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%.
[ CTar1
Posted Wednesday, August 13, 2014 at 3:59 pm | Permalink
Badcat – On enlisting in foreign militaries.
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”.
]
————————————-
Good story CTar1 – I am sure many a blind eye was turned to guys like your Dads brother ….. or were underage … or had some ‘medical’ condition ….
William and Zoomster
[“Name one AUSTRALIAN citizen (at the time) who fought for each of Germany and Japan?”]
Don’t know why you would assume this meant both countries, something that is kind of silly.
Clearly he meant one citizen fighting for each country. Sure it wasn’t entirely unambiguous, but why pick the weird and unlikely option?
[ 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 😛 . ]
Ah ok – I see now you are joking. Ignore my post at 700.
P1, I don’t care to understand it.
You can always add additional questions if you like.
Funnily enough there was a Korean, Yang Kyoungjong, who was captured by the US Army in Northern France, having at that point fought in the Japanese, Soviet and German armies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Kyoungjong
Astrobleme
[Don’t know why you would assume this meant both countries, something that is kind of silly.]
That would depend on what kind of thoughts they think bemused would think, wouldn’t it :P.
Hockey only made a small mispeak. This happens all the time and it could happen to anybody. So there is no need to be cruel to Joe.
What he meant to say was this, ‘By the time we have finished with them, the poor will not be driving cars or smoking cigars. The ones who are not actually in jail, for food theft and the like, will be being trucked to and from nation building projects such as working for the dole in coffee shops.’
Hockey’s Vision Statement for Transporting the Poor:
GG – mused heading for BLOG oblivion yet again.
How has he not learned to be provocative without pissing William off too much?
Fixed ideas, I guess. But still strange FMD.
Player One@690
Zoomster injected her father into what had, until then, been a discussion about Australian citizens going to fight overseas.
I have no idea why she chose to do so.
ACOSS @ACOSS 3m
Thanks @john_stannard1 we’re also calling for the govt to abandon Budget measures that undermine the Review, including lowering indexation
William
I can see you have been very busy with other matters, but I would be very interested in your response to my 652 if you are able to address it.
DN
Well, maybe, but when I read it I understood what was meant.
That’s what he says he meant, so what’s the problem?
Astrobleme@702
Exactly!
[ Zoomster injected her father into what had, until then, been a discussion about Australian citizens going to fight overseas.
I have no idea why she chose to do so. ]
I guess that if after all this, you still don’t understand Zoomster’s point in her post at 592, there is not much point in continuing the discussion.
I think you deliberately continue to misunderstand it since you simply can’t answer it – but let it pass.
Sometimes war creates only bad choices:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_uprising_on_Texel
It will be interesting to see what Mike Gallacher says at ICAC in due course.
When he stood aside he was pretty vocal about being “innocent”.
But lots of things have progressed since then.
Critics attack Joe Hockey’s claim poorest don’t drive cars as ‘completely fallacious’
Lucky spellcheck didn’t get in the way
Luke Grant should be recalled just to make fun of him
Astro, I have no problem with bemused restating what he meant and going by that without accusing him of gotchas, I also have no problem with zoomster restating what she meant and going by that without accusing her of being slippery :P.
Astro, the simple answer is that bemused was going for a gotcha, as William says. Like ML, he was so eager to score that he didn’t actually read what had been written.
Player One@714
Clueless as usual.
All this does rather make a change from apostrophes and Gaza.
Maybe the rubber band around Joe’s gut is starving his brain of blood & oxygen
He really is the most stupid member of parliament since Billy McMahon
DisplayName@719
A few others have noticed that characteristic, not just me.
Boerwar, they’re all a variation on catastrophe.
bemused
[Clueless as usual.]
Ah, an admission…
Nine is doing a miniseries called the House of Hancock. I bet the poor won’t be driving cars in that miniseries.
sceptic@723
Well I wasn’t a fan of Billy, but I really think you are being a bit hard on him. 😛
[sceptic
Posted Wednesday, August 13, 2014 at 4:42 pm | Permalink
Maybe the rubber band around Joe’s gut is starving his brain of blood & oxygen
He really is the most stupid member of parliament since Billy McMahon]
I doubt it. Hockey has some red hot competition from all comers for that title.
Sloppy Joe really would be an embarrassment to Liberals if they had a shred of self-respect. In the post-truth era we now live in, only slogans and posturing matter.
Zoomster
[Just curious.
Name one AUSTRALIAN citizen (at the time) who fought for each of Germany and Japan?]
Or perhaps he was just curious…
and at 609 he clarifies it
[Your exact words were “Australians who previously fought for Japan or Germany.”
Which clearly refers to Australians fighting for Germany or Japan, and not citizens of those countries or their allies who subsequently became Australians.]
So he was asking if you could name any Australian citizen that fought for Germany and any Australian citizen that fought for Japan
Anyway, it’s not important. It’s just that Bemused was accused of going for a ‘gotcha’ when it read to me mor elike he was just wondering if there were any Australian citizens that did that.
The biggest problem on this blog is that people make statements without actually having any actual evidence. The arguments start when someone asks for some evidence.
Those of you who recall that we killed lots of people to establish democracy in Iraq might now be wondering why we are part of the push to remove, using undemocratic means, the democratically-elected Al Maliki from his job.
This new twist to the definition of your-democracy-at-work has caused a bit of confusion because Al Maliki has been trucking armed supporters into Bagdhad where, it is speculated in some quarters, he may fight to save Iraqi democracy from the United States and Australia.
Zoomster
and maybe you could just say if you know of any Australian citizens that did that?
Do you know?
Bw
[I doubt it. Hockey has some red hot competition from all comers for that title.]
Hunt, deliberately, ‘hunting’ for this title,it appears.
Astrobleme@731
Exactly!
I am not aware of any and I was curious if there were in fact any.
I cited the closest example I could think of, an Army Officer, Charles Cousens, who had been a broadcaster before the war and was captured by the Japanese and forced to make some broadcasts.
I am still curious if there were any accused of taking up arms for the enemy. I have not heard of any.
[Maybe the rubber band around Joe’s gut is starving his brain of blood & oxygen
He really is the most stupid member of parliament since Billy McMahon]
Hockey is becoming a real millstone around the Abbott Govt’s neck. It seems every day he makes a blunder, tries to say he was misquoted or misunderstood, he has been meeting with the x bench Senators and briefing the media the outcomes, only for the Senators to tell him to nick off.
He has Cormann saying the ALP has passed all of the Budget and Sloppy saying his Budget must be passed.
What a schemozzle.
Even Murdoch media is now commenting on the rift between Abbott and his ministers:
[LABOR has called on the government to rule out sending combat troops to Iraq to help protect refugees, accusing Tony Abbott and his ministers of contradicting each other.]
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/pm-urged-to-clarify-iraq-role-after-refusing-to-rule-out-ground-troops/story-fn59nm2j-1227022517827
CTaR1
We would have to have an algorithm for sorting your rat cunning stunters faux ignorami from your born-and-bred boneheads.
[ Clueless as usual. ]
Was this aimed at me? How amusing.
Rua
[schemozzle]
A point that Corrmann will understand – German/English word same.
Shorten pointed out that three or four Coalition people have, in the space of just 24 hours, made statements that were inconsistent with each other in relation to our on- again off- again crusade to resubjugate the Middle East for the West and teach Putin a LESSON.
IMHO, if or when a Coaltion Government does trigger an armed event, the logical first step of those assaulted would be ask whether we meant it or not.
Astro
No, and I never said that I did.
The word ‘previously’ is in there for a reason.
If you ask ‘previous to what?’ then the answer is clearly – especially given the context of the discussion – previous to becoming Australian citizens.
For that question, I can supply numerous examples, as that was the common experience of the Lithuanian expats my father migrated with in 1947.
Bw
[your rat cunning stunters faux ignorami from your born-and-bred boneheads.]
Party membership a rough measure but not precise.
Dunking stools possibly required to separate the willful from the just loud mouth dumb.
Boerwar,
Perhaps we Australians will fight on both sides of this coming conflict!
[No, and I never said that I did.]
Ok cool.
GG
Well, this time they would have to have their names inscribed in stone for the benefit of future generations of Bludger posters.
BW 732 your comment is correct to a point but al Malaki is not democratically elected to anything at present. Just acting PM. He made lead the biggest bloc in parliament but he is far from having a majority and unless he gets other groups onside he won’t be PM.
GG
They could be placed right next to the Apostrophe Stone.
BW,
After this afternoon’s theme du jour I reckon I know how the sword got in to the stone that King Arthur pulled out all those years ago.
Boerwar
Which would just over from the Assange obelisk .