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BUDGET LIKED

Centrebet election prices at the start of last week:

Labor: $1.72
Coalition: $2.05

At week’s end, following Labor’s IR difficulties:

Labor: $1.77
Coalition: $1.95

And now:

Labor: $1.87
Coalition: $1.90

UPDATE. Sweeter numbers still at Sportsbet. (Via Infidel Tiger)

Posted by Tim B. on 05/09/2007 at 11:07 PM
  1. Hit the post button a few times?

    Posted by Anthony_ on 2007 05 09 at 11:10 PM • permalink

  2. Don’t drink and post!

    Posted by Crispytoast on 2007 05 09 at 11:12 PM • permalink

  3. Whoa!  Am I seeing double?  Er...uh… triple?  I haven’t been drinking, I swear.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 05 09 at 11:15 PM • permalink

  4. I think it’s a trick. Depending on which post we comment under, we either get accepted into the Inner Circle, stuck with lifetime Helicopter Polishing duty, or sent to the helium-3 mines of Asteroid 345B-1.

    Maybe I should post in all three threads. To be safe.

    Posted by Crispytoast on 2007 05 09 at 11:15 PM • permalink

  5. it’s good news & worth reading 3 times

    Posted by KK on 2007 05 09 at 11:16 PM • permalink

  6. This is the work of Truther’s. Theyr wotching him wif there eyes…

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 05 09 at 11:21 PM • permalink

  7. Could have took this one away instead tim b. Mine looked nice and arty.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 05 09 at 11:24 PM • permalink

  8. Apologies for the multiposts - something is screwy with the system. We now return to our customary singularity.

    Posted by Tim B. on 2007 05 09 at 11:25 PM • permalink

  9. Sure, blame the system.

    Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 05 09 at 11:27 PM • permalink

  10. It’s a change from blaming “The Man” and “Whitey”.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 05 09 at 11:30 PM • permalink


  11. A topic so nice it was posted thrice.

    Posted by lingus4 on 2007 05 09 at 11:35 PM • permalink

  12. Jeez Infidel. You had me worried for a minute there. I thought you’d started a blog.

    Posted by JonathanH on 2007 05 10 at 12:06 AM • permalink

  13. I got thress on the coalition a few weeks back; it saddens me to have to take a wedge off a poor, struggling bookie- no gold plating for the badgework on the Bentley this year.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 05 10 at 12:06 AM • permalink

  14. #13 - Blogs are like piss-ups. Better fun at other people’s places.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 05 10 at 12:11 AM • permalink

  15. #6 Infidel Tiger

    This is the work of Truther’s. Theyr wotching him wif there eyes…

    =^D

    This time it’s the Troofers, next time it’ll be some other foolish comedy. The Left can always be counted on to shoot themselves in their collective foot.

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 05 10 at 12:19 AM • permalink

  16. Psychologists have long known about this sort of repetitious behaviour in patients who have been subjected to extreme debunkening.

    Posted by Whale Spinor on 2007 05 10 at 12:21 AM • permalink

  17. And you don’t have to clean up the chunder either. Oddly enough I haven’t been able to place a wager with any of the lefties who I cleaned out three years ago (several of whom tried to welsh), even offering start. while there’s confidence in the meeja, it’s not replicated among the true believers. I reccomend taking all the action you can get on JWH, I can see Kruddy getting beaten like an evicted orphan.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 05 10 at 12:23 AM • permalink

  18. Tim Blair was locked in a cell in Canberra for 8 hours without sunlight. His only company was the budget and Alan Ramsay. He has since put on 12kgs, turned bi-sexual and is a multi-poster. HoWARd’s Australia has come home to roost for this one time neo-con spruiker.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 05 10 at 12:24 AM • permalink

  19. crispytoast—you’ve been assigned to polish the helium dredges.  We’ll talk about the term limit later…

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 05 10 at 12:29 AM • permalink

  20. They are a beautiful set of numbers!

    Posted by Razor on 2007 05 10 at 12:34 AM • permalink

  21. Oooo ... “term limit”! Things are finally looking up!

    Posted by Crispytoast on 2007 05 10 at 12:54 AM • permalink

  22. You can see it all charted beautifully at Ozpolitics here:
    http://www.ozpolitics.info/blog/2007/05/09/betting-market-update-38/

    Be aware though, Bryan runs a great site but his commenters are mostly wingnuts who are too left wing for Richard Nevilles site.

