The first Nielsen poll for the year has the Coalition opening up a 54-46 lead on two-party preferred. Labor’s primary vote is 32%, with the Coalition on 46% and the Greens on 12%, writes William Bowe.
Liberal Party
Floods at the forefront first day back
Crikey media wrap: Today MPs across the nation will dust off their suitcases and pull on the blazer for the return to parliament. The first sitting will be only condolences, but thanks to the flood levy it’ll be a busy few weeks ahead.
The political donations data is nowhere near the full picture
The material released this week by the Electoral Commission only gives a partial picture of who is funding our political parties.
A tale about donations and a flood of political emails
Don’t blame me, they just put my signature on the letters. That was the Tony Abbott reaction to criticism that a Liberal Party email sent in his name ended with a link asking people to donate to a campaign against Labor’s flood levy, writes Richard Farmer.
Morgan: 50.5-49.5 to Labor
The first federal opinion poll of the new year is from Morgan’s face-to-face surveying last weekend, covering 855 respondents. However, the obvious systematic bias to Labor in Morgan face-to-face polling, once factored in, points to a fairly solid lead for the Coalition, reports William Bowe.
Essential: 51-49 to Coalition
The weekly Essential Research poll has the Coalition with a 51-49 two-party lead for the fourth week running. The Coalition primary vote is up a point to 45%, with Labor steady on 38%, writes William Bowe.
Newspoll: back to 50-50
The latest Newspoll has the two-party vote at 50-50, after an anomalous 52-48 in Labor’s favour a fortnight ago. The Labor lead from a fortnight ago may have proved ephemeral, but the improvement in Julia Gillard’s personal ratings has mostly stuck, reports William Bowe.
Baillieu set to seize power in Victoria: poll
The Liberal Party is set to deny John Brumby his first election victory and seize power in Victoria, according to a Morgan Poll conducted exclusively for Crikey.
Tony’s year of cheap shots
Despite policy costings that didn’t add up and crass “stop the boats” slogans, the Tony Abbott-led Coalition came very close to winning the federal election. writes Ben Eltham examines the year that was for the man that was nearly PM.
The continuing culture war on marriage
If gay marriage can’t be allowed because of cultural and religious grounds, then why exactly did the Howard government legislate against it back in 2004? asks The Piping Shrike.
Shanahan: Labor’s popularity rise just a blip
The latest Newspoll does have Labor slightly ahead at 52-48, but the result is due to a dip in Coalition support and increased Greens voters. Don’t get excited about a honeymoon period, claims Dennis Shanahan.
Newspoll: Labor creeps ahead
After a fairly lengthy period where the phone pollsters marched in lock-step, Newspoll has broken away from the pack with a 52-48 two-party preferred lead for Labor, reports William Bowe.
Ill Omen for Liberal party boy over homophobic video
The Liberal Party’s beleaguered 21-year-old candidate for Melton, Braidy Kean, is embroiled in another controversy surrounding his membership of progressive metal band Ill Omen, after a YouTube video arose featuring his bandmates engaging in an homophobic rant referencing n-crophilia.
Did Turnbull stay on because Howard urged him to?
Since 2007 John Howard has largely disappeared from the media spotlight, but revelations that he urged Malcolm Turnbull to reconsider his decision to retire in April provides further evidence that the former PM continues to play a significant role in Liberal party politics.
Newspoll: still 50-50
The latest Newspoll shows the parties still araldited together on 50-50 with the two party preferred. But Tony Abbott’s person ratings have dropped a whopping 9 points, says William Bowe.
The lonely island of centrism
There’s a game of push me-pull me being played in Canberra this week, with the ACTU trying to pull the ALP back to the Left, while Liberal MPs attempt to drag the party back to the right, says Rob Burgess.
Working on Abbott’s IR laws
How Tony Abbott deals with industrial relations could decide his political future, declares Peter van Onselen. Will Abbott ignore one of the foundations of the Liberal Party?
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: The Liberal Party and the Republican Party
Crikey readers have their say on Australia’s political climate.
The underdogs have the bark and the bite
The four independent MPs and the Greens MP hold more control than any other minor party or independents before them. But don’t forget the power of the major, writes Paul Williams.
Labor wins the final 2PP
The Australian Electoral Commission has finalised the last of its two-party preferred Labor-versus Coalition counts, and it confirms Labor has won a narrow victory on the national total of 6,216,439 (50.12 per cent) to 6,185,949 (49.88 per cent), a margin of 30,490, writes William Bowe.
One week on, still no PM
Daily Media Wrap: The blame game continues to be Canberra’s favourite pastime, as the media both thrashes and exalts the Greens, wonders how a hung parliament will work and tries to figure out whether Labor or Liberal is more of a shambles.
Guy Rundle: I did not misunderestimate Tony Abbott
Guy Rundle’s big error in pre-election reporting was not underestimating Abbott, but overestimating Labor. Merely saying that Labor has a pulse would have been to overestimate them, says Rundle.
Mungo MacCallum: ‘Australia’ rejects the system, and Labor is to blame
There is a superstition among many political commentators that the nation has some sort of collective mind; that when the voters go to the polls there is a psychic bond which determines the overall result. It’s rubbish, as Saturday showed.
With grandma in charge, the Liberals were celebrating
It occurs to me in the cab that drinking half a bottle of red wine before I go to the Liberal HQ election night party is probably not a good idea. It is likely to be a very long night, and I should have started it at least sober. Too late now. 8pm. Arrive at […]
Welcome to political purgatory
Daily Media Wrap: We’re in a political wasteland, a hung parliament, with no clear PM and power hanging in the hands of five MPs: four independents and a Green. Now what?
