Miscellany: redistributions, referendums and by-elections (open thread)

A review to what the electoral calendar holds between now and the next general elections in the second half of next year, including prospects for the Indigenous Voice referendum.

James Massola of the Age/Herald reports that “expectations (are) growing that former Prime Minister Scott Morrison will quit politics”, probably between the May budget and the end of the year, entailing a by-election for his seat of Cook. Please let it be so, because a valley of death stretches before those of us in the election industry out to the second half of next year, to be followed by a flood encompassing the Northern Territory on August 24, the Australian Capital Territory on October 19, Queensland on October 26 and Western Australia on March 8 the following year (UPDATE: It’s noted that the Queensland local government elections next March, inclusive as they are of the unusually significant Brisbane City Council and lord mayoralty, should rate a mention). A normal federal election for the House of Representatives and half the Senate could happen in the second half of 2024 or the first of 2025, the alternative of a double dissolution being presumably unlikely.

Redistributions will offer some diversion in the interim, particularly after the Electoral Commissioner calculates how many House of Representatives seats each state is entitled to in the next parliament on June 27. This is likely to result in Western Australia gaining a seat and New South Wales and Victoria each losing one (respectively putting them at 16, 46 and 38), initiating redistribution processes that are likely to take around a year. There is also an outside chance that Queensland will gain a thirty-first seat. The Northern Territory will also have a redistribution on grounds of it having been seven years since one was last conducted, although this will involve either a minimal tweak to the boundary between Solomon and Lingiari or no change at all. At state level, a redistribution process was recently initiated in Western Australia and should conclude near the end of the year. The other state that conducts a redistribution every term, South Australia, gives its boundaries commission wide latitude on when it gets the ball rolling, but past experience suggests it’s likely to be near the end of the year.

However, the main electoral event of the foreseeable future is undoubtedly the Indigenous Voice referendum, which is likely to be held between October and December. Kevin Bonham has a post on polling for referendum in which he standardises the various results, which differ markedly in terms of their questions and response structures, and divines a fall in support from around 65% in the middle of last year to around 58% at present. For those of you with access to academic journals, there is also a paper by Murray Goot of Macquarie University in the Journal of Australian Studies entitled “Support in the Polls for an Indigenous Constitutional Voice: How Broad, How Strong, How Vulnerable?” In narrowing it down to credible polls with non-binary response options (i.e. those allowing for uncommitted responses of some kind, as distinct from forced response polls), Goot finds support has fallen from around 58% to 51% from the period of May to September to the period of October to January, while opposition had risen from 18% to 27%. The change was concentrated among Coalition supporters: whereas Labor and especially Greens supporters were consistently and strongly in favour, support among Coalition fell from around 45% to 36%.

Forced response questions consistently found between 60% and 65% in favour regardless of question wording, while non-binary polls (i.e. allowing for various kind of uncommitted response) have almost invariably had at over 50%. Goot notes that forced response polls have found respondents breaking between for and against in similar proportion to the rest, which “confounds the idea that, when push comes to shove, ‘undecided’ voters will necessarily vote no”. However, he also notes that questions in non-binary polls that have produced active majorities in favour have either mentioned an Indigenous Voice or the Uluru Statement from the Heart, or “rehearsed the Prime Minister’s proposal to amend the Constitution”. One that conspicuously did not do any of these things was a Dynata poll for the Institute of Public Affairs, which got a positive result of just 28% by priming respondents with a leading question and then emphasised that the proposal would involve “laws for every Australian”. JWS Research got only 43% in favour and 23% against, but its response structure was faulted by Goot for including a “need more information” option, which ruled the 20% who chose it out of contention one way or the other.

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.

1,748 comments on “Miscellany: redistributions, referendums and by-elections (open thread)”

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  1. 98.6 says :
    If Barnyard doesn’t run again, can we expect his new Mrs, Vikki Campion, take over his seat and lead the Nationals.
    If you read her columns in the MSM you will get my drift.
    She would possibly do a better job as leader than BEETROOT.
    ——————————————-
    Cronus replies :
    Can I just say that from what I’ve seen and read, they thoroughly deserve each other. Equally incoherent and irrational.
    ……………………………………………………………
    98.6 says :
    I think you and I are on the same page here, Cronus.
    Barnaby is definitely incoherent and irrational whenever he opens his mouth and everybody knows that, while Vikki is the same when she writes her articles, so much so, that I have to re-read them several times to TRY to get the gist of what the f**k she is on about. Its like she talks in ‘tongues’.
    I’m glad someone else has noticed it as well.
    I used to think ‘there is no way in the world a newspaper would print her crap’.
    She’s not the full quid, but no doubt, she has all the qualifications that would make her an excellent leader of the Nats.
    Could we see a by-election in New England this term ?

