Midweek miscellany: Morgan poll, redistributions, Liberal Senate preselections (open thread)

Morgan finds the Coalition with its nose in front; latest redistribution machinations; and Liberal Senate preselections in NSW and Tasmania.

The only new poll for the week is the the weekly Roy Morgan federal poll, which for the second time in recent months credits the Coalition with a two-party preferred lead. In this case it’s by the barest margin of 50.5-49.5, compared with 50-50 last week. The poll is also the first for the term with Labor’s primary vote below 30%, having fallen half a point from last week to 29.5%, with the Coalition up half to 37% and the Greens up half to 13.5%. The poll was conducted Monday to Sunday from a sample of 1401.

Further:

• The Age/Herald had further results from last week’s Resolve Strategic poll on Sunday, showing 48% support for constitutional recognition of Indigenous people as the first inhabitants of Australia, an even 40% for and against a legislated voice, 33% support for a Commonwealth treaty with 37% opposed, and 35% support for the Makarrata Commission for truth-telling with 31% opposed.

• Public suggestions have been published for the Western Australian federal redistribution, with both major parties’ new submissions concurring with the conventional wisdom that the state’s new seat will need to be in Perth’s eastern suburbs. Labor proposes a seat called Farmer in honour of local football legend Graham “Polly” Farmer taking out a large part of the current seat of Hasluck, which would deeper into suburbia in the west. The Liberals propose a seat of Court in honour of two of the party’s past premiers, which would likewise take a large chunk of Hasluck, but extend instead beyond the metropolitan area in the conservative territory of the Avon Valley. The deadline for submission for Victoria’s federal redistribution is on Friday, to be published next Wednesday. The finalisation of Western Australia’s state redistribution is also due “no later” than December 1.

• Two Liberal Senate preselections will be held on the weekend, one being to fill the vacancy created by Marise Payne’s retirement in New South Wales. Moderate-aligned former state government minister Andrew Constance is routinely invoked as the front-runner, but Peter Dutton is supporting conservative former ACT Senator Zed Seselja, and Monica Tudehope, former deputy chief-of-staff to Dominic Perrottet and daughter of Finance Minister Damien Tudehope, has support from Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black. Also in the field are former parliamentarians Dave Sharma and Lou Amato, NSW RSL president James Brown, and Lowy Institute research fellow Jess Collins.

• A vote of 67 preselectors on Saturday will determine the Tasmanian Liberals’ Senate ticket, in which conservative-backed Clarence mayor Brendan Blomeley hopes to wrest the second position from moderate incumbent Richard Colbeck. Conservative incumbent Claire Chandler appears assured of top position, with another conservative, Simon Behrakis, a possibility for the usually unfruitful third position. UPDATE: Informed local observer Kevin Bonham notes in comments that Simon Behrakis has filled a vacancy in state parliament, and is presumably no longer in the running.

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.

1,252 comments on “Midweek miscellany: Morgan poll, redistributions, Liberal Senate preselections (open thread)”

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  4. Harry Souttar has continued to defy his lack of game time at club level with another decisive international display in the Socceroos’ 1-0 win over Palestine.

  6. Ministers in the Albanese government are preparing for a report to recommend whether Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo should be removed from his role over covert dealings with lobbyists and secret efforts to gain and exert political influence during the terms of the Turnbull and Morrison governments.
    Four government sources, including senior ministers who spoke on background to discuss sensitive details before the report’s release, confirmed Public Service Commissioner Lynelle Briggs had finalised an eight-week investigation into whether the divisive and powerful department chief breached the public service code of conduct.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-prepares-for-findings-on-senior-public-servant-20231121-p5elnw.html

  7. The chief executive of Binance, the largest global cryptocurrency exchange, plans to step down and plead guilty to violating criminal U.S. anti-money-laundering requirements, in a deal that may preserve the company’s ability to continue operating, according to people familiar with the matter.
    Changpeng Zhao is scheduled to appear in Seattle federal court Tuesday afternoon and enter his plea, according to court records unsealed Tuesday. Prosecutors also unsealed a document charging Binance, which Zhao owns, with anti-money-laundering and sanctions crimes. Binance will also plead guilty and agree to pay fines totaling $4.3 billion, which includes amounts to settle civil allegations made by regulators, the people said. Zhao has agreed to pay a criminal fine of $50 million, although that amount may be reduced based on separate civil penalties he has agreed to pay, court records show.
    The deal would end long-running investigations of Binance. Zhao founded the firm in 2017 and turned it into the most important hub of the global crypto market. The criminal probe, in particular, has shadowed the company even as its market share initially grew after the collapse last year of FTX, one of its main offshore competitors.

