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

Essential Research: 60-40

This week’s Essential Research survey has Labor’s lead at 60-40, up from 59-41 last week. Also featured are interesting findings on development of nuclear power plants for electricity generation (43 per cent support, 35 per cent oppose) and whether Australia has an obligation to dispose of nuclear waste from countries it exports uranium to (26 per cent agree, 53 per cent disagree), along with perceptions of the Australian-US relationship and a quiz question on Australia Day (which makes me wonder how many answered without recourse to Google). Other news:

• The South Australian Liberals have suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of independent Geoff Brock in the Frome by-election following Saturday’s distribution of preferences. Crikey subscribers can read my post-mortem here, and a still lively discussion is raging on my live coverage post. The Advertiser reports that Brock’s success might give other potential independent candidates ideas, including “ALP stalwarts such as Rod Sawford and Murray Delaine”, who were respectively Labor members for the federal seat of Port Adelaide and the state seat of Cheltenham. Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith says he is “ready to make deals with any independent candidate who ran next year in safe Labor seats such as Port Adelaide, Croydon, Lee and Colton”.

• Speculation about an early Queensland election continues to stop and start. Mark Bahnisch of Larvatus Prodeo says the Courier-Mail has damaged its credibility with its repeated wolf-crying on the subject, while The Australian’s D. D. McNicoll contends that “the whisper in Queensland political circles is Premier Anna Bligh will call the state election on February 28, a date that ensures bumper superannuation payouts for all the surviving members of the ALP’s ‘Class of 2001′ who were never expected to serve more than one term in parliament.” “Former Howard government senior adviser” David Moore surveys the landscape in The Australian.

• The NSW Nationals’ plans to select a candidate in a winnable seat for the 2011 state election by holding an open primary has caught the attention of blogger Tim Andrews, who is “unsure why this proposal hasn’t received more attention, as it has the potential to revolutionise Australian politics”. Ben Raue at The Tally Room reckons the idea is “at least a good gimmick”. The Nationals’ briefing paper on the subject can be read here.

• Western Australia’s daylight saving referendum will be held on May 16. Daylight saving was previously voted down in 1975 (53.66 per cent against), 1984 (54.35 per cent) and 1992 (53.14 per cent).

519 Comments

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  1. 501
    ruawake
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 4:29 pm | Permalink

    Poor Malcolm

    “CLAIMS by Malcolm Turnbull that the government-led $4billion commercial property rescue package will have no impact on jobs have been ridiculed by economists and the property sector.”

    http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24982366-5013871,00.html

    When The Australian says you are being ridiculed – look out. ;)

  2. 502
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 4:30 pm | Permalink

    When HRH The Prince of Wales becomes King Charles III in succession to his mother, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall will indeed become Her Majesty Queen Camilla. That is the title to which she is entitled as the wife of the King. She can only be deprived of it by an Act of Parliament, and no such Act has been passed. She has indicated that she will choose to be known as HRH The Princess Consort, but this title will have no legal basis and it may be that when it comes to the point she and others will use her actual title. An analgous situation is the daughter of HRH The Earl of Wessex (Prince Edward), who is known by her parents’ choice as Lady Louise Windsor, although her legal title is HRH Princess Louise of Wessex.

  3. 503
    Greensborough Growler
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 4:35 pm | Permalink

    He might choose to take another name.

  4. 504
    The Finnigans
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 4:39 pm | Permalink

    She has indicated that she will choose to be known as HRH The Princess Consort

    I would have thought “The Princess Concubine” would be more appropriate. I will throw in the red lantern for free.

  5. 505
    Ron
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 4:52 pm | Permalink

    Gary Bruce , you ar misrepresenting what i said , doyuble first ie ONLY consistently pick on my single ronlish , yet claim “privately” to object to othrs Turnbull adjectives YET not consistently object T hat is selective inconsistensy

