As I ought to have reported yesterday, the Age/Herald has the first federal poll of the year from Resolve Strategic, which credits Labor with a primary vote lead of 42% (unchanged on last month) to 29% (down one), with the Greens on 11% (steady), One Nation on 6% (up two), the United Australia Party on 2% (steady) and independents on 8% (steady). Resolve Strategic does not provide two-party preferred results, but applying preference flows from last year’s election suggests a crushing Labor lead of around 60-40. Limited state breakdowns suggest Labor leads of around 60-40 in Victoria and 57.5-42.5 in New South Wales and Queensland. Anthony Albanese’s combined very good and good rating is at 60% compared with 25% for poor and very poor, while Peter Dutton is respectively at 28% and 46%, with Albanese leading 55-20 on preferred prime minister. The poll was conducted last Tuesday to Sunday from a sample of 1606.
The poll also has a suite of questions relevant to Australia Day, which find 47% support for the federal government’s policy of allowing councils to choose days other than Australia Day for citizenship ceremonies with 19% opposed; 40% in favour of a republic (up five since September) with 30% opposed (down seven); and a 31% positive rating for King Charles III’s performance, with 12% negative and 57% neutral or unsure.
Also from Resolve Strategic is a set of results in the Indigenous voice that combines its December and January poll for an overall sample of 3618. Following on from similar findings in YouGov’s New South Wales poll last week, the poll finds support for a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice has fallen from 53% to 47% since August and September, with opposition up a point to 30% and undecided up four to 23%. Support is at 72% among Greens voters, 61% among Labor voters and 27% among Coalition voters. When the uncommitted were forced to choose, the result came in at 60% for yes and 40% for no, in from 64% to 36% in August and September. Only 13% felt confident they could explain the proposal, with 63% saying they would struggle to and 23% saying they had never heard of it. The narrowest results at state level were 56% yes and 44% no in both Queensland and South Australia.
The first fortnightly Essential Research poll of the year includes federal voting intention figures if you know where to look, which alongside a 5% uncommitted component have primary votes of Labor 34% (down one on early December), Coalition 31% (up one), Greens 14% (up one) and others 16% (down one), with the pollster’s “2PP+” scores at 53% for Labor (up two), 42% for the Coalition (down two) and 5% uncommitted (steady). It nonetheless records a significant fall in Anthony Albanese’s still strong personal ratings, which are at 55% approval (down five) and 31% disapproval (up four).
Further questions found 33% support for both a separate day to recognise Indigenous Australians (down four on last year) with another 33% opposed (up four) and 26% believing such a day should replace Australia Day (up six). Eighty-two per cent rated Australia a better place to live than most other countries and 77% expressing pride in Australia, although 47% also agreed Australia needed to be a better global citizen with 16% disagreeing. Forty-two per cent agreed things were better for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia than ten years ago, compared with 38% for about the same and 10% for worse. The polling was conducted Wednesday to Sunday from a sample of 1050.
Roy Morgan also has an SMS poll of 1231 respondents conducted Friday to Monday, which finds 64% favour the name of Australia Day being retained against 36% who would prefer that it be called “Invasion Day”, and the two-party preferred federal voting intention result in its weekly video has Labor leading 59-41, in from 59.5-40.5 last week. The BludgerTrack trend results on the sidebar and full display include the Resolve Strategic and Essential Research results, but don’t make use of Roy Morgan.
Two-way trade between Vietnam and Australia enjoyed a record year-on-year growth of 26.91% to 15.7 billion USD in 2022, according to the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia.
Vietnam’s export turnover to Australia last year expanded 26.18% year-on-year to 5.55 billion USD while its imports were valued at 10.14 billion USD, an increase of 27.31%.
Data from the office shows that many key exports of Vietnam continue to post high growth amid various challenges, including machinery, equipment, tools, and other spare parts (62.1%); footwear (41.3%); textiles (26.3%); aquatic products (37.3%); iron and steel (102.9%); handbags, suitcases and umbrellas (24.8%); coffee (62.53%); and electric wires and cables (81.2%).
Meanwhile, Australia continued to be an important supplier of raw materials for Vietnam’s production of coal, cotton, ores and other minerals, and wheat.
https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnamaustralia-trade-hits-record-high-in-2022/247154.vnp
Just remember today it’s the thought that counts; and the thought that counted in 1788 was the attempted genocide of the Aboriginal peoples 😡
There was a great doco about the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. It was interesting how the articulate, young Aboriginal representatives of the early 70’s became part of indigenous affairs nomenklatura within 20 years.
