UPDATE: The Australian reports no change on two-party from last fortnight, and only a moderate shift in preferred prime minister from 70-12 to 66-17. Full press release from Mumble here, and further polling on petrol price issues here.
Peter Brent at Mumble says he hopes to be first to air with tonight’s eagerly awaited Newspoll result. We have also had a poll today from newcomers Essential Research (who a fortnight ago produced encouraging post-budget intelligence for the government), which shows Labor’s two-party lead down from 61-39 to 56-44. If I heard correctly from SBS, it also showed the Prime Minister’s approval rating down from 67 per cent to 60 per cent. Interestingly, 50 per cent of respondents said Peter Costello and Alexander Downer should retire.
Other news: Former Victorian Police Minister Andre Haermeyer has announced he is quitting politics, initiating a by-election in his rock-solid Labor seat of Kororoit.
541 Comments
Your ‘Mumble’ link leads back here… new form of ambush marketing?
Fixed.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23799748-12377,00.html
56-44
And Rudd’s approval down 10 points to 57%.
… says the Essential Research poll. Woops, that was a bit premature
That will teach him to pretend that he is an art critic.
Pity really, would have been nice for the MSM to fail in their efforts.
I’ll pay attention to newspoll, not some poll I’ve never heard of before today - and why wasn’t it headline news when this poll had Kevin at 61%?
There were a heap of polls during the election, from previously unheard of pollsters using a range of methods, which had predicted election outcomes ranging from Labor winning all the seats in Parliament except for half a dozen (one of which was Rudd’s) to a Howard landslide.
Even the reliable polls had the occasional ‘it can’t be true’ result - with the next poll in the series confirming that no, it wasn’t.
Polls have to be part of a series to be meaningful in any way.
Happy to wear a newspoll blip, if it comes. Newly elected governments are SUPPOSED to dip after their first budget, and then recover ground with ‘nice’ budgets in the lead up to the actual election.
I’m actually disinclined to believe there will be one, however. If being nasty to pensioners and discriminating against innocent babes in arms didn’t dent Kevin, why will promising to keep an eye on the price of petrol?
5 charles - the real poll hasn’t come out yet.
Gee the Kororoit by-election will be exciting……
The good folks of Sunshine and Ardeer would vote for a fire hydrant if it had ALP scribbled on it.
Well, I don’t care if The Australian is publishing the results a couple of minutes before they are aired on Lateline. I still won’t be gracing the OO with a click.
The ABC news now running with the numbers at the 9:30 pm slot in Melbourne
but no mention that it is from some backyard crew called ” essential’
the implication was that it is newspoll
a 10% drop in PPM is amazing…but I await confirmation
as tex perkins said, ” the honeymoon is over baby, its never going to be that way againnnnnnnnn”
ha, that’s Derrimut. oops.
Well Deer Park is no different.
The pre-selection bunfight will be far more exciting than the actual election
Results announced on Abc news at 9.30 regarding leadership ratings Rudd 66 and Nelson 17. Also it was mentioned that Labor has taken a 5 point hit. Unsure of numbers though.
A bad week got even worse for Labor but one suspects Nelson just had a worse week.
This Essential poll is 56-44 off 61-39, but the last newspoll was ‘only’ 57-43.
So if there’s no or little change to Newspoll, it could just be that the previous poll was rogue.
BTW is AC neilsen due a poll this week too?
But does it still have Labor way in front? I suspect so. And is Labor still in government? Yes. No change then.
Marky, when you say leadership ratings do you mean PPM?
Oh Come on Barry Gruce, please acknowledge a major shift when it shifts majorly
Yes- preferred Prime Minister. A shocking result for Nelson, he has made after a good week little ground. He is a dead duck.
I guess it is just as well most people are totally ignorant of politics otherwise every bad government would lead to its obliteration as a party.
If people were actually aware of just what the Howard govt was like you may have had a 80/20 result. And likewise for bad Labor governments.
#18
That’s two party politics for you, Kina. No matter how incompetent, corrupt and generally unelectable you are, 40% will always vote for you. And no matter how good a job you’re doing, 40% will always vote against you.
Oh come on Mr Squiggle you’re crowing about a result that is 2 1/2 years away from an election and still has the Libs trailing badly. Whatever turns you on I guess. Besides what I said is accurate.
66% to 17% waht a lovely set of numbers.
Yes Barry Gruce, what you said was accurate, no denying….
still, seeing Brendan ” I need no blanket, my love for my country keeps me warm” nelson pick up 10 points is like seeing the rabbitohs post a good score
damme, I was hoping to go to bed early tonight, now I have to stay up and watch Lateline
Will Brendan still look crestfallen if he exceeds all previous milestones and smashes into the high teens as PPM?
I can’t even find a website for this stupid Essential research online poll. What and where is it?
Who does it ask and how many or are people simply online and it has no scientific basis at all.
Nelson after a great week doubles his score from 9 to 17 whoppee, he will need many many more good weeks to increase his score, one suspects his weeks are numbered. Mr Squiggle celebrate all you can, i am only hoping he stays leader until next election.
Nelson will need more than 17% to save his leadership, especially after the help he’s received over last week. By the way Sr Mquiggle what goes down can rise again especially when the Libs go into self destruct mode, which is coming.
53-47 2PP and 17-66 PPM
That is all.
Marky marky,
IF Brendan can pick up 10 points over a measly 5 cents of petrol, how much more will he pick up when he hits on a real issue of substance
Just remember Rudd lovers, you pick up speed when you are heading downhill
Brendan didn’t pick up much at all, most of the work was done by the MSM. If they reported honestly his rating should have gone down.
Mr S
‘IF Brendan can pick up 10 points over a measly 5 cents of petrol, how much more will he pick up when he hits on a real issue of substance’
such as ?
The LNP have no credible leader and precious little talent on display, how on earth can they receive support except from those who would support them no matter what and, the others who vote like supporting a footy side. Quite honestly the current LNP set up would have to one of their worst in a very long time.
Essential research- since when do their polls count??
Well spotted gusface, perhaps we should just hand him a megaphone and an an new set of earings and he’ll be out the front of parliament shouting
” i’ve never voted liberal in my life before…. and oh sh1t, now I’m a leader, what should I stand for??”
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23800746-601,00.html
According to the latest Newspoll survey, taken last weekend exclusively for The Australian, Mr Rudd’s standing as preferred prime minister dropped from 70 per cent to 66 per cent. The Opposition Leader’s support rose from 12 per cent to his highest rating of 17 per cent.
On a two-party preferred basis, based on preference flows at the last election, support was unchanged at 43 per cent for the Coalition and 57 per cent for Labor.
That’s it?
What a shame!!!
Actually I would like a Liberal party I could conceivable vote for.
Well, there you go. Heading changed and update added.
Damn, I was over on the old post. Pay attention Blair.
NO CHANGE- What a hoot!!!
Now let’s see how the meeja interpret those numbers. I’m sure it’s the end of the honeymoon and now the Libs are going to rebuild and make this only the second first term government in Australian history.
Yeah right.
Enjoy the effect these figures have on the LNP.
They need to change to Turnbull before the by elections, it wont harm them and it will probably help and they need to get an idea how he will do long before the general election comes along.
So the Liberal-National opposition stink. What’s new?
Of Course the OO focussed on the PPM “Rudd pays personal price” rather than the no change PPM
The Liberals will be preparing to WorkChoice Brendan.
http://enrol.com.au/mumblestuff/pdfs/20080602newspollpetrol.pdf
http://enrol.com.au/mumblestuff/pdfs/20080602newspollgen.pdf
well that was a lot o nothing
rudd preferred PM down to 2/3 of the population
he must be shitting himself
hehaheahe
I agree it is still a good result but I don’t think Rudd supporters should get too carried away. Yes Nelson is stillfive cent and some media were biased, but after seeing Media Watch on the Henson art photos this week I wish Rudd hadn’t poked his nose into that. On the plus side, troops home from Iraq should see a bounce back next week. Plus, if everyone stops trying to compete with Nelson for stupidest suggestion (no fuel GST versus 5 cents) they might actually make some headway focusing on reducing inflation adn controlling interest rates. You know, the government thing…
One guess what Lateline led with. (A hint - it wasn’t the unchanged 2PP result).
Actually if Turnbull really is a moderate then we should hope that he does have some success as leader. The idea is to bring the LNP back from the far right. Then Rudd and Turnbull can compete on who can do the best for the Australian people, not over racism, bigotry, fear, workchoices etc
That’s a great result for Labor, given the week from hell.
Nelson: A percent per cent?
I know I should read the OO, but Rudd’s PPM rating has SLUMPED to….66%. He’s finished
Personally I think the most concerning aspect of that poll is the question asking if people believed Rudd made a promise to keep petrol prices lower. 51% say yes, 23% no, and 26% uncommitted. The ALP have really let that one get away from them - they should have quashed that perception feted by the media months ago.
meant SHOULDNT read the OO
Does this mean the Liberals will sack Shanahan and Milne as their cheerleaders? ROTFL
sigh
I thought the country had turned a corner last November.
It’s not that I begrudge the opposition a close result per say - it’s the lack of intelligence behind this weeks result.
I’d almost be advising the government to go hard on the climate issues and give away any hope of re-election at this point. The current LP front bench aren’t capable of holding together through 1 term of parliament, and 5 years from now things might be very nasty in the world.
The car-centricism in this country has to be broken, and a lot of things have to change for that to occur.
Here’s a link that you just really have to click. You might think we’re not that bad, but 5c? I don’t know.
http://www.carectomy.com/index.php/Action/Free-Handgun-with-Every-Car-Purchase
Although it is good to have our combat troops home, i feel sorry for the iraqis under our command as now they must be supervised by the Americans and they are usually gung ho, arrogant and unsympathetic.
A failed and costly war. Howard, Blair and Bush should be in jail.
Labor should have shut up on the pictures and oil prices- and let Nelson show how unvisionary and stupid he is.
“Rudd pays personal price”, ROFLOL.
I notice no one was game enough to put their name to that one.
FAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRKKKKKKKK!!
All this hysteria and no change!!!
Just fell offa my chair from laughing so hard!! well buger me! now where did my false teeth end up?
hahahahaha
57:43
what a hoot!
Chuckle quietly to oneself.
Two party preferred, no change. The art critic lost some ground to 5cent man. Oh what is the MSM to do now?
83% percent of Australians don’t want Brendan Nelson as PM……..you can’t spin it any other way. Bye Bye Brendan.!
Not time to bring out Tex Perkins yet!
Socrates it works like this- give the Libs a great week and then go after Nelson when the figures are bad. The Australian hates Nelson and want Turnbull and this is part of the strategy. Then we will support him to the hilt as a future leader.
fiztig - a genuine error, if only passing, of judgment on Rudd’s behalf. I guess his team would have learned. However I hope he doesn’t get sucked into playing the popularity game instead of doing what is necessary, even if unpopular. Doing unpopular if right things wont hurt him.
Any contest with a score of 67 to 17 is an absolute drubbing. No change in the two-party preferred result confirms that the government ministers aren’t seen as a Kevin Rudd support act - they are obviously well respected in their own right. The I’ll sleep very comfortably tonight.
On the Victorian By-election: It’ll be interesting to see if the Victorian Liberals will stand a candidate and what effect that will have on the Leadership power plays. Ballieu wanted to stand candidates last year and was overruled. Will it happen again?
And a 66% approval rating is somehow bad news?
You gotta love the anti-Labor bias of the MSM!
Let me guess, Shanahan tomorrow will be trumpeting Nelson’s stellar 17% rating.
Which is equal to WA Liberal Leader Troy Sniffwell
Kina 66
Exactly; Rudd shouldn’t go for populism. Taxpayer funded expensive populism was what people were sick of from Howard. Rudd took the right policies to the election and he should just stick to delivering them. If he does that, and the lack of principle and ideas in the opposition continues to be exposed, Labor will easily increase its majority.
Well it seems Rudd snuck through this little episode with little harm. Most of it was the MSM grossly misrepresenting the goings on however, there is a lesson to be learned and it seems it came free this time.
MSM will continue to tell the truth that suits their story:
OO headline reads RUDD PAYS PERSONAL PRICE: NEWSPOLL
This is a game and Labor the big winner
Tony Jones pathetic journo
So … Is the Honeymoon over?
Bye Bye Brendan.
FuelWatch will be driven to the back pages: MalcolmWatch will be the theme for the next fortnight.
Seems the most interesting thing in this newspoll is that mumble got it first
Well done Mr Brent
66%
2 to 1
It’s too early to tell really, but what if in the last week we’ve had a little bit of wheat and chaff sorting, and that the antics have actually polarised people to one side or the other? If 66% represents now solid support then the MSM and LP have screwed the pooch.
It’d the difference in movement between PPM and party support that I find intriguing.
Fagin: spot on! How are you mate, we miss you over at the ozelections board!
Dont agree Fagin, the MSM will go with the PPM drop because it suits their narrative. They’ll ignore the no change in 2PP
Any chance of a thread specifically for the ongoing campaigns: the Kororoit by-election, the Gippsland by-election, and the Lennon countback?
Any actual helpful updates tend to get lost amongst the dull political bickering if they’re thrown in these all-purpose threads.
Onimod 57
I agree - finding an alternative to cheap petrol for every V8 is the real answer. Also as I said on the previous thread, I think there is a serious issue looming with jobs in the auto industry. I don’t think its exaggerating to say that most of them could go in 2-3 years if we don’t change strategy fast. Thats 10000 jobs in Victoria and 5000 in Adelaide. Even if the plan is to give up and retrain those people for areas of skills shortage that needs to be prepared for now. (That maybe a good idea too, given how surprisingy little pain there has been here in Adelaide since Mitsubishi closed.)
So the result is Rudd lost a little skin, but that’s the sum total of the damage!
I agree the government has to make sure these leaks don’t occur again, but otherwise still steady as she goes!
60 vera
that’s your classical eduction coming to the fore eh?
(my daily language is much blue-er than my posting one…I agree)
Kina @ 18 -
I guess it is just as well most people are totally ignorant of politics otherwise every bad government would lead to its obliteration as a party.
Sadly, the truth of that is the GWB’s 30% approval rating. Easily the worst pres is modern history, and arguable at least the equal worst ever, single handedly responsible for his country’s greatest foreign policy/national security disaster, the Katrina (non)rescue debacle and possibly the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and yet about 30% of the American public still think he’s doing a good job!!! That is some rust! LOL!
Mr Squiggle Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Marky marky,
IF Brendan can pick up 10 points over a measly 5 cents of petrol, how much more will he pick up when he hits on a real issue of substance
he only picked up 5 points
And now begins the emissions trading - fuel price increase scare. Would be interesting to know whether Newspoll asked the fuel q before the TPP ones. However given the TPP results (ho hum same old same old), the political weight being given to the issue of fuel prices in the electorate isn’t much.
What a joke! No change in the 2PP.
The MSM will obviously spin the PPM figures which will mean that the real big loser is that lightweight Turnbull because now he is going to have to wait longer LOL.
Let’s put the 17% PPM figure into perspective. Simon Crean was rating in the mid 20’s and was never given any go by the hacks.
The real story to come out of these polls is that the MSM are becoming less and less relevant by the month.
81 Socrates
Fingers crossed Penny has a job lined up for them later this year?
I have been pleasantly surprised by the apparently positive reaction from the redundant workers in Adelaide. I haven’t looked too deeply into the why yet.
The end of the auto industry is probably another one of those net positive results for the government given the level of subsidy. The subsidy alone is probably enough to do something very constructive with.
I wish Labor would just confront the fuel price issue head on. Wait a month for the tax cuts to kick in, then just say that there is no way they are going down again, and people need to plan for that. Help them adjust, even the morons who bought big fat ugly 4wds, but make them understand this isn’t going away.
50
Kina Says:
“Actually if Turnbull really is a moderate then we should hope that he does have some success as leader.”
I don’t know about federally but here in NSW the president, vice president and finance director of the Liberal party all quit last week and the hard right have taken over.
“Their resignations pave the way for the Right faction to take more control of the party.
Mr Selig will be replaced in the interim by either Scot Macdonald or Nick Campbell, both of whom are from the hard Right.”
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/lib-meltdown-as-top-officials-quit/2008/05/28/1211654089003.html
86 dave
good question on the order of questions - does anyone know?
The equal numbers may in fact cover a shift away from the government of 5% (matching PPM) was in fact balanced by a shift of 5% to the government.
While Nelsons numbers are pretty irrelevant, but 10% of people changing their party support is pretty damn significant.
I actually don’t believe this is what happened entirely, but with the minimal data thee pollsters deliver, it’s possible.
Even 56/44 is a bad result for the Liberals as far as I am concerned. With all the negative publicity for Rudd in the past week they should’ve been getting at least 54/46 for this poll.
The Liberals need to start thinking big picture sometime. They cannot just jump on each issue as it comes.
Is it worth firing off an email to Shamaham, just to rub it in?
N.S.W: the state government is about to hand down a budget containing huge increases in infastructure, health and education spending, that’ll help Labor!
A beautiful result for Rudd Labor.
Still streets ahead on 2PP and Nelson looking (slightly) less worse as Oppo Leader.
Neslson still in charge. Rudd still ascendant. Labor still ahead by the same country mile they were ahead last time? Turnbull fu%&ed and The Libs a dismal last?
Break out the champaggeney.
A beautiful set of numbers.
93
Progressive
That would mean acknowledging his existance - something he gets a kick out of with his increasing redundancy - I’d ignore him just to rub it in.
Onimod
As for the subsidy - its a lot more than that! The previous government’s car industry plan had $6 billion in assistance and tax rebates committed to it! Thats a lot of money to waste if it goes down anyway. Better to give them a new job with a future.
I don’t know all the details but from what I have heard, the Mitsubishi workers situation in Adelaide is really not that bad. First, full marks to Mitsubishi for paying a severance package that included all entitlements and severance benefits sought by the union, so most people have not been left stranded. Second, there really is a demadn for skilled workers. Anyone who was a qualified engineer, mechanic, electrician or even machinist has jobs in mining or defence to apply for. Mitsubishi workers had a good reputation for reliability so even low skilled workers are being offered work in other industries.
That is really the point - everyone agrees the economy is at full employment. If there is ever a time when you can shift workers from one industry to another with minimal pain this is it. So bite the bullet now, when we ‘ve got some alternative unfilled jobs and the cash to retrain people.
66% is pitiful. The honeymoon is clearly over…
93 Progressive
That’s be pretending his journalistic skill in some way measures up to your common sense - I wouldn’t bother.
On a serious note, I don’t know why anyone expected a bounce for the Libs out of all the hoo-haa.
Howard often had bad leaks and they rarely ended up with any appreciable change in support, especially when Crean was the man.
Ooohh this is a bad result…
If Brendan’s results go up but the 2PP remains unchanged, the Liberals might realise that it isn’t their leader that’s the problem.
I don’t want that. If they realise that the problem goes deeper than their leader, they might do something about it.
If they just keep switching leaders in an ongoing search for the Messiah, then it’ll be a couple of hundred years before they’re electable.
From their point of view, trashing their economic credibility to get Brendan a ‘bounce’ (probably because a few of the undecideds actually realised that there WAS a leader of the opposition) is a huge price to pay.
So - the honeymoon is definitely over - everyone who’s anyone has said so.
So, does that mean they’re going to stop telling us that this is the case?
I hope so.
The government should basically;
ignore the MSM,
treat the opposition with very little respect, and
go on doing what they were elected to do - implementing their plans for the nation.
An anti-climax. After Rudd’s worst week still the same 2PP and the same primary vote. Yeah he lost a little skin PPM and Approval rating but not very much. “Honeymoon” over? I wonder if these journalists realise the crap they write outside of their little”majic” circle.
Best lesson to be learnt is not to be overconfident and not to take things/people for granted. Rudd has proved he is a fast learner.
But I still think Rudd was happy to loose a little short term popularity for the long term advantage of making sure people understood that petrol prices were a Global phenomen. Could be wrong in assessing his intentions but that is what has been the outcome.
Nelson seems to be doing very well for the Labor Party!
Onimod: you’re too kind!
Steve K: good advice, if we ignore Dennis, he might just fade off into nothingness!
I wonder if Nelson will be blathering on about Fuel Watch tomorrow, maybe it’s time the Libs adopted a new strategy, assuming there is one LOL
97 Socrates
I suspect it was on Newsradio where I heard a worker thanking Mitsubishi for his time in employment and the skills they’d given him. The reporter was searching for the grim tale of death and just didn’t get it.
It’s hard to see the same thing happening in Geelong. Jobs there are always an issue in the meeja and were definitely so during the election. It’s hard to see that same forward looking ex-Mitsubishi employees answer coming from there.
It’s startling how out of touch with the Australian community(the majority anyway) the MSM has been for some time! Silly me, I thought things might change after the election, but obviously not!
Watching Jones interview Gillard on Lateline here in Adelaide now and I admire Gillard’s restraint for not getting angry with him. The questions are so slanted Nelson’s press secretary might as well have written them. “Will you compensate people for carbon taxes” - he must have asked it five times, with no counterbalancing questions on the downside of nothing changing. Does Jones own a V8 4WD?? Gillard to her credit played it with a straight bat.
Oops - the Newspoll performance didnt quite run to script.
The honeymoon was over, Rudd was rooted, some even wandered out to the periphery of credibility and talked about Rudd being a one term wonder - all over last weeks parliamentry politics! Parliament for gawds sake. Who the hell watches it, apart from a few of us poor suckers?
These guys couldnt find their arse with a map.
What a disgrace.
105 Progressive
at 1% per cent I expect Nelson to be offering a full twenty cents off petrol tomorrow - how could he go wrong?
Vera - true, the Liberal party screeches even further to the right. Turnbull’s job might be to get them elected then get dumped.
Socrates - Yes, we watched about two minutes of Jones asking Julia how the AFP were going to conduct their investigation (”Mrs Smith, your husband has been stabbed. How do you think the police will find the culprit?”) and turned back to watch ‘West Wing’ as being far more politically intelligent.
109
All right Possum - where is the graph showing what’s going on with static support and varying PM preference?
PPM and party support didn’t seem to correlate too well during the election either IIRC.
Socrates @ 81 -
Spent most of the afternoon with a former big cheese of one of the biggest parts supplier to the car makers and he predicts that industry will be finished here within a couple of years with parts coming from China (many already do), Ford may be gone in the same time frame.
He expects Holden will survive longer because their big engined rear-wheel drives are popular in countries where petrol prices aren’t a factor, but he’s less confident that GM will be able to adapt fast enough to the changes that $200+/barrel oil will force on the American industry.
As evidence he points to what is the biggest selling car in automotive history, the Ford F series pickups and their GM equivalents. Huge engines, p*ss poor brakes and leaf spring suspensions only marginally better than those fitted to the wagons that settled the American west. These are the American industry’s bread and butter bringing in most of the profit. Changing from them to knocking out smaller fuel efficient cars will require massive investment and a wholesale change in management culture which may well be beyond them in the time available.
Possum
If the honeymoon is over but the warmth hasn’t ended, does this mean the opposition now starts referring to the dangers of “the seven year itch” for Rudd and the electorate?
Onimod
Yes Geelong is a problem. Still, all the ingredients for heavy scale manufacturing are there. No reason they can’t make something else.
If only Jones was as intelligent as he is suave (his press claims, not mine)
I don’t think he can see past the end of his desk.
Short term, small minded dolt.
Julia and team are not going to be baited - it’s all about character now.
Perhaps the 17% PPM result shows that some of the 37% Primary Liberal supporters (43% TPP) have decided to stop whacking Nelson? My feeling is that the biggest loser since the budget has been Turnbull.
Seriously though, did anyone think that last weeks fuel hoopla was going to significantly affect how people would vote or their perception of how well (or bad) Labor are doing. People know fuel is going up and that this is beyond the control of the Government (the Newspoll results confirm this). So while they may have thought Rudd did promise to keep prices low, they didn’t believe him, but voted for him anyway (or at least 53% did). Breaking a promise in relation to something that was never within your control is generally forgivable - acknowleging though that it is pretty dumb to promise such a thing in the first place (and yes, I know he didn’t promise to keep the fuel and grocery prices low, but this is all about perception).
The slight hit to Rudd’s ppm and satisfaction rating may reflect the above, his comments about nothing more that he could do, the GST on fuel response (even though this was foreshadowed before Nelson’s ‘match me if you can in the dumb policy stakes’ 5c excise reduction comments) or his apparent timidness to respond to the issue in the first place and kill it off (or a combination of the above). At any rate, more people still think Rudd is the better PM than would vote for Labor so the figures aren’t bad for the ALP or, by association, Rudd; if he wasn’t being compared against himself, there would really be nothing bad in the figures at all. Nelson’s approval ratings are still in the negative (when comparred to his disatisfaction), and there are as many people who don’t know whether they prefer Rudd or Nelson than actually prefer Nelson. All in all, pretty crap result for the Libs given all the media support and air they got but not unsurprising when you look at the actual issues they supposedly won the fight on.
The MSM may as well have lined up Rudd and Nelson against the kitchen door and marked off their heights and used that as the politically measure for the fortnight… at least it would have been more accurate in measuring the change in the polls (yep, no change in height between this week and a fortnight ago)
all the comments about “the anti-labor bias of the MSM” are are bit lame. Yes, the Australian is in a weird place, but it always has been, so what? As for the petrol price issue, the ALP is the government now. Of course the media is going to be looking for news, and the only real news as far as the mass media is concerned is bad news. So any trivia that can be beaten up will be, just as it has been with all previous governments.
Rudd may well last ten years as prime minister, who knows? but the thing about the last week or two is that previously he had seemed politically invincible. it’s only a tiny scratch now showing on his shiny new paintwork, but it’s the first scratch, and it has some significance because of that. yes, the public discussion of the petrol price issue is bizarre and trivial given the wider context of energy demand growth and carbon emssions, but even though Rudd didn’t actually promise to lower petrol prices, he banged on and on about the hardship caused by rising fuel and grocery prices to “working families” during the election campaign. if the semi-ignorant populace he played up to during the election campaign now feel just a little bit annoyed at his attitude, and the continuing rise of petrol and grocery prices - about which Rudd can do very little, in reality - it’s just desserts, I say.
Mayoferral
Yes the parts situation is very frustrating. Even without the petrol price problem I think they would be in big trouble from imports with the changes in the dollar value alone. The one thing that might help them is Chinese inflation.
I remain skeptical on Holden and the big RWD cars and utes. Why do we assume the export markets will hold up? There is no law of physics that says they will. Eventually oil prices must go up in OPEC countries too, and then the gig is up.
My intro comment in 118 should have been qualified to refer to rational, non MSM commentator types - I realise that some of the MSM commentators probably did believe, in all honesty, that the polls would swing. I guess the movements in the Rudd PPM and satisfaction ratings will have to do and they will wring them for all they are worth. God help us all.
Unreal really these headlines, Rudd Pays personal Price, Slumps to lowest level since election…….
HELLO His PPM is 66% The Rodent’s highest ever was a one off 67% fercrissake!
I wonder if they can see how pathetic they look? Is it just a game of attacking Rudd or do they actually believe what they are writing or maybe is it clinical denial in action. It is clearly ridiculous to run the Rudd pays personal price line.
Though they did inadvertently send the message that they believe Rudd should be higher.
Vera, the MSM have to save face somehow. They’ve got this all horribly wrong.
Do we know what the PM’s satisfaction rating is and if it has gone down from last time?
We must concede though they did run with the PPM line when it was showing Rudd at 70%, so I suppose they are being consistent, although BS.
115
The problem I suspect in Geelong is that they don’t believe in much else. The Ford motorcar is a very strong icon and identity hook. Mitsubishi is an entirely different brand. Sure they CAN do something else, but the social consequences are pretty big. I’m not sure that anything climate related is a good fit down there, but it’s the obvious choice in this country.
114 Mayo
The vehicle is a very powerful symbol, and even more so the further you are isolated from urbanity. I just cannot see middle America giving their massive vehicles up - they’ll have to be taken. Australia is not so different.
In cultural circles there are methods of measuring cultural lag. Tough subject, because you’re automatically labelled an elitist just for having a view. In some areas even our most advanced capital cities are possibly decades behind parts of Europe, and some areas are so far behind it’s hard to judge. Same problems in America. This creates massive problems when change occurs, because the differences are magnified and exacerbated, and the opportunities afforded to similar individuals in different places can be starkly different, leading to social unrest. Sometimes the change can be minimised and sometimes it can even create shortcuts or ladders (snakes and ladders - eg eastern Europe is enjoying a technological revolution before they are experiencing the devaluation of the family group in deference to individualism). The thing that concerns me is that for the last 12 years we have had a government that has traded on the status quo and actively devalued progression, and almost taught that it’s not a necessity. After 12 years of pause or reversion I can’t see anything but conflict ahead. Very those who voted ALP realise how painful some of the things they voted for will actually be.
This fuel thing has been absolute chicken-feed compared to the introduction of carbon tax. I don’t think that Rudd has time to plant the seeds and wait for the population to come around to side with him against the carbon industry on that one.
I’m very happy with this result and somewhat relieved to be honest.
119 Socrates
The other thing about those OPEC countries we regard as our expert markets is that they’re rapidly becoming technology and gadget junkies. Our old tech isn’t going to cut it when the ‘cool’ new hybrid equivalents become available.
Gary, #123
I don’t know Newspoll haven’t got it up on their site yet
Gary,
See James J #46 for links to the full tables. Rudd’s Satisfaction has dipped to 7 points to 56. Nelson also down 1 point, but pretty close to primary support at 35.
And the public servants’ working conditions must have been a huge factor as well, I don’t think.
Honestly, did Shanahan, Milne, Toohey and co. really think the plebs would give a tinker’s curse if those the media had portrayed as blood sucking parasites, on the taxpayers teat, for the last hundred years, were made to work harder?
In my view, their attempt to cannonise those they had previously demonised, in order to get Rudd, was a clear signal to the public that these guys, the journos, weren’t for real.
Their previous efforts at spinning came back to bite them on the bum!
Sorry,
Nelson down 1 to 36. Damage has been done to Rudd rather than a lift to Nelson, but he seems to be getting some credit for the damage in the PPM numbers.
128 Vera and 123 Gary
The links are up on Possum’s or Mumble’s
Rudd Satisfied/Dissatisfied is down from 63/23 to 56/30 (14% consistently uncommitted)
Nelson Satisfied/Dissatisfied is negligibly up from 37/39 to 36/40 (24% uncommitted)
Given that Rudd’s supporters aren’t even sure he’s done a good job, I’d say that the poll is a pretty reasonable result given a 100% negative MSM report on his performance.
Seems people either don’t outright, or don’t want to, agree with them.
(and everyone already beat me to it - must learn to type one day)
Hi onimod,
That Nelson’s satisfaction hasn’t changed is what makes me think his PPM increase of 5% is mainly Liberal voters who previously wanted to whack him out of the job and have enjoyed the past week.
134
Seems reasonable Tobe.
Newspoll could split those stats into party voting intention columns and tell us but I bet they won’t.
