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Author: Neville

  • Election Timing and the Issues of Election Writs ( ANTONY GREEN )

    « Political Parties for the 2013 Federal Election | Main

    July 15, 2013

    Election Timing and the Issues of Election Writs

    Twice today I’ve been told of a scenario that sees Australia going to the polls on 24 August.

    The scenario sees the Labor caucus meeting on Monday 22 July to approve Kevin Rudd’s proposed rules for electing the Labor Party Leader. Kevin Rudd would then visit the Governor General on Tuesday 23 July to call an election for 24 August.

    Nice theory, but a Tuesday visit to the Governor General would require the election to be held on 31 August, not 24 August.

    The writs for a 24 August election have to be issued on Monday 22 July, and there are several complications that make announcing an election and issuing writs the same day difficult.

    According to the timetable set out in the Commonwealth Electoral Act, the minimum time period from the issue of the writ to polling day is 33 days. The day the writ is issued is treated as day zero, and from there you count 33 days to the minimum campaign period, also remembering that polling day must be a Saturday.

    It is why writs are normally issued on a Monday just under five weeks before polling day.

    However, the election is usually announced a day or two before the dissolution and issue of the writs. This is because of the time it takes to co-ordinate the legal rituals surrounding the process.

    The Prime Minister must visit the Governor-General and request a dissolution and an election. There is little doubt the Governor-General will accept this advice, but then the legal technicalities come in.

    A proclamation has to be issued dissolving the House of Representatives. The writ initiating the 150 House elections and the Senate elections for the ACT and Northern Territory have to be prepared and then signed by the Governor General.

    In addition, the state Governors have to be located and instruction given to them through the formal channels to issue writs for the half-Senate elections.

    All this takes time, though some of it can be prepared in advance so in theory, Kevn Rudd could ask the Governor-General to be in Sydney on 22 July so he can head over to Admiralty House after the caucus with the pre-prepared writs to call the election. But it would all be a bit rushed, and still run into potential problems with locating the state Governors.

    Malcolm Fraser went through this process in one day with the snap double dissolution election in 1983, but the timetable for the election has since been made more rigid.

    There is nothing to stop Prime Minister Rudd announcing the election for 24 August on the weekend before the caucus meeting, and then visiting the Governor-General after the meeting.

    But one thing that won’t be happening is the Prime Minister visiting the Governor-General on Tuesday 23 July and asking for an election on 24 August.

    An election called after the caucus meeting is more likely to be 31 August than 24 August.

    Posted by on July 15, 2013 at 10:25 AM in Election Date Speculation | Permalink

    Comments

    Antony, why are the State Governors involved? How can they be instructed to do anything by the Federal (rather than State) parliament?

    COMMENT: Because the Constitution says they issue the Senate writs. As I wrote in the post, the Governors are requested to issue the writs through the formal channels, which formally means on the advice of the state Premiers, but informally means the writs are issued for polling on the date requested by the Prime Minister.

    This mattered in 1974 when the Whitlam government had requested that writs be issued for a half-Senate election. The Bjelke-Petersen government issued the writs for the appointed date, but issued the writ early before Senator Gair had resigned to lock in five Senate positions rather than six. I do not think similar games would be played today.

    Posted by: SomeGuyOnTheInternet | July 15, 2013 at 11:08 AM

    Kevin Rudd has announced changes to the timing of the transition of a Carbon Tax to an Emissions Trading Scheme (I think these are the right terms). Would these changes require parliament to pass amendments, or can they be made by Cabinet without Parliament returning on 20 August? Otherwise it becomes an election promise, not a change of government policy.

    COMMENT: The change requires legislation which requires parliament to sit. If parliament doesn’t sit then the proposal is essentially an election promise

  • Bangladesh Pollution, Told in Colors and Smells

    Bangladesh Pollution, Told in Colors and Smells

    Khaled Hasan for The New York Times

    In Savar, Bangladesh, site of April’s factory disaster, untreated factory wastewater is common. More Photos »

    By
    Published: July 14, 2013

    SAVAR, Bangladesh — On the worst days, the toxic stench wafting through the Genda Government Primary School is almost suffocating. Teachers struggle to concentrate, as if they were choking on air. Students often become lightheaded and dizzy. A few boys fainted in late April. Another retched in class.

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    The odor rises off the polluted canal — behind the schoolhouse — where nearby factories dump their wastewater. Most of the factories are garment operations, textile mills and dyeing plants in the supply chain that exports clothing to Europe and the United States. Students can see what colors are in fashion by looking at the canal.

    “Sometimes it is red,” said Tamanna Afrous, the school’s English teacher. “Or gray. Sometimes it is blue. It depends on the colors they are using in the factories.”

    Nearly three months ago, the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people, in a disaster that exposed the risks in the low-cost formula that has made Bangladesh the world’s second-leading clothing exporter, after China, and a favorite of companies like Walmart, J. C. Penney and H & M. That formula depends on paying the lowest wages in the world and, at some factories, spending a minimum on work conditions and safety.

    But it also often means ignoring costly environmental regulations. Bangladesh’s garment and textile industries have contributed heavily to what experts describe as a water pollution disaster, especially in the large industrial areas of Dhaka, the capital. Many rice paddies are now inundated with toxic wastewater. Fish stocks are dying. And many smaller waterways are being filled with sand and garbage, as developers sell off plots for factories or housing.

    Environmental damage usually trails rapid industrialization in developing countries. But Bangladesh is already one of the world’s most environmentally fragile places, densely populated yet braided by river systems, with a labyrinth of low-lying wetlands leading to the Bay of Bengal. Even as pollution threatens agriculture and public health, Bangladesh is acutely vulnerable to climate change, as rising sea levels and changing weather patterns could displace millions of people and sharply reduce crop yields.

    Here in Savar, an industrial suburb of Dhaka and the site of the collapsed Rana Plaza building, some factories treat their wastewater, but many do not have treatment plants or chose not to operate them to save on utility costs. Many of Savar’s canals or wetlands are now effectively retention ponds of untreated industrial waste.

    “Look, it’s not only in Savar,” said Mohammed Abdul Kader, who has been Savar’s mayor since his predecessor was suspended in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster. “The whole country is suffering from pollution. In Savar, we have lots of coconut trees, but they don’t produce coconuts anymore. Industrial pollution is damaging our fish stocks, our fruit produce, our vegetables.”

    Bangladesh has laws to protect the environment, a national environment ministry and new special courts for environmental cases. Yet pollution is rising, not falling, experts say, largely because of the political and economic power of industry.

    Tanneries and pharmaceutical plants are part of the problem, but textile and garment factories, a mainstay of the economy and a crucial source of employment, have the most clout. When the environment ministry appointed a tough-minded official who levied fines against textile and dyeing factories, complaining owners eventually forced his transfer.

    “Nobody in the country, at least at the government level, is thinking about sustainable development,” said Rizwana Hasan, a prominent environmental lawyer. “All of the natural resources have been severely degraded and depleted.”

    Less than two miles from the site of Rana Plaza, the Genda primary school has a student body made up mostly of the children of garment workers. Golam Rabbi, 11, who is the top-ranked student in the third grade there, lives with his mother and two younger brothers in a single room. The boys use price tags collected from factory floors as makeshift playing cards.

    “The school always smells,” Golam said. “Sometimes we can’t even eat there. It is making some kids sick. Sometimes my head spins. It is hard to concentrate.”

    Julfikar Ali Manik contributed reporting.

  • Limits in detecting acceleration of ice sheet mass loss due to climate variability

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    Nature Geoscience | Letter

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    Limits in detecting acceleration of ice sheet mass loss due to climate variability

    Nature Geoscience
    (2013)
    doi:10.1038/ngeo1874
    Received
    26 July 2012
    Accepted
    05 June 2013
    Published online
    14 July 2013

