Essential Media Communications Pty Ltd, also known as Essential Media, Essential Research, or simply Essential, is an Australian

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

and

market research Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers. It involves understanding who they are and what they need. It is an important component of business strategy and a major factor in maintaining com ...

company known for its political campaigns and

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...

History and work

Essential Media Communications was founded in 1997 by Tony Douglas, with the

Australian Education Union The Australian Education Union (AEU) is an Australian trade union, founded in 1984 as the Australian Teachers Union, which is registered with Fair Work Australia as an employee group, and is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unio ...

as its first client. In 2004, it launched the inaugural ''Essential Report'', the result of regular public polling on social issues in Australia. It was originally published in partnership with Crikey!, but subsequently established a relationship with ''

Guardian Australia ''Guardian Australia'' is the Australian website of the British global online and print newspaper, ''The Guardian''. Available solely in an Online newspaper, online format, the newspaper's launch was led by Katharine Viner in time for the 201 ...

'', and is published for free by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Executive Director Peter Lewis is also a regular columnist for ''

''. Some of Essential's notable work and campaigns include: * "Your Rights at Work" for the

ACTU The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated trade union, unions and eight t ...

ahead of Labor's win at the 2007 federal election. *

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a Left-wing politics, left-wing green party, green Australian List of political parties in Australia, political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third largest politica ...

national advertising campaign for the 2010 federal election. * Every Australian Counts, a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

campaign to create the

National Disability Insurance Scheme The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a scheme of the Australian Government that funds reasonable and necessary supports associated with significant and permanent disability for people under 65 years old. The scheme was first int ...

(NDIS) that was launched in 2011. *

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

' anti-racism campaign entitled "Racism, It Stops With Me" *

Rosie Batty Rosemary Anne "Rosie" Batty (born 1962) is an Australian domestic violence campaigner. She became a campaigner in 2014, after her 11-year-old son Luke Batty was murdered by his father, Greg Anderson. As a campaigner, she has spoken publicly ab ...

's campaigns to prevent

family violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. In a broader sense, abuse including nonphysical abuse in such settings is called domestic abuse. The term "domestic violence" is often use ...

* part of research team for

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

's winning campaign at the 2022 federal election.

Governance

The company is co-owned by Executive Director Peter Lewis and Managing Director Peter Stahel.

The Essential Report

The Essential Report is a regular poll of topical political and social issues in Australia. It is published fortnightly by the''

.'' Further detail, including the wording of each question and breakdowns of demographic groups, are published online a
essentialreport.com.au
People can sign up to receive summaries by email for free. Essential Media also publishes its

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

and compliance with

Australian Polling Council The Australian Polling Council is an association of polling firms established to promote and maintain professional standards in opinion polling. Firms that join must disclose their public polls' full question wordings and preambles, sample sizes ...

Quality Mark standards. All of its polling is done online. While it asks the "voting intention" question of its respondents twice in order to eliminate the "Don't Knows", it eliminates the remaining Don't Knows in its reporting.

References

External links

* *{{official, https://essentialreport.com.au/reports/federal-political-insights, The Essential Report: Political Insights Market research companies of Australia Companies established in 1997 1997 establishments in Australia Opinion polling in Australia

History and work

Governance

The Essential Report

See also

References

External links