Q. Which of the following do you think would make the best leader of the Labor Party?
| Total | Men | Women | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | |||
| Bill Shorten | 16% | 20% | 13% | 34% | 10% | 4% | 6% | ||
| Anthony Albanese | 12% | 13% | 11% | 13% | 11% | 18% | 16% | ||
| Tanya Plibersek | 13% | 12% | 14% | 15% | 10% | 29% | 7% | ||
| Chris Bowen | 5% | 7% | 3% | 3% | 7% | 7% | 5%% | ||
| Someone else | 18% | 20% | 17% | 10% | 26% | 15% | 35% | ||
| Don’t know | 36% | 29% | 42% | 25% | 35% | 27% | 31% |
16% think Bill Shorten would make the best leader of the Labor Party, 13% prefer Tanya Plibersek and 12% Anthony Albanese. 18% prefer someone else and 36% don’t know.
Among Labor voters, 34% prefer Bill Shorten, 15% Tanya Plibersek and 13% Anthony Albanese
Preferences of men were Bill Shorten 20%, Anthony Albanese 13% and Tanya Plibersek 12%.
Preferences of women were Tanya Plibersek 14%, Bill Shorten 13% and Anthony Albanese 11%.
climate change, economic instability, Threat of terrorism, threats to the world
Q. Which of the following international issues represents the biggest threat to the world? And which is the second biggest threat?
| Total | Biggest threat | Second biggest threat | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | ||
| Terrorism | 61% | 43% | 18% | 61% | 71% | 35% | 57% | |
| Global economic instability | 51% | 23% | 28% | 50% | 52% | 50% | 54% | |
| Climate change | 38% | 21% | 17% | 47% | 21% | 68% | 36% | |
| Fighting in the Middle East | 23% | 6% | 17% | 17% | 27% | 21% | 29% | |
| Chinese economic slowdown | 12% | 4% | 8% | 12% | 13% | 4% | 12% | |
| Tensions between Russia and its neighbours | 8% | 2% | 6% | 6% | 10% | 8% | 9% | |
| Tensions between China and its neighbours | 7% | 1% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 14% | 3% |
61% think that terrorism is one of the two biggest threats to the world and 51% nominated global economic instability as one of the biggest threats.
38% think climate change is one of the two biggest threats.
Labor and Liberal/National voters nominated terrorism and global economic instability as the biggest threats while Greens voters were more likely to think climate change was a bigger threat (68%). Only 21% of Liberal/National voters think climate change is one of the two biggest threats.
climate change, economic instability, Threat of terrorism, threats to Australia
Q. Which of the following international issues represents the biggest threat to Australia? And which is the second biggest threat?
| Total | Biggest threat | Second biggest threat | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | ||
| Global economic instability | 55% | 25% | 30% | 51% | 58% | 59% | 55% | |
| Terrorism | 47% | 26% | 21% | 48% | 54% | 21% | 46% | |
| Climate change | 38% | 22% | 16% | 47% | 18% | 72% | 31% | |
| Chinese economic slowdown | 36% | 20% | 16% | 31% | 44% | 27% | 36% | |
| Fighting in the Middle East | 12% | 3% | 9% | 10% | 13% | 9% | 15% | |
| Tensions between China and its neighbours | 9% | 4% | 5% | 11% | 8% | 8% | 13% | |
| Tensions between Russia and its neighbours | 3% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 3% | 5% |
55% think that global economic instability is one of the two biggest threats to Australia and 47% nominated terrorism as one of the biggest threats.
38% think climate change is one of the two biggest threats and 36% nominated the Chinese economic slowdown.
Labor voters think global economic instability, terrorism and climate change represent similar levels of threat while Liberal/National voters were more likely to think the Chinese economic slowdown was a threat. Only 18% of Liberal/National voters thought climate change was one of the two biggest threats to Australia.
Q. How important is the asylum seeker issue of in deciding which party you will vote for in the Federal election?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Jun 2013 | |||
| The most important issue | 7% | 7% | 8% | 6% | 9% | 6% | ||
| One of the most important issues | 29% | 23% | 35% | 38% | 28% | 28% | ||
| Quite important but not as important as other issues | 37% | 44% | 36% | 33% | 33% | 37% | ||
| Not very important | 10% | 11% | 11% | 13% | 9% | 14% | ||
| Not at all important | 9% | 9% | 7% | 6% | 17% | 10% | ||
| Don’t know | 8% | 5% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 5% |
36% of respondents think the asylum seeker issue is the most important or one of the most important election issues.
43% of Liberal/National voters think it is one of or the most important issues.
These results are very similar to those from June 2013.
Q. Which party has the best policy for handling the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Jun 2013 | |||
| Labor | 12% | 32% | 2% | 4% | 1% | 13% | ||
| Liberal | 37% | 11% | 78% | 4% | 32% | 38% | ||
| Greens | 8% | 7% | 3% | 55% | 6% | 7% | ||
| None of them | 24% | 29% | 11% | 27% | 41% | 31% | ||
| Don’t know | 19% | 21% | 6% | 9% | 19% | 11% |
37% think the Liberal Party has the best policy for handling the issue of asylum seekers arriving by boat and 12% think the Labor Party has the best policy. 24% think no party has the best policy. These results are very similar to those from June 2013.
Only 32% of Labor voters think the Labor Party has the best policy compared with 78% of Liberal/National voters who think the Liberals have the best policy.
Of those who think the asylum seeker issue is one of or the most important election issue, 46% think that the Liberals have the best policy, 15% think Labor has the best policy, 12% think the Greens have the best policy and 14% think none of them do.
Q. The Labor Party recently committed to a target of 50% renewable energy by 2030. Do you approve or disapprove of this policy?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | ||
| Total approve | 65% | 84% | 45% | 96% | 59% | |
| Total disapprove | 16% | 3% | 35% | 2% | 15% | |
| Strongly approve | 25% | 40% | 8% | 43% | 20% | |
| Approve | 40% | 44% | 37% | 53% | 39% | |
| Disapprove | 9% | 3% | 18% | 1% | 8% | |
| Strongly disapprove | 7% | * | 17% | 1% | 7% | |
| Don’t know | 19% | 13% | 20% | 3% | 25% |
65% approve of the Labor Party commitment to a target of 50% renewable energy by 2030 and 16% disapprove.
A very high majority of Labor voters (84%) and Greens voters (96%) approve.
Liberal/National voters were split but more likely to approve (45%) than disapprove (35%).
electricity, electricity costs, Renewable energy target
Do you think a 50% renewable target will mean higher or lower electricity costs?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | Approve 50% target | Dis-approve 50% target | |||
| Higher costs | 51% | 45% | 67% | 42% | 48% | 48% | 82% | ||
| Lower costs | 18% | 22% | 11% | 25% | 19% | 24% | 10% | ||
| Much higher costs | 24% | 12% | 42% | 8% | 27% | 13% | 71% | ||
| A little higher costs | 27% | 33% | 25% | 34% | 21% | 35% | 11% | ||
| A little lower costs | 12% | 14% | 8% | 16% | 15% | 16% | 5% | ||
| Much lower costs | 6% | 8% | 3% | 9% | 4% | 8% | 5% | ||
| Make no difference to costs | 11% | 13% | 8% | 20% | 13% | 14% | 5% | ||
| Don’t know | 19% | 20% | 14% | 14% | 19% | 15% | 3% |
51% think that a 50% renewable target will mean higher electricity costs and 18% think it will mean lower costs. 11% think it will make no difference.
Of those who approve the Labor Party’s 50% renewable target 48% think it will mean higher electricity costs and 24% think it will mean lower costs – although only 13% think it will mean much higher costs.
federal politics voting intention
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 = 1,793 respondents
| First preference/leaning to | Election
7 Sep 13 |
4 weeks ago
30/6/15 |
2 weeks ago 14/7/15 | Last week
21/7/15 |
This week 28/7/15 | |
| Liberal | 38% | 38% | 38% | 36% | ||
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 4% | ||
| Total Liberal/National | 45.6% | 41% | 41% | 41% | 40% | |
| Labor | 33.4% | 39% | 38% | 38% | 38% | |
| Greens | 8.6% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 11% | |
| Palmer United Party | 5.5% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 1% | |
| Other/Independent | 6.9% | 8% | 9% | 9% | 9% |
| 2 Party Preferred | Election
7 Sep 13 |
4 weeks ago
30/6/15 |
2 weeks ago 14/7/15 | Last week
21/7/15 |
This week 28/7/15 | |
| Liberal National | 53.5% | 47% | 48% | 48% | 47% | |
| Labor | 46.5% | 53% | 52% | 52% | 53% |
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.