Crikey



Newspoll quarterly breakdown

The Australian today brings us Newspoll’s regular quarterly breakdown of its federal polling by state, sex and age group. Compared with the last quarter of 2011, it finds Labor gained a point to lead 51-49 in South Australia, was steady at 50-50 in Victoria, cut the Coalition lead in New South Wales to 54-46 from 57-43 (59-41 in the July to September quarter), and took a point out of the still enormous Coalition leads in Queensland and Western Australia, which are now at 58-42 and 56-44. The Coalition’s two-party lead in the five main capitals is steady at 53-47 and down from 57-43 to 55-45 elsewhere.

Whereas last week’s Nielsen showed a dramatic widening in the gender gap between polls conducted in late February and late March, Newspoll records no such trend between its October-to-December and January-to-March surveys, which may of course conceal a very recent shift. It is interesting to note that the expectation Tony Abbott would poll badly among women was not realised in his earliest polls as Opposition Leader, but has been over time. Breaking it down by age group, the only change which skirts the roughly 3 per cent margins of error is among the 18-34s: Labor is up four points to 33 per cent, the Coalition down four points to 37 per cent and the Greens down three to 17 per cent.

Both leaders were down three on approval in New South Wales, Julia Gillard to 29 per cent and Tony Abbott to 33 per cent, but Abbott was up five in Queensland to 40 per cent. Abbott took a knock in Western Australia to be down five on approval to 31 per cent and up three on disapproval to 56 per cent. Preferred prime minister was essentially unchanged, although a shift in Gillard’s favour in South Australia – from 40-33 to 44-32 – pokes its head above the margin of error.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, Essential Research. As tends to be the case with polls these days, it’s very, very bad news for Labor, who have suffered a two-point shift away from them on two-party preferred compared with last week’s result – with the Coalition lead now at 57-43 – which is rare given that Essential publishes a two-week rolling average. The Coalition is up two points on the primary vote to 50 per cent – a new high for them so far as Essential is concerned – with Labor down two to 31 per cent and the Greens steady on 11 per cent.

Further attitudinal questions show 73 per cent believe the government should delay returning the budget to surplus if that’s what is required to maintain services and invest in infrastructure, with only 12 per cent supporting cuts to services and tax increases to restore the budget surplus. Although it may be that many respondents can instead be restored by “economic management” 28 per cent blame the present government’s lack of it for the present deficit, with 59 per cent choosing four other options available (16 per cent showing awareness of “lower tax revenues because of the Global Financial Crisis”).

On the question of Tony Abbott’s proposed childcare rebate for nannies, 44 per cent are in favour and 33 per cent opposed. Sixty-eight per cent support means testing as a general principle, while 24 per cent believe “people should receive the same subsidies and benefits regardless of income”. A “party best at” question draws the intriguingly dissonant response of a 12-point advantage to Labor on “representing the interests of Australian working families”, but a 6-point advantage to Liberal on “representing the interests of you and people like you”.

Finally, 78 per cent of respondents believe workers should get a “higher hourly rate” on weekends against only 18 per cent opposed, though how much higher exactly remains a subject for further investigation.

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Categories: Federal Politics 2010-

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  1. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    A “blood boiler” to start the day. I just get so angry about this and the institutionalised cover up, aided and abetted by gutless governments frightened of religious backlash.
    http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/churchs-suicide-victims-20120412-1wwox.html
    Now refresh your memory with this.
    http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/06/01/1022569845430.html
    Have a nice day, George.
    http://www.theage.com.au/national/cardinal-apologises-for-describing-jews-as-intellectually-inferior-20120412-1wwng.html

    Alan Moir on Fatty’s Public Service.
    http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/opinion/cartoons/alan-moir-20090907-fdxk.html
    Cathy Wilcox nails the CC debate.
    http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/opinion/cartoons/cathy-wilcox-20090909-fhd6.html
    Ron Tandberg may have a point.
    http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/opinion/cartoons/ron-tandberg-20090910-fixc.html
    David Rowe’s take on green tape.
    http://www.afr.com/p/home/cartoon_gallery_david_rowe_1g8WHy9urgOIQrWQ0IrkdO

    by BK on Apr 13, 2012 at 7:09 am

  2. morning all.. . cando giving the pm a bit of advice this morning on breakfast… what a little twerp!!