    Posted by Gibbo on 2007 05 10 at 12:55 AM • permalink

  23. It’s shameful how Howard and Costello have blatantly tried to please voters with good economic management.

    Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 05 10 at 12:59 AM • permalink

  24. And the ABC’s pinup girl at $4.25 - lovely!

    Should have kept the Mosman pad, Maxine.

    Posted by graboy on 2007 05 10 at 01:11 AM • permalink

  25. I’d rather not think about Maxine’s pad if it’s all the same to you.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 05 10 at 01:15 AM • permalink

  26. Are these numbers ‘real’? Come on guys, can’t you see the truth in this conspiracy. If you put all of those numbers together and dial them, you get to the CIA in Langley! This means the US Government is rigging the election.

    Posted by Nic on 2007 05 10 at 01:48 AM • permalink

  27. Another headline to make Laborites weep:

    Jobless rate at lowest since the Whitlam era

    Posted by Nic on 2007 05 10 at 01:51 AM • permalink

  28. I think Mrs Hogg’s going to be fronting at the personnel office of the ABC in early December. There may actually be some vacancies, as I think another Howard victory will cause the likes of Tony Jones and Red Kezza to spontaneously combust; if it happens on air it’ll be the first night they’ve actually earned their pay.

    Posted by Habib on 2007 05 10 at 02:00 AM • permalink

  29. Off topic, but breaking news!

    Andrea, have you seen this?

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 05 10 at 02:05 AM • permalink

  30. "Off topic, but breaking news!”

    Andrea, have you seen this?

    Careful, she will huff and she’ll puff and blow your town down.

    Comment fixed. The Mgmt.

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 05 10 at 02:09 AM • permalink

  31. Oops, think I left the lid off the italics jar.

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 05 10 at 02:19 AM • permalink

  32. I gather some of you don’t punt a lot, so let me set you straight. The incumbents offer the best value. You’ll never get another chance to back them at $2.25 as they were in March of this year.

    Still, at $1.90 they remain excellent value but you’ll have to get on now if you want to get that price. I think the Coalition will shorten after the Budget and be at or around $1.50 by mid-July.

    But I wouldn’t be getting too excited over Howard’s odds in Bennelong. A sitting Prime Minister paying $1.18 (5/6 or 6/5 on) to hold his own seat is almost unheard of. For example Howard would have been paying $1.02 (1/50 or 50 to 1 on) in 2004, if indeed a bookie would take the bet. 

    If you’re a punter (ignore the politics for a moment this is gambling we’re talking about and is much more important), you’d be looking long and hard at the 7/2 odds on Maxine getting a nick under a four per cent swing in Bennelong. That’s 7/2 odds to win in what is virtually a two horse race. That’s a smart bet at odds, right there.

    So, I wonder what the odds are that Costello will be PM by December?

    Make inquiries through your local bookmaker. It may be the best value bet of the political cycle.

    Posted by Racing on 2007 05 10 at 02:22 AM • permalink

  33. Somebody’s in for it now…

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 05 10 at 02:24 AM • permalink

  34. Really.

    Still strikey?

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 05 10 at 02:25 AM • permalink

  35. Wha...?

    Damn.

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 05 10 at 02:26 AM • permalink

  36. Oh, d’oh! Underlinely…

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 05 10 at 02:27 AM • permalink

  37. Whew… hopefully Sub-Tropical Storm Andrea won’t notice.

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 05 10 at 02:28 AM • permalink

  38. Sssssssssshhhhh!!!!  Don’t tell her :-)

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 05 10 at 02:29 AM • permalink

  39. I notice at sporstbet that Hilary is top weight to be the next POTUS - paying $3. That is ridiculously short. She’s not even polling well at home.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 05 10 at 02:40 AM • permalink

  40. #40 Infidel, absolutely.

    I took “Any Other” for $6 a few months ago, given that the Gorebaloney himself is sure to make a run. 

    And if he runs, he’ll win the nomination because he’s the only one mad enough for the nutroots and other assorted whackers who make up the modern-day Dumbocrats.

    Money for jam at 6-to-1.

    Posted by Apparatchik on 2007 05 10 at 02:56 AM • permalink

  41. O/T
    Aidan Archer-O’Leary remember his name. He may be Australia’s first Victoria Cross recipient since the Vietnam War.

    Posted by kae on 2007 05 10 at 03:14 AM • permalink

  42. G’day surfie.

    Posted by kae on 2007 05 10 at 03:18 AM • permalink

  43. Hi Kae

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 05 10 at 03:24 AM • permalink

  44. Well, I’m happy; $1,000 on the coalition at $2.10 three months ago.

    Posted by Pericles on 2007 05 10 at 03:35 AM • permalink

  45. #42 kae

    - from the 7:30 Report

    MATT BROWN: The Australians were determined not to let their flag fall into enemy hands, so before they left, they took it with them.

