Saturday Snapshots

Guest Author Uncategorized

Today’s Guest Authors are a trio of marvellous Pubsters, all of whom are keen photographers. So, please welcome Puffy the Magic Dragon, Scorpio, and This Little Black Duck! I’ve selected a sample of their interesting and highly idiosyncratic photographs for your delectation. It is up to them, now, to tell you the stories behind each shot.

Over to you …

… and apologies for taking so long to publish your work (will a medical certificate be sufficient?)

Superbooth

Puffy:

Scorps:

and

Ducky:

Please note: There are another 17 of This Little Black Duck’s photos in the library, but I shall save them for another occasion.

137 thoughts on “Saturday Snapshots”

  1. Section 2 . . .

    What sort of a shonky outfit is PHON?
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/mar/18/log-off-its-over-one-nation-orders-candidates-back-to-reality-after-western-australia-election
    Liberal MPs who wanted to bring same-sex marriage to a head in the next fortnight of Parliament say their plans have hit a wall, and now concede movement on the issue is unlikely in this half of the year.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/there-is-no-pathway-at-this-stage-liberal-mps-in-samesex-marriage-backdown-20170315-guz68m.html
    Stephen Koukoulas reckons Turnbull’s “nation building” scheme is a snow job.
    https://thekouk.com/item/473-a-2-billion-national-building-snow-job.html
    Closing Australia’s aluminium smelters makes good financial, environmental and energy supply sense writes Dr Norm Sanders. They use 14% of Australia’s electricity, add to greenhouse gases, get taxpayer subsidised power and are largely foreign owned.
    https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/solve-australias-energy-crisis-pull-the-plug-on-aluminium-smelters,10121
    Another stunning performance from Comical Ali!
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/03/17/sean-spicer-denies-white-house-apologised-over-baseless-gchq-wir_a_21902049/?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage
    Are we still in the fifteenth century or what?
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/people/2017/03/18/spiritual-troubles-may-need-exorcism-pope/
    On MSNBC’s AM Joy, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) explained why Republicans are going to have no choice but to impeach President Trump after evidence of his presidential campaign’s collusion with Russia surfaces.
    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/18/rep-maxine-waters-drops-truth-bomb-republicans-choice-impeach-trump.html

  2. Section 3 . . . Cartoon Corner

    Matt Golding has solved the electricity crisis for Turnbull.

    The Trump budget hits home to his base.

    Andre Dyson as there was movement at the station.

    Ron Tandberg on the breaking of unjust laws.

  4. Presumably in response to the “D&D Beyond” announcement? Hashtag #GOPDnD is quite funny e.g.:

    D&D Beyond trailer:

    • If only someone had used that line on Turnbull the other day – ‘You’re full of shit’. Sums up his waffle perfectly.

  7. I’m wondering who was responsible for that guff that came out of Turnbull’s mouth. Did a speech writer come up with it? If so then that writer should be sacked. Or did Turnbull decide to wing it because the whole idea had been thought up the day before and no-one had time to write a speech? If he winged it someone should make sure he never, ever gets to do that ever again.

  8. Nice little racket Dutton and his department have going on.

    If you can afford to pay $50,000 you can have your Aged Parent Visa right now, if you can’t afford that you can join the queue, wait 30 years and pray you don’t die or get deported before it is finally granted.

    The Aged Parent Visa is available to people over 65 who have a child settled in Australia. The department warns applicants they may be forced to wait up to 30 years due to significant demand and limited places.

    At the end of June 2016 there were 50,544 people awaiting a non-contributory parent visa, which costs about $4000, with only 1500 places available. A further 30,000 were in the pipeline for the fast-tracked version, at a cost of about $50,000.

    Just 150 of the cheaper Aged Parent Visas were handed out in 2015-16, compared with 450 the previous year, and 590 the year before that

    http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/he-could-not-survive-deportation-92yearold-war-veteran-denied-visa-due-to-health-costs-20170314-guxlfe

    We really are a nasty, hard-hearted nation. Would it hurt to accept an old man who probably won’t be a drag on the tax-payers for very long?

  15. More on Turnbull and the attack on pensioners –

    Malcolm Turnbull ‘Pulls A Donald Trump’ In Sunday Twitter Tirade
    The PM is being likened to President Trump.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/03/18/malcolm-turnbull-pulls-a-donald-trump-in-sunday-twitter-tirade_a_21902455/?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage&ncid=fcbklnkauhpmg00000001

    What is especially Trump-like is Turnbull’s comment about Shorten telling lies. Shorten didn’t start this story, the Murdoch press did.

    • Do you think that Mr Murdoch will withdraw his support for the current Prime Minister? Are the Murdoch papers flailing around looking for a more congenial (for them) PM? Why after all would we, the Australian people, not believe what is printed in The Australian newspaper when it has so carefully led this country in the past?

      It reminds me of this exchange …
      Dr Song to Dr Who: Would sarcasm help?
      Dr Who to Dr Song:Wouldn’t it be a great universe if it did?

  16. I have on file a letter from PM Abbott saying no changes to pension and yet come the following Jan 1 $70 knocked off both my wife and my OZ pension.
    You know they are lying if their lips are moving now they twitter it to stop the lip reading

  17. And here’s Lenore Taylor and Michael Stutchbury going hammer and tongs on this issue on Insiders today.

    Go Lenore!

    Stutchbury does not like being confronted by the facts, especially not when a woman is presenting them.

  18. FMD !!!! What have they been feeding Stutchbury !! Talk about porking out !

  19. Kaffee

    Haven’t seen Lenore for a while, she seems to have put on a pound or two herself. I agree with what she said but he just talked all over her. We only watched that bit because Leone put it up.

  20. Stuchbery is wrong anyway: the PRRT dates from 1987.

    Craig Emerson entered Federal Parliament in 1998.

    • I don’t disagree with you! He’ll lay blame anywhere and everywhere! Stuch seems to forget the elected members make the policy not advisor! However most of his life in what you could describe as an underwhelming career his audience aren’t interested in “facts”

    • the 55-45 result was always going to be an outlier. Still it hasn’t stopped the Australian crowing about Turnbull “winning back the deserters”

  24. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Paul Keating has dramatically added his voice to those of industry and finance experts warning the Turnbull government against allowing superannuation savings to be used for house purchases. It would “pull the backside out of superannuation” he says.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/using-superannuation-to-finance-housing-is-superbad-policy-paul-keating-20170319-gv1cce.html
    Meanwhile the NSW government will ramp up a program of encouraging major housing development near rail stations in Sydney, as well as pushing for new schemes that make it easier for renters to buy their own property.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/more-density-around-rail-stations-and-new-schemes-for-renters-nsw-housing-plan-20170318-gv19u2.html
    Michelle Grattan gets nicely stuck in to Dutton.
    https://theconversation.com/free-speech-it-depends-who-you-are-in-peter-duttons-view-74818
    Ross Gittins writes that someone’s got to give in order to fix the budget.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/federal-budget/someone-has-to-give-if-were-to-fix-the-budget-20170318-gv130r.html
    Underemployment in Australia has rocketed to 1.1 million people. Matched against the government data on job vacancies, there are 17 job seekers competing for every job vacancy compared to a ratio of 4 to 1 using current ABS data on unemployment.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/underemployment-skyrockets-to-11-million-australians-20170317-gv09bw.html
    Maureen Dowd writes that Trump is devouring his own presidency. She doesn’t hold back.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/donald-trump-the-workingclass-zero-spewing-poisonous-fake-news-20170319-gv1kf0.html
    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued requests for proposals for prototypes for a wall along the Mexican border, saying ideally it should be 30 feet (9 meters) high and the wall facing the U.S. side should be “aesthetically pleasing in color.” Is this one of those “pigs might fly” moments?
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-us-mexico-border-wall-proposals_us_58cd9881e4b0ec9d29dc86a2?ylvpt5xir255j6ecdi&&utm_hp_ref=au-homepage
    A Coles manager in Western Australia asked his staff to work for four hours for free on Sunday, just three weeks after the Fair Work Commission announced a cut to penalty rates. What in the hell is going on?
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/wa/2017/03/19/coles-free-labour-penalty-rates/

