Poll 'proves' the people favour Telstra for NBN

Stuart Corner
Monday, 24 November 2008 14:37

Opinion and Analysis

Not surprisingly "The opposition Terria consortium is almost totally unknown and its capabilities and track record a complete mystery to most Australians." Of course it is: comparisons among the general population between awareness of a for-purpose entity with no track record and a household name like Telstra are totally meaningless.

By its own admission the survey found that only just over half of the respondents really had any idea what it was all about. "A majority of Australians (56 percent) are aware that the Federal government has called for proposals to construct and operate a national broadband network."

And not surprisingly even fewer knew much beyond this. "Knowledge of the details and indeed the capabilities of this new piece of national infrastructure are not yet well known nor understood." That percentage was not given - perhaps it was so small as to render the rest of the findings meaningless.

I'd be very circumspect about the findings of this UMR research, certainly as reported by NWAT. Not so The Australian's columnist Glen Milne who has trotted out quotes from NWAT's report as if they came from the mouth of the head of UMR, John Utting.

He introduces is piece by saying: "Let me introduce you to John Utting, principal of the firm UMR Research and the pollster for Kevin Rudd at the election. When Utting spoke, Kevin listened, more often than not. Now Utting is asking to be heard again." And he concludes by saying: "Utting was listened to [by Labor] during the election campaign. Why shouldn't he be listened to today, with two days to go and clock ticking?

Perhaps because on that occasion, Labor was asking the questions, received the raw data and knew how to interpret the answers instead of being fed them by the organisation which is hardly neutral and which both formulated the questions and interpreted the answers.