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A graph to encourage Brendan

With Brendan Nelson down and all the pundits counting him out the following graph of the fickle nature of opinion polls in the United Kingdom might encourage his colleagues not to be too hasty in trying a new leader. Twice since the last British election the Conservatives have trailed Labour in the polls by so much that their chances of winning were being written off as hopeless. Both times within a year the same polls were showing them as certain winners.

A case of self censorship

The Victorian political writer for the Melbourne Age, Paul Austin, has had a big morning with coverage of the sacking of the Liberal Party bloggers who were campaigning against State Leader Ted Baillieu while working within the campaign unit at State Party headquarters. In two separate stories Austin details what Mr Baillieu calls the " treachery " of the sacked officers and gives extensive examples of the " vitriol " about Liberal Party people that was posted on a blog and distributed via email. There is no public access to the website itself but some extracts from it are available here.

There is, however, one startling omission from this extensive coverage in The Age and that is the commentary made on "He who stands for nothing" about Austin himself.

11 February 2008 :

There is a simple rule in conservative politics; if it's in the Age it's probably bullshit. Nowhere is this rule more relevant than when it applies to the internal machinations of the Liberal Party. Most liberals and conservatives understand this and give the contemptible, socialist rag a wide berth; that is, except for Ted Baillieu, Petro Georgiou and that epitome of treachery John Malcolm Fraser. If fact, you only have to pick up a copy of the Age to see the latest Liberal Party communiqué from Ted Baillieu's office usually under his pseudonym, Paul Austin. …

Paul Austin's latest contribution Baillieu scores a much-needed coup is a prime example of the Age strengthening the enemy of its enemy. By propping up an inept and gullible leader like Ted the Age can minimize the threat of someone electable taking the reins.

10 February 2008

Less forgivable are Malcolm Fraser's comments in today's Age, clearly sanctioned by Red Ted, Petro, Judith Troeth et al. We know it was Petro's idea, because it was leaked to Paul Austin (aka. Baillieu's Bitch). You know, just as Red Ted's private members' bill and Judith Troeth's opinion piece (written for her by Petro) were before. These people are so daft they actually think it's the (ever dwindling) Age readership who swing elections.

30 January 2008

You can tell a lot about a man by his friends and enemies. You can also tell a lot about a politician by whom he briefs in the press. Ted Baillieu's good friend is Paul Austin and The Age is his first call when he needs to spread the word. Some of Ted's 'colleagues' on Spring St refer laughingly behind his back to 'Big Red Ted's Big Red Phone', whenever presented with another spoon-fed offering from Ted's lapdog at the Spencer Street Soviet, Paul Austin. …

Ted's hotline to the Age is not the only throwback from the Cold War era. His and Austin's views of the current political situation are similarly filtered though a prism of ideological prejudice. They see recent developments as a conflict between left and right; between what Ted calls small 'l' liberalism and the conservatism of Philip Davis or presumable Michael Kroger and Peter Costello. What they don't realise is that this is not simply an ideological contest between the left and right but a broader battle between incompetence and competence; between those leading the party into electoral oblivion and those hungry for government and with the skills to make it happen.

Once you [Baillieu] are gone, your legacy will be discarded and no one will care. The only person that will bemoan your departure will be Paul Austin and, let's face it, no one reads the Age anyway.

A sensible step back

A report at the weekend that the Rudd minders have taken a sensible step back from their belligerent attitude to the press. Cameramen on Friday were allowed to cover the great man being interviewed in a radio studio.

Poncho a bee pest

The dreaded varoa mite is enemy number one for honey bees around the world and the bee keepers of Australia have just released new research "that will help protect Australia's pollination-dependent plant industries and provide a pathway for the honeybee industry to deal with potentially devastating pest outbreaks." That is very good news for people like me who are partial to the famous leatherwood variety from Tasmania but I am alarmed at news from Germany that tells of bees in the state of Baden-Württemburg dying by the hundreds of thousands in what Manfred Hederer, president of the German Professional Beekeeper's Association, calls "an absolute bee emergency." Germany's beekeepers are pointing fingers at the recently-introduced pesticide clothianidin, marketed by chemical giant Bayer AG under the name Poncho, for the recent die-off. The United States Environmental Protection Agency's fact sheet describes clothianidin as" highly toxic to honey bees".

