r/AustraliaDiscussions

Where do that many people actually live and work without being noticed? Are they only working cash jobs or they are staying with family? Seems like it's easier to fly under the radar than most people think.

Not talking about businesses or landmarks, more like everyday things that slowly vanished without most people noticing. Could be a product, a TV show, a tradition, a service...

NSW is rolling out expanded drone patrols across dozens of beaches, with AI also being trialled to help detect sharks before swimmers even know they're there. The idea is to give people an earlier warning and reduce the risk of attacks.
Is it going to lead to more beach closures and false alarms?

Phillip CooreyPolitical editor

Pauline Hanson’s popularity has fallen following her controversial remarks about paid parental leave and multiculturalism, while Labor has edged back ahead of One Nation, according to The Australian Financial Review’slatest monthly poll.

Reflecting the current volatility in federal politics, the AFR/Redbridge Group/Accent Research poll shows Hanson’s net favorability rating plunged 10 percentage points in a month.

Labor regained the lead from One Nation after its primary vote inched up 2 points to 30 per cent in the poll, which sampled 1006 voters from Monday to Friday last week. One Nation’s primary vote fell 2 points to 29 per cent.

However, while Hanson and her party have gone backwards, the Coalition has not benefited.

In the same week Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said he had arrested the party’s slide, the poll showed the Coalition’s primary vote dipped 2 percentage points to 18 per cent. Taylor’s own personal rating slid 5 points to minus 9 per cent, his lowest since he usurped Sussan Ley for the leadership in February.

Redbridge director Tony Barry said the sharp drop in support for Hanson was a timely reminder of how quickly the landscape can change as One Nation enters the political mainstream.

“Pauline Hanson has been politically very effective at identifying grievance but now that she is providing some of her policy prescriptions we are starting to see some contours around the One Nation vote,” he said.

“If Pauline Hanson doesn’t derisk voter concerns and hesitations around some of her positions, there is a threat of her base fatiguing and fracturing.”

Both Hanson and Taylor remain more popular than Anthony Albanese, whose net favourability plummeted following the May budget and remains mired at minus 18 per cent.

The Greens, who cut a deal with Labor to pass its budget tax changes in the Senate last week, saw their primary vote rise 2 points to 14 per cent.

All these movements in the primary vote were within the poll’s 3.5 per cent margin of error but had a significant impact on the two-party preferred vote.

When calculating the two-party vote by asking the poll respondents how they would direct preferences, Labor now leads One Nation by 56 per cent to 44 per cent, up from its slender 51-49 lead a month ago.

Using the same preference model, Labor leads the Coalition by 54 per cent to 46 per cent, up from last month’s 51-49 lead. When preferences are allocated as they fell at the May 2025 election, Labor leads the Coalition by 55 per cent to 45 per cent.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who predicts anger against the government’s budget will begin to abate now that it is legislated, said on Sunday that the best way to combat the rise of parties like One Nation was to address the economic hardship and other grievances that were driving voters towards them.

“We’ve got the anger industry and parties of the populist right trying to make that worse rather than trying to make that better and so it is a difficult time around the world to be an incumbent government,” Chalmers told the ABC’s Insiders program.

“From our point of view we are using the power of incumbency to take real action to deliver cost-of-living help, to deliver real change.”

Since her wide-ranging and candid appearance at the National Press Club almost a fortnight ago, where she disparaged paid parental leave and migrants, among other things, Hanson has been caught up in public arguments over both while the government has zeroed in on her comments.

Hanson has struggled to define the difference between her preferred monoculturalism and multiculturalism, and was forced to clarify and defend her comments about paid parental leave. After telling the Press Club it was “fair enough” if women were not paid when they took time off to have a baby, Hanson later clarified that she did not want to scrap government-funded parental leave.

Over that time, her favourability rating fell 3 points and her unfavourable rating rose 7 points, combining for the 10-point fall in her net favourability rating. It is her lowest rating since December, before support for One Nation leapt following the Bondi massacre.

The approval rating for One Nation’s star recruit Barnaby Joyce fell from minus 17 last month to minus 24, making him the most unpopular political figure of all those tested.

Albanese also stretched his lead over Hanson as preferred prime minister from the 6 points recorded last month to a 10 point advantage in June. Taylor’s rating fell 3 points to just 11 per cent.

While the poll does not directly attribute the cause of significant shifts in sentiment, it did find that in the week it was conducted, domestic political stories about One Nation and the budget were the most recalled stories by voters.

“So voters are paying attention and presumably making assessments,” Barry said.

There is little change in the key issues of voter concern from last month, with cost of living still well ahead of anything else. The government won back its lead over One Nation as the party best suited to handling the issue.

First of all it’s a rant based on my personal situation and I acknowledge that there are people doing much better and much worse than me. This post is not to gaslight anyone but a genuine attempt to understand what I am doing wrong and what else I need to do to improve my personal situation.

I work as software developer at a FAANG in Sydney making $240k before tax excluding super. But, I feel that this salary is not at all sufficient.

We are a family of three with 3 year old and partner does small part time gigs from home but isn’t earning anything significant.

We bought a small cookie cutter first house for $1.2m, 50kms from Sydney CBD and we are paying $6k in mortgage. Utilities and insurances are $1200 (gas, water, electricity, council, internet, mobile plans, health insurance, car insurance and home insurance ), gym membership and subscriptions another $200, groceries $800, eat out and take away $500, child care $1500, other baby expenses and miscellaneous $800.

