Newspoll: 57-43 to Coalition
A bad result for the government in the latest fortnightly Newspoll, with the Coalition’s two-party lead out from 54-46 to 57-43. The primary votes are 28 per cent for Labor (down three) and 47 per cent for the Coalition (up four). Julia Gillard at least has the consolation that her personal ratings have improved from the previous fortnight’s dismal result, with her approval up three to 31 per cent and disapproval down four to 58 per cent. Tony Abbott’s ratings are unchanged at 32 per cent approval and 58 per cent disapproval, and there is likewise essentially no change on preferred prime minister (Gillard leads 40-37, up from 39-37).
Another consolation for Labor is the possibility that a bit of static might be expected from a poll conducted over the same weekend as a state election such as the one in Queensland. They can be fortified in this view by the fact that their standing improved in this week’s Essential Research poll, the most recent weekly component of which was conducted over a longer period than Newspoll (Wednesday to Sunday rather than Friday to Sunday). Very unusually, given that Essential is a two-week rolling average, this showed a two-point shift on two-party preferred, with the Coalition lead shrinking from 56-44 to 54-46. Given that Essential spiked to 57-43 a fortnight ago, and the sample which sent it there has now washed out of the rolling average, this is not entirely surprising. Labor’s primary vote is up two to 34 per cent, and the Coalition’s is down one to 47 per cent. Further questions featured in the poll cover the economy, its prospects, best party to handle it and personal financial situation (slightly more optimism than six months ago, and Labor up in line with its overall improvement since then), job security, Kony 2012, taking sickies and the impact of the high dollar.
Categories: Federal Politics 2010-
What did they do while they waited 18 months for the Telstra agreement?
Their connection numbers barely increased at all during that period from the Tassie connection numbers
by GeeWizz on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:41 am
I dont know why we engage with GW. No more for me!.
by BK on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:44 am
Read all about it. Jeremy Grantham set it all out last year.
About page 5 on, but the whole thing is a good read.
http://depositfiles.com/files/skhww0pk6
Choose the free download option, it will count down 60 seconds then ask you to type the two words you see on the screen. Then away you go only 130 kb.
by dave on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:45 am
Ok give me a benchmark of success for NBN connections in 12 months. NBN says it will do 3.5 Mill in 3 Years.
So I’ll be generous and say 600,000 connections minimum by April 2013
If NBN achieves that I will come in here and publically say I’m an idiot and I got it wrong and NBN is going great guns.
by GeeWizz on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:45 am
I’ve never really bought into the “Private Good, Public Bad” mantra. The evidence just isn’t there to support it, and this is coming from someone that has only ever worked in the Private Sector.
by Sossman on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:48 am
Truthy/Whizzer @ 3299
They have been doing a pilot, not a full roll-out. Now they are ready to proceed.
From someone who knows a bit about it: Roll on the NBN economy
by bemused on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:49 am
Boerwar
Good & long reference page of interesting links – inc the latest wn article on Nauru Seabed mining data crucial If that doesn’t work, try Deep Seabed Minerals Licence For Nauru A google search for- Manus Island seabed mining -comes up with lots of mentions, but little else.
Though Phosphorus is quite low on the lists of desirable seafloor minerals, it & the Oz mining interests in seafloor mining in Nauru’s territorial waters probably account for Abbott’s & Morrison’s visit last year & continuing Nauru/ Manus Is or NO! AS processing policy. QV for some of the islands involved COVER REPORT: Pacific reacts to seabed mining: Cooks cautious, PNG reviews law, Fiji reacts and this one not long after Abbott & Morrison’s mission Real interest in mining the Pacific’s seabed
by OzPol Tragic on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:50 am
Whizzer @ 3302
No need, we have already noticed and said it for you.
by bemused on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:51 am
Sossman. I concur. It is run by the same falliable humans. And there is so much shifting between public and private that to separate them is to suggest they exist as ‘entities’ in their own right, rather than being the collective culture of the people who manage and work in them.
In a former role I was privy to some excellent research on the shallow pool from which Australian companies draw company directors from. it really is an eye opener. and not at all good for corporate governance.
by middle man on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:54 am
If I go into QLD Transport(which I have) and I get sh1tty service(which I do), who do I complain to and who takes FINANCIAL punishment for my complaint?
