Q. Do you think Australia spends too much or too little on foreign aid?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Jun 2015 | Jul 2011 | ||
| Spends too much | 41% | 36% | 46% | 13% | 66% | 44% | 42% | |
| Spends too little | 16% | 18% | 12% | 46% | 11% | 16% | 16% | |
| Spends about the right amount | 19% | 19% | 26% | 13% | 11% | 21% | 21% | |
| Don’t know | 24% | 27% | 16% | 27% | 11% | 19% | 21% |
41% thought we spend too much on foreign aid, 16% thought we spend too little, and 19% thought we spend about the right amount.
Of those who identified the correct amount spent on foreign aid, 47% thought we spend too little, 24% thought we spend too much, and 18% thought we spend the right amount.
Of those who over-estimated the amount spent on foreign aid, 50% thought we spend too much, 18% thought we spend too little, and 27% thought we spend the right amount.
36% of those who said they did not know how much we spend in foreign aid said that we spend too much.
Additional Table
The following table provides a cross-tabulation of the previous two questions, breaking down attitudes towards foreign aid spending by how much is believed to be spent on foreign aid.
| Total | Under 1% (Correct) | 1-5% | Over 5% | Don’t know | ||
| Spends too much | 41% | 24% | 39% | 77% | 36% | |
| Spends too little | 16% | 47% | 22% | 6% | 8% | |
| Spends about the right amount | 19% | 18% | 32% | 12% | 10% | |
| Don’t know | 24% | 12% | 6% | 4% | 45% |
Q. In your opinion, how important is it that Australia gives foreign aid to the following countries and regions?
| Total very/somewhat | Very important | Somewhat important | Not very important | Not at all important | Don’t know | Jun 2015 (very/somewhat) | ||
| Papua New Guinea | 59% | 17% | 42% | 16% | 12% | 13% | 65% | |
| Pacific island countries | 59% | 16% | 43% | 17% | 11% | 13% | 66% | |
| African countries | 46% | 11% | 35% | 22% | 19% | 12% | 50% | |
| South east Asia countries | 45% | 10% | 35% | 24% | 17% | 13% | 50% | |
| Indonesia | 38% | 9% | 29% | 24% | 24% | 13% | 39% | |
| Middle east countries | 31% | 8% | 23% | 26% | 30% | 13% | 26% |
59% thought that aid to Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Island Countries is very or somewhat important.
The proportion who think that aid to each region is very or somewhat important has dropped since June 2015 for each region except for the Middle East, which has gone up 5% to 31%. However, this region was still considered the least important to give foreign aid to.
Q. Last week the “Uluru Statement” was released, calling for a number of policy measures relating to Indigenous Australians.
Do you support or oppose the following measures?
| TOTAL Support | TOTAL Oppose | Strongly Support | Support | Neither Support nor Oppose | Oppose | Strongly Oppose | Don’t Know | ||
| Enshrining an Indigenous voice to parliament in the constitution | 44% | 14% | 18% | 26% | 27% | 7% | 7% | 14% | |
| Negotiating a treaty between the federal government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. | 43% | 17% | 16% | 27% | 27% | 8% | 9% | 13% | |
| Creating a treaty commission to negotiate treaties between various levels of government and different Indigenous language groups or tribes | 39% | 19% | 15% | 24% | 28% | 11% | 8% | 14% | |
| Creating a truth and reconciliation commission | 39% | 18% | 14% | 25% | 30% | 10% | 8% | 13% |
Each measure had greater support than opposition, with the most popular being enshrining an Indigenous voice to parliament in the constitution (44% support). Support was greatest for this measure among Greens voters (74% support), ALP voters (51%) and those with a University degree (52%).
More Liberal/National voters opposed than supported each of the four measures.
Q. Adani’s proposed Carmichael Coal Mine is expected to create jobs in central Queensland, but may endanger tourism-related jobs due to potential damage caused to the Great Barrier Reef. Do you believe there is a trade-off between these types of jobs, and which do you think should be prioritised?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | ||
| There is a trade-off and jobs relying on the Great Barrier Reef should be prioritised | 41% | 47% | 35% | 60% | 49% | |
| There is a trade-off and jobs relying on the coal industry should be prioritised | 12% | 12% | 18% | 6% | 7% | |
| There is no trade-off between reef jobs and coal jobs | 21% | 17% | 27% | 14% | 26% | |
| Don’t know | 25% | 25% | 20% | 20% | 18% |
41% thought that there was a trade-off between Reef jobs and coal jobs, and that Reef jobs should be prioritised, while 12% thought that there was a trade-off and coal jobs should be prioritised. 21% did not think there was a trade-off.
Of those who thought there was a trade-off between Reef jobs and coal jobs, 77% thought that Reef jobs should be prioritised, and 23% thought that coal jobs should be prioritised.
Queenslanders were more likely than other states to think that there was no trade-off between reef jobs and coal jobs (26%).
