Tweets of the Week

Michael Murray, general manager of Cotton Australia

Mr Murray said the decision 18 months ago to drain 2,000 gigalitres of water from the Menindee Lakes was in hindsight “probably a poor decision”.

You fucking think so? #auspol

— Des Devlin (@desdevlin38) January 10, 2019

Scanlon Foundation Survey finds that in contemporary Australia racist values are held by a small minority

The Guardian, 4 December 2018:

Australia has not lost faith in immigration. The political narrative has darkened but not the fundamental view of ourselves as an immigrant nation. Most of us remain convinced that we are in so many ways better off for newcomers of all races and creeds who have come in large numbers to our shores.

That is the verdict of the Scanlon Foundation’s 2018 Mapping Social Cohesion Report published on Tuesday. The mission of the foundation is to measure how this migrant nation hangs together. Over the last decade 48,000 of us have been polled to fathom the panics that sweep this country and the steady underlying views Australians have of immigration.

“Immigration is a growing concern,” says the author of the report Professor Andrew Markus of Monash University. “But for media commentators and some politicians it has become an obsession. They are in the business of creating heightened concern, of crisis. But what the survey shows is rather a picture of stability.”

Markus is one of Australia’s leading authorities on the politics of race. This is the 11th report he has written for the Scanlon Foundation. Year in year out his reports show about 80% of us believe immigrants are “generally good” for Australia’s economy and that ours is a better society for the “new ideas and cultures” that immigrants bring to this country. Support for multiculturalism in 2018 stands almost as high as ever at 85%.

 “A number of international surveys that look at Australia, America, Canada, a range of European countries from eastern Europe to western Europe, and also countries in other parts of the world, have a consistent finding that on attitudes to immigration and cultural diversity, Australia is within the top 10% of countries which are open to and welcoming of immigration,” says Markus…..

BACKGROUND

The Scanlon Foundation:

Each Mapping Social Cohesion national survey builds on the previous year and informs the Scanlon-Monash Index (SMI) of Social Cohesion. The surveys have been undertaken since 2007 where the original survey provided the benchmark against which the SMI is then measured.

These surveys provide, for the first time in Australian social research, a series of detailed surveys on social cohesion, immigration and population issues. A prime objective of the surveys is to further understanding of the social impact of Australia’s increasingly diverse immigration program.

Mapping Social Cohesion The Scanlon Foundation Surveys 2018 [PDF 86 pages], excerpts:

While there are significant differences by mode of surveying in the level of strong positive response, as indicated by Figure 35, the balance of opinion remains in large measure consistent. Thus with strong positive and positive responses combined, agreement that multiculturalism has been good for Australia is at 85% RDD, 77% LinA. Agreement with discrimination based on race or ethnicity in immigration selection is at 15% RDD, 22% LinA. Larger variation by survey mode is obtained with reference to some questions on religion: negative attitude (strong negative and negative combined) to those of the Muslim faith is at 23% RDD, 39% LinA, agreement with discrimination in immigration selection on the basis of religion is at 18% RDD, 29% LinA…….

The Scanlon Foundation surveys are of relevance to a fourth dimension, attitudes within the community. All populations comprise people with diverse personalities and views ranging, for example, from the tolerant to the intolerant – from those who celebrate cultural diversity to those who are comfortable only with what they perceive to be Australian culture.

As discussed in this report, the Scanlon Foundation survey findings establish that in contemporary Australia racist values are held by a small minority – arguably most clearly indicated by ‘strong agreement’ with discrimination in immigrant selection policy based on race, ethnicity or religion. Across the two survey modes, ‘strong agreement’ with such discrimination is indicated by 7%-11% of the population. [my yellow highlighting]

Like Turnbull before him, Scott Morrison fails to connect with voters

According to Newspoll it is Australia’s leading public opinion polling company . Established in 1985, we have Australia’s best track record having estimated the outcomes of every state and federal election since our company was founded. 

In its national opinion poll released on 11 November 2018 Federal Primary Votes came in at:

Liberal-National Party 35 (-1)

Australian Labor Party 40 (+1)

Australian Greens 9 (0)

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation 6 (0)

These results gave this Two-Party Preferred Voting breakdown (based on 2016 federal election preference flows):

The Australian, Twitter, 11 November 2018

AAP General Newswire, 11 November 2018:

Bill Shorten has narrowed the gap to Scott Morrison as preferred prime minister as Labor extends its lead over the coalition in the latest Newspoll.

The coalition government has slipped further behind Labor in the latest Newspoll as Bill Shorten narrowed the gap to Scott Morrison as the nation's preferred leader.

The Liberal-National coalition now trail Labor by 10 points after slipping to 45-55 on a two-party preferred basis, according to the Newspoll published in The Australian on Sunday night.

The coalition’s primary vote fell by a point to 35 per cent - two points higher than the record low of 33 per cent.

Labor's primary vote, according to the national poll of 1802 voters, sits at 40 per cent - only the third time it has hit such a mark in almost four years.

The coalition has been behind on the primary vote since the leadership change in August.

Mr Morrison's latest effort to win back votes - his bus and plane tour of Queensland - appeared to not work with voters with his net approval rating sinking another five points to minus eight.....

So who do you trust in the Australian media landscape in 2018?

On 9 October 2018 Essential Research released the results of survey questions concerning trust in the media.

Once again public broadcasters, ABC and SBS, were the clear winners across all categories in which they were listed.

Q. How much trust do you have in what you read or hear in the following media?

	Total a lot /some trust		A lot of trust	Some trust	Not much trust	No trust at all	Don’t know	Don’t use	% change		Total a lot /some Oct 17
ABC TV news and current affairs	62%		19%	43%	14%	9%	5%	10%	-1		63%
SBS TV news and current affairs	61%		18%	43%	14%	6%	5%	15%	–		61%
ABC radio news and current affairs	57%		17%	40%	17%	8%	4%	14%	-1		58%
Commercial TV news and current affairs	48%		8%	40%	29%	12%	5%	7%	+3		45%
News and opinion in local newspapers	47%		6%	41%	27%	9%	4%	13%	+3		44%
ABC radio talkback programs	44%		8%	36%	22%	10%	5%	20%	–		44%
News and opinion in daily newspapers	44%		6%	38%	28%	10%	5%	12%	+2		42%
Commercial radio news and current affairs	44%		5%	39%	28%	11%	5%	13%	+3		41%
News and opinion websites	39%		4%	35%	32%	11%	5%	13%	-1		40%
Commercial radio talkback programs	35%		4%	31%	29%	14%	5%	18%	–		35%
Internet blogs	17%		2%	15%	34%	22%	6%	20%	-3		20%

Overall, there has been little change in trust in media since this question was asked 12 months ago.

The most trusted media were ABC TV news and current affairs (62% a lot/some trust), SBS TV news and current affairs (61%) and ABC radio news and current affairs (57%).

The least trusted were internet blogs (17%) and commercial radio talkback programs (35%).

Q. How much trust do you have in what you read in the following newspapers and news websites?

	Total a lot /some trust		A lot of trust	Some trust	Not much trust	No trust at all	Don’t know
ABC news websites	69%		21%	48%	16%	9%	6%
The Australian	59%		12%	47%	22%	11%	9%
The Guardian Australia website	55%		10%	45%	23%	11%	12%
News.com.au	55%		10%	45%	27%	12%	7%
Sydney Morning Herald	54%		13%	41%	25%	11%	10%
The Age	53%		9%	44%	24%	13%	11%
Nine.com.au	53%		8%	45%	27%	13%	6%
The Telegraph	49%		10%	39%	26%	14%	11%
Herald Sun	46%		8%	38%	27%	15%	11%
Yahoo 7 News website	45%		6%	39%	29%	16%	9%
Courier Mail	44%		6%	38%	30%	15%	13%
Daily Mail website	39%		6%	33%	31%	21%	10%

* Note : Percentages based only on respondents who had read/used each newspaper/website

Overall, among those who have read or used them, the most trusted news sources were the ABC news websites (69%), The Australian (59%), The Guardian Australia (55%) and news.com.au (55%).

The least trusted were The Daily Mail (39%) and The Courier Mail (44%).

Q. Overall, do you think the news reporting and comment on the ABC is independent and unbiased?

	Total		Vote Labor	Vote Lib/Nat	Vote Greens	Vote other
Yes	40%		50%	40%	52%	28%
No	34%		24%	43%	23%	50%
Don’t know	26%		25%	17%	25%	22%

40% think that the news reporting and comment on the ABC is independent and unbiased and 34% think it isn’t.

Those most likely to think the ABC is not independent and unbiased were LNP voters (43%), other party voters (50%) and aged 55+ (40%).

As for the general public's attitude to the recent attacks on ABC independence - 36% of survey respondents thought that the Government has too much influence over the ABC, 16% think they have not enough influence, 17% think they have about the right level of influence and 31& did not know.