New polling from the past few days:
• The weekly Roy Morgan poll has Labor’s two-party lead out from 52-48 to 52.5-47.5, from primary votes of Labor 34% (down half), Coalition 37% (steady), Greens 13% (up one) and One Nation 4% (down half). The poll was conducted Monday to Sunday from a sample of 1706.
• Two recent issue salience polls – the SECNewgate Mood of the Nation report and JWS Research’s True Issues survey – continue to find cost of living well in the lead as the issue of greatest concern, but with housing affordability and interest rates narrowing the gap. Immigration and border security, while still well down the lists, are up in both surveys, by five points to 13% in the case of JWS Research. The latter’s “performance index” scores across various issues record “population growth” as the issue on which the government has lost the most skin over the past year. The SECNewgate poll was conducted February 1 to 5 from a sample of 1588, while JWS Research was from February 8 to 11 and a sample of 1000.
• DemosAU found 51% supportive and 32% opposed to the tax cut changes in a poll of 1154 respondents conducted from February 1 to 13, while the SECNewgate poll had it at 60% and 21%. The latter also recorded improvement since October on national direction (with the right-wrong direction split narrowing from 37-63 to 44-56) and predictions for the economy, particularly for the “in twelve months” time frame (from 25% better and 48% worse to 39% better and 36% worse).
Also:
• Samantha Hutchinson of the Financial Review reports a field of five has emerged for the looming federal by-election in Scott Morrison’s seat of Cook, including Sutherland Shire mayor Carmelo Pesce and McKinsey partner Simon Kennedy, who have generally been reckoned the front-runners, and the likewise previously noted Gwen Cherne, Veteran Family Advocate commissioner. The other two are Alex Cooke, head of institutional and private banking at ANZ, and Benjamin Britton, a former United Australia Party candidate and presumably a long shot.
• Western Australian Labor Senator Louise Pratt announced earlier this week she will not contest the next election. Dylan Caporn of The West Australian reports the party’s state secretary, Ellie Whiteaker, has “emerged as the front runner” after confirming her interest in replacing her on the ticket. Whiteaker is a former staffer to Pratt and shares her association with the Left faction Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.
• Two significant Liberal Party events will be held this weekend: the preselection for the Perth seat of Curtin, which the party lost to teal independent Kate Chaney in 2022, between Matt Moran and Tom White; and a meeting of the New South Wales state council that among things will vote on a motion to expel Mitchell MP Alex Hawke.
• Jake Dietsch of The West Australian reports the Liberal preselection for Forrest, previously thought to be a lock for former Senator Ben Small, will in fact be a contest involving Bunbury councillor Gabi Ghasseb, who won an internal party appeal against his exclusion for submitting his nomination 20 minutes after the deadline (and who has also nominated for state upper house preselection). However, Small “remains the overwhelming favourite”. Incumbent Nola Marino recently announced she would not seek another term.
“DemosAU found 51% supportive and 32% opposed to the tax cut changes … while the SECNewgate poll had it at 60% and 21%.”
Quite a material difference in the results from those two posters.
Perhaps attributable to differences in how the question was asked?
“[SECNewgate] also recorded improvement since October on national direction (with the *right-wrong* direction split narrowing from 63-37 to 56-44) and predictions for the economy, particularly for the “in twelve months” time frame (from 25% better and 48% worse to 39% better and 36% worse).”
William, that first split is actually a ‘*wrong-right* direction split’, isn’t it (56% ‘wrong’, 44% ‘right’)?
If so, that’s significant turnarounds in sentiment on both questions. Over just four months.
Someone’s doing something right. Or respondents had a good Christmas …
“… a field of five has emerged for the looming federal by-election in Scott Morrison’s seat of Cook, including Sutherland Shire mayor Carmelo Pesce and McKinsey partner Simon Kennedy, who have generally been reckoned the front-runners …”
Being a front-runner in Cook is not necessarily all that significant.
Last time around, the local bloke who scored 84 preselection votes was summarily dumped in favour of the blow-in who scored 8 votes.
“… a meeting of the New South Wales state council that among things will vote on a motion to expel Mitchell MP Alex Hawke.”
Fun and games for all. Fetch the popcorn, please.
‘Political porkies are becoming ever more brazen. We all need to call them out’, opines Paul Karp:
‘Have you heard the one about the new car and ute tax? What about $600m of funding cuts weakening Australia’s borders?
‘If you did, then the joke is on our political system – because these are the latest two opposition lines of attack, completely untethered from reality, infecting the discourse.’
‘We and several other outlets ran factchecks on the border cut claim but others settled in for the usual round of he-said-she-said that rewards wreckers who don’t care if facts are not on their side.’
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/24/political-porkies-are-becoming-ever-more-brazen-we-all-need-to-call-them-out
‘The Nationals’ deputy leader, Perin Davey, is facing the prospect of an official complaint from a party member over an incident in which she slurred and stumbled over words in a Senate hearing.’
‘Guardian Australia understands that Steve de Gunst, a Nationals member in New England, notified Davey that he intends to make the complaint with the New South Wales Nationals.’
A ‘Nationals member in New England’? Wonder if that point of origin has any bearing on the complaint?
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/24/nationals-deputy-leader-perin-davey-could-face-official-complaint-over-apparent-slurring-in-senate
Yes. Corrected.
Rainman says:
Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 12:49 am
Been There
If you’re reading this, I’m really sorry about what happened with your dog and the blue tongue. Having to put an animal out of its misery is always hard and sad. Please don’t blame yourself too much. I hope you’re feeling better and had a better day today.
==============================
I had a look at BT’s post and if I understand it correctly he/she killed the blue tongue. I think that BT should have taken it to a vet. They are very resilient and can often be saved and quickly released back to where they came from, even if they were badly injured. If they cannot be saved they should be humanely euthanized by a vet.
Insiders Sunday, 25 Feb
David Speers joins Sarah Ison, Raf Epstein and Katina Curtis to discuss higher education, border protection, the Dunkley by-election in Melbourne’s outer southeast, vehicle emissions standards, the Navy shake-up and Assange.
GUEST : Jason Clare – Education Minister
Taxpayers are likely to pay student nurses and teachers to learn on the job while universities will be banned from cherrypicking the smartest students before they finish high school, under sweeping university reforms. The final Universities Accord report will recommend that governments fund paid work placements for university students, who are currently expected to work for free during compulsory on-the-job training for weeks on end in schools and hospitals.
Employers will be expected to chip in to pay some of the wages of university students undertaking practicums and internships in other degrees, such as accounting and engineering.
The call came as federal, state and territory education ministers gave the green light yesterday for a new student ombudsman, with the power to order refunds of tuition fees over student complaints about assaults and rapes on campus, sexual harassment, and substandard degrees.
In a blow to universities reeling from falling enrolments, ministers issued a two-year ban on early offers to school students, to stop them dropping out of high school.
School principals have blown the whistle on universities cherrypicking the smartest teenagers with university offers based on their Year 11 results, causing attendance levels to drop as students disengage from school.
Universities will still be allowed to make early offers in September – a month before students sit their final exams in most states and territories. Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said some universities had been making offers as early as March – eight months before students finished high school. “We need to ensure that early offers aren’t leading to students disengaging from school too early and that there’s more consistency across the board,’’ he said.
The Australian revealed on Wednesday that the Universities Accord review is expected to back a “wealth tax’’ – a financial levy on institutions based on their broader levels of revenue, a move designed to penalise universities with large numbers of international students without explicitly saying so. The levy would help fund Mr Clare’s plan to boost the numbers of less-privileged students in higher education.
