The Seven Network brings us a ReachTEL automated phone poll of federal voting intention, which was conducted on Thursday from a sample of 2532, showing Labor’s two-party lead unchanged at 54-46, from primary votes of 39.8% for the Coalition, 39.3% for Labor, 11.9% for the Greens and 2.2% for Palmer United. Further questions find strong support for increasing the tax rate on superannuation contributions for high-income earners, at 57.2% with 22.1% opposed, but an even balance of 30.7% support and 31.8% opposition for removing negative gearing on future property purchases. The poll also records 56.1% support for imposing the GST on purchases from overseas companies with 22.3% opposed. Leadership approval questions find a shift for Tony Abbott from “very poor” to “satisfactory”, with Bill Shorten’s numbers broadly unchanged. Hat tip to Leroy Lynch.
There’s considerably less good news for Bill Shorten in a Morgan phone poll on party leadership, which shows Tony Abbott leading him 44-39 as preferred prime minister – the first poll to show Abbott in the lead since November. Tony Abbott’s personal ratings are little changed since the last such poll conducted in mid-January, before the Prince Philip knighthood and leadership spill vote, with his approval steady on 37% and disapproval up one to 53%. Bill Shorten, however, is respectively down three to 34% and up eight to 48%.
With respect to preferred Labor and Liberal leaders, Morgan finds Shorten losing his lead over Tanya Plibersek, who now has 23% support (up five) to Shorten’s 21% (down four), with Anthony Albanese up three to 13% and Wayne Swan steady on 10%. Tony Abbott has lost still more ground in comparison with Malcolm Turnbull (up two points as preferred Liberal leader to 38%) and Julie Bishop (up one to 27%), with his own rating down two to 12%. Scott Morrison is up three to 5%, putting him level with Joe Hockey, who has fallen heavily from favour since the government came to power.
UPDATE (Essential Research): The weekly Essential Research result has Labor gaining a point on two-party preferred, putting their lead at 53-47. The Coalition and the Greens are both down a point on the primary vote, to 40% and 10%, while Labor is steady on 39% and Palmer United is up one to 2%. Other findings:
• The poll shows 40% support for changes to the Senate electoral system to make it harder for micro-parties to get elected, with 33% opposed. Forty-two per cent said minor parties in the Senate were good for democracy, while 35% favoured the alternative proposition that they made government too unstable.
• Fifty-two per cent say they are not confident the government is on track to return the budget to surplus, with 36% confident; 31% believe doing so is very important, 40% somewhat important, and 14% not important.
• Seventy-seven per cent approve of government measures to withhold benefits from parents who do not get their children vaccinated.
• Seventy per cent say the gap between rich and poor in Australia is getting bigger, only 5% say smaller, and 17% say it is about the same.
UPDATE 2: Greens supporters on Twitter are taking umbrage at the wording of the following Essential Research question:
The Coalition, Labor and the Greens all support changes that would make it harder for small parties to be elected to Senate. Would you approve or disapprove of such changes?
And I agree to the extent that I don’t think they should be providing partisan respondents with cues as to what their party’s position is.
bemused
Guess you are right but they are there representing the Gov of Indonesia and they should hang their heads in shame.
@ABCNews24: WATCH: @BCAcomau President Catherine Livingstone addressing @PressClubAust http://t.co/FlRWJAIwAW #npc http://t.co/2TJOvZLepP
CTar1
Thanks, then that might explain the increase in new Merc’s (c-class) and BMW’s that I’ve seen plenty of lately.
And looking at the drivers I have been presuming it was all due to the concessions from Super or some other tax benefit.
Livingstone said
[current policies are not fit for purpose]
Puff
Indeed, opposition to the death penalty is one thing that seems to me to have long had universal support in the labor party
Pity the factions can’t agree on a few other social issues.
In Health Livingstone is advocating preventative health policy focusing on first 50 years of life.
Funding to be based on Outcome not service delivery goalposts
Remember this is President of the Business Council of Australia
“@ABCNews24: Catherine Livingstone: 70% of people in Australia want to die at home but only 14% have their wish fulfilled #npc #ausbiz”
Interesting how the MSM view on the executions moved over time. The Indonesians might think we are somewhat capricious over these matters.
DisplayName@1183
Not all of them, but far too many. Across an average of all issues I am slightly left of centre, but I get really tired of those lefties who filter every issue by how they think they can use it to get Abbott – and don’t even have any quality control about whether their ideas will actually work.
Since I started using Twitter a few years back I have seen whole new dimensions of left-wing stupidity that even I had not previously considered possible.
About the only good that could come out of this sad episode is that it might make it harder for death penalty advocates to argue for introducing it into Australia.
“@ABCNews24: Catherine Livingstone: The role of politicians is to provide leadership, not to be re-elected #npc #auspol #ausbiz”
Good luck convincing politicians of this one
[This tax shelter is actually a capital trap…]
Yes it is.