I’ll give you the answers, I complain to a public servant who works for the government who doesn’t care if I don’t like their cr4ppy service because I have no choice.
It is in a private companies best interest to make me happy. If I’m not happy I complain and there is a FINANCIAL punishment for my complaint… that being losing the contract and therefore losing money.
The problem with the public service is a lack of accountability. If a place like QLD Transport was a private business they’d be out of business because their service sucks so badly… but fortunately for them they are a public monopoly and no one has any other choice.
by GeeWizz on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:54 am
scringler
If you are interested in three roses that easily survived the last drought and which have thrived with no attention except pruning, Squatter’s Dream (Alister Clark) is a soft cream/apricot single bush; Sympathy is a rich red climber; Crepuscule is an almost thornless apricot climber that grows easily from cuttings or layers (v. popular in WA, I believe).
by lizzie on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:55 am
And if I was Campbell Newman the QLD Transport Department would be the first thing to Privatise…
by GeeWizz on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:55 am
“It is in a private companies best interest to make me happy.”
have you seen the customer satisfaction that our big 4 banks achieve?? ha. so blinkered.
by middle man on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:57 am
wow. geewizz. so you’d privatise a dept that is an issuer of primary identification documents for citizens??? wow….
by middle man on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:58 am
I really must laugh at the “economic experts ” in the media who continue to pretend they really know what is best for Australia.
The government has the huge resources of Treasury and Finance with all the latest data and statistics to guide them yet some second rate journo or editor thinks they know better.
I would put my money on Treasury ahead of any of those and anyone else who has read “Economics for Dummies ” and now pretends to be a expert.
BTW, have a think as to how many of the private sector economists and commentators have constantly got it wrong on unemployment, growth figures and the governments response to the GFC.
It is the very same Treasury that provided the policy guidance to the government during the GFC that is still providing guidance to the government.
I would take them over pretty much any one else.
On the issue of take up rates for the NBN those who continue to rave on about the small numbers so far should just keep in mind that there are hundreds of thousands customers out there just waiting to be migrated onto the system from Telstra and other providers.
When it happens it will happen very quickly.
by Doyley on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:58 am
middle man – was that Company Director talent pool limited to mostly ‘ex-School Boy Rugby Union Players’.
Certainly feels that way sometimes.
by Sossman on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:58 am
Ahhh if only the 4 Big Banks were your only choice. Ha, So Blinkered.
Have a look online, there are literally hundreds of credit unions and smaller banks to choose from.
by GeeWizz on Mar 30, 2012 at 11:59 am
ha. in NSW and QLD yes… the other states have distinct private school AFL bent to them though.
by middle man on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Hey GeeWizz, what’s this about you and an unpaid Centrelink debt? You’ve not been bludging on us have you?
by Tom Hawkins on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:01 pm
dave
Thanks. I tried your link and got a golf game, so googled the name and got plenty of links.
by Boerwar on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:01 pm
some interesting statistics on internet access method trends – courtesy Greg Jericho
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/8153.0Chapter3Dec%202011
by sprocket_ on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:01 pm
geewizz. the point you made wasn’t about smaller banks and credit unions. it was about ALL private enterprise. you lose buddy.
by middle man on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:01 pm
GW @ 3302…..If NBN achieves that I will come in here and publically say I’m an idiot and I got it wrong and NBN is going great guns.
There’s nothing the NBN could do in the next 12 months that would add to the already very public perception that you are an idiot. You reinfoirce the perception with your every public statement.
by DRinMelb on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:01 pm
out for now. bye.
by middle man on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:04 pm
Let’s not forget that some private enterprise are really great at service and schmoozing, right up until the point you execute a contract of any sort
Then it’s all about extracting the $
Obviously not in all cases but it’s not uncommon.
by Sossman on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:06 pm
I’m a small business owner, I have not been on Centrelink payments ever
I’m pretty sure smaller banks and some credit unions are in fact private enterprise
by GeeWizz on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:07 pm
Really
– It worked fine for me lol
Just tried again and its fine ?
http://depositfiles.com/files/skhww0pk6
by dave on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Truthy/Whizzer @ 3324
Yeah? Well then what sort of small business is it? You would never answer that question before leading to the obvious conclusion that it exists solely in your imagination.