some in the press are noting the bullshit on bullshit.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/24/political-porkies-are-becoming-ever-more-brazen-we-all-need-to-call-them-out
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
James Massola writes in detail about the changes recently made to the PM’s office and looks at the impact it may have on Albanese’s election chances.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/pmo-2-0-can-a-reboot-of-albanese-s-office-ensure-victory-20231107-p5eic2.html
Paul Keating’s incredible economic chutzpah supercharged Australia’s prosperity. But he has become an apologist for China, and that may poison his legacy, opines Peter Hartcher.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/in-power-keating-was-a-gift-now-at-80-he-s-a-tragedy-20240222-p5f75e.html
Political porkies are becoming ever more brazen. We all need to call them out, declares Paul Karp. He says Australian truth in advertising laws might help weed out absolute howlers and set a norm – but the media has a role to play too.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/24/political-porkies-are-becoming-ever-more-brazen-we-all-need-to-call-them-out
For the past week Peter Dutton has repeatedly lied about funding cuts to border protection, with some experts warning his rhetoric has created a pull factor for people smugglers, writes Mike Seccombe.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/02/24/no-peter-there-not-flotilla-boats-coming
“Australia has not seen a successful long-term defence minister for more than decade, a political failure at a time of unique strategic challenge. The upshot is that Richard Marles needs to become a long-run defence minister able to entrench his sweeping redesign of the Australian navy. He has a triple task: terminating the procurement rupture that has plagued the defence system, reviving the nearly forgotten Labor tradition of defence policy commitment, and asserting long-lost ministerial ownership and control of the nation’s defence strategy”, writes Paul Kelly.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/fleet-refresh-high-ambition-but-beware-of-the-traps/news-story/d454fe8f79e98f9a670be2fb887f4e8b?amp=
The government’s changes to the navy’s surface fleet solve nothing and leave the country with inappropriate, expensive and oversized ships – all for the sake of winning votes in two states, declares Hugh White.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/defence/2024/02/23/labors-disastrous-navy-plans
Chris Wallace begins this contribution with, “Once again, on-water matters have overwhelmed national politics. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is firing broadsides at the Albanese government over border control, while the government tries to right the defence catastrophe it inherited from the Coalition. This was not how the week was supposed to unfold. The government had ended the previous parliamentary sitting week buoyed by a well-coordinated and scripted Question Time plan. Each minister wove portfolio-relevant examples of how different kinds of workers benefited from the government’s stage three tax revamp.” She says that if the Liberals fail to win Dunkley, the rational case for Peter Dutton continuing as leader essentially evaporates. Dutton’s obvious successor was glimpsed in the surface fleet announcement this week: opposition defence spokesperson Andrew Hastie.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2024/02/24/bad-week-be-sea
“Peter Dutton was elected to parliament in 2001. He was born inside one of John Howard’s worst lies. He benefited directly from the outrage of children overboard and the shame of the Tampa. This is how it began”, says the Saturday Paper’s editorial.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/editorial/2024/02/24/the-sorcerers-apprentice
Trevor Kobbold writes about Labor’s complete capitulation to elite private schools….again!
https://johnmenadue.com/labors-complete-capitulation-to-elite-private-schools-again/
Karen Middleton says that years after the Coalition’s ‘sports rorts’, Labor is now accused of favouring key seats in its awarding of grants – and a private member’s bill aims to bring integrity to the application process. The Saturday Paper understands the government is considering possible options for improving governance, transparency, probity and accountability in relation to the grants process, though it has not disclosed any details.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/2024/02/24/labors-grants-revive-pork-barrelling-criticism
Geoff Chambers reports that Chris Bowen has attacked Peter Dutton’s push for zero-emissions nuclear energy as a “triumph of culture wars over climate pragmatism” and accused the Coalition of promoting nuclear power as a “distraction and delay tactic”.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/chris-bowen-stokes-climate-wars-over-nuclear-ahead-of-dunkley-byelection/news-story/2e1fcbff02095ea2827ab3d390b7867c?amp=
John Kehoe tells us that accountants and taxation practitioners are saying high personal income tax rates of up to 47 per cent are spurring the use of lower-taxed trusts, companies, self-managed superannuation funds and negatively geared property investments.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/high-tax-rates-fuelling-avoidance-schemes-20240223-p5f7bx
Former immigration minister Alex Hawke could be turfed from the Liberals on Saturday over claims he sabotaged crucial aspects of the 2022 federal campaign, as infighting threatens to derail a high-profile meeting intended to put the Coalition on a war footing for the 2025 election, explains Samantha Hutchinson.
