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Cont: Australian Politics II

Still not understanding. Are you casting a formal vote against Labor or are you claiming that there will be a swing against Labor (regardless of the way you vote).

The latter. And I’m not voting as I’m not in Dunkley.
 
Rightwing political group Advance mounts ‘unprecedented’ campaign against Labor in Dunkley

Lobby group made a mark during voice vote and is outspending the Liberals in byelection. Will its tactics work again?


The rightwing political group Advance is running a third-party campaign “unprecedented” for an Australian electoral contest, outspending the Liberal party on social media ads in an effort to wrestle the seat of Dunkley from Labor.

The strategy, being orchestrated by the team behind the referendum’s no vote, is focused on criticising Anthony Albanese over the cost-of-living crisis and community safety. Labor believes it may be among the biggest push mounted by an activist group in a single seat outside a general election.

Dunkley is Advance’s first electoral project since the voice, with the mortgage belt seat a field test of whether its brand of populist, incendiary campaigning honed in the during the voice can have an impact in a standard ballot rather than the binary choice of a referendum.

The group’s rolling billboards – which it calls “truth trucks” – circle the Victorian electorate, imploring voters to “put Labor last”. But despite Advance’s deep links with – and prior work for – the Liberal party, it is not explicitly campaigning for the Coalition candidate, Nathan Conroy, as much it is campaigning heavily against the government. The group plans on “hammering letterboxes” with anti-Labor flyers; it ran full-page ads in Victorian newspapers about asylum seekers; and its paid social media ads are targeted solely at Dunkley.
Advance is Australia's MAGA, in case anybody missed that.
 
Whoops, made a mistake. I thought Dunkley went right down the peninsula. It doesn’t, but still includes Mt Eliza and a bunch of rich bayside suburbs, so there is a dichotomy, but not as sharp as I thought.
 
Barnaby Joyce takes leave from parliament after encouragement from Nationals leader

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce will not attend parliament this week, his party leader David Littleproud says, after being advised to take a break following a late-night incident in Canberra.

Mr Joyce was filmed laid out on a Canberra footpath on one of the city's bar and restaurant strips late one evening after a sitting day of parliament.

The former deputy prime minister apologised for what he called "a big mistake", blaming an interaction between alcohol and a medication he was taking.
It's always worth taking some time off for the good of one's mental health.
 
"Individual liberty, the rule of law, equality of opportunity, responsible citizenship, morality, liberty of speech, thought, religion and association. All of these stem from the core principle of respect for individual human dignity," he says.

"So does representative democracy. And even market-based capitalism. This is a unique Judaeo-Christian principle."
Market-based capitalism is a Judeo-Christian principle.

Well there's Prosperity Theology summed up in a single sentence.
 
Anyone taking bets on who it is?

ASIO reveals plot by retired politician to introduce a prime minister's family member to foreign spies

An unnamed former Australian politician, who was successfully cultivated by an international spy ring, once suggested bringing a prime minister's family member into contact with their foreign handlers.

The boss of Australia's domestic intelligence organisation has given few details of the alleged plot from "several years ago" but has confirmed the Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce has conducted more than 120 operations since it was established in 2020.

...

Mr Burgess has described how several years ago the A-team successfully cultivated and recruited a former, but unnamed, Australian politician.

"This politician sold out their country, party and former colleagues to advance the interests of the foreign regime."

"At one point, the former politician even proposed bringing a prime minister's family member into the spies' orbit. Fortunately that plot did not go ahead but other schemes did."

Following the speech Mr Burgess took questions from assembled journalists and confirmed the former member of Parliament had cut ties with the foreign intelligence service and was no longer regarded as a national security risk.

"Personally, I don't think they'll be stupid enough to repeat what they've done in the past, so problem neutralised, harm in some elements was done," he said.
 
The twitter algorithm is suggesting that the former politician was Sam Dastyari, but I really doubt that.

News Ltd has an exclusive where Alex Turnbull has stated that he was approached by suspected Chinese agents but there isn't any information tying that with any other politician.
 
Sussan Ley is in the news again for posting false claims.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/wor...e/news-story/4c2bb14f934012a810d2001682e2cc42

Par for the course for this idiot, who, if Dutton becomes PM, will be a heartbeat away from taking the top job, so for those who don’t know, here is the reason for the weird spelling of her first name.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/wor...e/news-story/4c2bb14f934012a810d2001682e2cc42

The unusual spelling didn’t draw any influence from the politician’s family or cultural background, but rather, from numerology.

