Newspoll has given the Coalition its best result since early April, with Labor’s lead at 52-48 from primary votes of 40% for the Coalition (up four), 34% for Labor (down two) and 13% for the Greens (up one). This amounts to a two-point shift to the Coalition’s favour on two-party preferred – although it should be noted that last fortnight’s result was above trend, whereas this one is right on it. Tony Abbott’s 41-37 lead as preferred prime minister puts him ahead of Bill Shorten for the first time since early May, the result a fortnight ago having been 38-38. This reflects a worsening in Shorten’s personal ratings, with approval down two to 36% and disapproval up three to 44%, rather than an improvement in Abbott’s, which are little changed at 36% (steady) and 54% (up one).
Also out today was a result from Roy Morgan that supports the proposition that Newspoll’s fluctuations are largely statistical noise. Both major parties are down fractionally on the primary vote, the Coalition by half a point to 37.5% and Labor by one to 38%, with the Greens and Palmer United both gaining half a point to 11% and 5.5% respectively. An improvement in Labor’s respondent-allocated preferences gives them an impressive headline lead of 56-44 on two-party preferred, up from 54.5-45.5 a fortnight ago, but the two-party result based on preference flows from the previous election is unchanged at 54-46.
UPDATE (Essential Research): Also a quiet result from Essential Research, which has the major parties steady on 41% for the Coalition, 39% for Labor and 51-49 to Labor on two-party preferred. The only change is that the Greens are down a point to 8%, and Palmer United up one to 5%. We also get Essential’s monthly leadership ratings, which are the first to record Tony Abbott’s MH17 bounce – up three on approval to 37% and down four on disapproval to 54%, and back in front on preferred prime minister for the first time since April at 37-36, compared with a 37-34 deficit last time. Bill Shorten’s personal ratings are little changed, his approval down two to 34% and disapproval up one to 40%.
The most interesting finding from the supplementary questions is that 51% oppose the government’s internet surveillance proposals with only 39% in support, while 68% profess little or no trust in the government and ISPs to protect the stored information from abuse. The survey also asked respondents to rank a series of environmental issues as either important or not important, and while all scored strongly, it’s perhaps curious to note that climate change scored lowest at 71% important and 27% not important, with protecting the Great Barrier Reef highest at 91% and 7%. Respondents were also asked to assess the government’s record on asylum seekers according to a range of criteria, with pleasing results for the government in that responsible and fair (along with “too secretive” and “just playing politics”) topped the list at 45%, while “too hard” and “too soft” were bottom at 29% and 26%.
William Bowe@635
It is your, once again partisan, contribution that is nonsensical.
You could conceivably have one or more individuals who fought for the Germans and a different one or more who fought for the Japanese.
The closest example I could think of is Charles Cousens who was tried for treason for making broadcasts for the Japanese after he had been taken prisoner. The men who he had led passed their own judgement.
[Commonwealth legal and military authorities then considered court-martialling Cousens, only to reject the plan lest it ‘would have the appearance of persecution and would thus be politically inexpedient’. They decided, nonetheless, to strip Cousens of his commission. Their action, carried out on 22 January 1947, was widely regarded as vindictive. Three months later the men of the 2nd/19th Battalion elected Cousens to lead them on the Anzac Day march through Sydney. ]
I am unaware of any Australians similarly accused of aiding Germany.
Thanks William
So the Libs have pulled back about 2%. It will be interesting to see whether all this overseas hoo ha will cause a further drop or whether the polls will now stabilize where they are.
What are your thoughts on that?
tielec@640
She should not have made her claim without being able to back it up.
Richard Chirgwin @R_Chirgwin 4m
Someone paid for this advice:
… HT @matttburke and @no_filter_Yamba
[She should not have made her claim without being able to back it up.]
Perhaps I’m missing something here. Can you clarify what this “claim” is that Zoomster is making?
bemused
[She should not have made her claim without being able to back it up.]
What claim? Please provide the full quote in your answer.
Cheers, William!!
Bemused – I’m not sure if you are being deliberately obtuse but you have misunderstood what the claim was.
Zoomster doesn’t need to provide proof of a claim that was never made except in your imagination.
Interested in hearing more about ICAC Victoria if you are still watching/seeing updates.
I think Abbott should parachute into northern Iraq accompanied by his front bench to attack ISIL with vast outpourings of stupidity until they surrender.
tielec
Latest tweet from twitterfeed
https://mobile.twitter.com/MWhitbourn
Baumann’s brief says his client “was not involved in any way” with organising cash for Owen staffer. “I reject that,” Thomson says. #ICAC
Thank you victoria.
tielec
No worries. 🙂
Tony has Roid Rage
Found this interesting article :
The ‘German Tommy’ who fought for Britain
Story emerges of how a soldier of German ancestry hid his identity to serve with the British Army, ending up being decorated by the King ….
Born in Toowoomba, Queensland, Walter Leslie Schwarz and that he was of German, rather than British, stock, but had lied about his background so he could take up arms against the country of his forebears. Furthermore, before joining the British army, Schwartz had previously served with the Australian forces, before deserting.
MORE :
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10626630/The-German-Tommy-who-fought-for-Britain.html
Icac adjourned until 10 am tomorrow
William Bowe@655
See my 602.
She posed a bit of a hypothetical stating: “Well, the same could be said for those who fought on either side in the Spanish Civil War, or for Australians who previously fought for Japan or Germany.”
To which I replied: “Name one AUSTRALIAN citizen (at the time) who fought for each of Germany and Japan?”
I asked this as I was genuinely curious as to whether or not any Australians had in fact fought for Nazi Germany or Japan as her statement seemed to imply. This was not in the context of people who had fought for those countries and later became citizens as the discussion had been about Australian citizens going overseas to fight in wars on the ‘enemy’ side.
I have subsequently given the closest example I could think of.
The Big Ship @640
[stale and transparent]
Here here.
And nobody questions the cost. Millions frittered away in sloganeering whilst the population are asked to take one for Team Australia.
This gave me a giggle.
#ICAC commish says there won’t be hearing next Wed, so everyone can “reflect on their lives”. “LIVES!” she adds in case anyone heard “lies”.
badcat@664
The Brits had quite a few Germans fighting in various capacities on their side. They were referred to collectively and humorously as “His Majesty’s Most Loyal Enemy Aliens”. I think most were of Jewish background.
tielec
Yep that gave me a chuckle too
With all NSW eyes on ICAC this really sounds a shocker of a move in Rum Corp City.
[Compulsory voting for Sydney businesses makes a mockery of democracy
The new move by the NSW state government to give votes to businesses is outrageous: why should any business have a single vote in any election?
The full details of the arrangements are yet to emerge, but on the basis of yesterday’s news it seems that non-resident businesses owners will have to vote; residents with businesses will have to vote more than once; and presumably those with several rate paying businesses will get a vote for each one]
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/13/compulsory-voting-for-sydney-businesses-makes-a-mockery-of-democracy
[I asked this as I was genuinely curious as to whether or not any Australians had in fact fought for Nazi Germany or Japan as her statement seemed to imply.]
You aren’t telling the truth, Bemused. #602 asks not whether any Australians had “fought for Nazi Germany or Japan”, but whether any had fought for each of Germany and Japan. It is plainly a botched attempt at scoring a cheap and petty “gotcha” that backfired on you, because you hadn’t read the comment carefully enough.
off any topic here but some pics here to make you laugh
the last 2 or 3 are crackers read how they were given there names
http://www.thevine.com.au/travel/sleep/19-airport-sleeping-positions-to-employ-during-layovers-20140806-284244/
bemused
[ “Name one AUSTRALIAN citizen (at the time) who fought for each of Germany and Japan?”]
Right. So you wanted the example of an Australian citizen who had fought for BOTH countries.
Which is not —
[I asked this as I was genuinely curious as to whether or not any Australians had in fact fought for Nazi Germany or Japan as her statement seemed to imply.]
– where you say you are interested in Australian citizens who had fought for EITHER Japan or Germany.
In that category, although I don’t know of any, I would be fairly sure that there were some. Certainly the Australian government was concerned enough about the possibility that they interned Australian citizens who might conceivably do so.
Eh, William, I think it’s simpler. Bemused put his question poorly.
I think bemused has accidentally asked something other than what he intended :P.
[ bemused
Posted Wednesday, August 13, 2014 at 3:40 pm | Permalink
The Brits had quite a few Germans fighting in various capacities on their side. They were referred to collectively and humorously as “His Majesty’s Most Loyal Enemy Aliens”. I think most were of Jewish background.
]
————————————————
Also the British ‘turned’ a lot of German spies they had captured and were then used by the British to broadcast mainly disinformation to their Nazi controllers under The Double-Cross System, or XX System …. helped D-Day landings and V weapons deception ..
If Abbott offered to drive the first Hummer in the first ADF convoy heading north from Bagdhad towards ISIS positions, I would pay for the petrol.
I would be gung ho, machismo, militaristic and jingoistic for the opportunity.
As long as it isn’t against any of the NSW corruption laws, of course.
William Bowe@672
Ridiculous assertion William.
No attempt at all at a “gotcha”.
BW,
Wouldn’t those units be powered by diesel fuel. Wouldn’t want to seize the engines before he got far enough out in to the desert.
I guess it’s possible that I’m misunderstanding your motive, but what is perfectly clear is that #602 says “each of”, and #666 shifts the goalposts to “or”.
poroti @ 671
Seems like I will be voting NSW Labor again earlier than I thought :P.
DisplayName@675
Yes, I do concede an element of ambiguity, but in its context I would have thought the sensible interpretation would prevail.
So far we have not had any example of an Australian citizen at the time who fought for Germany and not one example of an Australian citizen at the time who fought for Japan.
Complete of avoidance of any possibility of ambiguity does tend to lead to verbosity.
Just after some of their parents’ and grandparens’ generations had been massacred, dispossessed, etc, etc, quite a few Indigenous Australians fought for the Australian army in WW1.
Does that count as fighting for the enemy?
In WW2 there was enough residual concern that some whites in the pastoral industry were provided with rifles, Indigenous People for the Suppression of, should the Japanese defy the Operation Sovereign Borders of that time and lest the Australian Indigenous population do what many ‘native peoples’ did initially after Japanese conquest…
…until they learned better.
Will any journo ask Joe Hockey the obvious question. “When did you last drive a car and how far did you drive it”.
The answer would be interesting.
Badcat – On enlisting in foreign militaries.
In early 1940 my father and his brother decided to enlist. Dudley, a friend of theirs says if you lot are going then ‘Me, too’.
The next morning they go to Melbourne Town Hall and my father and uncle sail through.
Dud had a ‘thick’ Continental European accent and runs into a ‘snag’ when he explains that his family came to Australia in 1938 from the Dutch East Indies.
The sergeant stops taking down details and calls an Officer in. The Officer reads the notes taken down and suggests that Dud should head off to see the Dutch ‘people’ at Vic Barracks.
Dud’s reaction to this “I don’t want to join the f’ing Dutch Army, I wanta join the AIF”.
The Officer scrunches up the notes and puts them in a bin and says “The Sergeant and I won’t be here tomorrow so come back and tell a better story”.
Hockey’s latest nonsense didn’t need long to draw fire.
Please keep your nonsense coming though buffoon –
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/critics-attack-joe-hockeys-claim-poorest-dont-drive-cars-as-completely-fallacious-20140813-3dmrj.html
I think it is terribly unfair that everyone is accusing Bemused of fighting for the Germans and the Japanese in WW2.
Stay strong, comrade. Don’t let them verbal you!
William Bowe@681
Only if you are assuming I meant the same person fighting for both. A proposition so unlikely as to be safely ignored.
Although there was the amazing case of a Korean guy who was captured by the Japs and made to fight for them, was then captured by the Russians and made to fight for them, then captured by the Germans and made to fight for them, before finally being captured by the Americans.
[ So far we have not had any example of an Australian citizen at the time who fought for Germany and not one example of an Australian citizen at the time who fought for Japan. ]
But that’s not what Zoomster’s scenario was.
Perhaps, as William suggested, you need to re-read it before responding again.
DisplayName
I imagine the rort opportunities of creating piles of “rate paying business'” will be endless.
Greensborough Growler@688
In a fight like this, when I am clearly outnumbered, any ally is welcome. 😉
[Greensborough Growler
Posted Wednesday, August 13, 2014 at 3:56 pm | Permalink
BW,
Wouldn’t those units be powered by diesel fuel. Wouldn’t want to seize the engines before he got far enough out in to the desert.]
Comrade, I would be prepared to pay for the diesel, and for the sugar, if Abbott offered to drive the first Hummer in the general direction of ISIS.
But that sort of bastard always makes sure that it is someone else’s kids that do the sacrifice while they do 24/7 spin in the reflected glory of ramp ceremonies, solemn funerals for those expended and silly swizzle talk about ‘operations’, ‘missions’ and the like.
Who can forget Abbott the Mine Clearance Man, Abbott the Fifty cal Gunner, Abbott the Manly Shit Happens Man?
Meanwhile, almost unnoticed, we are being bound more and more closely to the US military structure in ways which will make it very difficult to near impossible to avoid being dragged into a general asian war whether we like it or not.
Abbott is speeding up, intensifying and diversifying what Rudd, Gillard, Rudd started.
Howard and Downer were far more sensible about this sort of stuff. They kept Australia’s freedom to manoevre relatively intact.
Abbott is very, very dangerous.
Oh, and if Abbott refuses to drive the first Hummer north, he should be strapped to the bonnet as a sort of human sandbag to protect the real uniforms inside the Hummer. He might as well be useful at something once the shooting starts.
Look, this confusing argument is easy to bypass if we simply present and answer all possible questions that might be parsed without worrying about gotchas or which is the real question being asked or whatever:
1) are there any people who fought for Germany or Japan who are now Australian
2) are there any people who fought for Germany or Japan who were Australian at the time they fought
3) are there any people who have fought for both Germany and Japan
[Complete of avoidance of any possibility of ambiguity does tend to lead to verbosity.]
And we wouldn’t want THAT!
Boerwar
Agree that Abbott is very very dangerous, but how can we be rid of this very very rotten apple?
DN
Spoilsport.
German submarines fought in the Japanese theatre. Arguably, they fought for both Germany and Japan.
oops @ 694, (3) should include mention of being Australian, perhaps it should even be split into two questions specifying Australian nationality prior or post fighting :P.
rua
[ “When did you last drive a car and how far did you drive it”.]
JoHo – “Gim’me a break – to Kentucky Fried last week for a big bucket. They won’t do home delivery”.
[ Look, this confusing argument is easy to bypass if we simply present and answer all possible questions that might be parsed without worrying about gotchas or which is the real question being asked or whatever:
1) are there any people who fought for Germany or Japan who are now Australian
2) are there any people who fought for Germany or Japan who were Australian at the time they fought
3) are there any people who have fought for both Germany and Japan ]
The only people who can’t seem to understand the argument are you and bemused. These questions are irrelevant to Zoomster’s original point, which she made in post 592.