A slim majority of voters either don’t know who would be best to lead
federal Labor, or think it should be someone other than Bill Shorten,
while 46% expressed the same “don’t know” or “someone else” sentiment
about Malcolm Turnbull as Liberal party leader, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.
As well as underscoring a lack of voter enthusiasm about the leadership of Australia’s major political parties, the new poll highlights the Turnbull government’s acute political difficulties in the wake of the Fair Work Commission’s decision to cut Sunday penalty rates for hospitality and retail workers.
The survey shows 56% of respondents disapproved of the penalty rates cut, and 57% of the survey said they believed the most likely result of the change will be bigger profits for business, not more jobs in retail and hospitality.
Only 24% of people think the cut will result in business employing more workers, which was one of the FWC’s stated rationales in making the decision.
Fifty-one per cent of those surveyed now want the Turnbull government to intervene and pass legislation protecting penalty rates.
Labor and the Greens have flagged corrective legislation in the wake
of the ruling, but the government has argued the FWC is an independent
tribunal, and its decisions need to be respected.
The government has struggled over the course of the past parliamentary week to articulate a clear line on the FWC decision, but Turnbull said on Monday the government had no intention of opposing the FWC’s decision.
The new poll shows a majority of Coalition voters approve of the cut to penalty rates.
The new data from Essential suggests voters are not particularly sold on either major party leader, with 20% nominating Turnbull as the best leader out of a form guide of of six potential candidates, and 21% nominating Shorten – although Shorten has made up ground since the same question was asked last November.
The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, is ranked just behind Turnbull on 17% support, the former prime minister Tony Abbott is on 10% and the immigration minister and senior Queensland conservative, Peter Dutton – who has found himself the subject of leadership speculation recently – is well back in the field on 2%.
Abbott’s recent damaging public interventions against the prime minister and the government appear to have cost him support among Coalition voters, with Coalition voting cohort marking him down four points since last November.
Looking at Labor, 21% of people think Shorten would make the best leader of the party – which is a 4% increase since last November – while 13% (down 1%) prefer Tanya Plibersek, and 11% (down 1%) prefer Anthony Albanese.
Shorten has improved his standing among the Labor voter cohort by 9% points since last November, while the two Sydney leftwingers, Plibersek and Albanese, have gone backwards with the base – 3% in Plibersek’s case and 4% in the case of Albanese.
Essential also asked survey participants about a five-point conservative manifesto Abbott launched late in February.
The former prime minister used an incendiary speech at a book launch in Sydney to declare the Coalition needs to cut immigration to improve housing affordability, slash the renewable energy target, abolish the Human Rights Commission, and gut the capacity of the Senate to be a roadblock to the government’s agenda.
Abbott argued the Coalition risked drifting to electoral defeat, and radical action was needed to woo back disaffected conservatives from their current flirtation with other political movements, including One Nation.
The most clearly popular proposition in the Abbott manifesto was his proposal to cut immigration on the basis it would make housing more affordable. Fifty-seven per cent of voters agreed with that proposition.
Turnbull was asked on radio in Melbourne on Monday, in the context of a discussion about rising housing prices, whether he would consider reducing immigration to relieve “population pressure”.
The prime minister said Australia’s immigration program was the envy of the world and it was focused on skills. He said the policy was calibrated so there were high levels of immigration when the economy was firing and there were labour shortages, and the program “backed off” when the economy slowed.
The prime minister was also asked whether the government should do more to force newly arrived migrants to take up residence outside the major cities, again to reduce pressure on housing prices.
Turnbull said there were incentives already, and this was something “we can do more of”.
As well as underscoring a lack of voter enthusiasm about the leadership of Australia’s major political parties, the new poll highlights the Turnbull government’s acute political difficulties in the wake of the Fair Work Commission’s decision to cut Sunday penalty rates for hospitality and retail workers.
The survey shows 56% of respondents disapproved of the penalty rates cut, and 57% of the survey said they believed the most likely result of the change will be bigger profits for business, not more jobs in retail and hospitality.
Only 24% of people think the cut will result in business employing more workers, which was one of the FWC’s stated rationales in making the decision.
Fifty-one per cent of those surveyed now want the Turnbull government to intervene and pass legislation protecting penalty rates.
The government has struggled over the course of the past parliamentary week to articulate a clear line on the FWC decision, but Turnbull said on Monday the government had no intention of opposing the FWC’s decision.
The new poll shows a majority of Coalition voters approve of the cut to penalty rates.
The new data from Essential suggests voters are not particularly sold on either major party leader, with 20% nominating Turnbull as the best leader out of a form guide of of six potential candidates, and 21% nominating Shorten – although Shorten has made up ground since the same question was asked last November.
The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, is ranked just behind Turnbull on 17% support, the former prime minister Tony Abbott is on 10% and the immigration minister and senior Queensland conservative, Peter Dutton – who has found himself the subject of leadership speculation recently – is well back in the field on 2%.
Abbott’s recent damaging public interventions against the prime minister and the government appear to have cost him support among Coalition voters, with Coalition voting cohort marking him down four points since last November.
Looking at Labor, 21% of people think Shorten would make the best leader of the party – which is a 4% increase since last November – while 13% (down 1%) prefer Tanya Plibersek, and 11% (down 1%) prefer Anthony Albanese.
Shorten has improved his standing among the Labor voter cohort by 9% points since last November, while the two Sydney leftwingers, Plibersek and Albanese, have gone backwards with the base – 3% in Plibersek’s case and 4% in the case of Albanese.
Essential also asked survey participants about a five-point conservative manifesto Abbott launched late in February.
The former prime minister used an incendiary speech at a book launch in Sydney to declare the Coalition needs to cut immigration to improve housing affordability, slash the renewable energy target, abolish the Human Rights Commission, and gut the capacity of the Senate to be a roadblock to the government’s agenda.
Abbott argued the Coalition risked drifting to electoral defeat, and radical action was needed to woo back disaffected conservatives from their current flirtation with other political movements, including One Nation.
The most clearly popular proposition in the Abbott manifesto was his proposal to cut immigration on the basis it would make housing more affordable. Fifty-seven per cent of voters agreed with that proposition.
Turnbull was asked on radio in Melbourne on Monday, in the context of a discussion about rising housing prices, whether he would consider reducing immigration to relieve “population pressure”.
The prime minister said Australia’s immigration program was the envy of the world and it was focused on skills. He said the policy was calibrated so there were high levels of immigration when the economy was firing and there were labour shortages, and the program “backed off” when the economy slowed.
The prime minister was also asked whether the government should do more to force newly arrived migrants to take up residence outside the major cities, again to reduce pressure on housing prices.
Turnbull said there were incentives already, and this was something “we can do more of”.
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