In the last two years, do you think your and your household’s income has gone up more than the cost of living, fallen behind or stayed even with the cost of living?
| Total | Work full time | Work part time | Income less than $600 pw | Income $600-$1,000
pw |
Income $1,000-$1,600 pw | Income $1,600+ pw | Oct 2014 | Mar 2015 | Nov 2015 | |||
| Gone up more | 13% | 20% | 8% | 11% | 13% | 10% | 16% | 13% | 15% | 14% | ||
| Fallen behind | 51% | 45% | 53% | 67% | 54% | 57% | 43% | 48% | 50% | 54% | ||
| Stayed even | 29% | 31% | 30% | 16% | 26% | 25% | 36% | 31% | 27% | 26% | ||
| Don’t know | 7% | 5% | 9% | 5% | 7% | 8% | 5% | 8% | 7% | 5% |
51% believe that, in the last two years, their income has fallen behind the cost of living. 29% think it has stayed even with the cost of living and 13% think it has gone up more.
67% of those earning under $600 pw and 57% of those earning $1,000-1,600 pw think their income has fallen behind while 52% of those earning over $1,600 pw think it has stayed the same or gone up.
These results suggest a slight improvement in household financial status since this question was asked in November.
Which of the following statements best describes your financial situation?
| Total | Work full time | Work part time | Income less than $600 pw | Income $600-$1,000
pw |
Income $1,000-$1,600 pw | Income $1,600+ pw | Oct 2014 | Mar 2015 | |||
| I don’t have enough money for basic essentials like housing food and electricity | 6% | 4% | 6% | 20% | 8% | 3% | 1% | 7% | 8% | ||
| I have enough money for basic essentials but I cannot save any money | 35% | 28% | 37% | 49% | 41% | 44% | 24% | 35% | 39% | ||
| I have enough money for basic essentials and I can save a little money | 49% | 54% | 49% | 26% | 44% | 51% | 60% | 47% | 44% | ||
| I have enough money for basic essentials and I can save a lot of money | 8% | 12% | 5% | 3% | 6% | 2% | 13% | 8% | 7% | ||
| Don’t know | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 15 | 2% | 4% | 2% |
49% say they have enough money for basic essentials and can save a little money and 35% say they have enough money for basic essentials but cannot save any money. Only 8% say they can save a lot of money.
Only 29% of those earning less than $600 pw say they can save any money – compared to 73% of those earning over $1,600 pw.
Overall, there has been a slight improvement in financial situations since this question was asked in March last year – 41% (down 6%) say they cannot save any money and 57% (up 6%) say they can.
Compared to two or three years ago is your household paying more or less for the following –
| Paying a lot more | Paying a little more | Paying about the same | Paying a little less | Paying a lot less | Don’t know | Feb 2013
Paying a lot more |
Mar 2014
Paying a lot more |
||
| Petrol | 19% | 28% | 23% | 22% | 3% | 4% | 50% | 56% | |
| Fresh food – fruit, vegetables, meat | 25% | 47% | 23% | 3% | 1% | 2% | 36% | 36% | |
| Packaged food | 15% | 45% | 31% | 3% | 1% | 4% | 28% | 26% | |
| Electricity and gas | 34% | 40% | 17% | 5% | 1% | 3% | 70% | 62% | |
| Housing – mortgage or rent | 14% | 27% | 36% | 6% | 3% | 14% | 24% | 24% | |
| Insurance | 24% | 38% | 28% | 3% | 1% | 6% | 43% | 36% | |
| Water | 13% | 32% | 45% | 7% | 1% | 3% | 47% | 40% | |
| Clothing | 13% | 32% | 45% | 7% | 1% | 3% | 21% | 17% | |
| Education | 16% | 21% | 29% | 3% | 4% | 28% | 24% | 21% | |
| Medical, dental | 23% | 36% | 34% | 1% | 1% | 4% | 33% | 32% |
Items which respondents said they were “paying a lot more” for were electricity and gas (34%), fresh food (25%) and insurance (24%).
Since this question was asked 2 years ago, for almost all items, the perceptions of paying a lot more have dropped substantially.
Do you approve or disapprove of the Labor Party’s policy to change negative gearing so that, for future purchases, investors can only claim tax deductions for investments in newly built homes? (Version 1)
Do you approve or disapprove of changing negative gearing so that, for future purchases, investors can only claim tax deductions for investments in newly built homes? (Version 2)
| Total version 1 | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Total version 2 | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | |
| Total approve | 38% | 56% | 29% | 45% | 34% | 37% | 43% | 40% | 48% | 34% |
| Total disapprove | 28% | 19% | 44% | 18% | 30% | 32% | 29% | 36% | 14% | 36% |
| Strongly approve | 16% | 24% | 11% | 24% | 17% | 19% | 26% | 16% | 29% | 15% |
| Approve | 22% | 32% | 18% | 21% | 17% | 18% | 17% | 24% | 19% | 19% |
| Disapprove | 14% | 13% | 215 | 4% | 9% | 18% | 21% | 18% | 8% | 22% |
| Strongly disapprove | 14% | 6% | 235 | 14% | 21% | 14% | 8% | 18% | 6% | 14% |
| Don’t know | 32% | 25% | 27% | 36% | 37% | 31% | 28% | 24% | 38% | 30% |
Note – half the sample were asked Version 1 and half were asked Version 2.
When told it was a Labor policy, 38% approved changes to negative gearing and 28% disapproved. When not told that it was a Labor policy 37% approved and 32% disapproved.
For Labor voters 56% approved when told it was a Labor policy and 43% when not told.
For Liberal/National voters 29% approved when told it was a Labor policy and 40% when not told.
How much trust do you have in the following for information about asylum seekers?
| A lot of trust | Some trust | Not much trust | No trust at all | Don’t know | |
| Politicians | 2% | 15% | 31% | 42% | 10% |
| Government officials | 3% | 20% | 38% | 30% | 10% |
| The media | 2% | 19% | 37% | 33% | 9% |
| Churches | 8% | 27% | 30% | 23% | 11% |
| Doctors | 22% | 43% | 17% | 7% | 11% |
| Human rights campaigners | 12% | 30% | 26% | 21% | 11% |
| Welfare agencies | 9% | 37% | 26% | 16% | 11% |
| International organisations | 8% | 33% | 30% | 17% | 12% |
For information about asylum seekers the most trusted sources were doctors (65% a lot/some trust), welfare agencies (46%), human rights campaigners (42%) and international organisations (41%).
Only 17% trust politicians and 21% trust the media.
Politicians are trusted by 28% of Liberal/National voters and 13% of Labor voters. Government officials are trusted by 36% of Liberal/National voters and 19% of Labor voters. Human are trusted by 35% of Liberal/National voters, 49% of Labor voters and 77% of Greens voters.
Do you approve or disapprove of the Productivity Commission recommendation to cut Sunday penalty rates to the same level as Saturday rates for workers in hospitality, entertainment and retail?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Full time worker | Part time worker | Aug 2015 | |||
| Total approve | 31% | 21% | 48% | 21% | 32% | 39% | 22% | 32% | ||
| Total disapprove | 54% | 68% | 41% | 66% | 58% | 48% | 66% | 54% | ||
| Strongly approve | 10% | 6% | 16% | 2% | 14% | 13% | 7% | 9% | ||
| Approve | 21% | 15% | 32% | 19% | 18% | 26% | 15% | 23% | ||
| Disapprove | 23% | 26% | 24% | 20% | 20% | 19% | 29% | 25% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 31% | 42% | 17% | 46% | 38% | 29% | 37% | 29% | ||
| Don’t know | 14% | 11% | 11% | 12% | 10% | 14% | 13% | 14% |
31% approve of the Productivity Commission recommendation to cut Sunday penalty rates to the same level as Saturday rates for workers in hospitality, entertainment and retail and 54% disapprove. This is very similar to the results of this question when asked in August last year.
66% of part time workers and 48% of full time workers disapprove.
If a Federal Election was held today to which party will you probably give your first preference vote? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward? If don’t know -Well which party are you currently leaning to?
| Total | Last week
9/2/16 |
2 weeks ago
2/2/16 |
Election 7 Sep 13 | |||
| Liberal | 40% | 39% | 40% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 4% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 43% | 43% | 44% | 45.6% | ||
| Labor | 33% | 35% | 35% | 33.4% | ||
| Greens | 11% | 11% | 11% | 8.6% | ||
| Palmer United Party | 1% | 1% | 1% | 5.5% | ||
| Other/Independent | 11% | 10% | 9% | 6.9% | ||
| 2 party preferred | ||||||
| Liberal National | 52% | 51% | 51% | 53.5% | ||
| Labor | 48% | 49% | 49% | 46.5% |
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 2013 election.
Overall, since he replaced Tony Abbott as Prime Minister, would you say that the performance of Malcolm Turnbull and the Coalition Government has been better or worse than you expected or has it been about what you expected?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Total better than expected | 28% | 20% | 45% | 28% | 10% | |
| Total worse than expected | 22% | 28% | 13% | 26% | 40% | |
| Much better than expected | 9% | 7% | 17% | 4% | 3% | |
| Somewhat better than expected | 19% | 13% | 28% | 24% | 7% | |
| About what expected | 41% | 43% | 38% | 44% | 42% | |
| Somewhat worse than expected | 13% | 17% | 9% | 16% | 21% | |
| Much worse than expected | 9% | 11% | 4% | 10% | 19% | |
| Don’t know | 10% | 9% | 4% | 3% | 8% |
28% think that the performance of Malcolm Turnbull and the Coalition has been better than expected and 22% say it has been worse than expected. 41% think they about what they expected.
Views are related to party preference – 45% of Liberal National voters think the Coalition has been better than expected, while Greens and Labor voters are more evenly divided.