First up, developments ahead of the Dunkley by-election, which Rachel Baxendale of The Australian reported yesterday was “unlikely to be held before late February”:
• A Liberal preselection ballot scheduled for January 14 is expected to include Frankston mayor Nathan Conroy; Donna Hope, who as Donna Bauer held the state seat of Carrum from 2010 to 2014 and is now an electorate officer to Chris Crewther, former federal member for Dunkley and now state member for Mornington; Bec Buchanan, another staffer to Crewther and the party’s state candidate for Carrum in 2022; and Sorrento real estate agent David Burgess, who was on the party’s Legislative Council ticket for Eastern Victoria in 2022.
• Paul Sakkal of The Age today reports the widower of the late Labor member Peta Murphy, Rod Glover, is being encouraged to seek preselection by “senior Labor figures”. The report describes Glover as a “respected former staffer to Kevin Rudd, university professor and public policy expert”. Also mentioned in Rachel Baxendale’s report were Madison Child, an “international relations and public policy graduate in her mid twenties who grew up in Frankston”, and has lately worked as an electorate officer to Murphy; Georgia Fowler, a local nurse who ran in Mornington at the November 2022 state election; and Joshua Sinclair, chief executive of the Committee for Frankston and Mornington Peninsula.
Other preselection news:
• Tim Wilson has confirmed he will seek Liberal preselection to recover the Melbourne seat of Goldstein following his defeat at the hands of teal independent Zoe Daniel in 2022. Paul Sakkal of The Age reports he is “unlikely to face a challenger”.
• Lydia Lynch of The Australian today reports nominations for Liberal National Party preselection will close on January 15 in the inner Brisbane seat of Ryan, which the party lost to Elizabeth Watson-Brown of the Greens in 2022, and the Gold Coast seat of McPherson, which will be vacated with the retirement of Karen Andrews. The front-runner in the former case is said to be Maggie Forrest, barrister and the party’s honorary legal adviser. In addition to the previously identified Ben Naday, Leon Rebello and David Stevens in McPherson (the first two being rated the front-runners) is Adam Fitzgibbons, head of public affairs at Coles. Party insiders are said to be “increasingly concerned” about the emergence of a “McPherson Matters” group that is preparing a teal independent bid for the seat.
• Lily McCaffrey of the Herald-Sun reports Emanuele Cicchiello, deputy principal Lighthouse Christian College deputy principal, has been preselected as Liberal candidate for Aston, the Melbourne seat that was lost to the party in a historic by-election result on April 1. Cicchiello ran unsuccessfully in Bruce in 2013 and has made numerous other bids for preselection.
• Rochelle Pattison, chair of Transgender Victoria and director of corporate finance firm Chimaera Capital, has nominated for Liberal preselection in Kooyong, joining an existing field consisting of Amelia Hamer, Susan Morris and Michael Flynn.
• The New South Wales Liberal Party website records two unheralded federal election candidates in Sam Kayal, a local accountant who will again run in Werriwa following an unsuccessful bid in 2022, and Katie Mullens, conservative-aligned solicitor at Barrak Lawyers who ran for the state seat of Parramatta in March and has now been preselected for the federal seat of the same name.
Polling news:
• The Courier-Mail sought to read the temperature of Queensland politics post-Annastacia Palaszczuk without breaking the budget by commissioning a uComms robopoll, crediting the Liberal National Party opposition with a two-party lead of 51-49. The only detail provided on primary votes was that the LNP was on 36.2% and Labor 34.4% – no indication was provided as to whether this was exclusive of the uncommitted, which is often not the case withuComms. Steven Miles was viewed positively by 42.7% and negatively by 27.6%, with only the positive rating of 37.8% provided for David Crisafulli. A forced response question on preferred premier had Crisafulli leading Miles by 52.2-47.8. True to the Courier-Mail style guide, the report on this unremarkable set of numbers included the words “startling”, “explosive”, “whopping” and “stunning”. The initial report on Tuesday was accompanied by a hook to a follow-up that promised to tell “who Queenslanders really wanted as Annastacia Palaszczuk’s replacement”. The answer was revealed the next day to be Steven Miles, favoured by 37.8% over Shannon Fentiman on 35.0% and Cameron Dick on 27.1%. The poll was conducted December 21 and 22 from a sample of 1911.
• RedBridge Group has a poll of Victorian state voting intention showing Labor leading 55.9-44.1, little different to the 55.0-45.0 result at the November 2022 election. The primary votes are Labor 37% (36.7% at the election), Coalition 36% (34.5%) and Greens 13% (11.5%). Extensive further results include leadership ratings inclusive of “neither approve nor disapprove” option that find Jacinta Allan viewed positively by 24%, negatively by 30% and neutrally by 32%, John Pesutto at 16% positive, 36% neutral and 29% negative, and Greens leader Samantha Ratnam at 14% positive, 29% neutral and 35% negative. The poll was conducted December 2 to 12 from a sample of 2026.
• Nine Newspapers published results from Resolve Strategic on Thursday on whether various politicians were viewed positively, neutrally, negatively or not at all, which it had held back from its last national poll nearly a month ago. Whereas a similar recent exercise by Roy Morgan simply invited respondents to identify politicians they did and didn’t trust, this one took the to-my-mind more useful approach of presenting respondents with a set list of forty names. In the federal sphere, the five most positively rated were Penny Wong (net 14%, meaning the difference between her positive and negative results), Jacqui Lambie (10%), Jacinta Price (6%), David Pocock (5%) and Tanya Plibersek (3%). The lowest were Scott Morrison (minus 35%), Lidia Thorpe (minus 29%, a particularly remarkable result given what was presumably modest name recognition), Barnaby Joyce (minus 27%), Pauline Hanson (minus 25%) and, interestingly, Bob Katter (minus 15%). Of state leaders, Chris Minns (plus 14%) and David Crisafulli (plus 9%) did notably well, and John Pesutto (minus 7%) and the since-departed Annastacia Palaszczuk (minus 17%) notably poorly. The poll was conducted November 29 to December 3 from a sample of 1605.
The latest US presidential election poll from USA Today and Suffolk University finds that Donald Trump is ahead of Joe Biden among young voters and Hispanic voters. These are two cohorts that Democrats typically win by very large margins. Joe Biden is being reckless by seeking a second term. He’s a woefully weak candidate. He’s putting the future of his country in jeopardy, all because his ego won’t let him put the people first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua6Q8MPe8_U
@FUBAR:
“Bill Maher is one of the few sane public lefties in the US. He’s the Joe Hildebrand of the US.”
________
That’s pretty damning of Maher.
Says Nicholas who predicted that Joe Biden wouldn’t win a 1st Term and that only Bernie Sanders could beat Donald Trump. 😆
I think Nicholas needs to listen to people who actually know what they’re talking about:
https://youtu.be/nB47PS_1Zes?si=rC-_anrYAeKT9DP1
I’ve had my doubts about Biden running for a second term. But young Nicholas has quite persuaded me that Biden is the right choice:
“The latest US presidential election poll from USA Today and Suffolk University finds that Donald Trump is ahead of Joe Biden among young voters and Hispanic voters. These are two cohorts that Democrats typically win by very large margins. Joe Biden is being reckless by seeking a second term. He’s a woefully weak candidate. He’s putting the future of his country in jeopardy, all because his ego won’t let him put the people first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua6Q8MPe8_U”
_________
Who can forget Nicholas’s pontifications during the Primaries four years ago. … and if you have all forgotten I’ll post the more ‘certain’ yet unintentionally hilarious examples over coming days.
Earlwood
Only if you’re a hard left green-Stalinist who has zero connection with the vast majority of voters – you know the ones – the ones who votes win elections.
Only the impotent are pure.
The founding charter of the Likud Party in Israel includes the statement: “Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.”
The “from the river to the sea” idea has been used in different ways throughout history, including the call for a single, multi-ethnic, multi-religious Israeli state that extends equal rights to Palestinians. Context matters. Intention matters. Snowflakes, practitioners of cancel culture, and the chronically obtuse don’t agree.