Hopefully unlike ATSIC – the quality and calibre of the Voice representatives will be critical to any treaty.
The SMH editorial urges the RBA to be careful not to overshoot in the fight against inflation.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/rba-must-be-careful-not-to-overshoot-in-the-fight-against-inflation-20230125-p5cffy.html
____________
Of course the RBA will “overshoot”. Their mission is to help the Coalition regain power. Their contribution is hobbling the economy by making interest rate rises they should’ve started at the beginning of last year (but delayed until May), so Labor can be blamed for a struggling economy.
zoomster @ #NaN Thursday, January 26th, 2023 – 7:12 am
They’re as bad in their own way as Trump cultists. They will find a way to excuse anything their chosen one says.
Hh
Thanks. It would be interesting to know what proportion of that is linked to Chinese-owned interests who have shifted to Vietnam following US trade sanctions and the rising wage costs in China.
Snappy Tom @ #NaN Thursday, January 26th, 2023 – 8:57 am
Why should we listen to what a a White Woman member of the Establishment Elite has to say about a subject which involves giving a Voice to the First Nations people of this country? Isn’t the point of giving them a Voice that people like Peta Credlin won’t get to dictate anymore?
In the absence of a Voice, Makarrata and Treaty, being Indigenous is living a permanent and inescapable Catch 22 existence.
If you speak out against the government you are just making noise. If you join the government to try to make a difference, you become part of the problem.
I should add that the same is true for non-Indigenous people.
The quality of the Voice representatives will entirely be up to the Indigenous people who select them.
Scottsays:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 8:30 am
The political propaganda from the corrupt media and libs/nats has backfired on them quicker than expected
Scott, I’m not sure that much has backfired with the “corrupt media/ and lib/nats” in regard to indigenous recognition at any level.
The underlay of racism remains very thin.
The Alice Springs crime/alcohol imbroglio and Australia Day protest displays are used by the right wing media as directed by owners/controllers o that media to do the politicizing that suits them.
Australian voters took an “eon” to realize Morrison and his corrupt government were “on the nose.”
I’m pleased that as a nation, now governed by a transparent Labor government that the government has progressed quickly in making some rectification and improvements in governance but the recognition of the existence of indigenous Australians remains a massive hurdle for the Labor government and supporters of indigenous recognition to overcome.
The average disengaged Australian voters responds by regressing to their basic mindset.
Howard was aware of the power of confusion and that same method is being used again.
“None of Your Beeswax says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 8:59 am”
Following your argument, moving Australia day to another day in January will not cause the tsunami that you seem to fear. I already suggested the following procedure in another thread:
a) Offer a public vote to choose Australia Day.
b) Limit the choice to any day between, let’s say, the 15th of January and the 31st of January (with the exclusion of the 26th).
c) This will ensure that all Summery traditions associated with the celebration of Australia Day will remain in place. Starting the choice from the 15th will also ensure that Australia Day happens far enough from the New Year celebrations, hence most Australians should be sober by then….
d) The elected day will have no other additional meaning than “Australia Day as chosen by the People”.
It seems to me that Australia Day is serving some useful purposes.
It enables the vast majority to take a day off and have some fun with family and friends. For them, nothing more and nothing less.
For tiny minorities it provides an opportunity to protest, to vent, to discuss the ethics of the day and what it represents, or to resist change.
Alpo says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:10 am
“None of Your Beeswax says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 8:59 am”
Following your argument, moving Australia day to another day in January will not cause the tsunami that you seem to fear. I already suggested the following procedure in another thread:
a) Offer a public vote to choose Australia Day.
b) Limit the choice to any day between, let’s say, the 15th of January and the 31st of January (with the exclusion of the 26th).
c) This will ensure that all Summery traditions associated with the celebration of Australia Day will remain in place. Starting the choice from the 15th will also ensure that Australia Day happens far enough from the New Year celebrations, hence most Australians should be sober by then….
d) The elected day will have no other additional meaning than “Australia Day as chosen by the People”.
____________
I’m not a “change the date of our national day away from 26 January” person, I’m a “let’s find a truly appropriate date for our national day” person.
One mistake in the process of Federation was commencing the new entity on 1 January. We can’t have Federation Day as our national day – half the country’s hungover!
Biden annoucement
—-
Today I’m announcing that the United States will be sending 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, the equivalent of one Ukrainian battalion…the Abrams tanks are the most capable tanks in the world.”
“Boerwar says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:15 am”
I agree that Australia Day may trigger strong feelings (in one direction or another) only in a minority of Australians. Still, if we can make some minimalistic changes that further decrease the excesses, we might have advanced a bit towards an even more peaceful and happy Australia.
We must all do everything we can to help get the voice up.
———————————————-
zoomster says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 7:12 am
C@
Hopefully we can leave such decisions to the Voice.
Amusing to see Greens posters falling over themselves last night to give Thorpe a free pass.
Imagine the furore if a Labor Minister came out and said they weren’t supporting it?
We’d be knee deep in accusations of whitey priviledge.
————————————————————
I don’t agree with Thorpe’s position, but I’m pretty sure she is not exercising whitey privilege.
I will be voting for the voice, as will the vast majority of Greens supporters, according to the polling.
Hopefully we can win Senator Thorpe over, before the vote. The perfect remains the enemy of the good.
BW….I agree….and it is “a vast majority”. Move it to a different day in January, sure, fine….but dont make it a big fuss. Dont call the 26th “Invasion Day” officially, lest we provoke that “vast majority” against us as being too woke, or what ever.
Albo has been assiduous in avoiding right wing traps till now, may he continue doing so.
It appears that today’s topic dejour in the (un)australian is “why the aborigine should be content with their lot, and just get on with it” 😡
Just some stray thoughts on the benefits of the Invasion:
1. The UK REDUCED life expectancy of Indigenous people, killing them by the hundreds of thousands.
2. The life expectancy in England in 1788 was around 40, possibly less.
3. Australia is one of the most warlike countries in the world. We have just finished yet another losing war that lasted 20 years.
4. (Just for Dutton). The age of consent in the UK in 1788 was 12.
5. Arranged marriages (as opposed to love marriages) were the norm in UK ruling class.
6. Slavery was part of UK’s ‘prosperity’.
7. Indigenous civilizations were actually sustainable.
Thanks for the Dawn Patrol as always BK.
The majority of Australians:
1. like Australia the way it is, more or less.
2. They feel good about being Australian.
3. They are proud of Australia’s achievements.
4. They are proud of Australia’s military record.
5. They have good feelings about the Australian character.
6. They are more than happy to take a day off to enjoy something called ‘Australia Day.’
7. Don’t want the flag changed.
8. Are wealthy enough to feel prosperous.
9. Are not all that interested in tipping over apple carts.
“Snappy Tom says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:20 am
…One mistake in the process of Federation was commencing the new entity on 1 January. We can’t have Federation Day as our national day – half the country’s hungover!”
I fully agree that that was an extremely unfortunate choice of a day (even one week later would have made Federation Day our natural Australia Day). Does anyone have any historical background to share on why the “founding fathers” made that error of judgment? How important were the New Year celebrations back in 1901?
Boerwar @ #NaN Thursday, January 26th, 2023 – 8:40 am
Sorry, Boerwar, but I have to disagree with you there. Lidia Thorpe is no leader because she is a divider, not a uniter. It has nothing to do with misogyny and that’s a cheap shot to take at people who disagree with her. It most definitely has zero to do with racism. As there are those who support the goals of Indigenous Australians, and First Nations people themselves, who simply believe she is driving the FN car off a cliff and the time is now to take back control before it happens.
Lidia Thorpe is no Faith Bandler. Lidia Thorpe is no Charles Perkins. Lidia Thorpe is no Marcia Langton. Lidia Thorpe is no Lowitja O’Donoghue. Lidia Thorpe is no Pat Dodson. Lidia Thorpe is no Evonne Goolagong. Lidia Thorpe is no Ash Barty. Lidia Thorpe is no Tom Calma. Lidia Thorpe is no Mick Gooda. Lidia Thorpe is no Adam Goodes. Lidia Thorpe is no FN Aussie Rules, Rugby Union or Rugby league player. Lidia Thorpe is not even a leader’s understudy because she will not learn.
The total indigenous population is just under 900,000 people according to the Census.
Of course it won’t just be one electorate of 900,000 people under the Voice – its likely to be Northern Territory electorate sizes of circa 5000 people.
It will be interesting to see if it throws up ATSIC style results or whether there is a new leadership.
Sen Malarndirri McCarthy was very impressive on radio this week – didn’t try and score points about Alice Springs , said “we” are all to blame.