“I read about this numerology theory that if you add the numbers that match the letters in your name you can change your personality,” she told The Australian.


[/B] “I worked out that if you added an ‘s’ I would have an incredibly exciting, interesting life and nothing would ever be boring. It’s that simple.



Simple is a very apt word when it comes to Ley.

I know it’s a big call, but I think she is the most stupid senior politician (I mean minister or above) ever.
 
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Wow indeed. I wonder how many of our children will have miserable lives because we didn’t match their names to their dates of birth. If you go through that link (warning, it may cause you harm) you will find this about the name and date of birth not matching:

When they don’t match up, it means you carry a “birth emotion”, projected on you by your mother or father at the time of your birth.

Morrison was bad enough with his belief in miracles and general god bothering, but Ley looks positively dangerous.

Oh, she also gets angry when people spell her name wrong.
 
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Meanwhile betting shows the ALP $1.12 to win. For those unfamiliar with how odds work, it means that whatever you bet, you get your stake back plus 12%. Very short odds, but a 12% ROI isn’t shabby.
 
Early days in voting, and despite the cheerleaders at Sky News (one of the commentators actually said “we are looking for a 6% swing” before awkwardly correcting himself) it looks like a swing against Labor of less than 3%.

If this holds it will be bad for Dutton. An interesting (and welcome in my view) trend is that the Green vote is well down.

Oh Christ, Sky is shameless, with banners saying “big swing against Labor” and “very close vote”.
 
Oh goodness me, Sky is crowing about the high Liberal vote in Mt Eliza. A suburb of multi millionaires. Pathetic.
 
My favourite Lib, Susssssannnn Ley is now on Sky making excuses galore. I’m betting this is not part of her “incredibly exciting, interesting life”.
 
Jeff Kennett now on admitting he has been on the piss most of the day and saying what a great day it’s been for the Libs. Priceless.

43% of the vote counted. Jeez I’m going to look stupid if pre-poll and postal votes move things, but I don’t think so.

Peta Credlin now calling a 3% swing as a win. Pathetic.
 
The other thing of great interest is that the collapse of the Green vote (whose preferences inevitably go to Labor) has not really hurt Labor at all. I think them going all in on Palestine has lost them the Jewish vote and a lot more as well.
 
Has Dutton made the predictable "Labor's vote is so bad that they should go to the polls early" speech yet?

Dutton hasn’t, but the Sky crew was speculating about it. Credlin (who I hate, but isn’t an idiot) said that if there were three interest fate cuts this year, Labor would go early. I think this may be right.
 
Dutton hasn’t, but the Sky crew was speculating about it. Credlin (who I hate, but isn’t an idiot) said that if there were three interest fate cuts this year, Labor would go early. I think this may be right.
Political wisdom is that politicians who go to the polls early (especially if it is just because the polls look favourable) take a bad hit at the election.

If Albanese has learned nothing from the voice fiasco then you might be right.
 
I hoping that someone with a stronger stomach than me, will report on how the Murdoch press is spinning this as a 'massive loss for Labor' which means that 'Albanese must go'.

It's extremely unusual for bi-elections to favour the sitting government, so, personally, I read this as a devastating loss for the right-wing coalition.
 
I hoping that someone with a stronger stomach than me, will report on how the Murdoch press is spinning this as a 'massive loss for Labor' which means that 'Albanese must go'.

It's extremely unusual for bi-elections to favour the sitting government, so, personally, I read this as a devastating loss for the right-wing coalition.

I loss but not devastating in my view. A 4% swing would have been a draw in my view, and as it was slightly less then a narrow win for Labor.

And I’ll pass on the Murdoch press. I did the hard yards with Sky last night…..
 
In short:*The former politician accused of helping a spy ring was recruited while serving in*parliament.

While ASIO boss Mike Burgess*provided no information about the person's age, gender or political affiliation, he said they were*recruited before 2018.

ASIO has dismissed pressure to name the former politician.

No wonder ASIO is keen to keep the identity secret. They worked out a serving politician was compromised. I wonder how?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03...d&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other
 
If you want to know what News Corp is thinking, you only have to go to their media websites. For example, The Sun and The Australian. The articles are all paywalled but the message is clear from the headline and first paragraph which is on display.
 

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