The latest fortnightly Essential Research poll again comes up empty on voting intention, but it does offer the pollster’s third set of leadership ratings since the election. As with Newspoll, these record a drop in Scott Morrison’s net approval rating, owing to a three point rise in disapproval to 37%, while his approval holds steady at 48%. However, Essential parts company with Newspoll in finding Anthony Albanese up on disapproval as well, by five points to 29%, with approval down one to 38%. Morrison’s lead as preferred prime minister narrows slightly, from 44-26 to 44-28.
Further questions suggest the public leans positive on most aspects of the “influence of the United States of America” (defence, trade, cultural and business), excepting a neutral result (42% positive, 40% negative) for influence on Australian politics. The same exercise for China finds positive results for trade, neutral results for culture and business, and negative ones for defence and politics. Asked which of the two we would most benefit from strengthening ties with, 38% of respondents favoured the US and 28% China.
The small sample of respondents from New South Wales were also asked about the proposed removal of abortion from the criminal code, which was supported by an overwhelming 71% compared with 17% opposed. The poll has a sample of 1096 and was conducted online from Thursday to Sunday.
Note also the post below this one, being the latest Brexit update from Adrian Beaumont.
Fess
Perhaps the powers that be could rule that it was assisted suicide that caused Epsteins death. That might make the official finding more credible.
GG
Please explain that Albo thingy in the Herald Sun. ??
Victoria
So Labor just goes on holiday and let the LNP have their merry way.
Not something Labor has done in the past. Playing childish political games has enabled Labor to win elections. Mainly because Labor knew they stood for something. They were willing to stand on principle and fight for workers. Slave wages was something labor knew it had to fight against.
The fact you are saying thats childish political game playing just shows how out of touch some labor people have become over their core values that it has stood for. The very reason it came into existence as a party.
Republicans are the party of national insecurity.
Guytaur
Of course not. Labor ranting and raving whilst the world is going through a very precarious stage isnt needed right now.
Maybe in months to come, the cray cray may settle, and Labor can be more forceful etc.
Fess
The NRA and GOP are beyond corrupt. I keep waiting for them to be held accountable for taking dark money from the Ruskies. We live in hope
Victoria
You don’t get it. Appeasing fascism does not work. No matter how loud the shouting. The very same is true of fighting the LNP.
Thats the core problem Labor has to face up to. It has to fight and be seen by voters fighting for them.
Its that simple and yes Barney that black and white and certain. Being weak and not fighting for voters means no votes. Even dumb as rocks Hanson knows she has to pretend she is fighting for voters
Vic:
The investigation report will no doubt make for interesting reading if what is leaking out already is any indication!
Victoria @ #50 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 8:31 am
Australia’s interests are always served by being a reliable partner to our allies.
This limited participation in a policing exercise in the Straits of Hummoz is alright by me.
Confessions @ #55 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 8:36 am
Albo tried to have John Setka expelled from the Labor Party. The issues Albo chose to justify this have been refuted far and wide. It won’t work because Setka is cashed up and can keep raising the stakes through the Courts. The issue will linger like a bad smell throughout this term of Opposition, it will divide the party and buy him a bucket load of crappy headlines.
It’s a disaster.
Guytaur
Who is appeasing facism? Do you not actually see what is going on around the globe?
It did not start with the election of Trump, or the outcome of the referendum on Brexit. Or the Chinese infiltration around the world.
The wheels have been in motion for years and we are watching the outcomes.
I am optimistic that slowly but surely it is being exposed and the public will wake up and realise what is at stake going forward.
GG
I have heard from the horses mouth re Setka allegedly making remarks about Rosie Batty.
He did not make them, and Albo stuffed up big time trying to use this as a reason to get rid of him.
Having said that. I did report recently from the same horses mouth, that there is plan c to be rid of Setka. I asked what plan looked like. Refused to tell me. So I am in the dark.
I guess I will watch with interest like everyone else.
Victoria
Yes fascism has taken hold. Bannon has been explicit. Trump with his both sides and now his antisemitic rants. Morrison is not condemning Trump like other leaders.
Labor can do the same as Macron and Merkel and even Teresa may had the fortitude to attack Trump over that.
Labor has been weak on just that one example.
Labor is running scared not standing up and fighting for what is right. This flows onto all the rest of the weakness in not standing up for workers against the LNP.
I am not even saying Labor has to be against coal even though I think it should be. I am saying Labor is not standing up for its core values. Its not standing up against attacks on workers over wages. Something it can very easily tie Trump and Morrison with.
Its not rocket science. You just have to chuck the tax cuts are everything mentality.
@Newsweek tweets
“As American Jews, we are proudly disloyal to President Trump and the white nationalism he enables and emboldens” https://trib.al/K0NiiwU
@CNN tweets
President Trump shared quotes of praise he received from a conservative conspiracy theorist to defend himself after his questioning the loyalty of Jewish democratic voters drew criticism https://cnn.it/2zcKzfR
I read the dissenting judge’s reasons for upholding Pell’s appeal. For all the learned discussion of legal principles, it seems to boil down to this: the majority judges found the complainant’s evidence credible and reliable; the dissenting judge did not. To my non-legal mind that is a difference of subjective impressions.
Another point was that the dissenting judge placed great weight on Pell’s exculpatory evidence – the evidence about Mass routines, the layout of the building etc – that suggested that Pell would not have had the opportunity to spend more than a few minutes alone with a choir boy. The dissenting judge concluded that it was highly improbable that the offence could have occurred. He acknowledged that sex offenders can be brazen and reckless but he thought it was highly unlikely that Pell would offend in the manner and the time frame suggested by the evidence.
Victoria @ #62 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 8:50 am
Replace Albo with Setka?
Guytaur
Yep. Labor saying stuff is going to make all the difference to this worldwide shit show.
You really are delusional
Victoria
Nah its you being delusional thinking Labor ever won by appeasing the right or going on a holiday because its too hard to fight.
GG
Lol! No but I can say that both Setka and his partner have not been backwards in coming forward wanting a literal seat in either state or fed party.
Guytaur
Labor is not appeasing anyone. They lost the election. Morrison is the PM and has a majority in HOR and a very friendly Senate now.
I will repeat there is so much playing out right now that is going to affect us whether we rant and rave or not.
Victoria @ #67 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 6:55 am
Why would Australia’s opposition even go there? They aren’t the govt, nothing they say means anything except to rusted on partisans at home.
If anything Labor should just do the opposite of what guytaur says!
Lizzie
I’m grabbing a quick coffee before yet another Specialist’s appntmnt for OH and, joy of joys, just read your Tony Windsor post. I literally choked on a mouthful of coffee.
All hail Tony Windsor – absolutely classic stuff and Joyce can’t sue. Glorious start to my day. Thankyou
Fess
Spot on. Guytaur reminds me of baldrick and his cunning plans
BH
Sending you much love.
And yes Windsors comments really hit the spot
Victoria
If Bob Hawke or Paul Keating was current leader of the Labor party you can be sure they would be pointing out where Morrison is doing the same as the GOP in the US and the Tories in the UK.
You are as delusional as Joe Biden thinking Mitch McConnell will work with the Democrats to get things back to how they used to be.
Confessions @ #71 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 8:59 am
They have and they will continue to do so.
Guytaur
I recommend you send an email to each sitting member of the ALP and tell them what they should be saying right now.
Better than clogging up this blog with your silly pronouncements
GG
They will continue to lose elections as a result. Voters hate weakness. Something the partisans seem to have forgotten.
Simon Crean played the Iraq war correctly. Labor now not so much
BH:
Nice to see you again. Best wishes with OH.
Guytaur
Over the duration I have been accused by some on this forum of being unnecessarily focussed on all things connected to the Trump presidency, Brexit etc. Some might say delusional.
And yet here we are.
If this works as well as Robodebt…
Lizzie
Selfishly I would forego the cash for my cooling.
Victoria
I have not been one of them. You will note I have not like some in the US attacked Nancy Pelosi for not impeaching.
I see Pelosi doing both.
The difference is Pelosi has no sold the Democrats down the river by voting with the GOP to put a stop to the oversight role of the Congress.
Labor has voted with the LNP for its agenda and sold out its base in the process.
Then it has followed by saying yes LNP how high will we jump. As seen from outside. Thats a problem for Labor. Its being seen as weak.
victoria
Thanks and to you for all the shared info in your posts.
I was so incensed seeing Barnaby screeching the other night so Tony Windsor hit the right note.
Great end to Carlton’s season but your OH’s team still gets raspberries from me – just jokin’.
BK – I’m off now but lots of good reading when we get home. Many thanks as always.
BH @ #72 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 8:59 am
Best wishes to you and your OH. 🌷
Thanks again for the Dawn Patrol.
and
Tony Windsors’ post is a masterpiece of faint praise. 😵
BH
Barnaby is such a piece of work and I too was unimpressed with his hypocrisy writ large.
Carlton has done really well under new coach.
Hawthorn wont be in contention this year, and neither will Sydney. So all good. Lol!
Take care
Vic:
For the first time in I can’t remember how long I’m feeling excited about next year for Carlton.
Apparently Fremantle has lost the most number of club members than any other AFL club.
Guytaur
Pelosi is navigating this shit show with all the available info at her disposal.
She will act when the time is right. Much like I would expect Labor to do domestically
As reminder for Labor partisans.
Remember the flip flop meme. Here its hypocritical. Its a sign of voters seeing a politician or party being weak. Its why politicians use it all the time as an attack line.
Fess
I am quietly optimistic too. But carlton have promised much in past and not delivered.
Freo has been very inconsistent over the past few years. A new coach is a good move
Richard Flanagan – Six sentences of hope: defining a unifying vision in the face of the climate crisis
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/22/six-sentences-of-hope-defining-a-unifying-vision-in-the-face-of-the-climate-crisis?CMP=share_btn_tw
Victoria @ #77 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 9:02 am
The instructions are in the name. Labor is the Opposition. They should be, like, opposing stuff.
Or if that’s too hard, then they should be representing the interests and and prosecuting the positions of the people who voted for them rather than of the people who voted for the current government.
This had crossed my mind too
Conversation
Zev Shalev
@ZevShalev
You could also look at the whole Greenland saga as an attempt to push strategically important Greenland into the Russia/China axis. Greenland is vital to their Arctic ambitions.
@narativlive
Analysis | Trump goes full parody on buying Greenland
You couldn’t have written this script if you tried.
washingtonpost.com
Victoria
The problem is Labor has to stand up. Pelosi has done so. She has even used the Moscow Mitch tag.
Thats the difference. Pelosi is fighting and is seen to be fighting even by progressives who think she should have moved on impeachment already give her credit where its due.
Labor is just the roll over party at the moment. It is going to take a hell of a campaign to prove otherwise to voters. Weak is the theme that has got into voters head. Elites looking after mates. Yes that includes voters seeing Bill Shorten as the backstabber in the RGR years at the last election.
I thought Albo was going to be good for Labor. He has been a disaster. Its one thing not to get in the way its another to be seen to be selling out.
Victoria
The problem is Labor has to stand up. Pelosi has done so. She has even used the Moscow Mitch tag.
Thats the difference. Pelosi is fighting and is seen to be fighting even by progressives who think she should have moved on impeachment already give her credit where its due.
Labor is just the roll over party at the moment. It is going to take a hell of a campaign to prove otherwise to voters. Weak is the theme that has got into voters head. Elites looking after mates. Yes that includes voters seeing Bill Shorten as the backstabber in the RGR years at the last election.
I thought Albo was going to be good for Labor. He has been a disaster. Its one thing not to get in the way its another to be seen to be selling out.
a r
Of course they should. But guytaur wants Labor to rant and rave that Morrison is connected at the hip to Trump etc.
Not a productive move under the current conditions playing out. Would you agree?
A win for workers and the AWU
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-22/cadbury-shift-workers-win-sick-leave-case/11436110
a r @ #92 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 9:21 am
I’d say Labor are representing the people who voted for them and want to be in power.
Guytaur
Labor lost the election they believed it would win. Rebooting their position and place in this political cycle is not an easy task especially with all that is happening.
Very real prospect of a recession that we cant control. So they need to be sensible and not throw hand grenades just to attempt some political point scoring.
Anyhoo I’m drawing a line on this discussion.
End of……..