The Australian reports Labor’s lead in the latest fortnightly Newspoll is up from 56-44 to 58-42. Kevin Rudd’s preferred prime minister rating is up two points to 67 per cent, and Malcolm Turnbull’s is down two to 18 per cent. More to follow.
UPDATE: Graphic here. Rudd has exchanged five points of disapproval (down to 21 per cent) for five of approval (up to 68 per cent), while Turnbull’s disapproval exceeds his approval for the first time (42 per cent to 39 per cent). Also featured are questions on foreign ownership of Australian mineral companies (it’s bad).
Elsewhere:
• The weekly Essential Research survey has Labor’s lead steady at 63-37. The other questions relate to Australia’s international relations, in particular Kevin Rudd’s handling thereof (67 per cent approve), the state of our relations with China and the United States, and the countries respondents feel “are most like Australians in their attitudes and the way they see the world”.
• Perth’s ABC TV news yesterday reported that litigious Queensland mining billionaire Clive Palmer plans to bankroll a campaign by the WA Nationals to win a Senate seat at the next federal election – something they haven’t succeeded in doing since 1975. No word on who the candidate might be. Former Deputy Premier Hendy Cowan didn’t have any luck in 2001, but he did have Graeme Campbell/One Nation to contend with on that occasion. Their subsequent efforts have been half-hearted.
• The ABC reports the WA Nationals are insisting on a precisely fixed date for the state’s elections, contrary to Premier Colin Barnett’s policy of allowing flexibility in the timing of elections in February or March “in case of natural disasters”.
• In yet more Western Australian news, Antony Green has a page up on the state’s May 16 daylight savings referendum. The Poll Bludger’s page on the concurrent Fremantle by-election is in business here.
• The Victorian Parliament’s Electoral Matters Committee will conduct an inquiry into whether the Electoral Act should be amended to expand the scope of the provision prohibiting misleading electoral material. At present this refers expressly to material “likely to mislead or deceive an elector in relation to the casting of the vote”, and is thus narrowly concerned with matters such as how-to-vote cards that deceive voters into backing the wrong party. The Victorian Electoral Commission rejected a complaint from independent Kororoit by-election candidate Les Twentyman about a Labor pamphlet stating that “a vote for Les Twentyman is a vote for the Liberals”, but its report on the by-election suggested parliament consider addressing “an undesirable trend for candidates to take advantage or build on community misunderstandings of preferential voting with confusing statements”.
• Ben Raue at the Tally Room has started an election wiki.
1,460 Comments
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I am surprised that nothing much have been said about having the FTTH NBN will allow many many more people to work from home effectively and productively.
I have worked from home since 2003 to start, develop and run my own business. Initially using dial-up and fax. It was OK but very frustrating. Now with ADSL and ADSL2+ in the last 2 years, it has been heaven. can you imagine with the 100MB broadband. It will be 7th heaven.
If you can have a business or a job that you can do from home, there is nothing better. No office politics, no 9-5 rush, no FWs to put up with, no takeaway lunch, no monkey suit, it’s so much cheaper, AND you can work and blog at the same time. So trust me, It is 7th heaven.
Frank, have had a good read of that article now and have answered in more depth off blog in email
… again, thanks for sending 
1219,
Glen, mate, Turnbull (as leader) won’t make the 2010 election
…..
If we are going to go ahead with this big investment (RuddNET) then we should go all the way and make it a Rolls Royce broadband. It would be silly to make such a large investment and then regret in some time in future that we didn’t go with the best for a few billion.
Is it really going to be worth watching QANDA tonight?
Coonan is such a light weight. Hewson will just bag Costello for the entire night.
The only bit of fun will be watching Tony Burke rip shreads off Coonan….
1241,
Yeah, that was one of the specific reasons I voted AGAINST Howard. Immigration policy (dare I mention C.O.B). No problems at all with letting people in and doing appropriate checks on them during the 4 to 5 year waiting period. Get BACK to a pre JH immigration policy. Libs absolutely stink to high heaven on immigration policy and that is a broad stench that encompasses their Aboriginal policy as well. (Mind you, Rudd has followed most of the major interventions that JH instituted in the NT but he really didn’t have a choice to back down on any of those, it wouldn’t have been a good public look (because people have been brainwashed by JH that immigrants are b a d) and that is BECAUSE JH locked his hands re. Aboriginal policies with that). Back to immigration though. Yes, people are coming and if they want a better life, good on them for coming to Oz. I’ve been there and done that and while my experiences were drastically different and there was never any doubt that I would get a PR visa nor citizenship I would NEVER deny anyone no matter what their circumstances to at least have the same chances I’ve had. Bad on people who try to deny them a better life, put yourself into their shoes. We don’t need hearts and hands of ice when it comes to dealing with these people. That seems to be the predominant temperature of the Liberal party though.
Thanks for your 1181 post Finns. News Corp is gone, Telstra is gone, and as for the TAB’s :-
Their competitors can already guarantee the same dividends + than the TAB’s on the net as they are not patent protected. The next time Tatts Group shares will have a 5 in front of it will be with a decimal point before it and Tabcorp a 2 in front of it will be with a decimal point directly after it.
1255,
Noooooooooooooooooo ………… channel switch between the cricket and the footy instead
Glen, Hewson bagging Cossie will be priceless
Steve Conroy is a gun!
Hewson is a disgrace he gave Keating a term in office when he shouldnt have.
Hewson is more of a light weight than Coonan and that is saying something.
This is not the real Glen, LibBotHQ have replaced him with some pinko lefty wimp. Give us back the Glen we know and love, LibBotHQ!
Glen, Hewson was a more popular opposition leader than Howard. He lost to Keating because his GST was flawed. But don’t forget, Howard supported that GST policy and he would have lost to Keating in 93 had he led the party. How unfortunate!
