The latest weekly Essential Research survey has the two parties locked together on 50-50 for the third week running. There is also perfect stability on the primary vote, with the Coalition on 44 per cent, Labor on 41 per cent and the Greens on 8 per cent. A question on preferred Liberal leader has Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull essentially neck and neck at 23 per cent and 22 per cent respectively, which compares with 26 per cent and 20 per cent for a similar question in September. Public opinion on the banking industry is shown to be what elite opinion would consider unorthodox: 64 per cent of respondents believe they need more regulation against only 4 per cent for less and 20 per cent for “present regulation about right”, and 62 per cent would support the establishment of a government-owned bank against only 17 per cent opposed.
On the question of whether James Packer should be allowed to become a major shareholder in the Ten Network, 28 per cent said he should and 24 per cent said he shouldn’t – respondents were agreeably given a “don’t care” option, and 38 per cent of them put it to use. Enjoyably, 50 per cent agreed the government should not allow “one company to own the majority of Australia’s major newspapers”, after it was pointedly put to them that News Limited did just that. The ABC is found to be head and shoulders above other television channels on the question of trust, with Sky News enjoying a small but significant lead over the free-to-air commercial networks.
What bulldust.
If that was true there would NOT be the Dentention Centres being planned nad Kids and weomen would still be in Detention.
Sometimes I think you’ve fallen for the Libs Talking points .
By doing what they say they are going to do amd making it work. It’s not rocket science.
Very disappointed, so what Mr. Bowen is doing is very disappointing
what would you like him to do put the people up in exclusive housing as they get off the boat,
Of course we have to rules and regulation every country does.
but what a great step forward Chris Bowen is doing, with respect Andrew why dont you ring your local migrant center and see if you can help with the the process
i have have you, Very disappointing indeed that people dont see that MR. Bowen is doing this gradually.
Also very dissapointing that people come to this site to be negative, we often have chats here when we are not but have you joined in with them
Frank, at risk of opening up old wounds, Labor trashed the legacy of the Rudd government and the benefits of incumbency when it got rid of Rudd. Instead we had two opposition leaders battling for the top job. I cant prove Rudd would have done better, or worse. Gillard got a lower 2PP at the election than when she replaced Rudd. We’ll never know one way or another, so you shouldnt parade the election result under Rudd as fact.
Gary, like the successful stimulus that saved Australia from recession?
My say, I havent criticised Bowen. I criticised Labor for clinging to the tough on AS stance due to electoral fear, when it is clearly contrary to Labor principles
Rubbish and YOU know it.
I know for a FACT that Labor under Rudd in WA would’ve been a COMPLETE bloodbath.
more bulldust from you.
Note this is a a NEW Labor Govt, and that “Tough” Policy no longer exists.
You are no better tjhan Glen andthe Libs with spreading crud.
hugh
Really. But, but above you said “I don’t think it’s an insurmountable one ”
??
My # 2334 above contains my views –
labor has to maintain internal day to day discipline while it implements
its election undertakings. If it does this the indies will stick with them
and they should complete the full 3 years.
Polls are secondary in that context, in my view. Possum & william (I think?)
also say that its far too early into the new term to get too excited about
polls as yet.
If you feel strongly – go ahead and join up etc etc
yes Gary thanks for your common sense, that is how all good gov, works, some people want Julia to shout like a fish wife at Abbott perhpas and this put us in the same level as them
‘Eventually when the people are settled and nothing untoward happens people will look foolish who protested.
the same thing happened here well not as much as i thought would when we had the 400 Kosovar people and i can tell you most people loved and respected them and many friendships where made.
Julia is a lady not some uneducated fool who is going to fall for trap of telling abbott off.
You dont do that with people like him every word, every piece of body language would told by the msm and guess who would come of worse.
so just trust the lady i am sure she knows exactly what she is doing.
she is not sitting of there in parliement house ,ignoring all this she has a plan and it does not include Mr. Abbott
Three whole seat bloodbath frank. So even if you are right and labor could have done worse here the needed gains elsewhere are not that substantial. But I do love you open mind on this particular subject.
OK, so not dead on 50-50, but according to Possum’s figures here
The Labor TPP went into the toilet in about April, then climbed a bit then dived back to 50-50. I’m unconvinced that that is, somehow, better. If you can seriously argue that this is just a bit of a blip, nothing to worry about, of no relevance this far out from the next election, etc. etc. then I’m afraid that you’re as delusional as Tone was when claiming that Labor had lost in August.
And this is against an opposition so incompetent that even Rupe is having difficulty glossing over the gaping chasms in their ability.
I’m not satisfied with wait and it’ll all come good any more.
Frank@2356
How on earth do you know that? Andrew is entitled to his point of view without being put down with venom. For the record I agree with Andrew.
This site should be open to discussion of issues and different points of view. Healthy argument is good for everyone. It is getting to the stage that it is all about “group think” and is being treated more like a fan club.
There are problems with this government and it is not treachery to talk about them.
