It took 45 minutes for us to flick the ABC that night. Propagandists like Grant, Reid and Foster seem to think of crowns as being like swastikas. Only a tiny minority of Australians think that way.

I will write again on the Voice referendum, but today begins with me predicting Saturday 14 October as polling day.

In my article today, I’ve decided to revert to a hobby horse of mine, ridden since 2016. I have been very critical of the way the Australian Electoral Commission has been handling federal general elections.

The time has come for me to stick my neck out and make predictions for the NSW state elections to be held on Saturday March 25.

Thorpe had always been a party machine appointee and always would be for as long as she remained a politician. She is the sort of politician who would never be directly chosen by the people.

Back on August 30 last year I had an article posted on Switzer Daily titled “Cook and Higgins: A study in contrast”. It wrongly predicted that the first by-election of the present federal term would be in Cook (NSW), created by the resignation of Scott Morrison.

Since I wrote my last two articles on Albo’s referendums many people have asked me for my predictions. To such requests I have answered: “There is one chance in three that the Voice proposal will be carried and two chances in three it will be defeated. Australia will not become a republic.”

The Victorian state election was held on 26 November last year. Normally I would write my post-election commentary in the following month, but this commentary is delayed for two reasons, first the holidays and second for a reason unique to this election.

For the past three years my reading of the Biden presidency has been surprisingly good – but I am starting to wonder now whether Joe Biden may turn out to be a 21st century version of Jimmy Carter, both Democrats.

There have been plenty of elections around the world these last three months, but the two cases of special world interest were for the President of Brazil in the runoff of Sunday 30 October and the midterm congressional elections in the USA on Tuesday 8 November.

We have reached the stage in Victoria’s state election on 26 November where it is safe to make a prediction of results for the Legislative Assembly.

When then Prime Minister Paul Keating in November 1992 coined the famous description of the Australian Senate as “unrepresentative swill” he would not have had then nineteen-years-old Lidia Thorpe in mind.