  2. It’s easy to sneer at Dutton’s comments about the impact of Aboriginal crime on tourism but sadly there is some truth to it.
    I was in the Kimberley last August and the caravan park at Derby was barely one third full when normally it’s closer to capacity.
    The park manager told my companion that the travellers’ forums are full of conversations about places it’s regarded as unsafe to stay.
    He said many caravans these days have toilets and showers so stopping in a caravan park is less necessary.
    Travellers fuel up, shop and then move on to camp in one of the many roadside rest areas or free camps around.
    I slept through it but the night I was there the police were called to deal with some young people checking out cars and caravans.
    Broome’s reputation for up market tourism seems to mask trouble there, though it does happen.
    Kununurra also was quieter and there has been publicity over the summer of issues in Carnarvon which have led to liquor restrictions.
    It’s a sad sad situation and people way smarter than me have been wrestling with the issue since whenever.
    But I’m sure FIFO politicians getting their face on TV with the local baker isn’t going to help much.

  3. In a federal distribution as William mentions in the post it is likely NSW and VIC would each lose a seat and WA gain one, would they then shrink the lower house size back to 150? Or would they compensate this elsewhere?

    The former. The size of the House can vary slightly because each state’s seat entitlement quotas are rounded to the nearest whole number. Sometimes more than three states get rounded up, sometimes more get rounded down.

  4. Don’t know what’s happening now but two years ago daughter Bridgette worked for Barilaro. A Beetrooter Dynasty?
    This from 21-2-2021:

    Barnaby’s Joyce’s daughter Bridgette seems to be pursuing a career in politics
    The university grad, 22, is now a senior parliamentary adviser for John Barilaro
    She also worked for NSW Minister Bronnie Taylor, another Nationals member
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9256765/Barnaby-Joyces-glamorous-daughter-appears-pursue-career-politics.html

  5. Sprocket

    “Ben Chifley’s modest workers cottage was in Busby St, Bathurst.”

    Thanks and sorry, right dwelling, wrong place. I’d still be happy if Scomo ended up in Bathurst.

    Speaking of real estate, Sussan Ley still punches above her weight.

    ““I’ve always felt that in politics that you need to get out of your bubble and hear what’s happening on the ground. Where are best new apartment developments right now in Melbourne? What return can I expect on a townhouse in Perth? These are the questions that I’ll be asking local voters and real estate agents over the coming days”.”
    https://www.theshovel.com.au/2023/04/13/real-estate-agents-excited-sussan-ley-announces-listening-tour/

  6. Details about the person who leaked sensitive U.S. intelligence documents have emerged in new reporting from The Washington Post. The leaker is described as a gun enthusiast who worked on a military base and joined a private group on a social media platform popular with gamers who sought companionship amid the isolation of the pandemic, the report said.

    It was on Discord where, according to The Post, “United by their mutual love of guns, military gear and God, the group of roughly two dozen — mostly men and boys — formed an invitation-only clubhouse in 2020.” The leaker, who went by the handle “OG,” posted the documents on Discord in a “message laden with strange acronyms and jargon,” the report said.

    A member of the group told The Post that OG claimed he got the documents from a military base that the member declined to identify. “He’s a smart person. He knew what he was doing when he posted these documents, of course. These weren’t accidental leaks of any kind,” the member said. Both members claim to know OG’s real name and the state where he lives and works but have declined to share that information with authorities. The members appear in a video on The Post’s website with their faces and voices obscured.

    “I want to keep OG’s identity secret because I still care for him like he’s a family member. He is another Russian operative. He’s not a Ukrainian operative. I’ll go as far as to say he’s not even on the east side of the world,” one member said. “Any claims that he is a Russian operative or pro-Russian is categorically false. He is not interested in helping any foreign agencies attack the US or the countries. He was a young charismatic man who loved nature and God, who loved shooting guns and racing cars.”

  7. Don’t know what’s happening now but two years ago daughter Bridgette worked for Barilaro. A Beetrooter Dynasty?
    This from 21-2-2021:

    Barnaby’s Joyce’s daughter Bridgette seems to be pursuing a career in politics
    The university grad, 22, is now a senior parliamentary adviser for John Barilaro
    She also worked for NSW Minister Bronnie Taylor, another Nationals member
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9256765/Barnaby-Joyces-glamorous-daughter-appears-pursue-career-politics.html

    It certainly looks like it’s playing into Kos Samaras criticism of the coalition.

    “Kos Samaras, director at the non-partisan RedBridge Group and former assistant secretary of the Victorian Labor Party, said the Liberal Party was struggling with the increasing number of voters from culturally diverse communities, voters under the age of 40, and those with tertiary qualifications.

    He said the Liberal Party had been unable to match the effectiveness of Labor’s campaign machine.

    “If you come up in the ranks of Labor, which is a vicious bear pit at the best of times, you still have to perform. Nepotism isn’t as rife as it is in the Liberal Party,” Samaras said. “A lot of the operatives always presume they’re going to lose, so their political survival skills are more finely tuned.”

    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/senior-liberal-blames-scott-morrison-s-unpopularity-for-historic-aston-loss-20230412-p5czrr.html

  8. Holdenhillbilly,
    They are going to catch that leaker so quickly. They are going to jail forever. Such a significant leak. TS PV ain’t no joke.

  9. Holden Hillbilly

    “He was a young charismatic man who loved nature and God, who loved shooting guns and racing cars.”

    Sounds a lot like the Oklahoma City bomber. What could possibly go wrong?

  10. Cronus @ 11.29am
    As a 66year old Baby Boomer, I can assure you that Menzies is as irrelevant to many of us, as he is to Non-Baby Boomers.

  11. Paul Keating was very fond of Jack Lang, so much so that as a young man, Keating had regular sessions being mentored by the elderly politician.

    Keating later said it was equivalent to a university education in politics.

  12. But just think of all that prime real estate adjacent to metro stations, ripe for apartment high rise development…

    BREAKING: The Minns Government is announcing an independent review of the entire Sydney Metro project to determine “how to salvage the current projects.” Cost blowout adds up to $20bil MORE than originally projected across two stages of the project. #nswpol

  13. Macca RB @ Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 3:05 pm:
    “Cronus @ 11.29am
    As a 66year old Baby Boomer, I can assure you that Menzies is as irrelevant to many of us, as he is to Non-Baby Boomers.”
    =====================

    MaccaRB, indeed. Unless my arithmetic is completely off, even the very oldest baby boomers (born 1946) would have voted in their first election in 1969, when it was John Gorton seeking re-election against Gough Whitlam.

  14. Macca RB says:
    Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 3:05 pm
    Cronus @ 11.29am
    As a 66year old Baby Boomer, I can assure you that Menzies is as irrelevant to many of us, as he is to Non-Baby Boomers.

    ___________________________________________________________
    As a 68-year-old BB, I concur with you Macca. I remember when Menzies was PM; it seemed as if he had been so forever.
    Maybe it’s because I grew up in a staunch Labor family whose parents thought Menzies was an opportunistic scare-monger, who used the Petrov spy controversy in 1954 for blatant political purposes during an election campaign, and who had tried to ram through authoritarian legislation banning the communist party, that I don’t think much of the Liberal Party founder.
    But what did he accomplish apart from keeping Labor out of office for two decades and getting Australia mired in the Vietnam War? When he retired (“at last” I remember my mother saying) in 1966, he was asked at his final press conference what his greatest achievement was.
    The old man replied that he supposed expansion of Australia’s universities might be it, but he added that it wasn’t really the job of governments to worry about their legacy, but really to just keep things rolling along.
    Wasn’t it marvelous that Australia had such a visionary as its prime minister for such a long time?

  15. Sprocket says,
    Ben Chifley’s modest workers cottage was in Busby St, Bathurst.

    His wife, Elizabeth was by all accounts a stalwart of the Presbyterian Church while Ben played away. The preschool behind St Stephens is named after her.

    On Spud’s efforts in the Alice, as I said yesterday, treat the indigenous people like shit, marginalise them, watch their behaviour turn to shit and then blame them for it. Simples.