    The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have been reported to be losing mass at accelerating rates1, 2. If sustained, this accelerating mass loss will result in a global mean sea-level rise by the year 2100 that is approximately 43 cm greater than if a linear trend is assumed2. However, at present there is no scientific consensus on whether these reported accelerations result from variability inherent to the ice-sheet–climate system, or reflect long-term changes and thus permit extrapolation to the future3. Here we compare mass loss trends and accelerations in satellite data collected between January 2003 and September 2012 from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment to long-term mass balance time series from a regional surface mass balance model forced by re-analysis data. We find that the record length of spaceborne gravity observations is too short at present to meaningfully separate long-term accelerations from short-term ice sheet variability. We also find that the detection threshold of mass loss acceleration depends on record length: to detect an acceleration at an accuracy within ±10 Gt yr−2, a period of 10 years or more of observations is required for Antarctica and about 20 years for Greenland. Therefore, climate variability adds uncertainty to extrapolations of future mass loss and sea-level rise, underscoring the need for continuous long-term satellite monitoring.

    At a glance

    Figures

    First | 1-3 of 3 | Last

    left

    1. Recent mass changes of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.
      Figure 1
    2. Trend and acceleration uncertainty for Greenland.
      Figure 2
    3. Trend and acceleration uncertainty for Antarctica.
      Figure 3

    right

    Read the full article

    References

    1. Velicogna, I. Increasing rates of ice mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets revealed by GRACE. Geophys. Res. Lett. 36, L19503 (2009).
    2. Rignot, E., Velicogna, I., van den Broeke, M. R., Monaghan, A. & Lenaerts, J. Acceleration of the contribution of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to sea level rise. Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L05503 (2011).
    3. Bamber, J. L. & Aspinall, W. P. An expert judgement assessment of future sea level rise from the ice sheets. Nature Clim. Change 3, 424–427 (2013).
    4. Anthoff, D., Nicholls, R. & Tol, R. S. The economic impact of substantial sea-level rise. Mitig. Adapt. Strategies Glob. 15, 321–335 (2010).
    5. Meehl, G. et al. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007).
    6. Van den Broeke, M. et al. Partitioning recent greenland mass loss. Science 326, 984–986 (2009).
    7. Moon, T., Joughin, I., Smith, B. & Howat, I. 21st-century evolution of greenland outlet glacier velocities. Science 336, 576–578 (2012).
    8. Meier, M. F. et al. Glaciers dominate eustatic sea-level rise in the 21st century. Science 317, 1064–1067 (2007).
    9. Hu, A., Meehl, G., Han, W. & Yin, J. Effect of the potential melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet on the meridional overturning circulation and global climate in the future. Deep-Sea Res. Pt. II 58, 1914–1926 (2011).
    10. Hanna, E. et al. Greenland Ice Sheet surface mass balance 1870 to 2010 based on Twentieth Century Reanalysis, and links with global climate forcing. J. Geophys. Res. 116, D24121 (2011).
    11. Sasgen, I., Dobslaw, H., Martinec, Z. & Thomas, M. Satellite gravimetry observation of Antarctic snow accumulation related to ENSO. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 299, 352–358 (2010).
    12. Van den Broeke, M. & Lipzig, N. P. M. Changes in Antarctic temperature, wind and precipitation in response to the Antarctic Oscillation. Ann. Glaciol. 39, 119–126 (2004).
    13. Holland, D., Thomas, R., de Young, B., Ribergaard, M. & Lyberth, B. Acceleration of Jakobshavn Isbrae triggered by warm subsurface ocean waters. Nature Geosci. 1, 659–664 (2008).
    14. Hanna, E. et al. Hydrologic response of the Greenland ice sheet: The role of oceanographic warming. Hydrol. Processes 23, 7–30 (2009).
    15. Sohn, H-G., Jezek, K. C. & van der Veen, C. J. Jakobshavn Glacier, west Greenland: 30 years of spaceborne observations. Geophys. Res. Lett. 25, 2699–2702 (1998).
    16. Straneo, F. et al. Impact of fjord dynamics and glacial runoff on the circulation near Helheim Glacier. Nature Geosci. 4, 322–327 (2011).
    17. Zwally, H. J. et al. Greenland ice sheet mass balance: Distribution of increased mass loss with climate warming; 2003–07 versus 1992–2002. J. Glaciol. 57, 88–102 (2011).
    18. Shepherd, A. et al. A reconciled estimate of ice-sheet mass balance. Science 338, 1183–1189 (2012).
    19. Wouters, B., Chambers, D. & Schrama, E. GRACE observes small-scale mass loss in Greenland. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L20501 (2008).
    20. Sasgen, I. et al. Antarctic ice-mass balance 2002 to 2011: Regional re-analysis of GRACE satellite gravimetry measurements with improved estimate of glacial-isostatic adjustment. Cryosphere Discuss. 6, 3703–3732 (2012).
    21. A, G., Wahr, J. & Zhong, S. Computations of the viscoelastic response of a 3-D compressible Earth to surface loading: An application to Glacial Isostatic Adjustment in Antarctica and Canada. Geophys. J. Int. 192, 557–572 (2013).
    22. Wahr, J., Swenson, S. & Velicogna, I. Accuracy of GRACE mass estimates. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L06401 (2006).
    23. Van Meijgaard, E. et al. The KNMI Regional Atmospheric Climate Model RACMO Version 2.1 Tech. Rep., KNMI, De Bilt, The Netherlands (Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut, 2008).
    24. Ettema, J. et al. Higher surface mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet revealed by high-resolution climate modeling. Geophys. Res. Lett. 36, L12501 (2009).
    25. Lenaerts, J. T. M., van den Broeke, M. R., van de Berg, W. J., van Meijgaard, E. & Kuipers Munneke, P. A new, high-resolution surface mass balance map of Antarctica (1979–2010) based on regional atmospheric climate modeling. Geophys. Res. Lett. 39, L04501 (2012).
    26. Schwarz, G. Estimating the dimension of a model. Ann. Stat. 6, 461–464 (1978).
    27. Emmert, J. T. & Picone, J. M. Statistical uncertainty of 1967–2005 thermospheric density trends derived from orbital drag. J. Geophys. Res. 116, A00H09 (2011).
    28. Weatherhead, E. C. et al. Factors affecting the detection of trends: Statistical considerations and applications to environmental data. J. Geophys. Res. 103, 17149–17161 (1998).