  8. The ‘high profile man’ is about to hit the witness box, to explain why he was defamed.

    Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann faces a court grilling for the first time about an allegation he raped Brittany Higgins in a Parliament House office.

    Lehrmann’s high-profile defamation case over media reports regarding the rape claim is set to come to a head on Wednesday with an 18-day hearing scheduled to begin in the Federal Court.

    The law student is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over a report on the sexual assault allegations aired on The Project in June 2021.

    He is also suing the Australian Broadcasting Corporation over the live broadcast of a joint speech by Ms Higgins and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame at the National Press Club in February 2022.

    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8432257/defamation-trial-over-lehrmann-rape-allegation-to-begin/?cs=14329

    And this is how the Daily Rupert is reporting it..

    Wilkinson’s battle with Lerhmann to begin
    Bruce Lehrmann will arrive in the Federal Court in Sydney on Wednesday as he gets set to face off against Lisa Wilkinson in their blockbuster defamation lawsuit trial.

  9. sprocket_,
    Would Lehrmann’s Defamation claim success hinge on the fact his first trial didn’t convict him of the offence? Also, how would the accusations which have surfaced in his second trial influence his defense?

  10. Ministers in the Albanese government are preparing for a report to recommend whether Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo should be removed from his role over covert dealings with lobbyists and secret efforts to gain and exert political influence during the terms of the Turnbull and Morrison governments.

    Four government sources, including senior ministers who spoke on background to discuss sensitive details before the report’s release, confirmed Public Service Commissioner Lynelle Briggs had finalised an eight-week investigation into whether the divisive and powerful department chief breached the public service code of conduct.

    Briggs was commissioned to probe Pezzullo’s dealings with Liberal powerbroker and lobbyist Scott Briggs after The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes revealed a cache of messages between the pair. Lynelle and Scott Briggs are not related.

    The government will receive and respond to the report within days.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-prepares-for-findings-on-senior-public-servant-20231121-p5elnw.html

  11. This is fascinating research out of Queensland:

    Senescent cells are cells that stop dividing, healing or operating properly but refuse to die. These zombie cells can be cleared by the immune system, but they also tend to build up naturally as we age.

    A developing body of evidence suggests these cells contribute to cognitive decline, disorders such as Alzheimer’s, and potentially the memory loss and brain fog associated with long COVID.

    But some drugs, Queensland researchers report in Nature Aging, can eliminate these hordes of zombie cells from brain tissue.

    The lead author of the research, University of Queensland’s Dr Julio Aguado, says that in some ways, senescent cells are comparable to cancer cells.

    “They both manage to bypass apoptosis, they resist cell death,” says Aguado, a research fellow at the university’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.

    “[Senescent cells] really stay immortal in our body without proliferating and with only one function that is really detrimental for the body, which is that they’re pro-inflammatory.”

    Senescent cells can emit inflammatory compounds that damage surrounding healthy cells (like zombies, they devour human flesh), which is why it pays to flush them out.

    Aguado and his colleagues grew the brain organoids from embryonic stem cells, which can be shaped in the lab to form any kind of cell or tissue.

    Aguado’s team let the mini brains age for eight months, so they naturally developed senescent cells. They infected another batch with COVID, and confirmed that the virus triggers senescence in brain tissue.

    Then they brought in the zombie-hunting drugs.

    They found that four drugs, called senolytics, flushed out senescent cells from organoids, and some almost completely wound back the clock on the “age” of the mini brains and reversed COVID-related damage.

    The best treatment was a combination of two drugs: a flavonoid (an antioxidant found in plants) and a chemotherapy drug.