  16. Holdenhillbilly @ Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 2:50 pm:
    ==============================

    Holdenhillbilly, thank you for that, very helpful for those like me without a WaPo subscription.

    Cognitive Dissonance 1:
    “He was a young charismatic man who loved nature … and racing cars.”
    What sort of racing cars use non-fossil fuels? How much did he really ‘love’ nature (as opposed to merely ‘admiring’ nature)?

    Cognitive Dissonance 2:
    “Any claims that he is a Russian operative or pro-Russian is categorically false.” …
    “He knew what he was doing when he posted these documents, of course. These weren’t accidental leaks of any kind”
    So … he leaks documents he knew full well would disrupt both Ukraine’s preparation for their counteroffensive and Ukraine’s Western allies’ support for that counteroffensive. He also knew full well his leaks would sow discord (pun not intended) among Ukraine’s Western allies.
    But .. he is in no way acting as a Russian partisan. Right…

  17. Menzies left office over 57 years ago. His post-war prime-ministership was contemporaneous with such figures as Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, UK PMs Attlee and Churchill, Soviet Premier Kruschev and the last few years of Stalin, plus lots of less famous leaders. He left office nearly 20 years before most Australians were born (median age ~ 38).

    While he’s the patron saint of the Liberal party, I can’t see that he is terribly relevant today. Even the Liberals have abandoned most of his policies and positions, especially Keynesian economics.

  18. 98.6 says :
    I think you and I are on the same page here, Cronus.
    Barnaby is definitely incoherent and irrational whenever he opens his mouth and everybody knows that, while Vikki is the same when she writes her articles, so much so, that I have to re-read them several times to TRY to get the gist of what the f**k she is on about. Its like she talks in ‘tongues’.
    I’m glad someone else has noticed it as well.
    I used to think ‘there is no way in the world a newspaper would print her crap’.
    She’s not the full quid, but no doubt, she has all the qualifications that would make her an excellent leader of the Nats.
    Could we see a by-election in New England this term ?
    ————————————————————————-

    From Barnaby to Vikki would be a smooth transition, for both the Nats and the voters. They’d hardly notice a difference.

  19. From the Guardian, more details on the Pentagon leaker:

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/13/pentagon-leaks-og-source-military-base-discord-report

    Cognitive Dissonance 2(b):
    “OG [the leaker] is reported to have posted the documents on a channel on the server he named “Bear vs Pig”, a reference to the Ukraine war but also a viral video showing pigs fighting off a black bear.”
    I take it he likens Russia to the bear, and Ukraine and its Western allies to the pigs. Yet, he is not, I repeat not, pro-Russian…

    Cognitive Dissonance 3:
    “[The leaker] worked on a military base, … where his job involved viewing large amounts of classified information.” Yet:
    “[The leaker] “had a dark view of the government”, portraying the government, and particularly law enforcement and the intelligence agencies, as a repressive force. He ranted about “government overreach”.”
    Whom did he work for and what was his day job, again?

    Cognitive Dissonance 4:
    “For sure, people are not happy,” one [Ukrainian] official admitted on Wednesday. “Ukraine was criticised last year for not being a trustworthy partner. At the beginning of the invasion, we weren’t provided with weapons because of this lack of trust. We lost a lot of territory and people as a result. This perception was wrong. And now this leakage happens from the US side.”
    Ironic. The Ukro-sceptic gatekeepers in the US ended up being the ones who put 1.25 million potential foxes in charge of their state secrets henhouse. 😡

  20. Madelaine King is at it again …

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/13/australias-resources-minister-heaps-warm-praise-on-gas-as-industry-pr-spree-masks-doubts-about-future

    “It is often forgotten,” said King, “but Australia’s coal and gas resources are essential for energy security, stability and reliability, both domestically and across the Asia-Pacific, and will be for decades.”

    “In many cases Australian gas has the potential to lift millions out of energy poverty,” she said.

    This claim that gas can help the developed world out of energy poverty is reminiscent of a talking point the coal industry developed in the 2010s and then deployed in global marketing campaigns, while convincing Australian government ministers to repeat them.

    Bruce Robertson, an LNG analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said: “For something to alleviate energy poverty, it needs to be cheap and readily available. LNG is neither of these things, and hasn’t been for the last few years.”

    Will Australians never learn?

  21. This register lists prominent pieces of disinformation the AEC has discovered regarding the announced referendum on the Voice to Parliament. It also provides details of actions the AEC has taken in response.

