Essential Research: bushfires, climate change and asylum seekers

A new poll finds respondents clearly of the view that not enough is being done to tackle climate change, but with opinion divided as to whether it appropriate to debate the matter in the context of the bushfire emergency.

The Essential Research poll series continues to chug along on its fortnightly schedule without offering anything on voting intention, with this week’s survey mainly relating to bushfires and climate change. Support for the proposition that Australia is not doing enough to address climate change have reached a new high of 60%, up nine since March, with “doing enough” down five to 22% and “doing too much” down three to 8%.

However, perceptions of climate change itself are little changed, with 61% attributing it to human activity (down one) and 28% opting for “a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate”. On the debate as to whether it was appropriate to raise links between climate change and bushfires, opinion was evenly divided – out of those who considered such a link likely, 43% felt raising the matter appropriate compared with 17% for inappropriate, while another 30% rated the link as unlikely.

A further question related to the issue of medical evacuations for asylum seekers, and here the situation is murkier due to the need to provide respondents with some sort of explanation of what the issue is about. As the Essential survey put it, the relevant legislation allows “doctors, not politicians, more say in determining the appropriate medical
treatment offered to people in offshore detention”. Put like that, 62% were opposed to the government’s move to repeal it, including 25% who believed the legislation didn’t go far enough. That left only 22% in favour of the pro-government proposition that “legislation will weaken our borders and result in boats arriving”.

The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1083.

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.

1,314 comments on “Essential Research: bushfires, climate change and asylum seekers”

Comments Page 17 of 27
1 16 17 18 27
  1. Greens denounce secret prisoner case as evidence Australia is an ‘authoritarian state’

    Nick McKim tells Senate the secret conviction and imprisonment of a mystery man in the ACT is an ‘abuse of state power’

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/28/greens-denounce-secret-prisoner-case-evidence-australia-authoritarian-state

    “What we know now is in the 21st century there is a person who has been secretly charged, secretly sentenced and secretly imprisoned in Australia,” McKim said.

    “And when asked in the Senate to provide further information, the attorney general’s representative in the Senate has either refused or been unable to provide any further meaningful information.

    “This is a shocking example of secrecy and abuse of state power and our descent into a police state, and yet another argument for a charter of rights in Australia.”

  2. The bill’s defeat is a significant blow for the Morrison government’s industrial relations reform agenda and comes as Mr Porter consults on proposed changes to allow major infrastructure employers to lock in pay rates for the length of their projects.

    Mr Porter has also signalled a review of the award system, the minimum wage safety net, which employers argue is “too complex”.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-s-union-busting-bill-defeated-in-the-senate-20191128-p53ezo.html

  3. DP,
    Step 1 : Right click on the image
    Step 2: Right click on Copy image address
    Step 3: Paste here
    Step 4: Then add #image.jpg to the end of the tag without any spaces
    Step 5: Magic happens!

  4. The Guardian

    Regardless of why Hanson did not support the bill, AR of The Guardian made this observation:

    “Just a small point – Queensland goes to the polls in October next year.

    Can’t imagine Pauline Hanson would have been too happy with a union campaign being run against her, with the parliament looking like heading to another minority, given the Palaszczuk government run lately.

    Even a whiff of holding the balance of power in a home state can be enough.”

  5. To which Pauline Hanson added (and which Pegasus has conveniently failed to report for reasons known only to her):

    “My vote and my opinion will never be based on that…no way in the wide world,” Pauline Hanson says, when asked if this was about the upcoming Queensland election.

    “If you think that, then you don’t know this lady,” Malcolm Roberts says.

  6. The Guardian

    The Greens are the first cab off the rank about the government’s loss on ensuring integrity. From Adam Bandt:

    “This is a victory for working Australians and for Australia’s democracy. This is a victory for the power of organising and of everyday people power.

    We have a government who is determined to limit the power of workers and their unions and reduce their ability to stand up to the powerful, but today, they lost.

    If this government was really committed to integrity, then we would have a federal anti-corruption watchdog to hold politicians to account. Instead, the prime minister is prepared to let a minister continue to serve while being investigated by the police. This government has no integrity when it comes to integrity.

    The Australians Greens will always stand up for unions and working Australians in their effort to fight for higher wages and better working conditions.

    The Greens are proud to stand alongside the union movement and Australian workers in celebrating this victory.”

  7. Thick as she is, probably even Pauline can see by now that the government possess a particularly toxic mixture of ignorance and arrogance. She sees the danger in tying herself too tightly to them.

    Also good to see Labor going the mongrel on Taylor’s possible absence from parliament next week. Seems the “don’t flout the convention that domestic politics should not interfere with international representation” meme lost out to “kick the bastards when they’re vulnerable”. I think Morrison might have a bit of trouble dealing with that – I think he was relying on Labor playing by the rules while he flouted them.

    From my fleeting encounters with game theory, I seem to remember that the way to enforce better behaviour from you opponent is to hit back hard when they step out of line.

