Weird star sign trend among our PMs
Campaign Confidential: Ahead of Scott Morrison’s birthday on Friday, we look at the kooky stats about star signs and the prime ministership. Plus: psychic crocs and farting cows.
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It’s in the stars
Depending on your point of view, this could be the most irrelevant thing you’ll read all election campaign, if not ever … or actually kind of interesting. Scott Morrison’s birthday is this Friday, May 13, which makes him a Taurus (which seems super-obvious in retrospect, right?). ScoMo is in fact our first Taurus prime minister, while his opponent Anthony Albanese is a Pisces, and we’ve had two of them in the past. Crunching the numbers on the star signs of the 30 people who have been Australian prime minister, we find the fire signs (Aries, Leo and Sagittarius) dominate, with a total of 11, including our three longest-serving occupants of the Lodge (Menzies and Hawke were both Sagitarius; Howard was a Leo). The earth signs (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn) have supplied 10 PMs, including five Virgos. (Kevin Rudd was a Virgo, no surprise there.) The water signs (Cancer, Pisces and Scorpio) have given us six PMs, including two who were famous for the stings in their tail, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull. And in last place come the air signs. To date, we’ve had just two Libra prime ministers (Gillard and Hughes), one Gemini (Fraser) … and not a single free-lovin’ Aquarius, which probably explains everything you need to know about the state of Australian politics.
Crocodile rocks
Goliath has spoken. The psychic resident crocodile at Cairns ZOOM & Wildlife Dome did not hesitate on Tuesday when asked to pick the winner in the contest for the local seat of Leichhardt. Goliath’s handlers had invited sitting LNP MP Warren Entsch, as well as Labor’s candidate Elida Faith, to tempt the 4.2m long salty with rival chunks of fresh meat (held aloft by keepers), and the old boy made a snap judgment for Mr Entsch. Far from being a total crock, Ben Woodward from the Australian Tourism Export Council told Campaign Confidential that Goliath had actually proved remarkably prescient in previous elections, correctly predicting the outcome 90 per cent of the time. Organisers also took the opportunity to ask Mr Entsch and Ms Faith how they would support the Cairns tourism industry, which is only now recovering from the clobbering it took during the Covid pandemic. Mr Woodward told Campaign Confidential that tourism operators in Cairns reported strong results during the Easter school holidays, but labour shortages continue to be an issue.
The winner is … Brisbane
Scott Morrison’s decision to stage the Liberal Party campaign launch in Brisbane this Sunday is a reminder of just how dominant the Sunshine State is in federal politics. Looking at elections this century, the Liberals have selected the Queensland capital for their launches in 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013, while Labor chose it in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2019. Anthony Albanese of course chose Perth for Labor’s kick-off event this time, with an eye on the handful of seats the party is looking to pick up in the west. But with the Coalition already so strong in Queensland (they hold 23 of the state’s 30 seats, and Bob Katter has Kennedy), there’s not the same expectation they will increase their representation. Lilley is held by Labor on a tiny margin of 0.6 per cent, but the LNP‘s chances of snatching it have been dealt a blow with the news that the AFP is investigating claims candidate Vivian Lobo used a false address on his nomination form. The seat of Longman is also generating some interest. While it’s held by Terry Young for the Liberals on a decent 3.3 per cent margin, it’s the one seat in Queensland that punters on SuperVoter predict will change hands – and it looks as though Sportsbet thinks so too, offering lower odds for Labor challenger Rebecca Fanning than for Mr Young.
Smells like a political stunt
Scott Morrison has been sent a cow fart in a jar. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said they wanted to provide the Prime Minister with an item for his next round of show’n’tell in Question Time, after his infamous stunt with a lump of coal in 2017. The unusual birthday gift was designed, the group said, to draw Mt Morrison’s attention to the methane emissions of Australia’s 25 million cattle and 72 million sheep, claiming a single cow can emit almost 100 kilos of methane every single year. And here we were thinking politicians were full of hot air.
Lowdown on the showdown
Channel Seven’s Director of News and Public Affairs Craig McPherson is hyping the proverbial out of Wednesday night’s leaders’ debate, calling it “a showdown unlike any other” and “perhaps the most crucial hour of this campaign for both leaders”. Campaign Confidential respectfully suggests that description has more baloney than a New York deli, to borrow a recent phrase. According to an ANU tracking study, far fewer Aussies watch the leaders’ debates these days than used to be the case. In 1993, 71 per cent of us tuned in to see Paul Keating and John Hewson slug it out, but that proportion had plunged to 21 per cent by 2016 – perhaps because Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten had a reputation as world-class bloviaters? Last election, 30 per cent of Aussies watched Shorten go head to head with Scott Morrison – but the last time more than half the voting population tuned in to a leaders’ debate was 1996. So, sure, debates are important – but there’s no need to milk it.
Got a hot tip for Campaign Confidential? Email election.confidentail@news.com.au
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