Courtesy of The Guardian, some headline results of another weekly Essential Research poll on coronavirus, the full report of which should be published later today. This includes regular questions on federal and state governments’ handling with the crisis, of which we are only told that respondents remain highly positive, and on easing restrictions, for which we are told only 25% now consider it too soon, which is down two on last time and has been consistently declining over five surveys.
Beyond that, the survey gauged response to a number of what might be described as conspiracy theories concerning the virus. By far the most popular was the notion that the virus “was engineered and released from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan”, which has received a certain amount of encouragement from the Daily Telegraph but is starkly at odds with the scientific consensus. Agreement and disagreement with this proposition was tied on 39%.
Thirteen per cent subscribed to a theory that Bill Gates was involved in the creation and spread of the virus, with 71% disagreeing; 13% agreed the virus was not dangerous and was being used to force people to get vaccines, with 79% disagreeing; 12% thought the 5G network was being used to spread the virus, with 75% disagreeing; and 20% agreed the number of deaths was being exaggerated, with “more than 70%” disagreeing. The poll also found 77% agreed that the outbreak in China was worse than the official statistics showed.
The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1073.
UPDATE: Full report here.
lizzie
“Tim Lyons
8m
To put the $60 billion error in perspective, that figure is more than the total cost of the aged pension and income support to seniors.”
The $60 billion is more than Labor and Liberal spent on the NBN over more than ten years. It is more than six years of federal infrastructure spending (all kinds). It would have been more than the cost of the 12 new submarines, but they got that figure wrong too.
The trouble with billions is you first have to work out if they are good old solid British billions ( a million million) or pissant US billion ( thousand million). The pissant US trillion is a good old British billion. Confused, that was the aim
Bit like gallons, you had pissant gallons from the US and British gallons.
frednk
I still have to convert it in my mind. 😆
Douglas and Milko @ #2496 Friday, May 22nd, 2020 – 4:35 pm
nath is a nasty piece of work. You, otoh, are a nice Irish-Australian girlie, like moi, whose heart is in the right place. 🙂
frednk
Barnaby billions are the worst ones of all. They are only worth millions. If promised in an election, they are worth nothing.
I’m surprised that the Josher didn’t say that the government were again ‘Back in the Black’. 😆
Jennifer Hewett agrees the whole thing stinks, to blame it on form filling.
BK
How many bus victims have there been lately?
__________
Sorry Cud, I can’t see where you are coming from.
So, how did they make this error? Was it a cheap, limited sample survey?
BK
I was referring to your remark about someone being tossed under a bus.
There’s been a lot of that lately 🙂
“Jennifer Hewett agrees the whole thing stinks, to blame it on form filling.”
That might be a useful line for the ALP – the government wants to blame all you small business people for it’s mistakes.
(all businesses are small business, remember)
So, there is $60 billion less in the economy than what the Government suggested was needed to support the economy.
Yes Barney so where else should we use it?
Frydenberg does not see the significance of there now being $60b of stimulus not being out there.
The foreign media controlled libs/nats been caught out again in corrupt like behaviour
BK that’s the key argument for Labor. Argue that the Treasury over estimate provides an opportunity to use the money elsewhere.
Albo gets on the front foot.
Jennifer Bechwati
@jenbechwati
·
33m
Opposition Leader
@AlboMP
on the big budget blunder: “This is a mistake you could have seen from space, this is a government that couldn’t run a bath, let alone be good economic managers!” #7NEWS #auspol
Cud
Ah. Sorry about my state of ennui in missing the obvious.
Hopefully one of the double decker type is awaiting the hapless, hopless Stuart Robert.
The form filling excuse is laughable. Does anyone really think Treasury multiplies a few print-outs of form numbers together to estimate the size of around 4% to 8% of the Australian economy? The whole sector I work in (transport) is around 4%. They have multiple sources of data plus ABS stats. This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of what has been going on in the Australian economy.
Hello IBAC
Meanwhile, the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, has addressed the media in Sydney.
Albanese says the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has lost all credibility.
“The government’s extraordinary revelations – that it isn’t 6.5 million people who are on jobkeeper, but 3.5 million. it’s not a $130bn cost, but $70bn – blows any previous mistake when it comes to economic figures in Australian history right out of the water,” he says.
“This is a mistake you could have seen from space, and this is a government that couldn’t run a bath, let alone be good economic managers.”
Let’s see if any journalists pick up the government on what happens to the economy without the additional 60B stimulus
BTW if you take the average wage ($70K) then you could have employed 850,000 people with that $60 billion. I wonder what the unemployed are thinking right now.
Rex Douglas
For that problem we don’t need an IBEC, we need a high temperature furnace.
We had and still have no solution.
Here is the ultimate test to see if Albanese will still try to appease the media or not
If albanese doesnt do damage now , no one can really have an argument to keep Albanese as leader, Labor needs to look for a leader who can represent those Australians who been disadvantage by foreign influence and corrupt like behaviour from the libs/nats
Socrates
Precisely. Form filling excuse is rubbish. The forecast of $130 B came out a month before the program started. It was the forecast that was so way out of whack and that was what “drawing a line” was all about.
Have to say Josh has more front than Myers in his ability to lie with a straight face.
Clark from Insiders has tweeted asking for song suggestions for $60B error.
The thought that popped into my mind when I heard about the lower take up of jobkeeper was what modelling did they use to come up with the program. If it is undersubscribed by 50 percent is that because the casualization of our workforce is running at a much higher level than they knew or did they underestimate small businesses ability to continue paying workers till it became available.
The other option is that they are useless at everything.
Credit where credit is due good tweet game from Albo too.
Well we’ve seen with a little help from Rupert they are really good at winning elections. But other than winning elections, well and corruption if you count giving taxpayer money to family and friends, they are completely useless.
Morrison hiding in the bunker and sending the second commissioner of the ATO over the top into the gunfire.
Shorter Josh.
We didn’t really want to have stimulus package, but everyone said we needed one, so this is good news because the stimulus is less than it could have been.
meher b,
From earlier. You correctly mentioned Trots.
There was one in Trot in particular, Lee Rhiannion, who was instrumental in taking over and destroying the NDP. Although, more correctly she can be termed a Stalinist.
Good the right questions are being asked. How to use the $60 billion to expand the scheme. That’s a start.
The South Australian Government has made a snap announcement to open pubs, amid major confusion over the relaxation of restrictions in restaurants.
The Government began the day heralding the opening of indoor dining for up to 10 patrons in restaurants.
But by the middle of the day, dozens of restaurants had been instructed to close their doors, because they were operating on small venue liquor licences, not restaurant licences.
Amid protestations from the hotel industry, the Government this week announced that pubs would not be able to open until June 5.
But as a result of the confusion, the Premier Steven Marshall said pubs with indoor dining would be able to immediately serve up to 20 patrons — 10 inside and a further 10 outside.
First Dog on The Reopening:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/22/rich-people-need-to-blame-the-coronavirus-economic-crash-on-lockdown-our-profits-are-on-a-ventilator?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0ZpcnN0RG9nT25UaGVNb29uLTIwMDUyMg%3D%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=firstdog_email&utm_campaign=FirstDogOnTheMoon
CI @ #2477 Friday, May 22nd, 2020 – 4:28 pm
Would that be British billions and trillions, or US billions and trillions?
Wow even PvO is going hard against the Govt. That is a shock. He usually meanders between ‘great LNP’ and ‘pox on both houses’ type analysis but actually hitting the LNP is not in his usual useless repertoire.
Speaking of 57 varieties of autocratic leftists, at work some months ago, the Socialist Alternative (the people of the Red Flag) were handing out pamphlets about the Socialist Alliance (the people of the Left green weekly). The former had about 20 theses as to why the latter were the spawn of the devil.
According to the Socialist Alternative, the Socialist Alliance are nothing but a pseudo-socialist party, no better than those social fascists the German SPD in the 1930s.
I was surprised to hear from Kevin Bonham that the Socialist Alliance and the Socialist Alternative had split in Victoria – like, they were in alliance?
mikehilliard
That has always been a FMD!! re the tax cuts. Huge hoopla as if you were to be given a winning lotto ticket each week rather than the pittance it actual is for the great majority. Or are we to believe everyone is always in such dire financial straights that $5-$10 a week represents “salvation” ?
Douglas and Milko @ #2540 Friday, May 22nd, 2020 – 5:18 pm
Splitters!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS-0Az7dgRY
To think Frydenberg has had a real job.
Having a job and being able to do the job are two different things.
Where are the missing three million people?
No longer participating in the labour market?
Employed?
Unemployed?
Underemployed?
What?
P1
Listening to Sydney local radio int he car some years ago, James Valentine was interviewing a woman and the topic came up. He asked if one should specify if they were talking about American or British Billions when talking about them:
Her: Only if you are an elderly pedant.
Valentine: I think you have just offended half our audience.
Me: I resemble that remark!
Douglas and Milko @ #2540 Friday, May 22nd, 2020 – 5:18 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Socialists
Labor needs to attack.
This is a issue of competance. Better economic managers couldn’t get their shit in a sock and spend all they money in their pockets when that’s exactly what’s needed.
Labor need to latch the lack of stimulus to the recesssion.
“Minister, how can you blame the corona virus when you failed to delivery economic stimulus know about the short fall”
etc etc.
This is maybe the one opportunity labor will have to start kicking and start getting everyong to see that we are almost through the health part of this crisis and now onto the economic one.
And the great economic managers really fucked over 3.5 million people.
Labor should be directly saying to people. “If you’ve lost work, can’t get job keeper, this government is keeping money from you. Money you paid in taxes. That you are owed”
Let’s see if labor has some moxy. Im wonder how Chalmers will go.
Also labor should ask for the treasury heads to resign for this. They fucked up. They should wear it.
Greensborough Growler @ #2516 Friday, May 22nd, 2020 – 4:48 pm
I’m sure mundo will find something to disapprove of with that. 😐
Douglas and Milko @ #2545 Friday, May 22nd, 2020 – 5:24 pm
🙂
C@T
Probably point out most people take showers and not baths 😉