Q. Would you support or oppose introducing the following requirement concerning political donation?
| Total support | Total oppose | Strongly support | Support | Oppose | Strongly oppose | Don’t know | Total support (Jun 2017) | Total oppose (Jun 2017) | ||
| Political donations to be reported immediately by political parties, compared to annual reports at the moment | 84% | 6% | 46% | 38% | 5% | 1% | 11% | 78% | 5% | |
| All politicians to publicly disclose meetings with representatives of companies, donors or unions | 82% | 5% | 44% | 38% | 4% | 1% | 12% | 79% | 6% | |
| A ban on foreign donations | 67% | 16% | 42% | 25% | 12% | 4% | 16% | 64% | 15% | |
| A cap on donations of $5000 | 59% | 20% | 27% | 32% | 16% | 4% | 22% | 61% | 15% | |
| A ban on political donations by companies and unions | 58% | 22% | 27% | 31% | 18% | 4% | 21% | 60% | 16% | |
| All donations banned and all political party spending to be taxpayer funded | 30% | 50% | 13% | 17% | 23% | 27% | 21% | 30% | 46% |
| Support by party preference | Total support | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | |
| Political donations to be reported immediately by political parties, compared to annual reports at the moment | 84% | 87% | 86% | 89% | 89% | |
| All politicians to publicly disclose meetings with representatives of companies, donors or unions | 82% | 83% | 89% | 83% | 86% | |
| A ban on foreign donations | 67% | 66% | 74% | 68% | 75% | |
| A cap on donations of $5000 | 59% | 63% | 60% | 58% | 65% | |
| A ban on political donations by companies and unions | 58% | 53% | 63% | 64% | 65% | |
| All donations banned and all political party spending to be taxpayer funded | 30% | 36% | 29% | 30% | 25% |
There was majority support for all listed reforms except taxpayer funding for political parties (30% support/50% oppose).
There was particularly strong support for immediate reporting of donations (84%, up 6% from June) and public disclosure of meetings (82%, up 3%).
There were few major differences by party preference.
Q. Thinking about the last 12 months, has it been a good or bad year for each of the following?
| Total good | Total bad | NET | Very good | Good | Neither good nor bad | Bad | Very bad | Don’t know | 2013 NET | 2014 NET | 2015 NET | 2016 NET | |||
| The Australian economy | 35% | 24% | +11 | 5% | 30% | 35% | 19% | 5% | 6% | -13 | -13 | -11 | -19 | ||
| Australian politics in general | 18% | 54% | -36 | 3% | 15% | 22% | 32% | 22% | 6% | -62 | -53 | -41 | -53 | ||
| Large companies and corporations | 39% | 17% | +22 | 8% | 31% | 35% | 13% | 4% | 10% | -9 | +14 | +5 | +5 | ||
| Small business | 30% | 32% | -2 | 5% | 25% | 31% | 24% | 8% | 8% | -45 | -28 | -12 | -22 | ||
| Trade unions | 19% | 26% | -7 | 5% | 14% | 39% | 18% | 8% | 17% | -25 | -18 | -27 | -18 | ||
| The average Australian | 28% | 34% | -6 | 5% | 23% | 34% | 24% | 10% | 6% | -22 | -23 | -14 | -18 | ||
| Your personal financial situation | 32% | 31% | +1 | 4% | 28% | 35% | 18% | 13% | 3% | -8 | -11 | -6 | -8 | ||
| Your workplace (workers) | 50% | 16% | +34 | 10% | 40% | 31% | 11% | 5% | 3% | +8 | -5 | +14 | +12 | ||
| You and your family overall | 48% | 21% | +27 | 10% | 38% | 28% | 14% | 7% | 3% | +18 | +3 | +21 | +12 | ||
| The planet | 20% | 42% | -22 | 3% | 17% | 32% | 29% | 13% | 6% | – | – | -32 |
Respondents believed that 2016 has been a relatively good year for large companies (+22), your workplace (+34), you and your family overall (+27) and the Australian economy (+11). It was considered a particularly bad year for Australian politics in general (-36).
Relative to 2016 (as measured in December last year), this year was considered substantially better on all measures – but especially for the economy (up 30), small business (up 20) and your workplace (up 22).
Q. Do you think the following pay too much tax, not enough tax or about the right amount?
| Pay too much | Don’t pay enough | Pay about right amount | Don’t know | Jan 2017 Pay too much | Jan 2017 Don’t pay enough | Jan 2017 Pay about right amount | Jan 2017 Don’t know | ||
| People on low incomes | 52% | 6% | 32% | 10% | 46% | 7% | 34% | 13% | |
| People on average incomes | 45% | 7% | 40% | 8% | 43% | 6% | 39% | 12% | |
| You personally | 35% | 7% | 46% | 13% | 39% | 5% | 42% | 14% | |
| Small businesses | 41% | 10% | 38% | 12% | 37% | 8% | 39% | 17% | |
| Retirees on large incomes | 16% | 31% | 32% | 22% | 13% | 31% | 31% | 24% | |
| Religious organisations | 5% | 53% | 20% | 19% | 3% | 58% | 18% | 21% | |
| People on high incomes | 9% | 63% | 19% | 9% | 11% | 59% | 18% | 12% | |
| Mining companies | 6% | 61% | 17% | 16% | 5% | 61% | 13% | 21% | |
| Large businesses | 7% | 69% | 13% | 11% | 6% | 65% | 13% | 16% | |
| Large international companies (such as Google and Apple) | 5% | 72% | 10% | 13% | 2% | 72% | 9% | 17% |
From the groups listed, people on low income (52%), people on average incomes (45%), you personally (35%) and small businesses (41%) and were the groups respondents were most likely to think pay too much tax.
