Australian Politics

It didn’t really work for Do-nothing Malcolm but that’s not going to stop do-nothing Scummo from having a red not go, via Jen Hewitt: Labor is “soft” and “weak”.

What makes bastards untenable is not being an arsehole it is adding hypocrisy to the crime.

Domain has the scoop: Independent candidate Zali Steggall is on track to replace former prime minister Tony Abbott as the federal member for Warringah, according to a ReachTEL poll commissioned by GetUp.

Via The Australian: Former foreign minister Bob Carr has slammed the reasons authorities have given businessman Huang Xiangmo for cancelling his visa, saying they were “flimsy” and “loose”.

Via The Australian: An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows Labor lifting its primary vote by one point and retaining a commanding lead over the Coalition, with a two-party-preferred vote of 53 to 47.

By Leith van Onselen L-plate Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, admitted that the Government’s faux concern of immigration late last year was a smokescreen, committing to a turbo-charged migrant intake and a ‘Big Australia’ at Friday’s COAG population meeting.

Via The Australian comes the Nats invisible man: Internal Nationals polling shows the party will struggle to hold the regional NSW seats of Cowper and Page at the federal election, and party leader ­Michael McCormack is virtually unknown to voters and poorly rated by those who are aware of him.

Lordy, the Coalition’s moral compass has spun wildly out of control, via Domain: A lobby group masquerading as a grassroots organisation of disgruntled retirees is actually a network of professional lobbyists involved in the trucking industry and the Liberal Party, with a history of campaigning against Labor government policies.

Via The Australian: Billionaire property developer and political party donor Huang Xiangmo is not only stranded in Beijing, suspected by many of being a Chinese Communist Party influence agent, but he is also facing major problems across his ­diverse portfolio of Australian real estate assets.

If gall could be converted into energy that is.

By Leith van Onselen The Sustainable Australia Party’s first elected member of parliament, MLC Clifford Hayes, delivered his maiden speech to the Victorian Parliament, attacking the Fake Greens for supporting mass immigration to the detriment of the environment, while also acknowledging his staffer – Rudd Government shadow attorney-general Kelvin Thomson.

Via Domain: Billionaire political donor and Beijing’s former top lobbyist in Australia, Huang Xiangmo, has been stranded overseas after Australian officials declared him unfit to hold an Australian passport, and cancelled his permanent residency.

Via the AFR: The biggest split is over mortgage brokers after the government baulked at the key recommendation in which the borrower, not the lender, would pay the broker the fee for arranging a loan.

Via The Guardian: The new poll of 1,652 respondents has Labor ahead of the Morrison government on the two-party preferred measure 52% to 48%, a shift within the margin of error from the last voter survey of last year, and one in mid-January that had Labor ahead 53% to 47%.

Via the ABC’s Laura Tingle today: Federal Cabinet was supposed to meet on Sunday to agree on a response to the banking royal commission before its release today.

A couple of contributions today sum the wider Hayne Royal Commission up.

By Leith van Onselen Surely it’s time for a permanent ICAC and a permanent look at foreign political donations.

Via Domain: Mr Abbott, fundraiser John Caputo and state MPs John Sidoti and Mark Coure, were all VIP guests at a Chinese New Year function attended by Beijing’s highest ranking United Front affiliates in Australia.

Via Reuters: Spot prices for March delivery to Asia LNG-AS this week fell to $7.00 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down $1 from the previous week, lowest since April 6, trade sources said.

From Chris Joye today: If Prime Minister Scott Morrison pulls off a miracle and wins the May election, housing conditions should stabilise as investors pile back into the market to pick up cheap assets once the threat of Labor’s deleterious tax changes is removed.

Yesterday I noted that the Liberal Sheilas movement was not much more than a hollow echo of Malcolm Turnbull’s dubious values: The candidates share independence, climate change consciousness, social progressiveness, immigration sympathies and political centrism but they do split over how these are interpreted.