Q. Government energy policy attempts to minimize costs, ensure reliability and reduce emissions. Do you think one of these should be prioritised over the others?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | ||
| Keeping the cost of energy down should be prioritised | 28% | 28% | 33% | 11% | 33% | |
| Reducing carbon emissions should be prioritised | 21% | 21% | 15% | 49% | 16% | |
| Maintaining the reliability of energy supply should be prioritised | 19% | 19% | 22% | 8% | 28% | |
| We do not need to prioritise – all can be achieved | 21% | 23% | 21% | 22% | 19% | |
| Don’t know | 12% | 10% | 9% | 9% | 4% |
28% thought that keeping the costs of energy down should be prioritised over reducing emissions and maintaining network reliability. This was the most popular option for Liberal/National voters (33%) and ALP voters (28%).
The most popular option among Greens voters was to prioritise the reduction of carbon emissions (49%).
South Australians were more likely than other states to prefer the reliability of energy supply to be prioritised (31%).
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 23/5/17 | 2 weeks ago 16/5/17 | 4 weeks ago 2/5/17 | Election 2 Jul 16 | |||
| Liberal | 35% | 34% | 34% | 35% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 2% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 38% | 37% | 37% | 38% | 42.0% | ||
| Labor | 36% | 37% | 38% | 37% | 34.7% | ||
| Greens | 11% | 10% | 10% | 9% | 10.2% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |||
| Pauline Hanson’s One Nation | 5% | 6% | 6% | 7% | |||
| Other/Independent | 7% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 13.1% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 47% | 46% | 46% | 47% | 50.4% | ||
| Labor | 53% | 54% | 54% | 53% | 49.6% |
Q. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements about asylum seekers and refugees?
| Total agree | Total disagree | Strongly agree | Agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Don’t know | Nov 2015 | Aug 2016 | Nov 2016 | ||
| Asylum seekers should be deported to their country of origin if their asylum claims are unsuccessful | 67% | 12% | 36% | 31% | 16% | 7% | 5% | 6% | – | – | – | |
| When the Manus Island detention centre is closed, those who cannot be safely relocated to another country should be brought to Australia | 32% | 40% | 10% | 22% | 19% | 15% | 25% | 8% | – | – | – | |
| The government is too tough on asylum seekers | 25% | 53% | 11% | 14% | 16% | 20% | 33% | 5% | 25% | 21% | 23% |
67% thought that asylum seekers should be returned to their country of origin if their asylum claims were unsuccessful. Those most likely to think this were other party/independent voters (79% disagree), Liberal/National voters (79%) and those aged 65+ (78%). Those most likely to disagree were Greens voters (44% disagree), Victorians (18%) and those with a university degree (16%).
32% thought that asylum seekers and refugees who cannot be safely relocated to another country after Manus Island is closed should be brought to Australia. Those most likely to think this were Greens voters (69% agree), ALP voters (41%) and those aged 18-24 (37%). Those most likely to disagree were those aged other party/independent voters (54% disagree), Liberal/National voters (53%) and those aged 55-64 (52%).
25% thought that the government is too tough on asylum seekers, up 2% from when this question was last asked in November 2016. Those most likely to think this were Greens voters (68% agree), ALP voters (36%) and those aged 25-34 (35%). Most likely to disagree were other party/independent voters (75% disagree), those aged 65+ (71%) and Liberal/National voters (68%).
Q. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements about government?
| Total agree | Total disagree | Strongly agree | Agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Don’t know | ||
| I wish out political leaders would look for more common solutions, rather than just fighting each other | 85% | 2% | 47% | 38% | 9% | 1% | 1% | 4% | |
| I’m sick of slogan from politicians – I want real answers on how government can operate better | 82% | 3% | 44% | 38% | 11% | 2% | 1% | 5% | |
| Our government needs to find ways of working with the rest of the world, and not turning our backs on the world | 59% | 11% | 19% | 40% | 24% | 8% | 3% | 6% | |
| It is harder than ever for governments to control the influence of multinational corporations | 55% | 14% | 17% | 38% | 21% | 11% | 3% | 9% | |
| People have unrealistic expectations of the government’s ability to sort everything out | 45% | 26% | 11% | 34% | 23% | 18% | 8% | 5% | |
| Most politicians are motivated by good intentions rather than self interest | 22% | 47% | 4% | 18% | 25% | 26% | 21% | 6% |
The statement most likely to be agreed with was “I wish our political leaders would look for more common solutions, rather than just fighting each other”, of which 85% agreed. Those most likely to agree with this statement were those aged 65+ (96% agree), other party/independent voters (94%) and those aged 55-64 (93%). No more than 5% of any demographic group disagreed with this statement.
The statement most likely to be disagreed with was “Most politicians are motivated by good intentions rather than self interest”, of which 47% disagreed. Those most likely to disagree with this were other party/independent voters (71% disagree), Greens voters (65%) and those aged 55-64 (57%). Those most likely to agree were Liberal/National voters (32%), those who work full time (26%) and those with a university degree (25%). This was also the only statement which a greater proportion disagreed than agreed with.