Australia General Discussion 4.0: It ain’t easy under Albanese

[GoTfan]

And Morrison is finally finished. He's set to leave politics for good this year, having taken a job in the US.

Good f**king riddance to the worst Prime Minister in the history of the nation. I would say it's been nice knowing him, but that would be a lie. I don't hate a lot of people, but this man is the worst Prime Minister Australia has ever had. From his endless rorting, to his stoking of culture wars, winking and nodding at some interesting people-such as QAnon-to covering up the alleged sexual assaults that were committed by members of his government, as well as directly subverting the authority of his senior ministers by taking on multiple portfolios himself, I feel I can say that most of Australia will not be sad to see him go.

I feel sorry for the business that hired this psychopath, because his entire life has been an exercise in failing upward.

[GoTfan]

Good f**king riddance to the worst Prime Minister in the history of the nation

He was indeed awful, but its still got to be close between him and Abbott for that title.

I say Morrison is worse because while Abbott was an idiot, Morrison was actively malicious.

[GoTfan]

Labor is now planning changes to the Stage 3 cuts. Long overdue. The cuts will now look to balance things a bit more; taxes on those making $180,000 or more will have to make do with a reduced cut, while brackets that are lower will get a larger one.

Of course, Dutton and his allies at Sky and 7 will be screeching about it with no one to actually challenge them.

[GoTfan]

Labor is now planning changes to the Stage 3 cuts. Long overdue. The cuts will now look to balance things a bit more; taxes on those making $180,000 or more will have to make do with a reduced cut, while brackets that are lower will get a larger one.

Of course, Dutton and his allies at Sky and 7 will be screeching about it with no one to actually challenge them.

Labor giving tax cuts to working class types wouldn't be a bad idea. It's not like tax cuts have to regressive.

That's the goal of the Stage 3 changes at this point.

[GoTfan]

So, new Newspoll. In contrast with all the screeching from the media, Dutton and their cronies, things are actually pretty positive for Labor. 62% of voters support the changes to the Stage 3 cuts, and they are back in the lead 52-48 with their primary vote ticking up 1% and with Dutton's approval rating sliding even further.

Good luck figuring your way out of this one, Dutts.

[GoTfan]

Looks like Dutton is getting spanked in Dunkley. If the Liberals can't even flip seats in a by-election now, how are they supposed to be flipping marginal seats in the general election?

The score in contested by-elections this Parliament is 2-1 Labor, including a flip. Labor was favoured in Dunkley, but it does speak volumes to the current state of the Liberal Party. Again though, Labor was favoured to win this.

Some other things to note: while the swing against Labor is about what's expected, ABC has noted that Labor's primary vote has held, while the reason the Liberal vote went up is because they have corralled the vote from the Hanson and Palmer Vanity parties.

[GoTfan]

The score in contested by-elections this Parliament is 2-1 Labor, including a flip. Labor was favoured in Dunkley, but it does speak volumes to the current state of the Liberal Party. Again though, Labor was favoured to win this.

Some other things to note: while the swing against Labor is about what's expected, ABC has noted that Labor's primary vote has held, while the reason the Liberal vote went up is because they have corralled the vote from the Hanson and Palmer Vanity parties.

Though this seems to be caused by the Greens primary vote going down even more, leading to a decent (but only that) 2PP swing to the Liberals.

That's possible, but that is also the other story of the night. The Greens should have done very well here. They are the only ones who walk away with nothing tonight. Maybe voters are getting tired of the grandstanding from them?

[GoTfan]

This is interesting. According to the latest Roy Morgan poll, Labor has upped the lead on 2PP while close the gap on primary votes. According to them, Albanese would be returned as Prime Minister with an increased majority.

https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/9476-federal-voting-intention-march-4-2024?s=09

Just goes to show that a few months can be a lifetime in politics. Not that long ago, Dutton was on a high, convinced that he was cruising, and now it's come crashing back to Earth.

[GoTfan]

This is interesting. According to the latest Roy Morgan poll, Labor has upped the lead on 2PP while close the gap on primary votes. According to them, Albanese would be returned as Prime Minister with an increased majority.

https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/9476-federal-voting-intention-march-4-2024?s=09

Just goes to show that a few months can be a lifetime in politics. Not that long ago, Dutton was on a high, convinced that he was cruising, and now it's come crashing back to Earth.

So basically we had a blip around the referendum (which Albanese inevitably took some flak for, even if it was never really his baby) and now that has worn off, things are much as they were before?

Other polling is showing a closer picture, and has been for a decent while now.

I generally trust Roy Morgan pretty closely. It is true that other polls are telling us a different story. What is clear is that Dutton will have a hard time flipping those outer suburban seats, and he needs to win those or take back the Teal seats. In Australia, dislodging independents is very difficult.

[GoTfan]

Well, it turns out that Tim Wilson has been preselected for GOldstein . . . three years after he lost Goldstein to a Teal named Zoe Wilson

Will be very interesting to see this. If Dutton can't make inroads in those outer suburban seats in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide-and it's looking tougher for him with the Dunstan defeat-then they have to win back the Teal seats. Now, for reasons that people smarter than me can explain, unseating independents in Australia is extremely difficult, so it looks like an uphill battle.

[GoTfan]

I very much doubt the coalition is getting over the climate debate soon. They're just too linked up with that side ideologically, especially with the Nationals as wedded to anti-renewables rhetoric as they are.

As far as being two-faced on the climate issue, that's a sword that cuts both ways. Dutton's trying to shift the conversation to nuclear energy, but in a country as anti-nuclear as Australia, I'm not sure what effect that's going to have.

[GoTfan]

Labor seems likely to lose the next election based on the current numbers.

[GoTfan]

One of the most astonishing things to me is how all the chatter around Jacinta Price has disappeared since the Voice. Was this the most obvious 'token black' play ever?

[GoTfan]

The right-wing outrage machine pounds on. The choice of outrage this time?

F**king biscuit tins.

[GoTfan]

Teals are apparently looking to recruit someone in Peter Dutton's seat.

ASV, you know more about Queensland than I do, but is Dutton in any trouble if a good, community-backed independent is found to stand against him with Climate200s money behind them?

[GoTfan]

Brittany Lauga, Queensland Assistant Health Minister, is alleging she was drugged and raped.