$240k = $13,500 per month after tax
Above bare minimum expenses = $11,000

Now, we try to save up and travel every 6 months and even a trip interstate costs $3k, which is $500 per month. If we travel internationally to meet relatives overseas then we are basically putting ourselves in debt. Plus, there are occasional big ticket expenses like upgrading phones or some appliances which go bad and that’s another $500 per month on average.

So we basically end up saving nothing and even after working the most mentally taxing jobs, we just fulfill the requirements but do not build the account balance. Any recession or medical issues would result in losing everything immediately.

Why is Australia this bad? Taxes are insane and salaries are extremely low when compared to global counterpart locations like in US. Am I doing anything wrong or am I right that Australia is cooked?

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One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has signalled a crackdown on Australian citizens born overseas or have at least one parent born overseas, in potential move to a two or three-tiered citizenship system under a Hanson Government.

“In the 2021 census, more than half of Australian residents, 51.5% were born overseas or had one parent born overseas. 51.5 per cent. Is that supported by the Australian electorate? Is that what Australia wants?” Senator Hanson said

“The comparable figure for the United States is 14 per cent. Do Australians feel that the Nation is losing its identity along with its values? We all know the answer to that” the far-right Senator added

Pauline Hanson did not outline what sort of sanctions a Hanson Government would apply to these citizens.

Is this just another rule that'll be easy to get around?

With grocery prices still feeling high, it seems like more people are questioning whether there's enough competition. Is the lack of choice becoming a bigger problem than we realised?

Geoff Chambers: Anthony Albanese has secured a bounce back in voter support after scrapping contentious measures from Labor’s unpopular budget that broke key election promises, as One Nation and the Coalition copped electoral hits following clashes over monoculture and multiculturalism.

An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian ­between Monday and Thursday last week showed core support for Labor increased from 30 per cent to 33 per cent, ahead of One ­Nation, which fell from 31 to 29 per cent, the Coalition, which ­recorded a new historic low of 17 per cent, the Greens (13 per cent) and others (8 per cent).

After carving out some businesses and dumping key policies revealed weeks before in Jim Chalmers’ May 12 budget, the Prime Minister’s record low net approval rating of minus 24 ­improved to minus 17, with 40 per cent of voters satisfied with his performance compared with 57 per cent who were dissatisfied.

Satisfaction with Angus Taylor crashed to his lowest level since he replaced Sussan Ley in February, with 31 per cent of Australians ­satisfied with the Opposition Leader’s performance, compared with 51 per cent dissatisfied and 18 per cent uncommitted.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, whose National Press Club address sparked an ugly conservative brawl over monoculture and multiculturalism, has a net approval rating of minus three, with 46 per cent of voters satisfied with her performance and 49 per cent dissatisfied.

The Newspoll of 1235 voters across the country, which was conducted ahead of the final parliamentary sitting week in Canberra before a five-week winter break, showed Mr Albanese had extended his lead to 11 points over Mr Taylor on who voters think would make the better prime minister.

Labor strategists say Mr Albanese will need to keep navigating the fallout of his government’s broken promises on negative gearing, capital gains tax discounts and trusts, and deal with ongoing voter anxiety in the wake of the Bondi Beach terrorist ­attack, which delivered a major dent to Mr Albanese’s post-election popularity.

When Senator Hanson was included as an option for prime minister, Mr Taylor finished in third position.

Asked to rank the three leaders in order from highest to lowest preference, Mr Albanese claimed support from 49 per cent of voters, ahead of Senator Hanson (31 per cent) and Mr Taylor (20 per cent). Almost one-in-two female voters backed Mr Albanese, compared with 32 per cent who endorsed Senator Hanson and 20 per cent who picked Mr Taylor.

The Newspoll included a “two prime minister-preferred” measure based on the second preferences of voters who selected Mr Taylor. Under this scenario, Mr Albanese led Senator Hanson by a margin of 57 per cent to 43 per cent. Analysis of demographics ­revealed how voters would split if they are forced to choose between Mr Albanese and Senator ­Hanson.

While Coalition voters prefer Senator Hanson, there is a rump of Liberal and Nationals voters who would prefer Mr Albanese (43 per cent) ahead of Senator Hanson (57 per cent). 

Unsurprisingly, almost all Greens (94 per cent) and Labor (96 per cent) supporters backed Mr Albanese as their preferred prime minister. Voters from the Others pile, who support independents and minor parties, broke more favourably for Mr Albanese (66 per cent) than Senator Hanson (34 per cent).

Mr Albanese enjoys a clear advantage among voters aged under 50, holds a narrow lead with voters aged between 50-to-64, and captures 70 per cent of Australian voters with university degrees.

Senator Hanson holds a slim advantage with voters aged over 65 and wins backing from more Australians with a TAFE education.

The surge in support for One Nation is led by rising sentiment in the electorate that Senator Hanson’s right-wing party “understands people like me” rather than voters being fixated on One ­Nation having “clear and realistic policies” or “the leader’s character and values”.

A series of special questions in the Newspoll focused on what was driving Australians away from the major parties.

While 61 per cent of Labor voters and 63 per cent of Coalition voters say the most important thing when deciding who to vote for is “clear and realistic policies”, only 42 per cent of One Nation voters say this. This compares to 38 per cent of One Nation supporters who say the most important thing is whether “they understand people like me”, ahead of 14 per cent of Labor voters and 13 per cent voters of ­Coalition supporters.