Budget Spending Priorities

Q. And do you think the Government should increase, decrease or keep spending the same for…?

	Increase spending	Keep spending the same	Decrease spending	Don’t know
Healthcare	67%	24%	3%	6%
Education	59%	30%	5%	7%
Age pensions	59%	29%	5%	7%
More affordable housing	53%	33%	7%	7%
Public transport infrastructure	48%	39%	6%	7%
Renewable energy	48%	32%	12%	8%
Environmental protection	43%	39%	10%	8%
Anti-terrorism	42%	42%	8%	9%
Building highways and roads	40%	44%	8%	8%
Providing tax reductions for individuals	40%	40%	10%	9%
Assistance to the unemployed	35%	41%	15%	9%
Providing tax reductions for corporations	12%	32%	46%	10%
Foreign Aid	11%	31%	49%	9%

• The most popular areas for the Government to increase spending are Healthcare (67%), Education (59%) and Aged Care (59%).
• There is greatest support for a decrease in spending to tax cuts for corporations (46%) and foreign aid (49%).

INCREASE SPENDING	Total	Vote Labor	Vote Liberal / National	Vote Greens	NET: Vote Other
Healthcare	67%	69%	66%	69%	72%
Education	59%	64%	56%	63%	55%
Age pensions	59%	60%	58%	52%	70%
More affordable housing	53%	56%	48%	57%	54%
Public transport infrastructure	48%	50%	50%	49%	46%
Renewable energy	48%	55%	39%	72%	41%
Environmental protection	43%	51%	32%	66%	39%
Anti-terrorism	42%	42%	49%	21%	46%
Building highways and roads	40%	37%	47%	28%	42%
Providing tax reductions for individuals	40%	40%	41%	35%	44%
Assistance to the unemployed	35%	44%	27%	36%	35%
Providing tax reductions for corporations	12%	11%	16%	9%	10%
Foreign Aid	11%	13%	10%	18%	7%

• The top areas to increase spending for Coalition voters were healthcare (66%), Age pensions (58%) and Education (56%). Coalition voters were less likely than supporters of other parties to support increasing spending for renewable energy (39%), environmental protection (32%) and providing assistance to the unemployed (27%).