Lenore Taylor gets the Michelle Grattan Prize for assiduous research leading to the wrong conclusion:

Having ditched the emissions trading scheme because Labor was worried about losing a "carbon tax" election, then assassinating a leader because his credibility was destroyed by ditching the scheme, then thinking a citizens assembly was a good idea, then nearly losing the election anyway, a minority Labor government would most likely have to negotiate with four independents in the lower house and a Greens balance of power in the Senate.

And at least three of the independents appear to want a more ambitious carbon price than the one Labor proposed in the first place. The focus groups didn't predict that.

Never mind the focus groups: if people want to ask us questions, we'll answer them. The problem is the fools who (mis)interpret what we say, as well as others like Lenore Taylor who can't see their misinterpretation and call them fools, lest they lose their steady drip of, um, foolishness, which the journsophere apparently need to keep them in business.