From Crikey today: Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is the best-regarded government minister, while “Environment” Minister Greg Hunt, the author of “Direct Action”, and Education Minister Christopher Pyne are in a tight tussle for least popular minister . Turnbull has the highest approval rating and by far the highest net approval rating of any nominated minister
Roy Morgan released its latest poll today and the result will not please the government: If a Federal Election were held today the ALP would win in a landslide (57.5%, up 2%) cf. L-NP (42.5%, down 2%) on a two-party preferred basis according to today’s multi-mode Morgan Poll conducted the last two weekends – June 21/22 &
Cross-posted from The Conversation In deciding to vote against the restoration of fuel excise indexation, the Greens have let the perfect be the enemy of the good. They’ve gone against their own policy, and appeared to be all over the place in the process. The handling of the measure will reinforce the criticism of Christine
By Leith van Onselen Clive Palmer’s political theatrics are a sight to behold. Following the release of the Federal Budget, the Palmer United Party (PUP) brushed-off claims of an impending Budget emergency and vowed to oppose virtually every significant measure in the Budget, including “the imposition of a debt tax, huge cuts to public sector
By Leith van Onselen All opposition parties seem intent to follow Tony Abbott’s (aka “Dr No’s”) example in opposition and oppose nearly all attempts at sensible reform. Since the release of the Federal Budget, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has opposed the re-indexation of fuel excise, claiming that it is a broken promise by the
Find here a Lowy Institute podcast discussing the Iraq situation and whether or not Australia should send troops back in.
The news is that up to 30 diggers are returning to Baghdad to defend the embassy. Our first boots on the ground since 2011.
by Chris Becker Well its begun – here’s the first double dissolution trigger for Prime Minister Abbott to get testy on. From the ABC: The Greens and Labor today combined to vote down, by a margin of 35–28, bills which seek to abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), a multi-billion-dollar agency which funds renewable
It seems leaving the country has helped Prime Minister Tony Abbott rebound in the polls. From Newspoll, the Coalition clawed back one point on two-party preferred: It is more stark at Roy Morgan: If a Federal Election were held today the ALP would win easily (55.5%) cf. L-NP (44.5%) on a two-party preferred basis according
By Leith van Onselen For months, Tony Abbott’s $5.5 billion a year Paid Parental Leave (PPL) Scheme has been condemned from every corner. Back in March, The AFR reported that former Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, had cautioned against the Scheme, questioning whether it was appropriate as the Federal Budget comes under increasing pressure as the
From Roy Morgan this afternoon: Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull (44%, down 7% since July 16-17, 2013) is still clearly the preferred L-NP Leader over Prime Minister Tony Abbott (15%, down 1%). Treasurer Joe Hockey is next with 11% (down 3%) ahead of Deputy Leader Julie Bishop at 7% (unchanged). However, L-NP voters clearly prefer Prime
This post has been updated from earlier after a reader noted my Tony Abbott chart was overly flattering. Apologies! —————————– I know the recent Coalition leadership stoush has been stirred up by the usual loud-mouths, but one still has to ask just how badly and resonant the collapse in confidence around Prime Minister Tony Abbott
Our Tony gets a lesson today from some grey beards:
More today on leadership speculation. From Fairfax: Senator Cory Bernardi has come to the defence of columnist Andrew Bolt, calling him ‘a very principled man’. On the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday night Senator Bernardi, an outspoken conservative who moved to the backbench in 2012 after linking acceptance of same-sex marriage with acceptance of bestiality, said everyone
Roy Morgan and Newspoll released the latest polling today and the message it is sending should be worrying everyone. In simple voting terms Labor remains miles in front: ALP (56.5%) big lead down slightly over L-NP (43.5%). The Palmer United Party increases its support to 7.5% (up 1%) – a new record high for PUP.
At the risk of engaging in Tony Abbott bashing today (there are things MB supports about the Government!) , find below a new video from John Oliver in the US, formerly of The Daily Show and now out on his own. This really amounts to a kind of Tony Abbott as George W. Bush comedy
Presenting your sloganeering PM, pressing D-Day diggers into national economic service: And a snap poll from the armchair left at the SMH would rather “someone else” was running the country:
From Malcolm Turnbull this morning: “It borders on the demented to string together a dinner with Clive Palmer and my attending, as the Communications Minister, the launch by a cross-party group of friends of the ABC and say that that amounts to some kind of threat or challenge to the Prime Minister. It is quite
For some time now MB has tracked the war on youth that has engulfed Australian public policy. The war is as wide as it is clandestine. At the macro level it works in an economic model that consumes future standards of living growth in support of current over-inflated standards. This is the current account deficit
Yesterday it was an MP defection to Labor, today it’s caustic criticism from within the Coalition ranks: In a speech delivered in Parliament on Tuesday night, West Australian MP Dennis Jensen described the government’s science policies as “foolish” and incoherent. Dr Jensen, a former research scientist and defence analyst, criticised the government for cutting funding to
Wowsers, the great Australian adjustment claims another scalp. From The Australian: FORMER South Australian Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith has declared himself an independent and will become a minister in the Labor government. The decision by the opposition MP to take the portfolios of investment and trade, defence industries and veterans affairs will boost the Weatherill
WA Premier Colin Barnett says billionaire MP Clive Palmer is weighing on the China relationship with his state: …“It does make a difference and to put it bluntly, the Chinese hate Clive Palmer,” Mr Barnett told ABC radio today. …Mr Palmer was “making it very difficult” for others to use Cape Preston port, which was
By Leith van Onselen Former Liberal leader, John Hewson, has written a brilliant critique of the current Australian political landscape, which has increasingly placed spin ahead of the national interest: …politics has progressively become even more of a game over the last couple of decades. Indeed, now almost an end in itself, the contest is
From Sky:
Can you sense it? Chaos is again engulfing Australia’s political economy. It’s moving fast, faster than politicians can contain it. It’s a mixture of dying media interests desperate to carve out a partisan niche, a confused and spoiled polity that has been systematically lied to, a political class that is equal portions political bastardry and
It was always going to be hard to outdo the previous government’s self-destruction but Team Abbott is giving it a damn good shot. Newspoll has collapsed for the Government with two-party preferred now at 45-55 against and Tony Abbott copping the blame dropping 10 points and Bill Shorten up 10 points as preferred PM: Neilsen
It’s a mad world and it’s getting madder: Come July, Clive Palmer will have control of the Senate – but he’s after a lot more. The leader of Palmer United Party has formally announced he will run for Prime Minister if a double dissolution is called over the budget, claiming he’s got a chance of taking the lower
It’s not an especially encouraging sign when the day after the Budget the Prime Minister is forced to roll out his biggest cannon: AN election fight looms over the federal budget as Tony Abbott demands the Senate pass his economic agenda, despite a furious response to sweeping welfare reforms and school funding cuts. Laying out
Presented without comment thanks to Mike Bowers!
It looks the days of preference-harvesting are numbered for the Senate. From Crikey: While the technicalities remain to be ironed out, an interim report of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters has recommended following the example of the New South Wales upper house in allowing voters to rank parties in order of preference above the line,