It could also be the view expressed in Ozblogistan that the rusted on ALP support aren’t happy with the way Kev allowed himself to get dragged down to Nelson’s game. They’re not happy with Kev, but it’s not going to change thier vote.
Or it could also be a combination of both.
Or it could be something none of us have picked up.
Anyway the good news is that the Liberals are now getting sucked into keeping Nelson at the very time he should have been turfed. Just keep him till the budget, just keep him till the next budget, just keep him till the next election…they never learn.
Is it just me, or is the 5% “jump” for Nelson, completely within he margin of error for 2 consecutive polls (2 x 3%) ?
So, move along people, nothing to see here…
This will actually encourage the Lib-Nats, and their apparatchiks in the conservative media to continue their desperate attacks on Rudd’s petrol policy, cabinet unity, etc. Because though the improvement in their poll ratings is only slight, it hasn’t hurt them any. And they’ve got nothing else to do.
That also makes sense onimod, I must admit I missed Keating this week, but I am a Keating fan. I think the GST stuff did blur the government position, and gave Nelson a leg up.
The LNP should dump Nelson now. They know he wont win but they don’t know if Turnbull will be any better and need to find out sooner rather than later. The longer they leave it the more entrenched Kev becomes.
Fortunately for Labor both Nelson and Turnbull look totally unconvincing when the speak or rant to the camera. In fact I find them a real political turn off.
In the 6 Newspolls since the election the Greens have maintained a consistent swing to be scoring 9-11%, about 2% gain since the election.
Oh and I wonder who would no longer be with us if there were a uniform swing of 4% plus to the ALP, as 57:43 suggests, if that was the vote at the next election?
I might go off and check out the pendulum.
About 20 seats in danger.
Wentworth and Sturt included.
That may be food for thought for the Libs considering the next leader.
From a union perspective, Kevin Rudd sucks.
But based on these results, and what we know of Australian electoral cycles, he’s got another 10 years.
the shameless Shamaham:
“Unmet promise fuels discontent
“PETROL has blown up in Kevin Rudd’s face.
“He’s still miles in front of Brendan Nelson and the Labor Party continues to sail along unperturbed by petrol prices heading north to $2 a litre.
“The real problem for Rudd is that competing messages have jammed him in the middle of public opinion and left him, personally, the loser.
“The latest Newspoll shows the Prime Minister’s personal ratings at the lowest they have ever been - although they would still be the envy of many a leader - but he’s lost his gloss.”
Lost his gloss on 66%???????
Is the Honeymoon over? …LOL!
Mr Shanahan is as predictable as ever, the skidmark on the bedsheet of impartial journalism!
Don’t know, Aussieguru01, but the lead SMH/Age political story is ‘Multiple orgasms on floor of parliament’ which might be sort of honeymoon related though it’s a very big stretch
Strangely Rudd barely gets a mention in either paper’s on-line edition. Seems only the murdoch rags and the ABC are interested in his ‘huge’ fall from grace
The problem is not that goose Shanahan. The problem is the media is a whole. Seems to be open season on the Rudd government.
cf, this business about the Fergusson leak, is a beat up. So is this “allleged implicit promise to lower petrol prices”-gate.
Why the beat up? Dunno. For some reason the media desperately wants the Rudd government to do something interesting, like cock up publicly.
I think the problem is somehow with the new government’s media management style.
Answering my own question, via advice from a small furry friend:
The MoE is only approx 3% for figures where there is a rough 50/50 split.
With Nelsons PPM of 12 and 17, the MoE is about 2% (because the further away from the 50/50 split that a result gets in an either/or question, the smaller the MoE becomes).
So it was a statistically significant improvement from 12 to 17
Question - What is the chance of a PM maintaining a PPM rating of 70% in ANY week?
Not long ago the were talking about oil breaking the $100 / barrel, it then accelerated to $130 / barrel.
Since Rudd has come to power oil has gone up over 30%. If this had not have happened petrol prices would be doing their usual slow drift upwards. No government anywhere could have done anything meaningful with fuel prices.
Rudd did say that he could keep pressure on fuel prices and other prices, and the consistent reporting of it during the election certainly created the impression that Labor would keep prices down which is not what they promised.
Now if there had not been carnage in oil prices probably the Fuelwatch scheme would have delivered on his promise, if not decreasing prices then keeping pressure on outlets to not unduly increase prices. That I believe was Rudd’s original object before the election and before oil went to the extremes it now has.
Rudd always spoke in terms of keeping pressure downward pressure on prices by competition or by monitoring etc.
It has been the unsophiticated media that has not bothered to pick up on this and report it in its true context, and instead made it appear there was a promise to keep things down aka Howard’s interest rate promise.
Fortunately enough Australians are not so stupid to not realise that in an open market the govt can only work at the edges or work at amending the fundamentals which take time to flow through.
AND truly if the media have honestly openly presented the performances of the two parties to the public on the fuel prices issue then Nelson’s crew would have gone backwards.
Rudd’s error has not been in policy or parliamentary performance, only in dealing with a toxic press looking to make anything out of nothing.
I have a feeling the Coalition will definately gain around 10 seats at the next federal election.
Well to be fair you can hardly call cabinet leaks containing advice which might suggest flaws in the Government’s policy ‘nothing’. Unless you are suggesting they ought never have covered it in the first place.
Kina
“Rudd always spoke in terms of keeping pressure downward pressure on prices by competition or by monitoring etc.”
that’s true it’s the media that just keep trying to hammer their lies (that he said he’d bring down prices) home,
Another thing is that Rodent spent millions on propaganda, spinning his policies and lies with media help whereas Kev is keeping his word about being fiscally responsible therefore it is harder for him to get his messages out.
The MSM hate it when they get things wrong.
I’ve still got a copy of the ‘Herald Sun’ front page with the blazing headline “Hewson by a nose”. They were so keen to believe it that they printed the paper before the results were in.
From then on, the media turned on Keating savagely. He had won when he wasn’t supposed to and they vilified him for it.
I see much the same thing happening now. The great unwashed are not behaving the way they should be and must be put in their place.
With Keating, they had 13 years of past Government decisions etc to use as ammunition; they don’t have that with Rudd, so it’s a different ball game.
It will be interesting to see what happens IF the honeymoon (whichever one it is we’re on now) keeps chugging along.
Will the likes of Shanahahanahananan just chuck in the towel and make way for younger, more in touch journos; keep madly clutching at non existent straws and try and build grass houses out of them; or start commenting on what is actually happening?
Ahhhh “nothing like the smell of napalmed media in the morning”
Vera@15
Rudd is not spending too much on self promotion… yet. We’ll see what happens a year or two down the line.
I don’t think you can argue there’s no spin though.
Whilst it was annoying to hear ABC radio band on about a poll whacking (bad idea Rudd to use that term last week), despite no change in 2PP, if it keeps Nelson in the job, that’s the best outcome for Labor
Anyone giving the OO the time of day after their efforts over the past 18 months (not many judging by their ciruclation figures) deserves all they get! Funnythough, you;d think they might try being less biased to see if it improves their sales
The cabinet leaks were in regard to fuelwatch a scheme of minor effect in comparison to the accerating oil price. Indeed if they have the leaks then by all means report them - it is up to the government to explain which it did.
I notice on ABC radio AM program this morning they covered the Newspoll and presented it in a wholy negative light for Rudd. They did however remarkably fail to mention any figures at all! No TPP, no PPM, just talking about Rudd’s hit. AND they lovingly referred to the fuelwatch disaster or some such pejorative word.
The thing being that the fuelwatch machinations was no disaster, it was one invented in the media then the media reporting its own invention as fact.
Well it certainly wasn’t a disaster. The way some commentators are reacting to it it is as if FuelWatch will bring about the end of the world. Also, regardless of what anyone says now Rudd never promised to bring petrol prices or grocery prices down. However, papers will spin stories in whichever way they can to sell papers… and outrage at government decisions is more likely to sell papers than a balanced representation of the ‘facts’.
LTEP @ 158
Of course there is spin - it is politics after all. But that doesn’t mean that it is all spin which is what some in the MSM commentariat seem to be implying. Nelson and Turnbull freely admit that the 5c excise reduction was all about politics and not policy - now that is spin.
Also, BS is copping a whacking of his own over on his blog… a few of the regulars here contributing to the carnage.
Sorry Dave55, who is BS?
I guess BS will be happy, the more hits on the site the better for them.
BS is shanahan
When did Nelson and Turnbull admit the 5c excise reduction was not policy? To me, their even suggesting it shows how ridiculous and unelectable they are at the moment.
It’s true that that’s ridiculous as a policy proposal. In any case, if it was such a brilliant idea they would’ve done it years ago when they were in government.
Sorry should have been DS.
Don’t know what I’m thinking getting Dennis’s and brendan’s mixed up I think.
LTEP - Turnbull hasn’t committed to going to the next election with it and while Nelson has, he has never sounded comitted. Agreed that it was announced as policy but do you seriously believe that this is going to part of their policy platform leading into the next election? And if it is, this is the frst real policy that they have come up with since the loss and it is an absolute dog that has been bagged by every economist who has botherred to turn their mind to the issue. In one fell swoop, the 5c/L announcement has destroyed the ‘better economic manager’ platform that the Libs still had to call upon.
So yes, it was announced as a policy but I don’t believe it is, it is simply politics and not very good politics at that. As your comments indicate, they are disappointing their own supporters with crap like this.
Conspiracy theorists might say that the whole Fuelwatch fiasco was orchestrated at a time tha Rudd’s approval and PPM were at record highs, so that when they inevitably drop you could make it look like damage was done
How frustrating that the MSM has learnt nothing from the past 18 months. How not surprising is it. Why cant just one commentator say “The newspoll shows no change in 2PP”
Even ‘whoops, I got that one wrong’ would be nice…just once.
Dave55 I am not a Liberal Party supporter. Far from it. I can’t think of one thing that would make a person vote for them right now. Do they have a position on anything? I wouldn’t know.
Andrew I’m assuming if there had been a change in the 2PP they wouldn’t not be mentioning it.
i encourage all to post their love on Shanahan’s blog. I know its hard to read, but cant be left without the response it deserves. Not that it will make an difference.
Grattan and Carney in the Age have been more balanced. Interested to see how they will report this is the morning.
Heard Albanese on ABC, after Jon Faine built up the “slump”, disappointed that Albanese did not mention the 2PP, but just bought the bad opinion poll story
Labor doesn’t wan’t to be seen as arrogant, which is how it would be portayed if they start telling everyone this poll really isn’t bad at all. Better just to go with the BS. It will all be forgotten very soon anyway.
does brendan use brylcreme?
does malcolm practice speeches in front of the mirror?
is tony still wearing the sackcloth?
these are the REAL questions that grip the nation-pollsters take note
(well they would have more relevance anyway)
But LTEP that IS the story. Despite all the hysteria last week, the 2PP hasnt shifted
We all know it is a great result and so do Labor and, I would suggest, most in the MSM know it as well. They need to save face.
Nothing has really changed. Brendan is still disliked by the vast majority, Rudd is still liked by the vast majority and Labor would romp home in any election held now. End of story.
…and just imagine the cost of last weeks advertising.
Sure, brand awareness went up, but people still aren’t buying.
I wonder if it’s just a bad product? Nah, couldn’t be.
And on the government not responding to the MSM bait since last night - the MSM desperately wants to be seen as a second opposition party at the moment. It’s safer to treat them as though they really were just commentators rather then engage and legitimise them.
It’s better to let them take their bucket down into the hold and try to stop the titanic sinking. 2 birds, one stone and all that…
Is Dennis Shanahan the worst political journalist in the country?
At the risk of joining the Shana bashing pack here, I am still inclined to agree: http://tasmanianpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/06/sigh-opinion-poll-reporting.html
He’s a Barry Crocker!
I agree with Andrew Bolts comments.
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/rudd_hurts_himself_more_than_labor/
I refuse to read Bolt or Shamaham for that matter.
John of Melbourne, the Liberals are on the way back from where though? Getting a preferred PM rating of 17% is really nothing to write home about.
Its amusing to read the other papers to put this poll in perspective. Even in the other News papers its not the lead story today. In the Advertiser it doesn’t even make the front cover (thanks to their incessant campaign to get a bilion dolar sporting stadium in the city) and in the Courier Mail drought breaking heavy rain in SE Qld has relegated it well back. In Sydney the NSW State budget today will se it dissappera off the radar tomorrow as well.
Dave55 Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:46 am
Sorry should have been DS.
I think BS is a good acronym for Dennis!
For the Libs it’s a nothing poll no matter what Bolt or anyone else says. Commonsense tells you this.
haha - I amuse myself sometimes…
Dennis ‘I-am-a-sham’ is the ‘Wizard of Oz’
an extract from wikipedia:
“…Toto inadvertently exposes the great and powerful wizard as a fraud; they find an ordinary man hiding behind a curtain operating a bunch of buttons and levers. They are outraged at the deception, but the wizard solves their problems through common sense and a little double talk…
If you want to determine the real significance of this poll watch QT today and see which party is genuinely upbeat. The government is still very much in control.
So, no real change then?
What a surprise.
Poll is totally insignificant.
Rudd had an untidy week and a half - “whacking” was a silly choice of word, asking to be quoted back at him, and his mini-rant about the public servants last week was unfortunate in view of the tendency of a good proportion of people to resent “the boss” in all situations.
And I don’t think Fuelwatch is a winner for the Govt.
Still, the Libs would have to get rid of Nelson (for starters) to actually be going anywhere much.
192 Dyno - I really don’t think you get the reason Rudd spoke of the “whacking”. Everytime he has spoken about copping a pasting in the polls over some issue, even through last year, the pasting hasn’t eventuated. It’s his way of down playing expectations and when the “whacking” doesn’t eventuate he looks good.
As far a the public servants go the Libs gave the public service a bad name years ago. People thought of them as being sheltered and lazy. Michell on AW likes to speak of them as working hard looking out of the window. Anyone saying they are going to work them hard is not going to lose too many friends in most circles.
Fuelwatch may not be a winner but if this poll shows one thing it is that it is not a loser either.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23802239-29277,00.html
“The federal Workplace Authority says it has yet to finalise about 121,000 Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) which were submitted for approval under the previous government’s legislation”
the worstchoices gift that will keep on giving!
thats why the 2pp aint changed or wont significantly
13 years ago when I moved from the commercial world to government I notices an immediate fall in work rate of at least 50%. It seemed like the world was moving in slow motion. But there is a big difference in govt of course. They have to follow regulations every step of the way and create the paper trails - the process is often given more attention than the outcome. In the commercial world you can’t afford to work-to-rule if you want to compete, in govt it is kind of manadatory.
The pressure Rudd is putting those Canberra public servants under I gather would motstly be the executives and the professionals who I assume would be on pretty good salaries. Even as a junior in the commerical world I often worked 7 weeks and many times 24 hour days - no complaint, that was the norm. Can’t see why these guys can complain too much if they are getting remunerated.
#169
Agreed, Dave55. The 5c/L announcement will be an albatross around the neck of any Opposition Leader come the next election - irrespective of whether it’s still Lib policy by that time. If it is, they have to explain the big chunk it will take out of the budget. If it isn’t, they will have to defend why they are reneging on the 5c/L cut for drivers.
The irony is that the times during which the the 5c/L cut sounds most attractive is also the times during which it has the least political benefit should it be introduced. In a period of escalating oil prices, the 5c/L cut would be eaten up very quickly by the continued rise.
A 5c/L cut may seem wonderful on the day it’s introduced. But what if the price of petrol increased by 10c/L over the ensuing few weeks. By that time, the response from voters would be “What have you done for me lately?!” The benefit of a 5c/L cut is mostly psychological, anyway; and the political capital would be expended very quickly.
