Q. How concerned are you personally about each of the following economic issues facing Australia today?
| Total
con-cerned |
Very con-cerned | Some-what con-cerned | Not so con-cerned | Not at all con-cerned | Don’t know | ||
| Energy prices | 88% | 56% | 32% | 8% | 2% | 1% | |
| Food prices and inflation generally | 83% | 44% | 39% | 12% | 3% | 2% | |
| Affordability of housing | 80% | 50% | 30% | 14% | 5% | 1% | |
| Petrol prices | 76% | 39% | 37% | 16% | 6% | 2% | |
| Improving wages for low income earners | 75% | 39% | 36% | 17% | 5% | 2% | |
| Jobs going overseas | 71% | 39% | 32% | 20% | 6% | 3% | |
| Excessive executive salaries | 69% | 39% | 30% | 21% | 6% | 3% | |
| The age pension | 68% | 35% | 33% | 22% | 8% | 3% | |
| Unemployment | 68% | 34% | 34% | 24% | 6% | 3% | |
| Personal income tax rates | 65% | 30% | 35% | 24% | 6% | 4% | |
| Not enough superannuation | 64% | 31% | 33% | 24% | 7% | 5% | |
| Not enough regulation of large corporations | 61% | 30% | 31% | 28% | 6% | 4% | |
| Interest rates | 61% | 28% | 33% | 26% | 9% | 4% | |
| Government debt | 60% | 26% | 34% | 28% | 8% | 4% | |
| Not enough regulation of banks | 58% | 27% | 31% | 29% | 9% | 4% | |
| Cuts in penalty rates | 57% | 28% | 29% | 26% | 11% | 5% |
Issues most concerned about were energy prices (88% concerned including 56% very concerned), affordability of housing (80%/50%) and food prices and inflation generally (83%/44%).
Issues least concerned about were cuts in penalty rates (57%/28%), regulation of banks (58%/27%) and Government debt (60%/26%).
Major differences by demographics were –
42% of aged 18-34 very concerned about energy prices compared to 65% of those aged 55+.
28% of aged 18-34 very concerned about executive salaries compared to 52% of those aged 55+.
60% of aged 18-34 very concerned about housing affordability compared to 35% of those aged 55+.
50% of women very concerned about food prices compared to 38% of men.
46% of women very concerned about wages of low income earners compared to 33% of men.
40% of women very concerned about unemployment compared to 28% of men.
Q. And which of these would be your top three concerns?
| Total
|
1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||
| Energy prices | 55% | 24% | 19% | 12% | |
| Affordability of housing | 37% | 15% | 12% | 10% | |
| Food prices and inflation generally | 34% | 8% | 12% | 14% | |
| Petrol prices | 29% | 11% | 11% | 7% | |
| Unemployment | 20% | 7% | 7% | 6% | |
| The age pension | 17% | 7% | 4% | 6% | |
| Improving wages for low income earners | 15% | 4% | 5% | 6% | |
| Personal income tax rates | 14% | 4% | 5% | 5% | |
| Jobs going overseas | 13% | 3% | 5% | 5% | |
| Not enough superannuation | 13% | 3% | 4% | 6% | |
| Interest rates | 11% | 3% | 4% | 4% | |
| Excessive executive salaries | 11% | 3% | 4% | 4% | |
| Government debt | 11% | 3% | 3% | 5% | |
| Cuts in penalty rates | 6% | 2% | 1% | 3% | |
| Not enough regulation of banks | 6% | 1% | 2% | 3% | |
| Not enough regulation of large corporations | 6% | 1% | 2% | 3% |
Top economic issues were very similar to the rankings of issues of concern.
The main issues mentioned were energy prices (55%), housing affordability (37%) and food prices and inflation generally (34%).
Q. Thinking about Australia’s future energy supply, which of the following statements best describes what you think the Federal Government should do?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Provide incentives and subsidies to speed up the transition from fossil fuels to renewables | 49% | 59% | 44% | 69% | 46% | |
| Let the market and consumers determine speed of transition from fossil fuels to renewables | 16% | 12% | 24% | 9% | 18% | |
| Take action to slow down the transition from fossil fuels to renewables | 12% | 8% | 12% | 6% | 23% | |
| Don’t know | 22% | 21% | 20% | 16% | 13% |
49% support proving incentives to speed transition to renewables, 16% think the market should determine speed of transition and 12% think transition to renewables should be slowed.
Those most supportive of incentives and subsidies were Labor voters (59%), Greens voters (69%) and university educated (60%).
