The fortnightly Essential Research poll continues to find little separating the two major parties on the pollster’s 2PP+ measure, with the Coalition up a point on last time to 47% and Labor down two to 46%, with the remainder undecided. Labor is down a point on the primary vote to 30% while the Coalition is up one to 33%, with the Greens down one to 12%, One Nation down one to 7%, others up one to 10%, the United Australia Party steady on 1% and undecided up one to 7%.
The monthly personal ratings record a three-point drop in Anthony Albanese’s approval rating to 40% with disapproval up to 49%, his worst net result and disapproval result from this pollster so far. Peter Dutton is unchanged at 41% approval and 42% disapproval. There are also questions on the leaders’ attributes which find the biggest distinction between the two being a 74-26 split against the notion that Albanese is aggressive, compared with 50-50 for Dutton. No doubt relatedly, there is a 52-48 break in favour of Dutton as decisive – probably the most positive result for either out of eight qualities canvassed – which comes at 58-42 against for Albanese.
There are also bad signs for the government on a semi-regular national mood question, which finds a five-point increase on last month to 54% for those rating Australia as on the wrong track, with right track down four to 30%. However, a series of questions on the Coalition’s nuclear energy policy produces broadly negative results: 48% rate Dutton’s plan as “serious” compared with 52% for an alternative of “just an attempt to extend the life of gas and limit investment in large-scale renewables”, and 38% rate nuclear energy as the most expensive out of nuclear, renewables and fossil fuels, up two since April, with renewables down five to 45%. The poll was conducted Wednesday to Sunday from a sample of 1141.
The weekly Roy Morgan poll finds Labor’s two-party lead unchanged at 51-49, from primary votes of Labor 31.5% (steady), Coalition 36.5% (down half), Greens 13% (steady) and One Nation 4.5% (down one-and-a-half). The accompanying release notes that a preference determination based on flows at the 2022 election rather than respondent allocation produces a lead to Labor of 52.5-47.5. The poll was conducted Monday to Friday from a sample of 1708.
Nobody hates like the far right. They are ones most likely to do it with extreme prejudice too. Unfortunately Higgins must suffer their ire. Due to the lies told by Reynolds. We know that far right nutters believe these lies of Reynolds. As we have seen them post these claims here. So even though there is zero evidence that Higgins conspired to weaponize her interview against the LNP. Extreme nutters like “Badthinker” will continue to believe the lie that she did. Which means Higgins will be endangered for the rest of her life by these nutters. I don’t believe the parliamentary compensation she received was enough to compensate her for this extreme threat she will always face from these nutters. Nutters inspired by her nasty and uncaring boss who was more than happy to make false allegations that unleashed the internet dogs of war upon her.
Lordbain @ #1500 Friday, July 5th, 2024 – 9:33 pm
HoR is straightforward. Senate with it’s quotas not so much.
I’m assuming there’s some conventions or regulations that allow for quota allocation via parties. That senators can break from a party suggests that there’s nothing explicitly stopping this from happening. Especially given how often it happens.
Scott 1 @ #1493 Friday, July 5th, 2024 – 9:22 pm
That’s fine. We all make mistakes. Admitting them is the hard part. 🙂
davidwh @ #1485 Friday, July 5th, 2024 – 9:07 pm
So, a referendum? And there’s your problem. Unless, as nadia88 suggests, it gets bipartisan support.
Cat
Cool glad thats sorted. On a lighter note the fear and division did work to split the vote on the right.
My hope for the US is as the Democrats are the most popular of voters even the double haters and thats enough to win the electoral colllege on election day. Imagine Kamala Harris with Pete Buttigieg as VP as a possible ticket
The parallels between the UK and Australia elections are uncanny.
Progressive opposition leaders lose their 2nd consecutive elections with record low vote shares. Both considered to have overly ambitious and class focused platforms.
New opposition leaders take over and play it extremely safe. They win majorities while making no real gains on the primary vote – attributed to the governing parties’ unpopularity and supporters fleeing to minor parties. Both PMs (elect) are a bit awkward and haven’t really inspired the voters. Also, Starmer and Albo are both aged 61.