GB @ 193,
That’s how Rudd thought it would work, and in the short term maybe it has (though I am not convinced). In the long term, though, there’s nothing the press likes better than quoting a leader’s own words back at him. “Whacking” will be reasonably good fodder for them, don’t you think?
Fuelwatch is neither a winner or loser in itself. But Rudd created an expectation last year that he would “do something” about cost of living pressures. In the more complex world of Government, he’ll need to carefully manage the way back from that somewhat ambitious position.
Still, the Government’s still miles in front, by any measure.
Honest John @ 154
And which seats may they be? Some in New South Wales maybe because the state governmnet may amplify and damage they recieve. I would definatley expect labor to make futher gains in queeensland. Even if its only Dickson. Make Dutton shut up he is so anoyying
(Only still there because of those abomnible electoral laws i say)
It obviously will depend on when the elction is held and the narrative of the campaign. In W.A there is no where to go but up really. I doubt there will be any changes on way or the other in S.A at this stage. Corangamite will probably be in danger in Victoria and perhaps bass or braddon.
198 Scotty and Honest John 154
Possum has maps over at Crikey showing the seat losses for the LP on last night’s ’shocking’ figures.
2.5 years is a long time John - we mightn’t even be able to afford to drive to a polling booth by then….
Now at the blog Onimod
http://possumcomitatus.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/the-parallel-universe-of-opinionatas/
200 PC
“Journo Juice” - love it (what’s the level of tax on it?)
Q-time
just fell off my chair laughing - Julia just warned the opposition thus:
“…I’m just warming up…”
” she is going to blow ”
” the fangs”
“AHHHHHHHHH”
Nothing wrong with constructive criticism of Rudd, but today’s AUSTRALIAN is a virtual love in for the Liberal Party! If it wasn’t for its excellent sports coverage and Saturday magazine, I wouldn’t bother touching that rag!
And watching QT this afternoon, one thing struck me: the member for Bass is hot! She’s sitting where they used to put Katie Ellis: the eye candy factor for blokes!
Socrates @ 186 -
Its amusing to read the other papers to put this poll in perspective. Even in the other News papers its not the lead story today. In the Advertiser it doesn’t even make the front cover (thanks to their incessant campaign to get a bilion dolar sporting stadium in the city)
Thanks for bring that up. Am I the only one ticked off that Rann is giving $100 million to the SANFL for Footy Park? Its not as if they (or the AFL) are on their uppers!
197 Dyno - I think you are making too much of Rudd’s terminology in this case and what the press will do with it. I just don’t believe it will comeback to haunt him, why would it?
“Rudd created an expectation last year that he would “do something” about cost of living pressures.” Absolutely he did but he also made it plain many times there was NO SILVER BULLET. He is, according to this poll, given credit for having a go.
The last lot did bugger all and everyone knows it. There is nothing to comeback from.
204 Progressive - funny you should say that about the member for Bass, I was thinking exactly the same thing while watching QT.
Once again I sent an e-mail to Gerard McManus of the Herald Sun. I pointed out how this Newspoll was good news for the government. He replied - “Putting that aside, I actually agree with you that today’s poll is good for the Government.
Kevin07 has taken some skin off his knee but is otherwise fine and will probably recover quickly.” I just hope he conveys this message in his next article.
I think I’ve been too harsh in my criticism of Gerard. It’s the organisation he works for that gets up my nose.
Gary: great minds think alike?
Interesting today there was a lot more of Julia and not so much Kev!
Interest rates on hold and a bloke on Sky business tipping them to fall before the end of the year, he says ANZ tipping 2 rate rises before end of year are on another planet.
not sure if it was this bloke
”The RBA remains on track to begin a cycle of interest rate cuts during the December quarter,” Mr Koukoulas said.
http://business.smh.com.au/rba-rate-relief-may-not-be-far-off-20080603-2l11.html
Ouch Brenda!
And here in NSW business like the state budget. no joy here for the Libs either
“The NSW Business Chamber has praised the state budget, saying it delivered a trifecta of reduced taxes, record infrastructure spending and improved social spending.”
http://news.smh.com.au/business/business-group-praises-nsw-budget-20080603-2l60.html
Yes and didn’t she perform well? The opposition targetted her and she hit them for 6. It was obvious to me which side thought it had come out best in today’s polling.
The Coalition will gain a minimum of 11 seats in Queensland at the 2010 Federal Election because Brendan Nelson is a Monarchist and Kevin Rudd is a Republican. Queensland is Monarchist heartland. The Coalition will also gain 2 each in WA and TAS. The states of NSW, VIC, SA, NT and ACT will remain unchanged.
212
what a shame that Allbull will be leader aye?
Honest John do you really think there will be an 8% swing against Labor in Qld? To put it mildly your dreaming.
Ironic that in order to protect their economic credentials the Liberal Party ended up having to attack and undermine the heads of Treasury, RBA and the ACCC, appointed under their government.
212
John - with a small wager you, your children and grandchildren will be able to retire on that supposition.
I suggest you make a bet and post the evidence of it here.
Why did those so-called monarchists vote ALP in the last election eh?
Honest John @ 212
Are you serious, not gonna happen, especially w.A. There is no where to go but up. Especially if that gerymander is undone in the redistribution. AS a non queenslander i can not comment on the effect of that but if its not on the re election agenda i can not see it affecting it in the slightest. I do think macro and kitchen table economics would have a far greater bearing. And the parochial vote for the 2 local native suns would be stronger now they are the incumbents and don’t feel and obligation to the previous government anymore.
Honest John is speaking with the same forked tongue as his namesake. Such BS.
Brenda asked in QT will the govt give the windfall profits from petrol tax back to pensioners or something similar.
What windfall profits? The Federal Govt. gets 38c a litre no matter what the price.
Or is the GST now a Federal Tax? Howard spent years saying it was a state tax.
Brenda you are a dill.
Possum @ 200
Lovely work. Let’s hope sergeant Sham gets an eyeful - both of your opinions and of the dozens of articulate and almost universally condemnatory (hence embarrassing) comments on his blog. I particularly enjoyed your post scriptum observation that “there hasn’t been a comment since 10:35am and it’s 2:50pm as I write this.”
Has the sergeant underestimated the intelligence of his readership? If so, is it the first time that this has occured?
Or maybe I’m not aware of the complete context - that is to say, maybe my perception is off. Maybe the sergeant is, in fact, a sensitive, fair-minded editorialist whose opinions transcend petty partisanship and focus squarely on The Truth. Maybe he is not a smasher and basher or an intellectually impaired Zig pining for his disgraced Zag (the former PM, last seen scratching around Wollstonecraft in a turkey costume). And since it hurts him to hear it said so, he reserves the right to censor his cruel detractors.
I honestly couldn’t say.
212
Honest John
That assumes that incumbency–and some pork barreling–counts for nothing. Further it assumes that the Republican referendum is held this term: I would think it is low down in the priorities!
205 MayoFeral
Now that you mention it, I don’t know which I dislike more - the SA government giving $100 million for Footy Park or the Advertiser/opposition demanding to waste even more money (whch we don’t have) to waste on a billion dollar inner city stadium. Don’t people here know the record of government funding of sporting stadiums in all other Australia states? It is always a disaster. They never repay anything, and often need further topping up just to maintain them.
In this case if funding Footy Park avoids wasting more on a central stadium then I can live with it. But I certainly think there should eb conditions attached - like SANFL matching with 2%% or preferably 50%, and being responsible for any cost overruns.
Budgeted net operating surplus of $809 million in 2008-09
Gross state product growth of 4¼% in 2008-09
Unemployment rate of 3¾% in 2007-08 and 2008-09
And HJ thinks Labor will lose seats. Ha ha ha.
Vera 210
That is exactly why Rudd and Swan need to hold their nerve on fuel prices. We can’t afford to reduce them significantly without damaging the budget, and their effect on household budgets is relatively small, despite the rhetoric from the truck and landcruiser brigade. Let them ride bikes. Whereas if Labor get (Howard induced) inflation under control through a disciplined budget (so far so good) they will be unassailable at the next election, even if the opposition finds a competent leader. It will also prove that the inflation was due to the drunken sailor spending the mining boom profits in a politicised and wasteful fashion.
Talking about seat gains and losses at this time of the political cycle is folly. Who knows what issues will be running then. I suspect the government will be returned but who knows.
219 ruawake
I can sense the surfacing of the “it’s not cool to be smart” meme on the horizon if we’re not careful.
“Being educated is bloody elitist, I’m telling you. Elitist!
Sounds like a job for ute-man. Emo-man, have you seen ute-man anywhere?”
Onimod
Exactly. Perhaps a slogan “stupid people have a right to be PM too” might help the current shadow cabinet?
227 Socrates
To suggest otherwise would be discriminating now, wouldn’t it?
labor just need a friendly equivalent of glenn ‘the human urinal’ milne to leak selectively to. once they react and cultivate a few media pets they’ll be able to manipulate the news cycle and eventually start to believe their own propaganda and go the way of howard. *sigh* maybe instead of a fuel tax cut we should turn all the OO journos and upper tier public servants into bio-diesel.
GB @ 225,
Agree with all that. I’d put money on Rudd increasing his majority in 2010. But 2+ years out - who really knows for sure?
One thing I do reckon is that the Libs will have someone more credible than Nelson within a year or so.
230 Dyno - “One thing I do reckon is that the Libs will have someone more credible than Nelson within a year or so.” I agree with you on that. Nelson will never be PM IMHO.
I don’t have much time for Mark Reilly on channel 7 news but at least he mentioned that the government still holds a very healthy lead over the opposition in the TPP stakes while at the same times saying Rudd’s popualarity has fallen 15 points from its peak (how manipulative is that?). Rudd’s satisfaction peak by the way was in April. In comparison to last Newspoll it was a 7 point drop. 15 obviously sounded better to Mark.
Promo for Barcelona Tonight
“pensioners being forced to move overseas, better pensions better living!”
Channel 9 not to miss out on the negative slant on Rudd is running a poll - ‘have you lost faith in Kevin Rudd’ an invitation of course the hardened Liberal voters and you Ls to hit the poll.
The Newspoll obviously disappointed the Liberal media lot. They thought stating the honeymoon was over would make it so. Having got another bad poll the ABC didn’t even mention the figures when talking about it on AM.
A decade of Howard has left a fair smattering of rancid right-wing journalists throughout media. How long do we have to wait before they drop of the tree rotten and stinking? I reckon Milne has reached that point already and Shamam really is starting to stink up the place. I he goes well with the diseased carcass of the Liberal party. Poor old Sham, still trying to breath life into Howard’s putrid body. So of these guys only had jobs because they were willing to prostitute themselves for Howard, now they have gotten used to the depravity they know nothing else.
Vera @ 233
Same pensioners crap in Adelaide. Wonder how many that go (if indeed they are going at all - could be a 7 network stunt) will be back here in a very short time.
You can imagine just how different the media would be behaving if Howard had won the election.
It should be obvious to everyone, regardless of their persuasions, that Denis Shanahan is nothing other than a pom pom boy for the Coalition. It was ever thus and that is how it is going to be in the future. His equivalent of the light on the hill is a candle for John Howard and a seat at the front of the plane on Rudd’s next jolly. Neither is going to happen. Shanahan should be ignored and pitied, in that order. Lack of relevance is killing him and it is on show every single day on a national forum.
That is all.
enjaybee @ 235
only the rich Rodent lover types having a hissy fit I reckon
how are they going to get these “better pensions” OS being aussies I’d like to know?
Kina @ 234
Just another attempt by the MSM to create a perception. The same meaningless poll was conducted on the ninemsn website with 47000 odd saying that they had lost faith and 37000 odd saying they hadn’t. This result is of course at variance with Newspoll and as we all know these reply type polls are invariably wrong but nevertheless the MSM keep on conducting them regardless.
Vera
The old bloke going to the Phillipines should do very well I don’t think but perhaps he had an alternative reason. A young bride perhaps.
The thing that’s got me about the reporting of this poll, and again, particularly the ABC, is that the Coalition would have been just about obliterated if an election were held. They’re not even back at the actual election results. But, nooo. It’s all about PPM figures, as if that meant anything. I expect nothing else from the OO, but the ABC’s reporting is rubbish.
I am sure there are a number of cheaper countries to live - good luck with your dental, health care, sanitary, transport etc needs.
I don’t ever remember a four point drop in the PPM ratings for el rodente ever exciting the journalists from, in particular, News Ltd, the shockjocks and TV news bulletins.
Cuba - but hang on that’s a SOCIALIST Country - these poor dears would be aghast at that
Hey maybe the pensioners going OS are the one’s that got adopted on last weeks Barcelona tonight.
Vera @ 245
Pardon my ignorance but why is TT referred to as Barcelona Tonight?
Watch and learn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liG438RkKlI
GB at 208, cant believe that response from McManus, I bet he wont put it in the paper- and if not, a letter to the letters page is in order
imagine what the 2PP would be if we had a balanced media??
and Roy Orbison, couldnt agree with you more (except I thought you were dead)
Frank Calabrese @ 247
Thanks for that. Another reason why I have no time for David Richardson.
Enjaybee, youre right, we also havent seen two polls combined ie. 15 point drop to get a result they like
TT did a show about the Derrance Stevenson murder {body in the freezer murder} the convicted murderer was on the show claiming innocence, trying to point the finger at a sixteen year old boy who was murdered two weeks later in the infamous family serial murders, this lad lived at home with his family and had no ties with the homosexual underworld, he was abducted on 3 30 pm on a sunday afternoon on his way home from a mates place, the only evidence TT produced is the murdered lad had blonde hair, the convicted murderer said he saw a boy with blonde hair near the Stevenson house {he was the only one who saw this so called boy} he conveniently claimed it could have been the murdered boy, he admitted he had never seen this boy before, TT blurbed that it was a massive coincidence that the murderer claimed to see a blonde boy and one was murdered two weeks later, this young lad’s family was devistated and the head of Major Crime was ropeable, over the years they had put this lads life and aquaintances through a magnifying glass and SAPOL knew it wasnt true–unfortunately the law of this land is the fact that you cant sue on behalf of a dead person, a dead person can be defamed in any way with no comeback, i’m weeping inside while i’m reliving that dreadful program, that blonde boy was my son, the first victim of the “family”.
Previous PB poster Steven Kaye copped a bit of a bloody nose from a fellow commenter on Bolter’s Blog.
One of the very few posts that made it through the moderator that shows up Bolter and his troupe of Lib trolls for the total idiots that they are.
{BL replied to Steven Kaye
Tue 03 Jun 08 (12:52pm)
It’s instructive to look back to what happened the last time an unpopular government was voted out (1996). The Prime Minister’s preferred PM rating was at 54% immediately post election and had dropped to a low of 32% (June 1998) before the 1998 election - it seems Kevin has a way to go yet.
Immediately post election Kevin was at 61% and he’s since only fallen to 66%. }
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/rudd_hurts_himself_more_than_labor/P20/
the convicted murderer only suddenly remembered seeing the blonde boy years and years later when doing the TT program.
sorry William and bloggers for going off subject, i just get a little bitter when TT is mentioned and i’ve shot off my mouth, William please feel free to delete my postings if you wish.
judy barnes - I didn’t see the TT prog you’re posting about and know very little about the Stevenson murders, but I have seen several of TT’s stories on the Anna Jane Cheney murder and they present a very strong case for Keough’s innocence, IMHO.
Judy it seems to me like you have a right to feel bitter
TT are scum
so sorry for your loss
There are no words to placate a tragedy. Disturbing and saddening to hear your story. And disgusting to see yet again how non-existent media standards are regardless of the issue they have at hand.
The Australian has tonight dropped any reference to their Newspoll BS and now are now running this junk:
“Labor feels pressure over child care costs
Christian Kerr | June 03, 2008
THE Reserve Bank of Australia handed Kevin Rudd a reprieve on rising interest rates this afternoon but his Government soon found itself under political attack on a new front - whether it could prevent child care cost increases.
In Question Time this afternoon, Julia Gillard warned childcare operators against profiteering off increased government subsidies but failed to explain how she would enforce her threat. ”
The (Lib) Government Gazette is back!
Judy, your story is a tragic one and my sympathies are with you. I’ve always suspected that you are who say you are (apart from your name) when you gave a hint some month’s back on this site. It’s a pity that this sad and sordid affair couldn’t be brought to a close and the offenders brought to justice.
253 Scorpio
All credit to you and particularly BL for braving that world over there where cause and effect seem strangely disconnected.
Steven Kaye seems to be particularly gifted in that regard.
Well we all know Ker.
Another non-story. In fact I think Gillard said that yesterday. Obviously the LNP have sat down with their media mates and gone through QT looking for any snippet to make into a ‘major’ issue. Gillard warning people not to profiteer.
It is the LNP the RBA handed a reprieve, they are the ones that gave us inflation and interest rates rises….but a little context? But sorry this is the OO we are talking about.
Gee, the government telling people not to take advantage of others and the OO trying to make it a negative? They tried this nonsense before the election and all it did was highlight the fact that Rudd and co were trying to do something positive. Only a cynical liberal hack could give the story a negative twist and the OO is where they all end up.
I wonder what is like working for a paper where all your stories have to paint labor in a negative light?
Kid’s in India miss out again as Rudd pledges ten billion dollars for childcare and education in Australia; when pressured by the Opposition Kevin Rudd was unable to explain his callous and racist oversight. Nelson also demanded to know where Labor was when kids where forced to work in down the mines at the beginning of the 19th century. Labors caring reputation in tatters.
We report the news, you decide. :]
What happened to the dream of a fair, impartial media in this country?
All I can say is thank Christ for the internet and blogs/forums like poll bludger!
Just what is that qualifies someone to be a murdoch political journalist? Being able to demonstrate a solid unwaivering right wing view? Being an ex-Liberal party hack? Being able to exist in a continuous delusion state. Having John Howard’s name tattooed on the bum?
Knowing that two half truths make a whole truth or that the more half truths you can put into a piece the more truthful it will be?
249 Andrew and Kina @263
I think I’m going to try and give up ranting against the MSM.
I’m pretty comfortable given yesterday’s newspoll shows them to be irrelevant.
I feel sorry for journalists who put in a hard impartial days work, but it’s as much their fault for letting their colleagues off the leash, and not writing about the problems in the MSM. There are now plenty of alternative sources of information and credible analysis.
MayoFeral, i have no idea whether Keough is guilty or innocent, i can only say that my friends from SAPOL firmly believe him guilty.
it may help to know a little of the background behind TT doing these stories, the police pathologist sued TT for defamation and won substancial damages, after that TT took it upon themselves to do these programs on cases he’d been involved with, as far as they’re concerned the Cheney family along with ours is only collatoral damage.
when the Sunday Mail head crime reporter asked them why they had’nt the decency to contact us before the program, they claimed they’d lost my phone number– regardless of the fact that ch7 news contacts us on that phone number regularly to try get me on to comment about the latest movements on the case.
i have a daughter who was twelve when her beloved brother died, an adult now she is riddled with bleeding stomach ulcers from post traumatic stress syndrome and the stress of growing up living with us spending eleven years in and out of courts, the shock of seeing that program bought about her stomach rupturing with a massive bleed again and she had to be rushed to hospital, now our case is blowing up again she is in the process of arranging to shift to W.A. where no one will know her as Alan’s sister, after that program i cant blame her.
Kina there is always the age.
{What happened to the dream of a fair, impartial media in this country?}
Any semblance of it got totally corrupted by Howard and his cronies.
The Corporate media suckled on the public teat for a decade to the tune of 2 billion dollars.
To have the keys to the treasure taken away in such a sudden and unexpected fashion by Rudd and Labor is a situation almost too painful for the MSM to bear.
Of course, Auntie also got corrupted in that time.
Get used to a concerted campaign by these agents of corporate greed & corruption to prise Rudd from the Lodge and reinstate the rightful rulers of the masses and benefactors of the privileged classes.
Here’s one story I bet I won’t see Christian Kerr reporting:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7430627.stm
Its a story from the BBC where the head of the OECD has said he is pleased about high oil prices, because it will finally force changes that were needed anyway. Policies like Nelson’s are explicitely warned against:
“Speaking at the annual meeting of the world’s richest nations, Angel Gurria said it would be “disastrous” if they cut fuel taxes or subsidised prices.
“The best solution to high oil prices is high prices” to cut demand, he said. ”
Well, maybe if Nelson listens and learns he’ll be able to pass Economics 101 in future.
sorry again–back to politics, Kina 263 you forgot that Rudd should have been there when those chimney boys had fires lit under them to force them up the chimneys- mid 17 hundreds, and now Rudd has tha gall to pose as a saviour for the workers, excuse me while i dash off an email to bring this dreadful state of affairs to the attention of Brenda or better still the mad monk!
Andrew at 248
I read the Herald Sun mid morning in a coffee shop. McManus basically said that the news poll was good news for the government.
That’s it is it John? The Age. Nothing else? You are correct John. I can’t think of another one either.
House is still sitting. So much for the work/life balance.
272 Constant - That’s good to hear. I’ve been e-mailing Gerard McManus as some of my prevoius posts have detailed. I don’t buy the Herald Sun so I was wondering how he reacted to the poll in the paper. He said much the same to me in his e-mail reply.
The Age is I guess an interesting change to the others - but really, what is wrong with just analytical reporting without the bias? I mean, I would love to see some deeper honest analysis of the issues without any hint of being it tilted to suit any side.
AND with the very tough issues of greenhouse gass reduction and carbon trading etc coming up it is even more important that we are impartially informed.
But my real fear is that that energy industry in all its manifestations will hijack the media and have misinformation reported and discussed in the place important information.
274 James J - it doesn’t happen all of the time and parliament doesn’t sit everyday. Hell, we’ve all had to burn the midnight oil at some stage in our jobs.
“I mean, I would love to see some deeper honest analysis of the issues without any hint of being it tilted to suit any side.” I agree totally.
The only paper I buy is the weekend edition of the Financial Review. Age is too Melbourne focussed for me.
How many MSM outlets would be considered having a conservative hue about their reporting of political matters compared to the number with a “left” bias? Well, for the left there’s The Age and …. ah……the….ah
Rudd needs to announce alliances with our car makers in bringing about some of these changes here, it would work in with his climate change agenda and i’m sure would go down well with the punters, it would certainly take some of the heat off the petrol furore.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23807749-5005962,00.html
hanging my head in shame i have to admit i still get the OO and the Advertiser every day, they both have great cryptic crosswords and i LOVE cryptic crosswords, however tomorrow i’m biting the bullet and cancelling out, my home will be a newsltd free zone, i’ve been working up to it for the last few weeks, especially since the Advertiser started having Dolly every monday, i mean Dolly with breakfast is a sure way to have indigestion for the day and OO has’nt been the same since Matt died, George is about all they’ve got going for them now.
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD isn’t too bad, they are more intent at bashing the N.S.W State Labor Government, which one can argue is far more inept than the Rudd Government. The coverage of federal politics is pretty much straight down the line, even Gerard Henderson was defending Rudd today against the “evil arts community” over the Bill Henson matter.
From ABC
Liberals to run candidate for Kororoit seat
Thomarse: a complete waste of time! What the hell is Bailieu smoking?
Aren’t the Victorian Liberal Party meant to be in debt?
Hey! don’t shoot the messenger!
It appears that Nelson has now decided that it is a good idea to start commenting on the polls. Not a job that politicians usually indulge in for many good reasons.
http://tokblog.org/?p=481
Dunno about the SMH, Kina.
I can’t get it here but this below from their website doesn’t impress too much.
“TODAY’S TOP 10 ARTICLES
Multiple orgasms in parliament
Cop’s ‘gambling problem’
Bill Clinton admits Hillary’s end is near
Anti-knife campaigner killed
Father finds daughter, 1, alone in locked-up centre
Man sues hotel over too many Germans
Care centre owner admits baby blunder
Teen stabbed to death in a lift
Fountains on tap, Britney reads book
‘Sleeping’ driver ploughs into bike race ”
From here:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/mul … 46557.html
Anyway, a dead cat bounce is always an impressive sight.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dea3.htm
If the next Newspoll shows that this is indeed a ‘Deadcat Bounce’ for Nelson’s PPM figures then some people are going to be looking very very silly indeed.
277: True, but why couldnt they start the sitting at 9am instead of 12pm.
I note that the NSW legislative assembly is currently still sitting (at 2am). There has to be a better way.
I watched the repeat version of QT tonight. The Rabble were very subdued compared to last week. I cannot recall Hockey making any interuptions- no bully boy stunts. Must be because of Newspoll Results.
Julia Gillard is certainly worth her wages.
Judy
A lot of Adelaide people have reached your views on the News tabloids. I just can’t in conscience give them my money. We don’t get the Advertiser or Oz and don’t miss them. We get the SMH; the Age is also good. Both are available at most news agents now. You can get the Age fairly early in the morning in Adelaide too. Xanthipe loves the crosswords and sudoku in both so I think you will be happy. We get the Independant on the weekend for local news. The Age covers a fair bit of SA news anyway.
Nelson new attack methods should use dodgy dagwood dogs. I think we have found the Kevinator’s weakness.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23807135-5001021,00.html
Bolt was on early morning TV this morning saying that the venue where this happens doesn’t sell Dagwood Dogs and hinted at it being a possible heart attack. As far as Bolt was concerned it showed Rudd needed to slow down and that he is full of spin. What a goose.
I know B.S. Fairman@293. I thought I’d typed in the wrong address and gone to http://www.newidea.com.au instead.
GB
gutter journalism is what i’d call it
“Tell us what you think about Kevin Rudd’s diet and his workaholic mentality and vote in our poll: Are dagwood dogs dodgy enough to make you sick?
Then go down memory lane and see K-Rudd’s early years…
Before his political life as Prime Minister.
And don’t forget his embarrassing ear wax eating moment, which made world headlines”
News Ltd. didn’t get the Newspoll result that they were hoping for so instead they invent stories about Rudd’s health in order to damage his standing.
These “journalists’” should return to the gutters from which they were recruited.
Can’t wait to hear what Porky has to say; after all, he is an expert on Dagwood Dogs and gutter journalism.
To make it even worse the original story mentioned Rudd and Kyle Sandilands in the same paragraph. Then they realised to make it seem like a more serious political dilemma they’d have to remove reference to Sandilands.
Bolt if he were to put his intelligence to work should be angling for the LNP to reform itself and develop some policies and platform. Their tactic at the moment, which only works with the help of a complaint media, is to simply carp.
They need to unequivocally dump workchoices and anything like it. I noticed that Nelson dumped Workchoices but then gave a view that made it plain they still wanted to get rid of collective bargaining (unions).
This attack on collective on collective bargaining is purely an ideological one and not at all necessary for improving the economy. Also they need to review their racist dogwhistling immigration, refugee etc attitude and come out with some mature adult policy not simply some bloody-minded thing.
But I guess that it would be all a wasted effort while we know there are so many hard-righters in control. Better they present their real face so we know to stay away. I prefer my red-back spiders to have a red dot on the back.
Funny, they never made a big deal out of Howard’s turn to alcohol or his addressing the parliament when drunk.
Well I guess it shows just how hard it is to find negative things on Labor and Rudd -they have to continually over blow trivia.
You have to love the poll they are running on the Dagwood dog-gate. The question is Are Dagwood Dogs “dodgy” enough to make you sick?
47% say Yes - I have been sick from one before, they’re so unhealthy. 53% say No - Kevin Rudd has a weak stomach or got his facts wrong.
So he has now lost the Dagwood Dog Eaters vote, I assume. This clearly shows the Honeymoon is over.
Rudd’s weak stomach is definitely the scandal of the century. The Senate should block supply and foce an election now.
Sounds like Rudd’s stomach has blocked supply!
Whats happen to Dennis Shanahan, missing my morning dose of humor.
He probably ate a dagwood dog too.
LTEP@305
Bolt’s perhaps );
They’re not bloody dagwwod dogs, they’re battered savs on a stick I tells ya, BATTERED SAVS ON A BLODDY STICK.
Rudd would be wise to choose the souvlaki next time.
Just when I think News Ltd can’t descend any deeper into the gutter, they surprise me yet again!
And when did Andrew Bolt become a doctor? The ABC wonders why Rudd won’t appear on INSIDERS when they constantly feature this turd and Ackerman as panellists?
On a different note.
Wonder if we can expect a visit from President Obama in Rudd’s third year, to return the Howard compliment paid to Obama. Now that would be a powerful image should it come to pass.
I have been watching Channel 9 recently and have noticed that they have a pro-Coalition bias in their news coverage. Is this new or has it always been like this?
What next? The media demands a scientific examination of Rudd’s vomit/stools from the last 7 days: don’t laugh, I wouldn’t be shocked if Nelson comes out with something like this today!
This is the level of mediocrity the media in this country has sunk to!
Progressive - since the SIEVX Tampa days most OO journalists had to live in the gutter to converse with Howard.
Kina: very true!
Unfortunately, Progressive, Spewgate occured more than a month ago.
Would have been interesting, though.
An ABC story that Labor might finally overturn the ban on funding of abortion with overseas aid:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/04/2264270.htm
This would be a huge step forward for womens health in thrid world countries, when you consider the alternatives. Frankly, given the problems of overpopulation and lack of medical care for women in many countries receiving aid, this is overdue.
I am glad Labor hasn’t fallen for the fear campaign on this. I am an atheist but don’t presume I have the right to force my views on christians; what makes them think they have the right to force their own beliefs on other societies? Besides, despite the rhetoric from (male) clerics, my understanding of public opinion is that the majority of Australians are in favor of the right to abortion. So I think the political “backlash” will only be from groups that wouldn’t vote for anyone to the left of Fred Niles. Hence no loss for Rudd.
The media will overplay it’s hand on Rudd. If there is one thing in the Australian character I like (and there are many) its that we sense when someone is not given a fair go. With this feeding frenzy (sorry, no joke intended) I think his personal ratings could climb again.
The double standards are amazing! There was never this amount of prying into Howard’s personal life or medical history!
“Forbidden” from Bolt’s blog (again) for this:
On the suject of Dagwood Dogs:
I plan on introducing new fairground fare at the Wagga Wagga Show (where the Chicko Roll was born!)
Piers’ Porky Pork Pies will be void of nutritional value and, like their namesake, will be full of sh#t. The average semi-literate punter will love them!
Bolta’s Fairy Floss will resemble traditional fairy floss but will be brown, putrid, bitter and hard to digest. It will be marketed to people pissed off about the price of petrol and disillusioned conservatives; they’ll eat it by the bucket full.
Fagin: you made my day HA HA!
Nice to read your comments again, we miss you over at the other board(it’s your old buddy Landslide)
Bolt’s blog is censored: no surprises there!
I wish he and his mate Ackerman would both disappear up their collective arses!
Fagin
I fear Shanahan’s day old Irish stew, reconstituted from ingredients imported from America, will do nothing for the reputation of Irish cuisine either
Rudd’s telling fibs, they don’t sell dagwood dogs at ANZ Stadium.
well then wtf did the terrorgraph get that photo?
Someone’s still covering what’s actually happening in Parliament:
Threat to alcopop tax fizzes out in bills shift
http://www.theage.com.au/national/threat-to-alcopop-tax-fizzes-out-in-bills-shift-20080603-2lch.html
Sort of.