So what about that Centrelink debt? Its despicable that you bludge off society like that.
by bemused on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Big Bird Story: juvenile black (with greyish white tail) cockatoo feeding on the Banksias, trying to hide amid a branchful of old black cones -fairly close up & identifiable as a Long-billed Black. Still a Sandgroper, though! Sun angle not good. Flew off when I was sneaking around for a better angle. Hope it’s back tonight! The red & yellow tails won’t be happy.
So they’re breeding here!
I blame Colin Barnett and Gina for the Invasion. Probably spying out CSG sites! Flamin’ Sandgropers!
by OzPol Tragic on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:11 pm
So David Murray, former Howard appointee to the Future Fund, and climate change denialist, thinks that the “carbon tax” is the worst public policy he has ever seen.
Well he would say that, wouldn’t he? Having ensured that the Future Fund went nowhere near investing in a clean green future for our country, because in his view (as an economics graduate) there is no such thing as climate change, he is now probably hoping for a job in the mining industry as his just reward.
Maurice Newman, former chairman of the stock exhange, and another former Howard appointee, this time to the ABC chair, is another change denialist, who steered the national broadcaster into the dark waters of scientific denialism (sorry, “balance”) during his tenure and beyond. What is Maurice up to these days, I wonder.
John Howard deliberately infected our major public institutions with heavy-weight climate change denialists like Maurice Newman and David Murray so that the interests of Big Business and King Coal were served way after he left office. How anyone can take these self-serving bastards seriously is beyond me.
And I do note that David Murray has very big ears.
by susan winstanley on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Scaring off AS in his tinnie, isn’t it?
by OzPol Tragic on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:12 pm
A privatized tax office would be interesting.
by triton on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:17 pm
Engaging GeeWhizz – inherently a losing proposition for all concerned.
But how can you resist?
So you’ve argued that private companies have to treat their customers well otherwise they’ll go out of business.
Except you already acknowledge that not all private companies do – in particular the majority players in the banking sector have been happy to provide completely crap customer service, with minor tweaks here and there for “differentiation”, for decades. They should be going out of business, right? Let’s look at the market share for the big 4 over the last decade or so…
So instead you point to competition and smaller players instead. So explain to us exactly how a privatised Queensland Transport would work – would it be just like the oligopolies/monopolies that still treat their customers like shit, or would there be competition? How exactly do you provide competition to a centralized government department, “privatised” or not?
Hiving off activities to a monopoly provider, whether they are private or not, is not going to magically improve service delivery quality or improve efficiency. If you think it will, please provide some examples from around the world where such privatisation has actually made the service better and/or provided genuine savings for taxpayers – I think you’ll find it quite difficult to do.
There are certainly areas of business government don’t need to be in/shouldn’t need to be in (owning an airline eg) where privatisation into something resembling a competitive private market is sensible.
There are a whole bunch of areas of business where government is the only sensible service provider. How that service is provided, and what mix of private contractors vs public employees is necessary is another debate, but this whole general notion that you can just privatise stuff and save money has never been shown to be true.
by Jackol on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:18 pm
I thought that this comment about the ABC‘s The Drum from Crickey is so good it is worth reposting here.
by Puff, the Magic Dragon. on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:18 pm
A very astute assessment.
by dave on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:20 pm
As I’ve said previously the best cure for a good dose of Tory is sometimes just a good dose of Tory.
When times are good (as they surely currently are, despite all the ongoing bitching) the Tories can’t do much permanent harm, excepting perhaps, to waste money and much needed reform time.
Eventually people wise-up (well after they’ve been corn-holed, of course). At that point they’ll get labor back to fix the hurties, abolish workchoices mark 2 and kiss it all better for them.
Just look at the field. The Tories in the UK are sinking fast. Those here in NSW and Victoria are sliding. Victoria’s polling isn’t too bad for Labor now. In NSW, even if the State Tory primary vote and TPP are holding well, the approval figures are already well on the move South. And CanDo has only just got in and started wielding the axe and appointing his mates to jobs they surely lack the necessary experience for and cannot perform. Give the lad a little time, please. He’s only just started shooting his feet-off.
I reckon it’s looking good for Federal Labor in 18 months or so. Provided current trends continue they may even triumph in 2013.
