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  • Apr, 2015

    Pension age

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of raising the pension age to 70 years by 2035?

      Total   Men Women Aged 18-34 Aged 35-54 Aged 55+   April 2014
    Total approve 21% 26% 16% 20% 16% 28% 20%
    Total disapprove 69% 63% 73% 65% 74% 63% 71%
    Strongly approve 5% 7% 3% 4% 5% 6% 4%
    Approve 16% 19% 13% 16% 11% 22% 16%
    Disapprove 30% 26% 33% 29% 29% 31% 31%
    Strongly disapprove 39% 37% 40% 36% 45% 32% 40%
    Don’t know 11% 12% 11% 16% 10% 9% 9%

    Only 21% approve of the raising the pension age to 70 years and 69% disapprove. Women (73%) are more likely to disapprove than men (63%). There were not major differences by income.

  • May, 2014

    , , , , , ,

    Decisions made in the Budget

    Decisions made in the Budget (1)

    Q. Do you support or oppose the following decisions that were made in the latest Federal Budget, announced on Tuesday 13th May:

     

    Total Support

    Total Oppose

    Strongly support

    Support

    Neither support nor oppose

    Oppose

    Strongly oppose

    Don’t know

    Deregulation of university fees (meaning universities can set their own tuition fees)

    17%

    58%

    5%

    12%

    21%

    24%

    34%

    4%

    Commonwealth funding extended to students at TAFEs, private colleges and sub-bachelor degrees at a cost of $820 million over three years

    43%

    20%

    9%

    34%

    30%

    10%

    10%

    7%

    $7 Medicare co-payment for all visits to the GP, with this money to be used to fund a Medical Research Future Fund.

    29%

    50%

    7%

    22%

    18%

    18%

    32%

    2%

    General patients to pay $5 more and concessional patients 80¢ more for prescription drugs.

    23%

    58%

    5%

    18%

    18%

    26%

    32%

    2%

    Eligibility for the age pension to rise to 70 by 2035

    17%

    61%

    4%

    13%

    20%

    22%

    39%

    3%

    A six-month waiting period for those under-30 before they can access the dole (Newstart)

    39%

    41%

    16%

    23%

    17%

    19%

    22%

    3%

    Tightening eligibility criteria for disability support pensioners for those under 35

    42%

    33%

    12%

    30%

    21%

    16%

    17%

    4%

    University graduates to repay HELP debt once they earn $50,638 (reduced from $53,345)

    53%

    23%

    16%

    37%

    22%

    12%

    11%

    3%

    Cut 16,500 full-time jobs from the public service in the next 3 years

    31%

    43%

    10%

    21%

    22%

    20%

    23%

    4%

    Privatise the Royal Australian Mint

    18%

    42%

    4%

    14%

    31%

    18%

    24%

    10%

    Make those under 25 apply for Youth Allowance, instead of Newstart (Youth Allowance is around $100 less per fortnight

    44%

    32%

    13%

    31%

    21%

    16%

    16%

    3%

     

    Decisions made in the Budget (1) (by voting intention)

    Q. Do you support or oppose the following decisions that were made in the latest Federal Budget, announced on Tuesday 13th May:

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Green

     

    Total Support

    Total Oppose

    Total Support

    Total Oppose

    Total Support

    Total Oppose

    Deregulation of university fees (meaning universities can set their own tuition fees)

    8%

    81%

    28%

    35%

    14%

    69%

    Commonwealth funding extended to students at TAFEs, private colleges and sub-bachelor degrees at a cost of $820 million over three years

    37%

    27%

    54%

    13%

    49%

    8%

    $7 Medicare co-payment for all visits to the GP, with this money to be used to fund a Medical Research Future Fund.

    10%

    74%

    56%

    21%

    18%

    67%

    General patients to pay $5 more and concessional patients 80¢ more for prescription drugs.

    10%

    77%

    42%

    28%

    13%

    69%

    Eligibility for the age pension to rise to 70 by 2035

    7%

    80%

    31%

    37%

    13%

    62%

    A six-month waiting period for those under-30 before they can access the dole (Newstart)

    24%

    60%

    65%

    15%

    17%

    64%

    Tightening eligibility criteria for disability support pensioners for those under 35

    32%

    49%

    62%

    15%

    26%

    46%

    University graduates to repay HELP debt once they earn $50,638 (reduced from $53,345)

    39%

    36%

    74%

    8%

    40%

    33%

    Cut 16,500 full-time jobs from the public service in the next 3 years

    15%

    64%

    57%

    16%

    18%

    59%

    Privatise the Royal Australian Mint

    12%

    55%

    26%

    26%

    14%

    53%

    Make those under 25 apply for Youth Allowance, instead of Newstart (Youth Allowance is around $100 less per fortnight

    25%

    52%

    72%

    8%

    28%

    47%

    Decisions made in the Budget (2)

    Q. Do you support or oppose the following decisions that were made in the latest Federal Budget, announced on Tuesday 13th May:

     

    Total Support

    Total Oppose

    Strongly support

    Support

    Neither support nor oppose

    Oppose

    Strongly oppose

    Don’t know

    Spend $525 on a “green army”