    Chemotherapy drugs could be effective on senescent cells, Aguado says, because of their similarities with cancer cells – they’re both malfunctioning cells that resist death.

    The drugs also worked in flushing out senescent cells generated by COVID infection, and they reduced the actual amount of virus in the infected mini brains.

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/scientists-may-have-found-a-way-to-reverse-ageing-with-zombie-hunter-drugs-20231116-p5ekg9.html

    Wow! Huh?

  12. The Republican Party brand continues to crater with voters, including its own

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/21/2207095/-The-Republican-Party-brand-continues-to-crater-with-voters-including-its-own?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_6&pm_medium=web

    “Civiqs tracking of the GOP favorability rating has the party 42 points underwater with registered voters (66% unfavorable, 24% favorable)—a 7-point decline since the beginning of August.”

    “Among all voters, Democrats aren’t exactly killing it. But at -17, the party is smelling like a rose compared to its Republican counterpart.”

  13. Hi C@T

    Sorry, I dozed off last night. I agree with all that Socrates said. In addition, like all other renewables there is always pushback from the Opposition and some segment in industry but importantly in this case too there is no Australian car industry remaining, only supplementary industries.

    In addition, the two major states have also withdrawn subsidy incentives so there is little remaining economic incentive being provided to purchase EVs and so the lack of an emissions policy will only further harm an inevitable evolution. I too doubt this will be the main focus of the Opposition’s election campaign, they have bigger fish to fry in terms of housing, inflation and interest rates.

    If as expected the latter two begin to drop and the consumer feels better, ironically the consumer will push for more and cheaper EVs. And in the current and increasingly permanent petrol price environment, EVs make so much sense in terms of savings when added to the limited maintenance bills.

  14. ‘The game is over’: Conservatism’s biggest conference group is now in dire trouble

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/21/2207047/–The-game-is-over-Conservatism-s-biggest-conference-group-is-now-in-dire-trouble?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_7&pm_medium=web

    “But CPAC is now in an existential crisis, reports The Washington Post. And naturally, it’s Schlapp’s fault.”

    Pressure mounts on CPAC chief Matt Schlapp as legal costs spiral

    The parent organization of the Conservative Political Action Conference lost another high-profile board member this week amid mounting criticism of Chairman Matt Schlapp and ballooning legal fees from a sexual misconduct lawsuit against him.

    Morton Blackwell, who has served on the board of the American Conservative Union (ACU) since the 1970s, said he submitted his resignation Monday but declined to comment further. Blackwell is the founder and president of the Leadership Institute, which trains conservative activists, and also serves as one of Virginia’s members on the Republican National Committee. He has previously expressed concerns about the sexual misconduct claim against Schlapp.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/11/15/matt-schlapp-cpac-legal-fees/