If you feel passionately about the need for Labor to pick up its PR imaging (and I get the distinct impression that you do), then there is every reason in the world to contact them with your thoughts on what they need to do to improve. Having done that, it’s up to them. If they ignore your suggestions, at least you can rest easy knowing you tried.
But he is not, he is moving people gradually in to the communities, i am asking you what else should he do to make you happy.
there will be schooling provided health checks and no barb wire and a feeling of freedom i would think,
these poor people would be out of thier depth if we suddenly put them in community housing they need to adjust have English lesson s and learn our ways.
We owe it to them to care for them first and then help them move on to a normal life.
Now tell me what would you do if YOU WHERE MR BOWEN
Am I to understand from the last few pages that the WA meeting didn’t go so well? 🙂
Hugh – you really are very very naughty. Verbaling is that IT? 🙂
Another person denying the political truth.
All I’ll say is the more Laborites attack Labor, the better the chances Abbott WILL succeed next time.
Remember the term- Disunity is DEATH.
And just sent ones to Brendon Grylls, and Stephen Smith (my local member).
I will need to compose a different one for Eric Ripper. The WA ALP needs a bit of an overhaul too.
You don’t live in WA.
Monday’s Q&A sums it up perfectly.
We are a state of inward looking Rednecks.
Abbott has played up to that well – With Rudd still as PM it would’ve been ramped up Tenfold.
i suggest you all move on and have a nice discussion about, what else we can do to improve the country.
Roads housing ect then send some policy work to Julia or your members.
for instance i beleive the gp clinics will be bulk billing will you be changing to the clinics i will
but will we have enough gp who are will enough to work in them with the thought of money as they may not earn as much re bulk billing.
What will carbon price do to house holds.
this silly nonsense of talking about the past and the polls three years from now we all be dead who knows
start enjoying having labor where they are now with the three wise men.
night
That is hilarious frank if the clowns that killed Rudd because he didn’t share his lollies at playtime had remembered that disunity is death we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Let’s agree to disagree while I enjoy the irony of your post.
dave,
I think labor have realised that at the moment (later in their term it will be different) that the people they have to work with and satisfy that they are doing the right thing and taking the right approach, are the indies and the public, for now, are secondary.
My read, for what it’s worth, is that around mid-term, they will let their achievements, and the facts speak for them and they will begin selling themselves, preparing for the next election.
The Liberal Coalition, don’t realise it yet, (because they are too busy telling themselves how good they are because they came so close), but they are in trouble.
They are creating ‘policy’ on the back of napkins at breakfast. They are not sound, not thought out and are very superficial.
Labor obviously have a game plan, and are sticking to it, regardless of the MSM maelstrom, showing team discipline. OTOH the Liberal coalition are still fighting the election. They have no clear strategy, they are largely bouncing from issue to issue, with the sole aim of bringing the government down. But they are playing to the wrong audience.
The labor party realise that to hold stable government they have to appease the indies, the coalition are hell bent on alienating them.
The Fibs are like naughty high school boys hijacking the class but writing answers to the wrong essay question.
Hughb, the denial, bury your head in the sand, seems to be the official view at present. Whether it persists, I think depends on whether something comes out of the official Labor review.
Abbott has shown that he is prepared to lie and distort and say black is white, and talk in slogans without substance, and it almost delivered him what looked like would be an unwinnable election. Rest assured, any positive achievements by this government will be trashed. Abbott and Hockey can say what they like without scrutiny, and guess what, this is what the punters hear. And Labor lets alot of this go through to the keeper. Abbott and Pyne made disgusting remarks about Gillard over Afghanistan. She showed no shock, emotion or fighting spirit.
Labor needs to change tact now. They havent even gotten the post-election bump that an unpopular Howard got after scraping through 1998.
The wa alp need more than a bit of an overhaul.
Live in La La land.
Deny the obvious- Having Rudd as PM wiould’ve have given Abbott a MAJORITY and the keys to Kirribilli House.
Unfortunately for Labor supporters like Frank, its the head in the sand approach that is worse for Labor in the long term, as it will be for the Liberal supporters post 2007 and 2010
Guys,
Truth is – we will never know. They had a leadership change. It is done. JG and KR have moved on. Time you guys did.
WeWantPaul @2374 I was being polite 😉
Did u have angry pills at lunch frank or was your swan valley wine a bad vintage?
No problem hugh. It comes through loud and clear.
Feel completely free to scream and shout and roll in the dirt.
Alternatively join up and contribute.
Good luck grasshopper 🙂
Yes, they pretty much did that in their first term, saved the economy as a bonus and still came close to losing. I can see how that’ll work.
I don’t know how to make controlled nuclear fusion work, or geothermal power, or the growing of artificial human organs either but I don’t believe them to be insurmountable problems.
50-50 and the thinnest win possible. Don’t tell me something’s not broken. Murdoch controlled the media in November ’07 as well, remember.
But remember the same “Labor Supporters” getting their knickers in a knot EVERY time Rudd made a comment on some populist “outrage” like Bill Henson’s photographs etc ??
Labor are damned if they do, and damnned if they don’t “govern”.
Frank@2367
You are right I don’t live in WA but I do live in NSW and I have had vast experience in dealing with the NSW right and the way they operate.
Look at how their genius boosted the ALP vote. For the record I held an ALP ticket for thirty eight years.
Don’t like the Message so you go on the personal attack.
YOU are the ones living in the past. The Election is won, and Gillard is PM and is dealing with the issues at hand.
Move on.
Can we please not perpetuate the myth that the Coalition came close to winning the election.
They didn’t do it, Rabbott didn’t do it; the media did it FOR them, by: a) boosting them shamelessly; and b) by letting them get away with murder (gaffes, policy vapor, slogans, costings blowout). Any one of Abbott’s major screw-ups would, in any previous time of political history, have been terminal for any other party leader … but he got a Great Big Free Pass.
So to repeat: The Coalition didn’t nearly win the election; the bloody toxic media nearly won it for them. (Thank goodness for the wisdom and decency of the Independents).
Labor TV- Vic Labor videos with Corinne Grant and Adam Rozenbachs. Like the Ted BaillWHO reference
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3borP3Jtges&feature=channel
Umm, you may notice that Labor actually Retained some seats in NSW and there wasn’t the prtedicted Bloodbath there.
NSW should’ve been a walkover for the Libs but they failed.
Cuppa, no one denies that Abbott got a good run. i have said more than once that he got the best media run of any OL in history. But he was still Tony Abbott. And he had no policies and no talent on his frontbench.
The MSM is the reality and Labor have shown that they are not prepared to change media strategy
hughb, stop trying to convince the deniers. It wont work
I think that there is more agreement than disagreement here – the media is a problem and there are no easy answers. The question that is being debated is not whether Labor is going in the right direction – they are. The question is how to deal with the public engagement with this. The parliamentary arm needs to maintain the discipline and stick to the game plan (and not be driven by focus groups, media cycles and polling)- to do that they need support from the grass roots who support the policies – tough sells all of them as mysay rightly points out. I also agree that the Libs plan is not actually a plan other than trying to destabilise. To engage at their level is to play into their hands. So how then to engage the public? We don’t know the answer and this concerns us and that is why we fight.
We aren’t the deniers – We are the ones getting on with the job of Governing, not wallowing on past glories.
Andrew,
I have a quite chuckle to myself every time I think about how JG out negotiated him.
I reckon it must absolutely stick in his craw everytime he remembers that JG out did him for the top job. I imagine him at the HoR’s PM seat singing “What about me, it isn’t fair!”
Frank
Open your mind! People are entitled to hold a different view to yours!
Glen could give you a lesson in keeping a bit of balance in your argument.
I agree with the govt’s strategy on AS and detention centres. More’s the pity we can’t put one in the heart of Abbott and Morrison’s electorates.
Re Vic election, let us hope we are not swamped with crap polls and, spare me days, what the bookies are saying.
Interesting to see how the debate goes tonight – I’m from QLD, so we are an hour behind. and you guys may have an insight as to how it’s going. Cheers.
How, exactly, have I verballed you? I don’t dispute that Labor can survive the full three year term with the support of the Indies. Fine. What then, though? Roll over to the wishes of Murdoch? I want Labor to win in 2013 to continue with good governance and I’d like some indication that this is likely to happen and how. They saved the economy in their first term and have been pilloried for it and almost lost. Do you really believe that the NBN will not be portrayed as a disaster? Or any other major policy initiative. On past performance, not only will that happen, but Labor will actually admit that it was. They’re even being made to wear the opprobium for the MDB report/guide/summary/whatever and it’s not even theirs.
So pointing out the flaming obvious (50-50, thinnest possible election win and no obvious prospect of improvement) is screaming and shouting and rolling in the dirt?
Are you Frank’s twin by any chance?
People – Frank is doing exactly what you seem to want Labor to do – sticking by his guns. Perhaps it is not time for open minds but closed ranks? Just a thought…
Another bludger who has fallen for Glen’s Bulldust – He’s learnt from his Master Abbott at spinnig crud to suit his audience – and you have fallen for it hook, line and sinker.
Thanks for that – it sems some so-called “ALP Supporters” are unwittingly giving the Libs ammunition to enable them to get over the line next time.
Andrew,
Perhaps it’s premature to come to that conclusion? Admittedly nothing much seems to have been changed yet in their media strategy, though there are some points of light in the occasional interview or press conference when Julia or a Minister stands up against MSM lies and assertions. Not often enough, but it’s a start, and indicates they do know HOW to do it. They just need to DO it more, obviously.
Labor’s got its review process underway. It should be completed soon. In this unpleasant environment it’s not easy to sit back and wait to see what comes of it. But I think it’s wise to wait and see what, if anything, changes in their media approach subsequent to the review.
PS: Congratulations, Andrew, on committing to making a submission to the review. More power to ya! I hope they take it fully on board.
You know, it is an absolutely perfect day in Perth – weather wise – I am going outside to relish it while I can. I think most of the important points have been made and it has given me a lot to think about. Thanks hughb, Andrew, doyley, mysay, Frank et.al