    by Lyne Lady on Apr 13, 2012 at 7:22 am

  3. Oh dear, Pell fell for his own big mouth, has gone international:

    Australia's most senior-ranked Catholic says Jews 'intellectually and morally inferior' - 10:43AM BST 12 Apr 2012

    In a widely watched televised debate – which led to ongoing debate over the winner – Cardinal Pell said "the little Jewish people" were shepherds who lacked intellectual development. "I've got a great admiration for the Jews but we don't need to exaggerate their contribution in their early days," he said on ABC television. "They weren't intellectually the equal of (the Egyptians or Persians) – intellectually, morally ... The poor – the little Jewish people, they were originally shepherds. They were stuck. They're still stuck between these great powers."

    Later, Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, seemed to suggest the Germans had suffered more than the Jews during the Holocaust.

    and what the Romans have ever done for us anyway.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9199453/Australias-most-senior-ranked-Catholic-says-Jews-intellectually-and-morally-inferior.html

    by The Finnigans on Apr 13, 2012 at 7:31 am

  4. Later, Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, seemed to suggest the Germans had suffered more than the Jews during the Holocaust.

    It was the gas bill that brought down the Third Reich is what he is trying to say.

    by castle on Apr 13, 2012 at 7:40 am

  5. Morning all.

    Finns:

    CARDINAL George Pell has moved to clarify demeaning remarks he made about Jews on TV, calling them intellectually lesser than the Egyptians, including Jesus Christ.

    http://www.smh.com.au/national/cardinal-apologises-for-describing-jews-as-intellectually-inferior-20120412-1wwng.html

    by confessions on Apr 13, 2012 at 7:41 am

  6. KFC Thailand has apologised for a post on its Facebook page urging Thais to hurry home and monitor earthquake news with a promotional bucket of chicken as tsunami fears gripped the nation.

    While people in coastal areas rushed to reach higher ground in the wake of a huge earthquake in Indonesia on Wednesday, the KFC Thailand fan page told followers to order takeaway.

    "People should hurry home this evening to monitor the earthquake situation and don't forget to order the KFC menu, which will be delivered direct to your hands," it said.

    KFC has Pell’s disease!

    by confessions on Apr 13, 2012 at 7:49 am

  7. Bk we can rely on u , to find some religious stories :-) :-)

    by my say on Apr 13, 2012 at 7:52 am

  8. http://turnleft2013.wordpress.com/
    of image: @latikambourke Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey ‘I’m on a meagre income.’ Latika Bourke is the Political and Social Media Reporter at Parliament House Canberra.

    The fact that any politician can describe their exceedingly generous pay, entitlements, allowances, and superannuation – all courtesy of the taxpayers – as being “meagre” shows just how disconnected from the rest of Austraian society the Liberal Nationals really are.

    by my say on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:00 am

  9. All the above is from turn left 2013

    by my say on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:01 am

  10. my say
    I’m afraid the stories find themselves.

    by BK on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:12 am

  11. A boatload of 60 AS is missing off Indonesia.
    http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/national/13408532/refugee-boat-missing-off-indonesia-report/

    by confessions on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:16 am

  12. I’m afraid the stories find themselves.

    Any response by Pell to the stories of the kids killing themselves after being abused by priests.

    I would expect Pell to say that the priests have suffered more than the children, blisters on their dicks perhaps.

    by castle on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:18 am

  13. Centre @ 2088 & 2089

    Your ad-hominens are noted.

    Clearly you have nothing better to offer.

    by bemused on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:19 am

  14. Richo and Hewson doing their best to talk COAG down with Fool Gilbert, saying there will be lots of posturing and little substance.

    Just what one would expect with the presence of more Liberal premiers. :lol:

    by confessions on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:21 am

  15. CWA pushing for the NBN to be extended to small rural towns:

    http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/women-of-the-shire-brigade-fight-for-nbn-link-20120412-1wwmy.html

    The CWA argues that the slower internet speeds will stymie business investment and make it more difficult to attract young people to the towns

    the group says the lower internet speeds in small towns will hasten the decline of small communities already struggling with the Murray Darling Basin Plan policy, outward migration and climate change

    Strangely no mention of the advantages of faster porn.

    by zoomster on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:22 am

  16. Strangely no mention of the advantages of faster porn.

    You’re meant to read that between the lines. Everyone knows what a bunch of randy old ravers the CWA are.

    by Dan Gulberry on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:27 am

  17. Everyone knows what a bunch of randy old ravers the CWA are.

    brings to mind the scene from Wild Hogs, “Do you want granny to take her teeth out”

    by castle on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:30 am

  18. zoomster @ 2114

    Fascinating stuff! The ladies of the CWA ‘get it’ but the opposition just doesn’t.