    Bravo.

    And yet, here at home, Sheikh Hilali is often photographed draped in the Austraian flag.

    And Hilali is not doing this as a gesture of patriotism but as a symbol of Islamic supremacism and as pre-ordained by Allah, the Islamic Caliphate stretching over the entire globe.
    Just ask Mickey Mouse, or should I say Farfur.

    Posted by Mike_W on 2007 05 10 at 03:41 AM • permalink

  46. #42, Kae,

    was O’Leary the one who returned to the flaming APC and took hold of the gun to provide cover fire?

    Posted by Nic on 2007 05 10 at 03:42 AM • permalink

  47. Even the ABC concedes that the KRudder has looked weary [code for rattled?] of late, can’t wait for the reply speech (only one square of TP now, Kevni).

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 05 10 at 04:07 AM • permalink

  48. Costello is going to have such fun with the 4.4% unemployment figure after all the Labor scare campaigns about workers losing their jobs. I’ll avoid the ABC tonight with Dudd’s speech--might join the wife watching Big Brother.More relevant to Australia than the ALP.

    Posted by Hoges on 2007 05 10 at 05:18 AM • permalink

  49. Guys, preview your comments before submitting.

    Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2007 05 10 at 05:56 AM • permalink

  50. Sorry Andrea, uppercut delivered to self.

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 05 10 at 06:06 AM • permalink

  51. #48
    Apparently, the KRudder has launched an advertising campaign to coincide with his budget reply speech - along the lines of being an ‘economic conservative’ ... joined the wrong party, ol’ boy?

    More plastic Howard.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 05 10 at 06:42 AM • permalink

  52. Wow, what a reply to the Budget from Kevin Rudd. I was wondering, at the beginning, how the world around me was doing, and Kev gave it to me straight. Then the lesson was on education and productivity, what they were and how they helped. Sure sorted out a few misconceptions for me there. Good of him, too, to make it clear to us all that Australia’s strong economic performance is entirely due to the mining boom and the economy in other countries. Sheesh, tempted me to wonder if, that being the case, there was any point in having government at all, but the last time I started dwelling on those likes, I ended up missing the show.

    Inevitable, I suppose, that he had to pay lip service to some of the technical stuff; you know, the stuff they actually want to do when elected. There are three things they want to do this time...I think it was three; damn, thought I had the first one...arrgh, it’s on the tip of my tongue...ahh yes! New workshop centres in high schools so the kids can start learning a trade instead of dropping out early. Okydoke,that one might not stink; horses for courses, as they say. What else? Oh yeah, money to increase pre-literacy and pre-numeracy levels. Bit disappointing, I thought. Who wants a pre-literate little bundle of ADHD? Drop that stupid outcomes-based reporting and whole-word reading/spelling instead. ("Jonny’s working on his vocabulary and comprehension, Mrs Blair.” “Yes, Mr Pink, but can he understand what he reads.” “No...but he can recognise a cat, no matter how many different drawings you show him of one.”

    One last big item of spending, important for the climate, or drought or some such. Yes! Fix all the leaky pipes.

    Full marks, Kevin, for tackling those major issues of our times head on, when others might have offered up a few token peripheral policies most people couldn’t care less about. Let the media and public reflect on the disparity between the Coalition’s A Major 12th Symphony and your little Three Penny Opera. Don’t want to get too far ahead in the polls, huh? I understand. Wink, wink, say no more, say no more.

    Posted by Dminor on 2007 05 10 at 07:12 AM • permalink

  53. My wife and I were like “WTF”.  Is that all you can say?

    He raved on about productivity, but his ONLY policy is to remove AWA’s and let unions negotiate productivity for all.

    Can they get through their thick heads that you can only work so fast, only put in new technology once it is available and only learn so much?

    Hawke got a huge productivity boost because guess what?  Machines came along to do most of the manufacturing and computers reached most businesses, improving it out of sight.  But we are now preparing for the next leap in productivity and no wonder it has slowed - you cannot blame LJH for the slowdown.

    oh yeah, I’m sure 3 million school kids learning mandarin will boost our economy - idiot.

