The fortnightly Sky News Pulse poll by YouGov has Labor up a point to 30%, the Coalition up one to 20%, One Nation down two to 25% and the Greens steady on 13%. Labor holds two-party leads of 55-45 over both the Coalition and One Nation. Anthony Albanese is up a point on approval to 39% and down two on disapproval to 55%, while Angus Taylor improves not inconsiderably with a four-point increase in approval to 38% and a three-point drop in disapproval to 39%. Albanese leads 44-36 on preferred prime minister, out from 43-37. The poll was conducted last Tuesday to this Tuesday from a sample of 1500.
The weekly Roy Morgan poll has Labor up half a point to 30.5%, the Coalition up one-and-a-half to 24%, One Nation down two to 21.5%, and the Greens down one-and-a-half to 12%. In Labor-versus-Coalition terms, the poll finds Labor leading 56-44 based on previous election and 53.5-46.5 on respondent-allocated preferences (the latter measure has on average had Labor a point higher since the last election). The poll was conducted last Monday to Sunday from a sample of 1411.
Roy Morgan also had an SMS poll recording an 83-17 split in favour of the government’s decision to cut fuel excise on petrol and diesel, although there was a 64-36 split against the government on satisfaction of its management of the shortage. Respondents were also invited to provide open-ended responses as to who they blamed and why, which you can read about in very great detail in an accompanying report. This poll was conducted March 26 to April 1 from a sample of 2514.
A poll I missed last Thursday was a RedBridge Group/Accent Research “super-poll” of 5563 respondents in the Financial Review. It was slightly dated in having been conducted from March 6 to 19, and did not feature a national headline result, its raison d’etre being breakdowns with significant samples. I will add the results later today from the four largest states and by age, gender, language, housing tenure and past vote to the BludgerTrack poll data archive, and stick here to the bits it’s unable to accommodate. Kos Samaras of RedBridge Group has published a cross-tabulation for generation by financial stress to illustrate the point that stressed older voters are voting One Nation while their younger equivalents are voting Greens, a point he elaborated on in an accompanying analysis piece.
My own favourite cross-tabulation is age-by-gender, which offers a too-rare look at one of the most striking electoral phenomena of our time, namely the pronounced gender gap that has developed among young voters. Among “Gen-Z” men, Labor is on 39%, the Coalition 12%, One Nation 19% and the Greens 24%; among women, Labor is on 26%, the Coalition 14%, One Nation 11% and the Greens 38%. The pattern is reflected in lesser degree among “millennials”, the result for men being Labor 36%, Coalition 16%, One Nation 26% and Greens 13%, and for women Labor 28%, Coalition 19%, One Nation 27% and Greens 15%. For “Gen-X” men, Labor is on 32%, the Coalition 18%, One Nation 35% and the Greens 6%; for women, Labor 29%, the Coalition 21%, One Nation 31% and Greens 9%. Among “baby boomer” men, Labor is on 27%, the Coalition 30%, One Nation 31% and the Greens 4%; among women, Labor 33%, the Coalition 24%, One Nation 32% and the Greens 3%.
The poll also asked four questions of the 491 respondents who said they would vote One Nation. Seventy per cent agreed their choice was a “tactic to make the major parties listen to ordinary Australians”, with only 18% disagreeing. However, 65% felt it “important to elect qualified leaders, even if we don’t always agree with them”, with 14% disagreeing. Fifty-four per cent felt “almost anything is better than the way things are going now, I just want to vote for change”, with 24% disagreeing.
The Australia Institute has an unrelated YouGov poll (hat-tip to Nadia in comments), conducted March 12 to 19 from a sample of 1502, as part of its campaign for a gas exports tax but encompassing voting intention. The result includes an undistributed 8% “don’t know” component, with the rest being Labor 26%, Coalition 19%, One Nation 24% and Greens 12%. The full report features breakdowns by state, age and gender. It also finds 60% agreeing that Australia exports too much gas, with only 10% disagreeing.
https://www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in/2026/04/08/from-test-cheat-to-one-nation-state-president
From test cheat to One Nation state president
One Nation’s SA state president, who won a seat in the upper house at the recent SA election, gave evidence in court about his involvement in a cheating scheme.
https://bsky.app/profile/rimidar.bsky.social/post/3mixqhpn6ek2h
1977: Edward Teller, father of the hydrogen bomb, addresses the Queensland Parliament. His visit was sponsored by Gina Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock, who wanted to use nuclear explosives to extract iron ore and create a new Pilbara harbour to accommodate massive ore ships
(vintage student newspaper coverage attached in images)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/08/business/bitcoin-satoshi-nakamoto-identity-adam-back.html (paywalled)
https://archive.is/iRBng (no paywall archive version)
My Quest to Solve Bitcoin’s Great Mystery
Bitcoin’s creator has hidden behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto for 17 years. But a trail of clues buried deep in crypto lore led to a 55-year-old computer scientist named Adam Back.
