Highlights of the latest fortnightly Essential Research poll, which is lacking the really interesting stuff (the monthly leadership ratings and quarterly dump of voting intention), but covers a fair bit of ground on the budget:
• Respondents were asked whether the budget would be good or bad for various groups and interests, results for which appear to be heavily influenced by general attitudes towards the party bringing down the budget. In this cases, the budget was reckoned to be most beneficial to “people who are well off” (51% good, 8% bad) and big businesses (49% and 7%), but scored net negative ratings for people on lower incomes (30% and 33%) and “you personally” (22% and 25%). However, the budget rated more strongly across the board than last year’s, with net ratings 23% higher for the economy overall, 15% higher for families, 12% higher for younger Australians and 11% higher for average working people.
• The budget has apparently impressed respondents as being good for women, particularly compared with last year’s. Thirty-four per cent rated that it put women’s interests ahead of men’s versus 19% for vice-versa and 47% who thought it balanced, compared with respective figures last year of 14%, 31% and 54%. It would also appear easy to persuade respondents that budgets put the interests of young people ahead of old: 32% thought so this year compared with 28% for vice-versa and 40% for balanced, albeit that this is quite a lot narrower than last year’s split of 45% to 21% with 34% for balanced. As usual with a Coalition budget, many more respondents felt it put the interests of businesses ahead of employees than vice-versa (49% versus 13% with 38% for balanced, compared with 14%, 42% and 45% for last year).
• A regular question on governments’ handling of COVID-19 gave the federal government what I believe to be its weakest good rating to date of 58%, down four on last month, with the poor rating up a point to 18%. For the state governments, good ratings are down five in New South Wales to 68%, up five for Victoria to 63% and down four for Queensland to 68%.
• As did last week’s Resolve Strategic poll, and no doubt most other polls that have ever been conducted on the subject, this one finds strong opposition to an early election: 61% agreed an election this year would “just be opportunism for the Prime Minister”, compared with 39% for the alternative proposition that an early election “will be good for Australia, because a lot has changed since the last election”.
The poll was conducted Wednesday to Sunday from a sample of 1100.
BW,
Do you think chickens should be taxed for using roads when they cross?
‘boerwar says:
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 12:28 pm
EV servicing costs:
https://www.canstarblue.com.au/vehicles/electric-car-servicing/
———————————–
My original point is that EVs DO require servicing and that servicing DOES cost money. For some reason this triggered a lot of bullshit artists to start a meme about how EVs don’t require servicing.
I hereby demand that others subsidize my EV servicing costs cos I am saving the planet from global warming.
guytaur @ #150 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:34 pm
guytaur,
See my most recent post. It’s a fair and equitable impost on EV owners and almost mirrors Ken henry’s proposal to charge a per km fee for the use of our roads, except this is a one off charge to continue to use our roads and keep them maintained.
GG
haha
BW
You give a good list to have a high corporate tax rate.
boerwar @ #154 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:38 pm
Back to being willfully obtuse I see. It’s not winning you the argument, boerwar.
Greensborough Growler @ #153 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:38 pm
Not one of your better contributions, GG.
boerwar @ #152 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:36 pm
What an idiotic thing to say. No one asked you to. Obviously you are ignoring the cost of amortising the CO2 ‘cost’ by moving to an EV, against continuing to go down the road of ICEs.
C@tmomma @ #145 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:31 pm
A road toll is the same as a train fare.
Rex Douglas @ #161 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:43 pm
No it’s not, because pensioners and the poor do not get a subsidised ‘fare’/toll.
C@tmommasays: Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 12:24 pm
phoenixRED,
I am wondering what is behind the uptick in deaths from COVID-19 in the US?
**********************************
The week day totals seem to be always higher in both cases/deaths compared to the weekend ones …… but as Rex says they are a vast improvement on the 3500+ deaths/day that they were experiencing earlier this year
50% of American adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and that is having a positive effect – they are aiming for 70% by July 4th
These PPP’s to build roads in Victoria just fill the pockets of big biz corporations.
Major roads should be built, maintained and tolled by the state at break even cost.
Putting the handbrake on the transition to EV’s is huge mistake from Vic Labor.
C@tmomma @ #160 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:44 pm
Concession card holders should get a discount.
boerwar says:
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 9:26 am
frendk
The sensible policy approach is to separate the issues, not conflate them.
Road use requires a road tax.
Transport energy use requires energy incentives and disincentives.
Fuel ⛽️ is taxed through GST.
