The latest fortnightly Essential Research poll, which is presumably the last of the year, features the pollster’s monthly-or-so leadership ratings: Scott Morrison is down four on approval to 62%, his weakest result since April, and up three on disapproval to 28%; Anthony Albanese is up three on approval to 43% and down four on disapproval to 29%; and Morrison’s lead as preferred prime minister is at 50-24, narrowing from 53-24.
As it does at the end of every year, the pollster asked respondents if they felt it had been a good or a bad year for various actors, which produces appropriately extraordinary results, particularly so for the Australian economy (a net rating of minus 47%), small business (minus 43%) and “the average Australian” (minus 32%). However, the minus 7% result for “Australian politics in general” was quite a lot better than any recorded over the previous seven years.
Respondents were also asked if Australia’s relationships with various foreign players should become more or less closer, or remain the same. This produces a notably negative result for China, with 49% wanting a less close relationship, 15% more close and 20% the same. Closer relationships are generally desired with, in descending order, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the European Union. Sixty-two per cent considered Australia “the innocent victim of Chinese assertion in restricting trade on certain products, but a non-trivial 38% felt Australia had “made itself a target by publicly criticising the Chinese government”. Fifty-six per cent felt Scott Morrison was right to demand an apology from the Chinese government over the recent Twitter spat, leaving 44% of respondents (the smart ones) favouring the alternative that he “should have let the issue be handled
through diplomatic channels”.
A question on the federal government’s proposed workplace relations reforms finds 52% expecting they will favour employers and businesses, 17% that they will favour employees, and 31% that they will strike a balance between the two. The poll was conducted Wednesday to Monday from a sample of 1071.
I received that sort of call a short while ago – it said I was about to be arrested and must, repeat must, press “1”. Is there any way to forward such a call to Donald Trump?
Perhaps all that is needed is a better strategist to advise Albo -and the Shadow Cabinet.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/17/without-a-reboot-in-2021-can-anthony-albanese-win-the-next-election
Simon Katich @ #535 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 2:32 pm
All good questions SK, but I must say my drive to Maclean and back last weekend was very stress-free.
What really attracted me to the article was the photo down the page of the monster new bridge over to my old home town. It dwarfs the “old” bridge in the photo, although the old bridge completely dominated the landscape for most of my early life.
The old bridge opened when I was five years old, replacing the ferry service, and I don’t think anybody imagined it would be made redundant in our lifetimes.
Rex Douglas
I disagree, I think the Lib/Nats and their public relations advisers ( MSM) want Labor to focus on themselves not the Liberal stuff ups, not the incompetent PM and definitely not climate change.
Charmers was asked about his leadership ambitions today on the PK show. He should have replied, why do you ask, have the Liberals asked you to divert attention from their internal disagreements.
Torchbearer @ #591 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 4:24 pm
That’s the expensive bit. The planned bypass needs tunnels. It is going to cost a shit-ton of money without swaying any votes. Bananas, blueberries & the local Landsharks don’t vote Labor (or Green), and the local Nats (and the very strong local Sikh community, via Gurmesh Singh) pay untrammeled fealty to Andrew Frazer & the anti-Barnababys – and hence the State Barrilaro Broz faction, particularly after The Port Macquarie Nat defected to the Libs . The Fed Nats (Gillespie & Conighan) don’t care about anything north of Kempsey. It’s going to be 12 traffic lights through Coffs for years yet.
Tom the first and best @ #582 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 4:18 pm
Gentle Jim is not charismatic. Unless Processed cheese wrapped in tin foil is charismatic then I stand corrected.
Jim is smart and gentle.
Jim does not have the killer instinct.
Morrison would do Jim like a a side of smoked salmon.
A woman.
It has to be a woman.
A good woman leading Labor would really mess with Scrooter’s head.
Scrooter’s too relaxed and comfortable.
Assantdj @ #593 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 4:29 pm
Remember the Otis group? Of which the Gibbons are just a small but significant part?
They were preparing to dump Albo – unless he gave in to their policy demands.
Which (apparently) he did.
Another indictment against the nonsense the Greens delivered.
Greens are going to have to move to tilting at windmills quickly as coal mines to tilt as will soon be gone.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-17/bluewaters-coal-fired-power-station-written-off-books/12990532
https://www.pollbludger.net/2020/12/16/essential-research-leadership-ratings-foreign-and-industrial-relations/comment-page-13/#comment-3527175
I did not say he was charismatic, I said he had more charisma than Albanese.
TomTF&B
Only 5 of the 20 most marginal LNP seats are in Queensland. Longman – Leichhart – Dickson – Brisbane – Ryan then there are a few others on margins between 6% to 10% but of the 5 seats i would think only Longman was seriously in play.
P1 and Rex still trying old wedges that died weeks ago.
Rex
It helps. But it also helps if lots of people recognise it as a problem.
”I’m inclined to think Trump will drop off perch before he ever sees inside a jail cell.”
Most likely about 10-11 months but could be as little as 8.
Mexicanbeemer @ #609 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 4:56 pm
Is that right MB? How the hell did we get to the point that Brisbane isn’t even “in play” for Labor?
Socrates says:
Thursday, December 17, 2020 at 2:13 pm
The time is soon coming when Industry super funds are going to have to come clean about how much money they have invested in coal mines and power plants.
You may be interested in this.
Of course, industry super funds are just one institutional class among many that have been advised they have to take climate change risks into account in deciding their investment portfolios.
I wonder why you’ve nominated these funds in particular. They are not notable climate change denialists.
https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-outlines-plans-for-climate-risk-prudential-guidance-and-vulnerability
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has published a letter to all APRA-regulated institutions outlining plans to develop a prudential practice guide focused on climate-related financial risks, as well as a climate change vulnerability assessment.
The letter also outlines APRA’s intention to update superannuation Prudential Practice Guide SPG 530 Investment Governance, which includes paragraphs related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments.
The letter is available on the APRA website at: Understanding and managing the financial risks of climate change.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is the prudential regulator of the financial services industry. It oversees banks, credit unions, building societies, general insurance and reinsurance companies, life insurance, private health insurers, friendly societies, and most members of the superannuation industry. APRA currently supervises institutions holding $6.5 trillion in assets for Australian depositors, policyholders and superannuation fund members.
For all those posters wailing and demanding Albanese be knifed while having labor 49-51 in the polls and, according to Essential and Newspoll, a positive satisfaction rating, then I am sure they would be all for every state and territory opposition leader, labor and liberal, getting the dagger as well.
We could have a “ super Saturday” National knifing day of action against all of them.
Every opposition leader is doing it tough atm whether they be good or bad, labor or liberal, male or female. It is the time for incumbency and ,rightly or not, Morrison is in the right place at the right time. Simplevas that.
2021 is a new year. Let us see how it unfolds.
mundo @ #605 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 4:50 pm
While anyone would be better than Albo, if you want my 2c worth it probably has to be Shorten.
It’s been a while since I’ve travelled the Pacific Highway much North of Newcastle. It was being upgraded for decades.
You spent much of the journey in a queue following a slow truck or caravan, with few overtaking opportunities. Just out of Coffs Harbour you’d meet the truck you’d be following to Grafton.
That’s Shorten, the loser of the unlosable election?
Spray
I’m only guessing at this stage of the electoral cycle and Brisbane did swing towards the ALP at the last election so i am probably wrong to say it isn’t in play but i just get the feeling that its demographics are trending towards the LNP and a 5% swing in a Queensland based seat isn’t as much as it might be in some other places.
Steve777 @ #617 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 5:03 pm
Ah the memories Steve. And guess what, you don’t even get near Grafton now.
Player One says:
Thursday, December 17, 2020 at 4:52 pm
Assantdj @ #593 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 4:29 pm
Can anyone point to any articles where Labor MPs have cast doubt on Albo continuing as leader.
The media are stoking this but where is the evidence .
Remember the Otis group? Of which the Gibbons are just a small but significant part?
They were preparing to dump Albo – unless he gave in to their policy demands.
Which (apparently) he did.
Or rather….he clearly did not, which in turn was a factor in the decision taken by Fitzgibbon to walk out of shadow cabinet.
The problem for the P1’s of the chatosphere is that they are incapable of influencing Albo. This says a lot more about the P1’s than it does about Albo, who is in no way answerable to cranky voices that cannot be stuffed joining the Party and working within its mechanisms and structures.
frednk @ #610 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 4:56 pm
It is Albo’s leadership that died weeks ago. But you are so used to him being completely useless that you probably find it hard to tell.
Spray @ #618 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 5:03 pm
I can agree that it’s a bit sad that Labor has come to this. But it is what it is 🙁
Non @ #621 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 5:05 pm
The Gibbons got what they wanted.
I don’t think that Bill Shorten is the answer. For whatever reason, unfairly in my opinion, he’s quite unpopular. Labor ran a pretty hopeless campaign in 2019 – not all Mr Shorten’s fault but he does bear some of the responsibility.
That being said, Albo seems to be going nowhere, although to be fair this was a difficult year to make an impact from Opposition. Will replacing him do any good? There’s no obvious Messiah.
Albo needs to hit the ground running come January 27.
Rudd was leading 52-48 with Labor before he was cut off at the knees……….Some in Labor would get rid of the leader for “purity” reasons rather than winning or holding office…….While Rudd may not have been all that the rest of Labor MPs wanted, the Oz public thought they had elected Rudd in and they reserved the right to boot him out – however misguided they may have been in their understanding of how PMs come to be PMs……
I doubt whether any change in Labor leadership at the moment would make an iota of difference and all other things being equal and not getting worse economy/CV wise I cannot see the LNP losing at the next election at this point in time………….as much as I recognise we have a phoney as PM in Morrison.
If Albanese is dumped, I think it has to be someone form left field.
Ged Kearney.
Leadership skills, relatable, a social conscience, genuine, Victorian.
Player One @ #615 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 5:02 pm
Don’t be silly.
Rex Douglas @ #627 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 5:15 pm
Four out of five ain’t bad.
Rex Douglas @ #628 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 5:17 pm
I didn’t say it should be Shorten. I said it probably has to be Shorten. We agree it can’t be Albo, and I actually agree with you that someone like Ged Kearney would have been a better choice. But there is not enough time left before the next election for such a radical choice now. Or for Chalmers or Plibersek for that matter (except as deputy). Albo has frittered it all away.
You see here regularly that many Labor supporters have already conceded the next election. They would rather lose than fight. Not me.
I can see a Ged Kearney led Labor taking primary votes away from the Greens in the inner city and also appealing to the working class in the outer urbs and regions.
Ged Kearney could be our Jacinda Ardern.
The media barons who own most of the MSM will most likely instruct their underlings to push this claim over the holidays: “How good is Scotty and how bad is Albo”.
Perhaps Murdoch will push this line really hard to try and show he still has influence, given he backed the wrong horse at the US election and the current UK PM is presiding over a complete mess of dealing with Covid and Brexit.
Rex Douglas @ #632 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 5:39 pm
I believe you may be confusing the ALP with a real Labour party 🙁
Spray, I once long ago did some work for the Ulmarra bypass that never happened. Putting it through the local dairy farmers property (Collins?) who also happened to be a local ex Country Party President didnt help their cause and made my job…. interesting.
We stayed in Maclean and I dont remember anything about it. We drank in Yamba and I wont forget it. Had a couple of great nights. On the second a local lad wasnt happy that we were playing pool and going night swimming with a local lass (and other lasses and lads!) and he told the local police I had owned up to something terrible relating to a recently missing person. Thankfully the copper knew what was going on.
So, posters who “ have the best interests of labor at heart “ have landed on either Bill Shorten or Ged Kearney to lead labor out of the wilderness.
I was, and still am, a big supporter of Shorten. But even considering him for a comeback is a sure indication of how much bullshit posters are trying to feed this blog. He is a two time loser, a man , rightly or not, who is not trusted by the voters and some here want him back !
Then we turn to Ged Kearney. She is about as left as any federal labor pollie could be. A fine ACTU leader but as the leader of the federal labor party she would be a disaster. I would love to see her standing in front of coal miners and their families in regional NSW and Queensland and telling them they have no future as miners but everything will be ok once they are retrained while she chokes on the word “ coal”.
Kearney may as well sing Peter Paul and Mary songs while throwing in a few anti Adani slogans. She would be as welcome as the anti Adani convoy was last year.
Anyway, time to get back to the real world and leave the “ true believers” sort out the next labor leader. I am sure federal labor is reading their suggestions with great interest.
doyley @ #636 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 5:58 pm
SO .. you truly believe Albo is “The One”.
Seriously?
If not, who would you suggest?
lizzie @ #637 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 6:00 pm
Hard to disagree with that one 🙁
I see Rex Douglas has turned up and thrown out the chum bucket into the PB waters.
*yawn*
He got a few bites though.
Ahhhh, Rex and his fantasies. How’s Peter Garrett and his leadership of the Greens going?
[How’s Peter Garrett and his leadership of the Greens going?]
Not too good, I hope, as I have bought tickets for the Oils in March
lizzie @ #638 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 5:00 pm
When did she say this?
I ask because it makes me wonder about another attack on the ABC.
Albanese is the leader. He has survived 2020 with a positive set of satisfaction ratings and is holding the government to 49-51 in the polls. During 2020 labor has held onto Eden Monaro and given a decent performance in Groome. Not one opposition leader or opposition party around the country could hand in a resume like that.
I do not believe in messiahs or chosen ones or any of that bullshit. Albanese was not the person who I thought should be leader but he got the gig and he is a leader who ,in any list of KP indicators, has not been too shabby.
All the wailing and speculation around changing leaders is really nothing more than a bullshit waste of time at this point.
2021 is a brand new year and a year is a long long time in politics.
Anyway, this is really my final post on this topic. I will leave it to others to wail.
doyley @ #635 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 5:58 pm
Doyley thinks a good leader is someone who will look fossil fuel workers in the eye and tell them lies about their families future because that’s what they want to hear.
Doyleys mining union is treating their members like fools.
doyley @ #645 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 6:20 pm
Albo doesn’t have a year left.
Back to my question (Coffs being confirmed) why are we/ the media/ the LNP talking about the Pacific Hwy being finished when it is not??? Talk about fake news!
Simon Katich @ #635 Thursday, December 17th, 2020 – 5:52 pm
Ulmarra’s well and truly by-passed now, of course, but coincidentally I had probably my first ever Ulmarra Pub lunch last week. Like so many of these by-passed towns, they’ve tapped into their strengths in a bid to survive via tourism. In Ulmarra’s case, it’s a bit of an historic flavour, as well as making the most of the idyllic river setting.
As for drinking at the Fountain on the Mountain, I could have warned you that it might not end well. Those Yamba locals are a funny breed of cattle.
BTW, I presume the night swim was the time-honoured tradition of a skinny-dip in the Blue Pool at Angourie?
Kerry Chant on ABC radio now. Quite Interesting.
Edit. Was Dr Mary Louise Mc..