The latest monthly ACNielsen poll has produced an encouraging debut performance for new Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull, with the Coalition leading Labor on the primary vote 42 per cent to 41 per cent. However, Labor maintains a 52-48 lead after preferences. Kevin Rudd leads Turnbull as preferred leader 56 per cent to 33 per cent. The poll also finds 33 per cent believe Peter Costello should quit politics against 29 per cent who think he should stay. Last month’s ACNielsen poll had Labor leading 55-45, from primary votes of 43 per cent and 39 per cent.
There are rumours of an early Newspoll this evening, so stay tuned.
UPDATE: Newspoll says 55-45, down only marginally from 56-44 last fortnight. Labor is down two points on the primary vote to 42 per cent and the Coalition up one to 38 per cent. Kevin Rudd’s personal ratings are continuing their long-term move southwards: this time his approval rating is down four points to 50 per cent, while his disapproval is up five points to 37 per cent. Consistent with the Galaxy poll, Rudd heads Turnbull as preferred leader 54 per cent to 24 per cent, after leading Brendan Nelson 62 per cent to 16 per cent a fortnight ago. No straightforward approval rating for Turnbull at this stage, but he has scored a remarkable 74 per cent on being “decisive and strong”, the flip-side of his much vaunted arrogance.
UPDATE 2: New shadow cabinet announced. Main changes: Julie Bishop in treasury, Helen Coonan in foreign affairs, Christopher Pyne in education, Andrew Robb in “a new portfolio covering infrastructure, COAG and an emissions trading scheme” and Joe Hockey in finance. No-brainer: Bronwyn Bishop dropped.
663 Comments
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GP,
Doesn’t Andorra keep everything in a box?
Or alternatively everyone calm down and watch the Brownlow count.
No 352
I’d rather watch Today Tonight than a pack of useless AFL thugs self-congratulate.
SNIP: See 348 – The Management.
SNIP: See 348 – The Management.
OK, that does it GP, you can knock the ALP and they and tear down Rudd, you can even havea go at Julia; but you’re a non-AFL person?? That’s it, you’re on my list.
No 356
The way I characterise the AFL and Rugby codes in Australia: too much money, too much time.
NO ARGUMENTS!
Didn’t watch Oz Story, but did Neal really say this:
she’s kidding surely? Front bench, she is damn lucky she’s still warming a spot on the back bench.
No 359
Yes, she did really say that.
But she was nonchalant about it anyway. She’s probably happy she hasn’t been expelled from the ALP.
Andorra is a small country in the Pyrenees, between France and Spain. For reasons lost in the mists of feudal history, its joint heads of state, the co-princes, were the Bishop of Urgel in Spain and the Count of Foix in France. The rights of the Count of Foix have now passed to the President of France. Each co-prince nominates a delegate in Andorra who acts as their representative, and the delegates jointly commission the Prime Minister, who actually runs the government.
What exactly does this have to do with the question of who Australia’s head of state?
How embarrassing, is she really the best the Fibs have to offer? LOL. Oh yeah Swanny will be shaking in his boots having to face this genious! I bet he can’t wait for QT tomorrow.
“The new Opposition treasury spokeswoman, Julie Bishop, has been unable to name the official cash interest rate in Australia on her first day in the job.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/22/2371279.htm
GP rote learnt it incorrectly.
I’ve often wondered about Andorra, so I thank Adam for his learned explanation and exempt him from my injunction at 348. With that out of the way, it is now back in force.
Coonan’s Pension Bill has passed the Senate, and we all know it’s fate in the House of Reps
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/22/2371352.htm?section=justin
No 361
Sovereignty is not vested in the Heads of State of Andorra.
Aargh.
365; FC – sounds like an absolute farce:
and
[Greens Leader Bob Brown earlier criticised the Opposition, saying it has mishandled the bill.
"The Opposition's procedure in here today is a debacle," he said.
"[It is] extraordinary to race such an important bill, with such a multi-billion dollar price tag attached to it.”]
geez, they couldn’t even get Fielding and Brown to be supportive…
Methinks Turnbull just wants to get done with all of Nelson’s old policies and quickly more on to his own things (but has to stick with them for the sake of some sense of continuity)
How did Gary Ablett Jr get to be so ugly so young? He’s nearly as ugly as his old man, which is saying something.
Has William banned discussion of the Andorran Question or not?
Is it just me, or is Turnbull just plain nuts when he says “If I were Prime Minister, I would not be going overseas at this time”.
Regardless of any other trip Kruddy has done, wouldn’t this be an important time to be talking to people internationally? Bit of a crisis time? Kruddy is meeting the head of the Fed, or thereabouts… Turnbull seems on a bit of a loser with this line…
It’s a pitch to the lowest possible level of xenophobic populist know-nothingism. It’s what you do when you’re stuck in opposition and devoid of policies anyone would vote for.
I had banned discussion of the head of state/sovereign matter, which last time resulted in a protracted round of “is not/is too”. Let me revise that though: I will let comments through if I find them interesting.
I want to see if GP is capable of a rational argument that Andorra is somehow analogous to Australia in terms of its constitutional arrangements, and how the feudal rights of the Bishop of Urgel shed light on the issue of who Australia’s head of state is, or if (as I believe) he’s just trying to be deliberately annoying because that’s how he gets his jollies.
I wonder if there is an Andorran politics blog that is discussing the Australian constitution… God I hope not.