    The AEC is not responsible for fact-checking claims about the Yes or No case for a referendum, and we do not seek to censor debate in any way. However, when it comes to the referendum process we conduct, we’re the experts and we’re active in defending Australia’s democracy.
    https://www.aec.gov.au/media/disinformation-register-ref.htm

  22. Rossmcg says:
    Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 2:14 pm
    It’s easy to sneer at Dutton’s comments about the impact of Aboriginal crime on tourism but sadly there is some truth to it.
    —————————————————

    Well, he and his friends had a decade to do something, anything about it. Instead they simply ignored the problem because there was nothing political in it for them at the time.

    I’m a little surprised the good folk of Alice aren’t driving him out in rage at the fact he ignored them when he actually had the power to do something. They should be enraged by his presence, the cheek of it!

  23. Macca RB says:
    Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 3:05 pm
    Cronus @ 11.29am
    As a 66year old Baby Boomer, I can assure you that Menzies is as irrelevant to many of us, as he is to Non-Baby Boomers.
    ——————————————————-

    Macca
    Yep, even I have to check the spelling of his name cos it’s really just a name to me. “I did but see her passing by … blah, blah, blah”, cringeworthy to those of us under 70 I suspect.

  24. Be on the lookout this weekend for an article by Professor Hugh White in The Saturday Paper.

    Prof. White discusses the dangerous path that both the United States and China are treading with regards to Taiwan. He describes how both countries are relying on and building up their deterrence capabilities, but warns that if both sides believe they can deter the other, it may make the path to war easier.

    The article also describes a scenario where China implements a hard blockade on Taiwan, which is seen as a more credible military option than a full-scale invasion. However, such a blockade would force the US to make difficult decisions about escalation, and raises questions about whether China’s approach could lead to inevitable war, depending on America’s resolve.

    In addition, Prof. White emphasizes that Australia will be forced to choose between trade and alliance, with no middle ground. He speculates that the chances of nuclear war are high and warns that the very thing they go to war over may be destroyed.

  25. shellbell says:
    Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 2:35 pm
    Incredible performance by Josh Gidley in his first play off game:

    31 points
    9 rebounds
    10 assists
    ———————-

    I commented on Giddey’s future some weeks ago and I stand by the fact that he has the potential to be our biggest ever basketball export, an absolute superstar in the making (and I know next to nothing about basketball).

  26. Thank you William, I’ve always thought redistributions could only change seat allocations rather than also alter the size.

  27. ”I did but see her passing by … blah, blah, blah”, cringeworthy to those of us under 70 I suspect.

    And those of us over 70.

    Even to Her Majesty, judging by the news footage of the occasion.

  28. Either way, he certainly showed those who were saying eariler in the year he was having a sophomore slump.

    One v.minor note; his +/- was -3. SGA had +15. SGA also had 3 steals. I havent watched the game yet – probs a good reason for the +/- discrepancy.

  29. The Liberals problems with the under 50s isn’t because the under 50s are different but because the Liberals have made no effort to connect with their heartland and have taken the reactionary position to everything even issues that a generation ago were the right’s bread and butter like gender which could be looked at as economic and law & order issues.

    Menzies is relevant because he was a successful politician and some of his policies are outdated but because he was too the left of today’s Liberals he is closer to where the Liberals need to be and Menzies used to fill the Camberwell townhall and Ryan filled the Hawthorn townhall but the Liberals never tried so why would the under 50s vote for them.

  30. Mostly Interested 4:03

    “ The article also describes a scenario where China implements a hard blockade on Taiwan, which is seen as a more credible military option than a full-scale invasion. However, such a blockade would force the US to make difficult decisions about escalation, and raises questions about whether China’s approach could lead to inevitable war, depending on America’s resolve.”
    ————————————————————————————

    I suspect this would result in the formal prevention of Freedom of Navigation (FON). Albeit that the US has not ratified Article 87(1)a of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, they enforce its practice. It strikes me then that the initial act of aggression in terms of International Law would be the nation actively preventing FON.

    It’s hard to imagine that having constantly and publicly exercised FON in the South China Sea and environs, that the US wouldn’t actively challenge such an act if all other alternatives were exhausted. On the other hand, use of that sea route doesn’t appear strictly necessary as other alternatives appear viable (to the inexpert like myself).