This is interesting in an intersectionality way with how keen the Coalition were to go into bat for the Qataris over airline slots:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/03/world/middleeast/menendez-indictment-qatar.html
Not that familiar with Joe Hildebrand’s work, given that it is buried behind a NewsCorp paywall, but I’ve read a couple of his articles. He is no lefty. I got the impression that he was a NewsCorp Fifth Columnist working among the “invincibly ignorant” who would not abandon Labor. He was urging them instead to preference in NewsCorp’s interest (so against their own), for example by suggesting that they preference Liberals over minor parties and independents in the 2022 election. Basically doing what he could to blunt strategic preferencing in that instance.
goll says:
…
Don’t whinge when “reality” smacks you in the face FUBAR.
The reality, the referendum failed.
The reality, there are 25 million Australians, one million identify as aboriginal ( this is more than when cook arrived),with considerable interbreeding . When you are 4% of the population you lost, the invader has overwhelmed you with population growth.
I don’t know what the the path forward is, but it certainly is not what has been. Welcome to country and turning Australia day into a cultural worrier day has not delivered recognition in the constitution, or a body ran by those affected by the policies being develop, which I think is a pity.
The think I find amazing is the Greens worked so hard for the failure.
timbo,
There is a Victorian scheme where you could possibly replace one of your electric hot water systems with a heat-pump system with a discount of around $1,000:
https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/households/victorian-energy-upgrades-for-households/hot-water-systems
But that still means coming up with $1 – 2K in readies, which is not easy.
In NSW, in your situation, you would be able to (probably) get your old electric HWS replaced with a heat-pump system for only $33.
Our Victorian PBers can perhaps provide more up-to-date advice on their state scheme.
After the discussion of the last few days, I ended up ordering a heat-pump replacement for my instantaneous gas system (19 years old) for ~$1850 in NSW. When I got the quote, I asked the person to repeat the number, and they immediately explained to me that the $33 cost* for exchanging your electric hot water system for a heat pump system did not apply to me because I had gas.
* So any of you guys in NSW who qualify for the $33 exchange take note.
I was actually surprised at how low the cost was. I had assumed that the NSW government would not want those of us on gas to switch to electricity, because at the moment, electricity in NSW is coal generated.
But, the NSW government is obviously looking to the future – AEMO modelling suggests that coal-fired power generation will cease in NSW and Australia by 2035 at the latest, and so moving people to electricity makes a good long-term investment.
Living between France and Australia is interesting.
In France, they are giving free non-gas central heating systems to anyone who asks. I am not eligible as I am a non resident for taxation purposes, although I do (willingly) pay quite a bit of tax through VAT and rates etc.
In France they have a lot of electricity (nuclear generated at the moment), but not much gas. They are also installing amazing amounts of electricity generation through wind and solar farms.
So, I am surprised but pleased that the NSW government is willing to subsidise me replacing my gas HWS with an electric one. But, taking the long view, they are right.
Mavis,
Thanks so much for your “Gossamer” video from the other night. I was particularly impressed by the “wife”, who was 16 if she was a day, paired with the “rugged” 30 something man.
This is why I love the drag bingo at our local on Wednesday nights. Our host uses a lot of gossamer , and shows us how to really shine with hair spray, high heels, a sparkly frock and makeup.
frednk
“I don’t know what the the path forward is, but it certainly is not what has been.”
That’s the reality .
The path forward has been inhibited by the Voice referendum.
The path still has to be “trodden”.
The attitude being “harangued” by the FUBARs of the world is “that’s it then”.
History suggests that’s not how it works.
goll says:
…
The path forward has been inhibited by the Voice referendum.
…
You would do well to consider why it failed instead of trying to flog a dead horse, and the reasons will not be found in a Labor, Labor chant.
If history could be unwound I would own half the forests in Romania. There has been two major political shifts since then. The forests are now owned by the state.
The Voice failed because certain very well-funded vested interests that themselves have a very loud voice didn’t want a bar of it.