Both countries were led through a political dark age by a succession of out of touch scum who showed complete contempt for the position and the people. Propped up by Rupert Murdoch, they eventually became so brazen and shameless in their corruption that it couldn’t be covered up
Our voting system is designed upon the polite fiction that we elect people to Parliaments, when in fact most voters, unless they are voting for an independent, are voting for the party.
So once elected, an MP or Senator is entitled to sit in the Parliament until they resign, lose an election or, in exceptional circumstances, are expelled. Our constitution does not recognise political parties and in fact it was written at a time before a strong system of political parties had been established.
So defection of MP’s and Senators is permitted. It happens all the time in all parties. In fact for One Nation and Palmists it seems almost mandatory.
Parties just have to deal with it.
Biden admits to Democratic governors he’s tired and needs to work less: ‘It’s just my brain’ Oi vey! Talk about digging your own political grave.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/biden-health-check-up-debate-resignation-b2573938.html
Scott 1 @ #1504 Friday, July 5th, 2024 – 9:45 pm
Hmm, a male VP to be sure, but I think she needs a safer choice, like Josh Shapiro or Roy Cooper.
Steve777says:
Friday, July 5, 2024 at 9:45 pm
…………
……Parties just have to deal with it.
======================================
True, but if we can get it changed I think this would be good.
It’s one thing in the lower house, but in the senate they can sit there for six years. This is a long time.
Perhaps even I minor mechanism could be created where we have a mini senate by-election if a Senator decides to change his/her party status, or to save money, force that Senator to face the electors at the next lower house election. (I think this is what happens in the U.S.). In Australia, it might mean we have “7” senators go up for election at a half-senate, but so be it.
Political parties were not mentioned in the constitution until 1977.
Now S.15 mentions political parties in relation to the selection of replacement senators. If someone is elected for a party they must be replaced by someone selected by that party even if they have changed allegiance during their term.
Actually Nadia, we used to have senate special elections but they were abolished in the same 1977 referendum. Having unusual elections were seen as contributing to the mess Joh created that led to the amendment.: as in “the Night of the Long Prawns”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gair_Affair#The_Night_of_the_Long_Prawns
On a different topic, and maybe one for the medicos: A Woman at the Doctor.
Many of the stories in the comments are really interesting.
Oakeshott Countrysays:
Friday, July 5, 2024 at 10:06 pm
Political parties were not mentioned in the constitution until 1977.
Now S.15 mentions political parties in relation to the selection of replacement senators. If someone is elected for a party they must be replaced by someone selected by that party even if they have changed allegiance during their term.
Actually Nadia, we used to have senate special elections but they were abolished in the same 1977 referendum. Having unusual elections were seen as contributing to the mess Joh created that led to the amendment.: as in “the Night of the Long Prawns”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gair_Affair#The_Night_of_the_Long_Prawns
==============================
Yes, I’ve just checked that. Prior to 1977, if a Senator changed or vacated, they remained in the senate until either the next general election or the expiry of the term of the original senator, whichever was sooner.
With regard to the current Section 15 (post 1977) though, for it to be triggered, there must be a vacancy. This needs to be looked at and corrected I think.
Goodnight all.
Whew, finished another WA election candidate index page on Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candidates_of_the_1930_Western_Australian_state_election
I’ll put this here. Jonathan Pie is happy. I think.
https://youtu.be/aYMy2qdNPF0?si=NWKN6LZIzgfnTKdH
Joe Biden says he’s not ‘going anywhere’ but admits he needs more sleep
Well all he needs to arrange is for nothing to happen in the world between 8pm & 10 am Washington time & we won’t notice the difference.
NYT
Central banks tried to rein in inflation by increasing interest rates, which in turn squeezed businesses and families even more.
While inflation has eased, the damage has been done. Prices remain high and in some places, the cost of bread, eggs, cooking oil and home heating is two, three or even four times higher than a few years ago.
Political Unrest Worldwide Is Fueled by High Prices and Huge Debts
Economic turmoil is spreading across the globe, and the response has been protests, attempted coups and elections of far-right politicians.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/05/business/global-economy-debt-inequality.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Will it seem appropriate for Labor to lose government due to the actions of the RBA economists… hands off it will happen.
