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February 5th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Welcome to Poll Call, our daily live blog that we’ll be bringing you in the lead-up to the state election. Send your tips, questions, or feedback to [email protected].
8.56am: If you want to listen to Katter’s Australian Party’s candidate for Ashgrove, Norman Wicks, on 612 ABC Brisbane this morning, they’ve just uploaded the audio online. Listen here.
8.50am: Anna Bligh and the Department of Community Safety will be holding a press conference at 9am on the flooding situation – it will be streamed live here or watch it below.
8.44am: The order of witnesses to be called before the flood inquiry today is:
- John Ruffini (continuing)
- Robert Drury (Seqwater)
- Daniel Spiller (Seqwater Grid Manager)
It’s set to be another interesting day after the weekend’s events. We’ll have reporter Daniel Hurst covering it.
7.54am: Turning to today’s papers and The Courier-Mail‘s front page, under the headline ”Time For Answers”, says there are three questions that must be addressed to restore public confidence in the flood inquiry (read their story here):
- ”How did the commission miss pointers to key evidence that forced the resumption of the inquiry?
- What happened on Saturday to prompt the commissioner to stand down her deputy despite insisting he was fit and proper?
- How can an inquiry examining Wivenhoe Dam’s performance in a crisis proceed without a dam expert?”
They’re also running an editorial defending their stories over the weekend on the flood inquiry by attacks from Commissioner Cate Holmes.
Turning an eye to what’s happening federally, Fairfax websites and newspapers have the latest Nielsen poll, showing support for the Prime Minister and her government rising sharply.
Labor’s primary support has risen 4 percentage points to 33 per cent since December, its highest level in almost a year, Phillip Coorey reports.
Ms Gillard is preferred Prime Minister, out of a choice between her and Mr Abbott, but remains far behind Kevin Rudd as preferred Labor leader (57 to 35).
The Coalition’s primary support fell 4 points to 45 per cent and its two-party preferred lead has been cut by 8 points to 53-47 but it would still win in a canter if an election were held today. Read more here.
7.48am: The Katter’s Australian Party candidate for Ashgrove, Norman Wicks, has just told Spencer Howson on 612 ABC Brisbane that he’d be happy to see the LNP form government without Campbell Newman.
‘‘The LNP don’t have to have Campbell win his seat to form government. They only need to win 14 seats,” he said.
When pressed by Spencer that as it was unlikely for the Australian Party to have majority control of the parliament, and his preference would be for the LNP to be in power without Campbell Newman but with Mr Wicks as the member for Ashgrove, he answered:
‘‘I would like to be the member for Ashgrove, yes.’’ Listen to the interview here.
7.06am: Speaking of the flood inquiry, Premier Anna Bligh appeared on Sky News this morning and said she had full confidence in the inquiry and Commissioner Cate Holmes.
”I set this inquiry up because I want like other Queenslanders want the truth about how the dam was operated and whether we can do it better in the future,” she said.
”It’s not just about understanding what happened last year, this is about the protection of people and their safety in this city long into the future if we ever see another event like that.
”I am very confident in this Commissioner, one of our finest legal minds, and I think the very fact that she has called extra hearings indicates to me the fact she’s doing exactly what I wanted this Commission to do: leave no stone unturned.
”She is determined to get to the truth and I think this will be a report that I think people can have a very high degree of confidence in.”
7.03am: The Floods Commission of Inquiry, which will continue today, will now sit for a total of 11 extra days – two more than originally scheduled, it was announced yesterday.
However the Justice presiding, Cate Holmes, said the extension would not affect her handing down the final report on March 16, eight days before the state election.
6.53am: Yesterday, it was announced the Justice presiding over the Queensland flood inquiry will no longer be taking the advice of one of her deputies, Phillip Cummins, in relation to Seqwater after it was discovered he was linked to a consultancy company working for the Wivenhoe Dam Operator.
Though Justice Cate Holmes denies there is a conflict of interest, a spokesman for the Comission said in a statement Justice Holmes was concerned the work of the Commission could be compromised in the future by a ‘‘perception’’ of a conflict of interest. More here.
The Courier-Mail had on Saturday reported Mr Cummins was an associate for a consultancy firm hired by Seqwater.
Premier Anna Bligh just appeared on Sky News to provide an update on the latest with the floods of southwest Queensland.
6.37am: Good morning everyone and welcome to a new week of Poll Call. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend – let’s catch up on what happened in the pre-election campaign.
Yesterday, Bob Katter’s Australian Party announced their candidate for the seat of Ashgrove: Norman Wicks, a former member of the LNP.
Last March, after being a member of the LNP for five years, Mr Wicks ran for preselection in Ashgrove, having lived in the electorate for 15 years.
On the same day he was told he could not run for preselection Mr Newman was announced as the LNP leader – and Ashgrove candidate.
Mr Wicks, right, with Mr McLindon, centre, yesterday.
Mr Wicks said he joined the Australian Party last year after becoming disillusioned with the LNP and decided to run for the party a few weeks ago. Read more here.
Meanwhile, it seems the LNP (unsurprisingly) isn’t pleased with Clive Palmer’s recent media antics, as reported by Cosima Marriner in the Sun-Herald yesterday.
Mr Palmer’s bizarre outbursts sucked oxygen out of Mr Newman’s campaign to become the Queensland premier. It also fed the perception fostered by Labor that Mr Palmer would ”own” an LNP government.
”It pisses a lot of people off, from Newman down,” a senior LNP powerbroker told the Sun-Herald.
”He’s tagged as Palmer’s man. Newman is pretty independent. He does his own thing. Newman is trying to win the election. Palmer should be trying to support him.” More on that story here.
Yesterday, the Sun–Herald also carried an interview with Bob Katter’s son, Rob, who is standing for his father’s Australian Party in the seat of Mt Isa.
It’s not exactly a case of a chip of the old block, however.
‘‘If he has to exploit his image to get the message across, he’ll do it,” the 34-year-old Rob said of his father.
”I won’t do that, I want to protect my integrity.’’
He says he is ”more considered and composed” than his father, who is ”a lot more aggressive and confrontational”.
”I don’t think I’m any less enthusiastic or passionate, he’s just got a different way of doing things,” he said. Read more here.
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