    Download references

    Author information

    Affiliations

    1. Bristol Glaciology Centre, School of Geographical Science, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK

      • B. Wouters &
      • J. L. Bamber

    2. Department of Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

      • B. Wouters

    3. Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Utrecht University, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands

      • M. R. van den Broeke &
      • J. T. M. Lenaerts

    4. Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, 14473 Potsdam, Germany

      • I. Sasgen

    Contributions

    B.W. developed the idea and methodology and wrote the article. I.S. provided the GRACE data for Antarctica, J.T.M.L. and M.R.v.d.B. provided the SMB data and J.L.B. developed the methodology to calculate the ice discharge. All authors discussed and commented on the manuscript and methodology.

    Competing financial interests

    The authors declare no competing financial interests.

    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to:

    Supplementary information

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    Supplementary Information (4,829 KB)
     

  • The receding threat from ‘peak oil’

    The receding threat from ‘peak oil’

    Oil drilling in California Oil fields like this one have been producing reliably for decades – and show no sign of drying up

    Concerns about oil supplies running dry are receding, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

    Massive new discoveries in the US have led to a “dramatic” change in global prospects.

    The IEA’s head of oil markets, Antoine Halff, says forecasts have had to be repeatedly revised upwards in the past two years.

    Declining US production has been reversed as oil extracted from shale and other new sources comes on stream.

    Mr Halff told BBC News that concerns about an approaching “peak” in oil production have been “moved to the back burner”.

    “Just a few years ago, everybody thought US production was in permanent decline, that the nation had to face the prospect of continuously rising imports – and now the country is moving towards self-sufficiency,” he explained.

    “In the last few years, many forecasters have had to revise their forecasts upwards continuously – sometimes the ink was not dry on the previous forecasts before they had to raise their outlooks again.”

    Developments in major new fields in Texas and North Dakota are behind the change in US oil fortunes, with the so-called Monterey shale beneath California also in prospect.

    According to one IEA estimate, the US may be on course to produce as much oil as Saudi Arabia by 2020, and possibly as soon as 2017.

    Technological revolution

    New technologies have made it possible to exploit oil trapped in types of rock, particularly shale, that were previously thought too difficult to access.

    “Start Quote

    There’s enough oil in this country for another 100 years with our present technology”

    Fred Holmes Independent oil producer

    The same techniques that have enabled the extraordinary rise in shale gas production can be used to reach oil as well.

    Visualisations of seismic data in 3D are one new tool being used to help understand patterns in the geology, and in particular to identify formations of shale that might contain oil or gas.

    The technique of horizontal drilling – the ability to steer drills laterally through rock – has opened up the possibility of extracting oil from entire layers of shale.

    And the controversial practice of “fracking” – fracturing rock under high fluid pressure – allows oil and gas to be freed from rocks previously considered too tightly-packed to exploit.

    This follows a pattern of technical innovations to find new ways of extracting oil from existing fields that might otherwise be depleted.

    Fracking Technologies like fracking allow fossil fuels to be freed from geology previously thought too difficult to exploit

    In central California, where the first oil wells began to flow as far back as the 1890s, the oil originally emerged from the ground under its own pressure.

    In the 1940s, operators had to introduce the technique of injecting steam into the wells to free up the oil and flush it to the surface, a method still in use today.

    More recently, horizontal drilling – in which drills reach more than a mile down and then along – has reached reserves otherwise considered closed.

    According to one independent oil producer, Fred Holmes of Holmes Western, the key factor is a high price for oil, making it worthwhile to continue exploiting existing fields and explore new ones.

    “There’s still plenty of oil – we just haven’t got all of it out of the ground yet. There’s not a real danger of there being no fossil fuel… the oil is still valuable and it’s not easy to get,” he told BBC News.

    “There’s enough oil in this country for another 100 years with our present technology and there’s more around the world to be found yet.”

    Mr Holmes said that the average yield of the San Joaquin valley area was declining by about 8% a year but that new wells and new methods kept production viable.

    New rush

    The Monterey shale beneath California is estimated to contain a vast 15 billion barrels of oil – potentially worth $500bn (£330bn) – though there are uncertainties about whether the complex geology will allow easy extraction.

    Oilfield new build New extraction efforts are happening across a country once thought to be in oil-production decline

    The prospect of a new oil rush has angered environmental campaigners, who argue that the focus should remain on a transition away from fossil fuels.

    Kassie Siegel of the Centre for Biological Diversity said that “a rapid shift to clean energy” was needed to help tackle climate change, and that the mere existence of new oil resources did not mean that they had to be extracted and burned.

    She told BBC News: “We need to win the battle against this big new oil boom in California – and we have to win it in California, where we pride ourselves on being a leader in responding to the climate crisis. Because if we can’t win in California, where in the US can we win it?

    “We’re faced with a choice about what we’re going to do with all this new oil – and we cannot burn this oil without lighting the fuse on a carbon bomb which would shatter our state’s efforts to deal with greenhouse gas emissions.”

    Tom Frantz, an almond farmer and campaigner, has kept watch on the first fracking operations in the area of Shafter, near Bakersfield in California, as oil companies start exploring the potential of the Monterey shale.

    “This is the tip of the iceberg with 70 wells,” he told BBC News. “There could be 500 wells in the same area in three years if it’s economical and this could extend north.

    “Everybody in the path of this thing could be run over in a tidal wave of oil drilling and fracking and hazardous emissions.”

    None of the many companies operating in the area offered any comment when approached by the BBC. The issue remains highly controversial.

    A key factor behind the development of new resources is the relatively high global price for oil. Extracting oil from “unconventional” sources such as “tight” rocks like shale costs more than from traditional reservoirs – and requires far more energy – so only becomes viable at certain price levels.

    A paper published last week in Eos, the newsletter of the American Geophysical Union, supports the assertion that a peak in oil production is “a myth” but argues that the rising cost of extraction could itself provide a limit, and may act as a brake on economic growth.