  15. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Nick McKenzie and Lames Massola tell us that ministers in the Albanese government are preparing for a report to recommend whether Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo should be removed from his role over covert dealings with lobbyists and secret efforts to gain and exert political influence during the terms of the Turnbull and Morrison governments.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-prepares-for-findings-on-senior-public-servant-20231121-p5elnw.html
    According to Angus Thompson and Paul Sakkal, former immigration detainees considered harmless and already living in the community will be forced to wear ankle bracelets alongside murderers and rapists released following a landmark High Court decision. Human rights lawyer David Manne has said the government’s new laws meant former detainees were still deprived of their liberties, despite the High Court’s ruling.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/cleanskin-former-detainees-given-ankle-bracelets-alongside-criminals-20231121-p5eloa.html
    The government considered releasing the man who sparked the landmark ruling on indefinite detention – even though he raped a 10-year-old boy – in a bid to stave off the high court challenge that led to the release of 92 others. According to documents published by the high court, on 26 May an assistant secretary in the home affairs department wrote to the offices of both ministers responsible in an email titled “NZYQ v Minister … indefinite detention / Al Kateb challenge … proposal to reconsider exercising ministerial intervention powers under the Act in light of litigation risk”.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/21/labor-thought-it-could-prevent-release-of-92-indefinite-detainees-by-freeing-one-rapist-documents-suggest
    Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock has warned wages are growing at a rate that cannot be sustained without a reversal in the nation’s productivity slump, flagging the possibility of another cash rate increase to quash inflation, writes Michael Read.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/bullock-issues-wages-warning-as-rba-considers-another-rate-rise-20231121-p5ellp
    A third of businesses are considering laying off workers before Christmas while more than 1.2 million people have delayed medical appointments or prescription refills because of their cost as the Reserve Bank’s war on inflation intensifies financial pressure on companies and households. The growing cost pressures faced by Australians are fuelling an increasingly bitter political debate, write Shane Wright, Natassia Chrysanthos and Rachel Clun.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/jobs-and-doctor-visits-go-as-rba-war-on-inflation-cuts-deep-20231121-p5eliq.html
    Tougher curbs on greenhouse emissions are needed to deliver on Australia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement goal of halting global warming at 1.5 degrees, says Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, who used a major speech to defend progress to date. Mike Foley reports that, in an address to the Lowy Institute last night, Bowen said the nation’s climate goals would extend beyond its renewable energy ambitions to other sectors of the economy.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/bowen-defends-incremental-climate-progress-but-flags-tougher-curbs-20231121-p5elmj.html
    “Anthony Albanese’s position on China is becoming untenable. It’s inconsistent, incoherent, self-contradictory and frankly a little ridiculous. Either the Prime Minister did raise with Xi Jinping China’s shocking actions at sea that deliberately caused the injury of Australian navy personnel, or he didn’t. Albanese’s later comments on Sky TV criticising China look like a now typical government effort to clean up a prime ministerial mess”, says Greg Sheridan.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/diplomacy-position-on-china-discussion-becoming-untenable/news-story/3f178d52fc9e522f5f7f1bcafac595c9?amp=
    The Government has released its ‘Review into Secrecy Provisions’ whose fine print contains the greatest assault on democracy and accountability in many years, writes Rex Patrick.
    https://michaelwest.com.au/government-review-of-secrecy-provisions-an-assault-on-democracy/
    In direct contradiction to the 1945 Nuremberg trials, the Crown successfully argued in the prosecution of Afghan Files military whistleblower David McBride for breaching the Defence Forces Act that the sole duty of an Australian soldier is to follow orders. An Australian soldier does not serve Australia, or the Australian people or the public interest. The final blow for McBride fell last Thursday, when the court was closed down under Australia’s National Security Act, and a large contingent of men in suits confiscated all the files that the Defence had planned to use to argue McBride’s public interest defence, writes John Jiggins.
    https://johnmenadue.com/british-crown-successful-overturns-nuremberg-war-crimes-principles-in-australian-court/
    The Age exposes a concerning organised crime activity surfacing on Melbourne. Not a good look!
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-water-probing-manager-after-millions-in-work-went-to-company-linked-to-wife-20231120-p5el8i.html
    Tony Burke’s breakthrough deal with Steve Knott is the most remarkable alliance in industrial relations politics since Christian Porter revealed he had become “best friends forever” with Sally McManus at the height of the Covid crisis. The Australian’s Ewan Hannam writes that Knott, chief executive of the Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association, is an industrial relations warrior, having been a vocal, hardline critic of Labor’s policies for years
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/unlikely-alliance-lifts-hopes-for-ir-bill-passage/news-story/bc22cc492b1cd81c6ea031bff41d6892?amp=
    The mainstream media are ramping up efforts to malign the Albanese Labor Government unfairly, as Alan Austin reports. He says the Coalition parties and their spruikers in the major media networks are struggling to find fault with the reformist Albanese Government’s economic management. So, half-way through its first term, they are resorting to dodgy narratives.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/afr-fudges-figures-to-foment-anti-albanesefervour,18091
    The government will merge Australia’s three accounting standards bodies into one – in the largest reform to the accounting sector in decades. Not everyone’s happy, writes Edmund Tadros.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/the-triple-merger-that-could-transform-accounting-20231121-p5elr6
    National Anti-Corruption Commission head Paul Brereton has vowed the new body will have a special focus on consultants and contractors who treat government work as “a milch cow”. Mr Brereton, the former war crimes investigator and NSW supreme court judge, told a conference hosted by the Governance Institute of Australia on Tuesday in Adelaide that the malaise could be traced back to the Rudd government’s pink batts fiasco.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/corruption-boss-targets-easy-money-for-contractors-20231121-p5ellw
    Teaching gender equality is hard when we segregate school students, says the SMH editorial.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/teaching-gender-equality-is-hard-when-we-segregate-school-students-20231121-p5elkx.html
    Melbourne Water is investigating one of its top managers in charge of construction contracts after millions of dollars in work for the water authority was contracted to a company where his wife was chief operating officer. Niru Gosavi left Melbourne Water this month after eight years as general manager of major capital delivery, reports Clay Lucas.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-water-probing-manager-after-millions-in-work-went-to-company-linked-to-wife-20231120-p5el8i.html
    A $US36 billion ($54 billion) selloff of the shares in two of China’s biggest technology companies is a pretty clear signal that the Biden administration’s tightened restrictions on sales of advanced semiconductors to China are biting. Stephen Bartholomeusz reports that shares in both Alibaba and Tencent Holdings have slumped heavily in the past few days after Alibaba pulled the planned spin-out and float of its $US11 billion cloud business last week, citing the restrictions on chip sales as the reason for the decision.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/chinese-giants-lose-billions-as-biden-ban-inflicts-pain-20231121-p5elis.html
    The pressure on Netanyahu is starting to tell – this potential truce shows something has changed, opines Simon Tisdall.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/21/pressure-benjamin-netanyahu-potential-truce-gaza-hostages
    Argentina’s new leader is a snake-oil salesman with extreme views on abortion, gay rights and more. I fear for my country, laments Argentinian, Uki Goni.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/21/argentina-new-leader-extreme-abortion-gay-rights-javier-milei
    Former federal Labor MP Craig Thomson has admitted to spending tens of thousands of dollars fraudulently claimed in COVID-19 small business grants on personal expenses including a credit card, private school fees, accommodation, a car lease and mortgage repayments. He thereby is nominated for a bar for his previous “Arsehole of the Week” efforts.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/former-labor-mp-craig-thomson-pleads-guilty-to-covid-19-grant-fraud-20231121-p5elka.html

