Reflections on the Miracle of Democracy at Work in the Greatest Nation on Earth

Newspoll: 59-41

The parliamentary year has ended with a striking result from Newspoll: Labor leads 59-41, up from 55-45 last fortnight, with Kevin Rudd leading Malcolm Turnbull as preferred prime minister 66 per cent (up three) to 19 per cent (down two). Kevin Rudd’s approval rating of 70 per cent is one point shy of his previous best from April, while Malcolm Turnbull’s approval and disapproval have both gone five points in the wrong direction, to 47 per cent and 32 per cent (The Australian offers a graphic and a nifty preferred prime minister tracker showing figures back to early 2006). Nonetheless, the leadership ratings suggest voting intention would have been even worse for the Coalition if Brendan Nelson was still leader. Turnbull’s approval rating is still seven points higher than Nelson’s best result, and the 47 per cent gap on preferred prime minister is roughly equal to what Nelson managed when Rudd’s approval was in the mid-50s. Elsewhere:

Essential Research also has Labor leading 59-41, up from 58-42 last week. Also featured are questions on the performance of Julie Bishop as Shadow Treasurer, the relative popularity of Julia Gillard and Julie Bishop and “global terrorism and international unrest”.

• The Australian Parliamentary Library has published a paper providing statistical details from every election since federation, along with a precis detailing the circumstances of each election.

• Sky News, Foxtel and Austar have announced that a public and political affairs television network called A-APAN, along the lines of the American C-SPAN, will be launched on January 20 next year. It will feature coverage of parliament and committee proceedings, industry meetings, and congressional and parliamentary coverage from the United States and the United Kingdom. It will be available on pay TV and digital free-to-air, the latter initially only in Sydney.

• Colin Barnett says the proposal for fixed terms in Western Australia will feature “a mechanism if there is some catastrophic behaviour of a government that you might be able to bring on a poll”. It will also provide for flexibility in the announcement of a date in either February or March, rather than fixing a precise date.

• Antony Green has weighed in on the recent criticism of New South Wales’ system of fixed four-year terms.

1,313 Comments

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  1. 1301
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 1:55 pm | Permalink

    It was actually Jesus Christ: “He who is not with me is against me.” — Matthew 12:30

  2. 1302
    dave
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:05 pm | Permalink

    glen said:

    To envoke the words of a ‘Great’ President, “You are either with us or against us”

    I rather like :

    Winning needs no explanation, Losing has no alibi.

    Haha :)

  3. 1303
    zombie mao
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:06 pm | Permalink

    Rudd spends $4.7b more

    mostly on rail n roads. Including rail to the hunter coal mines. That will cause a ruckus with the greens.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/12/2445003.htm

  4. 1304
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:07 pm | Permalink

    “Victory has a thousand fathers, defeat is an orphan.” John F. Kennedy

  5. 1305
    juliem
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:14 pm | Permalink

    I like this one :-D …..

    I'm not a leftist; I'm where the righteous ought to be. ~M.M. Coady

  6. 1306
    centaur009
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:17 pm | Permalink

    how do you work out how many google search hits something has?

  7. 1307
    juliem
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:17 pm | Permalink

    Well, DUH …………… ;-)

    The Republican party must stop "shouting at the world" and start listening to minority groups if it is to win elections in the 21st century, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday.

    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/12/11/powell-gop-polarization-backfired-in-election/

    Powell is as much a Republican as Fraser is a Lib these days ;-) …….

  8. 1308
    Glen
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:18 pm | Permalink

    So it is no wonder W used it lol!

  9. 1309
    Socrates
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:22 pm | Permalink

    Powell must regret deeply fronting the UN for Bush’s fake intelligence to support the Iraq War now. (I wonder if we will ever find out which spin doctor cooked that garbage up). He destroyed his own (previously high) credibility out of misguided loyalty to a moron. At least he had the decency not to continue as SOS after 2004.

  10. 1310
    dave
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:23 pm | Permalink

    “Men are not punished for their sins, but by them.”

  11. 1311
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:27 pm | Permalink

    how do you work out how many google search hits something has?

    You google it, and it tells you

  12. 1312
    dave
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:29 pm | Permalink

    stock market tanking on failure of US senate to agree to auto bail out. ouch !

  13. 1313
    Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 at 2:31 pm | Permalink

    New thread.

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