Australians unsure on Assange Govt support

[struggle4progress]

Written by Renai LeMay on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 12:12

... New poll results released by Essential Media in coalition with Your Source this week (PDF of the results here, thanks to Crikey) asked Australians whether they believed the Australian Government had provided appropriate support to Assange in the context of the sexual assault allegations in Sweden and possible extradition to the US.

28 percent of the 1,000-odd Australian respondents to the survey stated that they believed the Australian Government had provided appropriate support — up from 22 percent in March this year. 33 percent believed the Government had not provided appropriate support — down from 36 percent in March this year. However, the largest percentage of Australians, 38 percent, said they didn’t know. That figure was down slightly from 41 percent in March this year. Women, in particular, were unsure, with some 47 percent stating they didn’t know whether appropriate support had been provided. 39 percent of men didn’t think appropriate support had been provided.

Essential Media also asked a further question regarding what respondents thought the Australian Government should do, if the US did decide to commence legal proceedings against Assange. 34 percent of those polled said the Australian Government should call for the US to observe due process and offer consular support, which the Australian Government has already publicly done in Assange’s case. The next highest percentage, 24 percent, said that the Australian Government should offer Assange protection from extradition and prosecution.

9 percent said the Australian Government should support US Government attempts to prosecute Assange, while 13 percent said it should do nothing, and a large percentage — 20 percent — said they didn’t know what the Australian Government should do. “Support for offering Assange protection was highest amongst older respondents ...

http://delimiter.com.au/2012/07/18/australians-unsure-on-assange-govt-support/

[Matilda]

1. The figures are probably an indication of the power of the right-wing MSM in Australia.

Murdoch controls nearly 70% of our newspapers, and the rest could hardly be described as left-leaning. The Murdoch press is not particularly good at telling the truth on anything, and is not likely to offer support for Assange. Fairfax ran the Wikileaks stories, but haven't shown any particular interest in Assange's fate since then.

My information comes mainly from bloggers and from some of the British online media outlets. If I relied on the Australian MSM, I'd know next to nothing about the Assange case, and I probably wouldn't be able to form an opinion either.

The coverage from the ABC hasn't been too bad, but as any conservative will tell you, the ABC is full of pinkos.