It looks like even God has it in for Anthony Albanese. It was widely rumoured that the PM would announce an election on Monday. Then an act of God intervened.
A category 2 cyclone, Alfred, is bearing down on Queensland – on a predicted path to rip right through opposition Peter Dutton’s electorate of Dickson. Indeed, Dutton is on his property, locking it down, before the storm hits.
If it ends up being anything like experts are warning, it would be a bold move by the Prime Minister to be calling an election this coming Sunday – as all signs indicate he is prepped for – and particularly if the Opposition Leader is stuck on his farm.
Not to mention when millions of voters are either battened down or mopping up the aftermath.
At about 4am on Friday, the epicentre of a category 2 cyclone is expected to rip through southeast Queensland and northern NSW […]
Just what the national disaster threshold is for calling an election in its wake is unclear.
But once again the federal Labor government may fall hostage to events.
The nation ought to be praying the worst doesn’t eventuate. But if it does, Albanese will need to put some serious consideration to delaying it if indeed his plan was to drop in at Government House by Monday.
On Tuesday, as news of the cyclone’s trajectory became clearer, there was a view among plenty of Labor insiders that he’d be mad to call an election this weekend if a natural disaster unfolds, whatever the level of damage it may or may not cause.
A counter-argument is that Albanese could still call the election but immediately suspend the campaign for a week. Which would only make him look shiftier than ever, as if he’s trying to avoid scrutiny and rush to a poll while the nation is distracted.
One senior Labor source suggested “it would be a very bad look” to call an election if people are flooded out of their homes in the second-most populous region of the country.
How long, though, can Albanese delay both the election and the pre-election budget? The absolute deadline is May 17, which would be the first full-term government since 1910. It would also mean calling an election right on Easter. Having a campaign during a holiday period would seriously piss voters off and look utterly desperate.
If April 12 is out because of the cyclone, Albanese could always avoid a budget by just having a six-week campaign to a May 3 election. But again, this would look tricky and a deliberate action to avoid a budget […]
It is hard to gauge which side would benefit from a delayed start date considering voters’ antipathy to both. In the end it probably doesn’t make much difference.
Albanese certainly can’t rely on any help from elsewhere on the number one election issue: cost of living. Last month’s interest rate cut, the first in years, vanished (as I predicted) in a quicksand of voter indifference. And there’ll be no more of even that forthcoming any time soon.
The Reserve Bank has hosed down expectations that its February interest rate decision implies it will deliver further cuts, cautioning that rapidly easing borrowing costs could jeopardise its inflation-fighting efforts […]
While underlying inflation has eased sharply, falling to 3.2 per cent in the December quarter, and was the key reason for its decision, it still remains above the RBA’s 2 to 3 per cent target band and is not expected to fall below 2.7 per cent over the RBA’s two-year forecast period.
On another front, the coalition has been gifted another Culture War brickbat. Australians have been growing increasingly restive at the overreach of grasping Aboriginal activists. The defeat of the ‘Voice’ referendum was just the start. From the endless ‘Welcome to Country’ nonsense to spurious ‘sacred site’ claims locking Australians out of more and more of their own country, the populace is getting well and truly fed up. The latest nonsense, a completely ridiculous ‘cultural heritage site’ grab for the iconic Mount Panorama racing circuit, is truly rankling.
Once again, the coalition are ready to capitalise on voter sentiment that Labor seem completely oblivious to.
The Coalition has promised to overhaul federal heritage laws should it return to power, as new analysis shows the Indigenous group that sank the Blayney gold mine has become one of the most successful and litigious applicants under the current system.
On Tuesday, opposition environment spokesman Jonno Duniam pledged to complete long delayed reforms to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act to ensure a “small group” of Indigenous Australians could not hold public sites to “ransom” under land-rights bids.
The Australian revealed the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation had helped facilitate a secret state heritage application to declare the peak of Mount Panorama, home of Australia’s most famous car race, as a sacred site, after the ashes of its former director Brian Grant were scattered there.
The grifting box-tickers are really trying it on. Australians are simply fed up with it and Labor just can’t seem to get it.
