Essential Research: coronavirus and bushfires

A new poll registers fears of a second coronavirus wave and prolonged economic slowdown, and finds concern about climate change still at a high pitch.

The Guardian reports this week’s Essential Research poll has still more results on coronavirus, together with some findings on climate change. On the former count, the poll found 63% rating a second wave of coronavirus as restrictions are eased as very likely or quite likely, with only 13% rating it very unlikely; more than 60% expected international travel restrictions to remain for between one and two years; 70% thought it would take between one and two years for employment to recover; 60% expected a prolonged impact on the housing market; more than 60% expected a vaccine would be developed “over the next few years”; and 58% that the population would build resistance through exposure over that time. Despite it all, 45% said they felt very or somewhat positive about the next 12 months compared with 33% for very or somewhat negative.

On climate change, 52% now think Australia is not doing enough, down eight on November, with 25% holding the contrary view, up three. Forty-two per cent said they were now more concerned about climate change than they were a year ago, with a further 46% saying they were no more or less concerned. Full results from the poll will be published later today. (UPDATE: Full report 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.

2,745 comments on “Essential Research: coronavirus and bushfires”

Comments Page 6 of 55
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  1. All Trump has left in his bag of tricks is to attempt to incite a race war.

    Ben Collins
    @oneunderscore__
    The president is spending the night tweeting about a white woman who was pushed by a black man on a Brooklyn subway platform last October.

    In another post from tonight where a white man was attacked, he asked “where are the protesters?”

    This is where it’s all headed.
    Quote Tweet

    Donald J. Trump
    @realDonaldTrump
    · 2h
    So terrible! twitter.com/jsegor/status/…

  10. lizzie @ #243 Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – 2:09 pm

    Player One

    It was a comment in response to this.

    @RileyCNBC
    ·
    11h
    “We spent 12 years building Airbnb’s business and lost almost all of it in the matter of 4-6 weeks,” says Airbnb CEO @BChesky

    “Travel as we knew it is over. It doesn’t mean travel is over, just the travel we knew is over, and it’s never coming back.”

    Thanks, lizzie. I agree that too much of AirBnB’s business has probably been from short-term letting of inner city apartment that were never designed for such use. But the absolute glut of otherwise useless and empty apartments in cities like Sydney – which existed prior to Covid-19 – is hardly their fault!

  12. Victoria

    The NBC Nightly News had the example of a 10 year old being called the N word and being choked on the School bus.

    Children learn from their parents

  13. Barney ITB

    I’m thinking that perhaps they were lured in a honey pot way.

    Only speculation. But that is my vibe at present.

  15. I think labor are handling the robodebt situation well.
    Pushing for a royal commission now would result in a half hearted effort such as we saw with the banking commission. It would be targeted at labor for starting the income managing, this would be playing to the Libs advantage.

    Shorten encouraging the Court case will get further, the financial damage from damages will show up the current government and then if labor gets into power it can use the waste of government money and damage to citizens, already proven in court as a reason for a Royal commission on its own terms.

  16. India picks a side in the new cold war

    Gideon Rachman

    There is near-consensus in Indian policymaking that China is a hostile power and the only feasible response is to move closer to the US and to Asian democracies, such as Japan and Australia.

    The Sino-Soviet split was a critical moment in the Cold War. A Sino-Indian split could be just as crucial to the second cold war that seems to be developing between the US and China.

    Until now, the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has tried to avoid choosing sides in the fast-developing antagonism between Washington and Beijing.

    But a parting of the ways between India and China now seems inevitable following last week’s border clashes between the two nations’ armies, which left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead and an unknown number of Chinese casualties.

    Modi has met President Xi Jinping of China several times since becoming India’s leader in 2014 and has made five visits there. As recently as last October, the Indian and Chinese leaders held a friendly summit, after which Modi hailed “a new era of co-operation between our two countries”.

    The mood in New Delhi is now very different. Whatever happened high up in the Himalayas, Indians feel assaulted and humiliated by China. On Friday, Modi held emergency meetings with leaders of the Indian opposition – a remarkable development in itself, given the extreme partisanship of Indian politics today.

    There is now near-consensus in the Indian policymaking elite that China is a hostile power and that India’s only feasible response is to move closer to the US and to Asian democracies, such as Japan and Australia.

    https://www.afr.com/world/asia/india-picks-a-side-in-the-new-cold-war-20200623-p5557o

  17. Maps reveal new details about New Zealand’s lost underwater continent

    Under New Zealand, there lies a vast continent on the sea floor.

    Once part of the same land mass as Antarctica and Australia, the lost continent of Zealandia broke off 85 million years ago and eventually sank below the ocean, where it stayed largely hidden for centuries.

    Now, maps reveal new research about the underwater continent where dinosaurs once roamed — and allow the public to virtually explore it.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/23/australia/zealandia-maps-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html

  18. Barney ITB

    It is very rare for black people to hang themselves from trees. Due to the history of lynching etc.
    Only one family so far, believe it was suicide.

  19. Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #264 Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – 3:11 pm

    Victoria @ #263 Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – 1:08 pm

    Barney ITB

    I’m thinking that perhaps they were lured in a honey pot way.

    Only speculation. But that is my vibe at present.

    Sorry, but it all reeks of conspiracy theory stuff.

    Yes, because hanging yourself from a tree is such a common way for young black people to commit suicide. Oh, wait …

    Black people do commit suicide, of course, though the rate is 60 percent lower than for whites, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In black American culture, suicide is widely regarded as a shameful act; when it happens, it’s generally private, and hanging is not a preferred method.

    “It is very uncommon for young black men to commit suicide, let alone by hanging,” says Raymond Winbush, a psychologist since 1976 who has treated hundreds of black men and boys and is the director of Morgan State University’s Institute for Urban Research. The American Association of Suicidology reports that firearms are the predominant method of suicide among African Americans (as they are for the nation overall), regardless of sex or age, followed by suffocation by plastic bags or gas inhalation.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/06/22/black-victims-hanging-suicide/

    Just six entirely unremarkable coincidences, I guess.

  21. Catching up with the US news on YouTube is fun today.
    My thanks to any Kpop fans that participated. Impressive trolling by the zoomers

  22. Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #254 Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – 2:58 pm

    Is there any evidence to suggest that they were lynchings?

    The implausibility of killing oneself using a noose and a tree in a society where guns and drugs are readily available and quicker/simpler/less painful/more private than the noose/tree method ought to count. Most people who commit suicide aren’t looking to suffer more.

    I suppose one could look at the average rate of ‘suicide by noose in a public area’ from the years before the electorate deemed casual racism tacitly acceptable and the years after, and if the latter figure shows a jump then it suggests that the recent “suicides” probably aren’t.

  23. My thinking is that there will need to be a couple more hangings before law enforcement realise that there is something sinister going on

  24. I’m pretty happy about Airbnb going under.
    Also i don’t care at all about people who lost income streams due to airbnb going under.
    Hopefully those people will offer long term (+12 month) rentals to young people and families so Australians can get a leg up for once in the Australian economy.

  25. south @ #274 Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – 3:28 pm

    I’m pretty happy about Airbnb going under.
    Also i don’t care at all about people who lost income streams due to airbnb going under.
    Hopefully those people will offer long term (+12 month) rentals to young people and families so Australians can get a leg up for once in the Australian economy.

    AirBnB is not “going under”. However, they will probably defer their plans to publicly list.

  26. P1,
    They may not have that much capital to last. If they were global there may now be a baseline cost of existence that they can’t sustain. I’m also not sure if they’d be able to dump 90% of their staff be able to come back from it.

  27. south @ #276 Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – 3:33 pm

    P1,
    They may not have that much capital to last. If they were global there may now be a baseline cost of existence that they can’t sustain. I’m also not sure if they’d be able to dump 90% of their staff be able to come back from it.

    They have cash reserves of over $2 billion at last reckoning. That’s cash. And I believe they have recently raised about $2 billion more. So, about $4 billion in reserves. Investors are literally throwing money at them.

    I don’t think they are going anywhere, do you?

  28. Another – apparent – suicide is Steve Bing

    Steve Bing Dies: Film Financier & Philanthropist Jumped From Century City Building, Authorities Say

    Steve Bing, the film financier and philanthropist who backed hit movies from Robert Zemeckis’ The Polar Express and Beowulf to the Rolling Stones concert movie Shine a Light, has died. TMZ reports that Bing, who wrote the comedy film Kangaroo Jack in 2003

    According to law enforcement sources, Bing jumped from a Century City building at around 1 p.m. Monday. Following standard protocol, the Los Angeles Police Department would not confirm that the individual in question was Bing. However, the description of the man in his 50s who was found dead on the scene fits that of the producer. Movie producer, and father of Elizabeth Hurley’s son.

    https://deadline.com/2020/06/steve-bing-dead-philanthropist-film-financier-1202966891/

    A lot of his connections were listed in various on-line twitters – including James Packer being mentioned

    Steve Bing:
    Burkle: gross
    Milchan: ex spy for Israel (no such thing as an ex spy)
    Packer: global casino operator, launders dirty money
    Ratner: close with “heir apparent to Meyer Lansky;” Ratner is also former biz partner of
    @stevenmnuchin1

    “More recently, he joined with fellow deep-pocketed financiers Ron Burkle, Terry Semel, Arnon Milchan’s New Regency and James Packer’s and Brett Ratner’s RatPac Entertainment to finance Warren Beatty’s two-decades-in-the-making Howard Hughes movie Rules Don’t Apply,“

    This guy Bing has a storied history. Yes, he was often mentioned in the same breath as Epstein, as well as Clinton (Bill) and Ron Burkle.

