The latest Essential Research poll has Labor’s lead unchanged at 54-46. Beyond that, I’m a bit tied up at this point to discuss the attitudinal results (chief among which is 64% support for a royal commission into banking), but they are as ever summarised in The Guardian, and will be available in complete form when the full report is published later today, together with the primary vote numbers. I believe we should also have YouGov along later today.
UPDATE. YouGov/Fifty Acres: 53-47 to Labor
The fortnightly YouGov/Fifty Acres poll has Labor’s lead out to a new high of 53-47, but this is due to preferences rather than primary votes: Labor and the Coalition are now tied on 32% of the primary vote, after Labor led 34% to 31% last time, with One Nation steady on 11% and the Greens down a point to 10%. There is also a preferred prime minister question recording a 31% tie, with Malcolm Turnbull rated strong by 21%, weak by 41$ and neither by 30%.
The poll records an interestingly high level of support for constitutional change allowing dual citizens to run for office, with 46% in favour and 40% opposed. Also featured are national approval ratings for the Bennelong by-election candidates, both of whom do very well on both name recognition and personal support (40% favourable of John Alexander and 28% unfavourable; 39% and 29% for Kristina Keneally). Forty-six per cent support new religious protection laws in same sex marriage legislation, with 36% opposed; 55% say the government has a responsibility for the safety of asylum seekers on Manus Island, with 36% for the contrary. The poll was conducted Thursday to Monday from a sample of 1034.
The full Essential Research report has the Coalition up a point on the primary vote, to 36%, Labor steady on 38%, the Greens steady on 9% and One Nation steady on 8%. Sixty-four per cent of respondents favoured a banking royal commission, with only 12% opposed. Questions on the economy produced a mixed bag: 33% rate its state as good with 24% for poor, but 39% think it headed on the wrong direction compared with 31% for right. A question about economic issues of concern finds the highest ratings for anything to do with prices, particularly energy prices, and lesser but still substantial concern about income tax and interest rates. Forty-nine per cent supported incentives and subsidies to speed the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, 16% leaving it to the market, and 12% who wanted intervention to slow the process.
meher baba: The network executives absolutely do need to answer for their inaction and shielding of Burke. My reaction to these comments from former 9 bosses about how much a grub Burke was is that they’re all very well to come out with now, but where were these guys at the time? (Oh, sure – “these allegations were never directly raised with me” – this can only be characterised as entirely wilful blindness).
But that does not let Burke off the hook at all. He absolutely does need to answer for his actions.
Handling things quietly behind closed doors is EXACTLY how the culture that allows and excuses this behaviour flourishes. I see calls of this type as equivalent to attempts to silence victims – you are telling these women “You are not allowed to tell your story”. I believe everyone should always be able to tell their own story, and they way we handle liars is through defamation actions – to which, thankfully, truth is now an absolute defence.
Presumption of innocence is all about forbearing to use the enormous power of the State to punish when there isn’t a preponderance of evidence. It’s not – and should not be – about social discussions of bad behaviour observed within our society. If someone punches me in the head, I’m not going to go about pretending they didn’t just because the police wouldn’t be able to secure a conviction.
Also, you believe in witchcraft now? Witches exist in Game Of Thrones, not the real world.
lizzie: If the suggestion is that the Queensland government agency (presumably the Health Department) forcibly detailed and medicated her because she was a whistleblower, then this is a huge allegation: ie, that Queensland operates a Soviet-style use of the mental health system to deal with dissidents.
However, noting the careful wording of the relevant part of the article, I can’t help feeling that the two issues aren’t perhaps quite as directly related as the story is suggesting.
MB
Plus the journalist you are maligning with the Burke Case is Kate McClymot legal court reporter who covered Obeid.
The way Katharine Murphy writes, it’s as if she thinks her readers are primary school children.
Yes, let’s, shall we kiddies?
Not that any of her commenters are fooled (judging by the comments) by this Murphslpaining effort, but the idea that the whole story can be understood if you just open the parcel and spread the contents out on the table in front of you irks me no end.
@ meher baba….”But, for the ones involving his workplace behaviour, the people who should be being asked to answer for these are not Burke, but the people who employed him and/or contracted his company to produce programs for the TV network that they managed”……..
I have to politely disagree here, it should have read BOTH have to answer. IF Bourke did the crime AND his employer covered it up, both are guilty.
caf: “He absolutely does need to answer for his actions.” Yes, to appropriate processes and authorities. But not, IMO, to an interviewer on ACA.
“Also, you believe in witchcraft now? Witches exist in Game Of Thrones, not the real world.”
Some of the people persecuted in witch hunts certainly believed that they were practising witchcraft. I’m not particularly convinced that witchcraft works, but I don’t have a totally closed mind on the topic.
sonar: “IF Bourke did the crime AND his employer covered it up, both are guilty.”
Burke will be guilty of a crime if and when he is successfully prosecuted for one. Until then, I consider him innocent until proven guilty. And I don’t believe in trial by media: not for Burke, not for the Chamberlains, not for Lionel Murphy, not for anybody dead or alive.
meher baba
I agree that such reports need to be taken with a pinch of salt, but the detail of disappearing documents seems suspicious and is becoming rather a theme now that all records tend to be on computers.
MB
Burke has lawyered up. He chose to go on ACA. He was not forced to. He denied the 7:30 report of the same opportunity of an interview.
If he was pressured to do so because of his association with Nine that is more evidence of wrong culture.
@meher baba, I did qualify my statement by saying at the beginning ” IF “,not when.
MB
Do us a favour and watch Media Watch. They covered these issues.
A couple of things about the current sleaze bath the MSM seems to be indulging in regarding Don Burke (and some have mentioned this before me) is that one wonders what all those “Managers” and “Executives” and “Producers” at Channel 9 were doing all those years ago? To come out now and deplore matters is a right royal case of shutting the stable door long after the horse has gone to the knacker’s yard – and rank hypocrisy.
Secondly, if there is some case against Burke – and I have no idea, and care less, that there is, why should not this be a case for the police? One suspects, years ago, such was the popularity of BBY that Channel 9 kept its collective mouth shut due to the crude fact that money/ratings success far outweighs any concerns about Burke’s alleged behaviour.
Ringing the bells for the first amendment vote!
Here’s someone who’s believable.
lizzie: “the detail of disappearing documents seems suspicious and is becoming rather a theme now that all records tend to be on computers.”
Indeed!
I was in the UK in 2o12 when the Jimmy Saville story broke and there were any number of people defending him and talking about trial by media and frivolous complaints and defaming a dead man who couldn’t defend himself.
Look how that turned out.
Eventually the spotlight turned to those in the BBC who turned a blind eye as I am sure it will here with Burke.
Paul Barry mentioned on Mediawatch that he understands there are another four men to be outed.
Might be some worried people about.
Compared to the rest of the world Australia has been getting a terrible deal on internet speed/cost.
https://newatlas.com/broadband-speed-versus-cost-country-comparison/52346/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=baab6b67d0-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-baab6b67d0-92549381
Barney
With the foreshadowed amendments I can see this dragging on like Victoria introducing its VAD.
I agree that the ‘trial by media’ frenzy consisting of a storm of accusations which cannot be adequately tested is concerning.
However.
Given what we have seen from the scandal out of the US, and given the scope of the accusations raised around Burke – and yes, of course anyone who was enabling or covering up for bad behaviour should be held to account as well – the only conclusion that I think is reasonable to come to is that there has been a culture of abuse in various parts of the entertainment industry and that the recourse provided by the law and authorities has proven inadequate.
Appeals to ‘due process’ seem to have been as much a part of the problem because it has made taking action get bogged down in what is provable in court etc etc – always pushing for action to be headed off or settled or managed in some way that has not provided the appropriate level of consequence to perpetrators.
Cultural change is clearly needed, and (for now) it seems that the niceties of meeting a particular standard of justice for the alleged perpetrators needs to be set aside in order to ensure that the necessary cultural change can be perpetuated.
That will probably mean that there are men who are treated unfairly, and who unjustly have their careers terminated. I do feel badly for them. However, they aren’t (except where an actual trial process determines it) going to jail or having their assets seized. Their lives aren’t over – they can do what other people have to do when they find themselves unemployed and look for another career (or retire on the large amounts of money that most of the men we are talking about have accrued over time). What injustice their may turn out to be seems quite limited in the broader scheme of things.
‘Steve777 says:
Tuesday, November 28, 2017 at 10:55 am
BW @9:48am If they did not have Adani, marriage equality, or a Manus, they would have to invent them.
I’d say something similar applies on the right. Depending on the time and place
they didn’t have boats, terror, recalcitrant radio stations and other ‘culture war’ stuff, they’d have to invent them. To a lerge extent, they have.’
Could not agree more. Same same.
Rossm
And I have a fair idea of who these other men are.
My lips are sealed
Tricot
Chanel Nine is probably no different to any big corporation when it comes to keeping a lid on bad behaviour. Just look at one of the biggest corporations of all, the Catholic Church.
McDonald being his normal obnoxious self trying to draw out the vote.
mb
A proper investigation into the Superannuation industry and the commissions they charge and the ongoing reporting, at least on a yearly basis, of what the charges are for is justified.
Just the ‘fuss’ the banks/private superannuation made about the proposal that they have to report the yearly charges and the excuses they used to fight this requirement up is enough to make anyone think they have real reasons not to want to report these transactions.
Their behaviour with falsified signatures in regard to loans provides all the ‘evidence’ needed to justify a serious enquiry.
I’d also like Credit Card providers to ‘explain’ their interest rates and charges on credit cards properly in a format that can be compared. Their argument that these are ‘unsecured loans’ is fair enough as a basis for different rates but the reported default rates don’t go anywhere near explaining the difference.
Also their changes in charges relating to CC cash advances (including their rate increases if the payment is considered to be for gambling and what happens specifically with the moneys collected by this ‘provision’) all need some looking into.
Certainly their claims that these inquiries are ‘expensive’ and should only be held when nothing else will do are laughable coming from this government and they should be derided when they roll this excuse out.
I almost choked on my toast this morning when BishJnr claimed any inquiry would put our banks at risk internationally. These big four banks are about as government guaranteed as they come and are as profitable individually as any and as a group more than any.
Take, for example, this excerpt from the Fairfax reporting:
Did a crime occur here? It seems unlikely.
Should this incident therefore go quietly unremarked, shrouded in secrecy? I vehemently disagree. The predators need to be exposed, because that is the only way that others can keep themselves safe from them.
Amendments failing left right and center.
Right to be a bigot for civil celebrants, beyond the existing offensive grandfathering provisions? Voted down.
Making gay people feel like 2nd class citizens by giving them a 2nd class of marriage? Voted down.
Ides of March @ #219 Tuesday, November 28th, 2017 – 9:48 am
They’ve grouped many of them together, that was McDonald’s point that he wanted them voted on separately.
MB
What a union says
AEUVictoria: This is very important. Nobody deserves to be sexually harassed at work, whether they work on a TV show, in a school, on a building site or anywhere else! twitter.com/youngworkersvi…
YWCVictoria: If you know something, say something. Victims of predators at work can’t always speak out for themselves. we need to stand together. theage.com.au/entertainment/… #youngworkers
meher
‘Some of the people persecuted in witch hunts certainly believed that they were practising witchcraft.’
I studied this at Uni and this is a very contentious statement.
It would appear that the interrogators had a fixed idea in their mind as to what witches did, and fed their victims the information necessary to give satisfactory answers (which made the torture stop).
guytaur: “Do us a favour and watch Media Watch. They covered these issues.”
Did they? I’ve checked the report, and all they seemed to talk about was how the media is a boys’ club and therefore women get subjected to these sort of things, plus a brief complaint that the Australian defamation laws might make it harder for these complaints to become public here. They didn’t appear to address the question of whether trial by media is an appropriate means of dealing with these things.
…ANY information gained under duress (or threat thereof) is automatically suspect…which is why, incidentally, defectors shouldn’t be treated as reliable sources..
First amendments gone! 🙂
MB
Yes they did. They reported on the workplace culture.
They did not concentrate on Burke other than to report what the media was saying now.
zoomster: “It would appear that the interrogators had a fixed idea in their mind as to what witches did, and fed their victims the information necessary to give satisfactory answers (which made the torture stop).”
No doubt there was a lot of this. There were also cases of vengeful or mentally ill people claiming that everyone in their community was part of a witches’ coven.
But there were also lots of people practising fairly innocuous forms of witchcraft and alchemy – and even unorthodox forms of Christianity – who got persecuted along with the non-witches.
victoria
You can be very tantalising sometimes! 🙂
m b
Bourke’s ‘production’ company –
https://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/ctc-productions/
Sometimes “trial by media” is the only way to expose wrongdoing.
I daresay the banks object to having their practices exposed in the media.
Or the fast food chains who underpay their employees.
Or even Eddie Obeid who would probably still claim from his prison cell that the media has been out to get him.
Remember the old saying: news is something that somebody somewhere doesn’t want published. The rest is just advertising.
Lizzie
😀
http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/nationals-senator-pauses-push-for-banking-inquiry/9200754
victoria says:
Tuesday, November 28, 2017 at 1:50 pm
Rossm
And I have a fair idea of who these other men are.
My lips are sealed
And there lies the problem. At least you have the excuse there are deformation laws; but when lips are sealed bad behavior continues.
As to the law; is there a law covering grabbing a women by the pussy ( as trump has claimed he does); it is seriously bad form ( in my view); but it is not rape.
MB
Another example of culture and cover up.
Look at the reaction to Mark Di Staf reporting on the LNP Federal Election campaign breaking the rule by mentioning the drugs consumed.
A rule that is still abided by in the entertainment industry as many will be on drugs at today’s Arias.
What role should the organizers play at policing this.
After all its the selling of how to enjoy music.
How much sexual harassment and groping will happen? I bet this year it will be a lot less than last year with the news today. People might just think.
Frednk
Poking someone can be classed as assault. So yeah there is law.
I don’t see anyone proposing to have Burke broken on the Rack. What I do see is dozens of people attesting to years of grubby behaviour (some of which may indeed rise to the level of criminal indecent assault), I don’t see any good reason why people indulging in such behaviour should expect it to be kept a secret indefinitely.
Mr Windsor tweeted his view that Mr Mundine was a ‘token’ Aborigine.
Mr Mundine has taken umbrage and has demanded an apology.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/mundine-demands-apology-from-windsor-following-bigoted-comments/news-story/933f8abad5252241cb208f1d4ca096f9
V E
Particularly happy to see this basic CMC continuing ‘bigotry’ one get the axe.
It was their first defence line which they wanted so they could stack the bakers, photographers and Canavan’s music entertainers on afterwards.
Senate QT starts with Fifield and the broken-arsed NBN.
frednk:
It’s indecent assault. See for example http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-10/massage-therapist-jailed-for-sexually-assaulting-67yo-client/6610166
guytaur says:
Tuesday, November 28, 2017 at 2:09 pm
Frednk
Poking someone can be classed as assault. So yeah there is law.
Umm; I will comment no further.
Mr J Kelly, from The Oz
‘…
He followed it up with another tweet saying: “Hasn’t Warren Mundine heard of Fly in Fly out work forces in the mining industry in Qld… does nothing positive for country communities white or black. Don’t become a token miner on the grounds you are trying to help aboriginal ppl, they never do and you know that.”
Mr Mundine told The Australian today he thought Mr Windsor’s comments amounted to an “outrageous attack” and that he had used “bigoted language.”
“I just found it totally disgusting that a former politician was just coming out and using that type of language — attacking an aboriginal person who was in a quite civil discussion on Q&A,” he said.
“He also has defamed me by saying I’m in the pocket of all these people. I’m not getting paid a cent by anyone. And I find this whole thing quite disgusting …. I demand an apology from him.”
…’