This Joe Hildebrand?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ya445ToLq4
Nicholas says:
Thursday, January 4, 2024 at 3:17 pm…..
N, are you running for something? Or from something? That’s campaign-talk. Is there a seat? Can a bludger win an election?
Joe Biden only won the general election in 2020 by forty thousand votes in three swing states. Bernie Sanders would have won by a much bigger margin than that. Joe Biden was a mediocre candidate in 2020 and he is an abysmal candidate today. He needs to end his campaign for the good of his country.
Douglas and Milko – thankyou for providing that info.
Many folks could and should make use of those incentives.
I think the HWS schemes in various states are just the sort of push that some people need to either move away from gas or to more efficient use of electricity when heating water. As a Victorian I say thanks Dan.
However, being a renter things get complicated. I’m sure if I pushed my long time landlord something could be done. However, being on a peppercorn rent for over 30 years and only seeing my landlord once a decade or so, I find it more sensible to push ahead alone, without state assistance at this time. I don’t need the incentive – I am fully incentivised! As a pensioner one can live quite comfortably if slightly austerely if your mortgage is paid off. It is RENT that makes it hard for people on a fixed income such as myself, so upsetting that applecart – for me – is to be avoided.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a heat pump HWS but as my electricity comes from solar and a large battery rather than the grid, there is no extra CO2 produced by me not having a heat pump HWS.
As to state subsidies for putting rooftop solar on ones house well…
When the rate you get for exporting to the grid (about 6 cents/KWH) is about 20% of the rate you pay for importing from the grid(about 30 to 40 cents/KWH) it smells not quite right to me. We are subsidising private companies by an outrageous amount with grid tied solar. It is still environmentally better than not doing it, but come on… 6 cents per KWH for them to sell that at 30 cents. Nup nup nup as a great orator once said.
So, for me I’ll be putting more second hand solar panels up and running second hand electric HWS’s. The battery is the key, and of course a big catchment of solar panels to pour into it.
But I have rattled on about my situation enough. Do whatever you can people to reduce your CO2 emissions – it all helps, and we are going to need as much help as we can get over the next decades and beyond. It will get worse before it gets better.
Right, now I remember why I don’t watch commercial TV “News” and “current affairs”.
Nicholas says:
Thursday, January 4, 2024 at 10:25 pm
….and now splitting kindling for the MAGA mob…will you soon burn Biden’s effigy too?
Yeah, and I regret having to think of that pathetic pink Joe when instead wanting to think of the more superior Hildibrand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CGEk_Xz4Uw
“Joe Biden only won the general election in 2020 by forty thousand votes in three swing states. Bernie Sanders would have won by a much bigger margin than that. Joe Biden was a mediocre candidate in 2020 and he is an abysmal candidate today. He needs to end his campaign for the good of his country.”
__________
Lols. Funniest thing I’ve read this year.
The 2020 primaries were THERE for Bernie to win, but the truth was he tanked – could never get past a bare plurality on a good day. That’s why real democrats finally said enough and got behind an actual democrat.
The promise of Bernie was that he was a movement who would actually add massively to the democrat base – but young voters and independents simply didn’t materialise for him in the numbers as promised. Ultimately he didn’t reflect America as it actually exists, not as fantasists like Nicholas imagine it. Shame actually, because no one would accuse Bernie of being senile. But it is what it is.
Shellbell!!!
In any election, if you add up the margins in the “electorates” (however defined) with the narrowest margins, you can always claim that the winner “only won by xx,000 votes”. It‘s a furphy.
“ The think I find amazing is the Greens worked so hard for the failure.”
—————————
Ah, no. Demonstrably inaccurate.
The greens and their leadership campaigned heavily for yes. That is a matter of history.
Thorpe left the greens because she could not get them to oppose the voice. That is a matter of history.
To suggest otherwise is disingenuous.
The voice went down because Dutton stupidly scuttled it and we’re a bunch of racist colonialists.
(I find that think amazing!)