  31. Team Katich says:
    Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 4:22 pm
    Either way, he certainly showed those who were saying eariler in the year he was having a sophomore slump.

    One v.minor note; his +/- was -3. SGA had +15. SGA also had 3 steals. I havent watched the game yet – probs a good reason for the +/- discrepancy.
    ———————————————————

    It was a very good first play-off game for the 20yr old. He’s got presence.

  32. Cronus @ #1190 Thursday, April 13th, 2023 – 4:00 pm

    Team Katich says:
    Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 4:22 pm
    Either way, he certainly showed those who were saying eariler in the year he was having a sophomore slump.

    One v.minor note; his +/- was -3. SGA had +15. SGA also had 3 steals. I havent watched the game yet – probs a good reason for the +/- discrepancy.
    ———————————————————

    It was a very good first play-off game for the 20yr old.

    Play-in game.

  33. It seems as though China still hasn’t realised that the world can blockade China economically, or otherwise, just as easily as the other way around. Hugh White doesn’t seem to have realised it either.

  34. Japan’s population shrank by 556,000 in 2022 from a year earlier to 124.9 million for the 12th straight year of decrease, as the number of Japanese nationals saw its largest drop on record, government data showed Wednesday.
    As of Oct. 1, the population, including foreign residents, stood at 124,947,000, with the number of Japanese nationals down 750,000 to 122,031,000, the largest margin of decline since comparable data were made available in 1950, the data said.
    The trend indicates an urgent need for Japan to establish a social system to cope with the dual challenge of a declining birthrate and a graying population.

  35. ‘C@tmomma says:
    Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 4:40 pm

    It seems as though China still hasn’t realised that the world can blockade China economically, or otherwise, just as easily as the other way around. Hugh White doesn’t seem to have realised it either.’
    ——————————
    He most probably has and he has most probably noticed that China accounts for a third of our foreign trade.

    Cut your nose off to spite your face?

  36. Steve777 @ #1028 Thursday, April 13th, 2023 – 4:35 pm

    NT Senator and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Affairs urges Mr Dutton to stop using Alice Springs as a political football:

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2023/apr/13/australia-news-live-politics-cost-of-sydney-metro-jobs-figures-unemployment-indigenous-voice-to-parliament?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-6437896d8f0885230b2d9c53#block-6437896d8f0885230b2d9c53

    The assistant Indigenous Australians minister, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, is asked about Peter Dutton’s raising the issue of abuse and neglect of Aboriginal children being on the rise.

    Dutton is touring Alice Springs, where he has been using the dysfunction in the town in his campaign against the Indigenous voice to parliament.

    McCarthy responds:

    The first thing I would say to opposition leader Peter Dutton is this: it is a very serious allegation to raise the abuse of a child and a serious allegation to make that a child is being returned to an abuser.

    Peter Dutton, if you are aware of this, then you need to mandatory report it to police so that there can be an investigation immediately, and if you have not done that I would urge you to do so as soon as possible.

    In terms of statistics around Alice Springs, we know that the statistics around DV, attendance at the hospital, assaults, have dropped dramatically.

    So I would urge the opposition leader to not use Alice Springs as a political football with irresponsible accusations if they cannot be followed up.

    Can I also add that what Peter Dutton is doing is straight out of fellow Queenslander, Mal Brough’s, intervention playbook. Iirc, Mal Brough made similar allegations to justify Howard’s NT military intervention. It wouldn’t surprise me if the two men had strategised.

  37. ‘Holdenhillbilly says:
    Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 4:41 pm

    Japan’s population shrank by 556,000 in 2022 from a year earlier to 124.9 million for the 12th straight year of decrease, as the number of Japanese nationals saw its largest drop on record, government data showed Wednesday.
    As of Oct. 1, the population, including foreign residents, stood at 124,947,000, with the number of Japanese nationals down 750,000 to 122,031,000, the largest margin of decline since comparable data were made available in 1950, the data said.
    The trend indicates an urgent need for Japan to establish a social system to cope with the dual challenge of a declining birthrate and a graying population.’
    ————————————
    Give it time and it all becomes a self-solving problem.

  38. yes heard 2gb pushing price for indiginis affairs given dutton is targiting alice springs at the momentim sure it will be pointed out that price used to be alice springs shier deputy mayor what did she do to address violents in that position all was ait mmore important to undermine the elders

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