But even of they don’t The Tory Supremacy holds the seeds of it’s own destruction within itself, seeds that are already maturing and growing, even as they celebrate their most recent win in QLD.
Plus there’s something else, something new others have identified above: The Frankenstein Factor.
All this relentless negativity is something new. It’s a great strategy for destroying one’s opponent and blasting him out of the Big Seat of Power. Unfortunately in doing so, it weakens the Seat itself too and its usage by the tories and their enablers in the MSM will surely have new and unforseen consequences further down the track a bit.
Indeed, weakening Government itself as a means of weakening your opponent may not turn out to have been such a beano of an idea, after all.Especially when the disgruntled entitled come calling in their tens of thousands demanding their share of the instant relief that has been impliedly promised them, just the other side of the Tory Big Rock Candy mountain: “Where’s mine…mine….mine…?”
Budgies and platitudes won’t cut it when their 60 inchers, SUVs and private school fees are on the line, buddy. “Whadddya mean you can’t fix the cost of living?…Not good enough……..You promised…..And you know what we do to liars”
Fun times ahead, either way.
by smithe on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:21 pm
this is particularly true of the “volume journalists” filling the 24/7 cycle, like Latika Bourke. Her support of David Murray’s comments today, and apparent ignorance of economics, climate change science and the government’s Clean Energy Future response is telling.
by sprocket_ on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:23 pm
They sure are, entirely private, with every customer a shareholder with an equal say in electing the Board. My CU now calls itself a “mutual bank”, one of Swannie’s creations
A girl from my Sec School class was one of the founders (c1964).
by OzPol Tragic on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:27 pm
I almost died from laughing at this. Get Smithe on Q&A stat!
by Sossman on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:28 pm
I don’t think Latika Bourke really is capable of intelligent analysis on any issue, nor are most in the MSM. She just mindlessly tweets or re-tweets what has been mentioned by others. I’m not sure she is actually smart enough to be biased.
by sohar on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:29 pm
Labor’s Faceless Man has won the Archibald Prize.
by The Finnigans on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Hi guys! I’m ready for speed dating Friday! Who’s first?
That would be interesting, but I just can’t imagine the taxation office not being a monopoly.
by Apple Blossom on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:33 pm
manufacturing tin hats?
by Tom Hawkins on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Even better for the lucky owners.
by triton on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Sure is, no competition.
by Apple Blossom on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Whoever said the ALP should distinguish themselves from the Liberals by saying they should never privatise the public sector should look at the economic and election success of the Hawke/Keating government.
As Keating said yesterday (and many times in the past), one of the Labor Party’s major problems is they never really embraced the society the Hawke/Keating government created. Alienating the private sector alienates two key demographics the ALP need to win back: 1. Small Business, 2. Young People.
by spur212 on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Yes, any attempt to privatize the ATO would be interesting.
The first thing they would is ramp up recovery action against smaller t/p’s ( individuals and business ) who owe the ATO.
Less chance they would fight or argue through appeals and the court system. Costs of recovery would be less and with little chance of the office being overruled by the court system means they can continue on their way.
Any big case subject to some type of internal cost benefit analysis.
Worth our time going up against Packer or Murdoch especially if there is a fair chance of losing ? No not worth it. Concentrate on the smaller fish. Easier and less costly.
As a ex ATO officer I can confirm that type of thought process was in place ( albeit not offically ) when I was there. That is part of the reason I left.
It was all about getting the stats right at the least cost.
Would only get worse in the hands of private enterprise. Hand the biggies the keys to the mint.
by Doyley on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Ask Victorians how well a private ‘public’ transport industry has worked.
As for the idea of privatised tax collection, that was the norm from Roman times onwards. Individuals were employed to collect taxes by any means possible, and expected to skim a bit off the top for expenses. They were famously corrupt, to the point where Jesus befriended one – to make the point that God loved everybody, no matter how much society as a whole despised them.
Then – as now – privatised tax collection meant bullying those without power or resources to pay more than their fair share, because it was the most profitable way to reach targets.
by zoomster on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Whizzer
Really? Hundreds?
by Dan Gulberry on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Yes, it was called “tax farming”. It was an insidious practice, notoriously open to abuse.
by kakuru on Mar 30, 2012 at 12:54 pm