  29. south @ #276 Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – 3:33 pm

    They may not have that much capital to last. If they were global there may now be a baseline cost of existence that they can’t sustain. I’m also not sure if they’d be able to dump 90% of their staff be able to come back from it.

    Why? They’re a software/tech company with a finished product. They don’t need (even 10% of current) staff, or offices, or anything else that contributes significantly to a baseline cost of existence.

    All they need are some servers to run their software, a room to run it in, and someone who knows how to make their software run on their servers and troubleshoot/maintain the servers when they have hardware issues. One halfway competent DevOps engineer with a house in a Google fibre service area and some spare room in their garage is all they really need to maintain operations.

  30. Player One @ #270 Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – 1:17 pm

    Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #264 Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – 3:11 pm

    Victoria @ #263 Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – 1:08 pm

    Barney ITB

    I’m thinking that perhaps they were lured in a honey pot way.

    Only speculation. But that is my vibe at present.

    Sorry, but it all reeks of conspiracy theory stuff.

    Yes, because hanging yourself from a tree is such a common way for young black people to commit suicide. Oh, wait …

    Black people do commit suicide, of course, though the rate is 60 percent lower than for whites, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In black American culture, suicide is widely regarded as a shameful act; when it happens, it’s generally private, and hanging is not a preferred method.

    “It is very uncommon for young black men to commit suicide, let alone by hanging,” says Raymond Winbush, a psychologist since 1976 who has treated hundreds of black men and boys and is the director of Morgan State University’s Institute for Urban Research. The American Association of Suicidology reports that firearms are the predominant method of suicide among African Americans (as they are for the nation overall), regardless of sex or age, followed by suffocation by plastic bags or gas inhalation.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/06/22/black-victims-hanging-suicide/

    Just six entirely unremarkable coincidences, I guess.

    The one autopsy, that they mentioned, concluded suicide.

    As I mentioned before the signs of struggle, restraint or a sedative would be clearly evident in an autopsy, so it’s hard to see it as anything other.

    Most of the cases were widely dispersed across a number of States, which argues against a connection.

    So for it to be murder, you would need a number of groups with the ability to subdue the victim without leaving any signs of struggle, restraint or a sedative.

    To me tragic coincidence sounds more plausible.

  31. [‘Maurice Blackburn principal Josh Bornstein said his clients would pursue claims for compensation against Justice Heydon and the Commonwealth for the harm caused as a result of the alleged harassment.

    “Dyson Heydon’s repeated sexual harassment of young women who were starting out their legal careers was known to many people and has caused significant harm and trauma to my clients,” Mr Bornstein said.’]

    As anyone who has worked in the courts would know, rumours circulate with alacrity. The question, therefore, is why did Abbott choose Heydon to head the TRUC – a black letter law judge and an arch-conservative and now an accused groper? Shorten’s correct in pushing for Heydon to be stripped of his Companion of the Order of Australia.

  32. south @ #300 Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – 3:28 pm

    I’m pretty happy about Airbnb going under.
    Also i don’t care at all about people who lost income streams due to airbnb going under.
    Hopefully those people will offer long term (+12 month) rentals to young people and families so Australians can get a leg up for once in the Australian economy.

    *cough* mundo

  33. It’s pretty obvious that the world has changed. To me it’s obvious anyway. Just my opinion but if the people in charge think it’s just a blip or an untimely interupption and everything will be the same well no, can’t agree. More of a needs vs wants type situation is ahead I reckon. So botox is out. Sorry, hard choices.

  37. If Mark Dreyfus goes (and whatever happened to all the chooks in the chook shed here who were sure he was going to put in his resignation from parliament because he chucked a wobbly after May ’19 and not becoming AG? nath?), Josh Bornstein has to replace him.

  38. C@t

    Josh Bornstein likes being remunerated for his services. He will need to take a big pay cut if he goes into parliament.

  40. Maps reveal new details about New Zealand’s lost underwater continent

    Under New Zealand, there lies a vast continent on the sea floor.

    Obviously part of China. 😉

  41. Brooke Greenwood
    @brooke_greenwd
    ·
    1h
    Make no mistake, these experiences impede and destroy careers. They tell young female lawyers to expect and accept objectionable behaviour, to stay quiet and limit the scope of our ambitions.
    ***
    They tear away at confidence and trust, creating barriers to success that are often internal and silent.
    ***
    I’m grateful for the courage of the women who came forward in this case. It’s telling for our profession that it took so long for them to be heard.

  42. Territory Alliance’s Robyn Lambley says MLA in ICAC report must identify themselves

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-23/nt-parliament-kezia-purick-resigns-questions-remain/12384140

    A Northern Territory politician referred to as “AB” in a damning ICAC report that found the NT Speaker Kezia Purick engaged in corrupt conduct should identify themself, according to Territory Alliance’s Robyn Lambley.

    Ms Lambley and her party leader Terry Mills lodged the complaint against Ms Purick that sparked the ICAC’s probe into the Speaker’s attempts to interfere with the establishment of Territory Alliance in 2018.

    Following Ms Purick’s resignation as Speaker this morning, the Member for Araluen told Parliament the anti-corruption watchdog had only scratched the surface.

    “There’s a lot of dirt on a lot of people in this room,” she said.

    “And I think that the ICAC inquiry here has touched the edge of a much bigger problem within the Northern Territory Parliament.”
    :::
    “Who was potentially colluding with the Speaker, the former speaker, Kezia Purick, the Member for Goyder, in this plot that was found to have been corrupt?
    :::
    On the morning of October 26, 2018, after Mr Mills had told a Darwin radio station that he feared his attempt to form a new party was being stymied by “insider trading” between the two major parties and the Speaker, Ms Purick sent a message to AB.

  43. If the virus is not respected, there will be outbreaks as seen here in Victoria

    Kyrgios being the voice of reason gave me a chuckle.

    Conversation
    The Age
    @theage
    After a spate of confirmed cases in the sport, Kyrgios took to Twitter to remind fellow professionals, in his own blunt way, that the COVID-19 pandemic that has shut down tennis is not to be taken lightly.
    ‘Boneheaded’: Kyrgios slams Djokovic charity event after third COVID-19 case
    World No.1 Novak Djokovic awaits his test results as his fitness coach, as well as two players in his charity event, test positive to COVID-19.
    theage.com.au

  45. Worth listening to…. ABC RN Big Ideas….

    Germs and Justice : Democracy & emergency powers

    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/germs-and-justice-:-democracy-&-emergency-powers/12344468

    Should police be able to shut down protest marches because of Covid-19?

    The Black Lives Matter protests tested the reach of public health directives and the right to protest prevailed.

    It’s just one of a number of freedoms challenged by emergency powers.

    So will these powers disappear with the virus or continue in one form or another?

    And will the response to Covid-19 reshape our federal system?

    Speakers: Associate Professor William Partlett – Public law specialist Melbourne Law School.

    Professor Adrienne Stone – Director Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies Melbourne Law School

    Dr Tom Daly – Assistant Director Melbourne School of Government

    Jon Faine – moderator

  48. Anatomy of a News Corp beat up (taken up with alacrity by some PBers)

    https://www.crikey.com.au/2020/06/22/anatomy-of-a-beat-up-news-corp-lidia-thorpe/

    “Given we live in a time whose maxim is “everything happens so much”, it’s almost impressive to see how many stories can be spun from almost literally nothing happening.

    Case in point: last week, The Herald Sun reported that new Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe had said a new name could be considered for Victoria:

    ‘Anything that’s named after someone who’s caused harm or murdered people, then I think we should take their name down,’ she said.
    :::
    She’d simply been called by Herald Sun reporters and asked her opinion.”

    “Nevertheless, the article, grounded in Thorpe’s apparent suggestion, allowed the state Labor and Liberal leaders to caterwaul about how they’d never heard such a stupid idea.
    :::
    Of course, none of this will be unfamiliar to anyone who has read our ongoing “Holy War” series. Once News Corp spots an ideological enemy, there is no development, no angle on them, that will be left unexplored. And as this example shows, it billows out into the rest of the media, until it passes for an actual national discourse.

    Thorpe is an Indigenous woman from Victoria representing the Greens, a combination of words that News Corp editors wake up screaming after their worst sleep paralysis. So don’t expect this to be the last of it.

    We asked the Hun if they thought Thorpe’s characterisation of their story as a “set up” was fair, but they didn’t get back to us before deadline.”

  50. Now is a good time for Local and State Governments to improve the regulation of short stay accomodation.

    I don’t have a problem with owner occupied letting of rooms and granny flats because they don’t impact on neighbours with poor behaviour nor reduce long term rental stock.

    Short Stay accomodation that is not owner occupied should only occur where it has zoning approval. In the case of strata titled buildings the Strata organisation has to be empowered to stop short stay rentals if there are behaviour issues. The buildings should also be required to meet higher safety and access standards including parking in line with those of hotels rather than private residences.

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