GhostWhoVotes reports that the final Nielsen poll for the year has come in above Labor’s recent form, with the Coalition leading 52-48, down from 53-47 last month. Labor is up a point on the primary vote to 35%, with the Coalition down two to 43% and the Greens down two to 10%. Tony Abbott has reached a new low on net approval from Nielsen with approval down two to 34% and disapproval up three to an alarming 63%, which is apparently the second highest disapproval rating for an Opposition Leader in Nielsen’s 40-year history. Julia Gillard’s personal ratings are little changed at 46% approval (down one) and 50% disapproval (up two), while her lead as preferred prime minister is at 50-40, compared with 51-42 last time. There is also heartening news for Labor with questions on the AWU affair, with 47% approving of Julia Gillard’s handling of the matter against 40% disapproval, while the respective figures for Tony Abbott are 24% and 64%. Full tables here.
There has also been a ReachTel automated phone poll of 661 respondents published today, commissioned by Sydney Morning Herald, which suggests Mal Brough would win a clear victory as LNP candidate for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax despite his recent bruising in the Ashby affair. The poll shows Brough with 48.4% on the primary vote against a derisory for 2.7% for Peter Slipper, who is publicly still committed to seeking re-election as an independent, 21.2% for Labor, 11.7% for the Greens and 7.4% for Katter’s Australian Party. Brough was viewed favourably by 41.8% of respondents against 34.0% unfavourable, while the respective figures for Slipper were 6.9% and 75.5%. Brough’s involvement in the Ashby matter made 37.3% of respondents less likely to vote for him, against 39.8% for no difference. A substantial cohort of very curious people, apparently amounting to 22.6% of the Fisher electorate, say it has made them more likely to vote for him.
UPDATE (17/12/2012): The final Essential Research for the year has the Coalition gaining a point on two-party preferred for the second successive week to extend its lead to 55-45, the highest in nearly three months. However, the primary votes have emerged from rounding unchanged on last week, with Labor on 36%, the Coalition on 48% and the Greens on 8%. Further questions find that 2012 was perceived as being a good year for banks and miners, an uninspiring one for the Australian economy and “you and your family”, a poor one for the media, farming, unions, the environment and “the average Australian”, and a shocker for small business and “Australian politics in general”. Labor, Liberal, Greens and independents were all rated as having had a bad year, Labor emerging the worst. Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott rated equally poorly, with opinion evenly divided as to whether either will make it to the election.
Respondents were asked which of seven deignated political events was the year’s most significant, with the implementation of the carbon tax well ahead on 41%. The other results were 14% for the Kevin Rudd leadership challenge, 9% for the reopening of offshore detention centres, 7% for AWU slush fund allegations, 6% for Julia Gillard’s sexism speech, 5% for “bipartisan support for the National Disability Insurance Scheme” and 5% for Australia winning a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Essential Research will next report on January 14.
UPDATE 2: GhostWhoVotes reports Nielsen further finds 36% of respondents think themselves better off than two years against 45% worse off, with supporters of Labor (50% better, 29% worse) and the Greens (52% better, 26% worse) typically taking a rosier view than those of the Coalition (23% better, 61% worse).
UPDATE 3 (19/12/12): The final Morgan face-to-face poll for the year, covering the last two weekends’ surveying, is a good one for Labor, who are up four points to 40% on the primary vote (their best result since February last year), while the Coalition is down three to 37.5% (their worst this term) with the Greens up 1.5% to 12.5%. Two-party preferred is 52.5-47.5 in Labor’s favour on respondent-allocated preferences, which precisely reverses the position in the previous poll, while previous election preferences have Labor turning a 50.5-49.5 deficit into a 53.5-46.5 lead. These are respectively Labor’s best results since December 2010 and February 2011.
HaveAchat
[Slade: Merry Christmas Everybody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6YbLZf8i5I ]
Golly gosh that song is uber popular with people of an English persuasion of a certain age. Davai !
[21 minutes to go…]
Shit, better feed the dogs!
[Estonia,Latvia, Lithuania ,would probably be stronger countries if they stuck together.
The blind pursuit that we must be a independent country when the ussr split up is the cause of a lot of probs.]
Of all the ex-Soviet republics, these three are doing best. They are stable democracies with strong economies, EU and NATO members. They are lucky to have good friends in Scandinavia – Finland has virtually adopted Estonia.
The problem with Ukraine is that its boundaries should have been redrawn before independence. The eastern third of the country is Russian speaking and never agreed to leave Russia.
[Doesn’t matter whether I drink or not, you’re still a fuckwit in the morning.]
NOW NOW G.G.!
Shouldn’t you be turning the other cheek?
I thought you followed the teachings of the son of the invisible pink unicorn that you worship!?
I think what has happened is the only thing you worship now is alcohol!
CW – My complements yet again on the above.
Joe6pack
[
Estonia,Latvia, Lithuania ,would probably be stronger countries if they stuck together.]
Nah .Bloody Lithuania just scored number 8 in the world’s saddest countries. Estonia and Latvia would not want to be taken down by such depressives.
http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/world-news/comments-by-people-in-worlds-happiest-and-saddest-countries-20121219.html
poroti@5251
I think it has been re-released about 18 times now and has managed to get into the top 40 charts the same number of times.
I saw Slade live at the tennis courts in Adelaide, I think it was called Memorial Drive at the time. A real rollicking good time was had by all, including the band. They certainly put of a great show and made sure that everyone felt included.
5253
Moving boarders and populations around to stifle nationalism was a favourite tactic of Stalin`s.
Sowsy,
It’s well known you don’t think.
Please, don’t give yourself airs and graces.
Anyone would think you have perspirations to being a normal human fuckwit.
[Moving boarders and populations around to stifle nationalism was a favourite tactic of Stalin’s.]
Yes, although it was Khrushchev who for some reason transfered the Crimea from Russia to Ukraine, although its population is entirely Russian.
[ Tom the first and best
Posted Friday, December 21, 2012 at 10:02 pm | Permalink
Moving boarders and populations around to stifle nationalism was a favourite tactic of Stalin`s.]
Read and weep –
http://www.ukrainiangenocide.org/dsovietpolicyandukrainiangenocide.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor
Tom,
The AFL are using the same strategy to stifle tribalism in football.
HaveAChat
[I saw Slade live at the tennis courts in Adelaide]
The ‘tennis court’: GF’ed.
How Adelaide is that! Did you sit with Alex and Chris and Nick?
[Of all the ex-Soviet republics, these three are doing best. They are stable democracies with strong economies, EU and NATO members. They are lucky to have good friends in Scandinavia – Finland has virtually adopted Estonia.]
If they are going so good why do they need propping up from Western countries.
They have swapped being dependent on the east to being dependent on the west. not really independent if you have been adopted by another nation.
I don.t recall Poland being adopted by Germany in 1939
HaveAchat
[I saw Slade live at the tennis courts in Adelaide,]
For you some 1966 Slade before they were Slade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtsj7MU5Kqs
The Black Sea Navy port bit adds to the confusion.
9CTar1
Posted Friday, December 21, 2012 at 9:48 pm | PERMALINK
kezza – Socially incisive and seriously amusing.
my say bettor of dealing with Jane’s truths than reading Latham’s vanity book.]
Think there’s another Jane Austen on the scene. 😆
[Tom the first and best
Posted Friday, December 21, 2012 at 9:50 pm | PERMALINK
5231
Mary Wollstonecraft was earlier and more direct.0
Yeah, sure was.
Mary and the Rights of Women.
Doesn’t alter the message, CTar1/TTTAB.
You know, blokes need to grow up, have a bit of respect for everyone else in their lives, instead of believing the world revolves round them, and dwelling in the narcissism bestowed on them by a grateful parent.
The gratefulness is because you survived infancy.
The gratefulness is not about the fact that you are a boy child.
When boys survived, they were always given a leg-up. But, so were the females. It was not about you as a sex, but it was about the money.
So when Mary Wollstencraft wanted a room of her own, there was hell to pay.
It’s still going on today. Men’s sheds, FCS. As if mens’s sheds are just new.
[Estonia,Latvia, Lithuania ,would probably be stronger countries if they stuck together.]
Estonia is doing quite well, in the EU, strong industries,popular tourism, has large nordic population and heritage
Ctar1,
I’m pretty sure Queen toured with Slade as the underband in 1973.
My two favourite records from that era were Hot August Night and Slade Alive. Both were superceded by Dark Side of the Moon of course.
Strange times. A period of forced eclectism.
5264
The EU is far less brutal compared to Russia. It also has an economy with much more pre-existing development compared to Russia.
Once again worldwide car production, at 82.8m, will exceed sales, at 81.9m http://econ.st/WpqBnc
That is a HUGE number.
Fiscal Cliff stuff – European markets are down but not big time –
http://finance.yahoo.com/intlindices?e=europe
[If they are going so good why do they need propping up from Western countries.
They have swapped being dependent on the east to being dependent on the west. not really independent if you have been adopted by another nation.
I don.t recall Poland being adopted by Germany in 1939]
That’s not a very bright comment. The EU is an economic community. Its members support each other. They have swapped being involuntarily ruled by Russian communists to being independent states who have volutarily joined an economic community.
[If you mean the orangish ones, that is the Democratic Alliance for Reform, a populist party led by an ex-boxer, which was one of three parties that split the opposition vote and let the Putin party win.]
Sheesh! Ex-boxers!
They always lower the Tone of the place.
kezza2
Have a nice xmas and a good new year.
[Peter FitzSimons @Peter_Fitz
See?! I TOLD you the world wouldn’t end just because Wayne Swan didn’t deliver a budget surplus! #NotTheEndOfTheWorld ]
kiddo,
All those people Christmas shopping don’t know how much they are doomed!
that was a close thing
joe6pack
hey, same to you.
You, and your lot, have the best Chrissy and New Year.
But, I’m going to see you on your site, hopefully? Got it not only marked but written in my note book (a real one, not a trademark electronic thingy)
Just haven’t registered yet.
That’s if you can cope with a belligerent old Bludger!
Take care on the road, codger.
kezza
I’m working on a theory that many of these ‘man only’ activities are actually women’s way of getting them out of the house and underfoot.
There wasn’t a real need, for example, for men to go hunting – women collected 70% of the food in a fraction of the time. But you know perfectly well what would have happened if you’d given a man a digging stick and asked him to root up some yams – pathetic attempts to stab the earth rather than dig it, followed by whinges about how the stick’s the wrong shape, and then serious sulking.
Much easier to tell him that you’d really like some meat for dinner, and you saw some interesting tracks down by the waterhole….
And we’ve been looking for inventive ways to get them out of the house ever since – fishing, darts, lawn bowls, golf —
Men’s sheds were the obvious next step, when the darned creatures were living longer in retirement and hogging the TV.
[See?! I TOLD you the world wouldn’t end just because Wayne Swan didn’t deliver a budget surplus!]
And on Tuesday Whyalla will celebrate Xmas despite Abbotts doom and gloom prophesy.
Kezza
[So when Mary Wollstencraft wanted a room of her own]
Don’t know about Mary, but Jane having her own room does stuff for me – I hope it would have a ground floor window?
[That’s not a very bright comment. The EU is an economic community. Its members support each other. They have swapped being involuntarily ruled by Russian communists to being independent states who have volutarily joined an economic community.]
Well i am not very bright but “volutarily” is voluntarily.
Saying that those 3 countries would have been better sticking together and would be much more powerful than they are now
Good night, Bludgers,
Clear sky tomorrow, birds will sing early. Dogs will snore.
Frank’s farewell went well today.
Thinking of defrosting a turkey leg for Exmas. With gravy and spuds. The dogs will love it.
Goodnight, bludgers. Have a safe and happy festive season.
[Fiscal Cliff stuff – European markets are down but not big time -]
Congressman Boner is going to bone the whole world economy unless he can persuade his backbench crazies to behave like adults for a few days.
For Psephos back about 3 pages on status of employer/employee and members of parliament.
Legally, they are employed under the MoPs Act, and under the terms of the Enterpsie Agreement negotiated with the department of Finance. Despite what you say being largely true as to what members can and do demand, it has no standing in a court of law.
The rule of thumb is that the member is elected, takes responsibility for all the actions of his/her staff, and within the entitlement and the rules stated above, they can hire and fire, employ their relatives, and do whatever they want.
The remedies for bad behaviour by politicians towards their staff are twofold
1. The rules apply, which is why Ashby sued and settled with the commonwealth
2. Politicians are subject to public opinion, the media, factions etc. The bad ones don’t tend to last long.
It is no ones interest to rock the boat, so it rarely happens. Ashby is an anomaly.
5280
Meat provided an increase in energy intake that allowed the brain to grow and the gut to shrink. This was then later followed by a similar revolution when cooking came along.
GG
[My two favourite records from that era were Hot August Night and Slade Alive. Both were superceded by Dark Side of the Moon of course.]
Got all.
I saw Iain Anderson and Little Feat at Montreux opening night in July (too wet to check Deb’s castle) – a blast from the distant past!
Cheers, Scringler. I hope the Festivities treat you well.
Speaking of the Baltic. At the urging of a russian friend I tracked down and ate some Riga smoked sprats. In his time it was a bit of a luxury. Faaaark me talk about being a powerful flavour. Totally delicious but any skin contact leaves you with an unremoveable pong for several days.
http://www.germandeli.com/rigosmsp.html
Ctar1,
I’m afraid I was thick as a brick re Jethro Tull. Didn’t like Picnic in Hanging Rock either. So maybe those flutes and pipes were not my pasion.
Little Feat….. OK.
The end of the world is an opportunity, not a threat http://ow.ly/ghyFD #Maya #2012 #ApocalypseNow
Only an economist would see things this way 🙂
poroti
My father and mother met and married within 3 weeks.
She swam a lot at the time so he called her ‘Zuvele’ which he told her meant ‘beautiful little fish’ in Lithuanian. She has it engraved on her engagement ring.
When I was born, I was called ‘Zuvele’.
(It’s pronounced as if it starts with a ‘Zh” – so Shuvela, with the ‘sh’ more like a J)
When Dad was dying of cancer, we arranged with great difficulty to get his sisters to come for a visit. To prepare, we bought our first ever Lithuanian-English dictionary.
‘Zuvele’ means sprat.
zoomster
I reckon your theory’s accurate.
Especially like the sulking about rooting round for food with the wrong (their bitching) utensils. You can just see it.
Sent off to caves to do the equivalent of computer games, they came up with fcking cathedrals to their own eminence. And they didn’t even stop to think about who would clean the cobbies.
Typical!!
Thanks for inseminating us guys, but seriously you need to become more interesting. We’re a good shot with a bow and arrow too. As well as doing the rooting stuff.
You reckon a woman isn’t going to find something to eat if she’s hungry? Look out.
if you buy marie claire you will see what abc person gets the most mention
the article on the pm and her girls is very entertaning and funny in places
[The European sprat, Sprattus sprattus, also known as bristling, brisling or skipper, is a small, herring-like, marine fish. Found in European waters, it has silver grey scales and white-grey flesh. Specific seas in which the species occurs include the Irish Sea, Baltic Sea and Sea of the Hebrides.[1] The fish is around 12% fat in its flesh and is a source of many vitamins. When used for food it can be canned, salted, fried, grilled, baked, marinated, and so on.
Young sprats are commonly known as brisling. Canned sprats (usually smoked) are available in many north European countries, including the Baltic states, Scandinavia, Ireland, Germany, Poland and Russia. They are an important Latvian export. The majority of brisling sardines that are sold to the public are harvested off the coasts of Norway and Scotland.]
Mind you, this fish does not compare with sardines caught along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts and still less with blue anchovies from Spain and Morocco.
z,
I actually knew that!
poroti
[and ate some Riga smoked sprats.]
Or were you just another ‘Riga smoked prat’ : sucked in, I’d say.
There never seemed much chance of the US settling the fiscal issues before Jan 1 because the Republicans are in such a mess.
After Jan 1 the traditional Republicans can vote for tax cuts for everyone except those earning over $250k and say they voted for tax cuts.
The Tea Party nuts can oppose everything and continue their civil war inside the R party.
Obama should tie as many other measures as he can with the budget cuts so that he extracts the maximum benefit from the R lunacy.
Greensborough Growler
[I’m afraid I was thick as a brick re Jethro Tull. Didn’t like Picnic in Hanging Rock either.]
Aqualung was the go and yep “picnic” was total meh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUEA5NWlQU0