"The poor will always be with us"; Abbott's Brutopia
It must be ‘write an op/ed for Fairfax about something a political leader said to me’ week. First, Nina Funnell, and now Michael Perusco: I was in Canberra last week and had the opportunity to ask Opposition Leader Tony Abbott [...]
The lifesaving stimulus package
We’ll never know for sure, but the stimulus package probably saved several hundred lives. There are quite a number of studies examining the adverse health effects of unemployment. It seems that many do find an adverse impact. A survey in [...]
What if they gave a culture war and no one came?
Naomi Parry reviews the reception (and content) of Keith Windschuttle’s new book at New Matilda: Late last year Keith Windschuttle released another book questioning the existence of the stolen generations. But this time, nobody cared. Very few people would be [...]
Newspoll on climate change opinion
The most interesting information in today’s Newspoll relates to public opinion on climate change. The general trends indicated in the poll are consistent with those indicated in recent Morgan polls and Neilsen polls, both of which I have commented on [...]
Hanson goes "home"?
Former Dancing With The Stars contestant Pauline Hanson has reportedly told a couple of magazines and newspapers that she’s put her home on the market and is maybe, possibly, thinking about moving to merrie olde England, for which she can [...]
Crikey turns Ten: cheap subs
Crikey celebrated its tenth birthday yesterday. To coincide with the anniversary, you can get a discount annual subscription for $100 if you subscribe by midnight tonight.
So, what exactly does 'direct action' mean?
Tony Abbott’s second policy release since becoming leader also carries the ‘direct action’ badge – the underwhelming ‘plan’ to institute local boards for public hospitals in Queensland and New South Wales mirrors the Coalition’s climate change policy in highlighting this [...]
Good for two Coalition election losses?
The ACTU has released polling which finds that 53% of respondents believe that Tony Abbott would reintroduce WorkChoices under another name. Abbott’s been addressing some business functions of late, no doubt because he has to build some bridges and mend [...]
You can take the boy out of up-country Queensland, but…
…it would appear that it’s not so easy to take up-country Queensland (or, at least, 1970s up-country Queensland prejudices) out of the boy. Nina Funnell in today’s SMH describes her gobsmacking encounter with the Prime Minister: At that point one [...]
Lazy Sunday!
Since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
Do the polls support the political narrative? Or; how to build a commentariat-bot
By Mark Bahnisch on February 15, 2010
I’ve previously highlighted Dennis Shanahan and Malcolm Colless as barometers of the new new political narrative (‘Rudd in trouble! Gloss comes off! Action Man Tony Off To Vigorous Start!’). Michelle Grattan provided another twist on the mechanics of constructing such [...]
Posted in Federal Elections, Media, Polls | Tagged Alexander Downer, Anna Bligh, commentariat, Courier-Mail, Dennis Shanahan, Federal Election 2010, Galaxy poll, Kevin Rudd, Malcolm Colless, Media, Michelle Grattan, political narrative, poll, polling, possum, public opinion, Queensland, Rudd government, stephanie balogh, Tony Abbott | 69 Responses