Preview Politics in Australia

What are the three key issues of the 2019 Federal Election?

  • The economy

    Votes: 3 27.3%

  • Tax

    Votes: 3 27.3%

  • Government Services

    Votes: 2 18.2%

  • Climate policy

    Votes: 6 54.5%

  • Animal welfare

    Votes: 1 9.1%

  • Environment

    Votes: 3 27.3%

  • Wages

    Votes: 5 45.5%

  • Industrial democracy

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Superannuation

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Housing affordability

    Votes: 6 54.5%

  • Other

    Votes: 2 18.2%
  • Total voters
    11
  • Poll closed .

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Blue and Blue said:
The duck hunter.......
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I’ve been to parties on Election Day. Can be a hoot.

1983 was the day before my birthday and Hawkey (the drover’s dog) defeated Fraser. I’ll always cherish Fraser’s concession speech where his bottom lip was a quivering. 1975 was still fresh in mind and I loathed Fraser for the reckless damage he caused to the Westminster system which is still not resolved to this day.

Prior to this was a 21st I attended in December 1977 which was Whitlam’s swan song. Gough suffered a crushing defeat and he was a hero to so many of my peer group who benefited from the sweeping reforms that his government had introduced during his term. Well alcohol and liberal supporters don’t mix. I was accused of insulting the Aunty of the birthday boy because she batted for the other side. I still maintain my innocence.
 
Annabel:hearteyes:

Good morning Robbo

At the going down of the daily page rate, we shall remember him.

A respectful hush fell over the federal election campaign yesterday, as both major party leaders paused to remember the fallen. Half-shouted imprecations fluttered unheard to the forest floor. The booming guns of campaign advertising fell into a spectral silence.

Oh yeah — except for one guy.

Of the 18 pages in The Australian's front section yesterday, five full pages (at least $100,000 worth) were sold to Clive Palmer, who — in the first of two open letters carried copiously therein — provided a lean but undeniable connection to the business of Anzac Day, pointing out that he had an uncle who was killed in Belgium in WWI.

Having thus cleared the path, Mr Palmer carpet-bombed readers at length with his ideas: Chinese Communist Government-owned companies have influenced the Australian political process by spending millions of dollars*, Labor and Liberal will just "sell you down the yellow river", and a Clive-led recovery would see him introducing nuclear power and have a serious high-level crack at the guy who was mean to his nephew in the Air Force. (The nephew — and his mesmerising moustache — are at number three on the Palmer Queensland Senate ticket).

There followed — looking at first blush like the pre-game lift-out for an AFL grand final between Richmond and Hawthorn — a double-page display of all the Palmer candidates and their mobile phone numbers (except Clive's). A few forgot to get their photos in on time and were represented in grey silhouette instead. (Candidates Meg and Dean Wrightson, contesting McMahon and Watson: surely you could have reminded each other? Over in Warringah, Suellen Wrightson seems to have got hers in on time. Catch up, Other Wrightsons!)

*But aren't you... oh never mind.

Don't mention the war

The day of rest gave Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten the highest possible authority — patriotism and respect for the fallen — to not talk about some things about which they'd already studiously not been talking for days. Mr Morrison is not talking about Clive Palmer, or the deal (confirmed late yesterday) in which the Liberal Party will swap preferences with his United Australia Party . (Or the — presumably — ancillary deal in which Mr Morrison will forget he was once likened to "Himlar" in a Palmer tweet (the author meant Heinrich Himmler, Hitler's wingman) and Mr Palmer will forget all the times Mr Morrison said he was a complete joke.

Mr Shorten, meanwhile, is not talking about Adani, specifically whether he agrees with all the voters he needs in Queensland who reckon the mine'd be a great thing, or the voters he needs in Melbourne who hate it. Every time he gets asked, he's all "We won't be leaping to any premature conclusions … something, something, rule of law … scientific evidence … oh look! Isn't that a black-throated finch?" until reporters pass out from confusion. Here, in case you've forgotten, is the ABC's Brett Worthington documenting both leaders not talking about their respective issues.