    As I said in the bolt thread, what if no school takes up his funding offer because they dont have room to build his tech trade buildings?  Why replace what tafe’s already have for 2.5 billion wasted bucks?

    hopeless speech - all dramatic bold type highlights so put on it was hilarious.  Did his hair move out of place with all that head tilting - nope.  lol

    Posted by peter m on 2007 05 10 at 07:24 AM • permalink

  54. Rudd:

    Mr Rudd said the trades schools plan would give every secondary school - government and non-government - between $500,000 and $1.5 million to build trade workshops, computer labs and other facilities to expand vocational education and training opportunities.

    He said schools could apply to build metal workshops, commercial kitchens, automotive workshops, plumbing workshops, graphic design labs and ICT labs.

    Schools would be able to use the money to buy drills, grinders, wood and metal turning lathes, ovens, soldering and welding equipment and computers.

    My first thought was, lol, he’s trying to grow a new generation of blue collar union members.

    My second was, what school in their right mind would return to the subjects that they abandoned long ago? Cripes, Accounting would be a better alternative for the aspirations of students than this Dickensian plan.

    Posted by Nic on 2007 05 10 at 07:32 AM • permalink

  55. I think that Bill Murray’s line from Stripes (it was made 26 years ago!) might apply to Labor supporters right about now:

    "And then...depression set in"

    Who, who, who in the Labor Party came up with the leaky pipe idea?

    And who’s going to fix them? The skills shortage means that you can’t get a plumber to save yourself.

    Last election it was Latham’s forest policy that chopped down Labor’s election chances.

    This time around we have the existential national emergency of leaky pipes to sink their chances.

    Remarkable.

    Posted by Jack Lacton on 2007 05 10 at 07:32 AM • permalink

  56. And this:

    "If elected to government, we will implement one of the biggest reforms in vocational education and training in Australian schools in history,” Mr Rudd said.

    If so, just wheredid all those technical schools we used to have,go? More importantly, why did they go?

    Posted by Nic on 2007 05 10 at 07:36 AM • permalink

  57. If so, just wheredid all those technical schools we used to have,go? More importantly, why did they go?

    The unions killed them, not by a straight out assault but by a slow strangulation of manufacturing and trades based industry.  Unions keep using their overblown power to get more money, more leave, more entitlements for workers.  That is good for the workers, except, our wages and conditions far exceed the global market, therefore manufacturing goes offshore to where you can buy labour for a dollar an hour, no OH&S, no workcover, no unions and reasonable quality.  That eventually puts paid to the jobs, next to go are the tech schools and tafes that teach those trades, no demand for skilled labour means no demand for training positions.  Unions are their own worst enemy through taking to much from business who then go somewhere else.

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 05 10 at 07:46 AM • permalink

  58. Rudd performs best when he thinks he is running rings around his opponents. Remember his comment about playing with Howard’s brain a few months back.

    That was just too cocky. Rudd already has demonstrated his glass jaw and who can forget his shaking leg the first time he said he was wrong.

    Howard doesn’t need to be leading at this stage. All he has to be is close enough to Rudd to put him under pressure. After that, Rudd should do the rest himself.

    But if Rudd starts to slip ahead again, I reckon Howard will decide to quit in July. He will know it is time for a younger contender on the Libs’ side.

    Posted by Contrail on 2007 05 10 at 08:27 AM • permalink

  59. Sorry cynics, you’ve missed it. Mandarin speaking leaky pipe fixing plumbers with ovens, arc welders and soldering irons (all carbon neutral) will lift us out of the parlous economic circumstances we now find ourselves in. It’s that simple really.

    Posted by Whale Spinor on 2007 05 10 at 08:37 AM • permalink

  60. #55
    Schools would be able to use the money to buy drills, grinders, wood and metal turning lathes, ovens, soldering and welding equipment ...

    The waistband of KRuddy’s grundies are prolly still hanging on the back of the machine shop door from 35 years ago, he prolly still has nightmares about atomic wedgies.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 05 10 at 08:54 AM • permalink

  61. Sounds like Kev has caught the Back to the Future bug, and we’re in for a new round of unionised tradesmen, extruded from what were High Schools, but will be TAFEs. Did he mention Carburettor Optimisation Jigs?
    Loved the TV coverage. All those earnest heads nodding in the background. Except for Albanese, who seemed a bit distracted. At least the somnolent Macklin wasn’t there. Full Points for discipline. As for that Lib. lady backbencher who blinked and grimaced all through Costello’s big half hour - talk about the weakest link blink!