Also many governments give grants and sponsors to big oil companies for searching for coal, oil and gas.
phoenixRED @ #161 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:46 pm
I was watching Phil win the PGA and seeing the crowds back to the way it was and thinking there might be issues…
Cat
Rex has a point. Public transport should be free.
Until then treat road users the same way as commuters. Toll the roads.
Public transport reduces environmental emissions. Every car built takes energy and materials to build thus increasing emissions.
Free public transport maximises the reduction of car use in cities.
All that has to be worked out is how to have safe public transport in these pandemic times.
The UK numbers are trending upwards ever so slightly. Appears as if the Indian Variants are behind this “wave”
Admin staff coming around to see if any of us have been to Melbourne since May 15.
One staff member so far not only has but has a bit of a funny cough….
There is still a missing link in Victoria. Rex was wrong in claiming otherwise.
He just wanted to take a pot shot at the contact tracing in NSW by posting fake news.
Public transport isn’t the silver bullet. It has its negatives for eg. virus transmission.
People will always prefer the personal space of a private vehicle. Wanting everyone to embrace PT is folly.
zoomster @ #170 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:55 pm
OMG! 😯
I hope it’s ‘simply’ Influenza.
Rex Douglas says:
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 12:47 pm
“These PPP’s to build roads in Victoria just fill the pockets of big biz corporations.”
Most people’s Superannuation Funds are invested in the PPP participants and have done very nicely from it.
Rex Douglassays: Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 12:51 pm
phoenixRED @ #161 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:46 pm
C@tmommasays: Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 12:24 pm
phoenixRED,
I am wondering what is behind the uptick in deaths from COVID-19 in the US?
Rex : I was watching Phil win the PGA and seeing the crowds back to the way it was and thinking there might be issues…
*********************************
I think we also have shown that same complacency – take our foot off the brake and the numbers rise again – me and oh were the only 2 shoppers wearings masks in Coles etc yesterday when we did some shopping and one of the checkout girls we are friendly with says she gets constant negative comments for wearing a mask during her shift …..
guytaur @ #168 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:52 pm
guytaur,
I thought EVs didn’t have emissions? Isn’t that what we are talking about? The future of road use?
Today is Sorry Day.
My thoughts are with all those negatively impacted.
Rex
I did not say that. I used the term maximises use.
The reality is road users get a cushy ride and commuters don’t.
We see this privilege in action when the low cost road users cyclists get told to start paying for their road use.
If we are going to talk costs let’s be real about it including the costs of emissions of road users.
phoenixRED @ #173 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:59 pm
Yes I’ve noticed complacency as well. But walking into hardware shop today and everyone was masked up.
Cat
The phrase User Pays is the problem introduced by neoliberalism.
The concept needs to be society pays. Then we can allocate taxes and costs on individuals according to what’s best for society. We don’t need to go to the economic extreme of communism.
We can do capitalism with socialist characteristics.
I linked to a serious article the other day discussing this issue and had to endure 24 hours of being called a racist, reading fairy tales about how the virus came from a septic tank outside Barcelona, accusations of advocating Trumpism, listening to how it was all Boris/ScoMo/Sweden’s fault, hearing once again how “The Science” was already “in” etc. etc.
The basic reason for doubt is that the Chinese government has either sequestered or outright destroyed the relevant data known to have at least once existed that would assist in getting to the truth. They have jailed, and possibly murdered whistle-blowers.
Then, at Lunar New Year in 2020, they let millions of Chinese citizens and business people flood the world on annual long holidays. Not co-incidentally, January-February 2020 was exactly when COVID became pandemic.
The NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) in America, run by Dr Fauci did – at least indirectly (through a non-governmental research group called “Ecohealth”) – fund studies into novel coronaviruses, constructively supporting Chinese scientists in Wuhan, working in the area of what is called “gain-of-function” research (artifically “souping up” viruses to see how potentially dangerous they can become) but the grant has since lapsed.
Thus, there are clearly individuals and organizations that would have good reason to play down this story, because of either possibly direct or tangential involvement in a breach of biosecurity.
Having said that, at least one fact-checking organization says the jury is still out on whether the virus is man-made, or not.
We’ve heard that phrase “no evidence” before.
