YouGov has a new federal poll out showing a tie on two-party preferred, after Labor led 51-49 in the last such poll a month ago. Rounding clearly had something to do with the shift, because Labor is actually up a point on the primary vote to 32% with the Coalition down one to 37%, with the Greens steady on 13% and One Nation up one to 8%. Anthony Albanese is down one on approval to 41% and steady on disapproval 52%, with Peter Dutton steady on 42% and up one to 47%. Albanese’s lead as preferred prime minister is 43-38, in from 45-37 last time. The poll was conducted Friday to Wednesday from a sample of 1543.
In other developments:
• Having exhausted every avenue to challenge his preselection defeat, all the way to the Supreme Court, right-wing Queensland Senator Gerard Rennick has quit the Liberal Party and announced he will run at the next election under the banner of the Gerard Rennick People First party. The Australian points out that Rennick has “almost 320,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter”.
• Graham Perrett, who has held the Brisbane seat of Moreton for Labor since 2007, has announced he will retire at the next election. Perrett had hitherto resisted pressure to make way for Julie-Ann Campbell, Left faction colleague and the party’s state secretary, as the Queensland branch struggled to meet its affirmative action quota. A source quoted by Phillip Coorey of the Financial Review said Campbell had the numbers to win a contested preselection, and that Perrett’s backers in the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union had encouraged him to withdraw.
• The Liberals have chosen three candidates for seats in Perth: grains farmer Mic Fels in Swan, Gosnells councillor David Goode in Hasluck, and lawyer and former party staffer Sean Ayres in Burt. Jake Dietsch of The West Australian reports Fels won the party vote in Swan by 38 to 34 ahead of Nick Marvin, former chief executive of the Perth Wildcats basketball and Western Force rugby league clubs.
• Alexandra Smith of the Sydney Morning Herald reports the Liberals are hoping to enlist Northern Beaches deputy mayor Georgia Ryburn, who will shortly lose her seat on council due to the party’s nominations fiasco, to take on teal independent Sophie Scamps in Mackellar.
• Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has announced that the Liberal National Party will restore optional preferential voting in the seemingly likely event that it wins the October 26 state election. Optional preferential voting was introduced by one Labor government in 1992, and unexpectedly abolished by another in 2016.
Luigi Smith says:
Friday, August 30, 2024 at 9:22 am
So, exactly what questions were going to be excluded from the census and are now going to be included?
As far as I can tell,”do you identify with the alphabet soup”. I can’t understand why people want the state to be so nosy, what in the hell does it matter, but there you are.
mj says:
Friday, August 30, 2024 at 8:59 am
Obviously a bad call politically by Labor on the Census when 3 MP’s feel the need to publically announce they don’t agree with it – clearly isn’t going down well in inner city seats. Correct for Labor to reverse it but the damage is kind of done now that the headlights are shining on it for the anti-woke brigade to howl at and it was totally avoidable if they just left it as is.
———-
The federal Lib/nats once again has shown they only play politics hence why the lib/nats and propaganda media units mostly get the backlash against them
“Q: Opposition leader Peter Dutton uses the word “woke agenda” and there are people who think these questions do fit into that agenda. Isn’t that at the heart the problem here?”
Incredible framing from ABC Radio National. The heart of the ‘problem here’ is the weaponisation of sexuality.
I’m pretty sure the Greens joined with Labor on rightly condemning Tony Abbott for speaking at a rally with terrible signs.
Apparently the rule is different when it’s Max. Usual hypocrisy.
We expect this from Dutton and the Libs but the Greens pretend to a higher standard of behaviour. You’d think this would be an easy opportunity for Greens stooges to admit for once when someone from their party got something wrong but…
Yes Lorbain Albos backflip on the census issue made me smile this morning. Good to see leaders not necessarily admitting to a poor decision but open to changing dumb, retrograde decisions. There is a few more I could add to the poor decisions list but yeah, credit where credit is due. Maybe Dutton could do the same on putting a nuke plant in an area prone to earthquakes. I won’t hold my breath waiting for that.
Bingo!
“How did Bridget Archer’s mob go? Remind me”.
I guess the more pertinent question is how is Anthony Albanese’s mob going? Pissing off people who support you is quite the electoral tactic.
Will the Greens backflip on Max canoodling thugs?
Will Bandt backflip on the divisive hate he is sowing with respect to the Middle East?
Will Bandt backflip on raising 40% tax on people’s super?
Elmer Fudd
Why do you want the government to be so nosy? it all makes no dam sense?
‘Royal Doulton says:
Friday, August 30, 2024 at 9:35 am
“How did Bridget Archer’s mob go? Remind me”.