Vera: notice the very subtle “digitally altered image” label down the left-hand side… all class.
Must be Beef WeeK in Canberra
Dagwood Dogs and now this
“The Rudd government is turning the Senate into a “sausage factory”, the opposition says.”
http://news.smh.com.au/national/senate-into-sausage-factory-minchin-20080604-2lib.html
ohh! poor lill’e Libs, Kev’s working them too hard,
Just left a comment on TDT on the dagwood story BS and this was the message after posting:
“Please note that we are not able to publish all the comments that we receive, and that we may edit some comments to ensure their suitability for publishing.
Feedback will be rejected if it does not add to a debate, or is a purely personal attack, or is offensive, repetitious, illegal or meaningless, or contains clear errors of fact.
Although we try to run feedback just as it is received, we reserve the right to edit or delete any and all material.”
OH DEAR!
LaborVoter
“or is a purely personal attack”
They had better delete themselves if that’s the case!
321 Stephen old son, Rudd didn’t say it was a Dagwood Dog one of his minders did. I suspect he was trying to say that Rudd was suffering from food poisoning and picked a food synonomous with such. Don’t get too excited.
326
And after all of those exclusions the point of posting would be what exactly?
“We’d like to offer you this nice shiny new television, but we’ll control the channels thanks…”
Ah, no thanks.
SOCRATES.
I’m going to take your hint and give those newspapers a go, i’ve never had much time for the Advertiser nor for most journos, it may be cynical but ive learnt over the years that most will never spoil a good story with the truth {actually one said that to me once} so i take everything i read with a huge pinch of salt, the OO journos such as Shanahan and co making up their own facts as they write doesnt surprise me one bit–i expect it of them, as for the cane toad, well a much loved journo, now deceased, who took me under his wing worked with him in the Advertiser and had nothing but contempt for him even back then, a close journo friend left the Advertiser because he couldnt take the crap they printed anymore, i guess those standards are what comes of being a one newspaper town.
Just look at The West Australian…
Well the response i posted on TDT on the dagwood story was this:
Word has it Rudd wasn’t actually eating a dagwood dog at the time, but was in fact reading an edition of The Daily Telegraph newspaper when he got a sudden case of the runs.
——————
Im thinking their not going to publish it
323 andos
As I predicted yesterday at 226, the attacks on any sign of intelligence are starting:
The manager of Opposition business in the House, Joe Hockey, lashed out at the Government’s legislative haste. “The Prime Minister is trying to make it look busy when in fact it is mayhem,” he said. Mr Hockey pointed to “all the paper in front of” Mr Rudd at question time.
“A muddied desk leads to a muddied head,” he said.
I just don’t even know where to begin on that sort of comment.
It’s evident the Hockey way is the only way, for starters.
Isn’t Hockey the Shadow Minister for Health?
Doesn’t look like a very Healthy specimen to me…
Judy
While you’re here today, when you posted your experience yesterday evening I just didn’t know what to say, and I still don’t. I hope it’s enough explanation to say that my thoughts are with you.
hey Rx - same problem - playing the man instead of the ball (although I totally agree)
It’s an absolutely bizarre tactic 9playing the man) from the LP thus far given that the PM, Deputy PM and manager of government business are probably 3 Australians who I’d rate as the most immune to that form of attack.
I guess it just shows what they think of their own policy development skills in comparison to the government.
If you spent 12 years stuck in the sales department I’d imagine it would be hard to go back on the tools.
Judy
I too saw your post last night and felt quite moved. You have my sympathy, and respect for not giving up. Truth is something we have to fight for at times.
Can anyone tell me why Rudd would lie about his bout of food poisoning being linked to a Dagwood Dog rather than a pie? This is crazy stuff. Is the world going mad?
Hmm - seem like the petrol message is getting through in the US:
http://news.theage.com.au/world/gasoline-guzzlers-near-extinction-in-us-20080604-2lkc.html
I reckon a 5c discount ought to solve the problem - what about you guys?
I wonder what the stats are looking like here? I’ll bet the reaction is less pronounced.
Gary: I wonder if one of the Liberals will be stupid enough to ask a question about Rudd’s diet in QT today?
336
onimod Says:
If you spent 12 years stuck in the sales department I’d imagine it would be hard to go back on the tools.
He he.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
And my deepest sympathy to you and your family, Judy, a horrible experience all round.
The Liberals made some crazy portfolio decisions. Hockey, in his obvious unhealthy state, the Shadow Ministry for, wait … Health. Mal Brough, in his heartlessness, the Minister for Human Services! Doctor Brendan Nelson, never given the Health portfolio but instead responsibilities peripheral to his expertise, Education and Defence.
Anyone see this bizare letter from Gary Morgan to Shaun Carney on the Morgan site? Seems that Morgan was a strong supporter of WorkChoices and the LNP.
http://www.roymorgan.com/resources/pdf/papers/20080601.pdf
kina
WOW it makes sense now the way morgans questions are framed
he realliy is a stupid biased git
342 Rx
there’s a nice little thread on commodification over at Lavartus:
http://larvatusprodeo.net/2008/06/03/the-commodification-of-just-about-everything-especially-language/
Mal Brough’s treatment of just about anything fits right in there.
Hockey definitely hasn’t caught up on the information on obesity recently. I imagine it must really irk him to see his former Kokoda trail mate on top of the world, despite a duff heart, while he’s reduced to shouting expletives that only get picked up in the millisecond after someone else walks away from the microphone.
I’m not sure what Nelson’s skill really is. He left being a doctor, left being a doctor’s unionist, muffed up every portfolio he’s been in (though not as badly as some of his mates) and now he seems perspectiveless, unable to work hard, and not in the mood to improve himself either in a fatalistic that’s-the-hand-I’ve-been-dealt kind of way.
I’m really at a loss to know what his colleagues saw or expected from him.
That is bizarre, Kina!
Count the exclamation points he uses.
343 Kina
That is one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen.
Stumped.
Anyone here ever had a personal contact with him?
I’ve saved it just in case he feels embarassed and takes it off.
Seems like he read Carney and got all worked up like we do over the neocon press, and fired off a letter.
Weird letter, hard to follow.
I really don’t understand his attack on airport valet drivers. That’s just impenetrable.
Am I the only one who finds it very weird that the various Murdoch rags are in sympathy with the “overworked” public servants?
345
onimod Says:
I’m not sure what Nelson’s skill really is. He left being a doctor,…
I know a (Labor voting) doctor who worked with him and she said he was actually a good clinician, with an excellent bedside manner.
Onimod:
I’m thinking … human shield to take the flak from the election loss, while the rabble decide which deckchair occupant to shuffle into his place.
Maybe a buffer against the ascendancy of that bleeding heart Turnbull?
But really, he is a nobody, it seems. Doctor Who?? Asking members of the population if they’d ever heard of this guy, I reckon the recognsisablilty factor would be very low.
Maybe that accounts for some of his abysmal low PPM ratings, that people for large part have hardly heard of this guy who is up there as “alternative” PM.
351 Just Me
Any idea why he gave it away?
Is he just a touch megalomaniacal?
353 onimod
Aren’t most pollies a touch megalomaniacal? Almost a prerequisite for the job I would have thought.
But seriously, it’s a good question why he went into politics. Some folk just have the lust for more power I guess, or (more generously) they genuinely think that is where they could make the most difference.
My doctor friend said she would still be happy to work with him anytime, his politics notwithstanding.
I would have thought that Nelson’s strength as a doctor would be the sympathy he could switch on in a flash when he had to tell family members their loved one had suddenly died. He really is a miserable looking individual.
thanks for the thoughts guys, I’m sorry i blew up but when TT came up i’m afraid i exploded, i shouldnt have put my probs onto you, if anyone wants to know some hair curlers about the media believe me i can tell you some humdingers, ive been dealing with them for a long, long, time.
we became very close to the labor pollies and were supported by Chris Summner our att general and Lyn arnold at the time and that set my already labor allegiance into concrete, the libs treated us like dirt-they just wanted us to go away and hide when we were trying to start up V.O.Cs, Rann has kept his promise to keep Von Einam locked up for life and that gives me a great deal of satisfaction, we now have a commissioner for victims rights, it shows that we ordinary folk can make a difference if it’s important enough to us,i wont waste any more of Williams bandwidth with my probs –i thank you all again.
Lol, opposition minister for education said in QT “We know you(Julia) cooked the hotdog”
FFS, it was a dagwood dog… and is this the best the Libs have?
just as well Howard’s no longer PM if Obama becomes president, i can’t see the OZ/American relations being anything but badly strained after Howards sarcastic remark.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=574327
355
Steve K Says:
I would have thought that Nelson’s strength as a doctor would be the sympathy he could switch on in a flash when he had to tell family members their loved one had suddenly died.
Being a good medico is a bit more complicated and involved than that.
Kev making a joke of Dagwooddoggate”
“I think it was a party pie, something like that, a savoury something,” Mr Rudd told reporters.
“All I know is whether it was that, or whether it was a stomach bug, the consequences were graphic.”
Mr Rudd said he did not need a food taster.
“No, we won’t be putting that cost on the taxpayers,” he said.
http://news.smh.com.au/national/rudd-blames-party-pie-for-vomiting-bug-20080604-2llh.html
Lindsay Tanner kicks arse, he was great in QT today!
Andrew Robb is alive. Shock Horror. An MPI on China Loving. What a bunch of wimps - having this when Stephen Smith is out of the country.
Re Gary Morgan and his penchant for the Liberal Party.Why doesn’t that surprise me?
Andrew Robb has caught the mock indignation disease, presumably from Nelson.
Apparently the world is going to end in Japan because they didn’t get a visit before China.
Playground diplomacy from Robb & co.
He’s had a couple of months to prepare for this speech and that’s all he’s got?
He’s woeful.
The Liberal Party of Australia - party for hire. You name the issue, we’ll name the price.
359
Just Me
Is that so? Thanks for the insight.
This Japan crap is because Rudd is going there next week and the Libs are worried as they know Kev will be well received when he gets there
What I thought ruawake, Stephen is out of the country and you rehash the China shit.
Loved that Brendan hadn’t told Robb they weren’t in favor of quadrilatic talks.
#318
fair suck of the sav, Fagin.
It is true that the Chiko Roll first appeared at the Wagga Wagga Show (in 1951), but it must be acknowledged that it was invented in Bendigo (by Francis McEnroe).
The Dagwood Dog, on the other hand, is an abomination, a severely-battered sav on a stick. Fairy floss has more nutrition.
It’s good to see our PM eating a party pie (or whatever it was), rather than adhering to a Pritikin diet or jogging for the cameras every bloody morning.
I used to like Chiko rolls, god help me
Just me 359
One doctor I know said that most medicine involved treating the symptoms long enough for the patient to heal themselves. I suspect managing economies is a bit the same, but economic decision makers have more trouble admitting that truth
8 women and hour die from unsafe abortions - yet Boswell and Brenda oppose aid being used for safe abortions.
Brian Harradine’s legacy lingers on.
365
Steve K Says:
Just Me
Is that so? Thanks for the insight.
You’re welcome. Happy to obliged anytime you need it.
Socrates 370
A lot of medicine is like that, though the bits that aren’t tend to be fairly critical.
Bit like economies too.
Socrates
I am glad I do not go to that Doctor.
Ross Gittins today has a piece marking his 30 years as Economics Editor for the Sydney Morning Herald.
http://business.smh.com.au/youve-come-a-long-way-baby-20080603-2lei.html?page=1
He does a thumbnail of the economy’s major influences over the last 30 years. Talks about the Fraser/Howard recession of the early 1980s. Mentions Treasurer Howard’s stagflation - a new phenomenon at that time. Goes on to discuss the Hawke/Keating economic reforms that slayed the inflation dragon and set the economy up for future growth and stability. Then goes on to talk about the rise of Asia, especially China, and the incalculable effect on the Australian economy.
But get this: not one word about Howard and Costello in office. In fact the name of Costello, Australia’s longest-serving Treasurer, is not mentioned once.
After years of hearing about the superlative economic credentials of the former government, interesting there is not a single word in the article about the strong record they constantly blandished us with.
Bashes Whitlam around a bit, unfairly but it is the ‘in’ thing to do amongst economists.
375 thanks Rx
It’s a good read until he mentions living standards and measures them in commodities. Given the last line he could perhaps have prefaced the last section with ‘according to economic measures…’, rather than just tail off with it.
Makes you wonder how much social wealth we’ve had to trade away for those measures of economic success?
On the Costello issue - now that we’ve globalised our economy it stands to reason that out domestic Treasurer has less of a role to play. It gave the last one a lot of time to spend on marketing.
ruawake @ 371 -
Abortion is one of those topics that really generate heat, but what is often forgotten is that making it illegal or not funding it doesn’t stop abortions being carried out. It only drives women to backyarders, often with horrendous results as a recent NY Times article explains.
The death of the MSM??? - this is linked from Antony Loeweintein’s website http://antonyloewenstein.com/ on why newspapers won’t survive as we know it
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4517
Why do people buy newspapers? The Real Estate section? For Sale Ads? Situations Vacant? TV Guide? Crossword? Sports? Maybe for all these reasons.
But to read Sham I Am or Pies or The Bolt I think not.
ruawake, cryptic crosswoards I reckon, but the point is that we’re all railing against the msn and i think they’re going down the gurgler as everyone gets a bit more savvy in finding the truth - viva the internet
As a recent recipient of ANZ Stadium largesse via a corporate booth at said venue I can attest to the following:
The “Footy Fare” buffet consists of the following:
* A nice white-coated person to serve the food (and to make sure no-one brings their own, as “Footy Food” costs a fortune).
* Triangular-shaped filot pastry spinach and cheese crepes,
* Proscuito slices with lemon maninaded black and green olives (pitted).
* That kind of bread you buy a Cole’s which needs to be re-baked for five minutes and then served as a “hot bread roll” at dinner parties, with “gourmet footy sausage” plus either bar-b-que sauce or mild mustard as a relish,
* “Pepper steak” mini party pies,
* “Standard issue” party pies (both this and the above with dried, black gravy spilt out between the seams indicating cold pies baked in a too-hot oven),
* Lamb kebabs (they don’t taste as good as Abdul’s Lebanese Restaurant lamb kebabs, but OK nevertheless),
* Selection of gluten-free veggies for those gastronomically challenged by wheat products (i.e. all of the above except the lamb kebabs),
* “Mexican” pastries (forgot whether they were tamales, or empanadas),
* “4-Cheese Mini Pizzettes” about 60mm in diameter (served doughy),
* Wine (red and white) and/or beer for the adults, plus unlimited Coca-Cola (TM) for the kids or those designated as driving home from the Game.
All of the above when clasified as “hot” were actually pre-cooked and re-heated in a hurry (hence the burnt gravy on the party pies) , and perhaps inevitably, served cold by the time they reached the upper gastronimical tracts of the corporate bods present.
Nothing at all like “Dagwood Dogs” on the menu, so KRudd was clearly lying about this (as he no doubt lies about everything). When will we get some substance delivered by these Labor Wreckers instead of SPIN, SPIN, SPIN???
How dare these pretenders defile the sanctified reputation of the ANZ Stadium rip-off machine, aka. the “Corporate Catering Division” which charged well over a grand for this cold, half-cooked, re-heated, unpalatable crap they call “Footy Fare” (which didn’t even survive the “Doggy Bag” test when I smuggled out some for the pooches at home..? They took one sniff and walked away, disgusted…)
I say there should be a Royal Commission into it, and a Royal Commission into KRudd’s heart, which is clearly giving out, leaving us fu%ked if the Chinese invade.