”
Boerwarsays:
Thursday, January 4, 2024 at 8:32 pm
Ven
So John Batman, who allegedly is ‘founder’ of ‘culturally superior’ Melbourne is
…
2. Died of syphilis shortly afterwards at the age of 38 implying that he was a ‘womaniser’ or atleast went to brothels a lot although he sired 7 ‘daughters’ with his wife.’
—————————–
Catching syphilis before condoms and before penicillin can hardly be used as a sign of immorality.
”
Are you saying he got syphilis from his wife?
Like climate action, the bulk of Australia voters are happy to address indigenous disadvantage provided that it costs them nothing. The well-funded opponents of the Voice, who hid behind virtual office addresses, just had to spread enough fear and disinformation to convince enough voters that it would have cost them.
frednk
“You would do well to consider why it failed instead of trying to flog a dead horse, and the reasons will not be fund in a Labor, Labor chant.”
I never mentioned Labor or a Labor chant.
And as to why the referendum failed just attempts to disguise the actual problem(s).
It is being put forward that pre Australia was invaded, defeated and that’s it.
I’m saying that in telling the First Australians to “go and sit over there” because we defeated you is delaying the inevitable problem(s).
There exists inequality in many forms and at many levels in Australia.
Dismissing these problems because you were defeated by the invaders won’t work.
The propagators of the nonsense to enable the NO vote to succeed do not have the long term interests of Australia as a priority and most certainly have little interest in the best interests of First Australians.
Don’t attempt to attache me to the interests of political parties in whatever guise they exist in regards to the matter of inequality and inequality that is experienced by First Australians.
The NO vote was politicised to appeal to a cohort of jealous, insecure, racist, supremacist, greedy and non caring “winning invaders”.
There’s plenty in this “poor fellow my country” nation with a somewhat inaccurate image of themselves.
Human nature is what it is.
The referendum displayed human nature “in a pale light”.
The racists are the people who voted for the racist voice.
Oh dear on the front page of tomorrows west Australian is the fact that the consultants doing the review on live sheep export studies worked for animal activist groups.
The stokes media will spend 2024 ripping the Incompetent federal labor government to shreds nationally.
Pied Piper.
And probable with the same success they have had for the last four years.
Mabwm says:
Thursday, January 4, 2024 at 10:39 pm
“ The think I find amazing is the Greens worked so hard for the failure.”
—————————
Ah, no. Demonstrably inaccurate.
The greens and their leadership campaigned heavily for yes. That is a matter of history.
Thorpe left the greens because she could not get them to oppose the voice. That is a matter of history.
To suggest otherwise is disingenuous.
The voice went down because Dutton stupidly scuttled it and we’re a bunch of racist colonialists.
(I find that think amazing!)
_________
Your spectacles are slightly rosy. Thorpe wasn’t Robinson Crusoe in the party. It was a weak effort in summation by the political leadership. That being said, Greens grassroots supporters did the right thing and the end result wasn’t due to the Greens’ political issues. No political party is perfect 😉
Mabwm
I agree the Greens did campaign for the Voice Yes side; certainly they did here in SA.
That being said, I’d still like to smack whichever tokenistic idiots in the Victorian Greens gifted a known long term political provacateur like Lydia Thorpe with a Senate seat. She first sold out her own party, then her own ethnicity.
Unforgivably stupid, what were they thinking?
Us election is about getting the vote out.Democrats we’re caught off guard they thought Americans would not vote for trump so did not turn out to vote.
He won.
The last election democratic voters came out in huge numbers they won and they will again due to trump annoying them.
What is it with right wing political or protest groups in Western countries targeting Ukraine in an effort to squeeze domestic concessions from their own government? First, there’s the US Republicans holding Ukraine aid to ransom over the completely unrelated issue of immigration policy. Then, it’s Orban’s Hungary demanding a special indulgence to trash democracy and the rule of law but still get tens of billions of euros, or else Ukrainians will get nothing. Now, there’s Polish farmers resuming their blockade of Ukrainian trucks, for the following reasons:
“Roman Kondrow, the leader of a Polish farmers’ organization “Betrayed Countryside,” has demanded written assurances about subsidies for growing corn, increased loans, and maintenance of the agricultural tax at the current rate.