Tell that to the bees!

The chemical, designed to attack the nervous systems of insects like a nerve gas, is not on the product list of the Australian Bayer subsidiary but is used in New Zealand.

The Daily Reality Check

Shock! Horror! SMH website leads with Burma ! Meanwhile The Age remains true to its broadloid principles and buries the endangered 1.5 million well down the page.

The Pick of this Morning's Political Coverage

Sydney properties halve in price - Nick Gardner and Andrew Carswell, Sydney Daily Telegraph

Liberals' blogs of war – Paul Austin, Melbourne Age

Baillieu hits out at 'traitors' – Paul Austin, Melbourne Age

Squeals over plan for luxury car tax – Nassim Khadem, Melbourne Age

Health fund fees to soar - Mark Metherell and Ruth Pollard, Sydney Morning Herald

Labour pledges giant review of tax and welfare – Michelle Grattan and Nassim Khadem

Swan cuts as revenue sinks – Matthew Franklin, The Australian

Conservative parties to merge – Andrew Fraser, The Australian

Labor ahead in poll despite promise of Budget pain – Mark Kenny, Adelaide Advertiser

The Pick of the Weekend's Political Coverage

If you wait long enough all the good ideas come round again. So it was that yesterday we had the Labor budget spin masters putting out the story about increasing the tax on luxury cars. It made me quite nostalgic. How well I remember suggesting this Luxury Car Tax in the first place. I had just listened back then in the 1980s to the permanent advisers to Prime Minister Bob Hawke outlining their ideas for a policy speech. Good and sound ideas– and very green too if my memory serves me well – but a marked break from the “them and us” working-class / fat-cat division on which the Labor Party was founded. All very well and good, I argued, but what about a little symbolism to show we are still prepared to sock it to the rich? Got to give the workers something so they can say ti serves the bastards right. And so the extra tax on posh cars was born. And now, 20 years on, Treasurer Wayne Swan is reportedly bringing it out again. Everything old is new again. Including symbolism.

Labor hits wealthy with tax slug on luxury cars – Glenn Milne, Adelaide Sunday Mail

Car makers driving hard for green cash - Katharine Murphy and Ian Porter, Melbourne Age

Medicare relief for millions - Andrew Probyn and Phillip Coorey, Sydney Morning Herald

Economic slide puts jobs at risk – David Uren, The Australian

Traitors sacked over Baillieu mud – James Campbell, Sunday Melbourne Herald Sun

NSW eviction crisis looming – Shari Markson, Sydney Sunday Telegraph

What the world is reading on the net

A perfect example in Singapore this morning of how people are more interested in events closer to themselves than things that happen further away. The death of a solitary soldier on a trip to Kuala Lumpur was the most read item on the website of the Straits Times. Of the other eight sites in the Crikey survey only the London Times and the UK Independent had a most read story from outside their own country.

United States – LA Times: Former 'Law and Order' actor Dennis Farina booked on weapons charge

United States – USA Today: Obama overtakes Clinton in superdelegate lead

UK – The Independent: Burma : The river of death

UK – The Times: Tom Cruise's Adolf Hitler film put back into Hollywood bunker

Singapore – The Straits Times: S'porean died in accident en route to KL

China – The People's Daily: Chinese president meets Japanese local officials, discuss relations, cooperation

Canada – Toronto Globe and Mail: EnCana to split

India – Times of India : N-deal in limbo, defence deals on fast track

Australia – The Australian : Swan cuts as revenue sinks

Quote of the Day

It is easy for us to recognise the need to protect the rights of the majority. The real test of a society comes when we are asked to accord the same rights to minorities such as those in prison.

Federal Human Rights Commissioner Graeme Innes commenting on the Corrective Services Amendment Bill soon to be introduced into Queensland parliament, which curtails the rights of prisoners to make complaints.