    I can’t help but feel there must be scope to run fibre to a lot more locations once the NBN as currently planned is in place. After all, they are connected by coper cables now.

    NBN is now unstoppable.

    by bemused on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:31 am

  19. La Stupenda does her bit in the war against governance itself:

    The balance at COAG has tipped in favour of the conservatives, posing a challenge for Gillard, but the tensions of federalism always remain the same.

    THE premiers are in Canberra, some of them waving guns. In other words, the pretentiously named Council of Australian Governments is meeting today. And with Campbell Newman's rout of Queensland Labor, the state balance has tipped to four-two in favour of the conservatives. The conventional wisdom is that this makes life much more difficult for Julia Gillard. And that's true. But let's also have a reality check

    http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/the-more-things-change–20120412-1wwj8.html#ixzz1rrnv4tLV

    A nice “one-two” there.

    1. The Premiers are armed with guns.

    2. “The Council Of Australian Governments” is a pretentious name.

    Of course the Premiers are not armed with guns, probably not even with baseball bats. I’d be willing to bet that Julia Gillard doesn’t even have a target on her forehead.

    But what’s this with COAG? It’s a council, isn’t it? They’re Australian governments, aren’t they? Why slag off at the name, for Christ’s sake? It’s a name, nothing more, or less.

    Does Old Coke bottles want it called “The Federal-State Gabfest”? Perhaps “The Annual Premiers’ Dole Queue”?

    Suddenly things that nobody thought much about before are now “pretentious” (a pointless, gratuitous comment if ever I saw one).

    Now “Guns” are being carried into meetings. The whole thing is so wild west. Typical of this mob in Canberra: up themselves with names and about to be assassinated… er… politically of course.. heh-heh.

    She repeats the “guns” motif:

    Then there are the ''real deals'', as distinct from the political posturing (that sound of guns being fired into the air).

    What guns? I didn’t hear about any guns anywhere else. Why did she feel the need to use the word “guns”? Has Michelle finally scored one of those “scoop” thingies?

    Oh… it’s a metaphor?

    A pretty stupid one, I’d say, one which if uttered by Tony Abbott in the house would have him grovelling before Peter Slipper in obsequious non-apology.

    Yes, yes, we know that Michelle thinks it’s all a farce (and wants her readers to think so too…. “How pretentious, dahling!”). The “guns” angle is good too. Gillard could be knocked-off at any moment.

    But I do wish she’d try straight reporting. It’d be a definite improvement over the rubbish she usually churns out.

    by Bushfire Bill on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:31 am

  20. http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/abbott-in-disability-plan-pledge-20120412-1wwne.html

    More Hockeynomics:

    Mr Hockey will reaffirm that a Coalition government ''will provide tax relief as soon as we get into government. We will rescind the carbon and mining taxes. We will deliver a personal income tax cut in our first term without the carbon tax. We will deliver a modest company tax cut, funded from savings in the budget, not funded by a great big new mining tax.''

    I’m ignoring the rest of the article, because we all know that Abbott always begins by saying he’ll support a government initiative before he finds out that it’s evil.

    by zoomster on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:35 am

  21. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/churchs-suicide-victims-20120412-1wwox.html#poll

    Truly disgusting. Those in the hierarchy of the church should be put on trial.

    by Lynchpin on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:35 am

  22. BB:

    Grattan’s commentary is going from appalling to something much worse than that. I really don’t know how she keeps her spot on RN breakfast; I can think of many more press gallery hacks who are more insightful than she is.

    by confessions on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:37 am

  23. This way of commenting on everything…

    "We will deliver a modest company tax cut, funded from savings in the budget, not funded by a great big new mining tax.''

    … is starting to sound rather childish.

    http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/abbott-in-disability-plan-pledge-20120412-1wwne.html#ixzz1rrvp1YBk

    by Bushfire Bill on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:42 am

  24. Jeff Kennett on 24 earlier saying COAG shouldn’t meet on Fridays as everyone just wants to go home – a committed lot obviously.