    Authors James Murray and Jim Hansen, questioning the optimism of energy companies, say production from unconventional sources often falls away rapidly. “The steep declines in production from tight oil wells over time require an ever-increasing treadmill of new drilling just to stay constant.”

    One leading industry figure summed up his view: “The era of cheap oil is over, but we’re a long way from peak oil – costs will go up but then technology will respond.”

    It would appear the age of oil itself is far from over.

    David Shukman Article written by David Shukman David Shukman Science editor

    Synthetic biology: A new battleground?

    02:08 UK time, Friday, 12 July 2013

    Will the emerging science of designing and engineering of new forms of life get the same hostile reception as genetically modified food and crops?

    Read full article

    Comments

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    • Rate this comment positivelyRate this comment negatively

      +1

      Comment number 6.

      Christopher Arnold
      5 Minutes ago

      I just went to the International Energy Agency’s website and there was virtually nothing about renewables. I dare say BP and the like have hand up that particular dummy’s back.

       

    • Rate this comment positivelyRate this comment negatively

      0

      Comment number 5.

      Mark
      6 Minutes ago

      So when we were told we had 50 years of oil left and the prices went up. We infact had lots of oil left. Will the price come down? No.

      Surprised….NOT.

      so in our search for an alternative we discovered fracking.
      We going to call them off now we have lots more oil than we thought?
      No.

      Surprised…NOT.

       

    • Rate this comment positivelyRate this comment negatively

      0

      Comment number 4.

      outsidethebox
      10 Minutes ago

      Good news, disaster postponed for a few decades. Roll on the gay 30’s.

       

    • Rate this comment positivelyRate this comment negatively

      0

      Comment number 3.

      BLACK_PEARL
      23 Minutes ago

      “We’re faced with a choice about what we’re going to do with all this new oil – and we cannot burn this oil without lighting the fuse on a carbon bomb which would shatter our state’s efforts to deal with greenhouse gas emissions.”
      *****
      Ah theres always got to be an alarmist statement to keep the ball rolling. “Carbon Bomb” thats a good one

    •  

  • Labor and Coalition neck and neck in latest Nielsen poll, Rudd leads as preferred PM

    ( Rudd can wait till November to call an election. By which time he may be ahead in the polling. He is in no hurry. We don’t wish to see another hung parliament )

     

     

    Labor and Coalition neck and neck in latest Nielsen poll, Rudd leads as preferred PM

    Updated 4 minutes ago

    Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is continuing to brush off questions about the timing of the election, despite Labor experiencing a significant bounce in the opinion polls.

    Today’s Fairfax/Nielsen poll says the two major parties each have 50 per cent of the two-party preferred vote – a seven-point gain for Labor on last month’s result.

    The ALP’s primary vote has jumped 10 points to 39 per cent, while Mr Rudd leads Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister 55 per cent to 41.

    The Coalition’s primary vote was down three points to 44 per cent, while the Greens’ primary vote fell two points to 9 per cent.

    The poll’s margin of error is 2.6 percentage points.

    Last week a Newspoll, published in The Australian newspaper, also found Labor and the Coalition locked in a dead heat after preferences.

    Speaking in Papua New Guinea this morning, Mr Rudd would not say whether he would call the election soon to capitalise on the results.

    “[There are] a lot of challenges ahead, we’re working on them one by one,” he said.

    This morning Mr Abbott told Channel 9 he always expected the polls would tighten.

    “My instinct is that what they’re really doing is showing their relief at the departure of an unpopular prime minister,” he said.

    Carbon tax dumped, one year early

    The Nielsen poll was published after the Government confirmed it would scrap the carbon tax and move to an emissions trading scheme next year – one year earlier than originally planned.

    The fixed carbon price of $24.15 a tonne will be removed in favour of a floating price, thought to be between $6 and $10 a tonne.

    Families will still receive compensation packages for the carbon tax, but the Government admits cuts will have to be made in other areas to pay for the change.

    Mr Rudd says decisions about where the savings will come from are still under discussion.

    “It necessarily has to be budget-neutral. The key thing though with this change, it would mean that Australian families have less cost-of-living pressures and it would also mean strong action still on climate change,” he said.