Trusting those that helped it occur isn’t part of the solution
thought this might interest some people here.
“How may people knew about Biden ? Turns out a lot”, by Yves Smith, NC, 2024-05-07.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/07/how-many-people-knew-about-biden-turns-out-a-lot.html
Wow Labour won 63 % of the available 650 seats compared to the Tories on 18%. That is a flogging in anyone’s language. Now I want to know the main reasons why people flipped so violently and is it common practise to be that alarming when incumbents get tossed out in the UK. Labour won 48% of the vote share 1955. I would guess this would be thier best seat share % ever in 2024.
O.C.:
…, we used to have senate special elections but they were abolished in the same 1977 referendum. Having unusual elections were seen as contributing to the mess Joh created that led to the amendment.: as in “the Night of the Long Prawns”
Joh created no mess.
Whitlam tried to pull a swifty on the Parliament with the Gair resignation but he came unstuck.
To win Senate votes in the next parliament, labor pushed a dying Senator onto the floor on a gurney. Yet there’d been a DD 12 months before, why did they run Milliner again when he was in terrible health?
Then Labor made a huge fuss over demanding Mal Colston be given Milliner’s position.
21 years later, Labor are agreeing with 1975 Bjelke-Petersen that Colston isn’t a fit and proper person to be a Senator for Qld.
The position you take can only be sustained by pretending that Labor were innocent bystanders in all these events.
Someone mentioned the NHS yesterday.
Found this in a Wiki entry for Florence Horsbrugh, first woman to hold a Cabinet post in a Conservative Government:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Horsbrugh,_Baroness_Horsbrugh
Can I just say that the more we concentrate on Biden and his age the more likely Trump will win big. Now to me at least another four years of Biden , a guy who supports most of the things I do like unions, diversity and has progressive views on most issues is a more comfortable prospect than four years of madcap turbulence and an extreme errosion of the worldwide democracies. Give me Biden any day of the week. The time to ease in Buttigieg or whoever was last year not now. Unless Biden chooses to go he is the candidate so maybe time to focus on the horrors of another Trump presidency.
And the Morrison Coalition government kept David Coleman hidden and away from parliament for nigh on 2 years and gave no one an explanation for why he was absent. If he had a serious health issue, which it didn’t look like when he was tracked down hanging around the local shopping centre doing nothing much at all, then the electorate should have been told.
So, nice try, Badthinker, but no cigar. Both sides do it. It’s called politics.
Also, you left out the important bit. The party from which Joh wanted to replace a Labor Senator with. 😐
Joh was a wily character alright. I know he out manoeuvered Gough on the senator Field appointment, but at the end of the day as a guy who spent his 20s in Brisbane during the corrupt gerrymandered Joh era my biggest regret is that I didn’t move to Sydney. That’s how bad things were under Joh and the nationals.
Princeplanet @ #1525 Saturday, July 6th, 2024 – 6:28 am
We would have welcomed you with open arms in Sydney, Princeplanet. 🙂
Still, it’s good to have some rational people left in Queensland.
Also, you left out the important bit. The party from which Joh wanted to replace a Labor Senator with.
An oversight.
A.P. Field was a financial member of the Norman Park branch of the ALP, had stood for preselection to State Parliament for the ALP and was State Secretary of the Furnishing Trades Federation [Union] at the time he accepted the position in the Senate.
Has Dutton released the costing of his nuclear thought bubble yet
He will, Scott.
Labor reckons the cost of the Renewables rollout will be $122 Bn.
Dutts hasn’t turned his attention to that mindblowing lie yet, I’d say it’s only a matter of time, because support for Renewables is a mile wide and an inch deep.
Badthinker @ #1530 Saturday, July 6th, 2024 – 7:00 am
Contrary to just about every published poll, which puts support for all forms of Renewables above Nuclear at 8% 😐
#ItsLiberalItLies
Badthinker: “I’d say it’s only a matter of time, because support for Renewables is a mile wide and an inch deep.”