Keating presided over the biggest economic reform program in Australian history. But you don’t have the balls to admit it.
Adam please can you stop saying GP and myself are LibBots or are run out of HQ we dont make personal comments like that directed to those on your side. It really irritates me
Nah, Glen and GP aren’t LibBots. They don’t blindly follow the Liberals.
Bree, now THERE’S a LibBot!
I look at it this way. If Hewson had won in 1993 we’d have got SerChoices with steroids. What’d he call it, JobsBack?
This would have resulted in youse going out on a landslide in 1996, and probably still be out of office now.
The defeat of Hewson made the way possible for Howard to win in 1996 … (then of course we still got the inevitable Liberal SerfChoices anyway, just a few years later than Hewson wanted, and this time without a Hewson-style warning.)
The NY Feds chicken entrails analysis says recession over.
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2009/04/ny-fed-model-suggests-economic-recovery.html
Exactly. We’d have had Hewson instead of Howard. As far as political ability goes, Howard is miles ahead of Hewson. We might have been followed by Beazley.
Mmm. Considering these sorts of forecasts are almost always wrong these days and consdering constant readjustment, i’ll believe it when I see it.
Half the problem is the 24 hour media who’ve become journalists rather than news reporters.
#1257
Should the Vic gov reverse their decision (due to the GFC) and go back to the two operators then those two shares prices could have a “one five dot” in front of the zero
TP
I think in the financial markets that might be true – the credit squeeze is over thanks to US taxpayers largesse so its good news for the bankers. Plus the G20 did its job for once.
However I fear there will be a lag from markets turning around to the real economy turning around. I think there are a few reasons now to think globally things won’t get much worse. But it will still take a while, and some activity-generating initiatives, to turn around unemployment here. End of the year perhaps, if the budget contains more employment creating projects and long term projects (and they get passed)? Here in SA the best thing that could happen would be if BHPB committed to the Olympic Dam expansion.
TP
Here is some more credible good economic news: Nouriel Roubini thinks the Chinese might have turned the corner. That would be great for us:
http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/
Soc, here’s a good indication:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-04/09/content_7662704.htm
All other countries car sales have crashed.
PJK would have beaten anyone in 93.
For once I agree with (I think it was) Glen.
All too true. China is far too big to be a democracy. No nation on Earth has tried the democratic thing with so many people to rule. India comes close, but, hey, who says India really works as a democracy?
The best we can hope for with China is benevolent oligarchy, or perhaps benign dictatorship.
Either of these aren’t necessarily bad things.
The alternative is for China to be broken up into its many ethnic, cultural and political subdivisions, each competing with the other, hopefully to the benefit of us all and most of all to themselves. Perhaps with a hegemony emitating from Beinjing, perhaps not.
To say that China will never be a democracy in a month of Sundays (or until nuclear weapons are banned) is, to me a no-brainer, but nevertheless not untrue. We are in uncharted waters with China. Perhaps a new, or very old (but recycled), form of government is called for. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing. China is too big to remain a stable, centrally-ruled polity for too much longer. The trick is for the process of devolution to be a peaceable as possible.
Grog…
I’ve said it before but ill say it again.
Bullbutter!
Hewson blew it with the GST had he focused on anything else or not buggered up the interview the Tories would have been in like Flynn!
Serious evidence redwombat @ 1271. If in impractical fantasy land that did happen, it wouldn’t be because of the GFC.
Try and get finance for a pub (with or without pokies) the banks want you to have 50%…………..if you had 50% why would you be buying a pub!
BB, that’s a suprisingly and disappointingly wrong-headed statement coming from you. Why on earth can’t a very large country be a democracy? India, the US, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Japan – all functioning democracies. (I don’t understand your comment at all). China is bigger than India, but so what? The real problem with China is that it has no tradition of democratic, or even constitutional, government. That was one of the many benefits that British colonialism brought to India!
(I don’t understand your comment at all). = (I don’t understand your comment about India at all).
I can’t believe Glen tonight. He is talking sense and it has only taken a few years. What stage is he in? what comes after anger???
Herr Doktor, it’s time to talk to some REAL Indians.
And ol Dino agrees with you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztz28iWzC-E
Frankie, me prefers the ol Dino, eh, a little sober:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzeR1pJIZBA
Oh you lot are so easy to provoke
Well that’s not real evidence redwombat. I will give you some but you will have to wait until September to find out when those companies next report.
Tatts Group will record negative wagering growth for the second half, for the first time in TAB history. Also if your interested, check their relative turnovers on the Betfair website.
I am talking about if the Govt reverses/alters their stance on the gaming licences not wagering
OK, I am assuming that the VIC government has announced a final decision and those companies have already taken measures to change their business models.
Still, I don’t think that decision alone has had THE major impact. They are operating mature businesses with much more competition now and in the future (especially with RuddNET).
Hewson will let fly on Cossie tonight
More Twitter newbies
….
huh
7 local news update reports our Fed MP (Liberal) has slammed Rudds NBN saying 19 towns in her electorate will miss out because they don’t have enough people and she wants to know what they’ll get instead.
WTF is she on about? Can someone enlighten me please?
In areas with less than 1000 people they will be offered Wireless/Satellite Technology up to 12 Megabits, instead of Fibre-Optics – Wilson Tuckey was saying much the same thing.
She sounds like she has no idea… 90% get 100Mbps, everyone else gets 12Mbps I believe
Thanks Frank, it must have been the Lib script for the day
My god Coonan shits me to tears…
I thought they were against the project?
Yep, Coonan just trotted it out on Q&A as well. Clowns.
Here is Wilson’s Whinge.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/09/2539370.htm
Dario, take GG’s tip, roll up a pair of socks and throw them at her
relieves negative tension and won’t break the TV either 
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