Albo & Co.

[facthunter]

I got my fifth Covid inoculation about a week ago. Still haven't caught it. It's becoming unusual to not have had it.. No reaction to the shot.    Nev

[spacesailor]

Good for you.

Because !.

IT'S BACK.

Another few hundred dead , so the news said .

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

Although the 4th and 5th have been available here for some time, I have not yet availed myself to them.. Which, I sort of now regret.. In the office on Tuesday - late evening meeting, and yesterday, email comes through from one of the attendees, "Just to let you know I have tested positive for COVID.."..

 

9 hours ago, spacesailor said:

Another few hundred dead , so the news said .

I find it funny how the same press allge the attribution of deaths to COVID as tenuous at best, but will allege a death to be caused by the vaccine on the most tenuous of links.

 

But, there has been, in a small number of cases, deaths that have been caused by COVID. I wish I could find the clip, but it was, as I recall, a senate estimates inquiry with Antic and Rennick, who were complete embiciles in that heariing (IMHO) where it was shown that yes, some deaths sadly are caused by the vaccine, but many more people die from humble over the counter household medicines.

 

I would like to oder this from the press:

 

 

 

[willedoo]

Still early in the counting, but it's looking very good for Labor taking Aston from the Liberals in the by-election.

[willedoo]

It looks like it's over for the Libs. Both camps, Sky News and the ABC are calling a win for Labor. The first time in more than 100 years a sitting government has won an opposition seat.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I was surprised that an outer eastern Melbourne seat would be held by the Libs,  let alone a minister. I guess the demographics have been shifting. Also, it shows people want a government that does things, even if some of those things aren't exactly what they were hoping for.

[red750]

Jerry said:
"I was surprised that an outer eastern Melbourne seat would be held by the Libs"

 

My electorate, Deakin, is located next to Aston, and I was originally in Aston before redistribution. Our sitting Member is Liberal, Michael Sukkar, who retained the seat at the last election. He was a minister in the previous government and is the Shadow Minister for Housing and the NDIS.

 

 

The Division of Deakin consists of:

• Maroondah City Council, and
• part of the Whitehorse City Council.

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

I guess when I was a kid and young adult, that area wasn't known for the upper middle --> upper classes (income earners) living there..

[willedoo]

One of the commentators mentioned that 14% of the Aston population are of Chinese descent, which could be one of many factors. Most Chinese voters have abandoned the Libs. Demographic change is challenging for the Liberal party as they struggle to appeal to the ever changing average Australian. Normally, a lot of Australians of Chinese descent would vote Liberal, but Morrison and Dutton's handling of the China issue made a lot of them feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. That's one demographic the Libs went out of their way to alienate.

 

It's been said another factor was that no One Nation or United Australia candidates ran this time. At the Federal election, their combined primary vote was around 10%, of which most preferences would have flowed to the Liberals. The theory is that their voters this time didn't want to vote Liberal, could never vote Labor, so simply didn't vote. Add that loss of potential preference votes to the loss of the Chinese vote and it adds up to big numbers.

[facthunter]

The Libs are eating their own children (Metaphorically)A House divided against itself will surely  fail. The NATS have caused the Liberals pain by holding them to ransom on policies but Duttons FEAR campaign did not work  this time either. It was indeed a stunning win that the libs will have to come to grips with before they fall further from favour. The grubby media didn't sway the multitudes enough either and the Sky-2GB influence doesn't permeate much here either or Poor LEEN Hanson and the Greens lost ground with the Libs. Maybe Victorians are less easily fooled. I would hope so. Friedhamburger didn't take up the ASTON seat. He'll be doing OK at Goldman Sachs. HE forgot he was living in Victoria..  Nev.

[willedoo]

As a party, they are really getting wedged, damned if they do and damned if they don't. The biggest problem is they need more votes, which means appealing to more sections of the voter demographic. The closer to the centre they go, people will see little difference from Labor, so will probably just vote Labor if Labor is doing a reasonable job. Some in the Liberal party are still saying they need to go further to the right, further away from Labor's left/centre stance. The fault in that theory is that not enough votes are in that right direction. For every One Nation or United Australia voter they win back, they will lose the same from the centre.