    Rudd in PNG for talks with O’Neill before heading to Townsville

    Meanwhile, Mr Rudd is in PNG today and will meet with prime minister Peter O’Neill to discuss offshore processing.

    Immigration Minister Tony Burke will attend the talks to discuss the progress on building the Manus Island detention centre.

    The talks will also include trade, regional security and aid.

    Mr Rudd is due to fly back to Australia today and will visit the north Queensland city of Townsville this afternoon.

    Topics: federal-government, government-and-politics, alp, liberals, foreign-affairs, federal-elections, federal-election, australia, papua-new-guinea

    First posted 4 hours 0 minutes ago

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    abc4lnp

    9:51 AM on 15/07/2013

    This comment is hidden because you have chosen to ignore abc4lnp. Show DetailsHide Details

    The plan was always to transition to an ETS which has been Labor policy for years now so the emotive headlines about dumping and scrapping are just that, childish words from junior tabloid apprentices.
    The part Abbott is in denial over is that the public hate him, it’s not so much about na unpopular PM as an incredibly unpopular Opposition Leader

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    wayglo

    9:46 AM on 15/07/2013

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    So far the new Kevin Rudd is very popular with the public he has talked a lot and criticised a lot, but just what new policies has the new Kevin come up with?
    I can`t find any after all the talking and the Kevin Advertisement where Kevin talks about his vision or ideas, but no real policies or how he will change or implement the many areas he talks about in the media interviews.
    Yes, I agree he has made a point of areas of concern for all of us, the economy, business confidence, unemployment, pensions, carbon tax, utilities being to high, illegal arrivals, people smugglers, industry slow down, the end of the resources boom.
    But just what he will do when asked a question on any of the above, all we get is spin and vague replies or excuses like, that policy is being discussed by Cabinet so i`m not going to give my opinion as it`s cabinet decision
    A couple of examples: the carbon price is on Cabinet’s agenda and the claim it will move to a cheaper trading scheme next year, can that be trusted given passed history on pre election promises by Labor and that another budget would be handed down before the so-called switch
    Asylum seekers: President Yudhoyono is hosting regional conference of ministers – “I would expect it to happen within months.”

    So we have a new Kevin, looks the same talks, smiles and acts the same but he`s the new Kevin we are told, and he continually Claims Tony and the Liberal have no policies

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    rgg

    9:34 AM on 15/07/2013

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    The move to emission trading was part of Labor’s plan. It has been brought forward by one year.
    Abbott’s direct action plan will be a catastrophy for tax payers. He will pay big poluters to ‘volontarily’reduce emissions and pigs might fly. He will pay them out of our taxes.
    The only hope for the Liberals is to dump Abbott and install Malcolm Turnbull who at least believes in emission trading. So does John Howard. It is Howard’s policy at his last election.

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    green day

    9:18 AM on 15/07/2013

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    Just vote Greens people… enough of these clowns in Labour. We NEED carbon tax, we NEED $50 extra for Newstart allowance, and yeah – tax those banks they’re just making themselves and everyone else working in them, rich!

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    lugsmobile

    9:01 AM on 15/07/2013

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    Abbott is completely hopeless. Can’t answer searching questions, can’t say what he thinks without putting his foot in his mouth, lost without a slogan, not well read or fully informed on the issues he argues against.. only knows how to say no, lies constantly.
    The real surprise with these poll results is how high Abbott’s ratings are… Tony is only headed in one direction… south. Bring on the Coalition leadership challenge… but who could you possibly replace him with who has any credibility and has any support within the party. The only person with some credibility (Turnbull) has no internal party support.

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    billagurra

    8:53 AM on 15/07/2013

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    Good on you private parts. And Mr Abbott will I am sure provide all.Our debt is minscule and does not impact on you at all. We enjoy a higher standard of living than ever before in our history. Interest rates are in the basement, unemployment 5% or so, mining companies making billions, gas royalties exploding, what is your problem, you want more?
    Get real and stop catatrophising a great state of wealth and opportunity.
    The pain is in your head!!