In lieu of such demands being explicitly guaranteed by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Kondrow vowed that the protest would continue starting Jan. 4. Speaking to the Polish Press Agency on Jan. 3, Kondrow said that farmers had not received such assurances on paper.”
https://kyivindependent.com/polish-farmers-resume-blockade-at-poland-ukraine-border-crossing/
Ukraine has nothing to do with Polish corn subsidies, loans and tax concessions to its own agricultural sector. This is yet another case of a right wing interest group in the West basically saying “give us what we want, or Ukrainians will get hurt”. Tell me exactly how this differs from Putin’s own use of innocent Ukrainians to try to get what he wants.
I’m keeping two lists:
1. Who’s seen Ukrainians down and extended them a hand.
2. Who’s seen Ukrainians down and stuck their own boot into them as well.
I guarantee you I’m not the only one on planet earth doing this.
》When the rate you get for exporting to the grid (about 6 cents/KWH) is about 20% of the rate you pay for importing from the grid(about 30 to 40 cents/KWH) it smells not quite right to me. We are subsidising private companies by an outrageous amount with grid tied solar. It is still environmentally better than not doing it, but come on… 6 cents per KWH for them to sell that at 30 cents. Nup nup nup as a great orator once said.
In some cases the big generators are getting paid a negative amount while the solar home owners are getting the 6c.
Now the grid operators and retails need their cut too which is why it is more expensive to buy.
Not here, you’re not.
William, you’re right, I’ll keep it to myself.
If the No Campaign was well funded, then how is the funding of the Yes Campaign defined? Excessive?
Replaced our 18 year old gas storage hot water system with another stonkingly big gas storage hot water system late last year as part of a renovation. It wasn’t buggered but given the age I decided to replace it. Both showers can run for as long as they want without running out of hot water. Brilliant. We love it.
Guilty as charged Socrates, I’m a Victorian green.
Thorpe won and then lost a state seat.
She had already shown us she was an exposed live wire and unelectable.
We then gave her a senate seat.
She then took it and left!
Pied Piper:
“The stokes media will spend 2024 ripping the Incompetent federal labor government to shreds nationally.”
The Stokes media will spend 2024 … bankrolling ill-judged defamation actions that backfire spectacularly on the litigants.
(See: BRS, HPM …)
FUBAR says:
“If the No Campaign was well funded, then how is the funding of the Yes Campaign defined? Excessive?”
Flubber flubs Steve777’s observation:
“The well-funded opponents of the Voice, who hid behind virtual office addresses, just had to spread enough fear and disinformation to convince enough voters that it would have cost them.”
Not an assertion that “the No Campaign was well funded” — rather, that the shadowy figures who cloaked their opposition campaigning under a veil of anonymity were well funded:
‘Revealed: the secretive rightwing firm providing ‘clout’ for voice no campaign’
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/13/revealed-the-secretive-rightwing-firm-providing-clout-for-voice-no-campaign
How Stokes media spent 2023:
‘… Seven and Nine backed different horses in the Roberts-Smith defamation trial, with Seven boss Kerry Stokes’s pick losing badly when a judge found, on the balance of probabilities, that the newspapers being sued had proven in their defence that the former SAS soldier, who Stokes said was innocent, had committed war crimes.’
Have you seen Kerry’s new year resolutions, Pied Piper?
Is “exercise better judgement” on the list?
https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/2023/jun/02/kerry-stokes-ben-roberts-smith-seven-spotlight-program-bruce-lehrmann-weekly-beast
2024’s version of Halley’s Comet
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/04/release-of-epstein-documents-crashes-court-website-but-details-are-less-scandalous
Re: Aged Care.
I would like to know how these “alleged” reforms are going to save money.
My now-deceased widowed mother had to enter a nursing home in 2010, until her death in 2020.
Firstly, she had to sell her home to pay for the accommodation bond – approximately $650 000 – which the Nursing Home invested and kept the returns. At the time of her death this balance was considerably reduced through the application of “Administration Fees”.
