Arrogant and inexperienced

I heard this morning a story on ABC radio about someone being “arrogant” and “inexperienced”. I thought, gee, the news about blogocrats II is certainly getting around. But it seems that the comments are from Wilson Tuckey and are directed towards Malcolm Turnbull.

The deep divisions in the Opposition over an emissions trading scheme have been laid bare for all to see, with outspoken Liberal backbencher Wilson Tuckey labelling his leader “arrogant” and “inexperienced”.

Oh dear – this is not good for Turnbull. But who will take over if he goes? And doesn’t all this attention on the opposition let the government off the hook?

What the truck is he on about?

Does Turnbull really think that rolling out the debt truck will revive his poll ratings?

MALCOLM Turnbull will use a truck _ the Liberal Party’s debt truck _ to take the fight to Labor over its handling of the economy after his disastrous handling of the “Utegate” affair.

The Opposition Leader said the debt truck, to be launched this morning in Perth, would draw attention to the Rudd Government’s reckless spending on cash handouts and school infrastructure projects.

I mean, really, Malcolm, you can do better than this.

Shuffle-bored on the SS Turnbull

It looks like Turnbull will be using the resignation of a minor minister (Chris Pearce, Superanuation spokeman) for a shadow cabinet reshuffle. The stories circulating at the moment seem to be saying that Abbott will get the immigration portfolio, just when the news from Indonesia is that 10000 people are ready to leave for Australia. Well, that last part is not actually true, the 10000 are in Malaysia ready to head to Indonesia – and then maybe onto Australia.

The question for today is, will moving Abbott to Immigration be a good move for Turnbull or a bad move? Remembering that this reshuffle is just as much as about saving Turnbull, and saving the coalition.

(joni: fixed the first sentence which, like me, did not make sense)

Poll Numbers

(I stole this from an N5 comment – and thought it was good to use as a thread – joni)

So the latest Newspoll is out and about, it  shows that Labor on a TPP basis leads 53% to 47% which places them in a better position than when they won the last election. The Essential poll has Labor on 57% to 43% TPP.

While Labor’s primary vote has dropped 2%, half the loss migrated to the Greens which then returned in the TPP. The Greens gain may be explained by the weak targets in Rudd’s CO2 targets. But who knows?

Rudd’s performance is up 2% from 56% to 58% while his dissatisfaction score is down 2%, all of which can be explained by the MOE. In the preferred PM rating Rudd outscores Turnbull 57% to 24%. No joy for the Liberals in those figures, regardless of how they spin it.

When will this ‘honeymoon’ end?

Voter’s Turn on Malcolm’s Bull

Just when it seems that Malcolm’s approval ratings cannot get any worse, they do.

The latest Herald/Nielsen poll shows Mr Rudd’s approval rating has risen to 74 per cent as Labor forges a crushing lead over the Coalition.

It reveals the electorate has stuck overwhelmingly with Mr Rudd and Labor since the global financial crisis began to bite into jobs and growth.

In an alarming turn for Mr Turnbull, more voters now disapprove of the job he is doing as Opposition Leader than approve.

I really suspect that the voters know that the GFC was not and is not caused by anything that is happening in this country. And that any attempt by the opposition to label this a “Rudd Recession” is clearly seen as cheap politics by the electorate.

Wont someone think of the conservatives?

Memo to the federal Liberal party: please sort it out

Even though it is amusing to see the problems that the tussle between Costello and Turnbull is causing to the Liberal party and their ratings, I cannot help but think that we need a decent opposition who will be debating the issues that matter instead of each other.

I really do not care about mandates, I just want the proposed IR legislation to be balanced. And if that means that the coalition votes against it or proposed amendments then so be it. Both sides of the house have that obligation to the Australian people. And if the people do not like it, then they will voice their opinion at the ballot box.

And so – will Costello please make up his mind. Does he want to be in or out? It’s not the Hokey Pokey.

Backflip with pike from Turnbull

Crikey is reporting that the opposition has just backflipped on their complete and utter opposition to the governments stimulus package.

However, Turnbull’s position today leaves the Coalition open to supporting the majority of the package — the $28b infrastructure component providing funding for school and housing projects. It comes a day after Newspoll revealed a slump in support for both the Coalition and Turnbull.

Is this the end for Turnbull?

Caption Competition

I think it is time for another caption competition.

This time we have Malcolm “Waterloo” Turnbull. Some in the media have said that one thing is certain – he certainly has a pair. So – what can we come up with for this picture, but be careful, remember that reb has a CD to give away!

Maybe Malcolm was in the sun too long

In this years budget, the government introduced a means test for the solar panel rebate scheme, where the $8000 rebate was limited to a $100,000 means test.

Turnbull at the time went into a sunspot-like meltdown, and in a speech at the National Press Club on the 21st May he said:

By imposing a $100,000 means test, Labor has ensured the vast majority of people who can afford to buy solar panels are deprived of the subsidy. Needless to say, demand has collapsed and the Australian solar industry fears it will collapse as well.

Note how he says it has collapsed? I know I was not taught grammar at school (and maybe we need to have a thread about that too), but isn’t the word “has” in past tense?

But was there a collapse? A story in the SMH today says:

High demand has meant that approval for rebates takes two months as bureaucrats in the Environment Department find themselves swamped by applications.

This is the problem that Malcolm is going to have. He makes these grandiose statements, and goes on about how no one listens to him – but in reality, is seems that he just likes to be in the media. And they say that Rudd is a media tart?

The same article actually goes on to say that the solar industry actually wants to scrap the rebate and wants the government to introduce a feed-in tariff scheme where “people receive for the electricity generated by their solar panels”.

Latest Newspoll results

I think this slipped under the radar yesterday – what with all of the other things that are happening – but Newpoll released their latest federal voting intentions. The honeymoon (TM Dennis Shanahan 2006/2007/2008) is still over, nearly over, about to be over, is on the horizon or something.

Anyway – the TPP figures are Labor 55 Coalition 45 (they were 52.7/47.3 at the election).

After all of the noise from the media regarding Rudd’s overseas travel, his non-action, his meeting with celebrities, his involvement in the Heiner affair (TM Piers Akerman 2006/2007/2008) etc, the figures for the ALP are still staying extremely high. And it does not seem that Turnbull has made that much of an impression on the voters – although the voters are more satisfied with Turnbull (50%) than Nelson (35%).