Q. If don’t know -Well which party are you currently leaning to?

Sample size = 1,924 respondents

NB.  The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived from the first preference/leaning to voting questions.  Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ are not included in the results.  The two-party preferred estimate is calculated by distributing the votes of the other parties according to their preferences at the 2010 election. These estimates have a confidence interval of approx. plus or minus 2-3%.

Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for average working people?

Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for Australian businesses?

Q. Do you think the Federal Budget was good or bad for the Australian economy overall?

In terms of the economy overall, there was a similar response to the 2013 budget as to the last two year’s budgets. 26% (no change from last year) thought the budget was good for the economy and 34% (up 2%) thought it was bad.  56% of Labor voters thought the budget was good for the economy and 8% bad while only 8% of Liberal/national voters thought it was good and 56% bad.

38% of respondents thought the Federal budget was neither good nor bad for them personally – 13% (down 4% on last year) said it was good and 36% (up 10%) bad. 51% of those aged 55+ thought it was neither.

17% (down 14%) thought it was good for working people and 40% (up 16%) thought it was bad.

15% (up 5%) thought the budget was good for businesses, 33% (down 10%) bad and 32% said it was neither.

34% thought that the Federal budget had not cut Government spending enough. 20% thought it had cut spending too much and 21% thought it had cut spending about right.

42% of Labor voters thought the spending cuts were about right while 54% of Liberal/National voters thought spending had not been cut enough.

Respondents were a little more likely to think that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices than when a similar question was asked in March. 51% (up 3%) think it is likely that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices if they won the next election and 27% (down 1%) think it is unlikely.

78% (up 11%) of Labor voters and 84% (up 17%) of Greens voters think it is likely, while Liberal/National voters split 28% likely (down 3%) to 48% unlikely (up 4%).

Concern about the re-introduction of WorkChoices has not changed significantly since this question was last asked in March. 41% (down 2%) would be quite or very concerned if WorkChoices or similar laws were re-introduced and 44% (up 2%) were only a little or not concerned.

72% of Labor voters and 77% of Greens voters would be concerned. 70% of Liberal/National voters would be a little/not concerned and 17% concerned.  41% of full-time workers and 37% of part-time workers said they would be very/quite concerned.

45% of those aged 25-64 said they would be very/quite concerned.

The majority of respondents regarded unions to be important for Australian working people today (56%), whilst 36% believe that they were not important.  Belief that they are important increased 4 points from 52% in September 2012 to 56% in this week’s results.

80% of Labor voters and 70% of Greens voters believed that unions were important for Australian working people today, while Coalition voters were the most likely to regard unions as not important (59%).

The majority of full time workers (54%) and part time workers (57%) regarded unions as important for Australian working people today.

The perception that workers would be better off with stronger unions has increased since this question was asked in September last year. 43% (up 4%)  felt that workers would be better off if unions in Australia were stronger and 29% (down 1%) that believed workers would be worse off.

By voting intention, 65% of Labor voters and 61% of Greens voters believed that workers would be better off while Coalition voters were by far the most likely to believe that workers would be worse off (50%).

51% of respondents on incomes of $600-$1,000pw thought that workers would be better off with stronger unions.

81% of respondents agreed that people who are required to work outside of normal hours – like night shifts, weekends or public holidays – should receive a higher hourly rate of pay.

79% of full-time workers and 88% of part-time workers agreed.

Q. If don’t know -Well which party are you currently leaning to?

Sample size = 1,945 respondents

NB.  The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived from the first preference/leaning to voting questions.  Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ are not included in the results.  The two-party preferred estimate is calculated by distributing the votes of the other parties according to their preferences at the 2010 election. These estimates have a confidence interval of approx. plus or minus 2-3%.

38% (up 4%) approve of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister and 54% (down 2%) disapprove – a 6-point change in net rating from -22 to -16 over the last 4 weeks.

78% of Labor voters approve (up 4%) and 16% disapprove (down 2%).

By gender – men 36% approve/57% disapprove, women 38% approve/51% disapprove.  In net terms this represents no change with men and an improvement with women (from -25 to -13).