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  • Aug, 2020

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    Federal government better at

    Q. Do you think a Federal Government led by Labor or the Coalition would be better at…?

      Coalition Labor Neither
    Reducing national debt 45% 27% 28%
    Managing the economy 45% 32% 24%
    Stopping community transmission of Covid-19 as soon as possible 39% 31% 30%
    Working with other countries’ leaders appropriately 38% 34% 28%
    Creating jobs 37% 40% 23%
    Supporting those in financial need 35% 43% 22%
    Improving the education system 32% 41% 27%

     

    • A Coalition government is thought to be better than Labor at governance issues such as recovering the economy from Covid-19 (46% Coalition), reducing national debt (45%) and managing the economy (44%).
    • Elements where Labor is seen to do a better job than the Coalition is in improving the education system (41%), supporting those in financial need (43%) an creating jobs (40%).
    • Across all issues between one-fifth (22%) and almost a third (30%) of participants believe that neither party would be better at any of the listed elements.
  • Apr, 2016

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    Importance of re-establishing ABCC

    Q: Compared to other issues the Government needs to address, how important is the issue of re-establishing the ABCC?

     
    Total
     
    Vote Labor
    Vote Lib/Nat
    Vote Greens
    Vote other
    Total important 34%   25% 51% 30% 28%
    Total not important 41%   53% 29% 54% 48%
    Very important 10% 5% 16% 7% 12%
    Somewhat important 24% 20% 35% 23% 16%
    Not so important 26% 31% 25% 22% 24%
    Not at all important 15% 22% 4% 32% 24%
    Don’t know 26% 23% 20% 15% 24%

    34% say that re-establishing the ABCC is very or somewhat important compared to other issues the Government needs to address and 41% say it is not important.

    Those more likely to think it is important were Liberal/National voters (51% and people aged 65+ (47%).

    Those more likely to say it was not important were Labor (53%) and Greens (54%) voters.

  • Oct, 2014

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    Government decisions

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the following decisions the Federal Government has made over the last 12 months?

     

    Total approve

    Total dis-approve

    Net

     

    Strongly approve

    Approve

    Dis-approve

    Strongly dis-approve

    No opinion

    Turning back asylum seeker boats

    61%

    30%

    +31

    37%

    24%

    15%

    15%

    10%

    Freezing foreign aid at current levels

    58%

    27%

    +31

    25%

    33%

    14%

    13%

    15%

    Dumping the carbon tax

    53%

    34%

    +19

    24%

    29%

    14%

    20%

    12%

    Sending military aid to Iraq

    44%

    43%

    +1

    12%

    32%

    20%

    23%

    13%

    Dumping the mining tax

    41%

    42%

    -1

    15%

    26%

    19%

    23%

    18%

    A six-month wait for under-30’s before they can receive unemployment benefits

    38%

    52%

    -14

    16%

    22%

    21%

    31%

    10%

    Cutting public sector jobs

    34%

    52%

    -18

    10%

    24%

    28%

    24%

    14%

    Cutting $120 million in future funding to the ABC

    25%

    58%

    -33

    11%

    14%

    28%

    30%

    17%

    Increasing the pension age

    28%

    63%

    -35

    9%

    19%

    28%

    35%

    9%

    $7 co-payment for visits to the doctor

    27%

    66%

    -39

    7%

    20%

    22%

    44%

    8%

    Deregulating university fees

    22%

    63%

    -41

    6%

    16%

    23%

    40%

    14%

    Cutting $20 billion from future hospital funding to the states

    12%

    81%

    -69

    4%

    8%

    27%

    54%

    8%

    The most approved Government decisions were turning back asylum seeker boats (61% approve), freezing foreign aid (58%) and dumping the carbon tax (53%). The most disapproved decisions were cutting $20 billion from hospital funding (81% disapprove), $7 co-payment for doctor visits (66%), deregulating university fees (63%) and increasing the pension age (63%).

    Sending military aid to Iraq was approved by men (51% approve/39% disapprove) but disapproved by women (37% approve/47% disapprove).

    The $7 co-payment was disapproved by 72% of those aged 45-64 and 71% of those earning less than $1,000 pw.

    Deregulating university fees was disapproved by 77% of those aged 18-24.