This is all a plot by Gillard and her Union THUG mates to take over from Kevin 24/7 who thinks ear-wax is better tasting than Aussie Dagwood Dogs and Spinach+Cheese Crepes. (just read the Tele on this: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23807135-5001021,00.html)
What is KRudd doing eating “4-Cheese Pizzettes” any way? THIS IS NOT THE AUSSIE WAY!!! WHAT’S WRONG WITH DAGWOOD DOGS (or indeed) PLUTO PUPS?
The Aussie Voter, who has to pay for his ticket like the rest of us unlike some MILLIONAIRE Labor types - who should be wearing boiler-suits instead of Armani suits - WANTS TO KNOW!!!
There… did I get that about right?
BB
I hear Rupert is about to call you - perfect. Shammers should start cleaning out his desk
“When The Daily Telegraph put to the PM rumours swirling within NSW Labor that he had had a minor heart attack in early May, he said that he had in fact been laid low by a “dodgy dagwood dog” at a sports venue.”
No he did not, it was a “staffer”. Farr has sunken to verballing the PM.
Just reviewing on youtube the US media reporting on Howard’s previous attack on Obama and the Democrats. It did get a fair bit of reporting and a comment back from Obama.
It was quite plainly an attempt by Howard to harm the Democrat cause in their elections. A stupid stupid thing for a country’s leader to do. Can’t imagine we would have got great favors out of the US if Obama and Howard had ended up leaders.
Now I suspect that if Obama does become President he may wish to repay the favor to Australia’s Republican party, at about the time the next election is due.
I suspect, if Obama does win, that he will become extremely popular and iconic.
Goodness, imagine Obama and Hu Jian Tao both turning up here in the same year - an election year. Wonder who would attain the national defence and foreign policy credentials then?
Something to hope for.
I guess if the Canadian leader turns up Downer can show off his fluent French that he brilliantly attained in a few weeks study.
Bushfire Bill, clearly the dogs have more sense than those peddling such stupidity. Have you thought of hiring them out as “journalists”?
Judy Barnes, there is no need for apology for speaking about what has happened to you and you’re family, or the response of those who are entrusted to take care (and it ain’t the meeja). I thought about you and your family, my thoughts are still with you, though that makes bugger all difference.
And now it’s Perth’s turn for a “Pensioner Rally”
http://www.mytalk.com.au/Stations/Talk/6PR/Pages/Events.aspx
RU
Reading all the comments re Rudd is amusing, the libs appear to believe that personal comments about Howard is a main reason why he was voted out and so they are going totally feral on Rudd.
Of course the personal comments on Howard had very little if anything to do with Howard losing the election and his seat. The comments against Rudd will just turn people off, so much so that when an issue of substance arises that will most likely also be ignored by most people.
On the whole they appear like a bird with a broken wing, flapping around in circles squarwking miserably.
Good to see the Nationals and Liberals voting differently in the House of Reps today. That’s a great way to demonstrate how united they are. I hope they do merge, it would be great to see them scattering all over the place during divisions in the reps.
391 Rod that is very true. The Liberals thought it was just Howard staying too long that was the main problem. It was a poorly functioning government for almost twelve years that was the problem but they haven’t realised that yet and hence the flirtation with Nelson.
If they were serious and functioning like a real opposition Nelson would be gone by now. It is going to take another election or two for the reality to dawn on them. This latest Newspoll locks them in to keeping Nelson, so they have actually slipped to a worse position than they were in last week when they could have rolled him and nobody would have cared.
392 Showson what issue were they divided on? Bligh was openly calling them the Pineapple Party in the Queensland parliament today.
H.S.O. 389.
while i’m not looking for sympathy the fact that some folk care enough to say so makes the world of difference, in one of the court cases when Von Einam was charged with Alan’s murder we had to sit day by day listening to the way he was tortured before he eventually died–they tortured him for a week before he died of massive blood loss, in that time every day when i got up to go to court i’d find a little posy of fresh flowers on my doorstep, we never found out who that thoughtful person was but i wonder if they knew what their gesture meant to me and how it helped keep me sane as i sat through each persons evidence clasping those flowers, i was one of the lucky ones i got Alan’s body back a few hours after they dumped it, others had to wait for years, the people who’d come up to me when i was out shopping, just to touch my hand and say they cared, well they more than made up for the other piruhanas and media in a feeding frenzy.
i’ve lurked in the background here reading every post and said little because i’m good at talking but not with the written word, this site has given me hours of pleasure and quite a few laughs, for that and all of the thoughts i thank you all, i feel guilty imposing on Williams bandwidth so i’ll just leave it at that.
Abolishing the single wheat desk.
Did some “stink-palm” Kruddy? He would be shaking a lot of hands and it is quite possible.
396 Yes, that would do it. I still think that with only 60% of the National Party voting in favour of the Queensland Pineapple Party that either the Nationals rolls are corrupt or there are a lot of Nationals opposed to the Palmer franchise that have no voice and have not been heard as yet on issues such as this.
yoiks! were getting Brenda in full sympathy mode dressed in his shining armor, brandishing his sword wildly about, fighting the dreaded Rudd for the undertrodden pensioners, hmmm wonder where the “caring” knight Nelson was in all the years he was a minister in government, wouldnt that have been the time to support the pensioners when he could have made a difference?
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=574651
If I was in charge of the ALP, I would delay the Wheat desk legalisation as long as possible as it is clearly hurt the relationship between the Nat and Libs.
Judy @ 399 and the linked item from ninemsn
Where would this extra billion dollars come from that Horatio is spruiking about. As I understand if the Federal Government’s excise is fixed at 38.5 cents per litre. There is, of course, a windfall from GST but this belongs to the states so that can’t be used. I guess he’s just hoping that the great uneducated out there don’t understand how Treasury collects and distributes taxation and that would include himself.
So Nelson wants to give any extra petrol taxes collected over $1.60 per litre to pensioners, just like they did when he was in government for nearly 12 years. Oh, that’s right, they didn’t.
I think I heard that would work out at 2 million dollars a year. If so, there are about 2 million pensioners. That would work out at, ah, let me see, $1.00 extra per year.
Of course I could be wrong there, it may have been 200 million dollars per year. 2 million pensioners, that’s 100 dollars per year, about an extra $2.00 per week.
Ok let’s be real generous and say 1 billion a year. That’s about 10 dollars a week. Given the difficulties facing pensioners now would 10 dollars per week solve their problems or is that a token gesture?
Some may argue of course that not all pensioners should benefit from such a generous off by Nelson. I haven’t seen him saying that he would put any limits on it. Details please Brendan.
“off” should be “offer”
Is there any truth to the rumor treasury didn’t include kids in the 400k who would leave the health funds? did this come up at question time today?
405 Thomarse - it did and by the way the question was avoided I’d suggest there is something to it.
405
It was uncovered in estimates first - I believe in a Q to Ken Henry.
Can’t see any indication of the coalition volunteering to give pensioners the proceeds of fuel taxes when they were in power.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/15/2092025.htm?section=justin
http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=426116
But 900K would be too many
So a bit of a hole in the budget
Bloody treasury
I say bugger the private health funds. It may make them provide a better product to attract more people.
Absolutely!
just worried about budgetary aspects
Trouble is next years crop is planted and the single desk issue really does need to be sorted out before the harvest, which won’t wait for politics.
steve
To be fair,the coalition didn’t neglect pensioners entirely, the following is from the west article you linked to.
“Mr Costello said all tax had been abolished on superannuation pensions and lump sums for people over 60″
The reforms of the coalition also enabled people to arrange their tax affairs so that they could also claim the old age pension of $273 a week on top of their tax free super pension and/or lump sum.
I think being in opposition and suffering a wage drop of around $100,000 a year or more and being forced to survive on their basic wage of only $120,000 has made some in the coalition realise that it is tough in the real world.
More importantly as they get out in the community, like Nelson’s listening tour, they are finding that many pensioners do not have the old age pension as a top up or savings account for a holiday or new car but have to actually live and survive on it without any other income.
There is a fair amount of misinformation going round about the impact of the change to the Medicare rebate. As though everyone is going to get sick and require the public system. Adults or kids. Rubbish. Garbage. Nonsense.
There has not been any journalist who has criticised the Labor party more for jeopardising our alliance with the US over foreign policy than - Piers Akerman.
Column after column after column, garbage after garbage after garbage, supporting Bush and Howard and denegrating Labor foreign policies.
Well, well Piers. Obama is on track to become president of the USA.
Now, why don’t you tell us how damaging it would have been for our alliance with the US if Howard had won the election and Obama becomes president, after the Dessicated Coconut refered to him as the leader of the party that the TERRORISTS wanted in the white house???
You see, that’s way nobody can stand the sight of you - you Dessicated Rice Bubble!
Pies is irrelevant, even to himself.
HSO @ 414,
Still, 900,000 is quite a lot of people, isn’t it?
Sure, there might be more money available for public health, as a result of less rebates being paid. But it will be a pretty bumpy ride turning the money into actual doctors, nurses, operating theatres, MRIs and so on.
Still not sure why the Govt moved the threshold up by so much in one fell swoop.
The role of colomnists or journalists is to be non partisan and unfortunately Piers conservackerman is far from it. His articles are out of touch and not worth reading and whenever he is on the insiders it is best to either watch something else or switch the tv off. Do not encourage these twits to continue talking nonsense.
yep bugger the health funds i agree totally Gary. And doing what they did regarding the threshold is a great step and should be warmly supported.
Public health care should be the goal and private funds should be shutdown.
marky, I would like to see Akerman, even if he is only half a man, acknowledge that the worst result for our US alliance would have been a Howard victory last year.
But he won’t, he is not half a man - he is a full dessicated Rice Bubble lol.
Are the estimates are what the numbers who would be eligible to leave or will leave? 400k or 900k. If so that doesn’t mean that many will leave.
I believe it’s the number who’d be eligible to leave, Kina.
They won’t all leave, and even those who do so won’t all go on 1 July or anything like that. Still, you’d think there’d be a noticeable exodus over, say, 1-2 years.
The truth on health insurance is that Howard hated Labor’s public health system, remember he was the Treasurer in the Fraser government that killed off the original Whitlam created Medibank, but knew the voters wouldn’t let him get away with doing the same to Medicare (even though for much of his time in opposition he promised he would) so he tried to slowly strangle it by forcing people to join private funds.
The result has been a lot of folk paying for insurance they didn’t want and couldn’t actually use because the co-payments would bankrupt them. It was a protection racket, pure and simple. The Mob can only dream!
It doesn’t really matter if its 400k who’ll drop out, or a million. Almost all of them did/would have elected to be treated as public patients anyway.
the private funds bandied the 900K figure about.
even including kids the 900K figure is too high–a lot of the 400K are young people whih these days means no kids. Add in gays, sterile couples etc would leave say half with 1-2 kids, so of the 400k 200K will take 1.5kids with them out the health funds, 300K
So something like 600-700K adults & kids leave the healthfund. Does this blow the budget surplus or increase it? Would people with kids leave the helathfunds?
I believe you’re asking the wrong question, Thomarse. Its not how many leave, but how many that would have actually opted to be treated as private patients that leave.
As per my 423, IMO most that leave would have used the public system anyway so their affect on the budget and waiting lists will be minimal. Plus the government will save bucketloads of cash on the 30% subsidy, though I assume most of that will now go to the public system
Its not how many leave, but how many that would have actually opted to be treated as private patients that leave.
Bingo.
Many people only took out the absolute bare minimum of private health insurance needed to avoid the Howard government imposed penalties for not doing so, but these people still basically relied on the public health system.
The public system is not going to crash because of any (alleged) sudden flood of ex-privately insured patients.
It will not happen.
“The prime minister and his deputy are about to begin a potentially dangerous popularity contest, auctioning themselves off for charity.
Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard have offered themselves as prizes in an online auction being run by press gallery journalists as part of their midwinter ball, to be held later this month.
Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson also has offered the coalition leadership team for dinner to the highest bidder.”
http://news.smh.com.au/national/rudd-gillard-to-compete-for-charity-20080604-2ltw.html
Dinner with Brenda anybody? better take a sick bag.
years ago at the Advertiser the cane toad was a contemptable little drop kick and he certainly has’nt improved with age, hmmm i wonder what Rudd did to upset him at the dinner he so graciously invited Rudd to, it must have been something close to home to make him spray the constant poisonous vitriol he dumps on Rudd at every opportunity, perhaps Rudd refused to pander to the little toad’s ego, or perhaps knocked back the toad’s offer to be Rudd’s press secretary!
I’ve just been listening to some lightweight, fill in interviewer on Lateline putting a series of Liberal Party Psalm Book attack questions to Peter Garratt.
Garratt squatted her her for the annoying insect she is, and his answers were probably the most focussed, game-plan responses he has ever given.
The question has to be asked however, why do Government ministers feel the need to appear on programmes which are so blatantly anti Labor propaganda tools, and why the Government doesn’t address the bias issue in the ABC with the same determination that former Liberal minister Alston imposed it?
Why does a Labor Goverment allow the likes of Albrechtsen and a legion of other smarmy right wing toadies to continue to infest Government Boards, spreading their malignant influence to the Goverment’s detriment?
Permitting fair, independent commentary is one thing, but giving unlimited free kicks to your opponents on a public network is entirely another. After all, the opposition have Rupert’s flunkeys to do the scoring for them already.
I agree and have suggested before that they could keep their promise and keep Howard’s thought-police but divide ABC into entertainment and News/current affairs segments and, put them in charge of entertainment, appointing another group to oversee and manage news/current affairs.
ALbrechtsen can have neocon playschool, and Kerry O’Brien can head up news/current affairs.
Bushfire Bill was correct re Spewgate.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23812354-5001021,00.html
Spewgate indeed, just how low can the pathetic media in this country sink? Another case of too many pikes, not enough heads!
It’s not that the ABC is biased… well, it is, but that’s not my point… it’s that the ABC has gone down the road of being so terrified of being accused of bias that they’ve settled on simple regurgitation of Opposition spin points as “news”.
What the Opposition says may not be factual, but it is a fact that they said it. The ABC makes no judgement on the content of the message, or the identity of the messenger (any backbench hack at a Parliament House doorstop will do) merely postmarking the envelope it is contained in as “Received in good order and condition.” The opinion of some obscure Coalition Senator at an Estimates hearing is given fully equal weight (measured by time) compared to the Prime Minister’s opinion. To make any comment or perform any critical analysis on content is regarded by those who run ABC’s News department as interfering with the news about the news. In other words: bias.
That’s their excuse anyway. Their job is to be stenographers who make no comment either way on what they are writing up.
The basic position that the old Howard government put the ABC in was for them to be mere purveyors of whatever spin the (then) government wanted to put out on any subject. Woe betide any mere journo - sucking off the public teat - who in any way changed or challenged the message. That was not the ABC’s job. Indeed, I seem to remember Alston even criticised “tone of voice” on a few occasions as typifying bias.
To a certain extent this stenographic attitude has become part of the culture, backed up by the ultimate sanction of Board disapproval if it is violated. Antonio a few months back detailed this mindset perfectly (only he was defending it as perfectly OK with him).
Interestingly, Janet Albrechtsen (for example) feels comfortable with being both a board member and one of the Liberals’ more strident cheerleaders. When she’s cheerleading, see, she’s working for a private newspaper, which can be as opinionated and right-wing agenda-driven as it likes. I am amazed she sees no conflict (or claims to see no conflict) between her dual roles: on the one hand a raving looney right-wing ratbag and on the other accusing others of being raving left-wing ratbags if they deviate from the daily script they are served up for uncritical propagation to the organisation of which she is a Board member.
Sad, really.
