Essential Research and Morgan: coronavirus, superannuation and trust in business leaders

Generally favourable reaction to the government’s handling of coronavirus, a big thumbs up to access to superannuation, and yah boo sucks to Murdoch, Palmer, Rinehart and Harvey.

The fortnightly Essential Research poll focuses, naturally enough, on coronavirus, with 45% rating the federal government’s response good or very good, and 29% poor or very poor. According to The Guardian’s report, it would seem the latter tend to be those most worried about the virus, as measured by a question on whether respondents felt the situation was being overblown, with which “one third” agreed while 28% thought the opposite.

Over the course of three fortnightly polls, the proportion rating themselves very concerned has escalated from 25% to 27% to 39%, while the results for quite concerned have gone from 43% to 36% and back again. The Guardian’s report does not relate the latest results for “not that concerned” and “not at all concerned”, which were actually up in the last poll, from 26% to 28% and 6% to 9% respectively. Further questions relate to trust in various sources of information, notably the government and the media, but we will have to wait for the publication of the full report later today to get a clear handle on them. Suffice to say that Essential still has nothing to tell us on voting intention.

In other findings, 49% said they wanted the opposition to fall in behind the government’s decisions while 33% preferred that it review and challenge them, and 42% now consider themselves likely to catch the virus, up from 31% on a fortnight ago. Seventy-two per cent reported washing their hands more often, 60% said they were avoiding social gatherings, and 33% reported stocking up on groceries.

We also have a Roy Morgan SMS survey of 723 respondents, which was both conducted and published yesterday, showing 79% support for the government’s decision to allow those in financial difficulty to access $20,000 of their superannuation. As noted in the previous post, an earlier such poll of 974 respondents from Wednesday and Thursday recorded levels of trust in various Australian politicians (plus Jacinda Ardern, who fared best of all); a further set of results from the same poll finds Dick Smith, Mike Cannon-Brookes, Andrew Forrest and Alan Joyce rating best out of designated list of business leaders, with Rupert Murdoch, Clive Palmer, Gina Rinehart and Gerry Harvey performed worst. We are yet to receive hard numbers from either set of questions, but they are apparently forthcoming.

UPDATE: Full report from Essential Research here.

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.

5,145 comments on “Essential Research and Morgan: coronavirus, superannuation and trust in business leaders”

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  1. Baba

    We did not do South Korea. Therefore until we have tested enough people a lock down is the best response.

    It’s why Morrison is going along with it. Even as it destroys his neo liberal economic political view of the world.

    The hope is then when the second wave comes we have enough ICU beds to cope.
    We are too late to contain the first wave but New Zealand’s approach is the best way to shorten the social isolation and economic impact.

    It’s all buying time to manage resources. Of course you are making more facilities available to be able to save lives in hospitals.
    In the second wave of the virus there will be less people without immunity.

  2. I am getting messages from every dentist I have been to in the last 10 years about their operations including the bloke from Port Macquarie (who I will racially call a South African) who, when I told him I was squeamish, held me down with his forearm to assert a degree of control.

  4. Right now the Racism Inquisitors are donning their formal robes as they prepare to tackle today’s outbreaks of bigotry.

    You are too sensitive on this (possibly rightly so – I am not across the full PB history of this). I merely made the point that speed and country of origin are not necessarily good indicators of quality. Pretty sure C@t didnt take it as me calling her racist. I hope she didnt – it was not meant that way.

  5. DM

    The testing is performed on a Genexpert POCT instruments which are already in many hospitals across Australia. We have used Genexperts for rapid flu testing over several years and are very effective in cohorting patient

    Excellent news. Thank you for that information.

  6. Am I late for breakfast?

    Shellbell:

    The increases in the last four days in Victoria have been 56,55,54,54. Odds of that?

    Under an assumption of exponential growth, the probability of seeing those numbers is very, very small. No point in putting a figure on it (tail probabilities are unreliable).

  7. I am getting messages from every dentist

    Mine shuts down today. Except for emergencies. My crown is not an emergency apparently (he put in a temp filling at such speed my jaw still hurts). Which is good because my $2000 is better in my pocket than paying down the loan on his Ferrari.

  8. shellbell @ #2851 Friday, March 27th, 2020 – 11:13 am

    I am getting messages from every dentist I have been to in the last 10 years about their operations including the bloke from Port Macquarie (who I will racially call a South African) who, when I told him I was squeamish, held me down with his forearm to assert a degree of control.

    There’s a couple South African anaesthetists in Port, terrific people, and families, who went there after their obligatory rural stint (in Wagga) was done. Very funny, and very sporty, and yep, no nonsense.

  11. Nassau County New York State Daily Update:
    (26 March 2020)

    3914 active cases

    Represents a rate of 2,882 cases per million (a 19% increase from yesterday) in one of the richest counties in the Union. (Australia’s is 120 per million).

  12. ItzaDream

    That didn’t just tear me up “a bit” – it teared me up a lot! I never tire of hearing that particular piece of music anyway but this was something else. Thank you so much for posting. Stay well.

  13. Meher Baba
    That’s quite the serious misconception you have there. As pointed out earlier, what we have been doing is moving from one accelerating curve to another accelerating curve, albeit with lower acceleration.

    That movement only occurs as we actively change our behaviour, which is what we’ve been doing. Australia has been slowly introducing stricter measures, and people have been changing their behaviour. The slowdown you see in the graphs is a reflection of that changing behaviour. Once our behaviour stabilises, the graphs will reflect that by continuing on whatever curve we’ve settled on by that point.

    It’s far too early to assume that we’ve somehow settled on a curve with no acceleration, especially given no other country has managed that with as lax a regime as ours, and it’s more than likely we will see the numbers accelerate again within a couple of weeks of settling into our new routine.

  14. shellbell

    ….including the bloke from Port Macquarie (who I will racially call a South African) who, when I told him I was squeamish, held me down with his forearm to assert a degree of control.

    You should be honored. He considered you a friend and so chose not to use a sjambok 🙂

  16. Ballantyne @ #2861 Friday, March 27th, 2020 – 11:25 am

    ItzaDream

    That didn’t just tear me up “a bit” – it teared me up a lot! I never tire of hearing that particular piece of music anyway but this was something else. Thank you so much for posting. Stay well.

    You too. It really messed me up to be honest – lots of reasons why, not for now.

  18. It is going to be interesting having aged care homes separate from the general population. As unlike Italy and Asia it’s not our culture to have all the generations living in the same house. As to how that affects the death rate.

  19. Dammit – gotta be quick with business opportunities.

    Bushfire Bill
    Friday, March 27th, 2020 – 11:10 am
    Comment #2849

    Phew! This racism spotting is exhausting! Now, if youse’ll excuse me, I’m off to burn myself at the stake.

    Be quick. Tickets selling fast. 🔥🧯😜

  20. Popped in to grab a couple of items from the local IGA . A very very noticeable change in shopper behavior from two days ago. A whole heap of ‘social distancing’ going on some of it pretty “ostentatious”. Toilet Paper…a bit like the line from Talking Heads “Same as it ever was” 🙁 What a thought, the possibility of being reduced to buying a copy of Rupes’ broadsheet 😆

  21. With all the attention on Covid19 other things are still happening. One of them is climate change (Others include corruption and abuse of power in Scomo’s government but I digress). The northern hemisphere winter just finished was easily the hottest ever recorded.
    https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/03/28/the-northern-hemisphere-winter-of-2019-20-was-the-warmest-ever-on-land?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/2020/03/26n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/n/436254/n

    I can confirm from relatives in Finland that northern latitudes had an extraordinarily snow-free winter. Snow did not fall as far north as Turku until well into January, with lakes not freezing till then. that is amazing. The historic norm would be lakes frozen from November to late April.

  24. Listening to snippets from our local Red Neck station 6PR suggests Lord of Flies is not as far away as we would like to think. On hearing that some backpackers have appeared down in the South-West of WA wine/tourist areas, the presenter claimed this was totally unacceptable and wtte, ‘the locals will know how to deal with them………………..’. Of course, in this paranoid era, one could mistake this as some kind of local vigilante stuff that is okay….Then again, the Hill Billys in North Queensland want to seal themselves away from the rest of us………..so who knows?

  26. Player One says:
    Friday, March 27, 2020 at 11:29 am

    Bushfire Bill @ #2849 Friday, March 27th, 2020 – 11:10 am

    Phew! This racism spotting is exhausting! Now, if yoyse’ll excuse me, I’m off to burn myself at the stake.

    The lady doth protest too much, methinks
    ___________________
    She does a great dramatic turn does our BB. I think this whole racism role is her greatest performance.

  27. Speaking of corruption and the Liberal party, I have been told a rumor (admittedly this is therefore heresay) that there were friends or in-laws (not sure which) of a Liberal MP on the Ruby Princess. This is why they were whisked off the ship with such unseemly hast, including not even normal passport checks. So note this was a departure from normal Border Force procedures, never mind rules in times of a quarantine. No wonder Gladys was angry to be thrown under the pier for that one.

    There needs to be an inquiry into that fiasco. Those who gave the orders will say nothing, but those who received them might. No point interviewing SES level bureaucrats. Their jobs will depend on keeping mum. Labor Senators need to get the individuals on the pier to speak, and ask them who ordered them to do what.

    I say all this because there is a formal entry point and process for passengers at the Sydney cruise ship terminal. ABF officers are posted to it. Normal processes went by the wayside. See
    https://www.abf.gov.au/entering-and-leaving-australia/entering-and-leaving-by-sea/ports-of-entry
    https://www.portauthoritynsw.com.au/cruise/cruising-faq/overseas-passenger-terminal/

  28. DisplayName: “Once our behaviour stabilises, the graphs will reflect that by continuing on whatever curve we’ve settled on by that point.”

    This is just an assertion, with no basis in science. The evidence from China, Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong suggests that stabilisation can be maintained, albeit with considerable difficulty.

    While Australians continue to return from overseas and cruises in considerable numbers (and report today says that there are still several thousand in Bali) there is likely to be continuing upward pressure on the rate of growth in cases. In this context, Victoria having maintained a reasonably flat line for about a week is actually a significantly positive development.

  29. Google has released its latest update on Australian search trends. Coronavirus has been the most searched topic in Australia for four consecutive weeks.

    Search interest for schools is at an all time high this week, up 50% from last week and more than double usual thresholds.
    “Stage 3 lockdown Australia” spiked +2,320% in the past 48 hours.
    “Symptoms of coronavirus” spiked +1,180% in the past 48 hours.
    “Beijing coronavirus cases” spiked +1,950% in the past 24 hours.
    The top state searching for symptoms in the past 24 hours was South Australia, followed by Western Australia and Queensland.

  30. MB,

    DisplayName: “Once our behaviour stabilises, the graphs will reflect that by continuing on whatever curve we’ve settled on by that point.”

    This is just an assertion, with no basis in science. The evidence from China, Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong suggests that stabilisation can be maintained, albeit with considerable difficulty.

    It’s not an assertion, it is a feature of the model. But it is not a feature that will ever manifest in the data because our behaviour has not (and probably will not) stabilise.*

    So you are both right 🙂

    * That was the point of my cryptic comment on state-space models from last night.

  31. Tricot: “Listening to snippets from our local Red Neck station 6PR suggests Lord of Flies is not as far away as we would like to think. On hearing that some backpackers have appeared down in the South-West of WA wine/tourist areas, the presenter claimed this was totally unacceptable and wtte, ‘the locals will know how to deal with them………………..’. Of course, in this paranoid era, one could mistake this as some kind of local vigilante stuff that is okay….Then again, the Hill Billys in North Queensland want to seal themselves away from the rest of us………..so who knows?”

    I feel relatively optimistic about the situation in Australia, but you’ve got to be concerned about the prospect of this sort of thing happening in other parts of the world, including parts of the US. There’s already a pretty hairy sort of political crisis going on in Kosovo, which isn’t an especially stable place. We’re currently at a bit of historic low point since WWII in terms of the number of military regimes around the world: the only official one is Sudan, although there are quite a few other countries that share many of the characteristics of military rule (North Korea is an obvious example).

    But, as the rates of infection in Africa and South America continue to rise, I fear we might see a few coups in the next little while.

  32. [In day 4 of civil proceedings being conducted in a video streamed virtual court in Sydney yesterday there was a moment when one advocate’s screen went black and in frustration the advocate freely expressed frustration in an expletive ridden tirade which, unbeknown to her, was streamed via the audio channel to the court, the witness and her opponent. When video was restored the advocate resumed with the witness not realising that the audio had been continuous. During the next break in proceedings, the opponent informed the advocate what had happened, resulting in an apology to the court when the matter resumed. The Judge took it in good stride and recounted the Ian Chappell Wide World of Sports incident (below) and assured both the advocates in the case that they were doing a good job in difficult circumstances and that their patience with each other and the technology had been of great assistance to the court.

    [From SMH 6 December 1981

    On-air swear
    “Former Australian cricket captain Ian Chappell is in hot water over his swearing. He was suspended indefinitely yesterday from Wide World of Sport after uttering a series of swear words. After Chappell made an on-air apology, Mike Gibson confirmed the suspension and said he would be taking over for the rest of the afternoon. When retiring last year Chappell said: ‘I swear naturally. I don’t swear to be abusive.’ ”

    IAN CHAPPELL (Wide World of Sports) – Taking His name in vain
    Australia in 1981 was a far more conservative one that it is today.
    Former Australia Test captain Ian Chappell found out when he was suspended from Sunday morning’s Wide World of Sports for three weeks after his expletive was accidentally aired.
    As footage of a skier breaking a leg was aired, the mircophones picked up Chappell exclaiming; “Jesus f***ing Christ”.
    Channel 9 cut straight to an ad break and when it returned Chappell was no where to be seen.]

  33. I voted by telephone in the Brisbane City Council elections. I don’t understand why the Queensland Government is allowing in-person voting to go ahead. It contradicts the message about strict social distancing. It would have been better if, weeks ago, in-person voting had been cancelled and everyone had been sent a postal ballot or registration details for phone voting.

  34. PB’s resident Racism Inquisitors are donning their formal robes as they prepare to tackle today’s outbreaks of bigotry and Ugly-Australianism.

    Nobody expects the Spanish Influenza.

  35. Simon,

    Pretty sure C@t didnt take it as me calling her racist. I hope she didnt – it was not meant that way.

    I wasn’t actually referring to you, but it should be noted that just as you can be a racist without knowing it (considered by some to be the worst kind, actually), you can be a racist Inquisitor without really realising that, too.

    Definition of a racist: “Anyone Zoidy or Astro says is a racist.”

    And you’re right. I am a little sensitive. Since, back in January, when I proposed boycotting certain areas of Sydney where there were documented higher concentrations of tourists from the then epicentre of the virus, China, I’ve been vilified as a racist. This is despite the fact that by far the vast majority of the people boycotting those same areas were Chinese themselves! And it is also despite the fact that the stopping of flights from China, though late, is credited with giving Australia a late start on the virus curve. But we didn’t know that until recently, and anyone who says they did know it at the time is a liar.

    “Social Distancing” wasn’t even a phrase back in January, or if it was it was more a technical term, not in everyday usage. I put the proposition then that the only way to stop the virus here was to keep away from other people: the surfaces they touched, the air they breathed out. This is now government and official medical policy, with penalties for non compliance, as well as universal common wisdom.

    At the time my caution was confined to the Chinese community, because, then, 99.8% of cases involved Chinese people and a lot of Chinese people, including via direct flights from Wuhan itself, had recently arrived in Australia to resume studies and work, or for Lunar New Year family reunions.

    Unless I was going to go around demanding passports to see whether the Chinese person next to me was Chinese-Australian, or from the People’s Republic, it was best to just avoid Chinese areas of Sydney altogether.

    Whether the community boycott (i.e. by BOTH Chinese and “Anglo” Australians together), or the eventual cessation of flights from China delayed the onset, we may never know for sure. But just automatically calling anyone who kept away from predominantly Chinese areas a racist, especially when we didn’t know WTF was going on with this disease, was simply a cheap shot.

    Trying to defend yourself with logic, reason and explanation (yes, with a couple of frustrated outbursts too) just encourages the jeering and heckling from the PB Peanut Gallery of virtue signallers, holier-than-thou do-gooders and single issue obsessives, who see everything in the light of their own one-candle chandelier. I’ve even seen it said here that the more someone defends themselves from these ignorant accusations, the more that proves their guilt. Apparently those found guilty should just accept their faults and mend their ways in future.

    The “Salem Witch Trial” atmosphere around here has been permitted by the Management to take root to a pretty disgusting degree of late. If I ran the place I’d have stamped it out months ago.

  36. Dear Abby,

    I need a new refreezerator. Should I buy now from one of the Hateful Eight Four or should I live in hope that whatisname goes bankrupt enabling a fire sale ❓

    A Romantic Admirer.💋


  37. Dandy PJ Murray says:
    Friday, March 27, 2020 at 11:54 am
    …

    * That was the point of my cryptic comment on state-space models from last night.

    We have about 20 data points. There is a limit to what can be squeezed out of so little data.

    While the number of new cases does not match or is less than the number of retired cases the problem is still expanding.

  38. BB

    “Definition of a racist: “Anyone Zoidy or Astro says is a racist.””

    you really didn’t actually read what I wrote did you.
    I was pretty explicit about what it is.
    But it seems you still don’t understand

    I am going to say it again, mostly for other people’s benefit as you appear to be doing your best to silence people calling out racism. Not sure why you would do that, but hey free country…

    If you make an argument, or logic statement, such as ‘I don’t like x because of y’ there is almost never a need to include race or nationality in that statement. It works exactly fine without it.
    When you add race or nationality (or any other large group like homosexuals, Catholics, Jewish people etc) you will turn that statement into a racist one. This is because the race/culture/nationhood is irrelevant to the logic statement. By including the race you change the meaning. This can be (and likely is) subconscious.

    The reaction to this has been bizarre on this blog, people wanting to defend including nationalities or races simply because it’s ‘factual’. It may be (in some instances) ‘factual’ but it’s also irrelevant and causes a lot of hurt.

    All you need to do is check when you make a claim ‘Do I need to include the race’ if the answer is ‘no’ leave it out. If the answer is ‘yes’, then most likely you’re a racist.

    It’s really not hard to understand.

  39. @mjrowland68
    ·
    4h
    Asked about the decision to overturn the 30-minute rule on hairdressing appointments, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd tells
    @BreakfastNews
    regulations are put in place and ‘we then get very rapid feedback’ about what is working and what isn’t. #COVID19Aus

    A sort of try before you buy type of regulation. No wonder people are confused.

  42. I ask this question as a complete amateur.

    If governments are only testing those who have symptoms and have returned from OS and those with symptoms who have been in contact with a confirmed case then would it not be expected that at some point the increase in confirmed cases would slow given the restricted sample size?

    Again as a complete amateur, until we do full community testing of all those with symptoms is it not a bit early to start declaring any success in containing the virus ?

    Perhaps I am missing the obvious but the current testing regime appears to be a poor indicator of the overall spread of the virus throughout the general community.

    Thanks in advance.

  45. Bushfire Bill @ #2849 Friday, March 27th, 2020 – 11:10 am

    Phew! This racism spotting is exhausting! Now, if yoyse’ll excuse me, I’m off to burn myself at the stake.

    Will that be by spontaneous combustion? Or will some firefighters be required …*passes a box of Jiffy to the departing bludger….

  46. As Australia’s multi-billion dollar sporting sector contends with extraordinary staffing cuts, current AFL players are facing a backlash from former players over their pay demands, The Australian reports. The AFL called on players to accept an 80% paycut to help keep the league afloat. But its union declined, demanding to “review the books” of the AFL before agreeing to anything more than 50%. Former players have slammed the move, saying the reticence to accept the deal is “ill-advised in the current environment.”

    AFL SHOULD DISAPPEAR!

  47. “But it is hard for some people to accept ”

    Indeed… Which is most telling!
    Most racism is casual and subconscious. It takes conscious awareness to work against it.

  48. Graph of the morning.

    Nothing sciency with the straight lines. There simply eyeballed in, to help see if there has been a shift in the curve.

    For mine, I’d only say Victoria is showing a consistent shift. A couple of more days for WA before I’d be happy to say it’s showing a sustained lowering in the rate.

    Interesting that prior to the change, Victoria seemed to be growing faster than NSW.

  49. I had a call late yesterday from Alyssa Haynes’s office ( sorry if spelling is incorrect). The call was to enquire what assistance we may need, so I told her.
    A government that puts health above economy
    A public information roll out that includes hygiene not just coughing etiquette but also appropriate cleaning strategies to prevent spread.
    An immediate shut down of schools and an action plan for how essential services workers can manage care of their children
    A plan to house the homeless for the duration
    A decent plan for getting funding to those who lost their jobs
    Telling the public the reasoning behind decisions and who benefits and loses from them
    A plan to rebuild our island nation in a more self sustains manner
    Ramping up of our public service and listening to them rather than proclaiming we were elected to govern and will do it our way.

    I then thanked her for the opportunity to vent, told her we were managing well. Her response which I didn’t believe was she would pass on the comments.

  50. Socrates, just to add to rumours about the fast tracking of certain passengers off the Rubella Princess, they apparently were HillSong conference attendees.. (don’t @ me)

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