https://www.afr.com/politics/liberals-prepped-for-fireworks-as-members-turn-on-two-of-their-own-20240223-p5f7b9
Labor is cautiously optimistic it will hold on to the seat of Dunkley even as a ring-wing activist group’s scare campaign sends a shiver through the crucial byelection, write Paul Sakkal and Annika Smethurst. They tell us that the Liberal candidate has moved to distance himself from a fear campaign run by right-wing activist group, Advance.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/liberals-distance-themselves-from-right-wing-group-s-rapists-murderers-scare-campaign-20240223-p5f78z.html
Royce Kurmelovs tells us that hidden in legislation is a plan to give Resources Minister Madeleine King power to approve gas projects – taking the oversight away from Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/02/24/plibersek-sidelined-over-gas-project-approvals
“Authoritarianism is taking over the world. Will it snare Australia?”, asks John Lord.
https://theaimn.com/authoritarianism-is-taking-over-the-world-will-it-snare-australia/
A legal fight to speed up responses to freedom of information requests could set a precedent to stop governments starving key public services of funding, explains Karen Middleton.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2024/02/24/the-legal-battle-freedom-information
Consultancy firm KPMG Australia has rejected claims it conducted due diligence on “the wrong company” before the federal government gave nearly half a billion dollars to a controversial company with no track record. The firm’s objection to comments by a member of a Senate inquiry examining its conduct come after weeks of intense criticism and accusations it repeatedly misled parliament over its use of so-called power maps, which identify influential decision makers within departments.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/24/incredible-failure-kpmg-rejects-claims-it-assessed-the-wrong-company-before-423m-payment-to-paladin
Here’s Amanda Reade’s weekly media roundup. She points to the ABC ending its fact checking relationship with the RMIT.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/feb/23/facing-facts-abc-pulls-the-plug-on-rmit-factchecking-collaboration
“Dear fellow 20-somethings, you do not look cool vaping, you look like a tool”, says Roby D’Ottavi.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/dear-fellow-20-somethings-you-do-not-look-cool-vaping-you-look-like-a-tool-20240222-p5f743.html
And Madonna King tells us about what children are now turning to – flavoured nicotine pouches placed between gum and lip.
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/life/health/2024/02/23/madonna-king-snus-vapes
Russia is running a ‘hot’ war economy, but it is on the road to nowhere. It would be a monumental error for the West to loosen its grip now, writes Ambrose Evans-Pritchard who believes Vladimir Putin has Russia headed for economic ruin.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/vladimir-putin-has-russia-headed-for-economic-ruin-the-west-can-t-lose-its-nerve-now-20240221-p5f6jd.html
A US court ruling that frozen embryos can be considered as human beings under state law has opened a new battleground in the fight over women’s reproductive rights. Farrah Tomazin reports that, in an unprecedented decision that US President Joe Biden described as “outrageous and unacceptable”, the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that embryos in test tubes should be viewed as children, and that an 1872 state law allowing parents to sue over the death of a minor child could apply in cases of IVF.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/frozen-embryo-ruling-sparks-fight-over-reproductive-rights-20240223-p5f790.html
Donald Trump’s legal woes continue in Wisconsin, where the state’s ethics commission has recommended felony charges against Trump’s Save America Joint Fundraising Committee for its alleged role in a plot to bypass campaign finance limits.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/23/trump-fundraising-wisconsin-felony-charges
Even Abraham Lincoln had authoritarian tendencies. So we should not , writes Nick Bryant who explains why America’s historic weakness strengthens Trump
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/why-america-s-historic-weakness-strengthens-trump-20240221-p5f6oc.html
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe
David Pope
Mark David
Jon Kudelka
A Glen Le Lievre gif
https://twitter.com/i/status/1760792432311152931
Mark Knight
Leak
From the US
Thanks BK
If this happens then the ALP will have lost all credibility on climate and may as well erect signage saying sponsored by Santos et al
I wouldn’t give Madeleine king the time of day, much less power over fossil fuels development approvals
From BK’s roundup:
Royce Kurmelovs tells us that hidden in legislation is a plan to give Resources Minister Madeleine King power to approve gas projects – taking the oversight away from Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/02/24/plibersek-sidelined-over-gas-project-approvals
Has Ian Goodenough (Moore- WA) resigned from the Liberals to sit as a cross bencher?
I read or heard about this during the week.
His seat, being the most marginal in WA – and on current polling one of the first to fall to the ALP, creates an interesting scenario.
I wonder if it is his intention to stand as an Independent at the 2025 election.
Rainman thanks for your kind words.
Still sick in the guts about it all.
Andrew Gold,
The poor creature was beyond saving and to extend it’s suffering any longer by going to a vet would have been cruel. It was swift and hopefully painless and was something I hope I never have to do again in my life. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone else either. My adult son was in tears after finding the lizard and I was not far off it. No, he did not witness what I had to do, I sent him away.
Taylormade
You want to call me a murderer?
Sometimes you should think before you post.
A U.S. judge on Friday accepted Binance’s guilty plea and more than $4.3 billion penalty for violating federal anti-money laundering and sanctions laws through lapses in internal controls at the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle approved the plea, which includes a $1.81 billion criminal fine and $2.51 billion of forfeiture, about an hour after the government proposed changes to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao’s bond, drawing an objection from Zhao’s lawyers.
Binance’s plea announced in November resolved a years-long probe that found the exchange had failed to report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions involving designated terrorist groups including Hamas, al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.
Prosecutors said Binance’s platform also supported the sale of child sexual abuse materials and was among the largest recipients of ransomware proceeds.
In a statement on Friday, Binance said it accepted responsibility, has upgraded its anti-money laundering and “know-your-customer” protocols, and has made “significant progress” toward changes required under its plea agreement.
Zhao has been free in the United States on a $175 million bond after also pleading guilty in November to money laundering violations. His plea included a $50 million fine and required that he step down as Binance chief executive.
“Richard Marles needs to become a long-run defence minister able to entrench his sweeping redesign of the Australian navy.”
Paul Kelly arguing for the reelection of a Labor government? Who woulda thunk it! 🙂
Been There
Good on you. You did the hard thing and the right thing.
After hearing arguments about whether Colorado should exclude Donald Trump from its ballot, the U.S. Supreme Court justices suggested they might be inclined not to make the decision — and instead leave it up to Congress. If that happens, some experts say, it could spark a constitutional crisis specifically due to the fact that “Democrats would have to choose between confirming a winner many of them believe is ineligible and defying the will of voters who elected him,” writes The Atlantic’s Russell Berman.
Colorado has ruled that Trump is not eligible to be on its election ballot, citing the Constitution’s 14th Amendment that makes insurrectionists ineligible for public office. A lawsuit in the state claimed Trump’s action on Jan. 6, 2020, made him an insurrectionist. Trump appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, where it remains. “Their choice could be decisive: As their victory in a House special election in New York this month demonstrated, Democrats have a serious chance of winning a majority in Congress in November, even if Trump recaptures the presidency on the same day,” Berman writes. “If that happens, they could have the votes to prevent him from taking office.”
Berman points out that House Democrats have not committed to confirming a Trump win if SCOTUS does not confirm his eligibility to run. “That would be a colossal disaster,” Representative Adam Schiff (D) of California told Berman. “We already had one horrendous January 6. We don’t need another.”
Some of Trump’s most vocal critics said they would nevertheless vote to certify him if he wins provided SCOTUS rules he’s eligible. “I’m going to follow the law,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told Berman. “I would not object out of protest of how the Supreme Court comes down. It would be doing what I didn’t like about the January 6 Republicans.”
Trump given 30 days to find $454M as Engoron officially files civil fraud ruling
Former President Donald Trump has 30 days to come up with $454 million, in cash or bond, after Judge Arthur Engoron officially filed his massive civil fraud trial ruling Friday, court records show.
‘[KPMG] was criticised after initially telling the Senate inquiry that it did not produce maps of government departments that identify influential public servants, before being provided with evidence that it did.
‘Earlier this month, KPMG Australia’s chief executive, Andrew Yates, apologised to the inquiry for taking a “too literal” approach to senator O’Neill’s question about power maps. Senator Pocock was not convinced by the apology.