    Cartoon Corner

    David Rowe

    David Pope

    Mark David

    Simon Letch

    John Shakespeare

    Cathy Wilcox

    Fiona Katauskas

    Glen Le Lievre

    Mark Knight

    Spooner

    From the US















  16. Ven says:
    Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 7:03 am
    The Republican Party brand continues to crater with voters, including its own.
    ——————-

    Ven

    The disparity between supposed poll results and this information is very confusing, they’re entirely contradictory.

  17. sprocket _: “The ‘high profile man’ is about to hit the witness box, to explain why he was defamed.”

    As Oscar Wilde might have wryly observed:

    To face one serious charge may be regarded as a misfortune; to face two looks like carelessness.

  19. Ven,
    I noticed last night you brought up Trump’s continued defense of the accusation about the ‘golden showers’ being that he’s a germophobe. There is an easily identifiable fly in the ointment of that defense. Urine is sterile. If I know that, a germophobe would probably know that too. Not that I think Trump is actually a germophobe, he doesn’t actually behave like any germophobe I’ve ever known.

  20. Canberra Liberals’ ‘new beginning’ as party leaves ’empty chair’ president

    In what has been described by some Liberal members as chaotic scenes, the long-time ally of former ACT senator Zed Seselja, John Cziesla, was voted out of the position to an empty chair 117 votes to 123 during a fiery meeting on Tuesday night that went on for more than four hours.

    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8432235/canberra-liberals-president-john-cziesla-voted-out-in-anti-zed-move/

  23. I don’t want to be accused of trolling so I’ll just say these new poll numbers are great. Just great.
    Dutton is toast…..
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    Toast I tells ya

  27. “The mainstream media are ramping up efforts to malign the Albanese Labor Government unfairly, as Alan Austin reports. He says the Coalition parties and their spruikers in the major media networks are struggling to find fault with the reformist Albanese Government’s economic management.”