Secondly, 85% of her pension was deducted to cover, basic daily accommodation fees.
Any extra services – clothes, outings, shopping – were deducted from her meagre savings account.
If the Governmennact any of these recommendations, I can see this becoming like the “Franking Credits” of the 2019 Election campaign.
Remember, how many thousands of Australians, who weren’t even shareholders, voted against a proposition which didn’t directly affect themselves.
Aged Care needs reform.
Personally, from my experience, I would nationalise this industry so that every person, requiring this care, has the same high and dignified care which suits their need.
Israel Premier Tech cycling.
Like most international tour teams, Israel Premier Tech, has a number of international riders.
As an avid following of the International Cycling tour I can assure you that Premier Tech does indeed have a number of Israeli riders.
What has happen in 2023, which did not turn out to be what Lib/nats and their propaganda media units wants or were hoping in opinion polling
Lib/nats and their propaganda media units have not swayed non lib/nats voters to lib/nats
Lib/nats combined primary vote stuck around 36% , no where near or over 40%
The no vote propaganda- failed
The propaganda on boats and overseas matters -failed
The propaganda on cost of living -failed
The propaganda on interest rates -failed
The propaganda attacking Albanese/other ministers – failed
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
According to Matthew Knott, the US could soon begin hitting missile sites in Yemen to deter Houthi attacks in the Red Sea as Australia joined a 12-nation coalition warning rebels of consequences if attacks continue.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/you-will-bear-the-consequences-australia-joins-coalition-condemning-red-sea-attacks-20240104-p5ev66.html
Former diplomat, David Livingstone, writes, “The absence of important cabinet papers on Australia’s decision to join the war against Iraq should surprise no one. The justification itself, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was in the process of gaining nuclear weapons, was dramatically shown to be false. The spin that leaders such as George W. Bush and Tony Blair operated in good faith belies the truth of either falsity, or credulity unworthy of a national leader”. He concludes his contribution with, “The findings of former ASIO director-general and Defence secretary Dennis Richardson’s review and the Albanese government’s response will be significant. Most importantly, will it lead to a more democratic, transparent and evidence-based decision-making process for this or future Australian governments should they choose to declare war? Hopefully, the answer is yes.”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/a-spotlight-on-our-leaders-is-welcome-before-they-choose-to-take-us-to-war-20240103-p5euz2.html
Home building will grind to its slowest pace in more than a decade in 2024 as the higher cost of materials, land and finance make it harder for developers to build dwellings profitably, raising doubts about the government’s ambitious housing targets. The AFR tells us that Australia’s housing shortfall, expected to be at least 175,000 homes by 2027, reflects the failure to meet the key drivers of demand including smaller household sizes and the post-pandemic migration surge.
https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/housing-targets-at-risk-as-building-stalls-at-decade-low-pace-20231207-p5eprv
A top Indigenous group urged Labor to act quickly after the Voice referendum to counter Indigenous disadvantage while Australians remained focused on the issue and pushed to mandate consultation with First Nations leaders. But, writes Paul Sakkal, nearly three months after Australians overwhelmingly voted No to the Voice, Labor has said little about its agenda to improve living standards among First Australians.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/urgent-need-albanese-pushed-on-alternative-to-legislated-voice-following-referendum-defeat-20240104-p5ev62.html
The number of people in Australia on student visas has finally turned around from its high point of 660,000 in September, indicating that Australia’s migration bubble has begun to burst. The number of student visa holders living in Australia fell by 50,000 from a record 664,178 at the end of September to 612,099 at the end of November. And while November witnessed yet another monthly record in offshore visa applications, fewer were approved than a year earlier.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/international-student-bubble-bursts-as-visa-crackdown-bites-20240104-p5ev7c
“From 1 July 2023, the Albanese Government belatedly started tightening the student visa policy it inherited from the Coalition. Was it having any discernible effect as at end November 2023?”, wonders Abul Rizvi.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/albanese-government-still-pushing-to-mend-coalitions-student-visa-mess,18213
The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has questioned why Australia’s consumer watchdog did not issue a consumer warning against the HyperVerse crypto investment scheme in line with a number of overseas regulators. A Guardian Australia investigation has revealed widespread losses to the HyperVerse scheme, which escaped regulator attention in Australia despite one overseas authority warning it was a possible “scam” and another describing it as a “suspected pyramid scheme”.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/04/asic-faces-questions-over-failure-to-warn-consumers-about-hyperverse-crypto-scheme
The Melbourne suburb of Frankston – the centre of an upcoming political battle for the federal seat of Dunkley – has a strange curse over the Victorian Liberal Party, writes Annika Smethurst who contends that the looming byelection represents a test for both Albabese and Dutton.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/the-cursed-melbourne-seat-set-to-challenge-albanese-and-dutton-20240104-p5ev3m.html
“Artificial intelligence will begin to have a dramatic impact on healthcare and health services in 2024 – but will it make things better or worse?