    Posted by blogstrop on 2007 05 10 at 08:59 AM • permalink

  62. Subtropical?  Come on, Andrea, apply yourself!

    You can’t leave all the fun to Hurricane Tipper…

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 05 10 at 09:06 AM • permalink

  63. Is it me or has pixieness rubbed off from all those kisses passed between Rudd and Gillard?  She is looking sharper, uglier and has even adopted her fearless leaders hairdo bowler head hairstyle.  Seriously, all she needs to do is dye her hair sandy(?) and whack on some specs and we wont know the difference until she opens her mouth.  Then we run!

    Posted by peter m on 2007 05 10 at 09:07 AM • permalink

  64. I saw Kev on TV this morning, what a nancy-boy. I can’t see the Labor heartland being too enamoured of him at all.

    Posted by Nic on 2007 05 10 at 09:10 AM • permalink

  65. I don’t know Nic: Mike Rann, Steve Bracks, Morris Iemma, John Stanhope et al aren’t exactly macho, take-charge types.

    Posted by Art Vandelay on 2007 05 10 at 09:13 AM • permalink

  66. OT: Antony Loewenstein is having a go at Tim again.

    Link

    Posted by Villeurbanne on 2007 05 10 at 10:04 AM • permalink

  67. #14

    Habib, You got threes on the incumbent? I’d like to see that ticket. Not that I don’t believe you or anything.

    Never mind a Bentley, a bookie who offers 3/1 on the return of a conservative government in Australia with the economy in overdrive would be flat out travelling around in a Datsun 180B.

    You may have to take his thumbs.

    Posted by Racing on 2007 05 10 at 10:12 AM • permalink

  68. "The government’s answer [to the “skills crisis"] was to set up Australian Technical Colleges. When they realised that wouldn’t work, they announced the $837 million Skills for the Future program.”

    - Rudd, 27 February 2007.

    The federal Opposition Leader has moved to reclaim the education debate by pledging $2.5 billion to build new Trades Training Centres across Australia if Labor wins government.

    - Rudd earlier tonight.

    Badger engineering.

    Posted by C.L. on 2007 05 10 at 10:14 AM • permalink

  69. Skynews Poll is at 74% to 26% in Costello’s favour on “Who do you think won the battle of the Budget?” at the moment. As you would expect frankly.

    http://www.skynews.com.au/index.asp

    Posted by Srekwah on 2007 05 10 at 10:19 AM • permalink

  70. 75% to 25% now Srekwah.

    Does that mean my vote actually counted on a Sky News Poll?

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 05 10 at 10:29 AM • permalink

  71. #70
    Cripes! Doesn’t Gizzard look surly in that pic (’... and stop calling me surly!’ :)

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 05 10 at 10:33 AM • permalink

  72. #64
    Costello was geeing-up Kevni in parliament to ‘free himself’ of Gillard and her Union policies in order to gain the productivity he espoused ... Costello exploiting rumours of internal Labor tensions?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 05 10 at 10:48 AM • permalink

  73. Krudd and his band of Kruddites luddites have failed to grasp that the Howard Government’s plans for skills expansion is now starting to bear fruit, with more apprenticeships and training places being taken up and people moving from non or semi skilled occupations into higher skilled positions because of the incentives for mature aged workers to do this. This kind of activity, which even Krudd says is needed, will bring about a short term drop in productivity while the training is undertaken. Even though I’m more a Howard supporter than a Costello supporter, I know that with Krudd’s lack of economic credibility, I suspect that a ‘vote for Howard is a vote for Costello’ campaign would fail in an even more spectacular way if Labor was to use it during the upcoming campaign. In fact, after the way Costello has handled himself recently and through the budget proccess, I’d say it may even be a good election strategy for the Liberals. ‘The country’s in good hands now. It will be in even better hands in the future. A vote for John Howard is a vote for Peter Costello.’

    Posted by Justin on 2007 05 10 at 11:05 AM • permalink

  74. Racing, you seem to have a pretty good handle on the odds business, I might bung a few bucks on Maxine Hogg-McKew on your recommendation.

    Politics is fun, cash money is serious.

    Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2007 05 10 at 11:10 AM • permalink

  75. I’ve been away for five days and return to good news! Yay!

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 05 10 at 11:54 PM • permalink

  76. The SMH stikes are having a ripple effect throughout moonbat country I fear, as people are only now realising that… there was stuff about *looks around quickly* muslims, in the federal budget.

    Outrage in 3...2..

    Posted by Admonkeystrator on 2007 05 11 at 02:38 AM • permalink

  77. Costello: We will give schools that improve numeracy and literacy a $50K bonus.

    Principal: Oh how fortunate that our literacy and numeracy rates have suddenly “improved”.

    Great idea!

    Posted by EvilK on 2007 05 11 at 02:38 AM • permalink

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