There was, in early 2020 “no evidence” (But plenty of suspicion) that the virus could be transmitted by aerosol means. There has even been dispute as to the size that particles must get down to to qualify as “aerosols” (100 microns v. 5 microns). Whatever constitutes an “aerosol”, it is now widely accepted that aerosol transmission explains a number of outbreaks where fomites and droplet transmission have been substantially ruled out, or at least not ruled-in. Today, only politics, bureaucracy and face-saving keep the “anti-aerosol” argument alive. No-one wants to admit their advice – as “experts” – on how a life-threatening virus can be transmitted may have been premature.
Now to China (or more precisely the Chinese government and its bureaucracies): one of the reasons there is “no evidence” (or that evidence is lacking) on the possible laboratory origins of SARS-CoV-2 is that the evidence has been withheld. There is also commentary that the WHO investigation pulled its punches when it came to dealing with Chinese authorities. This is on top of the usual reasons for such possible cover-ups: face and reputation protection, bureaucratic obstinacy, and raw political arse-covering.
Nothing less than the truth will save us from another pandemic, and one that may not spare 97% of those it infects (allowing it to be, in my opinion, not taken quite so seriously as it might have if the percentage had been higher, or the demographics of those at risk so lop-sided).
The “Laboratory Origin” theory definitely needs more rigorous investigation. Now is as good a time as any to get serious about it.
I had my pfizer vaccine on Monday & attended a fitness class with eldest grandson that night.
They did warn me the second shot of pfizer has a higher rate of side effects.
I was also warned that because my immune system is compromised the jury is out on whether the vaccine will give me effective coverage. But I figure some is better than none.
Mmmm….
On another topic!
Has anyone received Liberal Party campaign material?
Rex Douglas @ #175 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 1:01 pm
And the 2021 Sydney Peace Prize is given to the Uluru Statement:
https://sydneypeacefoundation.org.au/peace-prize-recipients/2021-uluru-statement-from-the-heart/
also
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/26/uluru-statement-from-the-heart-awarded-2021-sydney-peace-prize
@DanielBleakley tweets
Norway:
“We have massive subsidies on EVs and we’re banning the sale of petrol cars by 2025”
Victoria:
“We’re going to put a tax on EVs”
From William’s summary:
So easy to fool people, isn’t it. :frustrated sigh:
Rex Douglas says:
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 12:57 pm
Public transport isn’t the silver bullet. It has its negatives for eg. virus transmission.
People will always prefer the personal space of a private vehicle. Wanting everyone to embrace PT is folly
———-
Only if you have weak minds and policy
Right now Sydney Trains only have recommendations to wear a mask, can sit next to each other, and 75% capacity during covid crises and winter….
In case anybody missed it, estimates queries reveal that the government spent more than $400k keeping Cash out of the witness box in the AWU raids matter.
Coverups don’t come cheap.
They have also paid some legal bills for Reynolds which apparantly relate to the Higgins matter and her fellow Senator Duniam’s costs related to defamation actions brought by Hanson-young and Bob Brown.
People who can’t get legal aid will be impressed.
lizzie,
That was when I stopped reading too.
Such an in depth analysis of an event that most people have completely put out of their mind is really over egging the pudding imho.
The only take I got from the Budget is that our debt is nearly $1trillion and the Government has no plans to wind it back.
Australia’s well placed to witness the Super Flower Blood Moon eclipse:
https://www.livescience.com/watch-super-flower-blood-moon-lunar-eclipse.html?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LVS_newsletter&utm_content=LVS_newsletter+&utm_term=6636498&m_i=lq4njmz3uTqB50P_Iu67M0WNim1He1lB7D5fXG6P0TAhCU9bnPzTAtSOqEDmjdRBi0y%2BpxPmjPfNjzlF%2BMGWrSoni1huRMR4LQKeE4Ullt&lrh=25f906472b12cdd513ad18c658ff4f7a33fb3db4f23d726a7285e99a19b7a0cf
‘guytaur says:
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 1:20 pm
@DanielBleakley tweets
Norway:
“We have massive subsidies on EVs and we’re banning the sale of petrol cars by 2025”’
———————————————
Norway: ‘We can afford to subsidize anything because we hoovered up a trillion on oil and gas sales.’
Greensborough Growler @ #189 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 1:34 pm
They know how to but to do so would either involve Cuts to government services, payments or programs like Negative Gearing and CGT, or an increase in taxes or levees. As they have so politicised these things they know they cannot do it as their support would evaporate if they did. So they’ll just continue racking up debt and hope that over-inflated commodity prices will drag them out of the financial mire.
However, it looks like they are going to have to tame the inflation dragon down the pike and won’t that be fun to watch? 🙂
On the topic of solar power for renters.
I had a discussion on this topic with a landlord who was negatively gearing his property. He would have been happy to put solar panels on the home if he could claim them as a cost but had been advised that he could only claim for maintenance of the property.
If this is the true situation the only benefit of the panels is to the tenant and unless you had a very good reason to believe you would not be moving, you would be signing up to improve the value of the landlords property without any ongoing benefit.
I don’t know how it would work if it was a sheme that adds a cost to your electricity bill each month, is that cost attributable to whoever is living in the property or is it a personal debt. If it’s the latter, no tenant will sign up.
I am happy to see that in WA the plan is to put solar on schools, this will save money from each schools budget and I am surprised that shopping centres have not yet been big adopters as they are generally open when the sun may shine and seldom open at night.
Think about how universal use of EVs will require our power grid to not only generate electricity for today’s conventional uses, but also to compensate for tomorrow’s virtually complete abandonment of petrol and diesel as motor vehicle and heavy plant-and-equipment fuels.
Then think about who will need to provide first bridging, then operational energy to recharge all those cars, trucks and other battery operated devices.
Then think who will be blamed (and rightly so) if that does not happen and our economy falls in a heap.
Work out who will be constructing and maintaining our road systems. Think of who will need to source the materials that cover those roads (soon to be more expensive as fossil sources for them are mothballed). Think of the unemployment inherent in an entire retail fuel industry closing down, plus other unforseen disruptions sure to occur.
Then think of how all the above will be paid for, if not by taxes.
Then consider that taxing EVs may be a wise decision until we see which way the wind literally blows.
————–
* Please don’t cite Norway as conclusive proof of anything. Apart from having a very small, wealthy population and a very small arable land area, but with huge hydroelectric resources, Norway has made its fortune by exporting it’s fossil fuels to polluters in other countries, then banking the profits.
boerwar @ #152 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:38 pm
Define what you mean by “servicing”, then. Because to most of the world, a vehicle service means approximately:
1. Replace motor oil
2. Replace oil filter
3. Check/replace engine air filter
4. Check/top up transmission/brake/etc. fluid
5. Check brakes/tires/lights/etc.
EV’s never need the first three things, or most of the fourth (no transmission to check, friction brakes are almost never used). You wouldn’t take a car in just for the fifth thing.
Replacing consumable components, like tires, as they wear out would usually be classed as “maintenance”. EV’s need maintenance from time to time, though generally less than other cars as they have fewer moving parts to wear out/fail. They don’t need routine servicing. It’s technology, not bullshit.
C@tmomma @ #149 Wednesday, May 26th, 2021 – 12:35 pm
It can’t be equitable until it’s applied equally to all vehicles rather than just to some.
Even then it’s really not since even people who don’t directly use the roads by driving on them still substantially benefit from having them around (and in most cases, still contribute to wear and tear as well).
boerwar
That’s what happens when you set up a sovereign wealth fund to take your great resources windfall rather than have a Costello and Howard piss it up against the wall.
That’s what happens when you set up a sovereign wealth fund to take your great resources windfall rather than have a Costello and Howard piss it up against the wall.
Yes, theirs was called the ‘Liberal Re-election Fund’.
The lunar eclipse tonight will be between 9 and 9.15 pm, when the umbra, full shadow of the Earth is across the moon.
Surprisingly it is clear at the moment in Sydney. In my previous experience there is nothing like an eclipse to bring pout the clouds.
Asking for a friend (family member actually)….which way do the WA bludgers think McGowan will go re arrivals from Victoria?
On Australian wanting action on climate change, I have come to the conclusion that it is like Australian wanting a republic. 80% were in favour of a republic, but there was no way to get agreement on the model, so the referendum was lost.
It would be good if essential could ask specific questions like:
Do you support a price on carbon?
Do you think fossil fuel cars should be phased pout by 2025? 2030?
Should the government spend money on developing renewable power sources?
Are you worried that your electricity bill will go up as we move to using renewable energy sources for power?
Are you worried about blackouts because of renewable power sources?
This would give us a much better idea about who will vote in a way that supports action on climate change.
For the next federal election, the Coalition and friends will fund scare campaigns about the above things. Someone just needs to be worried about one of the above things, and they will vote Coalition as a safe option.
Douglas and Milkosays:
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 1:48 pm
I’m looking forward to it.
I’ve seen a few, but this one will be in its full eclipse phase at moonrise.
That will be unique. 🙂