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Wednesday 2 December 2009
Wednesday 2 December 2009It was an interesting experiment by Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull to break the habits of a parliamentary lifetime and get the government party and the opposition party to join together to break the stranglehold minor parties hold on what bills pass through the Senate. I can not recall a previous occasion when there has been such a concerted effort to hammer out such an agreement. That it finally failed after a revolt in the Opposition Coalition was perhaps as much about the ingrained believe that Oppositions should oppose as it was about the nature of the emissions trading legislation itself.
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Tuesday 1 December 2009 - Kevin Rudd does not need to hurry into a decision about whether or not to call a double dissolution election if the Liberals stick together and either postpone or defeat his emissions trading legislation. There is no way he will want to be out campaigning over the Christmas holidays. When children are just about to go back to school at the end of January is the earliest he will make an announcement with an election to follow early in March.
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Monday 30 November 2009 - Three national opinion polls in the last three days and all of them are again showing Labor would win an election in a landslide.
Newspoll - Labor 57% Coalition 43%
Nielsen - Labor 56% Coalition 44%
Morgan - Labor 58.5% Coalition 43.5%
And what interests the people?
Monday 30 November 2009 -
Readers of internet news sites around the world have no doubt about what is the biggest news story of the day. Forget about Iran and nuclear weapons, US health care proposals, more troops for Afghanistan and the new financial crisis caused by Dubai - Tiger Woods and his relationship with his wife is a clear winner.
On radio, television, newspapers and the internet, this is surely the most covered minor traffic accident in history. And the people are lapping it up. This what I found in the last hour as I surveyed those "Most Popular" reports on internet news sites:
BBC News - a Tiger Woods story the most read
ABC News Australia - most read
New Zealand Herald - most read
The Times, London - second most read after leading yesterday
The Guardian, London - most viewed
USA Today - most read
Globe and Mail, Canada - most viewed
Washington Post - most read
New York Times - most searched
Melbourne Age, Australia - most read
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - most read
Times of India - second most read
Saturday 28 November 2009 - I know most of the political pundits are hanging out to see how Newspoll in The Australian judges the reaction to the recent extraordinary business in the Liberal Party but last night's Morgan Poll already tells the story. That disunity is political death for a political party is shown by the Morgan finding that Labor's two party vote is up a couple of percent. more
An industry on the brink
Friday 27 November 2009 - Stand by for the peripheral damage to the Australian thoroughbred horse industry - and probably the world's - as a result of the crash of the Dubai economy. The decision overnight by the Dubai Government owned company Dubai World to welsh on its debts surely makes it impossible for Australia's biggest race horse owner, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to continue spending millions at yearling sales. And if he and the family owned Godolphin stop bidding here and elsewhere, then prices will surely crash. Stand by for the bursting of one of history's biggest ever investment bubbles
Thursday 26 November 2009 - A fascinating study out from pollster Roy Morgan on what Australians regard as the important issues for their own country and the world as a whole. And there's not much joy in it for those beleaguered Liberals who thought hammering away at policies on boat people might revive their fortunes. While there has been a small increase from a small base in immigration matters, it is still the economy and environmental issues which Australians think are the most important both at home and abroad. more
Turnbull home and safe
Wednesday 25 November 2009 - Malcolm Turnbull is now home and safe for Christmas as the Liberal Party Leader. He called the bluff of the party dissidents today and had a comfortable victory. Only the most demented members of the Party believed they should elect a new leader who opposes an ETS the day after deciding to vote in the Senate to create one. That idea was just too stupid and there was no ETS supporter like Joe Hockey being suicidal enough to put him or her self up as a sacrificial lamb to appease the anger of those who Turnbull out manoeuvred yesterday.
With a Labor victory at the next election looking as certain as anything can be a year out from polling day, no credible alternative to Turnbull came forward. The idea of Kevin Andrews leading the Opposition to an election was a joke.
When Parliament returns next year, who knows what will happen in the Opposition party room but the logic will remain the same. Only a Liberal with a political death wish would want to take over the leader's job.
More revealed in Rann 'affair' – Premier Mike Rann's political future faces trial by TV tonight over explosive claims he repeatedly had sex with a married woman in Parliament House – Adelaide Sunday Mail
Brumby soaring high: poll – Labor's dominance of Victorian politics appears unassailable one year from the next state election, with an exclusive opinion poll showing the Government could pick up another seven seats, decimating the Opposition – Melbourne Sunday Age
See the summary of the rest of today's news here
Friday 20 November 2009 - There is one lesson that criminals coming up to being eligible for release on parole should keep in mind. They are much more likely to be released just after an election than just before one. Malaysian national Phillip Choon Tee Lim now knows that. more
Friday 20 November 2009 - Kevin Rudd did himself no favours yesterday when he tried to link the current high temperatures as being related to global warming. Arguing from the short term is the weapon of the global warming sceptics but even most of them baulk at using a week or so of cool temperatures as an argument.
Our Prime Minister's mouth is starting to run away with him I fear in trying to make anything of a couple of days of heat. His spinners are spinning out of control.
Friday 20 November 2009 - There's plenty of hard work ahead if Australians are going to be encouraged to consider the impact on the environment when they choose a motor car. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported this morning that environmental impact/exhaust emissions was the least considered factor when purchasing a motor vehicle.
 
If Alexander Downer does decide to run for the post of Adelaide's lord mayor, his campaign will surely benefit from the impending arrival in the city of Wang Wang and Fu Ni.
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