As most of us are probably aware, there are several elections occurring over the next month, so here’s a new thread since the previous one is getting a bit dated.
The most obvious are the US elections that will take place on 5 November (6 November Australian time, where the count will start around Midday AEDST time). The polls have it as a complete tossup pretty much.
Internationally, there is also a significant election to be held in Japan on 27 October, although the polls there seem to imply that it’ll be a business as usual result.
Locally, we have the ACT election tomorrow on Saturday 19 October, as well as NSW by-elections in Pittwater, Hornsby and Epping.
Then the week after that we have the Queensland state election on Saturday 26 October.
THE PUB 
‘Tis Albo’s turn to ‘kiss the ring’ ……………
https://www.watoday.com.au/business/companies/money-power-and-rupert-descends-on-lachlan-murdoch-s-christmas-bash-20241206-p5kwc9.html
The last time Rupes was in town Truffles found himself out of a job and we got a Scrott .Not that Albo should have to worry.. His biggest asset, Dutton, is still in place.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Leaders condemn Melbourne synagogue attack but disagree on the cause of rising violence, writes Laura Tingle who says that complex Middle East politics is not the forum for scoring political points. She’s clearly had enough.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-07/synagogue-attack-government-un-vote-dutton-albanese/104695190
Anthony Albanese is now witnessing the consequences of his failure to protect Australian Jews, says The Australian’s Simon Benson in today’s All In for Israel edition of the Murdoch broadsheet.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary%2Falbanese-is-now-witnessing-the-consequences-of-his-failure-to-protect-australian-jews%2Fnews-story%2Fe3f4e334305bfc62f5bb0ccecfea0ea9?amp
Rob Harris writes that Benjamin Netanyahu has linked the arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue to what he called the Albanese government’s “anti-Israel sentiment” as the diplomatic fall-out between the two nations plunged to new lows. I feel like commenting, but I won’t!
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/netanyahu-claims-melbourne-synagogue-attack-linked-to-labor-s-anti-israel-sentiment-20241207-p5kwk1.html
The Liberal Party has hired controversial digital agency Topham Guerin to produce content for its election campaign, despite concerns about disinformation and deepfakes used by the group, reveals Jason Koutsoukis.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/12/07/exclusive-dutton-hires-morrisons-disinformation-team
The stagnant private sector economy and deterioration in living standards exposed in the national accounts this week have been years in the making. John Kehoe writes that labour productivity has failed to improve since 2016; business investment is languishing close to 1990s recession levels; there has been no serious economic reform; undisciplined government spending is in vogue after too much stimulus during the pandemic; and the Reserve Bank of Australia has been forced to push up interest rates to grind household and business activity to a halt and bring inflation under control.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/australia-s-economic-problems-have-been-brewing-for-years-20241205-p5kw02
“Why shouldn’t the government make Australia’s Future Fund a genuine sovereign wealth fund, to ensure that the benefits of our resource developments and budget discipline are realised for all Australians?”, asks John Hewson who opines that the sooner it becomes accepted as a full-blown sovereign wealth fund the better for our national interests it will be.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2024/12/07/we-need-real-sovereign-wealth-fund
“Lifeline has offered a solemn reality check. Money worries are high – so what will the government do?”, asks Karen Middleton who says that the economic picture that emerged this week reflects the pressures many Australians are facing – and the crux of the next election.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2024/dec/07/lifeline-has-offered-a-solemn-reality-check-money-worries-are-high-so-what-will-the-government-do
Interest rates settings depend on forecasts of price inflation, wages and unemployment. There is now sufficient evidence to suggest that the Reserve Bank should begin to cut interest rates soon and arguably at its December Board Meeting. The balance of risks if it stays there much longer is that the economy will fall into a full recession, argues Michael Keating.
https://johnmenadue.com/to-avoid-recession-cut-interest-rates-next-week/
Midweek, Dutton warned “a vote for the teal independents is a vote for Anthony Albanese”. More likely it would be a vote against Dutton and his policies, particularly on climate action. So far he has made no discernible effort to win back those voters who deserted the Liberals for the socially progressive independents, writes Paul Bongiorno who says that the election fight is starting to get serious.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2024/12/07/election-fight-starts-get-serious
An external review of the Commonwealth’s punitive, malfunctioning mutual obligations framework will not report until after the next federal election, even as thousands of jobseekers await resolution on payments unlawfully suspended or cancelled. Tender documents for the review, unpublished but obtained by The Saturday Paper, reveal uncertainty at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations over whether the system of jobseeker conditions that supports almost $2 billion worth of outsourced services each year is functioning as intended, or is even legal. Wow!
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2024/12/07/exclusive-jobseeker-payment-system-errors-prompt-review
It appears the prime minister has put Labor’s political survival ahead of the survival of Australia’s endangered species, says Nick O’Malley and Bianca Hall.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/plibersek-made-a-vow-on-environmental-reforms-albanese-has-put-that-at-risk-20241204-p5kvp6.html
Labor insiders have criticised the prime minister’s treatment of his Left faction rival and say he is driven by personal grievance, writes Karen Barlow about Albanese’s “Plibersek problem”.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2024/12/07/albaneses-plibersek-problem
Something weird is happening in the Australian economy, but it won’t faze the RBA yet, writes Millie Muroi. She says it’ll take more weakness in spending, or more progress on slamming a lid on inflation, for the Reserve Bank to start cutting rates. So far, Australian households – and their spending – seem stuck in the holding pen.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-australian-economy-is-behaving-strangely-20241203-p5kvl5.html
As the government moved to set limits on the number of international students attending Australian universities, the opposition flipped its position, deciding there was more to be gained electorally from a continuing crisis than from a solution, declares Mike Seccombe.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/immigration/2024/12/07/how-the-coalition-fed-the-university-crisis
The health minister is in the middle of an almighty fight between private hospitals and the health insurers, and he’s facing a difficult decision in the lead up to the election, explains Michael Smith. Too right he has!
https://www.afr.com/companies/healthcare-and-fitness/mark-butler-s-health-problem-with-no-fix-20241203-p5kvlh
A parliamentary committee into right wing extremism has recommended law enforcement agencies get greater powers to access encrypted messages in national security incidents – despite ASIO boss Mike Burgess saying earlier this year he was “not asking for new laws” to address that issue. The inquiry also recommended the government investigate how gaming platforms and social media are used to recruit young people to radical causes. It came the day after ASIO and Australian federal police warned that a “shocking” number of their priority cases involve young people.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/06/australian-authorities-need-more-access-to-encrypted-messages-rightwing-extremism-inquiry-says-ntwnfb
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says a Coalition government will build more gas-fired power stations to firm up renewable energy, in addition to his proposed seven nuclear power stations, the details of which will be unveiled next week, writes Phil Coorey.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/dutton-pushes-role-for-gas-power-amid-blitz-on-labor-seats-20241206-p5kwbp
The Guardian is all over the blatant front page propaganda all week in The Australian, paid for by the gas industry.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/dec/06/gas-warfare-news-corp-tabloids-week-of-energy-doom-ends-with-an-anointed-saviour-ntwnfb
And the Saturday Paper’s editorial says that the only real surprise is that the gas lobby felt they had to pay for it. News Corp has shilled so long and so shamelessly for fossil fuels that the publisher could quite honestly say the money Santos and others gave it for this week’s series on gas had no bearing on the journalism. It was compromised by ideology well before it was compromised by cash. It concludes with, “It is obscene that the Murdoch press has run this advertorial across its tabloids. It is also obscene that it probably works: that enough voters believe the lies of the gas industry and enough politicians are willing to take dictation for them, just as News Corp has. “
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2024/12/07/cheap-trick
Referring to Dutton, Harvey and Uhlmann’s “cooked advice”, Michelle Pini takes a look at the latest media disinformation disguised as credible commentary.
https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/dutton-harvey-and-uhlmanns-cooked-advice,19233
Kylea Tink, whose seat was recently abolished, says criticism of the teal movement by Bradfield MP Paul Fletcher shows how the party misunderstands the teal movement. Tink used a succinct phrase to describe Liberal MP Paul Fletcher – “Like a child throwing his toys out of the cot”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/like-a-child-throwing-toys-from-his-cot-kylea-tink-lashes-liberal-mp-20241206-p5kwcl.html
Skilled migration is the key to solving labour shortages but the Master Builders Association’s egregious claims show how astonishingly lost they are on immigration policy, writes Abul Rizvi.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/master-builders-association-doing-australia-no-favours-on-immigration-policy,19231
Australians owe $2.3 trillion in mortgage debt, three-quarters of which is owed to the Big Four banks, a cosy oligopoly stifling competition and keeping mortgage costs high. Harry Chemay concludes Michael West Media’s mortgage nation series.
https://michaelwest.com.au/mortgage-mountain-our-2-3-trillion-debt-and-the-big-4-oligopoly/
Broede Carmody and Henrietta Cook report that health services are breaking ranks with the state government over Victoria’s planned carve-up of health services, saying the proposed groupings could lead to longer travel times and worse patient outcomes. At least two health services in south-east Victoria – Gippsland Southern Health Service and Bass Coast Health – have asked to be removed from the proposed Gippsland network and linked with hospitals in Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victorian-hospitals-baulk-at-health-network-overhaul-20241206-p5kweo.html
Martin McKenzie-Murray tells us that concerns have been raised over the effectiveness of the CFMEU’s administrator, as the union continues to employ illegal ‘no ticket’ practices on sites and demand payments for sacked officials.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2024/12/07/exclusive-cfmeu-using-illegal-no-ticket-rule
Colin Kruger and Hannah Hammoud write about Woolworths’ “Coaching and Productivity Framework”, as it is formally known, which is a worker performance management program that was introduced across warehouses run by its distribution arm, Primary Connect and based on what Amazon has done. It is a blight!
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/woolies-began-monitoring-staff-like-never-before-it-had-a-chilling-effect-on-workers-20241205-p5kw3r.html
A government contractor found to have fabricated data on Indigenous communities during the referendum quietly commissioned an independent investigator to probe the integrity of its work for the Australian Electoral Commission across the last two federal elections, internal documents reveal. Guardian Australia revealed earlier this year that McNair yellowSquares, a market research firm and frequent government contractor, had fabricated data purporting to show the views of Indigenous communities in regional areas and suburban Adelaide.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/07/mcnair-yellowsquares-investigation-voice-referendum-election-data-ntwnfb
A new disaster management guide finally recognises the need for animals to be factored into emergency planning, for the safety not only of pets and wildlife but humans too, explains Bianca Nogrady.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/rural/2024/12/07/planning-protect-animals-disaster
The Queensland supreme court has struck out substantial parts of Indian mining giant Adani’s case against environmental activist Ben Pennings, describing some of the company’s claims as “confused and embarrassing”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/06/queensland-supreme-court-adani-coalmine-case-ben-pennings-ntwnfb
Planning for old age? Anam Bilgrami explains what the aged care changes mean for you.
https://theconversation.com/planning-for-old-age-heres-what-the-aged-care-changes-mean-for-you-244816
The right to protest, free speech and academic freedom are central tenets of a functioning democracy. Universities, as distributors of knowledge, have a particular responsibility to foster an environment where controversial ideas can be discussed and debated. However, if the University of Sydney accepts the sweeping recommendations made by Bruce Hodgkinson SC in a report handed down last week, it could become one of the most restrictive campuses in the country for peaceful protest, intellectual freedom and critical debate. Not only would this set a dangerous precedent, silencing students’ voices, but it could target racialised young people and clash with free speech and academic freedom laws and policies, argues human rights lawyer, Sarah Schwartz.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/sydney-uni-s-enforced-civility-is-an-assault-on-free-speech-and-likely-unlawful-20241204-p5kvsv.html
Boris Johnson believes US president-elect Donald Trump will have “no choice” but to defend Ukraine when he takes office next month, despite many Republicans and Trump allies developing a “homoerotic obsession” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, writes Michael Koziol.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/us-republicans-have-a-homoerotic-obsession-with-putin-says-johnson-20241206-p5kwh8.html
Rob Harris describes how Paris did the impossible and rebuilt the ‘people’s cathedral’, Notre Dame, in just five years. Amazing, really.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/how-paris-rebuilt-the-people-s-cathedral-in-just-five-years-20241119-p5kro8.html
We cannot afford for Starmer’s government to fail. Because Farage is lying in wait, warns Jonathan Freedland saying that it is not enough for the Labour leader’s ‘milestones’ to be achieved. Voters must feel the improvement in their daily lives.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/06/labour-government-keir-starmer-nigel-farage
Trump’s cabinet picks aren’t just ‘loyalists’. They’re grovelling, subservient yes-men, declares Robert Reich. He says that all of Trump’s nominees are unprincipled enablers who are unlikely to push back when he makes reckless decisions
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/06/trump-cabinet-picks-robert-reich
Cartoon Corner
David Pope
David Rowe
Matt Golding
Mark David
Matt Davidson
Leak
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From the US
Fantastic news about the Woolworths strike reaching a resolution, and also Yoon Suk Yeol coming to the realization that he can’t do an Autogolpe without the necessary media and political support that Trump has.
Not so good about Queensland though, the LNP have been doing very nasty things this week.
And the LNP have just started.
They knew what they were voting for (or, maybe not).
Federal Newspoll
Preferred PM: Albanese 45 (0) Dutton 38 (-3)
Albanese: Approve 40 (0) Disapprove 54 (-1)
Dutton: Approve 39 (-1) Disapprove 51 (0)
Jeebus, of all people Donald #$%$#%^#!! Trump is about the only one who has called the spade a spade. It’s been giving me the shits the amount of soft soaping and euphemisms being used to describe the “rebels” aka HTS aka al Nusra, aka the worst of the worst head choppers. All their vicious religious nutter history memory holed it seems by 95% of the press.
https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/375759718251503616
and check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi_movement
Definitely Not Nice.
Jeebus, the outrages keep coming. Headline from a Times of Israel item.
Mind you considering the amount of ethnic cleansing and ‘genociding’ Netanyahoo’s Israel is getting into using some ‘Adolph’ terminology is perhaps appropriate 😦 .
Article has since been deep sixed but here is a Newsweek article on it….
https://www.newsweek.com/israel-needs-lebensraum-says-blog-major-national-newspaper-1996635
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Voters have slashed their core support for federal Labor to a new low of 27 per cent amid a deepening dispute over the cost of living, backing the Coalition to deliver more help to households over the next three years, writes David Crowe about the latest Resolve poll. Now we need to see Dutton and Co. being asked just how they could do this.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-pm-says-labor-has-your-back-most-voters-don-t-believe-him-20241208-p5kwpp.html
The view of Anthony Albanese as being gripped by indecision and weakness of leadership is becoming perilously entrenched, says Simon Benson of the latest Newspoll.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation%2Fpolitics%2Fnewspoll-alarm-for-anthony-albanese-weak-out-of-touch%2Fnews-story%2F837a73bbe2f0a17afb84eee7303dd7c4?amp
The Coalition has walked back on strict net migration targets that would have cut student and temporary migration to a trickle if it wins the next federal election. Julie Hare tells us that Peter Dutton told Sky News yesterday that net migration targets would not be set until after the election, which must be held on or before May 17. Does Dutton have ANY visible policies capable of examination?
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/dutton-walks-back-migration-target-until-after-election-20241208-p5kwqy
Nuclear power is still about 50 per cent more expensive than renewables, the CSIRO has found, even after the science organisation changed its modelling to accommodate criticism from the Peter Dutton-led Coalition that it had unfairly favoured wind and solar energy sources. Mike Foley reports that the report found the lowest cost projections for nuclear power would only match the highest projections for renewable energy, a major challenge to Dutton’s claim that nuclear is needed to cut electricity bills. Over to you, Tritium Ted!
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-coalition-told-the-csiro-to-re-do-its-nuclear-report-it-s-bad-news-for-dutton-20241205-p5kw6t.html
Adam Morton writes that the CSIRO has rejected Coalition arguments that nuclear power plants could be developed in Australia in less than 15 years and that their long operating life would make them cheaper than other options. Instead, it has again found that “firmed” solar and wind are the cheapest new electricity options. A draft GenCost report – the national science agency’s annual assessment of electricity costs – dismissed arguments by nuclear proponents that the technology’s economics have not been adequately considered.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/09/csiro-refutes-coalition-case-nuclear-is-cheaper-than-renewable-energy-due-to-operating-life
The most surprising thing about the anger flowing from Liberal moderates after the last election was that there really wasn’t any. Vestigial “small-L” Liberals meekly agreed to double down on hardening up, drafting Peter Dutton to replace Scott Morrison in the full expectation of being dragged further rightward, writes Mark Kenny about the moderate Liberals blaming voters for their own failings.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8840450/duttons-hard-right-shift-leaves-liberal-moderates-sidelined/?cs=14329
Peter Dutton’s comments after a recent fire ravaged a Melbourne synagogue imply Labor’s stance on Gaza has left Australia ‘less safe’, writes Melissa Marsden.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/synagogue-fire-fuels-duttons-appetite-for-political-point-scoring,19237
Among the 30 bills elbowed through in the Parliamentary rush were 3 bills agreed by the Government and Opposition targeting, further criminalising, refugees, says Alison Battisson.
https://michaelwest.com.au/cruelty-for-votes-new-migration-laws-criminalise-refugees/
Inaction by Premier Jacinta Allan on a pledge to consider overhauling electoral laws is likely to trigger a High Court challenge by independent candidates who say the rules create an unconstitutional constraint on political communication, writes Chip Le Grand. Correspondence seen by The Age between the premier and lawyers for a group of independents who unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Victorian election reveals the candidates, who say the rules limit their fundraising and restrict their ability to fairly campaign, have run out of patience.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/high-court-battle-looms-for-allan-over-electoral-funding-laws-20241128-p5kub3.html
Labor made a mess of Queensland youth justice – now the LNP seems hellbent on making it worse, posits Ben Smee.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/09/queensland-youth-crime-laws-labor-lnp-changes-ntwnfb
A proposal to construct the tallest building in the eastern suburbs has overcome a significant planning hurdle three years after first being rejected, despite opposition from Woollahra Council. Max Maddison writes that the 35-storey development of the Edgecliff Centre satisfied a three-person panel led by former Labor minister Carl Scully at a rezoning review on November 28. It will house 500 residents and many offices.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/excessive-or-strategic-merit-eastern-suburbs-tallest-building-given-green-light-20241205-p5kw6u.html
Jordan Baker spent some time near a somewhat controversial drug and alcohol rehab outfit near Port Stephens. He felt inclined to leave it in a hurry.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-spent-a-night-in-a-resort-next-to-a-drug-rehab-and-had-to-leave-in-a-hurry-20241205-p5kw8j.html
Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun is facing a hefty costs bill after a defamation lawsuit he launched over a Facebook comment branding him a “crim” failed at the first hurdle. Michaela Whitbourn explains that in the latest test of major new laws, the NSW District Court found Mannoun had not satisfied a mandatory requirement to show the comment had caused serious harm to his reputation.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-mayor-the-facebook-comment-and-the-failed-defamation-case-20241206-p5kwc2.html
Ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his family have reportedly fled to Moscow, where the dictator’s chief ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, has given them asylum, reports Hans van Leeuwin.
https://www.afr.com/world/middle-east/syria-s-assad-flees-to-moscow-and-is-given-asylum-in-russia-20241209-p5kwsh
“Assad’s murderous regime has been toppled – but what will fill the vacuum in Syria?”, wonders Simon Tisdall.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/08/bashar-al-assad-syria-middle-east
Beneath all the furore around Donald Trump’s appointments – Matt Gaetz down and out, Pete Hegseth down but maybe coming back, the Kash Patel drama waiting in the wings – the most important figures in this administration’s orbit have not changed since election day. Besides the president himself, the future of Trumpism is still most likely to be shaped and stamped by two men: J.D. Vance and Elon Musk, explains the New York Times’ Ross Douthat.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/how-a-dynamist-and-a-populist-could-make-or-break-modern-america-20241208-p5kwo4.html
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe
Megan Herbert
Joe Benke
Mark David
Matt Golding
Glen Le Lievre
Peter Broelman
Mark Knight
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Leak
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From the US
This thread is now closed for comments.
The new thread is here: https://pbxmastragics.com/2024/12/09/the-pubs-12th-christmas-anniversary/