Q. Would you support or oppose holding a Royal Commission into the banking and financial services industry?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | April 2016 | Aug 2016 | Feb 2017 | |||
| Total support | 64% | 72% | 62% | 62% | 71% | 59% | 64% | 64% | ||
| Total oppose | 12% | 9% | 20% | 3% | 11% | 15% | 13% | 16% | ||
| Strongly support | 24% | 33% | 15% | 30% | 30% | 27% | 28% | 33% | ||
| Support | 40% | 39% | 47% | 32% | 41% | 32% | 36% | 31% | ||
| Oppose | 9% | 8% | 16% | 2% | 5% | 11% | 9% | 11% | ||
| Strongly oppose | 3% | 1% | 4% | 1% | 6% | 4% | 4% | 5% | ||
| Don’t know | 24% | 20% | 18% | 35% | 18% | 25% | 23% | 21% |
There was majority support for holding a Royal Commission into the banking and financial services sector – 64% supported a Royal Commission and 12% opposed. This is similar to polls over the last 2 years.
A majority of all voter groups supported a Royal Commission. Those most likely to support a Royal Commission into the banking and financial services sector were Labor voters (72%), other voters (71%) and university educated (70%).
Q. Do you think the same-sex marriage legislation should include religious protections or should the Government pass the legislation allowing same-sex marriage and address the issue of religious protections in a separate process?
| Total
|
Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Same-sex marriage legislation should include religious protections | 32% | 27% | 39% | 16% | 45% | |
| Religious protections should be addressed in a separate process | 47% | 52% | 46% | 64% | 38% | |
| Don’t know | 21% | 21% | 15% | 21% | 17% |
32% think that same-sex marriage legislation should include religious protections and 47% think that religious protections should be addressed in a separate process.
There were no significant differences by age or sex. Liberal/National voters were a little more likely (39%) to support including religious protections in the same-sex marriage legislation while 64% of Greens voters thought it should be addressed in a separate process.
Q. Overall, how would you describe the current state of the Australian economy?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Dec 2016 | May 2017 | |||
| Total Good | 33% | 30% | 46% | 37% | 18% | 23% | 30% | ||
| Total Poor | 24% | 25% | 15% | 24% | 42% | 36% | 29% | ||
| Very good | 3% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 3% | ||
| Good | 30% | 27% | 42% | 33% | 16% | 21% | 27% | ||
| Neither good nor poor | 38% | 42% | 36% | 32% | 37% | 37% | 36% | ||
| Poor | 17% | 19% | 10% | 17% | 26% | 28% | 23% | ||
| Very poor | 7% | 6% | 5% | 7% | 16% | 8% | 6% | ||
| Don’t know | 5% | 3% | 2% | 7% | 2% | 4% | 5% |
Overall, 33% thought that the state of the economy was good (up 3% from May). 24% thought it was bad (down 5%).
46% of Liberal/National voters thought the state of the economy was good, compared to 30% of Labor voters and 18% of other/independent voters.
Q. From what you have read and heard, do you think the Australian economy is heading in the right direction or the wrong direction?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Dec 2016 | May 2017 | |||
| The right direction | 31% | 26% | 52% | 25% | 17% | 26% | 29% | ||
| The wrong direction | 39% | 41% | 29% | 44% | 60% | 45% | 41% | ||
| Don’t know | 30% | 33% | 19% | 31% | 23% | 29% | 30% |
Overall, 31% thought that the economy is heading in the right direction (up 2% from May), and 39% thought it was heading in the wrong direction (down 2%).
Liberal/National voters were more likely to think the economy is heading in the right direction (52%) than Labor (26%), Greens (25%) and independent/other voters (17%).
Men were more likely to think that the economy was heading in the right direction (35%) than women (28%).
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 14/11/17 | 2 weeks ago 7/11/17 | 4 weeks ago 24/10/17 | Election 2 Jul 16 | |||
| Liberal | 32% | 33% | 34% | 34% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 35% | 36% | 37% | 37% | 42.0% | ||
| Labor | 38% | 38% | 37% | 36% | 34.7% | ||
| Greens | 9% | 9% | 10% | 9% | 10.2% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 3% | 3% | 2% | 3% | |||
| Pauline Hanson’s One Nation | 8% | 8% | 8% | 8% | |||
| Other/Independent | 7% | 7% | 6% | 7% | 13.1% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 46% | 46% | 47% | 48% | 50.4% | ||
| Labor | 54% | 54% | 53% | 52% | 49.6% |