Voter support for the Federal Government has plummeted in the first opinion poll taken since Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced her carbon tax plan.
The survey, published in the Australian newspaper, shows Labor’s primary vote has fallen six points to 30 per cent, below the 31 per cent record low when Paul Keating was prime minister in 1993.
The Coalition rose four points to 45 per cent.
Labor also trails the Coalition 46 per cent to 54 per cent after preferences, after tying with the Coalition at 50 per cent a fortnight ago.
Ms Gillard’s personal popularity has also plunged.
Her lead over Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as preferred Prime Minister has halved from 22 points to 11 points.
Ms Gillard broke an election promise when she announced plans for a carbon tax which will start in July next year before morphing into an emissions trading scheme.
The details of the carbon tax and the amount of compensation are yet to be determined, and the Government has been under pressure from the Opposition to explain how the tax will affect households and the wider economy.
Ms Gillard told reporters in Washington that she was not deterred by the poll’s …
Jo Chandler, SMH:
What is there to celebrate today?
Cast an eye over the news, and it seems as bad as ever for the world’s women.
In the year 2000, the then editor of this newspaper, Michael Gawenda, declared that on International Women’s Day, The Age would be edited entirely by women. He handed over his office and power – for 24 hours – to the late Pamela Bone, columnist and feminist champion.
Dear Pam – a remarkable colleague who knew many things about how the world worked, but next to nothing about newspaper production – promptly enlisted me as her night editor.
I was deeply suspicious. ”And you blokes will be doing … what exactly?” Much guffawing and talk of long lunches, which made me pretty cranky. Mind you, I was mummy-tracking on the night newsdesk at that point, and deeply sleep deprived, so cranky was a good day.
I wondered, loudly, about whether this was a victory or a con – tokenism in the extreme? After all, most days female reporters and subeditors outnumbered men in the newsroom. They appeared to do much of the heavy lifting, though not too many were billeted in the nice offices.
What I failed to see then – lessons Pam knew and I had yet to grasp – was that this was a rare, prize opportunity, one to be grabbed with both hands. It did not mean, as she explained in a note to readers, that
the paper was full of women’s issues
– ”all issues are women’s issues”.
But it brought the biases and priorities of women – mothers, daughters, wives, sisters – unimpeded and undiluted to the selection of news and pictures fit to print. Just for one day.
In the past week, with the 100th International Women’s Day looming, I’ve been watching the news wires and the international papers, wondering what they reveal of life for girls, women, mothers around the world today.
Here’s a small sample:
