As I explained earlier, I'm in the middle of revamping the site - however it looks like the new setup won't be ready till Wednesday or so as there are a couple of compliations.

AC Nielsen poll is out - 56-44. A 1 point drop in 2pp for Labor which is within the margin of error. More of the same. Let's get on with the election campaign already.

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Update 1:40pm:

Latest Roy Morgan Poll 61-39!

Looks like the high numbers from last week have held up in Gary Morgan's polling world . Labor's primary is at 53.5% (enough to win the country without preferences), with the Coalition on an abysmal 35.5%. Minor parties sees the Greens on 5.5%, Family First 1.5% and Democrats 1.5%.

In the think will win category, 61% think the ALP will win, with only 29% thinking the Coalition will succeed. 

Again there is more talk of Labor's "soft support". I will be dissecting Gary Morgan's argument in a later post in a couple of hours. Tables & graphs to come shortly.

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Update: Pulp Mill Approved
As suspected, Turnbull has approved the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania, at the same time doubling the number of conditions the mill must meet to comply with environmental concerns. 

A commissioned study by the government found that the mill should be subject to some extra stringent conditions, and it seems Turnbull has taken their advice.

Dr Peacock, the researcher chairing the report commented that the mill would likely conform to "world's best practice" and would have a "neutral environmental impact".

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 Update 2:35pm:

Missed this earlier, the Federal government has announced that "no more Africans would be allowed into Australia under the humanitarian refugee program until next winter, and added there were no guarantees any Africans would be accepted in the next intake." - article here . More refugee posturing - perhaps trying to wedge Labor? It's a poor wedge and Rudd is smart enough not to take the bait.

Earlier:

Very briefly...

The election is looking increasingly likely to be called this weekend, in favour of a November 24 or December 1 election. According to The Age , ad bookings on behalf of the Federal government in the papers dry up this Sunday. When an election is called, all government advertising must be put on hold. Howard again reiterate d that the election date will be sometime between now and early december.

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Updated 3:00pm:

Just found a couple of articles on the Burmese uprising. Thought this was quite distressing - "Hla Win, the defecting chief of the military junta's intelligence operations, that thousands of monks have been executed in recent days and their bodies dumped in the jungle." The articles are here and here.

Earlieir (1:50pm): 

First up we have the release of a new study into AWAs and their effects on workers. Partly funded by the Australian Research Council and Unions NSW it found that, on average, workers on AWAs take home $106 less than their counterparts on collective agreements and spend an extra hour at work each week. The Age's original article is here.

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 Update 4:52pm:

A new Morgan Poll is out, putting Labor's primary vote at its highest ever (54%). The Coalition is on 36, and Greens 5.5. Morgan gives a 2pp of 60.5/39.5.

Interestingly, despite Labor's primary vote increasing, the percentage of people who think Labor will win has dropped from 63% to 55.5%, perhaps reflecting the media's reports of a Lazarus-like comeback for Howard with a 55-45 Newspoll result. It confirms what the Galaxy Poll (56/44), taken over the same period, showed - namely that Rudd did not take a hit from the fiasco in Question Time over smear allegations.

Comments (44) | Views: 5996