 

As it stands now, their short term future will be to keep drifting along in a policy-free zone, dreaming of Menzies and winning a term only if Labor completely stuffs up. That will be harder now as the current Labor government appears to be much more competent and united than the last time Labor governed. After the Rudd/Gillard circus, a Liberal clown was able to beat Labor just by repeatedly babbling a moronic three-part mantra. They'll find it much harder to unseat the current Labor mob.

 

The Liberal car needs a complete engine and drive train re-build, but they think if they give it a quick paint job people will think it's a racecar. Good luck to them; they're going to need it as they don't have much else going for them.

[spacesailor]

The people are awakening !.

Reading some comments about nsw Free  ' solar panels ' ,

A lot àre decrying the adverts , as LIES , and not worth having .

Never seen it like this before.

spacesailor

[old man emu]

is it that the voters, who for the most part can't participate in the economy like Big Business can, have changed their minds about what is important and are looking at the environment and the provision of services.?

[spacesailor]

OR ARE WE !.

So fedup with all that lovely new ' infrastructure ' that tax payers paid for ! , being sold to their Mates with the pockets to get a big profits from ,leaving the masses to pay yet again ! , for the said ' infrastructure ' .

spacesailor

[willedoo]

Good news for researchers today. The Federal Government has stepped up and provided funding for Trove for the next four years. Morrison and Co. were going to axe it.

[old man emu]

A big problem for researchers using Trove is that due to Copyright laws, Trove cannot publish anything after 1953, since copyright now lasts 70 years. Another two stumbling blocks are the prohibition on census details - names addresses and ages - and the same for electoral rolls. There is a 100 year ban on birth records, but I can accept that because birth records can be used to create false identities. But with the amount of hacking going on, who needs birth records to create false identities?

 

Isn't amazing how much has been done for the benefit of the Australian people since the Conservatives were routed? Sure, there have been some decisions that can be grounds for argument. I reckon the next Premiers' Conference will be more like a session at the family dinner table rather than the previous neighbourhood disputes when the Conservatives ruled the roost. I think Federal  and State Labor will generally work together for the common good. Tasmania will be at the table like the eldest daughter's boyfriend - not yet part of the family, but accepted on probation.

[Jerry_Atrick]

The Age had an article spruiking the Premiers conference to be even more fiesty than normal - using the analogy of an arguing family not afreaid to go hell for leather as everyone is on the same side. Well, I hope it isn't the case, because it would mean the premiers are derelict in their duty securing their state's interest when oppos are in power.

[Old Koreelah]

46 minutes ago, old man emu said:

I reckon the next Premiers' Conference will be more like a session at the family dinner table rather than the previous neighbourhood disputes when the Conservatives ruled the roost. I think Federal  and State Labor will generally work together for the common good…

I’d love to see that, but history tells us otherwise; winners fall out over the spoils of war.
 

There have been some noteworthy examples of teamwork between state leaders of opposing parties. Now that Labor has swept the continent clean, expect more blood on the floor than normal as the Premiers bicker over money.

[facthunter]

I really don't see why. The headlines don't reflect the reality of a better relationship. The Lieberals always tried to hang ANDREWS out to dry  and run the state from  Canberra and Diddle them out of money due without strings attached.  Nev

[old man emu]

What I meant by comparing the Labor-dominated Premiers meeting to a family dinner meeting as opposed to the neighbourhood dispute was to accept that there would be bickering over allocation of funding, but there is likely to be a lot more consensus on matters that benefit the citizens and not simply Big Business.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I would like to see them commit to raising Australia on the Corruption Index. We are at a surprisingly low figure, I think 13th.

We should at least be in the top 3 to 5.

[old man emu]

After the last Federal election, it can only go up.

[facthunter]

 We used to be very high up but went backwards in the last 9 years. Nev