14 March 2013

Is it on for the Leadership?

| johnboy
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Christian Kerr (political writer for The Australian) has just facebooked that “It’s on”:

Massive rumours that a “tap on the shoulder” delegation had dropped in to see the PM have just swept Parliament House. Nothing appears to have happened, but…. A second set says that ministerial chiefs of staffs have been placed on high alert.

A new PM could easily see Canberra in election mode in days time.

screenshot

UPDATE: Camps Gillard and Rudd are denying anything is on. For what that’s worth.

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EvanJames said :

The Project yesterday had picked up the story and were cracking jokes about it so it’s evidently grown feet.

Ah yes, the 7pm Project and it’s “jokes”. I wish they’d have gotten Adam Hills and some other actually talented and likeable to host that show. But then I suppose it is channel Ten, so it’s not really a surprise

Darkfalz said :

DrKoresh said :

I think the bump in Gillard’s status as preferred PM is less to do with who’s heading the Labor party and more to do with the dawning realisation of just who is leading the Libs.

It was one poll, and against the trend and all other polls. Take a look at the Morgan poll, absolutely brutal.

That’s true, but a second poll in a row also has the Greens up from 9 to 11% after their sham of a ‘divorce”, so perhaps that Western Sydney BS actually pulled the wool over some voters.
Not sure how, I thought it was so shambolic she would dip in the polls. Only assumption must be she took enough oxygen away from Abbott to get a limited time bump.

The Project yesterday had picked up the story and were cracking jokes about it so it’s evidently grown feet.

muscledude_oz11:43 am 15 Mar 13

goggles13 said :

LSWCHP said :

I mentioned this to my wife who is in the APS, and she said “Oh yeah, it was all over the department this afternoon”, so hundreds if not thousands of APS staff have evidently been following this rather than doing whatever it is they should be doing.

exaggerate much? most people can multi-task and I can imagine only a few may have had a conversation about preparing a brief for the incoming PM, assuming your talking about PM&C

Public servants multitasking? You mean drinking tea with one hand and filling out the footy tips with the other?

Dawning realisation?

Like, six years for it to dawn?

Yes, to put it simply. I think the reality of an Abbott led Coalition government is finally starting to sink in for a lot of people.

Growling Ferret11:03 am 15 Mar 13

So yet again, on a day of positive news for the ALP, a News Limited hack creates a rumour on Twitter which runs wild, and tries to create the news rather than reporting on it.

How the Australian is such a sphere of influence whilst providing absolutely nothing but negative ALP pro-Liberal spin flummoxes me.

HiddenDragon10:22 am 15 Mar 13

Surely today – Ides of March – for skulduggery.

LSWCHP said :

Ah…Christian Kerr writes for the Australian. This explains why I’ve never heard of him, and never read a single word that he’s ever written. I reckon the only mainstream political/economic journalists worth reading are Peter Hartcher and Peter Martin. All else appear to be rubbish.

I may be wrong, but I’m calling this as a tactical move by the owners of the paper to disrupt the government. Or perhaps the plumbers were going in to fix the leaking tap in the shower of the PM’s ensuite, and Mr Kerr misheard it as a leak about a “tap on the shoulder”.

He used to write for Crikey. Great bloke.

LSWCHP said :

I mentioned this to my wife who is in the APS, and she said “Oh yeah, it was all over the department this afternoon”, so hundreds if not thousands of APS staff have evidently been following this rather than doing whatever it is they should be doing.

exaggerate much? most people can multi-task and I can imagine only a few may have had a conversation about preparing a brief for the incoming PM, assuming your talking about PM&C

Darkfalz said :

DrKoresh said :

I think the bump in Gillard’s status as preferred PM is less to do with who’s heading the Labor party and more to do with the dawning realisation of just who is leading the Libs.

It was one poll, and against the trend and all other polls. Take a look at the Morgan poll, absolutely brutal.

I remember you, you’re with Abbott all the way, aren’t you? Anyway, I don’t think you can argue against cherry-picked data with more cherry-picked data, besides I’m not claiming to know how the rest of the country feel but I certainly don’t want the Mad Monk running my country.

DrKoresh said :

I think the bump in Gillard’s status as preferred PM is less to do with who’s heading the Labor party and more to do with the dawning realisation of just who is leading the Libs.

It was one poll, and against the trend and all other polls. Take a look at the Morgan poll, absolutely brutal.

a couple of politically important bills need to pass the Senate first. I am expecting to see things to liven up next week.

cranky said :

c_c™ said :

cranky said :

Ozhair said :

I’d be more inclined to believe it if the information wasn’t coming from The Australian, which has a massive anti-Labor bias and will do/say anything to destabilize the current government (Whether any help is needed in that regard or not…)

+1

Murdoch’s greatest threat is the NBN. His business of paper media will be decimated when Australia is connected.

No, not really.

Would you like to expand on this comment?

The print media was only ever profitable because of two things:

1. Advertising revenue

2. Exclusivity of mechanisms for news gathering and transfer

The internet has eroded both these, advertising is moving online and sources of information are now far more diversified. Social media is often faster than wires and spotters.

With the ubiquity of the internet and penetration of ADSL and 3G, the introduction of the NBN won’t accelerate the demise of print newspapers. A page loading a second quicker pales in comparison to the wider changes going on.

The danger but also the potential the NBN poses is to the traditional broadcast area of the media.

I think the bump in Gillard’s status as preferred PM is less to do with who’s heading the Labor party and more to do with the dawning realisation of just who is leading the Libs.

Never have so many been so jittery in the hope of being first to go twittery.

Just in case anybody thinks I’m being a little hard on Mr Kerr, I reckon that if you’re a journalist, and you’re writing for a national organ, and you decide to tweet something that strongly implies “We”ll have a new PM tomorrow”, then a tiny bit of fact checking might be in order first. Just a tiny bit. I mentioned this to my wife who is in the APS, and she said “Oh yeah, it was all over the department this afternoon”, so hundreds if not thousands of APS staff have evidently been following this rather than doing whatever it is they should be doing.

He may be onto something, as evidenced by all the furious denials from Labor figures, but at the moment it doesn’t seem all that credible. I wonder if he’s been the victim of a disinformation play by the Libs?

Ah…Christian Kerr writes for the Australian. This explains why I’ve never heard of him, and never read a single word that he’s ever written. I reckon the only mainstream political/economic journalists worth reading are Peter Hartcher and Peter Martin. All else appear to be rubbish.

I may be wrong, but I’m calling this as a tactical move by the owners of the paper to disrupt the government. Or perhaps the plumbers were going in to fix the leaking tap in the shower of the PM’s ensuite, and Mr Kerr misheard it as a leak about a “tap on the shoulder”.

Last time I had a beer with Christian he was splitting his time between Canberra and Melbourne.

justin heywood8:28 pm 14 Mar 13

cranky said :

Murdoch’s greatest threat is the NBN. His business of paper media will be decimated when Australia is connected. He is doing everything in his power, via the Telegraph and Australian, to tear down the possibility of a Labor victory at the next election

Conspiracy! Yeah right. The Australian already loses money, I doubt if ol’ Rupert lies awake worrying about it.

I think the Labor Party is doing enough all by itself to ‘tear down the possibility of a Labor victory’.

c_c™ said :

cranky said :

Ozhair said :

I’d be more inclined to believe it if the information wasn’t coming from The Australian, which has a massive anti-Labor bias and will do/say anything to destabilize the current government (Whether any help is needed in that regard or not…)

+1

Murdoch’s greatest threat is the NBN. His business of paper media will be decimated when Australia is connected.

No, not really.

Would you like to expand on this comment?

cranky said :

Ozhair said :

I’d be more inclined to believe it if the information wasn’t coming from The Australian, which has a massive anti-Labor bias and will do/say anything to destabilize the current government (Whether any help is needed in that regard or not…)

+1

Murdoch’s greatest threat is the NBN. His business of paper media will be decimated when Australia is connected.

No, not really.

Holden Caulfield said :

MERC600 said :

Hell I hope no early election. Am hoping to sell my house shortly , well before the Sept elections, coz house prices will fall after election.