    18%

    24%

    3%

    15%

    37%

    13%

    11%

    21%

    Invest $2.1 million in solar projects in local communities

    59%

    11%

    15%

    44%

    25%

    7%

    4%

    6%

    $100 million for mobile blackspot and wireless coverage in regional areas

    60%

    11%

    15%

    45%

    26%

    7%

    4%

    4%

    A $120M cut to the ABC’s budget

    27%

    41%

    10%

    17%

    26%

    20%

    21%

    7%

    Asylum seekers who have arrived by boat will lose the right to have their case independently reviewed or to have family reunions

    48%

    27%

    25%

    23%

    19%

    14%

    13%

    5%

    Foreign aid frozen at current levels for two years, helping save $7.6 billion over five years

    64%

    13%

    28%

    36%

    18%

    6%

    7%

    5%

    International commitment to spend 0.5 per cent of gross national income on foreign aid abandoned

    44%

    20%

    15%

    29%

    27%

    10%

    10%

    8%

    $3.9bn over five years for major roads in Melbourne, Perth, Toowoomba, Adelaide and the Northern Territory

    55%

    15%

    13%

    42%

    26%

    9%

    6%

    5%

    The HELP debt interest rate changed from CPI to the long term bond rate (an increase of around 1%)

    24%

    31%

    7%

    17%

    35%

    17%

    14%

    12%

    Cut public funding for university courses by 20%

    18%

    49%

    5%

    13%

    29%

    25%

    24%

    4%

     

    Decisions made in the Budget (2) (by voting intention)

    Q. Do you support or oppose the following decisions that were made in the latest Federal Budget, announced on Tuesday 13th May:

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Green

     

    Total Support

    Total Oppose

    Total Support

    Total Oppose

    Total Support

    Total Oppose

    Spend $525 on a “green army”

    13%

    32%

    26%

    18%

    20%

    12%

    Invest $2.1 million in solar projects in local communities

    59%

    11%

    61%

    11%

    77%

    3%

    $100 million for mobile blackspot and wireless coverage in regional areas

    56%

    14%

    72%

    6%

    54%

    8%

    A $120M cut to the ABC’s budget

    14%

    56%

    48%

    21%

    9%

    72%

    Asylum seekers who have arrived by boat will lose the right to have their case independently reviewed or to have family reunions

    36%

    39%

    71%

    9%

    22%

    54%

    Foreign aid frozen at current levels for two years, helping save $7.6 billion over five years

    52%

    22%

    83%

    3%

    51%

    33%

    International commitment to spend 0.5 per cent of gross national income on foreign aid abandoned

    32%

    29%

    64%

    8%

    23%

    49%

    $3.9bn over five years for major roads in Melbourne, Perth, Toowoomba, Adelaide and the Northern Territory

    49%

    19%

    70%

    7%

    42%

    27%

    The HELP debt interest rate changed from CPI to the long term bond rate (an increase of around 1%)

    13%

    44%

    40%

    14%

    17%

    51%

    Cut public funding for university courses by 20%

    8%

    66%

    32%

    28%

    12%

    71%

    Decisions in the Budget: Comments

    The highest levels of opposition were registered for:

    • Eligibility for the age pension to rise to 70 by 2035 (61% oppose, 17% support)
    • Deregulation of university fees (meaning universities can set their own tuition fees) (58% oppose, 17% support)
    • General patients to pay $5 more and concessional patients 80¢ more for prescription drugs (58% oppose, 23% support)
    • $7 Medicare co-payment for all visits to the GP, with this money to be used to fund a Medical Research Future Fund (50% oppose, 29% support)

    The items that more than 50% of Australians supported were:

    • University graduates to repay HELP debt once they earn $50,638 (reduced from $53,345) (53% support, 23% oppose)
    • $3.9bn over five years for major roads in Melbourne, Perth, Toowoomba, Adelaide and the Northern Territory (55% support, 15% oppose)
    • Invest $2.1 million in solar projects in local communities (59% support, 11% oppose)
    • $100 million for mobile blackspot and wireless coverage in regional areas (60% support, 11% oppose)
    • Foreign aid frozen at current levels for two years, helping save $7.6 billion over five years (64% support, 13% oppose)

    The tables included demonstrate the various differences by voting intention.


  • Apr, 2014

    , , , ,

    Raising pension age

    Q. Would you approve or disapprove of raising the pension age to 70?

     

    Total

     

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

    Total approve

    20%

    14%

    31%

    15%

    20%

    Total disapprove

    71%

    80%

    60%

    72%

    73%

    Strongly approve

    4%

    5%

    6%

    2%

    4%

    Approve

    16%

    9%

    25%

    13%

    16%

    Disapprove

    31%

    26%

    33%

    41%

    32%

    Strongly disapprove

    40%

    54%

    27%

    31%

    41%

    Don’t know

    9%

    6%

    9%

    12%

    6%

    71% disapprove of raising the pension age to 70 and 20% approve.

    Although a majority of all demographic and voters groups disapproved, those more likely to approve were Liberal/National voters (31%), men (26%) and aged 65+ (32%).

    Those more likely to disapprove were women (77%) and aged 45-64 (81%).

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