I guess the more pertinent question is how is Anthony Albanese’s mob going? Pissing off people who support you is quite the electoral tactic.’
——————–
Quoting Archer as an authority is the question you raised.
As for pissing people off, the Greens polling is trending downwards over the past six months.
The worst thing about Albo’s backflip on the Census question is that, rather than simply confess that the government had made a bad call, he has chosen to leave Marles and Chalmers hanging out to dry.
To quote the ABC: “Mr Albanese avoided characterising the decision as a backflip, saying while several of his ministers had confirmed a question would not be added, he had not yet been asked about it.”
While I’m anything but a fan of Albo, it’s not the sort of thing I would have expected from him.
As far as I can tell,”do you identify with the alphabet soup”. I can’t understand why people want the state to be so nosy, what in the hell does it matter, but there you are.
———————
No one is forced to answer it, but if people want it to be counted it is no big deal either. It’s also not that important and has become a distraction to more practical matters.
Good to see a few social conservative Laborites here…
1. This was a request made by LGBTQI+ groups (on a side note, the moment you call it the alphabet brigade/group/club it says alot about you, like unironically using the term woke) because
2 By having a good understanding of how many individuals we have that are not plain old hetero it allows governments to better provide funding (broad and targeted) , and it also
3 Shifts the narrative away that this demographic is some small blip on the radar; given its estimated range is between 7 and 15, this means its likely 1 in 10 Australians are not straight.
Some of you sound like a bunch of old borderline homophobic farts…
And BW, you might have missed all the polling data discussed yesterday, but the Greens polling is very slow growth if your talking about downward polling, you might mean Labor 🙂
meher baba says:
Friday, August 30, 2024 at 9:39 am
The worst thing about Albo’s backflip on the Census question is that, rather than simply confess that the government had made a bad call, he has chosen to leave Marles and Chalmers hanging out to dry.
—————
The biggest political blackflip is from federal lib/nats they have been caught out playing politics ,Bridget Archer calls out her leader Peter Dutton
The federal lib/nats consistently attack the transgender/others and now they put on crocodile tears about those people who they normally attack, not being mention in the census
@meher –
“While I’m anything but a fan of Albo, it’s not the sort of thing I would have expected from him.”
He’s not exactly got personal popularity to burn to protect his Ministers at the moment. Not that I think the attempted handpass will particularly cut through with voters. Might be more irritation with Chalmers creeping out.
mj,
How do you know no-one is forced to answer it? Census questions are usually compulsory, although there are occasional exceptions.
“Level of incompetence by Labor & Albo is remarkable”
I guess incompetence is one of the products of being a party and a prime minister with no real values or beliefs, other than being in government to satisfy the ego and enjoy the financial and other privileges.
The federal Lib/nats under Peter Dutton are not just not political competent
“Mr Comyn said voters were being presented with a “false dichotomy: for a company to earn any sort of income or profit, it is often inferred or related … as somehow being unjustly extracted from consumers”.
Mr Comyn presents the false dichotomy, that standing up to big business is somehow unjust.
74% of Australians believe big business has too much power.
https://australianelectionstudy.org/wp-content/uploads/Trends-in-Australian-Political-Opinion-Results-from-the-Australian-Election-Study-1987-2022.pdf
Ante, I imagine they indicate that it is an optional question, like the current question on religion (and oh boy I can only imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the right if this question got removed)
“Michelle Pini discusses the alacrity with which the incoming Northern Territory CLP Government aims to lower the age of criminal responsibility, among other Draconian measures”.
It was lowered from 12 to 10 last year so has precisely nothing to do with anything currently happening.
“How do you know no-one is forced to answer it? Census questions are usually compulsory, although there are occasional exceptions.”
Even if it is not marked as optional (as I would expect given the nature), nobody marches around and arrests people for not answering census questions mate. Not one, not ever.
Better late than never. Albo gets the census decision correct at last.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-30/albanese-says-question-on-sexuality-will-be-tested-for-census/104289570?sf274447691=1
This self-manufactured issue unnecessarily distracted from a week the government delivered on both Pacific security and inflation reduction. Not that most people would know either of the latter.
I know that Arky, but in principle it’s still an offence to not answer most census questions. Obviously common sense dictates any question on sexuality should be optional, but you don’t often hear the words common sense and government in the same sentence.
Lordbain says:
Friday, August 30, 2024 at 9:43 am
Good to see a few social conservative Laborites here…
1. This was a request made by LGBTQI+ groups (on a side note, the moment you call it the alphabet brigade/group/club it says alot about you, like unironically using the term woke) because
Says a lot about me, does it? I don’t care what people do in the bed-room or how they dress. It says a lot about you, that you do. Nosy bastard. I’m not going to work out what all the letters stand for. I just don’t care.
