The latest fortnightly Essential Research poll does not include leader ratings or voting intention, but does have the following:
• The regular question on COVID-19 response finds the federal government’s good rating suffering a seven point dip to 62%, returning it to where it was for several months before an uptick in November, with the poor rating up two to 14%. The small sample results for mainland state governments also record a drop for the Victorian government, whose good rating is down ten to 49%, while the New South Wales government holds steady at 72% and the Queensland government’s drops three to 73%. As ever, particular caution must be taken with the Western Australian and South Australian results given the sample sizes, but they respectively retain the best (down three to 85%) and second best (down one to 78%) results out of the five.
• The poll finds 50% of respondents saying they will get vaccinated as soon as possible, 40% that they will do so but not straight away, and 10% that they will never get vaccinated. Variation by voting intention is within the margin of error. By way of contrast, a US poll conducted by Monmouth University last month produced the same 50% result for the “soon as possible option”, but had “likely will never get the vaccine” markedly higher at 24%. This increased to 42% among Republicans, and doesn’t that just say it all.
• The poll includes a pared back version of the pollster’s semi-regular suite of questions on leaders’ attributes in relation to Scott Morrison, but not Anthony Albanese. The consistent pattern here is that Morrison is a bit less highly rated than he was last May, but substantially stronger than he was during the bushfire crisis in January. However, he has done notably better on “good in a crisis” (from 32% last January to 66% in May to the current 59%) than “out of touch” (from 62% to 47% and now back up to 59%), whereas his gains since January on “more honest than most politicians” (now 50%), “trustworthy” (52%) and “visionary” (41%) are all either 11% or 12%. Two new questions have been thrown into the mix: “in control of their team” and “avoids responsibility”, respectively 56% at 49%.
• Respondents were asked to respond to a series of propositions concerning “the recent allegations of rape and sexual assault from women working in Parliament”, which found 65% agreeing the government has been “more interested in protecting itself than the interests of those who have been assaulted”. Forty-five per cent felt there was “no difference in the way the different political parties treat women”, though the view was notably more prevalent among men (54%) than women (37%), and among those at the conservative end of the voting spectrum (53% among Coalition voters, 41% among Labor voters and 30% among Greens voters).
• A number of questions on tech companies found an appetite for stronger regulation, including 76% support for forcing them to remove misinformation from their platforms.
The poll was conducted Wednesday to Monday from a sample of 1074; full results here.
meher baba @ #2290 Saturday, March 6th, 2021 – 11:55 am
You can take your ‘wild stuff’ and shove it up your “Seriously, would anyone really want this?”. Why would anyone want an inquiry into sexual assaults in government, political parties and the civil service? If the problem is ignored in those settings what hope is there for the rest of society? Do you not know the statistics or do you just not care?
If you think the NSW police are perfect beings who handle every case well no matter how complicated then you are in fairy land. Police have a terrible history in how they deal with these cases. Police are fallible. And yes, they can slip into some terrible habits. Perhaps you havent heard of the Wood RC. There is some pretty wild stuff in there.
Police will take the victims wellbeing into account in how the pursue such matters. But they also take into account the public interest. These are complicated and sensitive matters that, yes, I believe should be handled differently wrt public and political and civil service figures – for both the victims sake, the alleged perpetrators sake and the public. If that is ‘wild’ then I am happy to own the title.
boerwar @ #2287 Saturday, March 6th, 2021 – 12:21 pm
Sure. Poor people shouldn’t own stuff, right? Want a cup of coffee? Sell your belt. Want a meal? Sell your shoes. Own a phone? Lose your Centrelink benefits. Own a pet? Lose your home.
meher
have you moved on from your police have cleared both shorten and porter line ?
Has your untrained eye worked it out ?
Griff @ #2296 Saturday, March 6th, 2021 – 12:33 pm
Exactly what I was thinking. The, oh it will be all too complicated and cost a lot to investigate, let alone how many of the cases are of a historical nature, argument.
I think that was one of Tony Abbott’s favourite lines.
I agree, but note there are rumoured to be other behavioural allegations to investigate about Porter, from other women he encountered throughout his career, besides purely criminal matters. The problem is lack of complainants. Let some come forward.
If not, what’s being countenanced is a fishing expedition into the relatively less serious matters, and an inappropriate investigation into the rape matter.
On the rape matter, we are talking about a one-off, federally constituted investigation into criminal matters that are properly part of state jurisdiction. Yes, I know it was done against Gillard and Rudd and Shorten, and didn’t PB rise up over that?
In the present case there is no sworn evidence, no eye witnesses, no evidence at all really as to intent, consent and act, other than an unsworn statement/complaint, the complaint part of which was voluntarily withdrawn.
I’m not a police investigator, but if I had only scarce resources, I’d be using them to look into current events that had live witnesses and victims, and very likely forensic evidence that could support a prosecution, not 32 year old complaints that could have been brought to the attention of police at any point in those 32 years, but weren’t.
I readily agree there are tragic circumstances involved, but the fact remains that the case for rape is, from an evidentiary perspective, pretty thin.
Griff @ #2067 Saturday, March 6th, 2021 – 12:33 pm
By GG and several others on here. It was obviously “a populist witch hunt”.
Mavis
Priorities Mavis. The possibility one of the highest office holders in the land being a rapist did not rate a high enough priority in the Rum Corp State. Perhaps if it was a threat to a property development it might have been handled toot sweet.
Mavis @ #2293 Saturday, March 6th, 2021 – 12:28 pm
Because he is a grub who supports the Liberals and thinks that Luke Foley putting his hand down the dress of a journalist is worse than a Senior Cabinet Minister being caught on film canoodling with a young woman at the Public Bar in Canberra, who was not his wife, and who has been accused of anal rape in 1988.
I’m at a total loss to explain to myself how the Labor MP’s crime is worse.
That’s what Porter and his legal team is banking on. No idea of standing aside for the good of the government. Just wanting to hang on to his position.
Four Corner on Monday night may be just the extra pressure that is needed, but look out, ABC, Fletcher will be after you again.
Only a male could designate anything less than provable anal rape a trivial matter not worth investigating in order to see whether the holder of the highest legal office in the land is a fit and proper person to hold that position.
poroti:
Saturday, March 6, 2021 at 12:48 pm
[‘Priorities Mavis. The possibility one of the highest office holders in the land being a rapist did not rate a high enough priority in the Rum Corp State. Perhaps if it was a threat to a property development it might have been handled toot sweet.’]
If Fuller had directed his officers to treat the matter with
more than passing interest, it could have resulted in him and Morrison putting their own garbage bins out.
[‘Morrison and Commissioner Fuller apparently have a personal relationship forged over garbage bins — though Fuller has now attempted to distance himself from any such intimacy. We now have the Prime Minister claiming a relationship the Police Commissioner denies ever existed, in which the hauling of garbage bins seems to have been a core element. It is logical that Fuller would wish to deny any such association in the current circumstances, but someone isn’t being entirely open. In phoning Fuller, did Morrison not only phone the Police Commissioner but did he also phone his friend?’]
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/morrison-porter-fuller-taylor-bin-mates-before-investigations,13372
A prime minister should not ring a police commissioner when a minister in his cabinet is under investigation.
C@tmommasays:
I’m at a total loss to explain to myself how the Labor MP’s crime is worse.
___________________
I don’t think anyone is saying that apart from you. There was a witness to Foley’s assault however.
C@tmomma:
Saturday, March 6, 2021 at 12:49 pm
I wouldn’t go as far as calling him a grub but I doubt his claim that Labor had his automatic vote until some event occurred when Gillard was prime minister. He is, though, a master of the red-herring.
C@tmomma
Only a male could designate anything less than provable anal rape a trivial matter not worth investigating in order to see whether the holder of the highest legal office in the land is a fit and proper person to hold that position
Everyone should watch the 4 Corners Canberra Bubble program regarding Christian Porter.
It may enlighten you!.
Yeah, but if it’s true then it’s worth banking on.
Put yourself in the position of a police investigator.
Q. Why did you wait 33 years?
A. Because it didn’t really hit me ’till now.
Q. Are there any witnesses to the alleged violation?
A. We were at dinner with some people that night.
Q. We mean EYE witnesses.
A. No.
Q. Are there forensic samples? Did you keep anything? Underwear? Towels? Condoms maybe?
A. No.
You don’t have to be a bent copper to know the case is going nowhere. And then with a dead complainant, the chain of proof becomes even more tenuous.
United States COVID 19 data :
535,563 total deaths
Today – 67,281 new cases …………………. 1,794 new deaths
Where are all the friends of Porter stepping up to defend him and vouch for his character? All we have are a few other Ministers protesting they know nothing about anything.
lizzie @ #2309 Saturday, March 6th, 2021 – 12:50 pm
This is the bit I just don’t get. Porter may be innocent or guilt of that rape, but we will most likely never know because the investigation was handled so badly (for reasons which we will probably also never know) that it may have contributed to the woman concerned taking her own life.
But Porter’s decision not to stand down even temporarily – which is all he ever had to do – and Morrison’s decision not to force him to do so (which he could and should have done) has not only ended Porter’s career, it is not outside the realms of possibility that it may end Morrison’s as well, and also bring the government down. Not likely mind you, but certainly possible.
How has it come to the point where one person’s pride and ambition is more important than the proper governance of Australia? Is this really something that all Liberals believe? Because I can’t currently hear any dissenting – or even vaguely concerned – voices from within their ranks.
lizzie
Where are all the friends of Porter stepping up to defend him and vouch for his character? All we have are a few other Ministers protesting they know nothing about anything.?
Some people in the 4 Corners Program stated he was a confident womanizer!.
Afternoon all. My compliments to BK this morning for summarising a mammoth dawn patrol in succinct and balanced language.
In dealing with the question of how to deal with Christian Porter, Brittany Higgins, harassment allegations and an evidently misogynist culture in the Liberal Party generally I think the answer is: one crime at a time.
Shellbell gave some excellent comments on the legal issues last night that highlighted the need for caution. At the same time, caution does not mean no investigation either. There are now doubts about aspects of what both Christian Porter and his alleged victim said. Both doubts fall in the “might have been” category. All the more reason for an impartial inquiry.
The other matters: Higgins and the Liberal culture and political staffers work rights, all need addressing. Police investigation is correct for the first. An impartial inquiry is correct for the other two.
People are obviously very polarised about this now. But lets stick to facts. Repressed memories have been debunked IF that is what we are dealing with. That is not clear. But equally, rape allegations are very rarely made falsely either, and several aspects of Porter’s statement are already proven false. An independent inquiry is clearly needed.
Ps I wish people would lay off about debates over criminal standards of proof. I assume there will be no trial of Porter. But public servants and ministers are supposed to stand aside for perceived conflicts of interest, not just actual ones. It is not OK to have the cloud of an alleged crime hanging over the AG.
Cabinet minister Christian Porter was warned by then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull about his public behaviour with a young female Liberal staffer, because of Mr Turnbull’s concerns he could be at risk of compromise or blackmail.
Key points:
Christian Porter was given a warning by Malcolm Turnbull after Mr Porter was spotted “kissing and cuddling” a young staffer at a Canberra bar
Another minister, Alan Tudge, angrily pressured a journalist to delete a photo of Mr Porter and the woman
Mr Tudge also had an affair with a staffer
A Four Corners investigation can reveal Mr Porter raised eyebrows among political staffers in 2017 after being seen with the young woman — who was working for another Cabinet minister — at Canberra’s Public Bar.
At the time, Mr Porter had a wife and toddler at home in Perth.
From my observations many men have fundamentally misread this situation. They think it is a matter for clever debate and gotcha moments to catch out a victim’s recollections; to play amateur detective and expose inconsistencies in recollections and testimonies. They decry trial by media even as they present a case for the defence in the trial they say shouldn’t be happening. They think it is all political theatre and that it can be managed with a what about attitude and traditional delaying tactics until the heat dies down.
They are wrong. I work with strong, powerful women who have great resilience. To a person they are absolutely furious. Their anger is palpable and it is rising with every attempt to obfuscate, deflect and denigrate the complainants.
It is not about a single cases. It is not about which side of the political divide alleged abusers come from. It is about decades of this type of activity being smirked at, provoking nods and winks and most of all about a lack of actual action that represents to them an acceptance and even encouragement of this sort of behaviour. They are utterly fed up with men popping up to say they’ve known this man or another and he’s a top bloke who’d never do such a thing, so the women must be liars or scorned or mentally ill.
Every time an article is published, or a comment tweeted or Facebooked, that rehashes those themes the anger grows exponentially. Anyone who thinks this is all going to fade away is deluding themselves. Indeed, some of those working the hardest to make the stories disappear are instead ensuring there will be many more.
Following revelations Mr Porter was warned by then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull about public behaviour with a young female staffer, contributing to Mr Turnbull’s infamous “bonk ban”, the investigation has also discovered that concerns about the Attorney-General’s behaviour go back decades.
The alleged behaviour includes public drunkenness and making unwanted advances to women during his time in federal politics. Other allegations go back to when he was a champion debater in his university days, and later while a Crown prosecutor in WA.
Yabba:
Saturday, March 6, 2021 at 1:09 pm
Yes, that’s another way it could’ve been done. And had it be done, it may have caused V1 to think her complaint was being taken seriously. And who knows, it may have saved her life? This delay may come out in a coronial inquiry if one is held, of which there is no guarantee.
Fox host defends QAnon insurrectionists as ‘gentle’ people who ‘like’ America
Fox News on Friday attempted to defend the fatal insurrection by Donald Trump by pushing whataboutism that unfavorably compared the effort to end democracy by overturning an election to protests by those seeking police reform.
“You even notice how all like the scary, internet conspiracy theorists, radical, QAnon people, and you actually see them on camera — or in jail cells, where a lot of them now are — maybe they’re kind of confused, maybe they’ve got the wrong ideas, but they’re all kind of gentle people and they’re all kind of waving American flags, they like the country,” Tucker Carlson said.
“They’re not torching Wendy’s, they’re not looting retail stores, they’re not shooting cops. No, that’s not them,” he claimed.
In reality, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died from injuries suffered in the insurrection that was incited by Trump’s “Big Lie” about election fraud — which Carlson repeatedly pushed. Two more officers have died by suicide following the attack on the Capitol.
At least 138 officers — 73 from the Capitol Police and 65 from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington — were injured, the departments have said. They ranged from bruises and lacerations to more serious damage such as concussions, rib fractures, burns and even a mild heart attack,”
https://www.rawstory.com/tucker-carlson-qanon/
With the greatest respect Shellbell an d MB, to confine the set of facts surrounding the Porter allegations to simply a criminal matter is too narrow a characterisation.
The criminal element is dead – buried by the NSW Police statement.
The inquiry now is about a minister’s fitness for office. Normally the PM would take action, make an assessment etc. In this case, Morrison is sitting on his hands by hiding behind the “no admissible evidence” test set by the NSW prosecutors.
In these circumstances, it is entirely appropriate that Porter’s fitness for office be examined – if not by the PM, then by another form of inquiry. Trial by media is not satisfactory.
Are you seriously suggesting, like Morrison, that because the NSW Police have decided they cannot prosecute this claim, that that is the end of the matter? Really? You are content, are you, to have an AG sitting in that position, making laws and appointing judges, who has this cloud sitting over his head? A cloud of untested allegations; and we are simply to rely on his word, that it didn’t happen.
I don’t know whether or not it happened. But I am extremely concerned that, in these circumstances, there is now no avenue to assess the AG’s fitness for office.
steve davis @ #2093 Saturday, March 6th, 2021 – 1:28 pm
Perhaps we could ask Porter’s multiple former partners their views on his demonstrated truthfulness about sexual encounters with other ladies contemporaneous with their own relationships with him.
Taylormade says:
Saturday, March 6, 2021 at 12:27 pm
Vic hotel inquiry failed to uncover what happened just a couple of months beforehand.
How the hell would the Porter inquiry uncover what happened 33 years ago.
——————–
LOL Taylormade victoria got nothing to do with Porter
Well done.
Vince Mahon
@vjmahon
In memory of Julia Gillard, Gillian Triggs, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Christine Holgate….. All subjected to trial by media. Yet many in media rush to defend to defend Christian Porter from same. Do you see what I see.
I know of one aspiring Labor candidate who had his preselection overturned because several women contacted the selection committee and said they’d be going public if he was endorsed.
This was all done via back doors and caused a bit of a stink at the time because those who had voted for him couldn’t understand why he didn’t get the gong – and those who knew weren’t able to explain it to them.
phoenixRED:
Saturday, March 6, 2021 at 1:36 pm
The predicted offensive on the Capitol on March, 4 turned out to be a fizzer, with only four turning up, two of them saying that they’d not resort to violence. I’ve always thought that it’s hard to maintain the rage, that America’s institutions would prevail in the face of the anarchic mob who stormed Congress on Jan, 6.
Scott @ #2329 Saturday, March 6th, 2021 – 1:41 pm
It is always”something, something, Dan Andrews” with Taylormade.
Yabba
Hmm. I was saying to my husband the other day that, even if we were divorced, I’d be able to say whether or not a particular kind of behaviour was likely of him.
And then there was that question about whether Porter had had anyone sign a non disclosure form (the way the question was worded suggested more than one).
Of course, it’s possible that Porter has no women friends who can vouch for him – but that would be a little strange in itself.
…apparently Taylormade thinks the Liberal government is incapable of running a better inquiry than Dan Andrews.
That’s quite possibly true.
Roaldan says:
Saturday, March 6, 2021 at 1:30 pm
…
Indeed, some of those working the hardest to make the stories disappear are instead ensuring there will be many more.
That is what I am seeing. The crikey article trying to paint the woman as delusional has just made the angry articulate women madder.
Raoldan
Very well put! The anger is palpable. It is no longer about any one individual.
Article about EMDR: https://www.psychology.org.au/for-members/publications/inpsych/2019/june/Demystifying-EMDR
Bushfire Billsays:
Saturday, March 6, 2021 at 1:12 pm
“Put yourself in the position of a police investigator.
Q. Where there any witnesses to the alleged violation?”
………..
A. Why yes! I remember at least half a dozen people just standing around gawking while I was violently raped.
Paula Mathewson sums up how so many of us are feeling succinctly:
If you are among the small cohort of women who’ve never experienced sexual discrimination, harassment, abuse or attacks then you might not understand why those who have suffered this treatment are particularly angry right now.
So angry in fact that they pose a real threat to our Teflon-coated Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who until now has invested heavily in a blokey-bloke persona.
……..
To recap, we’ve borne witness to a catalogue of complaints against people both within the Coalition government and associated with it that have shouted to the nation about the need for something to be done – and now – about the toxic male culture that infests the Nationals and Liberal Party.
We already had an inkling when the new Liberal PM, Tony Abbott, chose to appoint no women to his first senior ministry.
Julie Bishop’s cabinet position was an automatic perk that came with being the Liberals deputy leader. Meanwhile, Mr Abbott appointed himself as the Minister for Women.
However the Coalition’s ‘man problem’ became unavoidably obvious when Catherine Marriott lodged a confidential sexual harassment complaint against then Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, only to have her name immediately leaked to the media.
The party later advised Ms Marriott that it had “been unable to make a determination” about her complaint “due to insufficient evidence”.
Then there was the bullying of female MPs during the Liberal leadership spill that saw Scott Morrison elected as leader and subsequent departure to the crossbench of Julia Banks, the only woman seemingly willing to confront the perpetrators.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/03/04/paula-matthewson-coalition-women-problem/
Her bio from The Guardian: “Paula Matthewson was media adviser to John Howard in the early 1990s and then had a long career in political and advocacy roles. She is now a freelance writer and communication strategist. Paula blogs and tweets as Drag0nista. February 2019.”
‘7NEWS Melbourne
@7NewsMelbourne
· 41m
More than 20 people entered the city’s storm water system last night to explore Melbourne’s drainage tunnels. They entered the system at around 10pm last night and surfaced at an opening in the Yarra River, requiring assistance from Victoria Police to exit the water. #7NEWS’
Did they find any children while they were down there?
Arthur @ #2341 Saturday, March 6th, 2021 – 2:00 pm
Would not happen in modern times. People wouldn’t just stand around – they would have got there mobiles out and filmed it. Such are sheople today.
Tom @ #2343 Saturday, March 6th, 2021 – 2:05 pm
It’s worse than that. One of the dating platforms would probably ask their members to “Rate this rape”.
Notice how the alien sightings have dropped off since “I didn’t have a camera on me…” has ceased to be believable.
I suspect Murdoch’s SmearStralian has delivered its verdict on Christian Porter – and unleashed the platoon of ‘diverse’ men to put the complainers back in their box…
zoomster
It’s just that the aliens have completed their ‘Probing Americans’ program.
Roaldan @ #2323 Saturday, March 6th, 2021 – 1:30 pm
Excellent comment, Roaldan. The Boys Club is very, very scared – with good reason. This is a watershed moment for the majority of the Australian community – on a par with BLM.