Bill Shorten Overtakes Tony Abbott As Australia's Preferred Prime Minister

Australia’s Labor Party leader Bill Shorten has beaten Prime Minister Tony Abbott as the preferred prime minister. The recent Fairfax-Ipsos poll has placed Shorten in front of Mr Abbott by one percentage point at 42 percent.

The survey also revealed that the two-party preferred vote has improved with a standing of 53 percent to 47 percent for the Coalition. Sky News reports that Labor’s primary vote remains at just 37 percent. However, the primary vote of the Coalition has dropped three percentage points to 40 percent.

According to the poll, seven out of 10 voters do not agree with Mr Abbott’s refusal to support the legalisation of same-sex marriage. About 29 percent of the residents in Canberra believe housing is affordable for first-time home buyers.

The results of the survey followed the claims of Indonesia that Australian authorities had paid off people smugglers to turn back a boat full of asylum seekers back to Indonesia. The Labor and Greens parties have requested investigations into allegations that taxpayer funds were used in the payoff.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young will ask the Australian Federal Police to investigate the claims and determine whether laws were broken. She said Australians have the right to know if their taxes have been used in the alleged bribery.

The Australian Greens will attempt to win the support of the Senate for a motion to request the government to provide documents detailing payments to individuals on board asylum seeker boats. Mr Abbott has refused to deny or confirm the issue and reiterated that the government will do whatever was “reasonably necessary, consistent with the principles of a decent and humane society, to keep the boats stopped.”

In a recent development, Shorten’s role as the head of the Australian Workers Union has been questioned with accusations that an enterprise bargaining agreement he had signed was never actually endorsed by workers in a vote, reports ABC. The Royal Commission has received documents from Shorten’s tenure as a leader to aid in the inquiry.

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