thing he does with his mouth that’s less John Wayne than Clara Bow or Claudette Colbert. His preening, costly vanity – the makeup, the $70,000 worth of bad hair – is (forgive me, sisters) usually understood as female territory. It’s not that men are never vain – vain about the trophy wife, the haircut, the money, the pickup. It’s how far Trump takes it, and the dangerously high stakes.

    So what do people mean when they see Trump as a paragon of masculinity who would choose death before he’d carry a purse? Since he looks and carries himself so little like the intrepid warrior he alone sees in the mirror, the only thing he can do is boil over and erupt – a TV-celebrity volcano, spewing the rock-bottom dregs of old-school masculinity. The aggressive nastiness, the stubbornness, bullying, incivility, the selfishness and self-regard, and above all, the flat-out misogyny – the hatred and contempt for women. How stupid we were to imagine that the Access Hollywood “pussy-grabbing” tape might sink Trump’s candidacy. How naive not to suspect that it would strike an agreeable secret chord with more than a few male listeners.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/15/trumps-macho-bravado-is-an-embarrassment-yet-it-puts-us-all-in-danger

    It’s why I’m also not surprised at why Australian males like mundo are so enamoured of gross grunts like Scott Morrison.

  32. Social media is starting (finally!) to wise up to the spread of fake news.

    Facebook and Twitter took unusual steps Wednesday to limit readership of an article by the New York Post about alleged emails from Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son, one of the rare occasions they have sanctioned a traditional media outlet.

    The social media giants took that action before verifying the contents of the article, in which President Trump‘s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani and his former top adviser Stephen K. Bannon claimed to have obtained and leaked a trove of private materials from Hunter Biden. The leaked documents suggested at one point he gave a Ukrainian executive the “opportunity” to meet the former vice president. The Biden campaign said his schedule indicated no such meeting took place.

    Facebook preemptively limited the spread of the story while sending it to third-party fact-checkers, a decision the company said it has taken on various occasions but is not the standard process. Twitter allowed the story to surge to a No. 3 trending topic in the U.S., although later marked the link as “potentially unsafe” and blocked it. It also temporarily locked White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s account, as well as the New York Post’s, adding notices to their tweets saying they violated Twitter’s rules on prohibiting publishing hacked materials. Trump’s campaign account was also temporarily locked.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/10/15/facebook-twitter-hunter-biden/

  33. Michael Rowland is definitely going over to the dark side, and Phil Coory can’t stand criticism.

    @JulianAndrew63
    ·
    4m
    Phil Coorey has blocked me. I was trying to find his tweet cited by Michael Rowland #NewsBreakfast where Coorey writes that Andrews supporters are “cult-like” & “in the same orbit as the Trump legions.”

    Maybe it was this tweet that he blocked me for?

    Hyper-partisanship? mmmm

  34. C@t:

    That reminds me of this recent article.

    But since his first day as a presidential candidate, I have been baffled by one mystery in particular: Why do working-class white men—the most reliable component of Donald Trump’s base—support someone who is, by their own standards, the least masculine man ever to hold the modern presidency? The question is not whether Trump fails to meet some archaic or idealized version of masculinity. The president’s inability to measure up to Marcus Aurelius or Omar Bradley is not the issue. Rather, the question is why so many of Trump’s working-class white male voters refuse to hold Trump to their own standards of masculinity—why they support a man who behaves more like a little boy.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/donald-trump-the-most-unmanly-president/612031/

  35. Coronavirus Victoria: 2 new cases, no deaths,

    14-day average falls
    Melbourne’s all-important 14-day average has fallen for the second straight day as the state recorded only two new cases and no deaths overnight.

    Victoria has recorded only two new coronavirus cases and no deaths, as the city’s all important 14-day average fell for the second straight day.

    But mystery cases in Melbourne have risen by two to 17 since Thursday, while the 14-day average has fallen slightly from 8.9 to 8.7.

    It comes after six new cases and no deaths were recorded on Thursday.

    Health authorities say the 14-day average must be about five for the state government to consider easing restrictions on October 19.

    But Premier Daniel Andrews said only the restrictions that were safe to ease would be eased over the weekend.

  36. 9News Australia
    @9NewsAUS
    Prime Minister Scott Morrison is unable to hold a planned National Cabinet meeting from Cairns because he can’t access a secure internet link. #9News

    …

    Chris Coleman
    @CJCau
    ·
    10m
    Replying to
    @9NewsAUS
    Any of your journalists asked why he can’t use the Naval base in Cairns? Or does the navy rely on messages in bottles from up there?

  37. phoenixRED

    Only 2 cases. Fantastic. But Brett Sutton has been saying that the mystery cases are a better indication of potential spread.

  38. rhwombat

    My express wish is for Morrison and co to be fully exposed as the charlatans they are.
    They together with the msm have given us Melburnians in particular, the absolute shits.
    Their conduct has been worse to take than the lockdown itself.

  41. lizzie says:
    Friday, October 16, 2020 at 8:29 am
    9News Australia
    @9NewsAUS
    Prime Minister Scott Morrison is unable to hold a planned National Cabinet meeting from Cairns because he can’t access a secure internet link. #9News
    …

    Chris Coleman
    @CJCau
    ·
    10m
    Replying to
    @9NewsAUS
    Any of your journalists asked why he can’t use the Naval base in Cairns? Or does the navy rely on messages in bottles from up there?

    ———

    Where did all the millions of dollars in funding go ,which Morrison and cronies claim was spent on cyber security ?

  42. mundo @ #1028 Friday, October 16th, 2020 – 8:19 am

    lizzie @ #1022 Friday, October 16th, 2020 – 8:11 am

    Victoria

    Once again Scotty has made the wrong call, backing Gladys before enough evidence had appeared. Now he’s trying to avoid the embarrassment of a National meeting. The man’s a coward.

    Drawing a very very long bow there.
    Scrooter’s got more front than Myer.
    Scrooter fears nothing and no one.
    Not even Anthony ‘The Mauler’ Albanese.

    See what I mean? Straight out of the Alpha Male Bootlickers Handbook.

    1. Find a comment by a woman about the Macho Man’s government that he doesn’t like because it correctly pinpoints a fault of the manly man he dotes on.

    2. Ritually attack the comment and pay sycophantic fealty to the Macho Man leader by fighting his battles for him.

    3. Opine, more in sorrow than in anger, about how he wishes the leader of the Pussy Party, ie the party whose leader isn’t butch enough for his liking, should be more like his Bromance Bae.

    Thank goodness no one takes any notice of this claptrap. There’s enough airborne testosterone in the political air as it is!

  43. I will never ever understand the appeal of Trump. The only thing that works for me is that so many people must hate themselves so much, and find some warped solace supporting a despicable excuse for a human being.

  45. Victoria @ #1043 Friday, October 16th, 2020 – 8:43 am

    I will never ever understand the appeal of Trump. The only thing that works for me is that so many people must hate themselves so much, and find some warped solace supporting a despicable excuse for a human being.

    It’s mainly White, Non College-Educated men and their wives who are turned on by bragadocious men.

  48. Just had a look at Miranda Devine’s twitter account and noticed she has retweeted Glenn Greenwald. The humanity!

    I wonder how she feels that she has fallen victim to Russian disinformation being laundered through Murdoch media and badged with her name.

Comments Page 21 of 29
1 … 20 21 22 … 29

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *