The latest weekly result from Essential Research, a rolling average of polling conducted over the past fortnight, shows little change on last week with Labor up a point on the primary vote to 39% and the Greens down one to 9%, while the Coalition and Palmer United are steady on 40% and 5% and Labor’s two-party preferred lead is unchanged at 52-48. The poll also includes the monthly personal ratings, which are the first such results from any pollster showing Bill Shorten leading Tony Abbott on preferred prime minister, the latter’s lead of 42-32 last month crashing to a deficit of 37-36. This is down to a slump in Abbott’s ratings, his approval down six to 35% and disapproval up eight to 55%, with Shorten’s ratings little changed at 35% approval (up one) and 37% disapproval (down one).
In other questions, the poll comprehensively gauged opinion the Commission of Audit’s recommendations, of which three have a positive net approval: university students repaying HELP debt once they earn minimum wage, relocation by unemployed young people to areas of high unemployment to retain access to benefits, and Youth Allowance rather than Newstart for those under 25. The least popular measures were raising the retirement age and increasing interest rates on HELP debts. Respondents thought the Coalition heavily favoured the rich (54%) over the poor (5%) and the average Australian (22%), while tending to place Labor in the middle, with 34% for the average Australian, 16% for the rich and 22% for the poor. The poll found broad awareness that Australia’s national debt was lower than other developed countries (45% believing it lower, 22% higher), and a belief that large companies and high-income earners paid too little tax and small businesses and low-income earners too much.
gc:
Personally I don’t think the debt tax is going to cause much of a stir in and of itself, more the pile on effect of accumulated backtracks all at once than any one thing.
I thought PvO’s tweet of that 10sec video of Abbott pre-election promising no cuts to X, Y, Z and the ABC is a devastating tool for the opposition post budget.
[Am I the only one wishing Sarah Ferguson w re the permanent host of 7.30?]
Obama44 No. I dread having Sales back, too. Ferguson is tough on everyone but so good. She’s a real professional.
[Just heard on ABC news that Geoffrey Watson suggested to one of the bag men at the ICAC enquiry that he should drive to Malabar and have a look at Long Bay Jail so he gets familiar with it.
Does he sometimes overstep the seemly bounds?]
Fuck I hope so. The chance to go in boots in all too rarely presents itself.
Dee@1994
A caffeinated soft drink was probably not a good thing to have. I would like a medico to comment.
Roof cavities tend to he hot, dirty places at the best of times. With that temperature, they probably should not have been working at all.
A tragic sequence of events / errors related to the work environment rather than the activity of installing insulation.
sh
*laughs out loud*
Darn:
Okay, understood.
Although I have to say I have no idea how an increase in the GST rate would be viewed by fellow Sandgropians, esp if the argument was that our state would end up getting more of a share of the pie. Barnett would be spruiking it for all he was worth, which presumably would count for something with voters.
The GP tax and pension changes will be the ones that blow the polling out for Labor, if it moves.
Fess
[How will the GP tax applied to pathology affect those admitted to general wards? How can that realistically, or even equitably be distinguished from pathology ordered by GPs?]
If you were admitted to a ward in a public hospital, there would be no co-payment. The collection site and patient status have to be filled in on a pathology request so the inpatient public hospital box being ticked would flag it.
As the first law officer of the nation, one would expect the Attorney-General to be measured, balanced and adhere to judicial principles. Sadly Brandis in just eight months in the job fails on all measures. His roll call of injudicious decisions is remarkable:
The disgraceful ASIO raid on the Timor L’Este’s legal consel’s home, explicitly sanctioned by Brandis and subsequently condemned in the International Court of Justice.
His defence of the rights of bigots and S18c amendments.
His sanctioning of the departure from over a 100 years of bipartisan support for maintaining Cabinet in Confidence principles
His partisan defence of Sinodinos and Nash in the Senate.
He is a disgrace to the legal profession. And not to mention his lavish expenditure on bookcases in his Parliamentary office.
[If you were admitted to a ward in a public hospital, there would be no co-payment. The collection site and patient status have to be filled in on a pathology request so the inpatient public hospital box being ticked would flag it.]
So I take it that means that hospital outpatients will pay for hospital ordered pathology done at the hospital’s path lab? Or are outpatients excluded too?
The Rudd thingie looks like a rather basic issue of procedural fairness.
It is unfair to ask me about unredacted parts of a document and then tell me I cannot refer to redacted parts in my answer.
Diogenes@2008
Hi Diogenes. Can you comment o the point I made in my 2004 about caffeinated soft drinks?
Thanks.
[I’m figuring by then all will have been forgotten and forgiven following some strategically targetted bribes in the next two budgets.]
Fess Abbott and Hockey intimated today that all the nasties will have blown over by 2016 and voters will be thanking them. I wonder.
Bemused
The coke probably didn’t make much difference. He would definitely be better off having a coke than nothing at all. Basically they shouldn’t have been working under those conditions.
Rossmore
[The disgraceful ASIO raid on the Timor L’Este’s legal consel’s home, explicitly sanctioned by Brandis and subsequently condemned in the International Court of Justice.]
I think that is a bit unfair. No minister is going to refuse to follow advice of his security agencies on a matter of a threat to security.
Diogenes@2014
I took it to be a bit more than coke, perhaps one of those ‘energy’ drinks.
I have seen them adversely affect an adult in ordinary circumstances.
Dio:
So in addition to a differential cost applied to ED presentations across the country (assuming some states take up the option to charge whereas others don’t), we’re going to have a differential cost applied to pathology access depending on the origin of the path request?
It’s looking like a bit of an administrative nightmare to me.
[So I take it that means that hospital outpatients will pay for hospital ordered pathology done at the hospital’s path lab?]
I’ve had ultrasounds done at the local hospital, simply because it’s the only ultrasound gig in town. I’m guessing I’d have paid a GP tax if Hockey’s budget applied back then.
LU
[So I take it that means that hospital outpatients will pay for hospital ordered pathology done at the hospital’s path lab? Or are outpatients excluded too?]
That is an interesting one.
It depends how much the hospital is trying to rort the system. Most hospitals do not raise a pathology bill for the patient as they are considered to be under the public hospitals care. So those patients would be fine.
Some public hospitals try to pretend the outpatient visit isn’t in the public hospital system and “Medicarise” the patient and bill Medicare. Those patients would be affected and would have to pay the $7 which would piss them off no end as they are then paying extra so the public hospital could continue to shaft Medicare.
I predict a youth crime wave during the “off” 6 months for the dole.
What are these idiots thinking will happen? Its mind-bogglingy irresponsible policy making.
Shellbell
Watson did say that to Koel (?) ? McClymont tweeted it with much glee.
Watching argument about redacted C-I-C docs felt like history in the making. Fascinating.
Was almost as mesmerising
shellbell
[No minister is going to refuse to follow advice of his security agencies on a matter of a threat to security.]
Ah , so we are run by the secret squirrels rather than our representatives.
Bemused
One of those high caffeine drinks could have made him worse.
Do we know when we’re likely to get some post-budget polling?
Lets cut 80b out of health and ed and SEE WHAT HAPPENS
Government by 14 year-olds.
[confessions
Posted Wednesday, May 14, 2014 at 8:31 pm | PERMALINK
Darn:
Okay, understood.
Although I have to say I have no idea how an increase in the GST rate would be viewed by fellow Sandgropians, esp if the argument was that our state would end up getting more of a share of the pie. Barnett would be spruiking it for all he was worth, which presumably would count for something with voters.]
Fess
I suspect that an opposition leader who came out in favour of a fairer share of the GST and against a rise in the rate of the GST would get a better hearing than a premier who came out in favour of both. But as I said earlier, as a Victorian I don’t have much of a feel for WA politics.
lefty e
[I predict a youth crime wave during the “off” 6 months for the dole.]
The vulnerable are going to be sitting targets for home invasion.
Think we will also see a rise in charity drives to cope with unprecedented demand.
[I predict a youth crime wave during the “off” 6 months for the dole. ]
At the very least it’s going to put enormous strain on the agencies which provide homeless services and food voucher type support. And those agencies are already operating at bare bones capacity.
As a minimum I’m predicting we’ll see an increase in the number of youth who are couch surfing.
@ lefty e 2020
Absolutely.
Expect to see more of our young, vulnerable women prostituting themselves, too.
So much for the “Prime Minister for women”.
The LNP are really saying they want to take the Commonwealth out of health and education; that they plan to use the unemployment benefit system to force down wages; that they plan to gradually de-fund public aged and disability income support; and that they also plan to only part-fund infrastructure spending.
Notably, the budget papers also provide for only a small part of the the Emissions Reduction Fund to be spent within the next 3 years.
The LNP have just degraded their brand for years to come. Who can possibly take them at their word now? Who can trust them to protect and improve the basic instruments of our social system and economy?
They’re deranged.
Thanks, Diogenes
So then what about when my private specialist lobs a few extra tests on the end of a request that originated from an outpatient reg, to be done just before my next outpatient appointment?
And yes, I can add yet another layer to this convolution!
Confessions, that is until they qualify for the dole, then they will be working for the dole. Does anyone know what they will be doing and how much of the week they will have to work?
Poroti
I don’t think it is that draconian.
I just can’t imagine a minister be he or she red, blue or green refusing to give the go ahead for a warrant if told a former member of the security forces was leaking information.
I’m loath to say it after the number of times it was said about Labor, but the Coalition are toast federally for a generation after this.
When Labor gets back into office, even the worst stuff-up wouldn’t send Aussies back to the Liberals – it’ll send them to Clive Palmer.
Yes as I said yesterday, they should be spending more on law enforcement and mental health with this budget.
They’re going to need it.
[They’re deranged.]
No. They are smart, they put themselves out to tender, and they’ve been bought.
Think we’ll also see a rise in jobs on commission and other sham none jobs exploiting the desperate and government incentive payments.
Simon Banks @SimonBanksHB 2m
Great explanation of @Tonyabbottmhr’s #Budget2014 infrastructure deceit by @AlboMP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdKRHEn6veQ … Drawing lessons though?
I think Labor should focus on the fact that the tax take; as percentage of GDP; has increased and the budget deficit has increased. The budget is not about reducing the debt, it’s about ideological nonsense; let the poor suffer.
Paul Murray on Sky News having a crack at “the media” for being biased against Abbott and Hockey.
Hilarious.
2015
Don`t be ridiculous. Any decent Attorney-General would have told ASIO to pull their head in. Raiding the lawyers of a smaller foreign nation suing Australia over a spying on the deliberations over a treaty is not national security protection, it is unconscionable bullying and should have been vetoed.
There is something I noticed when Hockey finished his budget speech last night.
I wonder if other Bludgers noticed the same thing?
When Swan used to finish his reading of the budget, Julia used to give him a hug and a kiss. I felt it was quite welcoming and warm.
Last night, Julie B did the same to Hockey. It was the coldest response from him that could be imagined as if he was repulsed and uncomfortable.
Cuts to health = more money for the states to put in
Cuts to education = more money for the states to put in
Cuts to pensions = more reliance on state-supplied support services
Cuts to the dole = more reliance on state-supplied support services
Cuts to FTB = more reliance on state-supplied support services
Make no mistake: the purpose of this budge is to push state governments to the wall so they have no option but to ask the feds to make changes to the GST.
At which point (post 2015), most state governments will be ALP, so Abbott can blame the states AND blame the ALP for “causing” a rise in the GST.
It sticks out like dogs’ balls that this is where we are heading. The ALP need to get on the front foot and put it out there that this is what is happening. Otherwise the bastards will get away with it.
Bob Stenson, it’s your time to shine …
[Confessions, that is until they qualify for the dole, then they will be working for the dole. ]
And likely still couch surfing regardless of whether they have a job or Newstart or not.
Incidentally the final year in the NRAS was cut in the budget.
2028
confessions
I predict a youth crime wave during the “off” 6 months for the dole.
At the very least it’s going to put enormous strain on the agencies which provide homeless services and food voucher type support. And those agencies are already operating at bare bones capacity.]
The attack of the unemployment benefit system is just about the single worst piece of policy ever advanced by an LNP Government. It is taking a hammer to the Curtin/Chifley social settlement – taking us back to the 1920’s and earlier.
But it’s actually even worse than that. Because there will be NO support for very extended periods, the LNP clearly intend to use younger unemployed workers to bargain down wages at the unskilled end of the market, a process that can undermine wages right through the income structure. This is an utterly insidious attempt to degrade the incomes of working people. In its own way, it’s worse than work choices.
Every worker, no matter how well- or lowly-paid, should reject this. It is absolutely evil. They intend to starve workers into submission.
[I’m loath to say it after the number of times it was said about Labor, but the Coalition are toast federally for a generation after this.]
Rubbish.
gloryconsequence
Paul Murray is what they find at the bottom of the barrel.
shellbell
No minister is going to refuse to follow advice of his security agencies on a matter of a threat to security.
Nothing to do with security or threat, everything to do with protecting Howard, Downer & Woodside ripping off Timorese …
[The few thousand dollars that Kev lent me in the GFC (which I didn’t ask for) had to be paid back sooner or later.]
Why would a Foreign Affairs minister hug a Treasurer who has just cut over $7 billion from foreign aid?
@2045
Which is what pretty much what I said when I emailed back to my Local MP, complaining that taking Disabled rights away is extending the Green Army.
Don’t expect much response from him though – “It’s Labor’s fault”.