[The discount rate and property prices are inversely related. Tax shelter or no, this is an iron law…]
From a cashflow perspective, yes.
But on top of this are the speculative expectations of future capital gains. This is where the real danger lies, in the animal spirits of irrational exuberance.
“@ABCNews24: Catherine Livingstone: Research shows only 13% believe the management of our finances is good #npc #ausbiz #auspol”
“@ABCNews24: Catherine Livingstone: Research shows 18% of people rank the competency of government a major concern #npc #ausbiz #auspol”
Mind you, when it comes to the death penalty, there was not a great out pouring of grief in Oz when the “Smiling Assassin” and one or two other of his mates involved in the Bali bombings, were given much the same treatment as the recent 8 executions.
When seeking the moral high ground on such issues, we need to be aware that double standards are the norm in politics and diplomacy.
We will see no decline in trade, defence contacts and tourism between ourselves and the Indons.
Abbott will also need to cross his fingers the Indons don’t turn on the boat taps again.
To have this so called policy ‘success’ sunk would probably the final nail in Abbott’s political coffin as well.
Not a bad mix of metaphors for mine!
gt – When the BCA is on my TV automatically goes on mute.
Ctar
For most of it it has sounded like a Labor Party or Green address.
Invest in education to get innovation.
Invest in preventative health to reduce medical costs.
And so on
gt
They have their own agenda that’s hidden well.
KB,
Not sure the ‘stoopid” is limited only to the left. Some of the RWNJs that contribute here and around the place could give them a run for their money.
There also seems to be an emerging National “Gesture” gene that is useful in defining Australian’s collective character. The overnight executions is simply the latest manifestation of this aggressive style of social commentary.
Loud, mournful, shouty, whingy and brooking no alternative (at least for today).
SNIP: Deleted for abuse.
Ctar
In the questions section the traditional expectation of the BCA has come out.
eg. Don’t let science set emissions targets on climate change it has to be the economy first the word affordable featuring heavily
@newmatilda: Media Union Challenges Fairness Of Social Media Policies After Scott McIntyre Dismissal http://t.co/vFjDdRCY7A http://t.co/F9kzXg5XwH
Just back from watching ‘Testament of Youth’. Most raters give it a 4 which would, IMHO, be about right.
Blurb,
One of the considerations going forward is how much future co-operation there will be between the police in Indonesia and here.
Obviously, the relationships in these areas have developed and one can only surmise that this is to the law enforcement advantage of both countries.
If we are to withhold information on such criminal events as Chan and Sukurmaran were involved in, then we should be prepared for the consequences in terms of increased drug and crime and death from narcotics here in Australia.
Just a little more from that New Matilda article
[Responding to the controversy the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) issued a brief statement this morning.
It said employers must recognise “that their employees are entitled to a private life, with their own beliefs and opinions; opinion that should be able to be expressed without heavy-handed retribution by the employer”.
“MEAA is concerned about the application of the social media policies of media employers following the dismissal of an SBS employee for opinions expressed on the social media platform Twitter,” it said.
“These policies are becoming an industrial issue and MEAA has expressed these concerns before.]
– See more at: https://newmatilda.com/2015/04/27/media-union-challenges-fairness-social-media-policies-after-scott-mcintyre-dismissal#sthash.TtI1pZ5x.dpuf
If you want another view on the BCA speech at the NPC, see the tweet stream of (too many good tweets to list here) https://twitter.com/swearyanthony
“I mean look at this word salad. incoherent mess of barely articulated policies”
http://www.afr.com/news/politics/bcas-catherine-livingstone-says-adapt-to-digital-change-or-suffer-20150429-1mvq73
[Anthony B, @swearyanthony
seriously anyone who thinks there is any point listening to “business”, read this crap including the q&a http://beta.tveeder.com/561/byrange?&from=1430274720&to=1430278307 #npc
1:23 PM – 29 Apr 2015]
[“@ABCNews24: Catherine Livingstone: The role of politicians is to provide leadership, not to be re-elected #npc #auspol #ausbiz”]
When the BCA actually come out and supports good leadership (for the entire nation and not just the business elite) from Labor and campaign forcefully against the rampant stupidity from the Coalition people might start to take their opinion seriously.
ratsak,
The problem is always the definition of leadership.
The Business groups assume it’s about taxing someone else.
[Just a little more from that New Matilda article]
Good article Guytar I’m assuming those who are quite happy with describing factual opinions of an unpopular perspective as ‘offensive’ and then having employers sack staff just assume it is something that only applies to media and footballers.
Sure there are teachers who’d be horrified if they were sacked for publishing factually correct but ‘offensive’ material in the eyes of their relevant ed department but assume it will never happen to them. Quite frankly they will deserve little sympathy when it does.
Greensborough Growler@1220
Oh certainly. A fair percentage of those are wilfully stupid, ie trolling, but some of them are still being dense even after adjusting for that.
Probably I do not come across the worst of the righties as much because Twitter is a somewhat left-leaning platform and I tend to avoid right-wing equivalents like talkback radio.
[1201
MTBW
bemused
Guess you are right but they are there representing the Gov of Indonesia and they should hang their heads in shame.]
That is to say, in the eyes of many Australians they are the emissaries of a serial killer.
ratask
Nah, their role is to be re-elected. They are re-elected if they provide whatever the electorate decides it wants – in some kind of multiple-personalitied democratic fashion – which might be leadership, but could be other things.
Personally I vote in politicians as punching bags, so I can gripe at them and give them unsolicited, gratuitous advice ;).
briefly + rossmcg
The Libs planned to sell off the land along the track. If Burke had not won the election the notion of our current system would be dead. That or we’d be paying untold billions to put lines in now.
The Libs’ property developer mates would have been gnashing their teeth at the Libs election loss though. How sad. 🙂
[The problem is always the definition of leadership.
The Business groups assume it’s about taxing someone else.]
Don’t forget the cutting of someone else’s wages/benefits/conditions and the paying of concessions/rebates/incentives to rich people and businesses.
ie Leadership is giving rich people stuff and taking stuff from poor people.
KB @ 1210
Fair enough. Political/ideological labels tend only to be of use in vague, descriptive fashion.
[1235
poroti
briefly + rossmcg]
Yes, I haven’t forgotten this either. The LNP just do not understand the economy.
Poroti
Have you seen the map of Skintland in the article Jockestan and the McBoat people.
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2015/04/28/jockistan-and-the-mcboat-people/
briefly and Poroti
I always find it interesting that The Age’s Ken Davidson, one of the more sensible observers of government policies in the last few decades, regards Perth’s public transport developments as an example to the rest of the nation.
GG @ 1225
I was of the belief that long standing policy for police and government in Australia was to not co-operate with foreign jurisdictions in criminal matters where capital punishment upon conviction was a possibility?
The American man who was charged and convicted of manslaughter in Queensland a few years back because he failed to render assistence to his wife who drowned in a scuba diving accident comes to mind.
The governor of his home state, (Alabama?) under pressure from the family of the victim charged him with murder however, the Queensland government refused extradition without a guarantee the death penalty would not apply.
Mick Kelty, in an interview post sentencing of Chan and Sukumaran, as good as admitted that details of the movements and intentions of these two and others were given to Indonesian authorities so as to make an example of them, knowing full well the probabilty of a death sentence.
What right has such a man to play at being god?
http://theconversation.com/anzacs-behaving-badly-scott-mcintyre-and-contested-history-40955
[Anzacs behaving badly: Scott McIntyre and contested history]
Author:
Philip Dwyer.
Professor, Director of the Centre for the History of Violence, School of Humanities and Social Science at University of Newcastle
Sack him?
@AP: Texas judge halts inmate’s impending execution after his attorneys seek new DNA tests: http://t.co/FJEmft6WVg
Another example where evidence is under question
blurb,
I’d rather the police agencies focus co-operatively on the prevention of narcotics flowing in to Australia.
I suppose it comes down to how many dead junkies you want at your local shopping centre.
The police are there to detect and prevent crime. Punishment is up to the judicial system where the crime occurs.
The police weren’t “playing god”. Just doing their job.
@LouiseCHall: Looks like former NSW deputy Premier Andrew Stoner is the last man standing. His defo case against Alan Jones is on https://t.co/EslwCIV6xT
[The police weren’t “playing god”. Just doing their job.]
Just showing no judgment.
The 9 could have been swept up on arrival in Australia,
GG
Facts say you are wrong regarding the Federal Police here. We know the Federal Police were told before the crime happened before the nine left Australia.
To prevent crime they could either not tell the Indonesians if they wanted to catch them with drugs on them and arrest them when they arrived back in Australia and then give all the information to the Indonesians tht they needed to get people on their end.
Or they could have arrested them at the airport before they left if they had enough evidence.
This practicality puts the lie to the deter and prevent crime argument.
guytaur,
You’ll forgive me for being sceptical. It’s just your facts tend to be half truths, slippery assumptions and wishful thinking. So, I’ll pass on you being any authority on anything, comrade.
My understanding is that the Federal Police will have something to say now that the sentences on the Bali 2 have been executed. I’ll wait until then before getting overly excited about anything.
But hey, you keep blathering away.
[ how many dead junkies you want at your local shopping centre.]
What a silly thing to say.
I want medically supervised and controlled rehabilitation, and diversion, and education.
Shooting a pair of low rung drug peddlers will do nothing to help achieve any of these things.
On that note I’m off to my job, coincidentally, in pharmaceuticals distribution.
Pays, pretty well.
[This practicality puts the lie to the deter and prevent crime argument.]
The sensible option was just to grab all 9 on re-entry.