Given the quiet, it's a good time for a look at immigration. From the ABC's vast database of voter opinion, Vote Compass (do it now, if you haven't already!) it emerges that some voters are out of step with the policies of the parties they support. For example, the majority of Greens voters said they wanted more immigration, which doesn't gel with the party's actual policy. And Labor voters weren't too keen on boat turnbacks, which Federal Labor supports. Check out Catherine Hanrahan's analysis.

Finally, if you want to freak yourself out, read this ABC Investigations account of a political campaign app that worked for Donald Trump and for Brexit campaigners, and is now on the loose in Australia. Then watch UK journalist Carole Cadwalladr argue that the death of democracy is Facebook's fault.

Then maybe switch everything off till Tuesday, when I'll be back with more news.
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How do women compare with males in the race to become an elected representative of the people. Some facts and figures.

‘Representation of women in both Houses of Parliament has never been higher, but at 32 per cent we are still nowhere near equal representation.’

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-26/how-women-get-elected-to-parliament/10871438?section=politics

Here’s an opinion piece along the same lines. Some sage advice late in the article if you’re considering a crack at politics.

“Don't be a Pollyanna. You've got to have mongrel in you to run for politics and one slip up could wreck your campaign."

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/st...igh-on-mongrel-and-low-on-pollyanna/?cs=14258
 
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I’ve looked at the media today and it’s not exciting.

The decision by the Liberals to preference Palmer above Labor and the Greens is simmering. It doesn’t matter which way you look at it you can’t justify giving this guy a look in under any circumstances. He is Australia’s version of Trump.

I read an article about Barnaby Joyce and the likelihood of him romping home in his electorate. He is definitely coated with Teflon.

Finally the ‘Stop Adani’ group is cruising through mining areas of Central and North Queensland and attracting some resistance. They should have consulted me before attempting this futile tour. I know from personal experience that people from this part of the world don’t like people from the south (except when your spending plenty of tourist dollars and not mentioning politics).
 
Pre-polling starts tomorrow. Here’s an article I endorse for everybody voting at the federal election. Hold off for a little while and get as much information as possible before voting. It’s always Election Day for me. Love my democracy sausage (especially if someone else is paying)

‘Close to two million Australians are set to vote before Labor releases its policy costings in the coming election.’

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-28/early-voting-revolution-pre-poll/11046984
 

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Good morning Robbo,

Well, it’s finally happened. The campaign’s started for real.

The break’s over, the gloves are off, the pedal’s hitting the metal, the ferret's off the leash and so on. With the first debate of the season, the first day of pre-polling and the first NewsPoll in a full-term human gestation period that shows the Coalition looking competitive, Day 18 was a firestorm of mixed metaphors that all mean "It's on."

The NewsPoll published yesterday had the primary votes of both major parties decreasing, and the two-party-preferred vote for the Coalition increasing to 49 per cent. Wait… what? Yes, very curious. Closer inspection reveals the sudden appearance of Clive Palmer's United Australia Party, commanding 5 per cent of the primary vote, of which 60 per cent (or so predict the druids in charge of how many eyes of newt and toes of frog go into NewsPoll's 2PP cauldron) will come back to the Coalition.

Lunchtime duly brought the expected announcement of a preference swap deal between Mr Palmer and the Coalition. I’m racking my brains to think of another example of such intimate political cooperation between a government and a person being pursued in the Federal Court for $67 million by that self-same government but memory does not serve.

Mr Palmer, in an early morning lunge for this week's "demented live interview" yellow jersey (currently stuffed into the mouth of former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce and secured with gaffer tape by a crack team of Coalition crisis management consultants), told Nine's Deborah Knight that he was confident his party would form government in its own right after May 18anyway. He also mentioned that he was currently worth "Four thousand million dollars" (why, in my head, do I hear this in Mike Myers' voice) before shouting at Knight "Why would I give a stuff what you think?"