On the contrary, I have to sell my house this year, preferably in August-September, so an early election at least gives me hope that things may have returned to normality.

What about those Canberra houses where you can go up on the roof for a drink? Here I am drinking in the backyard like a sucker.

Ozhair said :

I’d be more inclined to believe it if the information wasn’t coming from The Australian, which has a massive anti-Labor bias and will do/say anything to destabilize the current government (Whether any help is needed in that regard or not…)

+1

Murdoch’s greatest threat is the NBN. His business of paper media will be decimated when Australia is connected. He is doing everything in his power, via the Telegraph and Australian, to tear down the possibility of a Labor victory at the next election

are we allowed to throw shoes at her when she’s gone ?

johnboy said :

Depends what the internal party polling is saying.

Newspoll is just theatre

Internal party polling is for making the decision (and I doubt it would be saying anything much different this week than it has been for months.)

Public polling is for deciding on timing. If the plan were to paint her position as untenable, they’ve had plenty of time to do it and justify it on the back of public polls. Doing so this week leaves them open to accusation of axing her at the start of a recovery trend. I think they’re smart enough not to.

Besides, Christian Kerr is in bloody Sydney, if it were really on, I would think it’s the gallery reporters who would notice first. Sounds like a strategic leak, whether from the Libs or within Labor is the question.

Any news..?

Sounds like BS to me. You don’t roll your leader after a 3pt bump in Newspoll.

Depends what the internal party polling is saying.

Newspoll is just theatre

I’d be more inclined to believe it if the information wasn’t coming from The Australian, which has a massive anti-Labor bias and will do/say anything to destabilize the current government (Whether any help is needed in that regard or not…)

MERC600 said :

Hell I hope no early election. Am hoping to sell my house shortly , well before the Sept elections, coz house prices will fall after election.

The earliest an election can be held is 1st July otherwise Senate and House elections will be thrown out of alignment. The new government would have to hold a separate Senate election next year which will turn into a by-election and see a huge swing against the government. There have been three referendums to have House and Senate elections held on the same day. All were defeated. In the 1977 referendum 72% of Australians voted Yes but it was defeated because four states voted No.

Madam Cholet said :

Gillard and Rudd denying it? Could be the kiss of death required then.

If Rudd gets back in I hope the voters don’t fall for his spin like last time. He is just a car salesman from QLD who already sold us a lemon once.

Having said that, is here anounody else worthy?

Madam Cholet4:23 pm 14 Mar 13

Gillard and Rudd denying it? Could be the kiss of death required then.

Holden Caulfield said :

MERC600 said :

Hell I hope no early election. Am hoping to sell my house shortly , well before the Sept elections, coz house prices will fall after election.

On the contrary, I have to sell my house this year, preferably in August-September, so an early election at least gives me hope that things may have returned to normality.

And there I was thinking Public Servants were rent-seekers who purported to be slaving selflessly for the nation, but are really just sucking off the teat of taxpayers.

How wrong am I!

devils_advocate3:29 pm 14 Mar 13

p996911turbo said :

MERC600 said :

Hell I hope no early election. Am hoping to sell my house shortly , well before the Sept elections, coz house prices will fall after election.

Except everyone in Canberra is saying that. So people with spare money are preparing to buy property straight after the election, negating the demand drop. I still think prices will fall, but not by much at all.

All rational investors have factored price falls into their current offering prices. The time to get a bargain is now.

Holden Caulfield3:26 pm 14 Mar 13

MERC600 said :

Hell I hope no early election. Am hoping to sell my house shortly , well before the Sept elections, coz house prices will fall after election.

On the contrary, I have to sell my house this year, preferably in August-September, so an early election at least gives me hope that things may have returned to normality.

p996911turbo3:20 pm 14 Mar 13

MERC600 said :

Hell I hope no early election. Am hoping to sell my house shortly , well before the Sept elections, coz house prices will fall after election.

Except everyone in Canberra is saying that. So people with spare money are preparing to buy property straight after the election, negating the demand drop. I still think prices will fall, but not by much at all.

Hell I hope no early election. Am hoping to sell my house shortly , well before the Sept elections, coz house prices will fall after election.

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