2 By having a good understanding of how many individuals we have that are not plain old hetero it allows governments to better provide funding (broad and targeted) , and it also
So you believe funding of what should be dependent on your sexuality or how you dress? Give me an example as to where it matters.
3 Shifts the narrative away that this demographic is some small blip on the radar; given its estimated range is between 7 and 15, this means its likely 1 in 10 Australians are not straight.
So what, I don’t care. People have put a lot of effort into getting the state out of the bedroom. That is the way it should stay.
Some of you sound like a bunch of old borderline homophobic farts…
You sound like a nosy bastard interested in other peoples lives, got nothing to do with you or the state.
And BW, you might have missed all the polling data discussed yesterday, but the Greens polling is very slow growth if your talking about downward polling, you might mean Labor
I don’t think supporting thugs, shonk, and what people do in their bedroom or how they dress is a winning strategy, but I could be wrong.
I’d give Albo a 9.5 for his most recent effort. Who knew that having no backbone would be so useful?
Just a bit of a shame that ‘political back-flipping’ is not yet yet an olympic event. He’d be on the podium for sure.
fred, your certainly wrong so wont argue there 🙂
Heres an example as to why knowing demographics helps.
We know that LGBTQI+ youth experience mental illness at far higher rates, so the census can help inform where extra funding may be needed to address this. It can also help where extra education funding (as this mental illlness is driven by social factors and not biological) is needed to prevent.
Fred, for someone who doesnt care about this, you could have just stayed quite. Instead, you complained about it (like BW).
Or would you prefer these groups just shut up and get back in the closet…
“Quoting Archer as an authority is the question you raised.
As for pissing people off, the Greens polling is trending downwards over the past six months.”
Framing everything through Greens vs Labor is deeply tedious and characterising perfectly valid criticism as ‘therefore you are a Greens supporter’ is likewise tedious. You are clearly incapable of being objective but not everyone is.
Why bother addressing the substance of Archer’s criticism when you can just shout.
Here’s conspiratorial; The Labor Political Party had always intended to backflip on the QUILTBAG+ question in the census, but wanted the pantomime to bring it to the attention of the anti-woke folk who will now rail against it. The Labor Political Party feels that anti-woke folk railing against the QUILTBAG+ community will shore up their own votes. The goal then is to use a vulnerable minority as a pawn to make the LNP look bad.
“As far as I can tell,”do you identify with the alphabet soup”. I can’t understand why people want the state to be so nosy, what in the hell does it matter, but there you are.”
The point of asking the question is exactly the same as asking questions on age, country of birth, religion, ancestry, language, work and education.
Labor’s critics outraged when census question dumped.
Same people will likely soon be outraged that it is being asked.
So much outrage. Most of it fake.
Royal Doulton,
With the exception of religion, those things you listed are objectively provable, sexual orientation is not. Which is one good reason why it hasn’t been included in the census until now.
The equating of sexuality with sex is a bit creepy to be honest.
“With the exception of religion, those things you listed are objectively provable, sexual orientation is not. Which is one good reason why it hasn’t been included in the census until now.”
Objectively provable in theory, much less so in fact. And not a reason to exclude or include things from the census. I’m not aware of any evidence that people lie on the census in a way that materially affects the result.
Fred I refer you to Lordbains good post at 9.43 for why the government census needs to be so “nosey” as you put it. The census collects info on demographic changes and informs govt policy decisions, including the number of LGBTIQ+ people in Oz is a good thing. It’s not just about being,” woke “as some Libs with the homophones glued to their ears will claim. It’s what intelligent governance does.
In the first place, saying there’s no evidence people lie on census forms is a bit like saying there’s no evidence of anyone committing a crime that’s gone undetected.
In the second place, people who design census forms deliberately avoid asking questions which have a strong reason for respondents to lie. Not for any moral reason, just because it would render the results worthless.
As I’ve already said just stick an H in there and it’s all redundant.
LGBTQIAH+
We’re all just one big happy ‘community’
Asking about sexuality/gender in the census is like asking about your religiosity. It provides interesting data, but not data on which to base decisions (I could be wrong here, so speak out if you think I am).
There are about 60 questions asked in the census. To get a question put into the census (or taken out for that matter) is difficult. It upsets the trend analysis. Plus, the ABS doesn’t want the census to be onerous. Lengthy questionnaires tend to make people drop out before finishing. Thus compromising the value of the whole process.
The government(s) want data to base their decisions on. It gives you an idea of areas are growing, getting poorer or richer, older or younger. Important information for governments so they can allocate money for infrastructure, social housing, services etc.
Private enterprise also want data to base their decisions on. Where do we build shopping centres, what sort of product to offer and where, where should we base our logistics hubs etc.
BTW, there was a time when you had to buy the census data ($6,000 at one stage), but thirty odd years ago, someone decided the information was collected by the tax payer, so therefore it should be available free to all Australians. I haven’t checked for a while, but I assume it is still free to download.
Mundo, ‘just stick a H in there’.
I would like to see the letter NPH added as well. (Non practicing heterosexuals/homosexuals).
That should cover the whole spectrum.
I’d be very happy if the ABS dropped the religion question/s.
Lordbain is right to highlight mental health. Would it were not so.
Lordbain says:
Friday, August 30, 2024 at 9:43 am
Good to see a few social conservative Laborites here…
1. This was a request made by LGBTQI+ groups (on a side note, the moment you call it the alphabet brigade/group/club it says alot about you, like unironically using the term woke) because
2 By having a good understanding of how many individuals we have that are not plain old hetero it allows governments to better provide funding (broad and targeted) , and it also
3 Shifts the narrative away that this demographic is some small blip on the radar; given its estimated range is between 7 and 15, this means its likely 1 in 10 Australians are not straight.
Some of you sound like a bunch of old borderline homophobic farts…
——————
Where to begin?
1. First of all isn’t it, at least, LGBTQIA+? Surely you’re not asexual-phobic!! (Although even if “asexual” is not a sexuality neither is it a gender)
2. The “alphabet soup” is not a benign listing of supposedly connected individuals, it’s a deliberate attempt to co-opt, (forced marriage of) same SEX attracted people (LGB) with the GENDER cult of the largely straight (hetero) fetishists. It is homophobic (and misogynist).
3. “The moment you say ….. it says a lot about you”! Haha …. (Lordbain) saying that equally says a lot about you.
4. “ …how many individuals we have that are not plain old hetero.”: As said above, as i understand it, most TQ+ are, in your words, plain old heteros, so how will this show who are old homos? I know genderism has to be deliberately confusing because it is incoherent.
5. You come across as just another one of the “bunch of old borderline homophobic farts”. (It’s interesting that you qualify the people you don’t like with “old”. Are you a member of the Twitler Youth and you think tomorrow belongs to you?).
Lordbain says:
Friday, August 30, 2024 at 10:10 am
..
We know that LGBTQI+ youth experience mental illness at far higher rates, so the census can help inform where extra funding may be needed to address this. It can also help where extra education funding (as this mental illlness is driven by social factors and not biological) is needed to prevent.
As I lost a cousin to Suicide I have very little time for this argument. It is a society issues and to suggest it is an alphabet issues is to denigrate the alphabet community and to reduce the importance of the issue across society.
When I get to the alphabet people question I’ll write ‘none of your business’
Rikali, I dont bother to waste my time with Terfs, begone you
Lordbain, you left out A.
How very dare you.
I suspect that the most of the electorate would not know – or care – that much about the so-called “census issue”. A minor pebble in a very big pond.
I wonder also about one or two critics here who claim Albanese has “no real values or beliefs” What kind of world do they live in?
This man is what he was and will be what he is now. You either think he is worthy of the role of PM or not. If not, well just too bad has he has got somewhere where 99% plus of his critics will never get to because they are just not good enough to.
Albanese is no Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke or Keating but he is sure a lot better than Morrison, Abbott and previous Liberal failures and certainly a long way ahead of Dutton.
At this time of our century a safer, blander kind of leader, not ready to just send our armed forces out to fight some meaningless war, and willing to try and sort our nine years of dross Liberal government is the ticket now.
Leader says:
Friday, August 30, 2024 at 10:46 am
Mundo, ‘just stick a H in there’.
I would like to see the letter NPH added as well. (Non practicing heterosexuals/homosexuals).
That should cover the whole spectrum.
Come 0n you can’t get three letters how about N.
Tricot’s right.
LGBTQIAHNPH+
I agree Leader.
We need another ‘I’ for impotent.
LGBTQIAHNPHI+
Say it a few times…has a lovely lilt to it.
frednk, the fact your claiming I am saying that suicide ONLY affects the LGBTQAI+ community is a joke; what I am saying is that from a demographic perspective mental illness is more prevalent in this community then not, due to societal reasons (including the idea that they are weird, different, something that is helped by having a better understanding as to the population ratio).
But hey, I wonder if youth mental illness rates in LGBTQIA+ are affected by being accused of being a special needs group every time they ask for the same rights and options as others, called the alphabet crew, or accused of being sexual deviants.
Truly a question for the ages… but hey, at least I have a pretty good guess at the homophobes and terfs here (and whats impressive is that it isnt FUBAR or Alabama being the most hateful here this morning)