Q. Thinking about the decisions the Labor Government has made over the last few years, do you think the following decisions were good or bad for Australia?
|
Total good |
Total bad |
Very good |
Good |
Neither good nor bad |
Bad |
Very bad |
Don’t know |
Sep 12 good |
Sep 12 bad |
|
| Expanding dental health services for people on low incomes |
73% |
8% |
28% |
45% |
15% |
4% |
4% |
5% |
77% |
5% |
| Increasing the tax free threshold from $6,000 to $18,200 |
72% |
8% |
34% |
38% |
15% |
5% |
3% |
5% |
75% |
4% |
| Increasing the age pension |
67% |
14% |
27% |
40% |
16% |
10% |
4% |
4% |
70% |
11% |
| Protecting large areas of Australia’s marine environment in a network of marine reserves |
66% |
10% |
27% |
39% |
19% |
6% |
4% |
5% |
67% |
8% |
| Introducing the National Disability Insurance Scheme |
63% |
9% |
26% |
37% |
20% |
5% |
4% |
8% |
58% |
5% |
| Increasing superannuation from 9% to 12% |
62% |
14% |
24% |
38% |
19% |
10% |
4% |
5% |
68% |
9% |
| Stimulus spending to tackle the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) |
50% |
26% |
21% |
29% |
19% |
17% |
9% |
5% |
54% |
22% |
| Introducing a tax on large profits of mining companies |
49% |
27% |
21% |
28% |
20% |
15% |
12% |
5% |
49% |
25% |
| Building the NBN (National Broadband Network) |
48% |
28% |
22% |
26% |
18% |
15% |
13% |
6% |
43% |
28% |
| Paid parental leave |
48% |
22% |
14% |
34% |
24% |
13% |
9% |
5% |
52% |
20% |
| Spending on new school buildings during the GFC |
47% |
26% |
12% |
35% |
20% |
15% |
11% |
6% |
53% |
22% |
| Implementing the recommendations of the Gonski report to increase education funding |
46% |
22% |
17% |
29% |
23% |
12% |
10% |
9% |
54% |
8% |
| Abolished WorkChoices |
42% |
27% |
23% |
19% |
22% |
17% |
10% |
10% |
42% |
27% |
| Introducing a carbon tax to tackle climate change |
32% |
48% |
14% |
18% |
16% |
18% |
30% |
4% |
28% |
51% |
The two most popular decisions of the Labor Government are ‘expanding dental health services for people on low incomes’ (73% total good) and ‘increasing the tax free threshold from $6,000 to $18,000 (72% total good). The least popular decisions were ‘Implementing the recommendations of the Gonski report (46% total good), ‘Abolished WorkChoices’ (42% total good) and ‘introducing a carbon tax to tackle climate change’ (32% total good).
The only issue which received a net negative response was ‘introducing a carbon tax to tackle climate change’, where 48% of respondents believed it to be bad for Australia.
Since this question was previously asked last September, perceptions of most decisions have become a little more negative – with the exceptions of the “carbon tax” which shifted from 28% to 32% ‘good’, the ‘NDIS’ which shifted from 58% to 63% ‘good’ and building the NBN which shifted from 43% to 48% ‘good’.
The largest negative shifts were for the ‘Gonski recommendations’ (down 8% to 46%), increasing super (down 6% to 62%) and spending on schools during the GFC (down 6% to 47%).