Get the COVID-19 sauce ready — the federal Labor goose is just about cooked. So too are any state opposition goslings going into the electoral oven regardless of Party.
The public judgment on all governments’ handling of the first year of the coronavirus pandemic is in with the latest Newspoll findings and the results are an overwhelming endorsement for all incumbent leaders.
The public has spoken and its clear declaration of concerns and priorities runs counter to arguments that more people are concerned about economic loss than infection and that they are worried about the states’ lockdowns and Scott Morrison’s plans to reduce pandemic job supports at the end of March.
Anthony Albanese’s arguments about federal failures on quarantine, the Prime Minister’s abdication to the states and vaccine delays as well as economic arguments that Premiers’ border closures are unpopular are not accepted in the public mind.
Even with disastrous quarantine failures, more than 800 deaths in Victoria, economically crippling border closures and more than one million people still out of work or underemployed, no government has got less than at least two-thirds approval for the handling of the health and economic impact of COVID-19.
Despite the economic hard line narrative of people rebelling against border closures and lockdowns, Australian voters are overwhelmingly most worried about catching COVID-19 and on a ratio of 2 to 1 they see early easing of restrictions as a greater threat than being “too slow”.
Covid still greatest concern
A day after the Prime Minister reported on the first year of fighting the coronavirus pandemic and set out a broad agenda for the year ahead — including non-COVID-19 issues such as energy, climate change, taxes, welfare support and debt management — the Newspoll shows overwhelming public endorsement.
The Newspoll showed the greatest concern is still COVID-19; 71 per cent of those surveyed said they were financially the same or better off than a year ago; 61 per cent were still worried about the effect of the pandemic on the economy; 84 per cent think it will take more than a year for the economy to recover with 57 per cent believing it will be “several years”; 69 per cent are confident of the public health response and 82 per cent approve of the public information campaigns.
So, Morrison’s national address on Monday talking about the success so far — on a world scale on fighting COVID and economically with a return of 90 per cent of the jobs lost in the first wave of the pandemic — was in complete harmony with the public view.
What’s more, his warning that there were still great health and economic dangers ahead was not just a statement of fact but reflected the public’s continuing concerns. The public has overwhelmingly endorsed the health and economic responses to the pandemic and shows few signs of changing its attitude.
This means Morrison’s steady, incremental and non-ideological approach to the pandemic is being endorsed — witnessed by the political support in Monday’s Newspoll — and perhaps more importantly that the public accepts there is still a long way to go.
Politics of the pandemic
For Federal Labor the message is clear — there is no way to make political headway as far as the handling of the pandemic is concerned. But, there is an equally dangerous message for Labor: Morrison’s message on dealing with non-pandemic issues is reassuring on the economy and specifically rejecting tax rises to deal with energy and climate change challenges.
On Tuesday morning Morrison encapsulated his climate change economic message and defended his refusal to sign international agreements to reach zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050:
“When I know how we can get there, then I can tell Australia when we’re going to get there. Because if you don’t get there by technology, you get there by taxes. And I will not make Australians pay higher taxes to get to net zero,” he said.
Simple, cautious, incremental and in keeping with the public’s stated concerns and priorities.