More than half of respondents believe that large international companies (72%), large businesses (69%), mining companies (61%), people on high incomes (63%) and religious organisations (53%) do not pay enough tax.
Results were generally similar to when this question was asked in January.
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the Government giving $50 billion in tax cuts to medium and large businesses?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Oct 2017 | |||
| Total approve | 29% | 21% | 46% | 16% | 20% | 30% | ||
| Total disapprove | 54% | 67% | 37% | 70% | 68% | 50% | ||
| Strongly approve | 8% | 7% | 12% | 5% | 5% | 8% | ||
| Approve | 21% | 14% | 34% | 11% | 15% | 22% | ||
| Disapprove | 29% | 32% | 25% | 35% | 33% | 28% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 25% | 35% | 12% | 35% | 35% | 22% | ||
| Don’t know | 17% | 12% | 17% | 15% | 12% | 20% |
29% approve of the Government giving $50 billion in tax cuts to medium and large businesses and 54% disapprove (up 4% since October). Nearly half of Liberal National voters approve, and more than two-thirds of Labor, Greens and other voters disapprove.
Q. Do you think it is more important to give tax cuts to businesses or to cut personal income tax?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Tax cuts for businesses | 8% | 10% | 10% | 6% | 5% | |
| Cut personal income tax | 47% | 52% | 45% | 54% | 54% | |
| Both equally important | 33% | 29% | 39% | 31% | 32% | |
| Don’t know | 11% | 9% | 6% | 9% | 9% |
47% think it is more important to cut personal income tax than to give tax cuts to businesses. Only 8% think it is more important to give tax cuts to businesses and 33% think they are both equally important.
More than half of Labor, Greens and other voters think personal tax cuts are more important – however, views of Liberal National voters were not very dissimilar (45%). No more than 10% of any voter group thought tax cuts for businesses was most important.
Q. Do you think Australia currently has good or poor relationships with the following countries?
| Total good | Total poor | Very good | Good | Neither good nor poor | Poor | Very poor | Don’t know | Aug 2014
good |
Aug 2014 poor | |||
| New Zealand | 76% | 4% | 30% | 46% | 12% | 3% | 1% | 7% | 87% | 2% | ||
| United Kingdom | 72% | 3% | 24% | 48% | 15% | 2% | 1% | 9% | 86% | 2% | ||
| USA | 65% | 7% | 16% | 49% | 20% | 6% | 1% | 7% | 88% | 2% | ||
| Japan | 60% | 6% | 14% | 46% | 22% | 5% | 1% | 13% | 68% | 5% | ||
| China | 48% | 15% | 6% | 42% | 28% | 12% | 3% | 8% | 65% | 7% | ||
| India | 44% | 11% | 5% | 39% | 30% | 9% | 2% | 14% | 48% | 9% | ||
| Indonesia | 34% | 21% | 4% | 30% | 33% | 17% | 4% | 13% | 31% | 30% | ||
| Russia | 17% | 28% | 2% | 15% | 39% | 21% | 7% | 16% | 10% | 48% |
More than seven in ten think that Australia has good relationships with New Zealand and United Kingdom. About two thirds think relationships with USA and Japan are good
There were mixed opinions on the relationship with Indonesia (34% good/21% poor) and only 17% thought our relationship with Russia is “good”.
Since this question was asked in August 2014, perceptions have changed substantially for relationships with United Kingdom (down 14%), USA (down 23%) and China (down 17%).
Q. Do you think that interference in Australian politics by foreign countries is a major problem, minor problem, or not a problem at all?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| A major problem | 37% | 37% | 37% | 38% | 48% | |
| A minor problem | 36% | 38% | 40% | 37% | 32% | |
| Not a problem at all | 12% | 13% | 13% | 9% | 6% | |
| Don’t know | 16% | 11% | 10% | 15% | 14% |
37% think that interference in Australian politics by foreign countries is a major problem and 36% think it is a minor problem.
Voters for other parties are more likely to think it is a major problem (48%) but Labor, LNP and Greens voters hold similar views.
49% of those aged 55+ think it is a major problem.
Q. If a Federal Election was held today to which party will you probably give your first preference vote? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward? If don’t know – Well which party are you currently leaning to?
| Total | Last week 5/12/17 | 2 weeks ago 28/11/17 | 4 weeks ago 14/11/17 | Election 2 Jul 16 | |||
| Liberal | 33% | 32% | 33% | 33% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 35% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 42.0% | ||
| Labor | 38% | 38% | 38% | 38% | 34.7% | ||
| Greens | 10% | 9% | 9% | 9% | 10.2% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 2% | 2% | 2% | 3% | |||
| Pauline Hanson’s One Nation | 7% | 8% | 8% | 8% | |||
| Other/Independent | 7% | 8% | 7% | 7% | 13.1% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 46% | 45% | 46% | 46% | 50.4% | ||
| Labor | 54% | 55% | 54% | 54% | 49.6% |