I’d say you are wrong judging by the number of houses with roof top solar!
I have a rational son in Qld Cat who reckons the conservatives will scrape over the line in the October State election for a win and Federal Labor sux in Qld still. Bugger !!! I’m up here in Brissy right now reading the local rags and it’s all Labor sux journalism in the week I’ve been here. Ughh. Oh how I wanna go home to the other Labor flip floppie Joe incompetent branches State asap and give them a rev up.
The full and complete story about Albert Field:
Early career
He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1937 and became president of the Morningside branch of the party. He served in the Australian Army in New Guinea during World War II. On his discharge, he became a French polisher.
He worked for the Queensland Education Department and was elected president of the Queensland branch of the Federated Furnishing Trade Society of Australasia in the early 1970s.[1]
Senator
On 30 June 1975, Bertie Milliner, a Queensland ALP Senator, died suddenly. It had long been a tradition that when a casual vacancy occurred in the Senate, the relevant political party would nominate the replacement to the state premier, and the state parliament would formally appoint that person as the new senator. Following the usual practice, the Labor Party nominated only one person, Mal Colston, to replace Milliner. Country Party Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen asked for a list of three names from which he would choose the replacement; he was possibly relying on a 1962 precedent, when his predecessor, Frank Nicklin, had also required such a list of names. The Labor Party refused to provide a list and insisted on Colston being appointed.
Although Field had long Labor Party and union connections, he was not an active politician and had never before sought to become one. Nevertheless, he made himself known to the Premier’s office and offered his services.[1] Although he would be technically a Labor senator, Field vowed never to vote for the Whitlam government. He was conservative and religious and was openly critical of what he saw as a range of immoral policies being advanced by Whitlam and his government. That was precisely the sort of person wanted by Bjelke-Petersen, who responded by nominating Field in the Parliament of Queensland as the new senator.
The parliament was far from unanimous in supporting the unconventional appointment, but it was approved by 50 votes to 26,[1] the appointment being formally made by the parliament on 3 September 1975. Malcolm Fraser, the federal opposition leader, had misgivings and stated publicly that Colston’s name should have been accepted. However, Fraser’s deputy, the Country Party leader, Doug Anthony, had no such qualms.[1]
Field was expelled from the Labor Party for offering his name for Senate selection against the official ALP candidate. He took his seat in the Senate as an independent on 9 September. When he was sworn in, most Labor senators boycotted the sitting. Labor Senate leader Ken Wriedt attended but sat with his back to Field.[1]
Field had resigned from the Education Department immediately before his Senate appointment, but there was a dispute about whether he remained a public servant when appointed because the Education Act required him to give three weeks’ notice. That may have made him constitutionally ineligible to be chosen as a senator, so the Labor Party challenged his appointment in the High Court. Thus, he was on leave from the Senate after 1 October 1975, unable to exercise a vote. He had not given his maiden speech and had asked only a single question in Question Time.[1]
The opposition parties did not provide a pair to maintain the relative positions of the government and the opposition. This gave the opposition a majority in the Senate, allowing it to pass motions to defer consideration of supply, and thereby force the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.
Later life
The end of Field’s Senate term came on 11 November 1975, when the parliament was dissolved in a double dissolution. He stood at the consequent 13 December election that resulted in part from his appointment but was not elected. He formed his own party in 1976, which folded three years later, and he later joined the National Party.[1]
The controversy surrounding his and Cleaver Bunton’s appointments prompted an amendment to the Constitution in 1977 to require casual Senate vacancies to be filled by a member of the same party.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Field
#ItsLiberalItLies
Sandman,
Labor in Queensland need more Murray Watts.
UK experiencing what Australia felt only a few short years ago.
Relief.
Governments that actively hated their citizens, actively undermine what humanity has fought so hard for, and generally dislike their countries are a scourge upon this planet.
Let’s not do that again.
Contrary to just about every published poll, which puts support for all forms of Renewables above Nuclear at 8%
Just like any Poll would put support for Free Money way above going to work [8%?].
Let’s wait & see what the polling is like after blackouts become the norm?