    You could live a few lifetimes without meeting a more committed partisan supporter than Alan Austin.

  28. Pueo @ #NaN Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023 – 7:57 am

    “Urine is sterile.”

    Despite the rumors, urine is not a sterile substance. It naturally contains bacteria that renders it a nonsterile substance. While the bacterial levels are likely low, it’s important to understand the implications of drinking urine, either for your health or survival.

    https://www.healthline.com/health/is-urine-sterile

    Thanks for that, Pueo. 😆

    I’d say that there might be a case for testing whether the bacteria popped up between (v*g***l)lip and cup, so to speak. 😉

  31. shellbell @ #NaN Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023 – 8:11 am

    “The mainstream media are ramping up efforts to malign the Albanese Labor Government unfairly, as Alan Austin reports. He says the Coalition parties and their spruikers in the major media networks are struggling to find fault with the reformist Albanese Government’s economic management.”

    You could live a few lifetimes without meeting a more committed partisan supporter than Alan Austin.

    It’s an essentially verifiable observation though. I have taken to watching The Today Show interviews that Karl Stefanovic does with Labor government Ministers and Coalition Opposition spokespeople and it’s obvious, to me anyway, that he is indulgent of the Coalition people and their talking points, but sceptical and misleading with the way he crafts the narrative wrt the government. He feigns respect for the Labor government but the whole tone of the interviews suggests otherwise.

    For example, this morning he interviewed Clare O’Neil. Apparently, the biggest deal to Stefanovic was that 100% of released detainees didn’t have their ankle bracelets on already. The Minister explained that each case needs to be reviewed before that could happen. Not good enough for Stefanovic, should just be done! Also, he continued to peddle the line that it took the government too long to respond to the High Court Ruling, when the Minister pointed out it took 1 week and 1 day, he again tut tutted and continued to push the line that it should have been quicker.

    So it’s this spurious way of conducting interviews with one side compared with the other that colours perceptions. And it’s relentless by these talking heads in the populist media.

  32. ”
    C@tmommasays:
    Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 7:32 am
    Ven,
    I noticed last night you brought up Trump’s continued defense of the accusation about the ‘golden showers’ being that he’s a germophobe. There is an easily identifiable fly in the ointment of that defense. Urine is sterile. If I know that, a germophobe would probably know that too. Not that I think Trump is actually a germophobe, he doesn’t actually behave like any germophobe I’ve ever known.
    ”

    C@tmomma
    There are many bizzare accusations against Trump which are believable. I understand Anything is possible with Trump but I don’t think this is one of them. But my query is why does he have to bring it up without prompt and when nobody really cares about this accusation?

  34. shellbellsays:
    Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 8:11 am
    “The mainstream media are ramping up efforts to malign the Albanese Labor Government unfairly, as Alan Austin reports. He says the Coalition parties and their spruikers in the major media networks are struggling to find fault with the reformist Albanese Government’s economic management.”

    “You could live a few lifetimes without meeting a more committed partisan supporter than Alan Austin.”

    Just depends on which nose ring you choose and how willingly you allow it to be inserted.
    The Voice campaign, the media contributions, the “seemingly” successful opposition leader Dutton, the economic reporting (fact or fiction), the short memories of voters and the condition of the polling has in a relatively short time, been astounding.

    The idiots are having their moment in the sun unexpectantly earlier than even they imagined.

    The right don’t like to lose (rather like the England cricket team) and respond with all the gay abandon of footy hooligans.

    The election loss in 2022 and the dishonesty, corruption, deception and exposure of the failings of the Morrison government is still ‘very raw’.

    And those Teals !

    The Dutton opposition, the disingenuous media and the leftovers have gone too early.

  35. Thanks, Terminator. Where do these people get off!?! They have a responsibility, as a result of the position they hold, to be fair and respectful. That they don’t is contemptible.

  36. ”
    Cronussays:
    Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 7:22 am
    Ven says:
    Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 7:03 am
    The Republican Party brand continues to crater with voters, including its own.
    ——————-

    Ven

    The disparity between supposed poll results and this information is very confusing, they’re entirely contradictory.
    ”

    Cronus
    That poll is reflective of US HOR.

