Essential Research coronavirus latest

Support rising for an easing of coronavirus restrictions, and strong backing for Kristina Keneally’s contentious call for migration cuts.

The usual weekly Essential Research coronavirus poll finds “only a quarter” of respondents now consider it too soon to be easing coronavirus restrictions, down from a peak of 49% in mid-April. There was also strong support for a range of fresh restrictions being imposed if there is a new surge of cases, but not for making the coronavirus app compulsory, which only 38% supported. Only 45% were confident the government would be able to adequately protect data from the app, and 44% were confident the government itself would not misuse it. Kristina Keneally’s call for a reduction in temporary migration after the pandemic had the support of 67% of respondents. All this detail is derived from The Guardian, which also tells us that the number of respondents who are “quite concerned” about the virus is up three points since last week to 49%, but without the “very concerned” figure it’s hard to know what if anything to make of that. The full report from the pollster should be published later today.

UPDATE: Full report here. The government reaches new heights on the eighth weekly iteration of the question as to how well it is handling the crisis, with good up five points to 71% and poor down one to 13%. The goodwill extends to state governments, who are collectively up three on good to 73% and steady on poor at 12%. The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1067.

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.

1,996 comments on “Essential Research coronavirus latest”

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  1. Barney

    I am not expecting miracles.

    However who ever takes over won’t appeal like Jones does.
    It’s why Jones lasted after inciting the Cronulla riots. At least that’s my conclusion to the results of his comments.

    Carlton could be right. Even if he is not Nine will want someone who does not result in lawsuits.

    Edit: climate policy might just stand a chance too.

  5. This from GED Keatney’s arricle:

    “ After the Second World War, the Chifley government implemented a full employment policy outlined in a White Paper written by H.C. “Nugget” Coombs. It was a tangible plan to realise the potential of all Australian workers. It begins with a simple recognition “that the people of Australia will demand and are entitled to expect full employment”. It places the responsibility for delivering that employment squarely upon government.

    It committed the government to an economic framework that ensured everyone who wanted a job could get one and, at the same time, it allowed our country to welcome 2 million migrants from post-war Europe into the economy.”

    _____

    One of the simple pleasures I’ve had in life was going to visit Nugget Coombs with Gough Whitlam when he was in residence at Charles Darwin University in the mid 1990s and taking afternoon tea with these great men.

  6. I watched Q and A last night and was left with the overall impression how the 3 premiers were as one in supporting the National Cabinet while expressing the desire for it to continue after the pandemic. Premier solidarity. All articulate and no grand-standing.

    Max Koslowski in his article mirrors my sentiments.

    Premiers hope for collaboration, not ‘cheap politics’, when reopening Australia

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/premiers-hope-for-collaboration-not-cheap-politics-when-reopening-australia-20200511-p54rzd.html

    Not once did NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Victoria’s Daniel Andrews or Queensland’s Annastacia Palaszczuk criticise each other in the hour-long program that covered schools, protests, nursing homes, cruise ships, borders and the all-important economic recovery period Australia has just begun.

    Instead, the premiers urged for unprecedented times to be met with unprecedented politics.

  7. KayJay

    Great so see ya back and posting. Judging by the photo you sent the hospital you were in looks wonderful. This is the right photo isn’t it ?

  8. I kept this in my email Inbox for just such a time as this:

    The Search for the SARS-CoV-2 Host Species
    by Ricochet Science
    When SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID19, emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019, it didn’t take long for scientists to recognize the disease as a zoonotic virus: a disease that originates in animals before jumping to humans. Like the coronaviruses epidemics SARS and MERS before it, scientists quickly surmised that SARS-CoV-2 first originated in bats, and most likely horseshoe bats native to China. But how exactly the disease moved from bats to humans has raised only more questions in the scientific community, even as the virus’s status as an international pandemic has made discovering how zoonotic diseases spread all the more important.

    According to the Center on Disease Control, six out of ten diseases originated first in animals before spreading to humans. These include well-known animal-to-human transmitted diseases, such as rabies and Lyme disease, as well as other deadly viruses such as the West Nile Virus. For what is known as “emerging” or “novel” coronaviruses – SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 – bats are usually the viruses’ original host. Scientists estimate that possibly hundreds of coronavirus strains exist in bats (including six new strains recently found in Myanmar), likely due to their unique biology derived from being the only flying mammal.

