Essential Research: leader ratings and protest laws

Discouragement for Newspoll’s notion of an Anthony Albanese approval surge, plus a mixed bag of findings on the right to protest.

The latest fortnightly Essential Research poll still offers nothing on voting intention, though it’s relative interesting in that it features the pollster’s monthly leadership ratings. Contrary to Newspoll, these record a weakening in Anthony Albanese’s ratings, with approval down three to 37% and disapproval up five to 34%. Scott Morrison also worsens slightly, down two on approval to 45% and up three on disapproval to 41%, and his preferred prime minister read is essentially steady at 44-28 (43-28 last month).

Further questions relate to the right to protest, including the finding that 33% would support laws flagged by Scott Morrison that “could make consumer or environment boycotts illegal”, while 39% were opposed. Fifty-eight per cent agreed the government had “the right to limit citizen protests when it disrupts business”, with 31% for disagree; but that 53% agreed that “protestors should have the right to pressure banks not to invest in companies that are building coal mines”, with 33% disagreeing.

The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1075 respondents chosen from an online panel.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

1,832 comments on “Essential Research: leader ratings and protest laws”

Comments Page 2 of 37
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  1. shellbell says:
    Friday, November 15, 2019 at 7:27 am
    Many interesting things will emerge during the course of the murder trial in the Northern Territory.

    Will the police officer be allowed to leave the territory as part of his bail conditions?

    Will the DPP seek the revocation of Bail given the seriousness of the offence?

    What will be the composition of the jury hearing the matter and where will it be heard?

    He has returned to be with his family in Canberra according to the news this morning on commercial radio.

  4. Our grey fantails are so acrobatic. It is a delight to sit on the deck and watch twist, pike and somersault then glide back to branch in the waning evening sunlight.

  5. @jonkudelka
    ·
    3m
    Australia now graduated into a country people seek asylum from.
    ***
    Great job Scomo, award yourself another trophy.

  6. Simon Katich
    Friday, November 15th, 2019 – 8:26 am
    Comment #49

    These ‘ladies’ might be more KJs type.

    I had to confess just yesterday that each of the ladies at the local bread shop were far too much woman for me. No arguments from ladies or daughter.

    Good photo – Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. Ronnie Barker has been gone for 14 year. He was simply brilliant as was Eric Morecambe.

  7. Escalating her case for impeachment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused President Trump of committing bribery by seeking to use U.S. military aid as leverage to persuade the Ukrainian government to conduct investigations that could politically benefit Trump.

    The shift toward bribery as an impeachable offense, one of only two crimes specifically cited in the Constitution, comes after nearly two months of debate over whether Trump’s conduct amounted to a “quid pro quo” — a lawyerly Latin term describing an exchange of things of value.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pelosi-calls-trumps-actions-bribery-as-democrats-sharpen-case-for-impeachment/2019/11/14/0ee9a202-0702-11ea-b17d-8b867891d39d_story.html

  8. Perhaps…
    1. At the time of the shooting, the resident Yuendumu medical staff had left because of fears for their safety.
    2. The RFS landing was delayed because of safety fears.
    3. Two medical staff who subsequently attended were injured by flying rocks.
    4. Yuendumu apart, there are extraordinarily high Indigenous policing and incarceration rates.
    5. Following the ADF-led Intervention laws were changed which allow police relaxed powers of home invasion.
    6. Many inland towns are forted up.
    7. Incarceration is at times viewed as a rite of passage.
    8. There are no means by which Indigenous communities can confer legitimacy on the whitefella ‘justice’ system. In general it is regarded with fear, resentment and contempt.
    9. This leads to policing failures such that there are significant numbers of individual crime victims.
    9. The police are there as instruments of a colonial system across an archipelago of Indigenous communities.

    Whatever the particular facts of the Rolfe case, William’s death is a symptom of a terrible set of structural failures.

    Getting the Voice established is the first step in addressing these issues at the structural level.

  9. Trish describes herself as a thalidomide girl.

    trish @footsiephotos
    ·
    Finally .. I have my answer why @NDIS doesn’t work for me…
    I have no hands for them to hold & help me..
    ***
    When I was at a round table meeting with @stuartrobertmp & @ScottMorrisonMP
    they certainly didn’t reach out for my hand to help. They were only interested in the person who said #NDIS was fantastic..it should be that way for all participants but its not. #auspol #NDISMakeItWork

  11. Chris Dawson is on bail in Qld charged with a NSW murder but he is living in his house and it is a cold case.

    Otherwise, it would be very hard to find:

    (a) someone on bail for murder; and
    (b) a condition allowing interstate residence.

  13. The Victorian DPP may need to come to the HC ready to answer the question “What is wrong with Acting Justice Weinberg’s judgment?”

  14. And these are the ‘farmers’ we should be sympathetic to because drought? Because they ‘understand the land’? Bulldust.

    The messages from a Gippsland land owner congratulating his employee for killing dozens of wedge-tailed eagles have been revealed after the businessman admitted to his part in the scheme.

    John Franz Auer’s farm manager Murray Silvester injected the carcasses of lambs, sheep and kangaroos with insecticide to use as bait to kill eagles over about two years.

    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/bloody-well-done-texts-and-emails-reveal-scheme-to-poison-eagles-20190917-p52s0z.html

  15. EGT from last night after my retirement:
    E. G. Theodore (AnonBlock)
    Thursday, November 14th, 2019 – 10:20 pm
    Comment #2341

    Rh + Diogenes

    No

    So – what stops the ‘phage “digesting” the biofilm and attacking the infection up to the point only the foreign body (port) is left? I.e. what are the limiting factors? (Animal bodies are complicated…)

    (Just for interest – surgeon pulled my port a while back and we’re not doing any continuous infusion so don’t need another one at the moment, although he’s happy to put a new one in)

    Bacteriophages don’t work that way. They are essentially viruses which insert nucleic acid sequences into specific replicating bacteria, and work by inhibiting bacterial replication in ways very different to most antimicrobials so they require replicating bacteria to have any effect. They do not attack the non-replicating components of biofilms – or anything else. They are useful for multiresistant bacterial infections in which one cannot eliminate the non-biological substrate which underlies persistent biofilms. They are a fascinating but venerable (pre-antibiotic) microbiological phenomenon

    I suspect you’re thinking of macrophages, which are white blood cells which do phagocytose (ie enclose and destroy) cells and cellular debris, but are not programmable – yet. The closest we get to programmable macrophages are chimeric antigen receptor T lymphocytes (CAR T cells) , which can have a phagocytic function (eg NK (natural killer) T cells – immunologists have fun with naming things), but which can also regulate macrophage attack. CAR T cells therapy may revolutionise cancer treatment, but is usually a last resort and hugely expensive. I doubt that I’ll get to play with this technology in my working lifetime – particularly in semi-retirement in sleepy, smokey Coffs Harbour.

    Either way, physical removal of an infected port is far more effective than immunologic witchcraft.

  16. There is little doubt who is leading the United States right now. It’s not the beleaguered president facing near-certain impeachment, who has become noteworthy only for his ability to induce chaos and inevitably arrive at a position on the world stage most useful to Russia.

    It sure is not the Republican congressional leadership. In the case of the Senate, it has lost the resolve to advise and consent and the will to legislate, and in the case of the House, it is reduced to lying about House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff. (“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) accused [Schiff] of lying when he said Wednesday that he does not know the identity of the whistleblower,” The Post reports. “Pressed for evidence to back up his claim, McCarthy did not directly answer the question but instead repeatedly accused Schiff of lying.”) Both House and Senate Republicans have resorted to bad-faith arguments and out-and-out fabrication.

    No, the adult in the country keeping her party and the majority of Americans on course is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). In her weekly news conference, she laid out the road map for impeachment.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/11/14/follow-nancy-pelosis-breadcrumbs-impeachment/

  17. lizzie @ #58 Friday, November 15th, 2019 – 8:51 am

    Trish describes herself as a thalidomide girl.

    trish @footsiephotos
    ·
    Finally .. I have my answer why @NDIS doesn’t work for me…
    I have no hands for them to hold & help me..
    ***
    When I was at a round table meeting with @stuartrobertmp & @ScottMorrisonMP
    they certainly didn’t reach out for my hand to help. They were only interested in the person who said #NDIS was fantastic..it should be that way for all participants but its not. #auspol #NDISMakeItWork

  18. KayJay @ #56 Friday, November 15th, 2019 – 8:46 am

    Simon Katich
    Friday, November 15th, 2019 – 8:26 am
    Comment #49

    These ‘ladies’ might be more KJs type.

    I had to confess just yesterday that each of the ladies at the local bread shop were far too much woman for me. No arguments from ladies or daughter.

    Good photo – Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. Ronnie Barker has been gone for 14 year. He was simply brilliant as was Eric Morecambe.

    Yes, there are some great Morecombe and Wise skits on you tube. We don’t seem to have the same kind of anarchic comedy these days.

  19. Good photo – Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. Ronnie Barker has been gone for 14 year. He was simply brilliant as was Eric Morecambe.

    And local Woy Woy boy, Spike Milligan, wasn’t too bad either. 🙂

    Which is a segue to a promotion for the Spike Room at the local Woy Woy Library. It’s a fantastic overview of his and his family’s life and they have some amazing artefacts in the collection which is displayed there. If you’re ever down this way, stop in and have a look. 🙂

  21. John Franz Auer’s

    Sounds like one of those po’ South African farmers we are made to feel sorry for by Peter Dutton and Andrew Hastie. Just sayin’.

  22. Stephen Koukoulas
    @TheKouk
    ·
    1h
    The Coalition have been in power for more than 6 years – and for just one month, February 2019, the unemployment rate was below 5.0% (it was 4.9%).
    Sure, the Coalition has ‘repaired’ the budget but at what human cost to jobs and services?

  24. Interesting comment from Rick Wilson in an interview, basically saying he’d be open to assisting the Democrat presidential nominee as long as it was someone with a chance of actually beating Trump.

    FC: Let’s say that Biden is the nominee in 2020. Do you think that he’s going to hire data science and digital people who are ready to fight on those terms?

    RW: If he doesn’t, it will be the worst political malpractice in history, because all those tools are out there. There is no reason why the Democrats can’t pick this up. And every person in Silicon Valley would beat down their doors and send their best data scientists, their best engineers, and they would be on deck in a hot minute. They just have to ask. And unfortunately, there are people who still believe that yard signs win campaigns. It’s an ugly reality, but it’s an existential threat to them if they don’t have an A-tier data science operation.

    FC: What would happen if you personally got that call next year, to go and work for the [Democratic] nominee?

    RW: It depends on who the nominee is. Bernie Sanders is not viable. I wouldn’t go to work for somebody who was going to lose 44 states. But if it was Biden, maybe. But look, my position on Trump is abundantly clear. I do not have to agree with the Democratic candidates, philosophies, policies, or anything else to recognize that all the probable nominees in that field are progressive and liberal. But they are also fundamentally from the same basic American strain of politics where we have a back and forth, where we have a homeostasis in our political tensions, where both sides deal with each other.

    I do not believe that is the case with Trump. I believe he is an existential threat to the country. And I believe in the Republic before I believe in the Republican Party. So I wouldn’t walk away from the challenge if the time came. I’m not looking for a job right now. I’m not pitching my services. And I think there would be a lot of pushback anyway. Because you know, one of the reasons I have some credibility in this whole discussion is that I was a central figure in the demonology of the Republican Party for a long time. I was a bad guy. I mean, I was the devil. I was the guy bringing in these horrible ads.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/90429532/how-democrats-can-beat-trump-in-2020-data-science-and-fighting-dirty

  25. Yes, there are some great Morecombe and Wise skits on you tube. We don’t seem to have the same kind of anarchic comedy these days.

    Hmmmmm.
    It didnt completely die out with them. Young Ones kept it going. And Blackadder. Clerks? D-Gen. DA Allstars. More recently.. the Mighty Boosh isnt far off. Black Books. The Horrible Histories troupe? Little Britain? Schitts Creek? Certainly these days they are more…. ummmmm…. polished; not as edgy, frantic, dangerous?
    Anything by Ricky Gervais fits the bill doesnt it? Amy Schumer? Tim Minchin? Hannah Gadsby?

  26. GG, Bolt has a track record of mis-interpreting facts. Just look at his analysis of climate change evidence over the years. You are wasting your time listening to him.

  27. “You’re right. This government just rolls on with their premeditated agenda for the benefit of their vested interest mates and donors. What can we, the little people, do? They don’t listen to us.”

    ***

    Speak out, Cat. Make it clear that more mega coal mines are the last thing we need. Don’t just go with the flow. Don’t keep voting for the two party establishment. Make them listen. That’s what we can do.

  28. PeeBee @ #76 Friday, November 15th, 2019 – 9:24 am

    GG, Bolt has a track record of mis-interpreting facts. Just look at his analysis of climate change evidence over the years. You are wasting your time listening to him.

    Did you actually look at what he had to say or did you find it too hard to find a spot to park your prejudices?

  29. If Bill Shorten doesn’t have leadership ambitions why does he need a ‘Republican Guard’?

    Shorten Suite
    @Shorten_Suite
    Twitter Account of Bill Shorten’s Elite Flak-Catching Republican Guard

  31. C@tmomma
    Friday, November 15th, 2019 – 9:08 am
    Comment #68

    And local Woy Woy boy, Spike Milligan, wasn’t too bad either.

    Didn’t he say he was from Woy ❓ 😻

  32. Sounds like Rick Wilson would be the perfect person for the Democrat nominee. 😀

    As an aside, I heard that Pete Buttigieg has already had some of the tech industry titans, like Mark Zuckerberg himself, knocking on his door. As Rick Wilson said, you need the (tech) devil on your side if you want to win. 🙂

  34. “ Bernie Sanders is not viable. I wouldn’t go to work for somebody who was going to lose 44 states.”

    Wilson needs to have a stiff talking to by Nicholas and Guytaur. He is not considering the legions upon legions of millennial voters just busting their guts to vote for TheBern. Who cares if 10-20 million evil centrists and independents who voted for corporate shill Hill don’t vote in 2020, because – obviously – there is twice that number of BernieBros ‘out there’ to pick up the slack. Do the math, dude!

  35. Fess

    Nancy Pelosi made the point that it was bribery. Glad she said that. The quid pro quo being stated all the time, isnt going to cut it.

  36. @jommy_tee
    ·
    2h
    @RonniSalt
    #angusgate #grassgate

    Meet John….John Auer. John is a farmer from Tubbut in Vic, near the NSW border. …
    When John’s not busy farming he’s plotting to kill Australia’s native wildlife,especially eagles.
    ***
    You see John is the “mastermind” behind the deaths of at least 406 wedge tailed eagles over the period 2016-18. John, coached his farm hand, Murray Silvester, on how to poison the majestic raptors. The full stories are here:
    https://theage.com.au/national/victoria/bloody-well-done-texts-and-emails-reveal-scheme-to-poison-eagles-20190917-p52s0z.html

    ***
    That’s right John Auer was director and part-owner of Jam Land from its inception to 2016.

    He left the company in July 2016, and his directorship was assumed by Richard Taylor (Angus’ brother).
    ***
    John Auer, and his partner, owned a total of 48 shares in Jam Land or 33% of the company.

    The Auers shareholding was bought by the respective family companies of Angus Taylor, Richard Taylor, Duncan Taylor and Charlie Taylor and Tony Reid on 18 May 2017.

    ***
    So at roughly the same time as Auer was plotting his eagle poisoning spree he was still a part owner of Jam Land.

    Of course Jam Land have been accused of poisoning of a different kind, spraying protected native temperate grasslands. That case is ongoing and ongoing…and ongoing

    ***

    The reasons for the Auers getting out of Jam Land are unclear.

    What is clear, however, is that the farming practices of this bunch of quiet Australians, could not be deemed best practice.

    It’s a pity that Wendy Craik, who headed up a review, said “they are very good farmers”.

  38. Yes, Spike Milligan was the best!

    Simon Katich @ #75 Friday, November 15th, 2019 – 9:22 am

    Yes, there are some great Morecombe and Wise skits on you tube. We don’t seem to have the same kind of anarchic comedy these days.

    Hmmmmm.
    It didnt completely die out with them. Young Ones kept it going. And Blackadder. Clerks? D-Gen. DA Allstars. More recently.. the Mighty Boosh isnt far off. Black Books. The Horrible Histories troupe? Little Britain? Schitts Creek? Certainly these days they are more…. ummmmm…. polished; not as edgy, frantic, dangerous?
    Anything by Ricky Gervais fits the bill doesnt it? Amy Schumer? Tim Minchin? Hannah Gadsby?

    Yes agree about Ricky Gervais.

  39. I have taken Rick Wilson seriously from the get go, particularly for reason that he has always been a partisan hack for the GOP and ruthless in demonising the Democrats.

  40. This govt and their fellow travellers in the media are working very hard as per usual to get the ppty market to boom again. As for them, it would be an indicator of a booming economy. All built on a house of cards of course.

  41. They’re all part of the same influential mob.

    @RonniSalt
    ·
    18m
    Dr Wendy Craik – who was hand picked by Angus Taylor & Josh Frydenberg to head up the federal govt’s native grasslands review – said a group consisting of an eagle killer and native grasslands sprayers were “good farmers”.

    So it must be true.

  42. Speak out, Cat. Make it clear that more mega coal mines are the last thing we need. Don’t just go with the flow. Don’t keep voting for the two party establishment. Make them listen. That’s what we can do.

    I dont agree with GG on a lot of things but I do see his point on changing the lens you use on this matter. You cant narrow your focus to just closing down coal mines. The focus has to be on the jobs and economic strength that come with other things, like renewables, inter connectors, new industries and technologies…. things that will remove the demand for coal, gas and oil both here and overseas. That will, in turn, reduce the number coal mines.

    The only policy that makes sense is one that gets you into power. Because without power you are left with this mob of wreckers, gravy swillers, swindlers, numpties and toadies.

  44. Yep. Indeed

    Rick Wilson
    @TheRickWilson
    ·
    1h
    His inexperience and lack of knowledge was a feature, not a bug of the plan.
    Quote Tweet

    CoreyReynolds
    @coreyreynoldsLA
    · 1h
    Has anyone explained or been asked to explain why an inexperienced E.U. Ambassador was involved in any dealings with Ukraine at all? I feel like this is an important question that’s not being asked enough. @NicolleDWallace @RadioFreeTom @TheRickWilson @chrislhayes @AriMelber

  45. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/thenewcastlenews/supercars-500-left-without-drawcard-event-after-kiss-cancels-aussie-tour/news-story/98e6e0d924cf76125d2f6b6f7b66b12e

    Absolute disaster. Fer Crissakes Muriel nick orf down the chemist shop and get a pack a them anti deppressing pills. Make it two packs.

    Until yesterday I had no idea that the SuperCars events had concerts – and now – Kiss has Kissed Off.

    Maybe the Grannies could replace them or perhaps the ghost of Meatloafs past. 😎

  46. PeeBee @ #80 Friday, November 15th, 2019 – 9:34 am

    GG, no, why should I he misrepresents facts? Why should this be any different?

    Fine. if your mind is made up, then that is your choice.

    I actually posted it for those people interested in consuming something that maybe challenge their preconceptions.

    This is a discussion blog after all.

  47. Why is it every time I pop in to check the mood nath is STILL going on about Shorten?

    This obsession borders on being a sickness.

  48. Cheryl Kernot
    @cheryl_kernot

    The unthinking constant co-opting of LNP campaign language without quotation marks to signal attribution requires your editorial attention ⁦
    @craigmcmurtrie
    ⁩ . Quiet Australians evaluate Scott Morrison’s Government six months after election …

  49. lizzie
    And these are the ‘farmers’ we should be sympathetic to because drought? Because they ‘understand the land’? Bulldust.

    The mythologising and glorification of farmers in this country seems to be a big part of the problem of why it’s so hard to protect the environment and do something about climate change, especially when those “farmers” are cynically conflated with big agricultural/mining interests. I understand that many farmers are conservation minded and want to do something about climate change, but it seems to me that they are nowhere near being an influential voice.

  50. jenauthor
    says:
    Friday, November 15, 2019 at 9:52 am
    Why is it every time I pop in to check the mood nath is STILL going on about Shorten?
    This obsession borders on being a sickness.
    ___________________
    You must be an officer in Bill Shortens Republican Guard (online auxiliary).

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