Look, it’s unlikely that you missed last night’s broadcast of the Perth leaders’ debate between Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten . I’m sure you probably found it, tucked away on the Seven Network’s second multichannel between repeats of Bargain Hunt and The Vicar of Dibley, and hosted by Seven’s Perth-based sports reporter Basil Zempilas, and that in no way were you tempted away by the series return of Masterchef or the mouth-breathing reveal over at Nine’s A Current Affair of a federal politician busted at a strip club (Spoiler: It’s One Nation's Steve Dickson, guaranteeing his electoral triumph if the 2007 experience of Kevin Rudd is anything to go by). But in case you did happen to miss it, you can catch Matthew Doran’s faithful live-blog of the encounter.

What do we think of the leaders on offer in this election? According to 300,000 respondents to the ABC’s Vote Compass… not much. None of them gets even a five out of ten on average.

As the parties release their how-to-vote cards, Antony Green is busy updating his election guide to reflect the Senate preferences. If you are the thorough type, you won’t want to rush into things without his guidance.

And as surely as day is followed by night, the closing of nominations is followed by a giant logistical nightmare closely related to the redoubtable Section 44 of the Australian Constitution, as Jackson Gothe-Snape reports.

Last but not least, if you missed it over the weekend, I'd really recommend Laura Tingle’s cogent (if depressing) analysis of policy-making in aged care.

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I’ll be voting early...tomorrow infact as we’re heading OS Monday

They’re suggesting not to vote early as major parties still have policies to release

However, NOTHING is going to change my vote
 
ESKIE said:
I’ll be voting early...tomorrow infact as we’re heading OS Monday

They’re suggesting not to vote early as major parties still have policies to release

However, NOTHING is going to change my vote
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Plenty of people like yourself have got a legitimate reason for voting early. That’s why the availability of pre-polling makes sense. I just don’t want to see it as voters getting something annoying ‘out of the way’ (which probably accounts for a sizeable number of votes). I think you should take your civic duties as a responsibility (but I know I’m old hat).

Enjoy your trip. When you get to Rome, look east and think of Robbo’s family connections in the Abruzzo.
 
Robbo's my hero said:
Plenty of people like yourself have got a legitimate reason for voting early. That’s why the availability of pre-polling makes sense. I just don’t want to see it as voters getting something annoying ‘out of the way’ (which probably accounts for a sizeable number of votes). I think you should take your civic duties as a responsibility (but I know I’m old hat).

Enjoy your trip. When you get to Rome, look east and think of Robbo’s family connections in the Abruzzo.
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I was hoping to work at the election I did the recent VIC election.. interesting process
 
It appears that the opposition’s proposal of topping up childcare workers pay is an issue.

Robbo has a long memory and is prepared to share some facts with you.

The Gillard Government had a similar proposal approved and ready to go before the election in 2013.

Here’s what happened.

‘A $300 million fund to give pay rises to childcare workers, rolled out earlier this year by Labor, has been labelled a "union slush fund" and axed by the Abbott Government. The Labor government under former prime minister Julia Gillard announced the Early Years Quality Fund (EYQF) to give childhood educators and teachers in long day care centres a pay rise for two years.’

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12...or27s-pay-rises-for-childcare-workers/5146586

Annabel Crabb had an article concerning wage rises that mentioned this as well.

‘While the Coalition has blamed excessive salaries for taking down Holden, we know how Tony Abbott himself felt when he was given a pay cut in 2007, writes Annabel Crabb.’

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-11/crabb-tony-abbott-pay-cuts/5149342

And the current debate.

‘Labor's plan to use taxpayer funds to boost the pay of private childcare workers will cost the federal budget at least $1.6 billion a year once it is fully implemented, as the Coalition prepares to mount a fresh attack over the "highly irregular" policy.’

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/st...-to-cost-at-least-16-billion-a-year/?cs=14350
 
“Now dubbed the “sustainable family policy”, Germany’s post-unification childcare policy model conceives of children as society’s future assets and seeks to encourage childbearing by supporting parents to be workers and attempts to reduce poverty by boosting mothers' employment. It’s not communism. It’s just good economic and social policy.”

https://www.theage.com.au/national/...mmunists-about-childcare-20190501-p51iwt.html
 
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