Newspoll: Liberal 53, Labor 23, Greens 16 in Tasmania

Newspoll’s pre-election entry for Tasmania points to humiliation for Labor and an emphatic majority win for the Liberals.

I’m too busy to offer any commentary on late campaign polling, so it’s just as well that these numbers speak for themselves. The personal ratings are similarly devastating for Labor: 29% approval and 62% disapproval for Lara Giddings, 53% and 36% for Will Hodgman, and 27% and 64% for Greens leader Nick McKim. On preferred premier, 53% for Hodgman, 22% for Giddings and 14% for McKim. The poll also foreshadows a disappointing result for Clive Palmer, with the Palmer United Party recording only 4%.

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.

65 comments on “Newspoll: Liberal 53, Labor 23, Greens 16 in Tasmania”

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  1. @ Arrnea

    I have read the greens policy platform. You know, what a load of fantasy, the stuff of dreams. You know, Hitler has a plan, how did that work out?

    You cant have an economy when you do everything possible to prevent the existence of one either. The dreams of teachers, academics, activists, all feasting of the taxpayer host, and wow, in this state, that host is rotting.

    You keep drinking the watermelon kool aid, whatever helps you sleep an night, why real lives are destroyed. Nice touch, how very human of you, just you, and ya silly ideals that help you feel superior to everyone else.

  2. @ Arrnea

    “You can’t eat money.”

    That says it all, is that your let them eat cake moment 🙂

    How very regal of you 🙂

  3. @ psephos

    Was that supposed to be a zinger? You can do better than that. That is if you are not busy writing an article on gay marriage, how teachers are underpaid or the pain of boat people.

    Have you ever actually produced anything? Not words, actually produced anything?

    You can talk, you have rights, ideals, but have you actually ever produced something?

    Dont talk to me about lazy minds, I create, I employ, I take risks, I risk my family’s assets to produce, to grow to expand, to employ more, to create wealth.

    Want to know what a lazy mind is, a parasite funded by taxpayers, who can only talk, who thinks they are above the rest of us, forward comrade..right, dreams, ideals, WORDS, BS.

    Create something, you are clueless, I do, you talk, thats the difference leach.

  4. jd
    Just as well that the environment is infinite source and infinite sump. Otherwise you would be making yourself out to be a prize git.

  5. [Paul Austin
    Posted Saturday, March 15, 2014 at 1:39 am | Permalink

    If we hadn’t “destroyed the environment”, some of the greatest cities in the world would never have existed.]

    A favour which ‘the destroyed environment’ has returned to numerous cities, with the fate of the rest an uncertain outcome environmental blowback work in progress.

    We have more or less locked in the 7 metre sea level rise which will turn many cities (produced by the thoughtful jds of the world) into shallow-water reefs. It will only take a couple of millenia – a pimple in time.

    Rather more uncertain is the other 61m of sea level rise. Will the CO2 Heads come to their senses in time?

    Going on the bright-eyed lunacy that passes as scientific thought by the development at any costs brigade, the entire 70m of sea level rise is probably a formality.

  6. “We have more or less locked in the 7 metre sea level rise which will turn many cities (produced by the thoughtful jds of the world) into shallow-water reefs. It will only take a couple of millenia – a pimple in time.”

    “Rather more uncertain is the other 61m of sea level rise. Will the CO2 Heads come to their senses in time?”

    Yet you accuse me of making myself out to be a prize git?

    I had to laugh Boer, what else are fools good for 🙂

    Nevertheless, thanks for the laugh 🙂

    Another teacher? LOL.

  7. [Was that supposed to be a zinger? You can do better than that. That is if you are not busy writing an article on gay marriage, how teachers are underpaid or the pain of boat people.]

    You don’t know me very well, do you? I am a gay man who is indifferent to gay marriage. I have no opinion on whether teachers are underpaid. I have been arguing here for three years that no-one who comes to Australia by boat should get a visa.

  8. @ psephos

    ya very own words;

    “If you want Tasmanian children to have a future, you should vote for whoever promises to put more money (a lot more money) into state schools including better pay for teachers.”

    Is that an opinion?

    As for looking back at your posting for the last 3 years…no, just cant do that, life and all.

  9. I said I have no opinion on whether they are underpaid. That doesn’t mean I’m opposed to paying them more. You get the education system you pay for. Tasmania obviously has a lousy one, which is damaging the state’s economy and standard of living. So it needs to spend more. Not for the sake of the teachers, but for the sake of the state’s future. That’s my opinion.

  10. “We have more or less locked in the 7 metre sea level rise which will turn many cities (produced by the thoughtful jds of the world) into shallow-water reefs. It will only take a couple of millenia – a pimple in time.”

    “Rather more uncertain is the other 61m of sea level rise. Will the CO2 Heads come to their senses in time?”

    Yet you accuse me of making myself out to be a prize git?
    jd

    [I had to laugh Boer, what else are fools good for…]

    Your science teacher obviously never had a chance. Your grammar teacher may have failed you, but more likely it was the other way around.

  11. Psephos, thanks for your thoughtful response @ 23 yesterday. I will admit that “stupid and evil” is OTT in respect of your suggested reforms, but I do get irritated by attacks on Tasmania’s electoral system.
    [Representative systems have two purposes. One is to allow reasonable representation to all points of view that have a significant following in the community, and the other is to allow the formation of stable governments that can implement the policies on which they were elected.]
    I think it is fairly obvious that in respect of the first objective the Tasmanian system is superior. Most voters are represented in the parliament by someone to whom they gave their #1 vote, and all but the supporters of independents and micro parties are represented at least by their preferred party. In single member el.ectorate systems, 40% to 60% of voters end up represented by someone not from their preferred party. Further, the multi member electorate allows the voter to exercise choice between candidates from the same party, reducing the power of factional blocs to force candidates into office.

    As for the second objective, stable and capable government, I see no evidence that Tasmanian governments have been worse in this respect than governments elsewhere in Australia. The outgoing government was not at all unstable, it served its full term with no difficulty. The same has been generally true of past Tasmanian governments, even in the situation where a minority Liberal government had to rely on Green support. The minor party in such parliaments has after all a strong incentive to maintain stability, knowing that their electoral support will collapse if they act irresponsibly.

    As for the ability to carry out their program, governments have, so far as I can see, been constrained only in matters concerned with the core policy concern of the minor party; the environment in the case of the Greens. In areas such as health, education, prisons, tourism etc. the governing party has had its way, for better or for worse. Correct me if I am wrong, I probably have not been watching as closely as you, but I really can’t recall a case where the Greens have prevented one of the majors from carrying out their policy platform, apart from environmental matters.

    The Greens arose because of the contentiousness of the environment debate, not the other way around. The current “pulp mill debate” is a good example. The protests come mainly from the people living in the area, not from the Green politicians or anti-forestry groups, though of course these have lent their support. The presence of Greens in parliament has in practise had no effect on the passage of legislation concerning the pulp mill. Since the opposition agreed with the government on this matter, the government could get things through with opposition support if they needed it. A situation might have arisen in the last parliament where the government needed to get a bill through urgently and passed it with opposition support, after which the Greens, no longer supporting the government, joined with the opposition in a no confidence motion, but in reality it did not happen.

    So while I agree that conceptually a minority government might be constrained in carrying out its program, in the real world this does not seem to have happened; there are good reasons for the minor party not to be obstructionist. Perhaps the government has to (sometimes) consider its legislation a bit more carefully, since they cannot be sure it will always be waved through, but I do not think that is a bad thing.

    Tasmania certainly has problems, but I do not believe that government paralysis is to be blamed. I think a clue to a basic cultural problem can be seen in the comments here from “james dayton”. There is a strong anti-intellectual feeling in sections of the community, as shown by a bloke who claims teachers produce nothing, failing to notice that he would be nothing without teachers. I don’t think there is much wrong with our education system and it is no worse than elsewhere in the country. My own kids did well in it, but they also had the advantage of parents who valued and encouraged education and learning.

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