The thing is, Australia day has only really been a big deal since about the 1980s in the lead up to the Bicentennial. Before that it was just another holiday Monday, one that marked the end of the Christmas / Summer slowdown, after which things were back to normal. When I was a kid (1960s), it marked the end of the School Holidays. There would have been citizenship ceremonies of course, important to those involved and their families. Apart from that, some politicians made speeches to which no one paid any attention. Back then Australia wasn’t big on public occasions, nor to showy displays of patriotism. That was left to the Americans.
Great post C@t. A white woman’s list of better blacks.
I think January 1st was chosen simply because, new year, new nation.
Snappy Tom says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:02 am
The SMH editorial urges the RBA to be careful not to overshoot in the fight against inflation.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/rba-must-be-careful-not-to-overshoot-in-the-fight-against-inflation-20230125-p5cffy.html
____________
Of course the RBA will “overshoot”. Their mission is to help the Coalition regain power. Their contribution is hobbling the economy by making interest rate rises they should’ve started at the beginning of last year (but delayed until May), so Labor can be blamed for a struggling economy.
——————————————————————————————-
The RBA are nothing if not consistent, consistently wrong.
Alpo @ Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:27 am
A possible solution is to celebrate the Australia Act coming into force on March 3, 1986.
Watermelon @ #NaN Thursday, January 26th, 2023 – 9:32 am
And you’re exhibiting the White person’s privilege of deciding who are worthy ‘blacks’ (ugh! I despise that borderline racist term), and who aren’t. Congratulations, Watermelon. 🙄
Watermelon says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:32 am
Great post C@t. A white woman’s list of better blacks.
__________________________________
Please desist. Long time posters know that c@t has a lengthy history of fighting for indigenous causes. She is a PB expert on the topic.
No C@t, that’s actually what you are doing
C@T
“ Why should we listen to what a a White Woman member of the Establishment Elite has to say about a subject which involves giving a Voice to the First Nations people of this country? Isn’t the point of giving them a Voice that people like Peta Credlin won’t get to dictate anymore?”
———————————————————————————————
Happy Birthday for yesterday (I think).
+1 re Credlin. Not a skerrick of sympathy or thought for others. No concept of history whatsoever, an empty human shell. Is it really that hard to imagine changing dates etc, I mean, will the world collapse overnight? The Voice is a start of hopefully much more for FN people but she can’t even grant them that.
”
C@tmommasays:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 7:56 am
Alpo @ #NaN Thursday, January 26th, 2023 – 7:48 am
“C@tmomma says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 6:53 am
I agree we should commemorate Indigenous Australians in some way with their own special day, separate from Australia Day. Maybe on the day that they are recognised in the Constitution?”
Yes, it is a good idea, and instead of adding another holiday, it could replace the “King Birthday day”. What’s the meaning of celebrating the birthday of King/Queen with a public holiday?
Until we become a Republic I think we have to keep celebrating that one.
”
Today is India’s Republic Day. India became republic in 1950.
There is a really obvious solution to the Australia Day thing.
1) Keep the 26 January as a public holiday but rename it “Convicts Day”
2) Find another date to be the National day.
Win-win.
c@t
1. Thorpe is quite obviously an Indigenous leader. Leaders can divide as well as unite. There is no leadership pre-requisite.
2. Not everyone who disagrees with Thorpe is a racist or misogynist.
3. Thorpe is acting as a lightning rod for racists and misogynists and will cop truckloads of nasty personal abuse and numerous death threats because of her leadership.
4. If we appreciate our democracy and our liberal values and our shared humanity, we need to support Thorpe in her struggles against direct personal racism and misogyny. We can do so without agreeing with her. We can do so while criticizing the consequences of her leadership.
We are a functioning democracy. Everyone has a say. Including Credlin. The fact that she is ‘white’ or a ‘woman’ is neither here nor there.
Ven says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:42 am
Today is India’s Republic Day. India became republic in 1950.
______________________________________
Do you think it lived up to its ideals? The Kashmir genocide and all. It’s really a Hindu dominated state now. Apparently Muslims whose family history stretches 100’s of years may be denied citizenship under laws introduced by Modi and the Supreme Court will now be controlled by the BJP.
zoomster says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 7:12 am
C@
Hopefully we can leave such decisions to the Voice.
Amusing to see Greens posters falling over themselves last night to give Thorpe a free pass.
Imagine the furore if a Labor Minister came out and said they weren’t supporting it?
We’d be knee deep in accusations of whitey priviledge.