Is the UK, Liberal Democrats, the same style of party of the unlamented former Chippocrats.
A party to appeal to Tories, who are too ashamed to admit they are dead-set Tories,too?
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
The Australian government has tried to find a middle path when it comes to Gaza. Fatima Payman’s departure tells us that can be just as perilous, writes Laura Tingle who points out that Labour and the Conservatives were both suffering big swings against them in seats where the population is more than 20 per cent Muslim. A BBC analysis, as voting continued on Friday, found Labour’s vote is down an average of 19 per cent in those seats and the Conservatives 13 per cent.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-06/fatima-payman-labor-departing-reflects-divisions-gaza/104064894
Paul Sakkal writes that Anthony Albanese has warned against faith-based political parties and argued one that advocated for Muslim Australians would only isolate the religious group, as rebel senator Fatima Payman hints at a new political movement. (Well, we have had a Pentecostal cabinet!)
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pm-warns-against-faith-based-political-movements-as-payman-hints-at-next-move-20240705-p5jrc0.html
These are testing times for political faith in both broad churches, declares Karen Middleton who says Fatima Payman’s rejection of Labor solidarity is a headache for Anthony Albanese, but Peter Dutton’s populism is an affront to core Liberal values.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/06/these-are-testing-times-for-political-faith-in-both-broad-churches
Will Fatima Payman become the Pauline Hanson of the left? That’s up to her, says Peter Hartcher.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/will-fatima-payman-become-the-pauline-hanson-of-the-left-that-s-up-to-her-20240705-p5jrhd.html
Two women were centre stage in the last sitting week of federal parliament before the long winter break – one with the power to dismiss the government and the other with the power to badly destabilise it, writes Paul Bongiorno about Payman and G-G Sam Mostyn,
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2024/07/06/payman-mostyn-and-the-power-unsettle
Labor’s Friends of Palestine group has warned of “a chasm” between the Albanese government and “huge swathes of the party’s traditional base” as it described Fatima Payman’s resignation as a symptom of a bigger problem. Daniel Hurst tells us that a day after the first-term senator quit Labor, to remain in the upper house as an independent, pro-Palestine campaigners complained that Payman had been placed “in an untenable position” by the federal leadership team.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jul/06/fatima-payman-quits-labor-party-palestine-voters-base
Karen Barlow and Jason Koutsoukis tell us that Fatima Payman has confirmed she spoke with election strategist Glenn Druery before crossing the floor, as colleagues say her defection from the Labor Party was months in the making.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/07/06/inside-the-fatima-payman-defection
After the Payman defection, NSW Labor HQ is bracing for major pro-Palestine demonstrations disrupting the party’s state conference in late July, with fears political extremists could threaten the safety of delegates. Max Maddison reports that senior Labor HQ sources privy to internal discussions about the event’s security said there were concerns “rogue actors” on the far right and left would use the rally as a means of trying to hurt ministers, MPs and other attendees.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-labor-braces-for-state-conference-threats-after-payman-defection-20240705-p5jrcj.html
As Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen surge in popularity, the scourge of division politics is threatening Australia as well, writes Paul Kelly who says Australia faces a series of divisive, populist and religious political challenges between now and the next election.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/powerful-populist-wave-is-unleashing-new-fractures/news-story/4d81438b10e1a5b6d08260248f778bc0?amp=
Writing about the latest set of numbers relating to cost of living, John Hewson opines, ““Not surprisingly, the Dutton opposition has sought to capitalise on this by blaming the government for ‘home-grown’ inflation … True to form, this has simply been a massive misinformation campaign. It ignores their role in stoking inflation when in government …”
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2024/07/06/what-do-the-latest-inflation-numbers-mean-albanese
The essential difference between Senator Fatima Payman and the rest of the federal Labor caucus – and the Coalition caucus as well – is that she opposes genocide and wants the federal parliament to take effective action against it. She is a minority of one in the federal Labor-Coalition political class, declares Peter Henning.
https://johnmenadue.com/payman-shatters-the-shackles-of-political-amorality/
“The most pressing problem we face is climate change. It’s even more important than – dare I say it – getting inflation down to 2 per cent by last Friday. But we mustn’t forget that climate change is just the most glaring symptom of the ultimate threat to human existence: our continuing destruction of the natural environment”, says Ross Gittins who rejoices that finally, economists have recognised the importance of “natural capital”: the world’s stocks of natural assets, such as geology, soil, air, water and all living things.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/if-you-care-about-your-offspring-you-should-support-nature-positive-20240704-p5jr8k.html
An EY review obtained by The Saturday Paper reveals that the cost of a software contract with an American firm approved in 2019 went from $10 million to $210 million in three years and is likely still rising, reveals Jason Koutsoukis. Stuart Robert’s name and the NACC pop up yet again!
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/07/06/exclusive-ndis-contract-blew-out-200m
Monday marked the first anniversary of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. This deep dive by Elizabeth Minter and Michelle Fahy into the NACC’s first decision discovers secrets upon secrets, and the military seemingly at every turn.
https://johnmenadue.com/breretons-nacc-cloaked-in-military-grade-secrecypic-paul-brereton/
Australians targeted by autocratic regimes on our shores will be protected and sensitive technology cordoned off in major changes to stop countries such as China and Iran from meddling in the nation’s affairs, explains Paul Sakkal. He tells us Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has announced the Albanese government’s first reforms to bolster defences against foreign interference by countries trying to quash dissent in diaspora groups and secretly infiltrate media, universities and critical infrastructure.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/crackdown-targets-foreign-agents-harassing-dissidents-20240705-p5jrf2.html
Victorian doctors have warned that cutting elective surgery to meet state government hospital budgets could reverse the hard work done to get waiting lists to the lowest level since the pandemic began, reports Jewel Topsfield.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/doctors-fear-elective-surgery-lists-will-blow-out-again-20240705-p5jrbp.html
Former and current union officials are frustrated with the empire building of CFMEU Victorian leader John Setka, who is still moulding it in his image just six months before he is due to step down. Martin McKenzie-Murray takes us inside Setka’s fall.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/07/06/inside-the-falling-empire-cfmeu-leader-john-setka
Electricity generation from coal has surged for the first time in nine years, wrecking emissions cuts and hammering home the disarray of Australia’s energy transition, writes Angela Macdonald Smith.
https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/coal-power-on-comeback-trail-as-wind-solar-falter-20240703-p5jqwk
Another 200 job cuts at Nine have left journalists wondering if the focus on the publishing division is payback for reporting on the company’s troubled culture. Mike Seccombe looks at the proposition.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/media/2024/07/06/are-nines-staff-cuts-payback
A user banned from one dating app will now be blocked across all of a company’s other apps under a voluntary code of conduct the tech giants have given to the federal government. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth released a copy of the new code on Thursday, which had been handed to them last week by Match Group, Bumble and Grindr along with a range of other smaller app companies.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/banned-on-one-blocked-on-all-dating-app-abusers-face-platform-wide-exile-20240704-p5jr4p.html
In an interview with The Saturday Paper, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb has called for the government to introduce new powers to sanction tech platforms. Rick Morton reports.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/07/06/exclusive-accc-pushes-regulate-tech-platforms
Four months ago, China’s leaders announced what seemed like a straightforward plan to recharge the economy, but its citizens are not playing ball, reports The New York Times’ Keith Bradsher who says the plans to boost week consumer sales thare has backfired.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/china-s-desperate-bid-to-fix-one-of-its-biggest-problems-has-backfired-20240701-p5jq52.html
“What is the legal position of the estimated 1,000 Australians fighting for Israel Defense Forces amid allegations of IDF genocide in Gaza and International Court of Justice proceedings?”, asks Michael West.