    Secondley , how do you or diog know what is a noun or an adjctive anyway……my #440 definition is clear….a descriptiv of speech , and neither of you ar qualified in all englash forms i note also

    thirdly this is a politcal site , and trying to turn into some ‘gentlemans club’ not only excludes th VIP ladies , but ‘pretends’ gentry eqtiquatte that has never been part of tough politcal debate , those that cann’t stand heat swivel

    and fourly , for a guy like you and Tom to claim some ‘acceptable standards’ that you wish to enforse on other posters , and publicly object to a word……YET remain silent when a blogger is accused of KKK tensencys or KKK referensing and thats OK obviously seeing you did NOT object , ….bearing in mind th accusaton was made not once , not twice but three times….and on 3 diferent days ,….and on a ‘left’ site as well …. so is it KKK selectively ok if its directed at just Ron , as you were quiet

    Not that i’m complainin by th way , simply pointing out youur and Tom’s inconsistensy with not just Turnbull , but KKK as well … Well i refused to be silensed on your inconsistent standards , which anyway on ronlish ar a perfect dialec, perhaps you may think again on abov and then start deeling with substanse politcal point issues

  6. 506
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 4:53 pm | Permalink

    One cannot be married to one’s concubine. One has a concubine because one already has a wife. While the Princess of Wales was alive Ms Paker-Bowles was the Prince of Wales’s mistress, not his concubine.

  7. 507
    Glen
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 4:55 pm | Permalink

    But since the Queen could live to 100 (here’s hoping), then she could outlive Charles and hence William would become King…good luck then Republicans lol!

  8. 508
    Jewelled Cats
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:01 pm | Permalink

    Latest Morgan
    Same old same old!

    Support for Rudd Government stable ALP (59.5%) well ahead of L-NP (40.5%)

    http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2009/4354/

  9. 509
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:02 pm | Permalink

    When the Queen turns 100 in 2026, Prince William will be 44. By then he will be a typical Saxe-Coburg-Gotha male – bald, ugly, arrogant and unpopular.

  10. 510
    Glen
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:06 pm | Permalink

    He looks to have better teeth than his father and has Diana’s looks i think he’ll stay popular and if he becomes King before Charles a lot of people in Australia wouldnt mind him being our King…

  11. 511
    John Ryan
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:10 pm | Permalink

    If your that devoted to Royalty are you and the other fools going to emigrate to the UK if and when we become a republic,non of em are worth 2 bob

  12. 512
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:11 pm | Permalink

    All Saxe-Coburg-Gotha males start out attractive but they age badly and soon become arrogant and ugly. William is already losing his hair – he’ll be bald as an egg by the time he’s 40, as was his maternal grandfather, Earl Spencer (the hair-loss gene is matrilineal).

  13. 513
    Oz
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:12 pm | Permalink

    Surely in 20 years the demographics will have further shifted towards those favouring a republic.

  14. 514
    Diogenes
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:20 pm | Permalink

    Ronster

    how do you or diog know what is a noun or an adjctive anyway

    We were taught grammar in English lessons at school. The definition of what is a noun and what is an adjective is not really a contentious point. A useful rule in future is that any word ending in -ness is going to be a noun. I trust that you have benefited from this feedback. :D

    In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition.

    In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's definition.

  15. 515
    ruawake
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:41 pm | Permalink

    Ron

    I endured English Grammar, Latin and Greek in my educational past, (English Public (Private) Boys School founded in 1552) if I did not know the difference between a noun and an adjective when I was seven years old I would have been caned by the English Master. :P

  16. 516
    Glen
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:50 pm | Permalink

    When will Kevin Rudd force Pay TV to broadcast A-PAC on free to air digital in other places than Sydney???

  17. 517
    Spam Box
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:56 pm | Permalink

    I’m off to see Neil Young this evening at the BDO

    Don’t do it Dio!. I’ve seen him three times, once each in OZ and America(by accident, he wasn’t the headliner) and one in Portugal. He sucked every time

  18. 518
    ruawake
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:58 pm | Permalink

    Glen

    Your mob decided Digital Forty Four would be limited to Sydney. :P

  19. 519
    Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 at 5:59 pm | Permalink

    New thread.

    Before we go, a ruling. Barack Obama or any other politician can be described as “oily” (adjective) provided it’s not abused, but “oils” and “oiliness” (nouns) are banned under the tedious nicknames provision. KKK or Nazi jibes at other commenters are banned under all circumstances, because if there’s any substance to them the relevant commenter will themselves be banned. Much as I would like to be ideologically even-handed, “commie” can be good for a laugh so I’ll be playing that one by ear. No further discussion on these matters is permitted.

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