So the coalition offer aged pensioners $250 million as a non core promise just before the election last year and demand Labor pay over a $Billion to age care pensioners a few months later. Very consistent Brenda,
So Brendan’s going to link pensioner payouts to fuel prices?
That’d make life interesting for them, wouldn’t it? One week flush with cash, the next in debit to the government.
Still, it’d make them look forward to public holidays, and be a big help around Christmas.
On a more serious note, this is Nelson’s explanation (my capitals):
“In relation to windfall tax gains for petrol over the coming financial year, the Government in its Budget papers budgeted for oil to be priced at US$115 for West Texas crude. That equates to around $1.30 or so a litre in Australia. At the moment oil is at about $128 a barrel. If oil continues at that price and petrol averages $1.60 a litre over the next year the federal Government will have a windfall gain of in the order of $175 million in the PETROLEUM RESOURCE RENT TAX. And in addition to that the states will get an unbudgeted windfall gain of in the order of $975 million.
Given that these are windfall gains, based on the assumptions that are published in the Budget papers, Mr Rudd could consider along with the states of making sure that that extra money goes to Australian pensioners at least to provide a bit of short term relief.” http://www.liberal.org.au/info/news/detail/20080604_NelsonDoorstopwithRohanFitzgeraldParliamentHouse.php
So that’s $175 million to throw around - on Gary’s figures, less than $1 a week.
On pensioners: my dear old mum was irate after the Budget, saying that there was nothing in it for her and that she too would be willing to strip down to her underwear to make a point (not much of a threat, she’s always had a tendency that way, we try to keep her under control). Wouldn’t listen to any explanations I made (I’m a Labor ra ra person and thus not to be trusted, the MSM - especially talk back radio - being a far more reliable source of information, please note in future, PBs).
Rang me last night and asked me very quietly if the $500 bonus payment was in addition to the rise in Utilities. When I said it was, she said, “Well, they’re a terrific government, I take it all back.”
The trouble with ‘burning’ people this way is that you MAY get a short term popularity bounce out of their misinformed indignation, but when they realise the truth (a) they’re going to jump the other way again and (b) they’re going to be harder to move next time.
Anecdotal, I know, but she’s always a good indicator of mainstream thinking.
On people leaving Medicare: are the current figures for private health membership calculated on the actual number of people entitled to use private health or on the number of policies sold?
If the former, then the Opposition have a point; if the later, then it’s playing with statistics.
For what it’s worth - and I admit it’s not much - I no longer click on any News.com articles or read any hardcopy editions.
“the MSM - especially talk back radio - being a far more reliable source of information, please note in future, PBs”
I’m shocked, the MSM more reliable than PB info!!!
{If the former, then the Opposition have a point; if the later, then it’s playing with statistics.}
This has greatly interested me since the Coalition and Health Care Industry started to loudly proclaim these figured in contrast to the Treasury estimate.
In my case, we have had one policy which covered 6 people. ie., mum, dad & 4 young ones although since early this year the eldest has taken out her own policy and mine now covers 5 people.
So in our case, would the Health Care Industry figures calculate our position as (two) policies or take it as still being 6 people covered by separate policies which clearly is not the case?
Me thinks that there certainly is a miss-use of statistics going on here.
Take note, Health Minister and force them to concede their rhetorical nonsense.
Zoom
The interesting bit about Nelson and the libs proposal on petrol is that at the same time they are proposing to block the
* Removal of Woodside Petroleum tax exemption on condensate (worth $2.5 billion in revenue over four years).
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/coalitions-senate-blockade/2008/06/03/1212258826246.html
It looks like Woodside’s exemption from this tax was compensation for the gas deal that Howard personally negotiated with the Chinese, something like 3c a pound, fixed over the next 20 years. Gas now sells for about 20 times that rate. At the time Howard trumpted the deal as a major triumph that he had taken a personal iinterest in. 3 years ago Howard announced he would try and negotiate more commercial terms with the Chinese. Of course the Chinese fell over laughing at his suggestion “you want us to pay more money than what is stated in the contract? ”
The Woodside boss said at the time that there are some things you do for your country, but looks like they did not miss out entirely overall.
Rod
I was not referring to PBs, but myself - and warning PBs that, in my mother’s eyes at least, I am not a reliable source of info (and certainly not when compared with talkback radio).
I’m sure there are PBs out there who have already made that judgment!
Well anyone who wishes to read previous ABC Media Watch items that dealt with Albrechtsen will be well informed as to the person.
We have Labor governments in every State and Federally. The press has been on the anti-Labor side of the argument for a long time, yet with no good result except maybe for helping Howard extend his terms.
Maybe the Liberal press might want to sit down and think why they have been unbale to change governments the way they have been trying. Hopefully they will come to the answer that has been obvious to the electorate for many years. You may be able to damage the name of something over time thorugh continual misinformation but, if the alternative is worse it wont matter. Just look at NSW.
The Liberal party is obviously damaged goods Australia wide and, has been for a long time.
Instead of trying to dishonestly run down every Labor government and lamely spruik the incompetent alternative they would have had more success and, have been more beneficial to Australia, if they had instead turned their focus on the Liberal party.
The Liberal party Australia wide has escaped the deep examination that maybe the press should have given it. Exposed you would think that they would have been forced to reform themselves and make themselves into an acceptable alternative or be consigned to eternal oblivion.
As it is the Liberal press and other media helping out the Liberals are holding them back from the truth about themselves and from changing.
Where fundmentalist neoconism is taking a dive in the USA it seems to be spreading within the Liberal party. As time goes by the press will be having to support even more extreme versions of Liberal party.
If the OO types really had some guts and could turn from mindlessly trashing Labor because it is Labor they might have some success instead by doing to the Liberal party what they are trying to do to Labor.
I posted to that effect on Pies’ blog and perhaps on Janet’s, to no effect of course
Regarding the unstacking of places like the ABC board and others, would Rudd consider dumping incumbents for professionals from that field or non-political types, such as career journalists with a reputation for impartiality for the ABC, or even ask the relevant union for nominees? People like Quentin Demster or Paul Barry come to mind who would be seen as independant.
I think it is a great modern nonsense that only career managers can manage. People who know an industry well and are respected within it can usually also manage it quite well. If the replacements were not seen as partisan to either side, then few could argue with the removal of the incumbents hence political fallout would be very low. Apart from being unbiased, they might just run it more efficiently too.
‘Australia Talks’ on Radio National this pm will be discussion on irrelevance or otherwise of MSM and journos as against the web. Might be interesting for PBs to email their opinions to the program this arvo.
Did something awful yesterday and read Farr’s piece on Rudd in that awful paper - still trying to recover from it. What kind of journalist is he now.
I remember when Paul Barry started his stint on “Media Watch’.
The program started with a previous MW expose of Barry on a commercial channel doing something wrong and silly, can’t remember exactly what.
Barry’s first words after the clip were “Guilty as charged Your Honour, I’m Paul Barry, welcome to Media Watch’.
The ABC’s idea of not being perceived biased: regurgitating every bit of anti-Labor crap from the News Ltd hacks and bashing Rudd on a regular basis!
The Daily Telegraph is still on about Rudd’s lapse of memory as to what he ate at that footy match. They have now produced the menu of what he had to choose from. Is it just me or are these people mad? What do they hope to achieve with this BS? He lied about what poisoned him? Are they serious?
This is the same bloke they have been criticising for the last week or so for working too hard.
I am one of many people that I know who would have saved by taking out private health but have refused on principle. I think it is morally abhorrent for a government to use tax payers funds to increase the profits of their mates in private industry. An absolute disgrace.
Having said that, I would nearly guarantee that the Private Health Lobby are quoting ALL THAT QUALIFY instead of all with policies. Any lobby group representing such unscrupulous businesses (accepting the rebate - aka government sponsorship) is not to be trusted.
The fact that the MSM are alos pushing this barrow is a reflection of the honesty and integrity of those organisations and journalists doing the pushing.
Tom (The REAL first one)
at least with aunty,they sometimes put your comments on
gusface:
05 Jun 2008 12:30:03pm
hey Joe Hockey
you sure made your staff work longer hours
AND YOU WERE GOING TO TAKE WORSTCHOICES FURTHER
ps aunty abc,please stop being the fibs mouthpiece
Its just before 12.30pm in SA and I can hear Downer’s voice pontificating on ABC Radio National about something.
Why?
448 Tom
I’m in the same boat.
Gary 447
The two are actually connected I reckon. The consequence of working too hard is you may have a heart attack. And so the soil is prepared(Rudd working too hard) in order to drop the seed in(Heart attack). The seed may or may not grow. But if Rudd has any sort of health turn in the future they will refer back to this incident and the seed may grow a little more. -Cunning as the proverbial rats up a s— drainpipe. I have noticed it is a pattern of how the media operate.
The accusation of the “lie” merely keeps the debate going plus the polls asking if the food has ever made you crook. It cements the fact that Rudd was sick in the Public’s memory for next time. I mean seriously who can remember what they ate a couple of months ago? It is not credible to most people.
I cannot remember the media ever putting Howard walking with his limp on TV.
But to be fair Howard also had a hard time with the Media in the early part of his being Prime Minister. Maybe if Rudd weathers this storm they will start leaving him alone later. He is certainly in a far better position than Howard ever was to weather such an attack. The Media are feral and as such they will recognize it if someone masters them.
I notice they have left Swan alone now he put forward what is a good budget. Maybe they get back to him later on.
Such Class!!!
Then 5 mins later it was the voice of…John Howard!
Did I die in mid 07 and get sent to Hell?
Please send me forward to 2008.
Not the most impartial way to describe Downer’s radio stint on the ABC website:
“Listen to Alexander Downer pick apart Kevin Rudd’s plan for a new Asian regional alliance. He’s speaking to Lyndal Curtis.”
Seriously… someone needs to give these people lessons in how to write short statements in an impartial manner.
thank God for the SMH is all I can say, at least they have some positive headlines for Labor
“More good economic news for government”
http://news.smh.com.au/business/more-good-economic-news-for-government-20080605-2m08.html
Monthly trade deficit down: ABS
12:52PM | Australia’s monthly trade deficit has fallen to its lowest level since early 2007 as the coal exports have recovered from recent floods, economists say.
Obama to be friend to Australia: Rudd
12:22PM | Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has fond memories of Sydney and will be a good friend to Australia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.
Public asked for thoughts on defence
12:26PM | The Rudd government is inviting the community to offer ideas for the defence White Paper, expected to be released in December.
Govt’s light bulbs scheme pushed up
11:06AM | The Rudd government has fast-tracked the phase-out of traditional light bulbs in favour of greener options to mark World Environment Day.
Small petrol retailers ‘not worse off’
10:02AM | Independent petrol retailers in Western Australia have been no worse off under the FuelWatch scheme than the rest of the country.
Solar rebate program overheating: govt
9:00AM | A rebate scheme for solar panels, means tested in last month’s federal budget, was so popular it was unsustainable, Environment Minister Peter Garrett says.
Remember Howard’s walks? The media went out of its way to show Howard walking, particularly during elections. Why? To show how fit he was. How he was one of the people and how popular he was. Contrast that with what they report about Rudd. Working too hard, too much spin (the walks weren’t spin?), can’t be trusted.
456
Howard regularly copped abuse when walking in Canberra. I only remember 1 incident being shown.
Anyone know if the dead man still walks?
Does he still make his own breakfast?
Ah - the pettiness.
Well 6PR’s “Pensioner Rally” got 500 Suckers, I mean Pensioners with the promise of free tea, coffee and Sandwhiches to vent their spleen at Rudd etc.
Here is the interview with Rudd.
http://www.mytalk.com.au/aspx/pages/mediaplayer.aspx?t=audio&w=9890
LOL! Nelson reiterates the plan to cut petrol excise at the end of a speech to mark World Environment Day.
How is cutting petrol excise good for the environment?
It’s pick on Garrett day in Q-time, with the solar panel rebate means test front and centre.
He’s doing fine.
3 members warned thus far.
The government is on message on the budget macro issues.
Tanner has offered to chip in for some anger management for Nelson the angry man.
It’s getting too easy for him.
Nelson’s GST windfall from yesterday is getting a grilling. He didn’t mention how trivial the results would be on an individual basis, but the message was clear.
Tanner in QT= “The leader of the oppositions is a angry man Mr speaker, Why, he’s angry about just about everything!, I’ll even chip in for some anger management for him” LMAO
Tanner= Owned them
SNAP!
touche
He was very good eh, onimod
Shock horror - it’s Thursday afternoon and Tuckey has been removed..again.
It’s 2:50pm and a quick check shows QF1486/QF571 leaving at 4:05pm.
Other flights home today are at 5:35 and 7:30pm.
The speaker intimated as much.
Rudd is really fired up this afternoon.
He’s handing it out left right and centre on the issue of climate change.
Some observations about today’s QT:
1. Tanner is a terrific parliamentary performer
2. Garrett looked very wooden today, in my opinion
3. My favourite Labor backbencher: James Bidgood, the member for Dawson. He adds some colour to proceedings!
4. The member for Fremantle is damn cute(my blokey aside for today)
#433 Hey Bushfire Bill - thanks for remembering me (even if I don’t agree with your precis of my comments).
Those who are rambling on about how the ABC is anti-Labor, and giving Downer a run about Rudd’s plan for some Asian supergroup in 2020, obviously failed to hear the lead item on AM this morning, which was a grovelling tribute to Rudd’s plan, complete with Kevin 24/7 crapping on about “architecture”.
I do think that if you listen and watch all ABC outlets (or Fairfax, for that matter), all day and all night, you’ll find pretty much every point of view about every news event covered. While I agree that some items look biased one way or another, the totality of coverage is comprehensive and pretty accurate. People hear what they want to hear. As a journalist, I have frequently done political interviews and had radio listeners ring up to successfully accuse me of being anti-government and pro-government (and that’s iresspoective of what party the government was).
My best advice is to read as much as possible on every topic, and take everything with a grain of salt. And I like the way most people of Poll Bludger do this.
Incidentally, re Spewgate: Far be it for me to depend the Daily Telegraph, but I think they’re having a bit of fun with this story. I don’t think it’s part of some Rudd persecution conspiracy plan.
sorry last par shoudl read “defend” the daily Telegraph…
I think the opposition’s attack on Fuelwatch has dwindled to a trickle.
Doug @ 452 -
The two are actually connected I reckon. The consequence of working too hard is you may have a heart attack. And so the soil is prepared (Rudd working too hard) in order to drop the seed in (Heart attack).
The Age’s Tony Wright - normally not a Lib shrill - said on radio this morning that he and others around the Age water cooler don’t believe the upset stomach explanation and that Rudd had some sort of heart scare from working too hard.
Also went on and on about all the paperwork Rudd brings with him to QT apparently for “comfort”! Sigh. Seems this is a sure sign he’s working himself into an early grave.
I guess after 12 years of a government who wrote their policies on the backs of envelopes (the Murray/Darling rescue plan), or in the case of Nelson’s decision to buy aircraft the RAAF didn’t want, on the back of a 1 cent stamp, anyone carrying more than a single sheet of A4 must seem odd to the press gallery.
oh and the sixth last line should read “successively” not “successfully” !!! No doubt someone will accuse me of a freudian slip…
And, let me add Tony Smith is a tool!
So you can have a mild heart attack and go on and continue the breakneck workload as though nothing has happened. That is pure BS and commonsense tells you this.
A mild case of food poisoning on the other hand will make you sick for a couple of days.
A person in an iron-lung would be a workaholic compared to the last govt.
468
Progressive Says:
Some observations about today’s QT:
1. Tanner is a terrific parliamentary performer
Said it before, say it again: I think Tanner is one the most under rated, under acknowledged politicians Australia has ever produced.