  • Apr, 2014

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    Reason for cutting funding to ABC

    Q. If the Federal Government cut funding to the ABC do you think it would be because:

     

    Total

     

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

    The Government needs to reduce overall spending

    45%

    36%

    64%

    25%

    39%

    The Government doesn’t like the ABC’s news coverage

    28%

    38%

    6%

    65%

    36%

    The ABC has more than enough funding to do its job efficiently

    10%

    6%

    17%

    1%

    7%

    Don’t know

    18%

    20%

    13%

    9%

    18%

    45% think that funding cuts to the ABC would be made because the Government needs to reduce overall spending and 28% think it would be because the Government doesn’t like the ABC’s news coverage.

    Those more likely to think it would be because the Government doesn’t like the ABC’s news coverage were Greens voters (65%), Labor voters (38%), income less than $600pw (38%) and university educated (34%).

  • Mar, 2014

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    Same party in Government at State and Federal levels

    Q. Do you think it is better to have the same party in Government at both State and Federal levels or do you think it is better to have different parties in Government at State and Federal levels?

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

     

    Total

    Nov 13

    Same party in Government

    26%

    26%

    38%

    10%

    11%

    26%

    Different parties in Government

    24%

    27%

    17%

    41%

    37%

    22%

    Makes no difference

    36%

    36%

    34%

    33%

    40%

    40%

    Don’t know

    13%

    11%

    11%

    15%

    12%

    12%

    36% think it doesn’t make any difference whether the parties in Government at State and Federal levels are different or the same. 26% think it is better if they are the same and 24% think it would be better if they were different. These figures have changed little since this question was asked in November.

    Labor voters were a little more likely to favour different parties while Liberal/National voters were more likely to favour having the same party in power at both levels.

  • Feb, 2014

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    Government support for Qantas

    Q. Would you approve or disapprove of the Federal Government taking any of the following actions on Qantas?

     

    Total approve

    Total  disapprove

     

    Strongly approve

    Approve

    Disapprove

    Strongly disapprove

    Don’t know

    Buy a share of Qantas

    49%

    30%

    12%

    37%

    19%

    11%

    21%

    Guarantee Qantas loans

    45%

    32%

    8%

    37%

    21%

    11%

    22%

    Nationalise Qantas, i.e. the Government has full ownership and control

    36%

    42%

    11%

    25%

    24%

    18%

    22%

    Provide direct funding and subsidies

    35%

    42%

    7%

    28%

    27%

    15%

    23%

    Allow increased foreign ownership of Qantas

    31%

    52%

    6%

    25%

    25%

    27%

    16%

    Overall, respondents approved the Government buying a share of Qantas (49% approve/30% disapprove) and guaranteeing Qantas loans (45%/32%).

    They tended to disapprove of allowing increased foreign ownership (31% approve/52% disapprove), providing direct funding (35%/42%) and nationalising Qantas (36%/42%).

    Liberal/National voters were more likely to disapprove of all forms of assistance except allowing increased foreign ownership (40% approve/48% disapprove).

  • Jan, 2014

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    Welfare payments

    Q. Overall, do you think the Federal Government spends too much, not enough or about the right amount on welfare payments – such as age pensions, disability support pensions, unemployment benefits, parenting payments?

     

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

    Too much

    24%

    12%

    36%

    18%

    25%

    Not enough

    41%

    56%

    27%

    47%

    40%

    About right

    27%

    27%

    29%

    29%

    27%

    Don’t know

    9%

    5%

    9%

    7%

    8%

    41% think the Government does not spend enough on welfare payments, 27% think spending is about right and 24% think it spends too much.

    Those most likely to think it spends too much were Liberal/National voters (36%), full-time workers (33%) and those on income over $1,600pw (34%).

    Those most likely to think it doesn’t spend enough were Labor voters (56%) and those on incomes under $600pw (64%).

  • Dec, 2012

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    Responsibility for gas/electricity prices

    Q. Who do you think is mainly responsible for electricity and gas prices?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    The Federal Government

    27%

    17%

    40%

    15%

    The State Government

    16%

    18%

    14%

    18%

    The power companies

    45%

    54%

    37%

    56%

    Don’t know

    13%

    11%

    9%

    11%

    45% believe that power companies are mainly responsible for electricity and gas prices, 27% think the Federal Government is mainly responsible and 16% State Governments.

    40% of Liberal/National voters think the Federal Government is mainly responsible. Answers were similar across the major states – NSW, Victoria, Queensland.

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