‘“You have lied to us,” Pocock told an estimates hearing on 9 February. “That’s my view. You’ve lied to us more than once. You’ve misled us perhaps four times and probably more times that I don’t know about.”
‘Yates told the inquiry that was not his intention.’
Misled four times? Yates went one better than Peter:
‘Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.’
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/24/incredible-failure-kpmg-rejects-claims-it-assessed-the-wrong-company-before-423m-payment-to-paladin
#weatheronPB
Heavy, moody, dull,
the dark sky holds down the earth,
and the fat drops fall.
Thanks, Boerwar.
This is such a tragic story and I feel for the men’s families.
But fascinating is the man who allegedly killed the couple. Celebrity blogger turned cop…
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/23/a-grim-find-led-to-a-worse-end-the-case-of-two-missing-men-that-horrified-sydney-over-three-days
Holdenhillbilly, you are posting from articles without attribution again. Could you please provide the source.
What a piece of work David Adler is!
“Don’t assume the Australian Jewish Association genuinely represents Jewish community. The principal, David Adler, is also co-founder of dark/fossil money disinformation organ Advance, which sank the referendum on justice for First Nations with professional mass deception tools.”
Thanks, BK.
Having to pay for “fact checking” to validate the “claims” of politicians on the “hustings” could be eliminated “muchly” with “truth”, a somewhat obsolete notion in a time of embedded obfuscation, lying, half truths, lack of integrity and political greed.
Politics is so financially lucrative for many people and parties, for a mixture of reasons, that the elimination of truths and accuracy is secondary to the aim of winning.
The majority of the public just “couldn’t be bothered” with translating political verbosity and therefore the “art of bullshit” thrives.
It’s probably worth contemplating the succession of Liberal PMs including Howard, to digest the rampant political “disease” inhibiting every political leaf and branch of government.
The concept of “truth”, and the opponents of the ABC, together with the dubious executive appointments to the ABC, both “on air” and “in office”, have all but destroyed the “once proud” ABC.
Dutton is an unconstrained political identity. Dutton’s elimination is of no benefit for both the nation and to the Liberal party.
Considering the “truth malady”, infecting contemporary politics, Australia is lucky to currently have the lesser of the “two evils” in government.
Albanese, is the most appropriate leader at a time when “ordinariness” and “humility” are scarce.
Today’s upcoming PB “political picnic” will “truth check” my claims!
Thanks BK! Not as much news about this Saturday. Journalists exhausted after obsessing over Tay tay? Over 600k going across 7 shows works out to 1 in 50 Australians. But I guess some are going multiple times 🙂
Quasar says:
Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 8:37 am
What a piece of work David Adler is!
“Don’t assume the Australian Jewish Association genuinely represents Jewish community. The principal, David Adler, is also co-founder of dark/fossil money disinformation organ Advance, which sank the referendum on justice for First Nations with professional mass deception tools.”
_________
A rather unpleasant person.
Chris Bowen has attacked Peter Dutton’s push for zero-emissions nuclear energy as a “triumph of culture wars over climate pragmatism” and accused the Coalition of promoting nuclear power as a “distraction and delay tactic”.
Ramping up the climate wars ahead of next Saturday’s crucial Dunkley by-election in Melbourne, the Climate Change and Energy Minister said the Opposition Leader’s advocacy for nuclear power “has taken on a singular importance in the culture wars”. “It’s striking that a party that once prided itself on economic rationalism could embrace a frolic so spectacularly uneconomic. This is the triumph of culture wars over climate pragmatism in the alternative government,” Mr Bowen, writing in The Weekend Australian, said.
As Mr Dutton and opposition climate change and energy spokesman Ted O’Brien finalise their election policy, Mr Bowen said the “alleged boom in small modular reactors is … a mirage”. “China and Russia are the only two countries to have installed them. The US has now abandoned its ‘flagship’ commercial-scale pilot SMR (promised back in 2008), wearing 70 per cent cost blowouts without having started construction on a single reactor,” he said. “We know the Russian SMRs have extraordinarily low load factors and that nuclear waste from the SMR process is disproportionate to their output. The Chinese data is more opaque, but given SMRs generate about 300MW (compared to a coal-fired power station at 2000MW) we have no reason to believe there is anything approaching a serious contribution to China’s energy demand from their two units.”