https://michaelwest.com.au/lips-are-sealed-on-australians-fighting-for-the-israel-defense-forces-in-gaza/
“When I met Starmer, he’d have won my ‘least likely PM’ vote. Look at him now”, writes Kathy Lette in a very entertaining article which tells us about the ingrained class system in the UK.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/when-i-met-starmer-he-d-have-won-my-least-likely-pm-vote-look-at-him-now-20240704-p5jr1i.html
While Europe swings to the right, the UK is heading in the opposite direction. But Keir Starmer and Labour – despite their massive win – are not popular. This was a vote no, not a vote yes, writes Greg Sheridan who describes Starmer as a self-described socialist who is set to drag country to the left.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/selfdescribed-socialist-starmer-is-set-to-drag-country-to-the-left/news-story/90f9080b34a44afd3cc00bbe467faf46
Starmer has promised big – now he must be bold and move quickly. Here’s how he should start, writes Gaby Hinsliff.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/05/keir-starmer-mayors-prime-minister-ideas-housing-labour
A wary and bewildered British public has given carte blanche to Keir Starmer’s big tax socialist state, writes Jacquelin Magnay. She says British voters went to the polls knowing this is going to be a rocky time but punished the Tories for their mismanagement and ineptitude. Starmer is projected as being staid, boring even. Yet everyone has their seat belts tightly fastened for the wildest of political rides.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/selfdescribed-socialist-starmer-is-set-to-drag-country-to-the-left/news-story/90f9080b34a44afd3cc00bbe467faf46?amp=
Sunak axed, the cast eviscerated: at last, it’s the Tories’ season finale, writes Marina Hyde saying, “It was worthy of a TV special. Truss, Rees-Mogg, Shapps, Liam Fox: so many erased after 14 years of dystopian soap opera. And not a moist eye in the house”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/05/rishi-sunak-tories-truss-rees-mogg-shapps-liam-fox
Hans van Leeuwen writes that Gaza has shaken up the left and populism is shaking up the right. Labour’s majority is less secure than it seems, but Keir Starmer’s dullness could be an asset, he says.
https://www.afr.com/world/europe/gaza-backlash-and-other-key-lessons-from-uk-s-election-20240705-p5jrd7
He won the votes, now Starmer just needs to win over the people, says Johathan Freedland, adding, “Aware of apathy for Labour, the prime minister must deliver growth as he balances a tricky coalition of interests”.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/05/he-won-the-votes-now-keir-starmer-just-needs-to-win-over-the-people-labour
With a towering majority, a well-disciplined team and a ruthless instinct for power, Keir Starmer can restore some of the respect the Tories destroyed, writes Adrian Wooldridge.
https://www.afr.com/world/europe/starmer-can-help-britain-redeem-itself-20240705-p5jrcv
Britain’s new PM must lock in growth quickly if he is to secure Labour’s huge win. But with a planning system from hell and a 17,000-page tax code, there is plenty of scope for reform, says the AFR’s editorial.
https://www.afr.com/world/europe/keir-starmer-can-drive-britain-to-reform-led-growth-20240702-p5jqcy
Sir Keir Starmer faces perhaps the most monumental challenges of any incoming British prime minister since Clement Attlee’s Labour Party won in a landslide at the 1945 general election, as a tired nation emerged from six bloody years of war, writes Rob Harris. He says Starmer inherits a Britain that has been bruised by repeated global crises, compounded by the disruption of its divorce from the European Union, which finally took effect in early 2020.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/celebrations-will-be-short-lived-for-starmer-staring-down-britain-s-monumental-challenges-20240705-p5jra2.html
According to Bloomberg, the rise of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally to front-runner in Sunday’s French election is closely intertwined with the emergence of a powerful conservative media machine backed by billionaire Vincent Bolloré, dubbed the “French Murdoch”.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-billionaire-french-rupert-murdoch-shaking-up-the-election-20240703-p5jqux.html
Tony Wright tells us about Donald Trump and the king who could do no wrong but lost his head. An amusing, but frightening, contribution.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/donald-trump-and-the-king-who-
Forcing Biden out would have only one beneficiary, opines Charles M Blow.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/forcing-biden-out-would-have-only-one-beneficiary-20240704-p5jr6z.html
As Democrats wrestle with the question of whether Joe Biden should stay on as their presidential candidate, their chances of winning look remote whether he does or not, says Bruce Wolpe.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/07/04/will-biden-step-aside
Barry Jones writes about the second coming of Donald Trump. Much of what he says supports a proposition that America is f****d!
