Q. Do you think the issue of same sex marriage should be decided by Parliament or should there be a national vote?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
Aug 2015 |
|||
|
Should be decided by Parliament |
21% |
26% |
21% |
29% |
16% |
22% |
||
|
Should have a national vote |
67% |
66% |
69% |
64% |
75% |
66% |
||
|
Don’t know |
12% |
8% |
10% |
7% |
9% |
12% |
67% favour a national vote on same sex marriage and 21% think the issue should be decided by Parliament. This represents little change since this question was asked in August.
Q. 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?
Q. If don’t know -Well which party are you currently leaning to?
Sample size = 1,756 respondents
| First preference/leaning to | Election
7 Sep 13 |
4 weeks ago
18/08/15 |
2 weeks ago 01/09/15 | Last week
8/9/15 |
This week 15/9/15 | |
| Liberal | 38% | 37% | 36% | 36% | ||
| National | 3% | 3% | 4% | 4% | ||
| Total Liberal/National | 45.6% | 41% | 40% | 40% | 40% | |
| Labor | 33.4% | 38% | 38% | 38% | 38% | |
| Greens | 8.6% | 10% | 11% | 11% | 11% | |
| Palmer United Party | 5.5% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | |
| Other/Independent | 6.9% | 9% | 10% | 9% | 10% |
| 2 Party Preferred | Election
7 Sep 13 |
4 weeks ago
18/8/15 |
2 weeks ago 01/09/15 | Last week
1/9/15 |
This week 8/9/15 | |
| Liberal National | 53.5% | 48% | 48% | 48% | 48% | |
| Labor | 46.5% | 52% | 52% | 52% | 52% |
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.
Q. Do you think Australia should or should not continue to expand our coal industry – including approving new mines and building railway lines and ports?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | Dec 2014 | |||
| Should continue to expand | 38% | 31% | 55% | 14% | 39% | 34% | ||
| Should not continue to expand | 33% | 41% | 20% | 69% | 37% | 40% | ||
| Don’t know | 29% | 28% | 25% | 17% | 24% | 26% |
The largest proportion of Australians (38%) believe that the coal industry should continue to expand. However this was closely followed by a significant proportion (33%) who thought it should not expand.
29% don’t know if the coal industry should expand or not.
55% of Coalition voters believe the coal industry should expand, compared to just 31% of Labor and 14% of Greens voters.
Males (43%) were more likely than females (33%) to think that the coal industry should expand.
Compared to December 2014 there has been a drop in the number of people saying the coal industry should not expand (from 40% down to 33%), but only a small rise in those saying it should.
PLEASE NOTE: This question was only asked of those who said that they thought the coal industry should not expand.
Q. And which of the following best describes the main reason you think Australia should not continue to expand its coal industry?
| Total | |
| Economic reasons (i.e. the coal industry is not a good investment) | 4% |
| Environmental reasons (i.e. to prevent climate change) | 45% |
| A mix of economic and environmental reasons | 49% |
| Other | 2% |
For those that thought the coal industry should not expand, the largest proportion described their main reason as ‘a mix of economic and environmental reasons’ (49%), followed by a large proportion (45%) who said ‘environmental reasons’.
Just 4% selected economic reasons.
Q. How many refugees do you think Australia takes in every year?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Nov 2014 | |||
| About 5,000 | 10% | 8% | 9% | 15% | 11% | 10% | ||
| About 10,000 | 18% | 23% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 12% | ||
| About 15,000 | 21% | 22% | 22% | 28% | 23% | 15% | ||
| About 25,000 | 17% | 15% | 22% | 10% | 17% | 19% | ||
| About 50,000 | 6% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 12% | 14% | ||
| Don’t know | 28% | 25% | 25% | 25% | 22% | 31% |
The largest proportion of Australians (28%) stated that they didn’t know how many refugees Australia takes in every year.
21% thought that the number was 15,000, while 18% thought it was 10,000 and 17% 25,000.
Just 6% believe the figure is about 50,000, significantly less than in November 2014 (14%).
Q. As far as you know which of the following statements is true?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | Nov 2014 | |||
| Australia takes in fewer refugees than comparable nations | 30% | 35% | 21% | 63% | 25% | 32% | ||
| Australia takes in about the same number of refugees as comparable nations | 22% | 24% | 27% | 14% | 21% | 20% | ||
| Australia takes in more refugees than comparable nations | 30% | 27% | 37% | 12% | 34% | 25% | ||
| Don’t know | 18% | 14% | 15% | 11% | 20% | 23% |
Australians are divided in their opinion on the number of refugees we take in comparison to other nations.
30% think we take fewer refugees, and 30% think we take more. 22% think we take the same amount as other comparable nations.
18% don’t know.
Greens voters (63%) were far more likely to think we take in fewer, while Coalition voters were slightly more likely to think we take in more.
These results have not shifted significantly since November 2014.
PLEASE NOTE: For this question half the sample was asked question 57a and half were asked 57b.
Q57a. And do you think Australia should take in more, or less than we do currently?
Q57b. Australia currently takes 13,750 refugees per year. Do you think Australia should take in more, or less than we do currently?
| Q57a. (without actual figure) | Total | Q57b. (with actual figure) | Total | |
| Much more than currently | 12% | Much more than currently | 8% | |
| More than currently | 18% | More than currently | 24% | |
| Less than currently | 15% | Less than currently | 14% | |
| Much less than currently | 22% | Much less than currently | 17% | |
| About the same | 21% | About the same | 25% | |
| Don’t know | 11% | Don’t know | 13% |
Without being given the actual figure, 37% of Australians believe that we should take in less refugees than we do currently.
When they are given the actual figure, 31% believe that we should take in less refugees than we do currently.
Q. The current Australian refugee in-take is capped at 13,750. In response to the refugee crisis in Europe, the Federal government has said it will take an additional 12,000 refugees from Syria, on top of the 13,750 they take annually. These refugees will be settled permanently. Do you think the Federal government should have taken more than 12,000, less than 12,000 or is that about the right amount?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| More than 12,000 | 19% | 25% | 12% | 46% | 18% | |
| Less than 12,000 | 36% | 38% | 39% | 16% | 42% | |
| That figure is about right | 30% | 26% | 37% | 25% | 30% | |
| Don’t know | 15% | 12% | 13% | 13% | 10% |
The largest proportion of Australians (36%) believe that the Federal government should have taken less than 12,000 refugees from Syria.
30% believe the figure is about right, while 19% think the Federal government should have taken more.
15% don’t know.
Both Labor (38%) and Coalition (39%) voters were more likely to think the Federal government should have taken less than 12,000. Greens voters (46%) were more likely to think they should have taken more.