Essential Research: 52-48 to Coalition

Australian politicians: overpaid, and more corrupt than New Zealand’s. On voting intention, steady as she goes.

Essential Research continues its regular Tuesday appearance, with Morgan having moved to fortnightly. Newspoll, one suspects, has been holding off for resolution of the Labor leadership. The latest Essential Research result records only the most negligible change on last week, with the Greens up a point to 10% and the balance subsumed by rounding: the Coalition, Labor and others are respectively unchanged at 43%, 35% and 12%, with the Coalition’s two-party lead steady at 52-48, compared with an election result of roughly 53.5-46.5.

In other findings, 71% of respondents considered the current $195,000 salary for backbenchers too high, against 27% for about right and just 2% for too low; 48% considered George Brandis unfit to review politicians’ entitlements given his recent form, against 26% who think otherwise and 27% who don’t know. Respondents were also asked whether politicians should or shouldn’t be reimbursed for various expenses.

Other questions asked whether respondents considered corruption a problem in various sectors, with government and the media coming off worst. Australian politicians were nonetheless considered less corrupt than those of the US and the UK (though not New Zealand), and especially those of Indonesia and China. A question on lobbying found general support for more regulation and disclosure.

On the question of best party to handle another global financial crisis, the Liberals were favoured over Labor 38% to 29% with 23% for no difference.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

3,418 thoughts on “Essential Research: 52-48 to Coalition”

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  1. Mike Carlton ‏@MikeCarlton01 5m
    Despite the fury of the climate change nutters, it is no disrespect to fire victims to raise the question of global warming now.

    Of course not.

    The SW of WA has been suffering a drying climate for decades now, thanks to AGW. All those farmers who lost their lives, their livelihoods and their families because of global warming were ignored by the frothing idiots now playing high dudgeon over Bandt’s and others’ remarks.

    They can naff off.

  2. Heres a good reply to Carlton.

    “@ecowrite: @MikeCarlton01 It’s like being asked not to mention smoking when people suffer lung cancer. Climate truths taboo to so many Australians.”

  3. Dutton?? Really??

    Shadow Health who didn’t ask a question regarding the portfolio for over 1,000 days…
    Wow…he’s seen as a high performer….what would a Shadow have to do (or not do) to be considered a low performer?

  4. If the ALP do put him in another Senate seat then they will be on the receiving end of criticism for ignoring the will of the voters. If it is after the ALP loose the next SA election, the SA parliament may choose to leave the seat empty rather than appoint him. by-election in an SA HoR seat would be risky.

    Farrell could move to NSW to take up Carr’s seat. 😉

  5. feeney

    70% at least of the media are on side and there’s no likelihood of a respite in their Abbott worship just yet.

    Well, it was the same in Victoria with Kennett. I remember, the day after the 1999 election, one journo saying that he couldn’t understand what had happened, he thought everyone was going to vote for Kennett.

    If what people see and what people are told don’t add up, sooner or later they figure it out.

  6. Diog

    I don’t know a thing about Farrell and don’t particularly care whether he’s in Parliament or not BUT

    not every pollie can be dazzling and charismatic. You need those types, but you also need the types who are policy wonks, or are good at strategy, or good at negotiations, or have sharp analytical brains, etc etc.

    Now, great if you can get all that in the one package, but it’s exceedingly rare. It’s rare to get three or four of those attributes in one politician, for that matter.

    If every pollie was appointed on their vote pulling power, we’d have a lot of charming populists but probably find not much would get done.

    As I keep saying to my husband – “Find me 150 saints and I’ll work to get them preselected.” – although even then, I have to admit that saints are probably not the people you want running the country.

    People like John Button or Bob McMullan weren’t seen as vote pullers. They may have become so, but that wasn’t the reason they were put on the Senate ticket to begin with.

    (And yes, there’s a lot of dross on both sides. As I said, this isn’t necessarily an argument for keeping Farrell – he might qualify with bells on, I really don’t know. It’s just saying that we want people in Parliament with a little more to offer than just ‘vote pulling appeal’).

  7. The current Liberal govt back to Howardia.

    Ministers the same.
    Policies unchanged.

    Nobody could argue that the Liberal party doesn’t learn lessons!

  8. When the Coalition win a thumping win and the ALP is the one getting the thumping, rewarding the man behind the previous two Prime Ministerial assassinations, along with his accomplices, aint smart.

    Then again, the NSW Always Right is always right, so just “Full Steam Ahead” as they say!

  9. Half of Howard Front bench is still in Abbott’s front bench

    wonder if any of them thought they should submit costings in line with their own charter of budget honesty or if none of them really had a clue what was happening

  10. Aren’t the politician’s expenses documents fascinating?

    I see that Sharman Stone has thrown her hat into the ring for the position of Speaker of the House.

    But, as far as I can tell, from her expense claims in the 1st 6 months of 2012, she hasn’t got a hope in hell.

    Sharman Stone took advantage of the Overseas Study Travel entitlement – and she went to Turkey. Given the dates, April 17-28, one assumes she attended Anzac Day at Gallipoli.

    But the entitlement claimed?
    This will blow your socks off.

    Fares: $2259.34
    Accommodation and Meals: $780.30
    Related Travel Expenses: $173.78

    A Grand Total of: $3213.42

    WTF. What’s wrong with her. No business class. 1-star hotels, eating in the kitchen.

    Not good enough for an expenses-rorting Speaker wannabe.

    I reckon Don Randall will get the position, no sweat.

  11. The Liberals have figured out that they basically have it right. That means Mod will never vote for them ever again. I’m fine with that ;).

  12. The Howardia return was good for winning this election, in a period of Labor tumult. But it can only last for so long.

    I’ve got this feeling however, that the coalition is about to do what Labor did in govt, and try to work out what it actually stands for these days.

  13. deb

    I haven’t seen him do it before. Normally be looks a bit sleepy with his lids lagging. It looked very unnatural. Someone has probably told him to look more interested and he took it a bit far.

  14. kezza:

    A colleague and his wife went to Gallipoli this year for the dawn service. They paid just-above-budget accommodation there which included a ‘campsite’ of a provided blanket and pillow and that was it, yet paid more than that for the two of them.

  15. Diogenes
    Posted Friday, October 18, 2013 at 11:06 pm | PERMALINK
    Shorten was doing this weird wide-eyed staring thing at his presser. I’m hoping it is just a temporary habit.

    Oh shuddup.

    Didn’t we have enough of that dross throughout the Gillard years. Enough already.

  16. DisplayName
    The Liberals have figured out that they basically have it right.

    they would have submitted their costings in that case but all they did was run away. What they have actually done is adopt all of labors economic policies and tried to spin it

  17. kakuru
    Posted Friday, October 18, 2013 at 4:19 pm | Permalink
    ..
    That story is from the Daily Telecrap. The only thing I believe in that newspaper is the date.

    I sure has hell would be using other sources for my calander.

  18. paaptsef, I’m simply going by what Mod Lib has said.

    Mod has said
    a) Mod hopes the liberals keep winning and Labor keep losing
    b) Mod can’t vote for the liberals as they are
    c) the Liberals have learned an ‘election winning lesson’ that they have things right

    Draw your own conclusions :P.

  19. TTFB

    It does seem relatively frugal but Turkish prices may be a little lower.

    Extraordinarily frugal and given that fess said friends of hers ‘camped’ at Gallipoli and were given a blanket and pillow only, and paid more than the same price each (as did Stone) then one can only wonder why.

    Maybe she had rellies over there. But even so, she didn’t suck off the public purse like so many of her colleagues.

    Well done Sharman Stone of Murray.

  20. Half of Howard Front bench is still in Abbott’s front bench

    This is the group that rAbbott described as past their prime back 2006(?)

  21. As a former dux of Springwood High, let me express my gratitude to Tony Abbott for his eloquence and acuity identifying what we have had, and in which we have lost so many houses, as “a very big fire”. Who would otherwise have known?

    And of course Greg Hunt, the Minister for Thwarting Action on Climate Change While Dishonestly Pretending to Act, was right to say its just awful to point to climate change as likely to increase intensity of bushfires. Shame!

  22. kezza:

    My colleague and his wife believed they were getting accommodation at Gallipoli above what they actually got.

    Listening to him talk of the Gallipoli experience when he came back to work turned me off going. It sounds like a tourist rip off.

    If Stone was able to get cheaper digs which were above the standard my colleague and his wife had, then good luck to her.

  23. The problems of the UK middle class(and a bit like here too )
    ___________
    When next we hear of urban real estate being bought by wealthy asians,spare a thought for Londoners
    In London last year 80% of property was bought by foreigners from the Middle East,Asia and elsewhere
    The same applies to places in expensive private schools and to many businesses and tertiary educ places
    It has Australian resonances too

    http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/goodbye-mr-middle-class/

  24. Going to Gallipoli is fine provided you don’t try to go for ANZAC Day, which has become a circus. I went in May and virtually had the place to myself. I got the day bus from Istanbul to Eceabat, where I stayed at TJ’s, a basic but perfectly nice hotel. They booked me a 2-day tour of the battlefields with an excellent Turkish guide, with a group of about six people.

  25. Mod’s gloating, gleeful crusade against hypocrisy is revealed to have the ugliest of all possible motives, despair at oneself coupled with the need to see others fall lower.

  26. For all the talk about Ferrell, when his term ends in June hopefully Kate Lundy returns to the frontbench even if it is just a parliamentary secretary role.

  27. I think this tweet sum it up:

    Jane Caro ‏@JaneCaro 1h

    Fascinating on #thedrum tonight, wicked @AdamBandt has politicized the fires but isn’t the real issue the politicization of climate change?

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