We are about to see the start of a quiet revolution that will, in the long run, be almost as transformative as the introduction of technologies such as antibiotics, blood banking and safe anaesthesia. The rollout of AI as a routine part of medical care has the potential to deliver mind-blowing innovation in healthcare in Australia. It has the potential to be transformative for patients, doctors, other health professionals and the whole economy, writes the AMA’s Dr Steve Robson.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8476075/artificial-intelligence-to-revolutionise-healthcare-in-australia/?cs=14258
Simon Johanson tells us what various companies are doing to solve our looming energy storage crisis. This is a really interesting read.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/how-to-solve-our-looming-energy-storage-fix-these-companies-are-exploring-high-tech-solutions-20231211-p5eqmb.html
The SMH editorial, in calling for parliamentary reform says, “The unedifying, boorish and bullying behaviour of MPs during question time in the federal parliament would lead to dismissal in the private sector or the professional public service. Yet, politicians blithely persist with conduct unbecoming and, with their rowdy macho behaviour and allegations of sexual harassment, the federal parliament now sits exposed as a workplace culture that baulks at or covers up the very behaviour it professes to abhor.”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mps-behaving-badly-is-the-ugly-public-face-of-democracy-20240104-p5ev37.html
Farrah Tomazin lays out five things that could shake up the anything but predictable 2024 US election.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/anything-but-predictable-five-things-that-could-shake-up-the-2024-us-election-20240104-p5ev1v.html
“If Trump returns to the White House, should we rethink the US alliance?”, asks historian Emma Shortis. She says that in an alliance allegedly built on shared democratic values, “bipartisanship” should never mean identifying ourselves with fascists. And yet, that is exactly what this government is risking.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/if-trump-returns-to-the-white-house-should-we-rethink-the-us-alliance-20240103-p5euyx.html
As the 2024 presidential election year kicks into gear, documents released by Democratic members of the same Congressional committee investigating Joe Biden’s business dealings have shown how foreign entities paid millions of dollars to Trump-owned properties at the same time they were seeking to influence his administration.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-received-millions-from-china-and-other-foreign-governments-while-president-report-finds-20240105-p5evay.html
Yesterday, Islamic State claimed responsibility for two explosions in Iran that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores at a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani who was killed in Iraq in 2020 by a US drone. In a statement posted on its affiliate Telegram channels, the militant Sunni Muslim group said two IS members had detonated their explosive belts in the crowd which had gathered at the cemetery in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman on Wednesday for the anniversary of Soleimani’s death.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/islamic-state-claims-responsibility-for-deadly-iran-attack-20240105-p5evav.html
A man accused of pulling the trigger in a brazen underworld execution also faces charges for allegedly selling a kilo of cocaine and possessing a WWII-era Luger pistol. He also gains nomination to “Arsehole of the Week”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/alleged-bondi-hitman-also-accused-of-cocaine-supply-20240104-p5ev9f.html
Cartoon Corner
Andrew Dyson
Glen Le Lievre
Simon Letch
Jim Pavlidis
An old one from Cathy Wilcox
Leak
From the US