The Government’s Wheat Board Whammy

Friday April 21, 2006

Christian Kerr writes:

Who says the AWB scandal isn’t causing a stir? Gary Morgan has been working the phones and his findings are bad news for the Government:

A majority of Australians (54%) think Prime Minister John Howard did not act ethically over AWB Ltd.’s wheat to Iraq… Similar proportions of Australians aged 14 and over think Foreign Minister Alexander Downer (56%) and Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister Mark Vaile (55%) did not act ethically…

Now four in five (80%, up 3% since late February) Australians are aware of the Royal Commission and only 20% (down 3%) are unaware of the Royal Commission. When it comes to perceptions of the Federal Government as a whole, 63% (up 6% from 57%) think it acted ethically on the issue while 18% (up 1%) think it did not act ethically.

Almost two-thirds (65%, up 6%) of Australians think AWB Ltd. did not act ethically in their negotiations to sell wheat to Iraq, 12% (unchanged) think it acted ethically and 23% (down 6%) couldn’t say.

Of those Australians who are aware of the Royal Commission, 58% think Mr Howard did not act ethically, 63% think Mr Downer did not act ethically and 63% think Mr Vaile did not act ethically. Almost three-quarters (74%) of Australians who had heard of the Royal Commission think AWB acted unethically and 68% think the Federal Government acted unethically.

A separate Morgan Poll puts support for Australia’s presence in Iraq at an all-time low:

Fifty-nine per cent of Australians (up 8% since March 2005 and 13% since March 2004) think Australia should not have a military presence in Iraq, a special telephone Morgan Poll finds. Only 35% (down 10%) of Australians aged 14 and over think Australia should have a military presence and 6% (up 2%) couldn’t say.

How does all of this translate into practical politics? Well, an election is 18 months away – and we all know a lot can happen in that time.