  25. Section 2 . . .

    Pater FitzSimons makes a strident call for action on concussions in the NRL.
    http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/nrl-must-act-after-newcastle-knight-brendan-elliot-concussed-twice-in-one-game-20170319-gv1ivh.html
    Great Barrier Reef tourism is heading for rough times as coral bleaching continues to worsen.
    http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/bleaching-is-a-real-bitch-great-barrier-reef-tourism-headed-for-tough-times-20170317-gv0y2v.html
    Germany tells Trump that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about with NATO.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/germany-hits-back-at-donald-trump-over-nato-funding-claims-20170319-gv1ngu.html
    Some Turnbull front benchers are trying to close ranks on the SSM issue.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/samesex-marriage-resolved-turnbull-government-minister-20170318-gv19ur.html
    And that’s in the face of this survey of 12 Coalition seats on the issue.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/conservative-majority-in-12-coalition-seats-back-samesex-marriage-vote-in-2017-20170318-gv1a96.html
    NSW and the feds are at loggerheads over access to Sydney Airport by regional airlines.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ministers-butt-heads-over-greater-access-to-sydney-airport-for-regional-planes-20170317-gv0ctn.html
    At last Soapy releases his (heavily redacted} diary and it shows no evidence of meetings with legal service provider organisations. I suspect Dreyfus and Wong will be asking some questions in QT this week.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/george-brandis-finally-releases-ministerial-diary-after-threeyear-legal-battle-20170319-gv1cm6.html
    The man in charge of the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into access to justice has criticised Attorney-General George Brandis for attempting to influence the outcome of the review. He has carrying on like a headless chook he says.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/george-brandis-acted-like-headless-chook-during-productivity-commission-review-excommissioner-20170317-gv0cgo.html
    Vitamin and supplement giant Swisse has asked the federal government to end its direct oversight of Australia’s $4 billion complementary medicine market in favour of a system of self-regulation. Surely they jest!!!
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/vitamin-company-swisse-calls-for-selfregulation-of-complementary-medicine-advertising-20170315-guz8l5.html
    Morrison’s going to try and push the “Google tax” bill though parliament this week.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/treasurer-to-launch-fresh-attack-on-multinational-tax-avoidance-as-parliament-resumes-20170318-gv111v.html

  26. Section 3 . . .

    Australia’s industry super funds have launched an unprecedented advertising campaign against what they say is a lobbying by the banks to undermine superannuation savings.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/foxes-in-the-hen-house-new-industry-super-ad-takes-on-the-banks-20170317-gv0o9s.html
    Jess Irvine asks and answers nine questions about the energy crisis.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/energy-crisis-the-9-questions-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask-20170318-gv13jd.html
    Eight directors and executives of collapsed electronics chain Dick Smith have been hit with a legal action that alleges a series of breaches of their duties and a damages claim that totals tens of millions of dollars. Google.
    /business/retail/afr19adele-column–20170319-gv1fju
    If automation pushes joblessness to 20%, what happens to those who are left behind? Reducing working hours might be part of the solution. Greg Jericho looks at the downside of automation.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/19/an-automated-world-is-coming-and-managing-the-unemployment-fallout-wont-be-easy
    More toll shock for Sydney commuters.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-government-against-keeping-rises-in-sydney-tolls-capped-at-inflation-rate-20170318-gv13cs.html
    While sleeping and eating are not optional, Australians are shortening the amount of time spent on these necessities for longer working hours leading to poor health outcomes. It’s not a pretty picture.
    http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/anu-report-confirms-long-hours-at-work-are-displacing-time-for-sleeping-and-eating-20170316-guzj1y.html
    Developers will have to radically lift their standards under Victoria’s new apartment design regime, with the results of a new study revealing the gap between what was previously allowed and what will soon be mandated. A bit of bad luck for the spivs perhaps.
    https://www.domain.com.au/news/melbourne-apartments-most-old-stock-would-fail-better-apartment-standards-study-finds-20170317-guzjcl/
    Trump and Spicer have made “absurd and dangerous” assertions about the involvement of the UK’s GCHQ in wiretapping according to a former long serving British ambassador to the US.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/19/trump-spicer-british-wiretapping-peter-westmacott
    Trump’s handshake manoeuvres are becoming quite an issue.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/18/trump-handshakes-angela-merkel-awkward
    Turnbull has taken the unusual step of using social media to directly repudiate a story suggesting his government was considering scrapping concession cards for welfare recipients in the May budget.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/turnbull-takes-to-twitter-to-deny-pension-changes-20170319-gv1d9q.html

  27. Section 4 . . .^with Cartoon Corner

    Child care costs rose at five times the rate of inflation last year!
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/mar/19/childcare-costs-rise-at-five-times-the-rate-of-inflation-over-single-year

    Cathy Wilcox with Dutton’s problem with the letter from many CEOs on SSM.

    Cathy Wilcox redefines “leadership”.

    Mark Davis with Dutton showing how it’s done.
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7PG9IwV4AA_Jjg.jpg:large
    Broelman has Dutton losing the argument with Alan Joyce.

    Broelman puts our gas exports into perspective.

    And he drops in on the test pitch curator in India.

    David Rowe introduces the SSM danger rating system. Of course Potatohead features in it.

    Mark Knight farewells Chuck Berry.
    http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/9bfda0586e9bdc8376ab4837716bdeea?width=1024

  28. Good morning Dawn Patrollers. **$*%(

    Paul Keating has dramatically added his voice to those of industry and finance experts warning the Turnbull government against allowing superannuation savings to be used for house purchases. It would “pull the backside out of superannuation” he says.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/using-superannuation-to-finance-housing-is-superbad-policy-paul-keating-20170319-gv1cce.html
    Meanwhile the NSW government will ramp up a program of encouraging major housing development near rail stations in Sydney, as well as pushing for new schemes that make it easier for renters to buy their own property.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/more-density-around-rail-stations-and-new-schemes-for-renters-nsw-housing-plan-20170318-gv19u2.html
    Michelle Grattan gets nicely stuck in to Dutton.
    https://theconversation.com/free-speech-it-depends-who-you-are-in-peter-duttons-view-74818
    Ross Gittins writes that someone’s got to give in order to fix the budget.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/federal-budget/someone-has-to-give-if-were-to-fix-the-budget-20170318-gv130r.html
    Underemployment in Australia has rocketed to 1.1 million people. Matched against the government data on job vacancies, there are 17 job seekers competing for every job vacancy compared to a ratio of 4 to 1 using current ABS data on unemployment.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/underemployment-skyrockets-to-11-million-australians-20170317-gv09bw.html
    Maureen Dowd writes that Trump is devouring his own presidency. She doesn’t hold back.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/donald-trump-the-workingclass-zero-spewing-poisonous-fake-news-20170319-gv1kf0.html
    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued requests for proposals for prototypes for a wall along the Mexican border, saying ideally it should be 30 feet (9 meters) high and the wall facing the U.S. side should be “aesthetically pleasing in color.” Is this one of those “pigs might fly” moments?
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-us-mexico-border-wall-proposals_us_58cd9881e4b0ec9d29dc86a2?ylvpt5xir255j6ecdi&&utm_hp_ref=au-homepage
    A Coles manager in Western Australia asked his staff to work for four hours for free on Sunday, just three weeks after the Fair Work Commission announced a cut to penalty rates. What in the hell is going on?
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/wa/2017/03/19/coles-free-labour-penalty-rates/

  31. BK

    Thanks for the links, I waited for a while to see if someone posted them here, or you were taken out of the spam folder. I finally gave in and whizzed over there, grabbed the links, and got out safely. 🙂

  32. About Newspoll’s methodology –

    I’m still seeing comments on social media and elsewhere about Newspoll only using landlines and so only polling ‘old people’, based on the incorrect assumptions that only ‘old people’ have landlines, only ‘old people’ are at home at night to answer the phone and ‘old people’ always vote conservative. This rubbish has been going on for years. it’s way past time it stopped, because Newspoll hasn’t polled in this way for quite some time.

    Here’s a two year old article explaining how Newspoll now works.
    New Galaxy ‘Newspoll’ to rely on robopolling and online data
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/new-galaxy-newspoll-to-rely-on-robopolling-and-online-data-20150508-ggx48a.html

    I really wish these ignorant clods would try to keep up with what has been happening in the polling world over the last few years. Too much tweeting, too much blogging, too much Facebook means no time given to keeping up with what’s going on in the real world, I suppose.

  33. Leone

    I wouldn’t get too stressed, people will continue to believe what they want to believe. The trend is our friend, when that starts to look worrisome for Labor then I’ll be the first to go pessimistic.

    • Bill Shorten, half an hour ago in parliament, introducing Labor’s legislation to stop penalty rates cuts.

    • I don’t get stressed about it, I just get very annoyed by these idiots. They portray themselves as Labor-supporting political animals and yet can’t be bothered keeping up to date.

  36. The result in Kalgoorlie has been declared. In the end it wasn’t that close, 56.2% to the Libs to 43.8% to Labor.

    • Also the Nat to Lib preference flow in both Kalgoorlie and Geraldton was about 67% to the Libs, in other states it’s usually in the high 70s.

  37. A new wave of job cuts at Australian universities

    By Mike Head
    18 March 2017

    As the academic year gets underway this month, students and staff at Australian public universities face deteriorating conditions. Starved of funds by one government after another, university managements are decimating full-time jobs, reducing face-to-face teaching and driving up class sizes.

    Deep funding cuts imposed by the last Labor government have been compounded by multi-billion dollar cuts inflicted by the current Liberal-National administration. This is forcing universities into further restructuring as they desperately compete with each other to enrol students, particularly full fee-paying international students, and attract corporate investment.

    Toward the end of last year, a new wave of job cuts began across the country, mainly via so-called voluntary redundancy or retirement programs that are used to get rid of targeted workers. These schemes have the full agreement of the two trade unions that cover university workers, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU). What follows is only a partial list:

    Last November, the Queensland University of Technology said it would “purge” about 90 “underperforming” staff “whose aspirations no longer align with those of the university” because they were “not bringing in enough money.” Employees would be offered up to a year’s salary to quit with the help of a retirement tax package.
    A week later, Curtin University in Western Australia confirmed 100 to 150 staff were expected to be axed for 2017. Blaming the former mining boom state’s economic slowdown, the management said it planned to allow fixed-term, casual and sessional staff contracts to expire in humanities to offset decreased research and contract income in the science, engineering and humanities faculties.
    Later in the month, the University of Newcastle unveiled an “organisational review” that would involve about 170 redundancies—some 10 percent of its full-time and casual workforce. It was the 15th review or restructure in three years for what the vice-chancellor called “a changing academic enterprise.”
    Meanwhile, Western Sydney University (WSU) unveiled a “voluntary early retirement” package, through which it ultimately secured the departure of more than 200 selected academics and administrative workers.
    In early December, leaked documents revealed that over 400 job cuts were being planned at the University of NSW in Sydney as part of a further revamping of the university’s business model. A document called UNSW Strategic Initiatives Operational Excellence Business Cases Summary, sent anonymously to the NTEU, outlined annual cuts of $47.3 million, with severance pays calculated to reach $30 million.
    Just days into 2017, the University of Canberra College (UCC), an offshoot of the university, released a restructure plan that would “disestablish” unspecified numbers of jobs, in order to be “adaptable” and deliver “world class quality outcomes.” The changes stem from the sale of 51 percent of UCC to private education provider Navitas in 2015. Since then, many cost-cutting measures have been implemented already, leading to redundancies, vacant positions remaining unfilled, and significant increases in workloads.
    This week, Victoria University in Melbourne confirmed it would eliminate 115 jobs throughout the year as it establishes its planned First Year College.

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/03/18/unis-m18.html

  38. Netanyahu Asks Putin to End Targetting ISIS in Syria

    The secretary general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, says Israel seeks an end to Russia’s military campaign against the ISIS terrorist group in Syria to avert the Tel Aviv regime’s collapse.

    Nasrallah said on Saturday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had recently met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to express his deep concern over the likely collapse of ISIS in Syria since such a development would mark a great triumph for the resistance front in the Middle East region.

    The Hezbollah chief added that the defeat of the ISIS Takfiri group in Syria would be tantamount to the fall of Netanyahu himself.

    Russia launched a military campaign against the terrorist groups in Syria in late September 2015 at the official request of the Damascus government.

    Elsewhere in his remarks, Nasrallah said that Western powers were drawing on Takfiri terrorists in order to carry out their schemes in conflict-ridden Syria.

    “I have repeatedly called on Syria militants not to put trust in [the] West and implement their plots in Syria, because the US and its allies are only using them as cannon fodder and will abandon [them] as soon as they are defeated,” he said.

    He added, “I am telling militants fighting within the ranks of the enemies that you are only serving Israel, and shedding the blood of innocent people.”

    The Hezbollah leader noted that the days of ISIS, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as the al-Nusra Front, and other terrorist groups fighting to topple the Damascus government are numbered as Syrian army forces continue to achieve victories across the country.

    http://ahtribune.com/world/north-africa-south-west-asia/syria-crisis/1562-netanyahu-putin.html

  40. Would I be right in thinking that many The Pub patrons are currently watching Question Time at the moment.

    And watching an increasingly shrill & desperate Prime Minister barely clinging to his position.

    His carcass is beginning to stink and his colleagues would do well to haul it out ( and bury & cremate it etc) this smelly excuse for a country’s leader.

  41. As far as my limited research reveals, the workforce that built the Snowy Mountains Scheme was unionised.
    Malcolm Turnbull is riding on the achievements of that scheme, on the workforce and therefore the union movement.
    Hypocrite.

  42. I noticed that Turnbulls face was starting to resemble Barnarby”s a few questions ago when he was raving on about the criminal union movement & its collaborators, the Labor Party & the lying Bill Shorten in particular.

    Barnarby’s face went blood red during his rant (the worst I’ve seen it) and now we have got Josh ranting at a hundred miles an houer. Crikey this mob are worried with a back bench that seems to have over-inbided in the red cordial as well. 😉

  44. I can’t believe just how gaunt Bishop junior is looking lately. Airline food doesn’t seem to agree with her or else she picked up a nasty case of worms during one of her many overseas jaunts.

  46. I didn’t say anything about the previous two Newspolls. I thought they were overstated with regard to the ALP. I think the current one is a little understated. That’s what MOE does. The correct figure is most likely still around 53-47, and I doubt it’s changed at all for about a month now. There’s certainly been no reason for it to change, and in honesty I think people are mostly disengaged from politics at the moment. The verdict has been passed on Turnbull, people are ignoring him now, in the main.

    I’m not surprised people get all worked up about these apparent shifts, though. They’re just taking their lead from the reportage. We have political journalists dissecting 1 or 2 percent shifts in individual polls as if these things are actually happening. And they draw all sorts of definitive conclusions from something that’s almost certainly statistical error. You can only talk trends with any certainty; you can’t conclude anything from a poll in isolation.

    Turnbull is an idiot, I’ll say that for him. He hasn’t got a chance of restoring his standing in the eyes of the Australian public unless he becomes more like he was expected to be. Hammering the RW line harder and harder is only going to continue to do him damage. And shouting about Shorten is pretty much the dumbest thing he can do. Shorten’s shaky perception in the eyes of the electorate has come about primarily through his being ignored. Shutting him out of the conversation, as the media generally do, gives the impression that Shorten doesn’t matter, that he can’t cut through. Turnbull’s giving Shorten lots of free publicity, he’s keeping that name uppermost in the minds of Australians. And whenever people actually pay attention to Shorten, they usually like what they see.

    From what I hear of today’s events, Turnbull and the Liberals have gone all hubristic again. The first time he tried out basic shouting he got some good press about it, and that’s the only tactic he’s used since.

  47. The trouble with the journalists and press gallery types is their assumption that the rest of the nation sees politics they way they do – that everyone is willing Turnbull on to greatness and that circumstances are conspiring against all of our wishes, to bring him down. I often wonder whether it really is intentional bias, or simply a mindset that they’re unaware they have.

    Their articles routinely deliver the following messages:

    – Turnbull is doing well because…
    – Turnbull is doing badly but…
    – Shorten is doing well but…
    – Shorten is doing badly because…

    If you look at them closely enough, it becomes clear that every Turnbull setback and every Shorten success comes with a caveat, and the subtext that it’s a temporary situation, which can be rectified by doing x, y and z. Conversely, every Turnbull success (rare as they are) and every Shorten setback is characterised as a return to normality, something that can be built on and solidified.

    We’re continually being persuaded that the Liberal way is the natural order of things, that the ALP are always the barbarians storming the citadel

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