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    scupundi

    8:37 AM on 15/07/2013

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    The PM said it was the greatest moral challenge of our time. The former PM introduced the carbon tax when she totally ruled out introducing one before the election. The ALP has been banging the table for the last 2years telling us why we needed a carbon tax.

    Now on election eve when they know the carbon tax is just a gratuitous tax that does nothing they scrap it. What a joke!

    The ALP stand for nothing other than getting elected.

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    gbe

    8:24 AM on 15/07/2013

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    As the saying goes you get the government you deserve and it looks like Rudd’s all noise do nothing scatter gun style of Government is all Australia deserves.

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    private parts

    8:04 AM on 15/07/2013

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    The electorate clearly want some more Labor pain but why is beyond me. In just 6 years the country has incurred a massive debt creating $22 million a day in interest alone. By any measure Labor is dysfunctional and incompetent and all this from a Labor voter. I want a better Australia for my children and grand children and all I got was mismanagement and waste from labor.

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    bob jones

    6:59 AM on 15/07/2013

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    Of course they are neck and neck. Gillard’s gone and Queenslanders love Kevin. After watching Abbott’s new ads last night it is apparent he hasn’t learnt anything about negativity being the reason his popularity is so low. If he was the only one contesting this election I’d pay a fine!

    Australians are starting to wake up to the fact that his smear campaign of the last 3 years has destroyed consumer confidence. How is he worthy of being our PM? A prime minister is suppose to love their country, not hold it back. It’s one thing to hold a government to account in opposition but he has way overstepped the mark. Rudd’s proposed ETS is now cheaper than Abbott’s proposal so that merely exposes his advert against it a lie and most Australians want the monopoly for Telstra to end and support the ALP’s broadband .

    Sorry Tony but I’m prepared to risk another 3 years on the ALP.

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    Australia Votes

    Visit the ABC’s 2013 federal election website for:

  • Abbott launches counter-offensive

    Abbott launches counter-offensive

    Tara Ravens, AAPJuly 14, 2013, 6:53 pm

    Tony Abbott has brought a gun to a knife fight.

    The Liberal leader launched a counter-offensive to Kevin Rudd’s incursion into Liberal territory on Sunday, declaring if he can’t win the Labor held seat of Reid he’ll struggle to win government.

    “We are starting our campaign, in effect, from today,” Mr Abbott told a room full of party faithful at a function for Craig Laundy, the Liberal candidate for the western Sydney seat and son of pub baron Arthur Laundy.

    “This is a critical electorate: if we can’t win Reid, it will be very hard to win government.”

    Tellingly, Mr Abbott has indicated he still plans to blitzkrieg what was once impenetrable Labor heartland – despite the Rudd effect.

    And he’s effectively shadow boxing Mr Rudd, who’s launched an ambitious attack on the coalition’s marginal seats since assuming the leadership.

    The prime minister spent Sunday in the federal Queensland seat of Leichhardt, held by Liberal MP Warren Entsch on a slim margin 4.6 per cent.

    But the opposition leader won’t be cowed.

    Reid was among a slew of seats likely to have fallen to the Liberals if Gillard had led Labor to the election, but after the bounce from Rudd’s return there are now high hopes John Murphy will keep the seat he holds on a margin of 2.7 per cent.

    If it’s lost it will be the first time it has been held by a Liberal politician since its creation in 1922.

    Mr Abbott went into Labor heartland on Sunday to telegraph a clear message to a resurgent Labor that he plans to take on the Rudd revival head on, rather than adopting a defensive or small target strategy.

    He’s also making a bold play for the voters of western Sydney, who recently turned to the state Liberals in an unprecedented swing.

    “It’s a message of hope, reward and opportunity: it’s what we need after six years of chaos, division and dysfunction,” Mr Abbott told them.

    The coalition pushed the button on the federal election campaign on Sunday with a multi-million advertising campaign targeting Mr Rudd, to start airing from prime time.

    After working the room with wife Margie, Mr Abbott was asked if he would prefer to go to an early or late election.

    “It’s not about me, that’s the interesting thing. It is, as far as Kevin is concerned, all about him … It should be about the people of Australia.”