Nationals and Liberal MPs last week told The Australian they backed the installation of nuclear reactors at coal-fired power station sites given their similar footprints, the long-term guarantee of zero-emissions baseload energy and direct access into the grid.
Surely the Liberal Party can do better than Peter Dutton?
In an interview Dutton once said he was uncomfortable around people. He learnt confidence working in a butcher’s shop. For a man without panache, he has a surprising feel for symbolism.
Refugees have been the sustaining panic of Dutton’s career. The portfolios that have defined him have been built on their punishment. He was elected in the excitement of their exploitation.
When a little boat reached Western Australia last week, Dutton saw the thrill of opportunity. These refugees pose no threat to Australia. Despite Dutton’s rhetoric, the country will never be invaded by fishing boats. The men wandering around Beagle Bay are an expression only of need and desperation. For him, they are a gift.
The country has a choice now. It can finally grow up and cast off its terror of asylum seekers. Or it can sit and watch a second-rate showman try the same old trick, clapping and feigning surprise as the card they expected comes out of the deck.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/editorial/2024/02/24/the-sorcerers-apprentice
Griff & Quasar
Apparently Advance are very active at present in the electorate of Dunkley with lots of trucks driving around with billboards and other messaging around the area (next week is the by-election for this seat).
The billboards have some pretty unpleasant statements and allegations made against the PM and the Labor Party.
Given the location I would not be surprised if Advance are working closely with local conspiracy / cooker / anti-vax group MyPlace which caused quite a few issues last year in the area and down on the Mornington Peninsula.
US military is tracking an unidentified high-altitude balloon flying over the western part of the United States as it moves towards Colorado.
Thanks to BK, it seems to me that Joh Leakes art work is even getting steadily more crude along with the heavy handed and vulgar sentiments expressed in the so called humour. If this is the part of the Australian that lightens the tone it must be a grim old read.
Fess
One of the men, Jesse Baird was part of my daughter’s friendship group in high school. He left Melbourne several years ago to work on a tv program in QLD.
We are quite numb about it all.
Vic:
I can quite imagine.
Fess
My daughter is still trying to process it all.
Whatayoudo. Sigh….
My response to Hartcher’s Keating hit job in the Herald today. I don’t expect it will be published, so here it is:
“ This is hopeless. You deliberately misrepresent Keating at every turn in your last paragraphs.
This is shallow propaganda and a hit job.
Keating doesn’t want Australia to break with America.
He doesn’t want America to withdraw from the Asia-pacific.
Keating simply sees what all the wise heads see – that as two superpowers lean into each other the real risk is that America will withdraw from what could be an existential fight with the resident superpower. Keating is NOT against Australia ‘defending its sovereignty’. On the contrary he is against Australia cutting its cloth in such a way that our sovereign is suborned to America’s attempts to superintend the affairs of the one super power that isn’t going to withdraw from the Asia Pacific.
Keating actually saw China coming. That’s why as treasurer he made sure that Beasley had the money for both the Anzac class and Collins Class programs. Why as PM he entered into a security agreement with Indonesia: to find our security within Asia and not from it.
Even at his last National Press Club appearance he made it perfectly clear that the rise of China – especially as the authoritarian regime that it is – and always has been – requires a response from Australia. Just not the one that has been foisted upon us at the urging of fools like you, Peter. ”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/in-power-keating-was-a-gift-now-at-80-he-s-a-tragedy-20240222-p5f75e.html
BK @ #12 Saturday, February 24th, 2024 – 7:12 am
A shocker.
If anyone had any doubt about Labor being just as beholden to the Fossil Fuel Cartel as the COALition, this should put them to rest …
This is the kind of thing you expected from the Morrison COALition government, not an Albanese Labor one …
Holdenhillbillysays:
Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 8:50 am
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If you are going to cut and paste large amounts of text from publications. You really need to provide the source link too. You have done it twice already in this new thread. I totally support the statement by “Griff” at 8:35 am on this issue.