Looking at the shadow ministry and realising that this could have been the current government gives me a cold shiver.
http://www.liberal.org.au/documents/CoaShadMinList.pdf
And Coonan again. She was absolutely lazy and awful in communications. I remember her talking going the ABC to talk about broadband and she didn’t really know what it was.
My god this is their talent list? The will need losts of cosmetic applied by the media to cover this almost talent free zone up. Turnbull it seems was supported by the no hoper side of the party.
Bishop couldn’t resist the Shadow Treasurers role – a mistake I think. I think Gillard has shown that No.2 in the party doesn’t need to be in that role.
No 374
The main purpose of highlighting Andorra – despite its relative obscurity and unique history – is to demonstrate that it is not illogical for a sovereign to be above a head of state, as the republican movement has been trying to espouse as one of its central argumentative tiers. Andorra’s constitution explicitly states that sovereignty is vested in the people, whilst the heads of state are the co-princes.
That fact also links with my primary argument that Australia’s head of state is the Governor General, an Australian citizen since 1965; debunking yet another reason to move to a republic.
HC was a dial-up Minister in a broadband world…
Oh OK, that means you won’t object to the removal of all references to the Queen from Australia’s constitution, and replacing her head on our coins with something more aesthetically pleasing.
No 376
Rubbish, Coonan was good communications minister. She had to withstand the constant attack from Telstra’s Sol Trujilo and Phil Burgess about her integrity, and furthermore she at least had the sense to avoid introducing a mandatory ISP-based internet filter.
You do realise that Conroy intends to erect a carbon copy of the Great Firewall of China in Australia. Any government which attempts to filter the internet, for whatever reason, deserves utmost condemnation.
The thing to do when you get a new opponent team playing together for the first time is up the pace and complexity – put them under pressure give them a steep learning curve all over the place and, keep switching. Make them look under skilled, under done etc. That is the analogy.
Mirabella looks promising on the front-bench. Should put a bit of stick about.
Which is now Liberal party policy.
No 380
Yes, I do object. Waste of money, waste of time.
The fact is, whilst your relatively minimalist model of constitutional change is superficially pleasing – the whole republican movement could not resolve the issue pertaining to which model was preferred. They then disingenuously blamed John Howard when they subsequently lost.
GP:
why should we keep the monarch then – we don’t need a sovereign as well as a head of state
GP just because one thinks HC was bad, doesn’t necessarily mean Conroy is good.
To be honest the communications portfolio is only slightly worse than Health or Defence.
Good luck coming out of it with a win.
Front page ABC on line Bishop’s rates gaffe- cant name cash rate in first interview as shadow treasurer.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/22/2371279.htm
You’re looking through the telescope backwards. The fact Costello couldn’t convince Howard to support the minimalist model means we will now end up with an extreme direct election model, possibly with the President being the Head of State and Head of Government. Costello says as much in his latest book called Night Thoughts of a Gutless Try-hard.
No 383
I don’t think so.
Bruce Bilson says that the preferred model is parental supervision complemented with an opt-in filter. Conroy proposes a mandatory opt-out filter.
http://www.liberal.org.au/info/news/detail/20080111_LaborsCleanFeedenigmaneedsanswers.php
GP, you do realise that the filter will be optional for end users right?
Doesn’t matter that she doesn’t know the rates really, she was close. I hope they ask her more complicated questions than that.
Am I the only who is finding the numbers people are referring to disjointed? 383 to me referrs to Belinda Neal’s/Croc Tears; yet GP’s post seems to suggest it is Shows ON (which for me is 384).
Is this an IE thing??
No 389
ShowsOn, we don’t even know what model republicans want. It changes with the direction of the wind. Once again, you disingenuously blame Howard (and now Costello) for the failure of the referendum. Get your own house in order is what I would suggest.
HAHAHHAAHAH they didn’t have enough guts to say this when they were in Government.
But it means the OFLC should be privatised. I’ve been advocating this for the last decade!
I wish people would just use quotes instead
392 TP yep it’s a pretty nothing question (though 7 is a pretty easy number to remember)… still I guess she could take the Homer Simpson excuse and say “It’s my first day”.
Any model that removes all references to the Queen from the constitution is fine with me.
Did you learn this statement by rote?
No 391
Yes, it is optional – but it’s an opt-out system which leaves internet users who do choose to opt-out as potential targets of investigation.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,23274585-15306,00.html
I have no problem with these filters as long as they are opt-in only.
“Andorra’s constitution explicitly states that sovereignty is vested in the people, whilst the heads of state are the co-princes.”
Um, so what? Australia’s constitution does NOT say that sovereignty is vested in the people, because Australia is a monarchy – a constitutional monarchy but still a monarchy. In a monarchy, sovereignty is vested in the monarch. In a monarchy, therefore, there can only be one head of state, the monarch. In Australia, the monarch agreed in 1901 to exercise her sovereignty within the terms of the constitution. Under the constitution, she has delegated her FUNCTIONS to the Governor-General, but she certainly has not ceded her sovereignty. It is impossible to argue that it was the intention of the authors of the constitution, or of the British ministers who put the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act in front of the Queen, or of the Queen herself, that anything in the Constitution could be read as transferring sovereignty from the Queen to the GG. No court has ever ruled otherwise. (And the High Court certainly didn’t do so in 1907 in the case GP keeps citing, as any first-year law student could tell him.) That is a ridiculous travesty of Australian history, and of constitutional law, as anyone with any knowledge of either field knows.
As I said above, GP doesn’t have the faintest idea what he is talking about on this issue.
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