    Having subcommittees is a waste of time ( could be worried that broad standardising might erode state powers? :-) )

    COAG should be focused on ‘defining the roles of Federal and state (and local) government – there we go: let’s have a constitution convention …

    What a tool.

    by CTar1 on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:43 am

  25. Good Morning Bludgers,

    Can-Do-You-Over is already kicking garbage cans. The rest of QLD, and now Australia, is about to get a BrizVegas makeover.

    JG move over because Newman is GOD.

    by Space Kidette on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:46 am

  26. ''My wife has the occasion, as you know, to campaign on her own and also with me,'' Romney told newspaper editors, ''and she reports to me regularly that the issue women care about most is the economy.''

    Revealing commentary on the GOP attitude to women, contrasted with “modern” Obama.

    Note to candidate: Women aren't a foreign country. You don't need an interpreter to talk to them. Even if you're not fluent in their language, they might appreciate if you gave it a try.

    Even as Mitt was playing a bit role in his wife's video, Obama was hosting a ''White House Forum on Women and the Economy''. In an unavoidable contrast with stay-at-home mother Ann Romney, Obama described his wife as ''the woman who once advised me at the law firm in Chicago where we met'' and related how Michelle, after their daughters were born, ''gave it her all to balance raising a family and pursuing a career''.

    Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/romney-needs-to-man-up-and-start-to-narrow-the-gender-gap-20120412-1wwj6.html#ixzz1rrwRUh6C

    by lizzie on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:46 am

  27. Good Morning Bludgers,

    Can-Do-You-Over is already kicking garbage cans. The rest of QLD, and now Australia, is about to get a BrizVegas makeover.

    JG move over because you know Newman is GOD.

    by Space Kidette on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:47 am

  28. Grattan’s commentary is going from appalling to something much worse than that. I really don’t know how she keeps her spot on RN breakfast; I can think of many more press gallery hacks who are more insightful than she is.

    Out bluntly, she is trading on her reputation as the “Doyen Of The Press Gallery”.

    In reality, her questions to the PM are usually brushed off with a curtness that, if it was directed to a more junior journalist, would be a career breaker. I can’t think of one that hasn’t been dealt with in any other way for a long time.

    Time after time Grattan turns up to pressers, and time after time The Age’s investment in her is shown to be wasted on questions that don’t merit proper answers.

    What is the point of being there if your questions are so stupid and transparently hostile, tripping up on their own convolutions and irrelevance that they never get answered?

    Then she goes back to her laptop and writes bitchy pieces that destroy any last skerricks of impartiality she may have had.

    Grattan’s dislike for Gillard is legendary and public. Put another way, Grattan’s partisanship is getting in the way of her informing her readers about anything else but her hatred for the Prime Minister.

    Why should we care? On one side we have a Prime Minister trhing to run a country, and on the other a clapped-out has-been who’s been sacked from more senior roles than she managed to hold on to.

    by Bushfire Bill on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:53 am

  29. Space Kidette ‏ @SpaceKidette

    BOF states if Can-Do-You-Over can find grounds for a legal challenge on the Carbon Price he will support a challenge. #coagchestbeating

    by Space Kidette on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:55 am

  30. North Korea has just launched the missile.

    by Space Kidette on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:55 am

  31. COAG should be focused on ‘defining the roles of Federal and state (and local) government – there we go: let’s have a constitution convention …

    What a tool.

    Sounds like another excuse for having a whinge about how Gillard hasn’t solved all the nation’s problems in 20 months.

    by Bushfire Bill on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:56 am

  32. Re COAG

    Given that it is Friday 13 the whole lot of them will come out feeling unhappy. :)

    Hope they cook all the food well.

    by daretotread on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:56 am

  33. Apparently Peter Walsh, the Vic Water minister, believes that the environment should just learn to manage with less water:

    http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/strike-3-for-murray-basin-plan-20120412-1wwmw.html

    ''It has also refused to seriously explore ways to achieve environmental outcomes with less water and consequently, far less impact on regional communities,'' he said

    Yeah, we’re making efficiencies! Time for that slacker, Mother Nature, to get off her fat arse and make an effort!

    by zoomster on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:56 am

  34. Can Can-Do be Prime Minister without being elected to Federal Parliament?

    by zoomster on Apr 13, 2012 at 8:57 am

  35. zoomster

    Heard this morning that the MDB report has not taken climate change into consideration.
    The “Barnaby” influence?

    by lizzie on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:00 am

  36. Given that it is Friday 13 the whole lot of them will come out feeling unhappy.

    Hope they cook all the food well.

    Any Salmon Mousse on the menu??

    by imacca on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:01 am

  37. Bushfire

    I would respect what you say about Grattan much, much more if you also took the same blow torch to Cassidy, whose use of the ABC to destroy a PM, was bordering on treason.

    Also looking back to Gratan’s articles of 2001, she was saying exactly (almost word for bloody word) things about Howard. If she is biased now, was she biased then?

    I really find it sad when clearly intelligent posters here (BB) are so emotionally bound up that they cannot take an objective look at the political reality

    by daretotread on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:02 am

  38. Imacca

    Hope not. I think they should avoid mouses, mayonnaise, sea food today. :)

    by daretotread on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:04 am

  39. Alan Kohler’s pissed off, suggesting that, for all practical purposes, the banks are running a protection racket:

    Trade parasites feeding at the heart of the ASX
    In the Australian Securities Exchange's Sydney data room, which is about the size of a big lounge room, there are six "cuckoos". These are the banks of servers installed by high-frequency traders.

    They sit against the wall opposite the ASX servers and each is connected directly into the host by a fat fibre optic pipe. Each cable is precisely the same length by agreement with the ASX so that none gets an advantage; if one server is closer to the input, its cable is looped around to lengthen it.

    Think about that: one less metre of optic fibre carrying data at 299.8 million metres per second - that is, the speed of light - would give one share trader an unfair advantage over the rest. It suggests that something pretty quick is going on.
    ...
    As a result, investors are abandoning the "lit" markets and using "dark pools" instead. This simply refers to off-market share trading away from the official stock exchanges provided by investment banks where big investors know they are not being picked off by high-frequency front runners. The problem with that is that these "dark pools" are not properly regulated or transparent.

    The joke is that in many cases, the same investment banks are doing both the high-frequency trading and running the dark pools; they are causing the problem and solving it, each for a handsome profit.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-11/kohler-high-frequency-trade-parasites-at-heart-of-asx/3943052

    by Bushfire Bill on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:04 am

  40. I bet none of you realised that the environment still relies on flood irrigation.

    Put the Barmah forest on drip feed!!

    by zoomster on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:05 am

  41. Also looking back to Gratan’s articles of 2001, she was saying exactly (almost word for bloody word) things about Howard. If she is biased now, was she biased then?

    DDT, you don’t believe that it’s possible to be biased against more than one person?

    Grattan’s obsession is with herself, and whoever she decides is her enemy of the week. She runs vendettas, writes sloppy journalism of little persuasive or informative content, and trades off a supposed “reputation” that has long since faded.

    Among other journalists she is a standing joke. Her questions are rarely answered. Her articles reveal few insights. Her style is emotional and bitchy.

    Not saying that my own style isn’t emotional and bitchy a lot of the time too, but I’m not trying to put myself up as some kind of impartial oracle.

    by Bushfire Bill on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:09 am

  42. On the front page
    http://www.afr.com/p/national/business_strikes_deal_with_gillard_EUNIvQFgjtyS5XKRyyuWgK

    Business strikes deal with Gillard
    PUBLISHED: 12 APR 2012 12:29:00 | UPDATED: 13 APR 2012 02:45:01
    LOUISE DODSON AND SOPHIE MORRIS

    Prime Minister Julia Gillard has struck a historic agreement with business leaders to speed up approvals for big projects and cut regulation.

    But she ran into immediate flak over a promise to maintain tough environmental protections as she prepares to face, for the first time, a majority of conservative premiers at today’s meeting of the Council of Australian Governments.

    The newest state leader, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, attacked Ms Gillard’s vow to cut “green tape” and called on the federal government to leave all environmental approvals to the states.

    It was “a bit rich” of Ms Gillard to call on the states to reduce regulation while delaying approvals of major resource projects in Queensland, hurting the state’s economic progress, he said.

    The inaugural Business Advisory Forum in Canberra yesterday, which included 26 corporate chiefs, state leaders (except Western Australia’s Colin Barnett) and the Prime Minister, agreed to a six-point plan to reduce the costs of regulation.

    The new plan, described as a “national productivity compact” between the governments and business, aims to streamline state and ­federal environmental approvals.

    Business Council of Australia president Tony Shepherd described as “a big leap forward” the agreement, which endorsed the BCA, Australian Industry Group and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s deregulation plan put to the ­government before the meeting.

    The Productivity Commission estimates the cost of regulation on ­business is about $16.9 billion.

    A timetable for introducing the changes will be discussed today at COAG, the main forum for negotiating state-federal agreements.

    http://afr.com/p/opinion/dollar_dictates_focus_on_monetary_q5aoqsNz9URWWnYOG2McUI

    CANBERRA OBSERVED
    Dollar dictates focus on monetary policy
    PUBLISHED: 8 HOURS 30 MINUTES AGO | UPDATE: 4 HOURS 35 MINUTES AGO

    LAURA TINGLE
    Something weird has happened to the economic debate in this country. For countless years, the business community has beaten up the government for not showing enough spending restraint, and the unions have argued for industry-specific assistance.

    Now business is urging government to give up its long-held goal of returning the budget to surplus in the coming financial year, and the unions (while never saying no to a bit of industry help) are criticising the Reserve Bank of Australia for keeping interest rates too high.

    Even weirder, the government and the opposition actually agree (in a spectacularly disagreeing way) on the need for fiscal restraint in the present economic circumstances.

    The reasons being proffered for this volte-face are many and varied.

    more in each article

    by Leroy on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:15 am

  43. Rocket launch has failed.

    by Space Kidette on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:16 am

  44. JG move over because you know Newman is GOD.

    20 days without insurance in Queensland.

    by Son of foro on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:17 am

  45. Her questions are rarely answered. Her articles reveal few insights.

    DTT is wrong to assume the criticism is about bias. For me it’s about substance. Quite simply, Grattan rarely, if ever, displays any.

    by confessions on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:24 am

  46. The Daily Telegraph is running a nice little airport stoush. This will be the gift that keeps on giving:

    RESIDENTS of towns near the site of a potential second Sydney airport at Wilton are furious after the federal government yesterday moved closer to conducting a specific study of the area southwest of Campbelltown.

    Residents are already “furious”.

    It was only a couple of days ago that the Tele was castigating Barry O’Farrell for NOT seriously considering Wilton… or anywhere else.

    Premier plods on in state of inertia
    MOVE too slowly in a modern economy and you will be overtaken. That's a fact of living in a competitive culture. But Barry's oblivious.

    It’s all there, linked on the same page as the “Wilton Fury” story. There’s even a piece about how Victoria is taking over because we can’t land enough business people at Mascot.

    Now they’ve gone out and found some Wilton locals who don’t like their backyard being dug up.

    All the regulation arguments make an appearance…

    * “It’s too far from the City” (so is everywhere else except Mascot).

    * “New developments will be stymied” (read: “I was going to sell my back 40 to a property developer”).

    * “Groundwater and dams will be polluted”… round up the usual suspects.

    In fact, the Wiltonites are “furious” about it.

    All Albo’s fault, too, it appears.

    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/wilton-gets-the-willies-over-second-airport-study/story-e6freuzi-1226325282962

    There’s even an on-line poll.

    It’s the full Tele bootstrap: start a campaign against Barry O’Farrell on the old “airports” chestnut, get Albo to make a statement about it, whip up the locals, run polls… article after article. The second Sydney airport has been a producing well for decades.

    I doubt whether the Tele even cares who wins.

    by Bushfire Bill on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:24 am

  47. Only if u go looking for them ,

    by my say on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:25 am

  48. I would respect what you say about Grattan much, much more if you also took the same blow torch to Cassidy, whose use of the ABC to destroy a PM, was bordering on treason.

    Somehow I don’t think Cassidy’s commentary of the Howard govt had any bearing on Howard losing his seat.

    by confessions on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:25 am

  49. Rocket launch has failed.

    Geez… who’d be a North Korean rocket scientist today?

    by Bushfire Bill on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:25 am

  50. BB,

    Did you see the ‘control centre’ they showed in that North Korean PR exercise yesterday. It looked like they stole the set from a Robbie the Robot movie.

    by Space Kidette on Apr 13, 2012 at 9:29 am

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