PageBoi says:
Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 7:40 am
Thanks BK
If this happens then the ALP will have lost all credibility on climate and may as well erect signage saying sponsored by Santos et al
I wouldn’t give Madeleine king the time of day, much less power over fossil fuels development approvals
From BK’s roundup:
Royce Kurmelovs tells us that hidden in legislation is a plan to give Resources Minister Madeleine King power to approve gas projects – taking the oversight away from Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/02/24/plibersek-sidelined-over-gas-project-approvals
——————
Thanks BK from me. Never think either Labor or LNP MPs are our representatives. They produce policies to support their big donors. And give them great value in tax deductions.
So the Australian taxpayer takes the burden of funding government. These Labor MPs. And their many doubtful decisions. Not these companies.
Not Australians. Labor is certainly not the party to help all Australians. Only wealthier business and wealthier people. Those who may donate to Labor.
The ALP , the Alternate Liberal Party.
From The Klaxon, Anthony Klan
January 2023.
https://theklaxon.com.au/fossil-fuels-donations/
Four of the nation’s biggest fossil fuels companies paid over 13,000 times more in “donations” to the major political parties last financial year than they collectively paid in taxes in 2020-21.
Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) data released this morning shows Chevron, Santos, Whitehaven Coal and Woodside together made $390,930 in political “donations” to the ALP and the Liberal and National parties last financial year.
That compares to Australian Taxation Office (ATO) figures which reveal the four fossil fuel giants paid just $30 tax between them in 2020-21, the most recent available data.
Santos, Whitehaven Coal and Woodside Energy Group (formerly Woodside Petroleum) paid zero income tax in the year – while Chevron Australia paid just $30.
That’s despite the four companies earning combined revenues that year of $24.82 billion.
AEC data shows the “donations” the fossil fuels giants made last financial year were roughly evenly split between the two major sides of politics.
Of the $390,930, the ALP received $196,980 and $193,950 went to the Coalition parties ($109,300 to the Liberal Party and $79,900 to the National Party).
The National Rifle Organization and its former head, Wayne LaPierre, have been found liable for mismanagement in a civil corruption case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, reported ABC News on Friday. The jury recommended that LaPierre be held for $5.4 million in damages; he has already repaid $1.5 million in the wake of the corruption scandal, according to reports. “The New York Attorney General’s Office sued the NRA and its senior management in 2020, claiming they misappropriated millions of dollars to fund personal benefits — including private jets, family vacations and luxury goods,” reported Meredith Deliso, Aaron Katersky, and Peter Charalambous. “The accusations came at the end of a three-year investigation into the NRA, which is registered in New York as a nonprofit charitable corporation.”
“MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on how the Republican’s CPAC annual convention has started has been an utter failure so far and also very weird and dangerous.”
https://youtu.be/uYc4ZScf8R4
‘Most of us are familiar with hemp clothing, and some of us have tried eating hemp seeds with yoghurt or blending them into smoothies.’
Source: abc.net.au
And some of us have tried smoking it.
Holdenhillbillysays:
Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 9:57 am
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If your not going to source text. Would you consider writing a sentence outlining what your opinion is on the text just above it?.
Intuitive Machines moon lander is likely “tipped on it’s side” It is however still communicating.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/intuitive-machines-odysseus-moon-lander-223928967.html
Can we rename it Barnaby???
Alpha Zerosays:
Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 10:13 am
Intuitive Machines moon lander is likely “tipped on it’s side” It is however still communicating.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/intuitive-machines-odysseus-moon-lander-223928967.html
Can we rename it Barnaby???
=========================================
Is it fueled by alcohol?
Alpha Zero @ #47 Saturday, February 24th, 2024 – 10:13 am
🙂
I think it has to be a Greek name – it was called “Odysseus” so they should rename it “Dionysus”
Looks like Fani Willis may have been caught out and will have to go:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-submits-cell-phone-records-allegedly-showing-nathan/story?id=107488801
Willis claimed under oath the relationship started after Wade was hired to prosecute Trump, now mobile records show late night phone calls before the prosecution started.