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.
I am getting very confused. Everything seems to be at sixes and sevens. Life was much simpler when it was only Turnbull/Shorten.
NT – Origin fracking approval spells more trouble for drought stricken NT
https://www.lockthegate.org.au/origin_fracking_approval_spells_more_trouble_for_drought_stricken_nt
Queensland, like most if the rest of Australia, has a mountain to climb wrt renewables. The Lib-kin will see to it that we never reach the summit.
Diogenes @ #241 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:07 pm
Do you realise how juvenile that statement sounds?
And that would be the Labor Party whose Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, would not allow herself to be protected from equally juvenile school children throwing Vegemite sandwiches at her as she toured schools to promote the Gonski policy.
Or the Labor Party who didn’t seek to shut down the similarly juvenile protests in the parliament and out by the Abbott Opposition and The Greens’ fan club Supergluing their hands to the balustrades of the Lower House?
Socrates says:
Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 2:51 pm
Simon
“I read a paper last night (from some submission to government inquiry) that showed there was a net cost benefit to building an interconnector from QLD to SA….. and then to WA.”
I mentioned the need for such an interconnector here on this blog (plus one from SA to Vic via SE corner of SA) ten years ago as the GFC stimulus package was being developed. Several power network engineers I knew said it had great value, both for reliability of supply and better price competition between suppliers, even without renewables being in the mix. Now it would be even more valuable to even out wind generation peaks and troughs.
And if Labor had won it would have been built. Instead we now have a bunch of nutters trying to tell us coal has future and another bunch of nutters telling us that windmills and transmission towers ruin the view. Greens and the Liberals the coalition against action on climate change.
The Queensland Council of Civil Liberties statement is a breath of fresh air compared to the risible anti labor fulminations of the usual & beneath contempt suspects. Balanced. I commend it.
Maude Lynne @ #247 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:14 pm
Exactly. So why jump the gun? Wait and see what they really intend to do.
Andrew_Earlwood @ #256 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:19 pm
Shh! You Right Winger you! You have no right to be reasonable! 😆
mikehilliard says:
Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 2:31 pm
Australia’s climate change inaction is now bipartisan. Protest is all we have left
…it would be wrong to see Palaszczuk simply as a throwback to the reactionary politics of Queensland’s past. Rather, her comments reflect a new development, with the two major parties forming a united front against climate action.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/22/australias-climate-change-inaction-is-now-bipartisan-protest-is-all-we-have-left
So this is where the Greens have driven the environmental movement. So frustrated they feel that gluing themselves to level crossings is the answer. The would do better to deal with the Greens.
Tanya looks a bit flat on the Karvelas Show today.
Rex Douglas @ #215 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 3:20 pm
That is a particularly idiotic comment, Rex. If both major parties support something, what does holding the “balance of power” get you?
It’s about time you got on board with a party – either party – that can actually do stuff.
Diogenes @ #248 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:16 pm
Do you know what they are doing to ameliorate the problems the GBR is facing? And I’m sure as hell the LNP wouldn’t be doing this but the Qld ALP State government are working with farmers to help them recycle their sediment back on the land. Some farmers are complaining loudly because it costs them money, however the sensible ones are working with the government.
They are also doing other things as I have outlined. It may not be the perfect approach but as I keep on pointing out, the Palacsjuk government have an election to win next year so that they can keep the ball rolling. They are walking a tightrope but their intentions are essentially honourable.
Wonderful to see the energy is still up re the fight against the coal boosters. Very heartening.
AE
The risible fulminations from the handful of the usual Laborite suspects with right-wing tendencies is always entertaining.
That is definitely the way to add credibility to what follows it. 5 stars.
Tanya is being serious and thoughtful, that’s all, Rex.
And for the record, I’m not anti-labor, I’m a card carrying member. I just didn’t have a partisan lobotomy and if I don’t like something I say so. It is still a partially free country.*
*may not apply to Qld, journalists, public servants, whistleblowers, anyone who can’t afford to defend a defo action, people of color, people are aware of imperfections in Australian historical behaviour ….
Well done C@t and briefly. After giving Labor first preference at every fed election and all but one state election you have persuaded me that Labor is not the party I imagined it was. So persuasive have you been Labor can feck off getting my vote with a number higher than 4 at the next election.
Time for a break.
WeWantPaul @ #250 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:17 pm
And there I was thinking you were a supporter of Unions. Apparently not it seems because the delay the article refers to is due to the Queensland government wanting qualified electricians to sign off on the work and do the connections, as Tristan Edis points out:
“Queensland has almost dropped off the planet in terms of commitments and PPAs (power purchase agreements) over the past 12 months,” says Tristan Edis, senior analyst at Green Energy Markets.
“I suspect that’s partly because investors are expecting the solar that’s already committed plus rooftop will seriously erode wholesale prices in the middle of the day. Also, new rules about mandating electricians won’t help the situation.”
Yes, the ETU is a major supporter of Labor in Queensland and you could probably argue this is a sop to them, but I wouldn’t. Instead I think they’ve got one eye on the deaths that occurred via the installation of Pink Batts in Queensland. Nothing would kill their chances at the next election quicker than a verisimilitude of that occurring.
Now, you may not like that fact but it’s politics, not Dreamland.
C@t, I disagree.
The right time to head off bad legislation is before they table it.
ASAP actually.
Waiting until it’s published, then campaigning, virtually guarantees no change, otherwise it will look like the gov’t is bowing to pressure.
lizzie @ #266 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:30 pm
Is her heart really in it still …?
Sadly for her she put her lot in with the Shorten/Bowen disaster and crashed badly.
Pegasus @ #264 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:27 pm
Lol, it’s such an easy slur to throw around when you have nothing of substance to counter facts with, isn’t it Pegasus? I mean facts, not your carefully-edited and sourced cut and paste.
Rex Douglas @ #271 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:35 pm
Tanya Plibersek is tougher, more resilient and smarter than you give her credit for, Rex Douglas. But then you don’t have a very good attitude towards Labor women.
lol Cat whining about an imagined slur as she slurs RD.
Can you point the ‘fact’ out to me. I see lots of wild speculation and an insane reference to pink batts, but I don’t see any facts.
C@tmomma @ #273 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:38 pm
…and Labor men.
Maude Lynne @ #270 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:34 pm
Okay, so the only pressure so far is coming from people who want to be able to glue themselves to the road or level crossings to try and stop trains or trucks. If the Palacsjuk government bows to that pressure and continues to allow it then that is what will really look weak. The Greens tail wagging the Labor dog. Sorry, but over and above that people complaining about something they don’t know about is just jumping at shadows I think.
Pegasus @ #274 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:39 pm
You call that a slur!?! It would have to make Rex Douglas a real snowflake then. But Ha! Ha! jokes on you, Pegasus. Rex Douglas agreed with my characterisation, and added his own extra one! 😆
Rex Douglas @ #276 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:40 pm
In news that surprises no one. 😐
WeWantPaul @ #275 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:40 pm
Okay, it’s speculation. But it makes a lot of sense to me. I don’t see you providing any proof that the Queensland government are not committed to their 2050 Renewable Energy target, on the other hand. A few unconnected solar panels does not a non commitment to Renewable Energy make.
Human Rights Law Centre
https://www.hrlc.org.au/opinion/2019/3/18/australia-has-a-long-history-of-protests-our-rights-should-be-better-protected
I was relying on their support of coal, and the renew energy article, by experts. If neither bleeding obvious nor experts are sufficient for you, I’m going to have to pass on the opportunity.
I’m one of those people who was fairly heavily shattered by the election result.
Of course that’s partially the heavier blow of having the expectation of a change of government dashed, but it’s also very much about how politics appears to be moving.
The trend (from my perspective) is very bad, no question of that at all.
The voting public is moving away from sensible engagement and are seeking refuge in bright shiny things that have zero substance but promise to assuage their stresses. Reality seems largely irrelevant now – it’s all about punishing those useless politician types and avoiding having to think about things. Dealing with the big issues, beyond lip service, does not appear to matter to this growing segment of the population.
Labor, I’m sure, were even more devastated by what happened, and they are clearly repositioning now in an attempt to deal with what appears to be the new political reality. They have no choice. This is politics, they must respond to what the voters demand or simply give up any hope of forming government in the foreseeable future.
Of course the progressive/environmentalist/left are hopping mad, because everything is turning to shit, and the political tide is clearly flowing away from our preferred courses of action.
The rage is understandable – you rage or you despair, really – but as far as I can see it is sparking off in all sorts of irrational and unhelpful ways. You can whip the ALP until it’s bloody and it won’t make a lick of difference – the ALP has to deal with politics as it is, not how idealists think it should be, and for the ALP the electoral calculus remains the same – they have to win in the centre, they can’t win by tacking to the green/left – that has long been true, but it is (very sadly) more true now than it has ever been.
Adani convoys, extinction rebellions, halting traffic in the CBD, etc are not helping. Really. They just harden the polarization and turns away the disengaged middle that has to be won over if the political battle is to be won. Successful protests from decades past have succeeded because the protesters genuinely represented a groundswell of public opinion. There is no such broad movement here – the election result past could not have happened if there was – and gluing yourself to roads isn’t going to help because the people you need to convince are simply turned off by these kinds of actions.
Maybe it is the case that our politics, our society, our democracy is simply broken now – I do suspect it is so, and I suspect it is the confluence of social media atomization of community combined with the concerted efforts of the elites to kill off job security and load us all up with debt so that everyone, at all times, feels insecure and the need to keep paddling away in the grand capitalist consumerist dream/nightmare, where there is no time to consider politics, and even if you had time you don’t want to because everything seems to pose a risk of making your life that bit harder when it already seems nearly impossible to keep all the plates in the air.
I don’t know what the answer is. I do know that railing at the ALP for having to honestly look at what the public was saying at the last election and adjust their positioning is not going to help.
poroti seemed a little forlorn earlier.
This will up the cheer….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmdO5DuiV3I
WeWantPaul @ #283 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 4:51 pm
Well it’s good to know that your argument is built upon shaky panglossian foundations, as evidenced by your statement, ‘their support of coal’. No detail about what sort of coal, just ‘coal’. And a ‘my experts are better than your experts’ attempt to bolster your argument. As I said originally, just basically juvenile attacks whereby you are either unwilling or unable to consider what Qld Labor HAVE done, want to do and want to continue to do if they win the next state election. Because I can guarantee you that your idealistic positions will be run down by a coal train, never to see the light of day, if the LNP win the next Queensland State election.
Or, is that what you want? It’s the only alternative, so I guess it must be. 😐
It seems to me that the Queensland government proposals on protests are no more than a bit of codification of an already present general police power.
It enables the government to look tough in the lead up to an election and is likely to make very little difference to actual protesters.
Annastacia is a very astute reader of the political mood and you have to see just about her every move in that context. Her major job is to win the next election for Labor in a state where, as we have seen, things can go very bad very quickly for Labor.
I would think that people here would be praising a state government that has set up a STATE OWNED renewable energy generator and adopted an ambitious renewable target.
In regard to Adani, the fact she is pushing for “progress” on it is probably because she wants to make sure the project collapses before the next state election, not afterwards.
poroti says: Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 4:34 pm
Well done C@t and briefly. After giving Labor first preference at every fed election and all but one state election you have persuaded me that Labor is not the party I imagined it was. So persuasive have you been Labor can feck off getting my vote with a number higher than 4 at the next election.
Time for a break.
********************************************************
So SAD Poroti – whatever extremes you have for Labour on here – is NOTHING compared to what is in the mind, hearts and souls of the RW NUT JOB NAZI White Supremicists out there …..
Think Compact Crank or Bucephallis or whatever he calls himself nowadays – do you really, really want to be associated with people like him ????
Thank you, Jackol. The cool voice of reason. 🙂
Jachol
I practically agree with the entirety of that comment but I wouldn’t say the situation is that dire. Essentially the result was a nil all draw with both sides basically where they were before the last round of redistributions.
My reading of the result is that its a case of the ALP miss reading the electorate and overreaching much as the Liberals did in 1993, and if the ALP can recognise that then they will be better off for the result just as the Liberals were after 1993.
Basically the ALP needs to focus on people’s problems instead of new taxes or taking from those it deems unworthy despite there being some merit in some of the policies.
The other thing the ALP needs to focus its federal campaign on federal issues with a clear message because the recent campaign was confused and there were times that I as a political watcher couldn’t tell what the ALP were trying to say so i can only image what message the non political watchers were seeing or hearing.
ALP supporters can mock Morrison and the Liberals but at least their campaign delivered a clear message, the same cannot be said for the ALP. There were times when listening to Bill Shorten that left me wondering what level of government was he campaigning for because at times he sounded like a would be Premier instead of a would be PM, on top of that the ALP didn’t run a coherent message on why the government deserved to lose office. the 2019 election campaign will go down as one of the worst campaigns in the last fifty years.
What shits me most about our bunch of feckless left wing keyboard warriors is that I have actual experience in advising the TWU for over a decade about union protests, strikes, boycotts, pickets and various other media attention seeking stunts, especially regarding the ‘safe rates’ campaigns and other disruptive activities run by the union. There is a fine line between peaceful protest and disobedience that could lead to prosecution or being sued. Real activists who are fair dinkum know that and accept the risks.
That is not to say that some laws that are used against citizens – whether they be protesters or not – are unjust. The various anti union laws that successive conservative governments going back to Fraser provide good examples. As do the Vlad laws and consorting laws. Increases in police powers should always be closely scrutinised, which is what the civil liberties council is calling for. That is all a far cry from the absurd pile on by the anti labor clique -whether it be the Bludger brigade or the guardians collection of resident trots.
High court to hear appeal concerning the legality of officers of Don Dale using tear gas on inmates
Binsaris v Northern Territory of Australia; Webster v Northern Territory of Australia; O’Shea v Northern Territory of Australia; Austral v Northern Territory of Australia [2019] HCATrans 163 (16 August 2019)
Just drove from Brizzie to the ACT. It was not until the last few hundred km that the rivers/creeks started to have water in them.
Even then the canola crops looked stunted and thin.
The wildlife holocaust is in full swing.
C@t
1. Queensland gets 7% of its power from RE. That’s half of what the US gets from RE. Queensland is a RE embarrassment.
2. Labor has gone along with every erosion of civil liberties in the name of national security in the last five years and even tried to censor the internet like China. A few sandwiches means nothing.
Jackol @ #283 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 5:06 pm
The ALP is conforming to idiocy.
No thanks. I’d rather die on my feet than die slower on my knees at the alter of idiocy.
Palaszuks office taking transparency a bit too far by naming ASIO spies by mistake.
“The Queensland premier’s office has mistakenly published the name of a secret intelligence operative in an extraordinary national security breach potentially punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
The name of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (Asio) officer was accidentally published during the routine public release of Annastacia Palaszczuk’s diaries, a practice designed to boost government transparency.”
Jackol @ #283 Thursday, August 22nd, 2019 – 5:06 pm
Well said. A fair and balanced overview of the real situation.
‘Diogenes says:
Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 5:39 pm
Palaszuks office taking transparency a bit too far by naming ASIO spies by mistake.
“The Queensland premier’s office has mistakenly published the name of a secret intelligence operative in an extraordinary national security breach potentially punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
The name of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (Asio) officer was accidentally published during the routine public release of Annastacia Palaszczuk’s diaries, a practice designed to boost government transparency.”’
Is cock up.
BW
So they publish Paluszcuks appointments diary and she met the spy?
Bit unfortunate.
Tim hated Indigenous land rights with a passion.
Tim loved trains.
Tim was remarkably honest in the sense of observers remarking on his honesty. As if honesty were an abnormal trait.
The good and the bad.
“You chose to highlight those passages in which the author clearly suggests that Labor would have made the same choice because it had joined the first War.
If you didn’t want to make that point, why did you highlight that part of the article?”
***
Because I did want to make that point, but it is a very different point to what you seem to have decided it is. The author was making the point that Labor had committed to other wars in the past. He didn’t say anything about the reasons behind the first war being the same as the second, which is what you seem to think he’s said. I quoted the article because the author made some very good points in it. Stop making up nonsense that isn’t there just because the points he made make you feel uncomfortable.