https://bsky.app/profile/wombot.quest/post/3mixqk7y5u22u
As one Bluesky user put it about the Bitcoin guy, with example screen captures from his X account…
“some theories made you think Satoshi was like a libertarian Bill Watterson who retired to follow higher pursuits, point made
but this guy lives online trying to outdork other dorks when he is 55 and has more money than god
sad.”
https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/orbans-brits
From Roger Scruton cafes to paying Matt Goodwin $10k a month, Viktor Orban has built a network of populist right think tanks, journalists and activists
Democracy for Sale delves into Orban’s allies on the British right
@frednk “I have a problem with Ben Roberts-Smith’s arrest being so public”
I think the AFP preferred to pick him up in a situation where, having just stepped off a plane there was no risk he’d be carrying a firearm or have his kids with him. Also avoids any prospect of him going all secret squirrel and trying to dodge them if they knocked on the door. Given his behaviour after being illegally tipped off by Mick Keelty to the investigation into him (as came out in the defamation trial), the secret squirrel couldn’t be entirely discounted.
Evening all,
In regards to the ceasefire can we speculate that the Trump Administration had signalled to Iran that a direct nuclear strike/s was/were in the works if they continued their attacks?
Regarding B R-S, I totally agree with Rex @ 1737 regarding the Army top brass being held to account. As it is often said, the fish rot from the head, and the ADF have been found wanting many times regarding many matters.
Takeaway – this blog when it comes to geopolitical/geostragic matters is –
Similar to the Melbourne cup.. the day every Australian is a horse expert.
No-one in the ‘top brass’ has murdered people in cold blood.
Nor have they condoned murdering people in cold blood.
They have put the ROE front and centre of anyone headed to a combat zone.
And…. ISAAK comes in as the light weight smokey. Give him a stall, somebody.
The rhetoric is changing…
———–
Anthony Albanese brands Trump’s Iran threats ‘extraordinary’ in rare moment of criticism
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/apr/08/australian-pm-anthony-albanese-trump-iran-threats-comments
Trump’s escalating rhetoric inappropriate for a United States president, Albanese says
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-08/albanese-denounces-trump-iran-rhetoric/106527034
——————————————–
Dr Carrie McDougall is an associate professor at Melbourne Law School. She has previously advised the Australian government on its operations in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Albanese’s dodge over Ben Roberts-Smith suggests we’re just a Trump lackey
https://www.theage.com.au/national/is-australia-a-us-lackey-or-does-it-fight-war-crimes-albanese-dodged-his-big-moment-20260408-p5zm64.html
Gotta love how Max C-M triggers some…
——-
Max Chandler-Mather is back to lead a Greens think-tank. Can he fire up a left-wing movement?
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/max-chandler-mather-is-back-to-lead-a-greens-think-tank-can-he-fire-up-a-left-wing-movement-20260407-p5zlw8.html
“Chandler-Mather said the Australian Greens should learn from strategies that have swept left-wing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to power and propelled the UK Greens above the Labour government in opinion polls, so they can start capitalising on the major political parties’ decline in national polling.
“The Greens’ job is to build a big enough mass movement – similar to the UK Greens – that can present a genuine progressive break with the status quo, and offer a form of progressive economic populism that can describe, in clear terms, a positive transformation in people’s lives,” he said.
“It’s pretty clear that both major parties are hollowing out and decaying – it’s just that the Liberal Party is doing it faster. Both parties are clearly the standard-bearers of the political and economic status quo. The conclusion I’ve reached is that if we want substantial change, it needs a movement big enough to replace establishment politics.””
@Kirsdarke
I really hope this post was a deadpan gag given two of the branches of government cannot be won by the Democrats before the next presidential election.
@pied piper – actual American MAGA types are furious at the Iran war, only you wannabes who don’t live in America love it. I think Vance will mostly be trying to distance himself from this debacle in 2028, and his lack of visibility in relation to it was done with that in mind.
@Pegasus
Deranged. Politicians should not be commenting on this and prejudicing the legal case, which Albo understands. Pauline and co are of course happy to try and prejudice the case. And the BRS case has nothing to do with Trump or the US anyway. Trust you to find the commentator with the most brain-dead Albo-hating take on anything and rush to parrot it.
Yeah, we could maybe make a new industry sector out of Max C-M’s smug wanker energy.
@Arky at 6:25pm
I meant at the 2028 election if the Democrats win the House, Senate and Presidency and then hardly do anything to change things from this Trump disaster.
Rafiki
Yes that is a risk. Obviously EA presses for a natioanl system with appropriate minimum standards.
In the case of Engineering, there are already minimum standards for degree engineers defined in an international agreement that Australia is signatory to, the Washington Accord. The trick will be getting the standards set by people who know what the requirements are, rather than bureaucrats driving towards the lowest common denominator.
As I predicted earlier, Iran folded. They can shitpost on twitter all they like but it was obvious to me that Trump’s strategic bombing threat, however crudely delivered, was legitimate and at the scale the US military could deliver weaponry, would have been an existential threat to the Iranian regime regardless of their ability to throw a few drones across the pond at random tankers & amazon warehouses.
Mission Accomplished… ?
We’ll see.
Peg it’s fine when you post news, but MCM’s make work project has been posted half a dozen times already today.
Please coordinate with Difficult first when doing the daily party updates
MCM with Albo Derangement Syndrome.
“It’s pretty clear that both major parties are hollowing out and decaying”
Yes, very clear. That recent election where Albo won 94 seats in the House while the Greens lost 3, and where Labor went from 25 seats to 28 in the Senate while the Greens remained stuck on 11, thus giving Albo credit for a leftward shift in the balance of power so that left wing policy no longer needs the vote of Lambie or Peacock or the rat who will remain nameless or Babet or One Nation or even the LNP.
MCM is in a magical opposite land where the leader of the Greens being punted out of Parliament along with Max himself and another colleague, all three replaced by Labor, is “Labor decaying”.
Bizzcan @ 6:33 pm
Once again I appreciate the laugh you provide so often. Every day here, stuff gets repeated on here over and over but I understand why you have a go at me.
It must be confronting to have a couple of posters who dare to come on PB who have a different take on so many issues and who are not members or supporters of either Labor or the Coalition.
It is rumoured that Thomas & Alito will resign from the US Supreme Court soon, possibly before the midterms, allowing Trump to nominate two more conservative judges in their place. If, however, they resign next year and the Dems take control of the Senate, their confirmation could be delayed, like Garland’s was.
@Victoria –
I think your Twitter person is more correct than not. The idea of a formal, public accord between Iran and Israel even after Netanyahu is turfed… that feels like it would have to be a long way off. But a quiet end to active hostilities, yeah.
Remember a couple of weeks ago when some commenters were divinely convinced the Iranians were about to run everybody else out of air defence munitions and have them begging for mercy. That idea vanished. It was always propaganda. A lot of people let their hatred of Trump make them overrate Iran’s position.
The Americans failed to shock and awe their way to the regime collapsing, but they did do damage to an already damaged regime. It does seem like Iran’s primary goal here even in its public demands is to cement its survival and breathing space to not be back in this situation in 6 months. While of course Trump’s primary goal is to escape this incredibly expensive debacle with something he can try to sell as a win.
@Mavis at 6:45pm
That is unless Chuck Schumer says to vote them through as an act of bipartisan comity or whatever.
I wonder how it would have gone in 1962 had President Kennedy broadcast on national TV “Hey Khrushchev, Get those F**** missiles out of Cuba you crazy bastard or the Soviet Union ends in two days!”
A high risk strategy, to say the least.
@Ghost yeah I made the point this morning that it took two to TACO here. At bedtime last night Iranian sources were claiming that as a result of Trump’s windy threats all negotiations were frozen (after the many times they’d denied any negotiations were happening, and people swallowed that), yet by morning tea they’d done a deal. Mutual capitulation.
Meh. He’s just another Greens inner urban elite brie eating surrender monkey.
@Kirsdarke “I meant at the 2028 election if the Democrats win the House, Senate and Presidency and then hardly do anything to change things from this Trump disaster.”
I think imagining that scenario is getting a bit ahead of events.
I think Democrat primary voters will be going for holy vengeance on the GOP candidates this time FWIW.
And at the end, if the 10-point-plan is true, what has changed since the war began?
Iran’s scored a major strategic victory in that it tolls ships running through the Strait of Hormuz now, which would allow them to recover from the US/Israeli’s tactical victory of bombing schoolgirls among other atrocities.
I doubt this “ceasefire” will last 2 weeks though, we’re dealing with a Mad King here.
I don’t think they can but if Iran get to toll the Strait, have all sanctions removed, be free to enrich uranium and have Israel stop its vast array of war crimes – it would be a massive win.
SLsays:
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 4:15 pm
Canavan says the Nationals are winning the net zero debate, and accused Labor of not talking about net zero because the opposition had shown up its “absurdities”. (GA Live)
———————————-
Barely a day goes by that Chris Bowen doesn’t mention renewables. In addition, the media seem to have largely ignored this from last week:
============================================
What would Mat “let’s frack all the farms” Caravan know about true energy independence?
…why it is good it for Australia to be completely defenceless and who are too gutless to defend their woeful national security and defence policies.
Nah. No-one is confronted by Greens stupidity when it comes to national security and defence.
The Greens are the same sort of inter war rabbits who left the democracies in a parlous situation when Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo forgot to do Peace Studies 101. Just like Xi, Putin, Netanyahu, Trump and Khamenei II have forgotten to do Peace Studies. The Greens’ faith in the UN is about the same as their ideological soulmates’ faith in the League of Nations.
There is no excuse for Greens’ stupidity on defence and national security.
“Chandler-Mather grew up in the suburb of West End. His parents, Tim Mather and Kim Chandler, were members of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He attended Brisbane State High School.
Chandler-Mather completed a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in History at the University of Queensland. While at university he was a member of the Labor Party, and a member of the Labor Left faction, after being encouraged to join by his parents. Chandler-Mather quit the ALP in 2013, stating in 2022 that he could not remain as a member of the party following Julia Gillard’s reestablishment of off-shore detention centres in Nauru.
Chandler-Mather worked part-time as a call centre worker at the trade union United Voice, where he claims senior organisers attempted to pressure him to rejoin the ALP.
After graduating, Chandler-Mather was a trade union organiser for the National Tertiary Education Union.
Despite not being a member of the Greens at the time, Chandler-Mather was employed as Jonathan Sriranganathan’s campaign manager for his successful 2016 campaign for Brisbane City Council. Chandler-Mather and Sriranganathan organised their campaign around the left-wing social theory of the right to the city, arguing that property developers and banks have turned cities such as Brisbane into ‘the new factory’, resulting in people believing they do not have power over local communities.”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Chandler-Mather
@Arky at 6:54pm
Well, we’ll have to see how things play out in November this year I suppose.
One critical point will be the Senate race in Maine. The Democratic establishment are firmly behind 78-year-old Janet Mills, of which polls say she’ll lose, and are attacking the likely winner Graham Platner, backed by “outsiders”.
If they have their way and don’t do the “Vote Blue no matter Who” and ratfuck their own campaign, well, Republicans win.
… meh, except for the gays who will continue to get hung, the women who are tortured for not wearing hijabs and the like, the religious minorities who are systematically discriminated against, the ordinary Iranian citizens who would dearly love to exercize some liberal freedoms and be members of a democracy… oh, and the poor farmers of the world who will be paying a toll to Iran on their food inputs.
… a massive win also for Netanyahu whose program of restoring the Kingdom of David will have taken a giant leap forward with the ethnic cleansing of Lebanon to the Litani River.
I do get sick of the way in which Iran is somehow OK in the eyes of assorted lefties because it is against Israel. And I do get sick of the way in which Israel is somehow OK in the eyes of assorted righties because it against Iran.
Those sicko bastards are all in it up their necks.
Starting with a lie is no way to go. He needs to grow up.
One nation ahead in Victoria says sky news poll today…
Thats now Qld and VIC
https://stocks.apple.com/AfDsbDyJ2ThKl5Sb70dXwew
The people in his electorate knew Max best. They gave him the arse after just one term. You might think that the Pegs of the world would learn a lesson from this.
But, no.
Kirsdarke:
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 6:48 pm
Ha. I think it’s time for Chuck to consider his future. He’s largely been ineffective as Senate Minority Leader, and at 75, it’s probably time for him to make way for someone with fire in their belly. I can’t think of anyone, other than Welch & Sanders, but they’re both older than Schumer. Can you think of anyone?
@Mavis at 7:12pm
I’d say Chris Murphy of Connecticut might make a good Senate leader. He’s only 52 (pretty young among Democratic Senators), and seems to get the message that their campaigning has to change.
Max was a very popular local MP. He only lost because the LNP did much more badly in 2025 than in 2022 so the preference flows did not favour Max. The outcome was not a rejection of Max. He will be back in Parliament soon. Labor’s MP is a paragon of mediocrity, a bland party hack.
Kirsdarke:
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 7:19 pm
Thanks, I’ll check him out. At least he’s relatively young.
“And at the end, if the 10-point-plan is true, what has changed since the war began?”
Huge losses amongst the regime and military leadership. Iranian Navy, Air Force, Air Defence all destroyed. Significant damage to Iranian oil production facilities and other industrial facilities. Losses to their proxy Hezbollah. Economic disruption, reducing the ability of Iran to finance proxy groups.
The ship toll will vanish in the ceasefire negotiations.
Uh huh. I wish all Greens MPs were as popular. Most were as it turns out. Even the Greens Bandt Leader was popular.
Stock market, today.
Japan: +5.3%
Germany: +4.8%
France: +4.2%
Italy: +3.7%
Spain: +3.3%
Boerwar, lightweight is it? I type short. I can type longer and elaborate further. Yet I dont wish to take away from the “stall” you enjoy.
Off topic I have a book of the Maori wars signed by a boerwar VC John Bisdee. I keep it in a bag in my asbestos shed.
GoW
You gave one side only of what has changed…
…you left out the SoH.
You also left out Iran’s demonstrated competence in trashing the Gulf States’ oil, gas and related industries. You also left out Iran’s demonstrated capacity to destroy the Gulf States’ drinking water supply. You have also left out Iran’s ongoing control over the SoH.
Finally, you have left out the morale impact of Iran being the first ME state since Saladin to see off a christian attacker.
It is all M.A.D. of course.
But to argue that Iran has only lost things and has not gained things would be inaccurate, IMO.
Pegasussays:
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 6:42 pm
Bizzcan @ 6:33 pm
Once again I appreciate the laugh you provide so often. Every day here, stuff gets repeated on here over and over but I understand why you have a go at me.
It must be confronting to have a couple of posters who dare to come on PB who have a different take on so many issues and who are not members or supporters of either Labor or the Coalition.
________________
Glad I provide entertainment to so many. Some comedy advice – the best way to kill a joke is by repeating it.
Go ahead. Handicap yourself. See if I care.
@Ghost of Whitlam at 7:24pm
That’s on one side. On the other side, the new regime appears to be more hardline than the previous one. They now have real battlefield experience in what to do if they decide to close the Strait of Hormuz in future. They now have a new generation of radicalized citizens that hate the west, meaning there won’t be true peace for another 60-80 years until this wave of senseless violence fades from human memory.
Oh, and their “destroyed” air defence still managed to shoot down several frontline US military aircraft.
I don’t think that ship toll will vanish. They know what they can do now, and they’ll use it as leverage. And if the only way Trump can stop them is by nuking them, it’ll be way more costlier for the USA than you can imagine.
Iran is full of mountains as well, and nuclear fallout won’t be as bad for them as it would be for a flat country. Plus since Trump began this whole thing by murdering their leaders during negotiations, they know not to meet up all in one place for their Dr. Evil gatherings anymore.
Max was a very popular local MP, except for losing 3% of the vote he had last time and losing on primary votes to Labor, who took the 3% of the vote that the Greens lost and another 2.5% of the electorate.
“The outcome was not a rejection of Max.”
Every non Labor, non Greens voter in the electorate ended up making a decision between the Labor member and Max. From that 34% of the 3rd etc voters, 20% preferred Labor, and only 13% preferred the very popular local MP Max.
What is that, if not a rejection of Max? The voters rejected Max by abandoning Max for Labor, and then rejected Max in a one on one contest with Labor.
Latest YouGov U.K.
{Comparison with LW}
* REF 24 (+1)
* TORY 19 (nc)
* LAB 16 (-2)
* GRN 16 (-2)
* LIBDEM 13 (+1)
* Others 12 (+2)
Link: https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54492-voting-intention-6-7-april-2026-ref-24-con-19-lab-16-grn-16-ld-13
& Latest Find Out Now Poll (UK)
* REF 26 (+2)
* GRN 20 (nc)
* TORY 18 (nc)
* LAB 15 (-1)
* LIBDEMS 10 (-2)
Link: https://findoutnow.co.uk/blog/voting-intention-1st-to-2nd-april/
Starmer isn’t getting much of a Trump Bump (unlike Mark Carney), in fact his numbers are sagging again after a brief rise during early March. The Find out Now poll is the third of some recent polls to record the Greens 20 or above.
Kirsdarkesays:
Iran is full of mountains as well, and nuclear fallout won’t be as bad for them as it would be for a flat country.
________________________
How does that work?
@Nath
Nuclear magic.
Thucydides’ Pelopponesian War is full of accounts of battles where both sides crept onto the battlefield in the middle of the night afterwards and erected steles to commemorate their great victory