  8. Lambie is continuing to play a blinder since she got back in.
    Can’t the ACTU get someone more eloquent than McManus? Every time I hear her speak off the cuff she struggles to string a sentence together.

  9. IBAC

    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/cash-for-council-was-funnelled-via-bed-store-horse-breeder-ibac-told-20191128-p53ew3.html

    A staffer to federal MP Jason Wood has resigned from his office after revelations that she managed a $100,000 “covert” campaign, funded by developer John Woodman, to seize control of Casey Council.

    As the Casey land deals scandal spreads ever wider, the resignation of staffer and former mayor Janet Halsall is the first federal scalp from the current probe by Victoria’s corruption watchdog.

  10. It’s time:

    I wonder if that little link between the Libs and Westpac will get any attention in the msm.

    Westpac aka. the Bank of New South Wales has of course been operating illegally since 1947 and it’s the Libs that put them up to it!

  11. “Also good to see Labor going the mongrel on Taylor’s possible absence from parliament next week”

    Absolutely. In these sorts of circumstances Labor should ask themselves “What would the Liberals do?” and do likewise.

  12. Pegasus:

    [‘The Greens are the first cab off the rank about the government’s loss on ensuring integrity…’]

    No one should suggest you’re a wonker?

  13. Lambie

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/28/one-nation-and-jacqui-lambie-join-labor-to-reject-governments-union-busting-bill

    Lambie hit out at the government’s negotiating style, saying they had not been prepared to entertain her amendments, and she had not met with Porter about her proposed changes to the bill.

    “They wouldn’t even talk to me about it, they knocked me straight out of the game. I’m assuming they thought they had the numbers,” Lambie told Guardian Australia.

    “No one wanted to deal with me over this bill, they should have left all of their options open.

    “Cutting me completely out, that was one vote they already lost, that is not smart politics, that is plain stupid.”

  14. Here in the deep south of Canberra we have started to receive dense smoke from an out of control fire in the Tallaganda National Park about 30-40km to the east.

  15. Not granting Taylor a pair is extremely bad politics. At present, he’s not transgressed. Give him enough rope – take the high ground.

  16. Pegasus:

    [‘Are you calling AR a “wonker”? They are her words not mine.’]

    If the inference was not you and was dear AR, my apologies.

  17. ACT and alleged corruption

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-28/call-for-corruption-inquiry-could-draw-in-chief-minister/11747614

    On the last sitting day of the year for the ACT Assembly, a little-known committee has dropped a damning report recommending the territory’s anti-corruption body investigate a case which could drag in the Chief Minister.

    In 2016, a series of land deals by the ACT Government were called into question when Auditor-General Maxine Cooper found payments were made higher than the government’s own valuations for the land.
    :::
    The central issue became whether the government’s acquisition of the land was linked to an intention by the owners of the casino to develop the land.
    :::
    One of the key issues at question was whether the now-Chief Minister Andrew Barr, who was the responsible minister at the time, knew of the details of the land deals.

    Mr Barr, current and former ACT Government witnesses denied knowledge and any link between the acquisition of the land and the casino’s development proposal.

    But the committee, which is made up of two Liberal members and two Labor members, said that late in their inquiry, responses from casino developer Aquis Entertainment raised questions around the government’s denial of any knowledge.

  18. In the NT

    Ken Vowles has quit politics on the last day of parliamentary sittings for 2019
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-28/labor-ken-vowles-quits-politics-nt-parliament/11748042

    “We were all inducted under the variations of mantras that one person isn’t bigger than the party,” Mr Vowles said in his speech this evening.

    “And in fact … that sentiment has been used throughout the Labor history, to tap former leaders on the shoulder.

    “But that message has fallen by the wayside, and replaced with ‘disunity is death’.

    “Which translates to, in Territory politics, ‘obey me, or else’. And it could be any one of you next.”

    —–
    Northern Territory politician Sandra Nelson takes aim at social media trolls
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-28/sandra-nelson-confronts-social-media-trolls-online-abuse/11747584

    Earlier this year, Ms Nelson announced she would not be contesting her seat at the 2020 NT election.

    Her announcement was made in March after a private Facebook conversation was leaked about her criticism of her own NT Labor Government’s economic management and use of political spin.

    She won the seat off ousted Country Liberal Party member Willem Westra van Holthe after the former member was embroiled in a drawn-out saga over his dealings with a Vietnamese company about a Top End dragonfruit farm.

  19. The fact that Lambie and One Notion felt confident about giving the government the finger may be a bit of an indication that the smell of death is starting to hover over it. Better to be on the winning side when the balloon goes up.

  20. nath:

    [‘OK so The Irishman wasn’t that great. Although Pacino was brilliant.’]

    The critiques have been gushing, though it goes for three and one-half hours. Little wonder it wasn’t released on the big screen, the attention span around twenty minutes, on a good day.

  21. Geez, things can’t be going well for the Greens so called central place in Australian politics when all sorts of diversions start appearing at great length on these pages.

  22. ajm:

    [‘What!!?? He’s in deep shit on half a dozen issues. All the rope has been played out. Now’s the time to yank hard on it.’]

    To discipline a child, it’s counterproductive to hit it with a big stick.

  23. Mavis
    says:
    The critiques have been gushing, though it goes for three and one-half hours. Little wonder it wasn’t released on the big screen, the attention span around twenty minutes, on a good day.
    ______________________________________
    It was good, just not great. And yes it could have been half an hour shorter. It should have been a movie about Pacino as Hoffa. That would have been something.

  24. Mavis @ #834 Thursday, November 28th, 2019 – 7:41 pm

    ajm:

    [‘What!!?? He’s in deep shit on half a dozen issues. All the rope has been played out. Now’s the time to yank hard on it.’]

    To discipline a child, it’s counterproductive to hit it with a big stick.

    He’snot a child. He’s a grown up head kicking politician with a lot of questions over his activities.

  25. it’s time:

    Red Ted
    I’m open to alternative explanations to the Senate defeat.

    When one has been outflanked by Senator Hanson, the deficit is unlikely to be confined to the numerical.

  26. When Gillard was in power, Abbott basically refused all pairs, including for conferences, international obligations, even for a very sick member at one stage.
    So stuff them. There is no ‘high ground’ in modern politics, it is a gutter fight to the death. And the ALP needs to get dirty.

  27. [‘One Nation senators Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts and Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie voted against the Ensuring Integrity Bill along with Labor and the Greens on Thursday, catching the government by surprise. The vote was tied 34-34, with tied votes lost in the Senate.’]

    It’s predicted the Medivac bill will follow the same path. Xmas drinks next Thursday are on hold, the Tories unsure whether to order in Moet or Spumante – I’d go for the latter.

  28. Abbott routinely trashed many good and useful conventions including those relating to pairs. IMO Labor should grant pairs in national interest, for example where ministers go overseas in their ministerial capacity.
    Taylor fails this test. He is unfit because he promotes subsidies for fossil fuels. He dissembles on Australia’s emissions. He is an international embarrassment. Apart from that he should have stood himself aside and his status is questionable.

  29. Good evening.

    Wow just wow. I echo Doyley’s comments on this vote.

    Congratulations to all the parties involved. As no one has mentioned it yet that includes the unions and their representative Sally McManus.

    There is hope in the world even in the darkest of times.
    Again thank you to everyone involved.
    Workers rights are human rights.

  30. Cat

    Now is not the time for Green v Labor.

    It’s time to celebrate a win for the good guys. I am still shocked that includes Senator Hanson. Credit where it’s due. Our representatives acted with class today.

  31. ajm:

    [‘He’s not a child. He’s a grown up head kicking politician with a lot of questions over his activities’].

    I think nuance is a better glove to attack an opponent. But what a day for Labor: Morrison’s been shown to be a charlatan re. his interaction with the hapless Fuller, and the bill to place fetters on unions failed to pass muster. Poor Morrison must be kicking himself.

  32. Mavis

    Yes I am crossing my fingers.

    The journalists that relied on the government telling of the story have some egg on their face as well tonight.

    🙂

  33. JBishop has been having a bit to say recently (more gratuitous advice for Morrison).

    Australia should vet new MPs and fix donation laws: Bishop

    As evidence mounts of Chinese influence Australia should defend its interests and democratic institutions says the former foreign minister. (Nine/Fairfax headline)

  34. It should be noted that Pauline Hanson didn’t vote against the anti-union bill through her own accord; she was eventually forced to do so by a combination of state electoral realities, and, more importantly, lobbying by the union movement (Solidarity forever!). As a small-business owner with dubious ethics at best, I just cannot imagine her adhering to workers’ rights on any moral or ethical basis.

    However, I find it deeply disappointing that Centre Alliance, who are considered by the lay public to be far more sensible, voted for the bill.

  35. guytaur:

    [‘Now is not the time for Green v Labor.’]

    And this site’s been far better for it. As a matter of fact, absent, for the most part, the Labor/Greens’ dichotomy has been a delight.

  36. nath @ #825 Thursday, November 28th, 2019 – 5:29 pm

    OK so The Irishman wasn’t that great. Although Pacino was brilliant.

    Yep, it was about an hour longer than it needed to be. The dialogue wasn’t exactly Shakespearian either. I was more impressed by Pesci, whose understated performance was a nice change from the sort of manic ones we’re used to seeing him do. Also the scene where de Niro kicks the shit out of the shopkeeper would’ve been a lot more effective if the camera had stayed on the girl with the attack being audible. As it was though the scene was a bit embarrassing and despite the anti-ageing FX, it was obvious that de Niro is an old man.

    Not in the same league as Goodfellas. 6.5/10.

Comments Page 17 of 27
1 16 17 18 27

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *