The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

  • Jul, 2015

    ,

    Bronwyn Bishop

    Q. The Speaker of the Federal Parliament Bronwyn Bishop was recently reported to have spent over $5,000 to take a helicopter to a function in Victoria. She has since repaid this money. Do you think she should remain in the position of Speaker, stand down while her expenses are being investigated, resign as Speaker or resign from Parliament?

      Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote Other
    Remain in the position of Speaker 19% 13% 34% 6% 19%
    Stand down while an investigation is done 25% 20% 30% 31% 25%
    Resign as Speaker 19% 24% 14% 25% 17%
    Resign from Parliament 24% 35% 11% 30% 28%
    Don’t know 13% 8% 11% 9% 11%

    Only 19% think Bronwyn Bishop should remain in the position of Speaker.

    25% think she should stand down while her expenses are being investigated, 19% think she should resign as Speaker and 24% think she should resign from Parliament.

    34% of Liberal/National voters think she should remain as Speaker – 25% think she should resign as Speaker or from Parliament. A majority of Labor voters (59%) and Greens voters (55%) think she should resign as Speaker or from Parliament

  • Jul, 2015

    ,

    Electricity costs

    Q. Thinking about your electricity bill over the last 12 months, do you think you electricity bill has:

      Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote Other
    Total decreased 9% 10% 10% 12% 9%
    Total increased 51% 58% 51% 46% 48%
    Decreased a lot 1% 1% 1% 3% 1%
    Decreased a little 8% 9% 9% 9% 8%
    Stayed much the same 33% 28% 32% 35% 37%
    Increased a little 29% 31% 30% 31% 25%
    Increased a lot 22% 27% 21% 15% 23%
    Don’t know 7% 4% 7% 8% 6%

    51% think their electricity bill over the last 12 months has increased, 33% think it has stayed about the same and 9% think it has decreased.

    There were not substantial differences by voting intention or demographics – although Labor voters (58%) were a little more likely to think it had increased.

  • Jul, 2015

    Impact of carbon tax

    Q. Do you believe that the carbon tax, before it was repealed last year, had a big impact, a small impact or no impact on electricity prices?

      Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote Other
    Had a big impact 21% 15% 30% 15% 22%
    Had a small impact 41% 43% 42% 39% 46%
    Had no impact 20% 27% 12% 33% 21%
    Don’t know 18% 15% 17% 14% 11%

    Only 21% believe that the carbon tax had a big impact on electricity prices before it was repealed a year ago. 41% think it had a small impact and 20% think it had no impact.

    Although there were some differences by voting intention, they were not large. Liberal/National voters were more likely to think it had a big impact (30%) and Labor voters and Greens voters were more likely to think it had no impact (27% and 33%).

  • Jul, 2015

    Penalty rates

    Q. Do you think 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?

      Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote Other   Work full time Work part time   May 2013 Jan 2015
    Yes 81% 90% 73% 81% 82% 76% 85% 81% 81%
    No 13% 8% 20% 9% 11% 15% 9% 12% 13%
    Don’t know 7% 3% 7% 10% 7% 8% 6% 7% 6%

    81% think that people who are required to work outside of normal hours should receive a higher hourly rate of pay and 13% think they should not. There has been no change of opinion on this issue since this question was first asked in May 2013.

    A large majority of all demographic and voter groups agree that worker should receive higher rates for working outside normal hours – although Labor voters (90%) and Greens voters (81%) are somewhat more likely to support this than Liberal/National voters (73%). 85% of part-time workers agree compared to 76% of full-time workers.

  • Jul, 2015

    Likely result of cutting penalty rates

    Q. What do you think would be the more likely result of cutting penalty rates for hospitality and retail workers?

      Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/
    Nat
    Vote Greens Vote Other   Work full time Work part time   Jan 2015
    Businesses will make bigger profits 61% 74% 50% 68% 68% 57% 58% 63%
    Businesses will employ more workers 20% 12% 31% 18% 23% 27% 17% 18%
    Don’t know 19% 14% 19% 13% 10% 16% 25% 18%

    61% think that cutting penalty rates will more likely result in businesses making bigger profits while 20% think the more likely result will be that businesses will employ more workers – a similar result to the last time this question was asked in January.

    A substantial majority of all demographic groups believe it will more likely result in bigger profits for businesses. Those most likely to think it will mean businesses will make bigger profits were Labor voters (74%), Greens voters (68%) and incomes less than $1,000 pw (67%)

    Only Liberal/National voters have a somewhat different view – 50% think it is more likely to result in bigger profits and 31% more jobs.

  • Jul, 2015

    Tax reforms

    Q. Would you support or oppose the following tax reforms to raise more funds for Government services and infrastructure?

      Total support Total oppose   Strongly support Support Oppose Strongly oppose Don’t know   Total supp. Mar 2015 Total opp. Mar 2015
    Force multi-national companies to pay a minimum tax rate on Australian earnings 79% 9% 51% 28% 6% 3% 13% 76% 8%
    Increase income tax rate for high earners 63% 24% 30% 33% 15% 9% 13% 65% 23%
    Remove super-annuation tax concessions for high earners 59% 25% 30% 29% 15% 10% 17% 55% 25%
    Remove negative gearing 37% 33% 17% 20% 18% 15% 31% 33% 30%
    Replace stamp duty with land tax 26% 32% 7% 19% 20% 12% 42% 24% 34%
    Remove GST exemptions (e.g. food) 33% 55% 14% 19% 24% 31% 14% 36% 51%
    Increase the GST 24% 65% 6% 18% 29% 36% 11% 19% 70%

    There was strong majority support for forcing multinational companies to pay a minimum tax rate on Australian earnings (79%), increasing income tax rate for high earners (63%) and removing superannuation tax concessions for high earners (59%).

    There was strong majority opposition to increasing the GST (65%).

  • Jul, 2015

    ,

    Increasing GST with income tax reductions

    Q. Would you support or oppose increasing the GST if income taxes were reduced at the same time?

      Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote Other
    Total support 38% 30% 52% 32% 39%
    Total oppose 42% 52% 33% 57% 43%
    Strongly support 10% 7% 17% 5% 6%
    Support 28% 23% 35% 27% 33%
    Oppose 23% 26% 21% 23% 25%
    Strongly oppose 19% 26% 12% 24% 18%
    Don’t know 20% 18% 15% 20% 18%

    38% support increasing the GST if income taxes were reduced at the same time and 42% oppose.

    A majority (52%) of Liberal/National voters support increasing GST and a majority of Labor (52%) and Greens voters (57%) oppose.

    For those on higher incomes ($1,600+ pw), 50% support and 32% oppose.

  • Jul, 2015

    Increasing GST or Medicare levy

    Q. If you had to choose, which of the following tax reforms to raise more funds for Government services and infrastructure would you favour? 

      Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote Other
    Increasing the GST 35% 29% 47% 34% 34%
    Increasing the Medicare levy 33% 40% 26% 39% 33%
    Don’t know 32% 31% 27% 27% 33%

    Given the choice of increasing the GST or increasing the Medicare levy, 35% favour increasing the GST and 33% favour increasing the Medicare levy. 32% could not choose.

    Labor voters favoured increasing the Medicare levy (40%) while Liberal/National voters favoured increasing the GST (47%).

    Those on low incomes (under $600 pw) favoured increasing the Medicare levy (45% to 22%) while those on higher incomes ($1,600+ pw) favoured increasing the GST (50% to 27%).

Error: