politicalowl

  "Dutton’s proposal for taxpayer funded lunches is not  serious policy" What a wonderful Financial Review  headline on a story condemning Peter Dutton's  promise to provide small businesses with a yearly tax deduction of up to $20,000 for taking clients out to restaurants, cafes and pubs.  Just a "sugar hit" said the Fin's story. But at least the paper featured it. The rest of the media largely ignored it. Which shows how little most journalists understand what kind of policies might really appeal to voters. Every tradie and small industry supplier now has a reason to vote Liberal. Stuff the attitude of big business to this kind of electoral bribery. Liberals aren't interested in getting the votes of the captains of industry. Peter Dutton understands the power of a rort even if his eating habits leave a little to be desired.  

  The long lunch might be in for a comeback. Liberal leader Peter Dutton promises to provide small businesses with a yearly tax deduction of up to $20,000 for taking clients out to restaurants, cafes and pubs. Sir Lunchalot can hardly wait for a Liberal Party election victory. Sir Lunchalot prefers a little more stylw A bit churlish to exclude alcohol from the allowable expenditure but I’m sure restaurateurs will find a way to ensure booze does not appear on their official receipts. Let the good times roll.

 I was puzzled watching the Liberal Party spokeswomen fervently trying to spin the Dunkley by-election defeat of their team as some kind of victory. The claims that a normal size swing in one electorate was a precursor to a future win at a full House of Representatives election was simply ridiculous. It showed no such thing. The Liberals will need to do far better than they did on Saturday to oust Labor when the general election day comes. Far better to describe Dunkley as merely a small step in the right direction. Playing politics as the underdog  helps more than being a braggard.

  The shenanigans of the SA branch of the Labor Party just gets worse and worse. The Federal Executive of the Party should intervene to stop this madness. What follows is a post I received this evening from my friend Maggie Dawkins about her daughter Alice's courageous decision to take on the power brokers and seek preselection for the seat of Spence. "Alice innocently exercised her right as an ordinary member of the Labor Party to nominate for Spence. What she may inadvertently have stumbled upon is a done deal agreed to by faceless power brokers of the Left and Right factions. Ordinary members have not been consulted, but it is all leaking out as Alice calls the SA Party office to account. It appears that many members may not be comfortable with this done deal, as they are contacting me, not only as Alice’s mum, but also as a board member of Whistle Blowers Australia. Is the deal correct? Who knows? Perhaps time will tell? We know that some of it is correct, for example, Ni...

There was a time when I thought that attacks like the one below by Chris Bowen on Scott Morrison as a man who lies over and over again would have an effect on the views of the public. But as I keep seeing the Morrison approval rating at a healthy level I fear such attacks may be doing.more harm than good   It is as if voters so expect all politicians to lie all the time. Indeed they are more likely to punish the ones who point out the lies for being whingers than they are the liars themselves.    Scott Morrison lies over and over again, about issues big and small. He can't help himself. You can't believe a word he says. pic.twitter.com/ae7noVYK8q — Chris Bowen (@Bowenchris) April 7, 2021 Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese looked like he had reached that conclusion when earlies this year he asked his colleagues not to call their opponents liars in the interests of making political debate more refined.  Chris Bowen might be better served following the message of the ...

No surprise that the last few months have seen a significant drift in the betting price of the Coalition to win the next election - our from $1.27 for a dollar to $1.74. And the way things are going with the vaccination program it will be no surprise if Labor shortly ends up as favourite. The government has its problems with matters of rape and sexual abuse more generally but the Prime Ministerial mouth is another major factor in the growing unpopularity. In short Scott Morrison is being seen as a man who promises too much and delivers too little. That is making Anthony Albanese's job quite an easy one these days. Scott Morrison needs to stop changing his story on the vaccine rollout. Australians don’t want to hear excuses – they want to get vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/Ci3H4IZE7T — Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 7, 2021

For the third night in a row Nine News Brisbane has set the national political agenda. Look at tonight's story and despair at the state of the Liberal Party. Andrew Laming was this morning forced into counselling after allegations of bullying and aggressive behaviour, but tonight the most explosive claim yet; a young Brisbane mother has finally built the courage to come forward and tell her story. @PeterFegan9 #9News pic.twitter.com/9LdhK4x5Ew — 9News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) March 27, 2021