    Why Bats?
    For bats, a fast heartbeat and sky-high body temperature (up to 108 degrees Fahrenheit/42 Celsius) require advanced cellular repair mechanisms to prevent DNA damage and a stellar immune system to protect the individuals from the effects of the virus. Because of this, bats are more resistant to viruses such as SARS or COVID-19, allowing the virus to move through their populations without wiping out entire colonies. It takes only one of these viruses to mutate in a way that allows it to jump between species, but direct bat to human transmission is nevertheless rare. Instead, an “intermediate host” is usually required before transmission to humans. In the case of SARS civets – a cat-like animal considered a delicacy in some Southeast Asian countries – and in the case of MERS, camels, became the intermediate host, respectfully. Humans who then used products from these animals, such as meat or milk, increased odds of the virus mutating and gaining further exposure to humans.

    http://ricochetscience.com/the-search-for-the-sars-cov-2-host-species/

    So, Alan Jones wants to kill off our only flying mammal, huh? The man is a menace to society.

  9. Thomas O’Brien
    @TJ__OBrien
    · 45m
    BREAKING: Alan Jones announces he will retire from 2GB Radio at the end of the month. Doctors have told him continuing with his present workload is detrimental to his health

    Comes from all that ranting and raging against the rest of us.

  10. ”It’s why Jones lasted after inciting the Cronulla riots. At least that’s my conclusion to the results of his comments.”

    I wasn’t surprised that he survived the Cronulla Riots. His fans like him because he focuses and echoes their inchoate fears, hatreds and prejudices in the Queen’s English. I was surprised that he survived “Cash for Comment”, which one would have thought would have ended the career of anyone claiming to be a serious commentator, but then I’m surprised that Trump’s approval rating is 40% not 4% so what would I know.

    No doubt there’s someone even worse waiting in the wings.

  11. Essential Poll – https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/12/guardian-essential-poll-australians-more-comfortable-with-easing-of-coronavirus-rules

    “Expanding on a warning in January about the risk of an underclass, Keneally wrote in a recent opinion piece Australia’s “increasing reliance” on “cheap supply of overseas, temporary labour” undercuts wages “for Australian workers and takes jobs Australians could do”.

    Keneally’s position is supported by 67% of respondents. Women, Coalition voters, voters over the age of 55, and voters who support someone other than the major parties were more favourably disposed to the idea than men, voters under 34, and Greens supporters.

    Australians have mixed views about temporary migration. More than half the sample, 57%, say temporary migrants support the economy by spending their money in Australia, but 54% say employers should hire Australian citizens where they can, even if they’re not as skilled as candidates who are temporary migrants.

    More than half, 52%, say they agree with the statement that if temporary migrants pay the same taxes as Australian citizens, they should be entitled to the same government support. Just under half, 48%, say without temporary migrants, Australia would face skill shortages, and 41% say Australia would be better off with fewer temporary migrants.

  13. poroti @ #56 Tuesday, May 12th, 2020 – 8:52 am

    KayJay

    Great so see ya back and posting. Judging by the photo you sent the hospital you were in looks wonderful. This is the right photo isn’t it ?
    ” rel=”nofollow”>

    Thanks all. Great photo above but I have a glamour shot from the Calvary Mater ED which I will post after I try to have some breakfast.
    Scrambled eggs for one.

  17. The G

    Anthony Albanese is asked about the Alan Jones news in his interview with ABC Breakfast:

    Look, Alan Jones – it’s fair to say that we’ve had the odd different opinion, but I certainly respect his contribution to the media over such a long period of time.

    For him to win the ratings as he has, for not years but a couple of decades is an outstanding achievement.

    One of the things about Alan that I’ve had a bit to do with him is our South Sydney connection.

    I know that he raises a lot of money for charity and a lot of the things that he has done, no one knows about it, he just quietly goes about making a [contribution] to many charities and I’m sure he will continue to do that. I wish him well.”

    Not mentioned – his comments about Julia Gillard, Jacinda Ardern or any other woman who dared to exist in a way which didn’t meet with Jones’s exacting standards, the Cronulla riots, or any of the many, many scars the man has left in his wake.

  18. Don’t read this if you’re eating breakfast.

    “You’ve always spoken your mind, to everybody, including me one or two times, but you have always done the right thing by your country,” Scott Morrison, who represents the electorate of Cook, which takes in Cronulla, says to Alan Jones.

    Tony Abbott
    ✔
    @HonTonyAbbott
    Our national conversation will be different and poorer without @AlanJones on radio every morning.

  19. “ Contrast Ged Kearney’s opinion piece with KK’s….

    Full employment could be the answer to rebuilding the economy”

    You’re too stupid and bitter to realise that the two articles are entirely complementary.

    Let me spell it out for the hard of thinking:

    Build up our vocational training system with a jobs compact (let’s call it working nation 2.o) and you’d be able to cut our over reliance on temporary workers in half.

    Once the jobs working nation 2.0 is in place then permanent migration – and not a program focused on how many overseas millionaires can buy a permanent visa – but one that matches our needs with a prospective migrants commitment to Australia – can then accelerate.

    Further, rather than plundering the skills base of other countries (witness the plundering of the pool of trained nurses in sub Saharan Africa to staff our nursing homes) we can take untrained migrants and train them up alongside existing Australian residents (whether it be unemployed who need reskilling or new entrants to the labour market from schools etc).

    Lastly, this program would provide a secure pathway for the large cohort of defacto ‘permanent’ migrants who are in Australia on rolling temporary visas without any pathway – often terrified of being sent home and living at the grace and favour of their employer-sponsor (this is a recipe for exploitation, which numerous examples have bubbled to the surface).

    It is likely that such a program will see our permanent migration accelerate again over time. That and our birth rate will likely see Australia add another 500,000 humans to this continents footprint – and a population of at least 37 million by 2050. Perhaps 50 million. I notice that the lil’ Green Pony assiduously avoided answering Boerwar’s challenge relating to the water resources, environmental protections and infrastructure that will be needed to Sustain such a population. Isn’t it obvious why? Pony is a mile wide and an inch thick. Dishonest at it as well.

  20. Steve

    Many examples. I agree cash for comment should have been the final nail.

    In that alternative universe I think Gillard would have got a second term. We would still have a climate policy.

  21. Steve777 says:

    …No doubt there’s someone even worse waiting in the wings.

    Sky After Dark has a veritable collection of contenders. Plus the 2GB shock jocks.

  22. I imagine Jones will still continue with his Sky gig, and his guest spots on a many and varied array of other shows?

    Retire, my arse.

  23. AE

    Thanks for the compliments. Obviously, people like Peter Mares, Troy Bramston, Abu Rizvi, etc who have criticised KK’s opinion piece are also “too stupid, bitter and twisted”.

    Have a good day.

  24. Citizen

    Many said the same when Laws left radio.

    Times have changed and Nine will not be looking for a lawsuit magnet.

  25. I’m with these guys:

    Kristina Keneally’s call for a reduction in temporary migration after the pandemic had the support of 67% of respondents.

    Not some virtue signaller on a blog.

  26. Recruiting Abu Rizvi to your list pony proves how shallow you are. The rest are clearly shilling for preconceived positions. Dishonestly.

  28. Andrew_Earlwood

    Pony is a mile wide and an inch thick.

    A bit unfair, I’m sure “Pony” is much thicker. Do you notice how the shouters of “it’s all racism” never ever ever address the exploitation and wage suppression elephant ?

  29. Cat

    No matter how many times you and AE say otherwise it’s very clear.

    Australia First

    America First.

    That’s the problem.

    Not addressing worker exploitation.

  32. guytaur @ #79 Tuesday, May 12th, 2020 – 7:15 am

    Cat

    No matter how many times you and AE say otherwise it’s very clear.

    Australia First

    America First.

    That’s the problem.

    Not addressing worker exploitation.

    “That’s the problem. ”

    No that seems to be your problem.

    You focus on perceived woke trivialities rather than the issues at hand.

  33. A different looking world when seen from a Sinocentric point of view. I saw one which was Eurasian ‘centric’ and Europe became just a penninsula of the main mass.

  34. Sure, sure. Rationalise away. No one has said that exploitation and suppression of wages are not problems.

    Nationalistic rhetoric viz, “Australia(ns) First”, “America(ns) First”.

    KK’s opinion piece employed the dog whistle rhetoric. Kearney’s didn’t.

  35. deewhytony @ #81 Tuesday, May 12th, 2020 – 9:17 am

    Alan Jones replacement will be Ben Fordham. Announced on 2GB.

    Thought so. The Fordham family have been in radio as long as Jones himself. Fordham Snr was Jones’ manager from memory.

    Anyway, I think that it’s better to have Ben Fordham there now, as opposed to Ray Hadley or a Jones clone. At least Ben Fordham is capable of pushback against some of the Conservative politicians that come on 2GB.

  36. Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #82 Tuesday, May 12th, 2020 – 9:22 am

    guytaur @ #79 Tuesday, May 12th, 2020 – 7:15 am

    Cat

    No matter how many times you and AE say otherwise it’s very clear.

    Australia First

    America First.

    That’s the problem.

    Not addressing worker exploitation.

    “That’s the problem. ”

    No that seems to be your problem.

    You focus on perceived woke trivialities rather than the issues at hand.

    guytaur is in a super majority of one, in his mind. 😆

  38. Jones is going? About time. Should have been dragged off the air many years ago for inciting racist violence (Cronulla Riots), not to mention all the appalling things he’s said about countless people over the years. Absolute disgrace.

  39. Sure, sure. All those immigration, economic experts and others who have criticised KK’s opinion piece focused on “perceived woke trivialities rather than the issues at hand”.

  40. Good to see that two thirds of Australians are backing KK.
    IMO if the Greens actually supported a sustainable Australia that support figure would go up to the three quarters support.
    IMO much of the support is not about sustainability but improved sustainability is, nevertheless, one of the potential byproducts of the policy.

  41. Urban Wronski
    @UrbanWronski
    ·
    6m
    Radio host Alan Jones has announced his retirement, saying he has to “listen to the experts” and wind back his work commitments.
    Luckily, the parrot can still bag and slag Coalition opponents and present dangerous disinformation on Rupert’s Sky News.

  42. Cat

    Yeah all those comments by many Labor politicians over LNP dogwhistling are just rhetoric we should ignore.

  44. Andrew_Earlwood @ #76 Tuesday, May 12th, 2020 – 9:14 am

    Recruiting Abu Rizvi to your list pony proves how shallow you are. The rest are clearly shilling for preconceived positions. Dishonestly.

    Yes, you actually went to the trouble of reading the Rizvi article and analyzing it in order to point out that it wasn’t what Pegasus is trying to make it out to be. (And isn’t it likely the case that Abul Rizvi is thrown in with the rest of them because he has a ME migranty sounding name so you get extra PC points for that?).

    Nevertheless, the original point they are pushing gets trotted out again as your analysis is conveniently pushed aside, out of sight and out of mind. I guess they hope no one read it. Or that if they bellow with their convenient lies that people will ultimately believe them.

    It’s disingenuous and sneaky but it’s what the Lunar Left have been reduced to doing. Sad.

  46. BW

    Tell us all again what Albanase and Labor are saying and proposing about the nexus between environmental sustainability, immigration and population.

    That’s right, zip, nadda, zilch, nothing.

  49. Diogenes:

    [‘I suspect every incumbent government in Australia, state and federal will be re-elected.’]

    As far as the states & territories are concerned, I agree with you, though Queensland will be close. The Feds are a different kettle of fish. Poor Josh was due to announce today a $5B surplus and everything would be wonderful. He now has to oversee a deficit the quantum of which is unprecedented. Granted, the Tories weren’t responsible for C-19 and have done a pretty good job thus far but the punters are a fickle lot and will quickly forget the competent handling of this crisis and in lieu will turn their minds to the post-period where they’ll be two austerity budgets, one in an election year, where the usual bribes would be unthinkable for such “splendid” economic mangers. I think Labor will be well-placed to take office in 2022.

  50. The reality is Labor is conflicted and it was reported there are those within Labor who were also dismayed at KK’s timing and rhetoric.

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