Support for the government’s building of a National Broadband Network has strengthened in the last 12 months according to today’s Essential Report, with 69% of voters believing the NBN’s construction is important, and 25% of voters seeing it as “not so important” or not important at all. The comparable figures in November 2009 were 65% and 26%. About 35% of voters now see the NBN as “very important”, up five points over the year.
There is also a strong perception that the NBN will be of widespread benefit, with voters having strengthened in their view of who will gain from the construction of the network. About 84% of voters believe the network will be of benefit to Australian business, including 55% who believe it will be of “great benefit”, compared to 80% a year ago; 78% believe it will benefit the general public (76% in 2009), 65% believe it will benefit them personally (66% a year ago) and 71% believe it will benefit the economy, up from 65%. More than 70% believe it will benefit children and 78% believe it will benefit schools, including 48% who believe it will “greatly benefit” schools.
The area in which voters most thought the NBN would be “of little benefit” was to them personally, at 27%. Only 11% thought it would be of “little benefit” to the economy.
The poll also reveals that Labor appears betwixt and between on gay marriage. Asked which party was closest to their own views, voters preferred either the Liberals (21%) or the Greens (20%) over Labor (13%), although there was a high Don’t Know outcome for that question. 19% of Labor voters and 13% of Liberal voters prefer the Greens’ position over their own parties’, although Liberal voters much more strongly prefer their own party’s position (44%) compared to Labor voters, only 29% of whom believe their party’s position is in alignment with their own. The Greens don’t have anything like that problem.
On the issue itself, there is 50% support for gay marriage compared to 37% opposition, with Liberals being the only party where opposition (50%) outweighs support (38%). Major party voters are less likely to regard the issue as “very important” or “quite important”. Only 15% of all voters rate gay marriage as “very important” and 22% as “quite important”. 29% rate it as “not at all important”.
On party support, the Coalition retains its 51-49 2PP lead from the last month, although the Liberals lost a point on their primary vote and the Greens picked up one. The Greens’ primary vote of 11% is now well off its nadir of 8% of several weeks ago.
Interesting that 29% of respondents rate the question of gay marriage as “not at all important” – and yet most people feel more comfortable and engaged discussing gay marriage than say, the Murray-Darling Basin, a National Curriculum, the NBN or WW3/North Korea.
Why is it that politicians and their lackeys don’t want to discuss gay marriage – or more accurately, discuss the relaxation of marriage eligibility criteria made manifestly discriminatory by the 2004 Howard government amendments? ALP pollies hide behind ‘the conference’ while Liberals hide behind each other (backs to the wall) and Nationals just hide.
@Hugh: Because they’re scared of a christian fundamentalist reaction in their own electorate.
Meski, what that implies though is that Christian fundamentalists (whatever exactly they are?) do rate the question of gay marriage as something other than “not at all important”. I think the questionnaire (possibly intentionally) creates a ‘rating’ of the issue that is out of context. Some politicians and union officials do not want the matter raised and so depict it as a side issue of no importance to try to make it go away. Labor, or indeed all parties, have been ‘wedged’ because they’ve tried to dismiss the issue as not important – so unimportant as to not make a mention of it – and have found it simply appeals to everyone’s curiosity and to a few people’s calculating perseverance (Hi, John). It is not going away, Gillard knows it and will steer Labor into finding a language to deal with the question over the dead bodies of conference bullies who don’t have a vote in parliament. But not instantly. This will take time and they’ve got plenty at present.
I think given their druthers, said politicians and union officials on both sides would sooner nothing of substance was ever raised in parliament.
What seems to be missing from the gay debate is the simple proposition that our critically overpopulated world obviously needs to embrace alternative models for living and loving just to maintain some sort of social cohesion when it all starts fracturing about us.
Even if it takes a generation or two, it could well be nature’s way to correct the appalling imbalances we’ve wrought.