———————————————————————————————
This decision feeds into the Coalition and RWNJ narrative that Indigenous are always given special treatment (entirely ignoring history of course) and only serves to further undermine The Voice as well as Greens unity. This is a compromise of considerable risk placing the desires of an individual over the party.
watermelon
I am afraid there is no ‘obvious’ solution or no ‘simple’ solution. A large number of Australian citizens like Australia Day the way it is. We live in a democracy.
I’ve not seen a summary The First Nation Voice proposal & opposition, Thorpe’s in particular.
On first reading I think this position is one designed to ensure failure of positive outcome.
Thorpe, however, did not rule out the Greens ultimately opposing the referendum, saying “we’ll have to see”. She said Labor would need to commit to implementing all the recommendations from the 31-year-old Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody and the 1997 Bringing them Home inquiry into the Stolen Generations. The Greens also want the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples enshrined in Commonwealth law.
And this to me is the overriding motive…
“This meeting is not about the Voice. The Labor government has never reached out to me to talk to me about the Voice,” she said.
In short Thorpe has an ego issue.
“Griff says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:33 am
Alpo @ Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:27 am
A possible solution is to celebrate the Australia Act coming into force on March 3, 1986.”
I agree about the meaningfulness of that date, but March will clash with the need for a nice and relaxed day on the beach, etc. Mind you, we in Qld will be still okay, but then poor Victorians and Tasmanians will likely complain about being discriminated against… 🙂
Some people may regard as “silly” to condition a new date to current lifestyle traditions associated with Australia Day, but following what another poster said, most Australians aren’t all that jingoistic about Australia Day, and simply enjoy the free and lazy time with family and friends in some outdoors setting (beach, pool, park, etc.).
“Sceptic says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:48 am
“And this to me is the overriding motive…
“This meeting is not about the Voice. The Labor government has never reached out to me to talk to me about the Voice,” she said.
In short Thorpe has an ego issue.””
Thorpe is making herself more and more irrelevant by the day…. Soon, the fast-shrinking Thorpe will be gone in a puff of smoke… Then, I will welcome the Greens to officially back the Voice and start working hard, alongside the rest of us, for the success of the Yes option at the referendum.
Alpo @ Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:49 am
Climate change’ll sort it. The start of March will be the new end of January!
“Lars Von Trier says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:44 am
Ven says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:42 am
Today is India’s Republic Day. India became republic in 1950.
______________________________________
Do you think it lived up to its ideals? The Kashmir genocide and all. It’s really a Hindu dominated state now. Apparently Muslims whose family history stretches 100’s of years may be denied citizenship under laws introduced by Modi and the Supreme Court will now be controlled by the BJP.”
I definitely don’t like the ultra-nationalistic and Neoliberal Modi, but singling out India for internal ethnic tensions and discrimination is a bit biased, don’t you think Lars?
Who wouldn’t appreciate an extra Convicts Day public holiday being added to the calendar to celebrate Australia’s convict heritage. This way the 26 of January can be retained as a public holiday that commemorates the First Fleet without insulting indigenous Australians, and another national day can be found (maybe the 27 of May to commemorate the 1967 referendum which reclassified indigenous Australians as human beings).
Looks like I really got under nath’s skin yesterday.
Really doesn’t like his romantic views of the world challenged.
”I think January 1st was chosen simply because, new year, new nation.”
New year, new century, new nation. It was the first day of the 20th century. Had things gone otherwise, the Republic would have come into being on the first day of the 21st.
Albanese said the Voice would never be “above the parliament” and would never be in a position to veto decisions of the parliament. He added that this “subservience” to the parliament was one of the criticisms of the proposal from Thorpe.
What does Thorpe expect..
“The parliament is supreme over an Indigenous voice,” Thorpe says. “And I think that’s the crux of it right there. We want a treaty so that we can have real power.”
Thorp is in the right party to ensure total failure of the proposal, nothing will eventuate because her perfect can not be achieved… Greens climate policy wrecking repeated.
“Griff says:
Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:53 am
Alpo @ Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 9:49 am
Climate change’ll sort it. The start of March will be the new end of January!”
… Except in La Nina years….
January 26 was “Anniversary Day” until the late 1930s; my grandmother (b. 1888 d. 1990) called it that throughout her life. (She also called the NSW October holiday “8 Hour Day” – which caused great confusion when I was young).
I think we should call it Liberation Day – to commemorate the day that the Rum Corps bravely overthrew the tyrant Bligh