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2024/07/06/the-second-coming-donald-trump
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe
David Pope
Andrew Dyson
Jon Kudelka
Glen Le Lievre
Fiona Katauskas
Alan Moir
Matt Golding
Badiucao
Jim Pavlidis
Matt Davidson
Leak
From the US
Wow the SNP got a flogging too. Post Brexit revelance deprivation I suppose.
@Sandman, turns out after 18 years they were full of grift and corruption at a level even SfM could only dream off, the Scottish are well rid of them.
Insiders Sunday, 7 Jul
David Speers joins Phil Coorey, Amy Remeikis and Katina Curtis to discuss the week including Fatima Payman quits the Labor Party to sit as an independent, protests, the Coalition’s supermarket divestiture policy and tax cuts.
GUEST : Mehreen Faruqi – Deputy Greens Leader
Badthinker @ #1537 Saturday, July 6th, 2024 – 7:27 am
That’s going to happen if nuclear becomes the norm because coal-fired power stations are on their last legs and won’t last as long as it will take to build even the first nuclear power station.
So, as we know, because the Coalition haven’t disavowed their previously announced policy, the future
is Gas-Fired Power Stations, which a Commonwealth Coalition government will fund and build. With a token amount of Renewables, or ‘Ruinables’ as you ignorantly and contemptuously refer to them as, Badthinker.
Honestly, you take us as fools and think we can’t see what’s behind the misleading rhetoric. But we aren’t fools and we can see what you’re really about.
Thanks for the welcoming comments c@t I spent a lot of time down there in the 80s. I used to catch a bus down for 25 dollars and stay at the star hotel in the Haymarket near Chinatown where I can remember having some good restaurant tucker at like 2am one night which was unheard of in Brissy.My brother lived up in Greenwich for a good few years in the late 70s and worked as a painter and docker over at cockatoo island. Sydney was fantastic back then I have strong memories of 3am at the trade union club and many other great nights out. In the end we in Brisbane focussed on getting rid of the Joh and Brisbane slowly improved. It’s a pretty nice place to live now after many years of ALP state rule. Bit of a worry though that the LNP may get in a few months time. Luckily the border is only 100km away so maybe over to Minns land for me.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/05/mark-warner-joe-biden-exit-race-democratic-senators/
#weatheronPB
Making a bold start,
the sun is betrayed by clouds,
and the night’s wet ground.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/05/trump-project-2025-disavowal/
If he knows nothing about it, then how come he has raised several of their policies as things he is interested in? Eg abolishing term limits for the president? The Supreme Court has just given him authority to do pretty much anything so long as it can be defended as ‘official duties’.
The band aid has to be ripped off, ‘Fess. It’s covering up all that is festering beneath. And it’s only getting worse.
I recommend you listen to the Bulwark conversation between Jon Lovett and Tim Miller. It goes into how the Democrats could do what they obviously need to do.
This polling also gives us hope that, if they do replace Biden, they can beat Trump:
https://youtu.be/O0h-iV2ehys?si=v764JYduGkOLkbZD
PageBoisays:
Friday, July 5, 2024 at 5:07 am
So typical of modern Labor that the first person to suffer any real consequences from the war in Gaza is not Hamas (who were already designated as a terrorist organisation and subject to sanctions), nor the Israeli government who are busy committing war crimes but yet we continue to treat them as an ally and trade with them (including arms deals), but no the first consequences are a Muslim senator with a conscience.
Just like the first person to suffer consequences for the war crimes we committed in Afghanistan is the person who reported them
And the person being punished for ATO misdeeds is the whistleblower who reported them.
And it seems that the government won’t be supporting the recommendation to split the functions of ASIC (which is a pissweak regulator at best) because the committee chair was a liberal. Bill shorten teaming up with Pauline fucking Hanson
Albo is lucky that the opposition is so, so shithouse and the former government was so bad that he looks ok by comparison. We hear all the time about Labor values, it would be nice to see some any time soon.
===================================================================
+1 good post PageBoi
Thanks C@t, I listened to that the other day and thought it was a good discussion.