  37. The media don’t have a responsibility to be fair. They have the right to push whatever barrow the proprietors, editors or journalists choose to push. That’s freedom of the press.

  39. Donald Trump files frivolous $1.5 billion suit against 20 media outlets

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/21/2207250/-Donald-Trump-files-frivolous-1-5-billion-suit-against-20-media-outlets?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_1&pm_medium=web

    “In just the past year, Donald Trump has:

    Filed and then dropped a $500 million suit against his former attorney, Michael Cohen.

    Lost a $475 million defamation suit against CNN.

    Lost a counter-defamation suit against writer E. Jean Carroll that he filed the day after she won a $5 million settlement against him for defamation and sexual abuse.

    Lost a defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post over articles about his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

    Lost a $100 million lawsuit against The New York Times (and his own niece) for what Trump called “an insidious plot” to reveal tax information.

    That’s more than $1 billion in dismissed lawsuits this year,

  40. ”
    nathsays:
    Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 8:51 am
    The media don’t have a responsibility to be fair. They have the right to push whatever barrow the proprietors, editors or journalists choose to push. That’s freedom of the press.
    ”

    So-called ‘Freedom of Press ‘ is ‘talking truth to power’. But when that happens only against one side of politics and sucking up to other side of politics, which enables anti-democratic behaviour leading to authoritarianism, then we have a serious problem with so-called ‘Press’

  41. C@tmomma says:
    Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 7:01 am
    This is fascinating research out of Queensland:

    Senescent cells are cells that stop dividing, healing or operating properly but refuse to die. These zombie cells can be cleared by the immune system, but they also tend to build up naturally as we age.
    ——————————

    C@T

    I read about this elsewhere a couple of days ago in a science review and I agree, it’s a novel approach with exciting initial results that I suspect are not transitory in the way a number of initially positive alzheimers-based experiments are. And nice to see that it’s local and hopefully may gain additional support.

  44. Ven says:
    Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 8:57 am
    Donald Trump files frivolous $1.5 billion suit against 20 media outlets
    ————————

    Ven

    So much winning… not. 😆

  45. Report says world’s richest 1% responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/21/2207203/-Report-says-world-s-richest-1-responsible-for-more-carbon-emissions-than-the-poorest-66?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

    “Next week, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference gets under way in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Among the items on the agenda is climate justice.

    Ahead of the conference, The Guardian has been publishing the results of the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of the causes and consequences of global climate inequality. The newspaper has been working for the past six months with Oxfam, the Stockholm Environment Institute, and other experts on an investigation into The Great Carbon Divide, which looks at “the disproportionate impact of super-rich individuals, who have been termed the “polluter elite.”

    The report found:

    The richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%, with dire consequences for vulnerable communities and global efforts to tackle the climate emergency …

    This elite group, made up of 77 million people including billionaires, millionaires and those paid more than US$140,000 (£112,500) a year, accounted for 16% of all CO2 emissions in 2019 – enough to cause more than a million excess deaths due to heat.

    In the introduction to its series on climate inequality, The Guardian wrote that the richest 10% of humanity are responsible for 50% of all climate-heating greenhouse gas emissions; the middle 40% for about 43%, and the bottom 50% for about 8%.

  46. Interest rates were so low during the pandemic.

    People are now generally paying an extra 2000 per month on their mortgages.
    Add this it everything else being more costly, it was not surprising the govt is losing popularity.

  49. ”
    Victoriasays:
    Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 9:15 am
    Interest rates were so low during the pandemic.

    People are now generally paying an extra 2000 per month on their mortgages.
    Add this it everything else being more costly, it was not surprising the govt is losing popularity.
    ”

    Interest rates were never supposed to be that low.
    They became so low because of 2 extraordinary International events such as GFC and COVID.
    Banks went out of their way to differ mortgage loans during those extraordinary times and are now clawing back their margins.
    People, who took loans during that time and paid low interest at that time, came to believe that is the new-normal.
    But over the history of ‘Interest rates ‘ they were minimum at the rates they currently are.

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