Q. The Federal Budget will be announced on Tuesday 9th 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 | |
| Health care | 62% | 26% | 4% | 8% |
| Education | 54% | 33% | 4% | 9% |
| Age pensions | 48% | 36% | 5% | 11% |
| Public transport infrastructure | 47% | 39% | 6% | 8% |
| Protecting Australian jobs | 44% | 41% | 6% | 8% |
| More affordable housing | 44% | 38% | 9% | 8% |
| Renewable energy | 41% | 37% | 14% | 9% |
| Assistance to the needy in Australia | 38% | 46% | 8% | 8% |
| Building highways, roads | 38% | 44% | 9% | 9% |
| Scientific research | 37% | 43% | 11% | 9% |
| Anti-terrorism | 32% | 49% | 11% | 9% |
| Environmental protection | 30% | 44% | 17% | 9% |
| Assistance to the unemployed | 22% | 48% | 21% | 9% |
| Military/defence | 20% | 46% | 24% | 10% |
| Assistance to the needy in the rest of the world | 11% | 30% | 50% | 9% |
| Assistance to businesses | 10% | 48% | 32% | 10% |
The only spending areas with majority support for increasing spending were health care (62% support) and education (54%). Only 4% thought spending should be decreased for each of these areas.
The spending areas with the highest support for decreasing spending were assistance to the needy in the rest of the world (50% support), assistance to businesses (32%) and military/defence (24%).
Q. In general, do you expect the Federal Budget, will be good or bad for the following?
| Total good | Total bad | Very good | Good | Neither good nor bad | Bad | Very bad | Don’t know | Total Good (May ’16) | Total Bad (May ’16) | ||
| People who are well off | 54% | 7% | 23% | 31% | 27% | 5% | 2% | 13% | 49% | 10% | |
| Australian business | 43% | 8% | 7% | 36% | 34% | 6% | 2% | 15% | – | – | |
| The economy overall | 21% | 24% | 2% | 19% | 41% | 20% | 4% | 14% | 28% | 22% | |
| Australian families | 14% | 36% | 2% | 12% | 36% | 29% | 7% | 14% | 16% | 36% | |
| Average working people | 12% | 35% | 1% | 11% | 39% | 28% | 7% | 14% | 21% | 35% | |
| Younger Australians | 11% | 33% | 2% | 9% | 42% | 25% | 8% | 15% | 25% | 28% | |
| People of lower incomes | 11% | 48% | 2% | 9% | 28% | 32% | 16% | 13% | 15% | 46% | |
| You personally | 10% | 30% | 2% | 8% | 47% | 23% | 7% | 13% | 15% | 26% | |
| Older Australians | 10% | 45% | 2% | 8% | 33% | 32% | 13% | 13% | 11% | 51% |
44% thought that the Federal Budget would be good for people who are well off (down 5% from last year’s budget). 43% thought it would be good for Australian business, and 21% thought it would be good for the economy overall (down 7%). Less than 15% thought the budget would be good for any another group.
Only 10% thought the federal budget would be good for them personally (down 5% from last year’s budget), and 30% thought it would be bad for them (up 4%).
Q. How confident are you that Malcolm Turnbull can deliver the following?
| Total Confident | Total Not Confident | Very confident | Somewhat confident | Not very confident | Not at all confident | Don’t know | |
| Tougher citizenship requirements | 55% | 31% | 12% | 43% | 21% | 10% | 13% |
| Tighter regulations for foreign workers | 52% | 35% | 12% | 40% | 23% | 12% | 12% |
| Secure borders | 47% | 39% | 9% | 38% | 26% | 13% | 13% |
| Stand up for Australia’s interests internationally | 36% | 51% | 8% | 28% | 32% | 19% | 13% |
| A strong economy | 31% | 56% | 4% | 27% | 36% | 20% | 12% |
| Jobs and growth | 31% | 58% | 5% | 26% | 39% | 19% | 11% |
| A balanced budget | 29% | 59% | 4% | 25% | 36% | 23% | 12% |
| Action on climate change | 24% | 61% | 4% | 20% | 36% | 25% | 16% |
Respondents were most confident that Malcolm Turnbull could deliver tougher citizenship requirements (55% confident) and tighter regulations for foreign workers (52%).
They were least confident that Turnbull could deliver action on climate change (61% not confident), a balanced budget (59%), jobs and growth (58%), and a strong economy (56%).
Q. Australia has a compulsory voting system. Other nations like the US and UK have voluntary voting. Do you think voting in Federal and State elections should be compulsory or voluntary?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Voting should be compulsory | 66% | 70% | 74% | 72% | 51% | |
| Voting should be voluntary | 27% | 24% | 24% | 21% | 44% | |
| Don’t know | 7% | 6% | 2% | 6% | 5% |
66% thought that voting should be compulsory. Those most likely to think that voting should be compulsory were those aged 65+ (78%) and Liberal/National voters (74%).
27% thought that voting should be voluntary. Those most likely to think that voting should be voluntary were those independent/other party voters (44%), those aged 35-44 (33%) and Queenslanders (33%).
Q. If voting were voluntary, how likely would you be to vote in Federal and State elections?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aug ‘16 | |||
| Total Likely | 80% | 83% | 91% | 85% | 78% | 72% | ||
| Total Unlikely | 12% | 12% | 8% | 6% | 17% | 19% | ||
| I would definitely vote | 58% | 61% | 67% | 66% | 55% | 48% | ||
| It is likely I would vote | 22% | 22% | 24% | 19% | 23% | 24% | ||
| It is unlikely I would vote | 9% | 8% | 7% | 5% | 13% | 13% | ||
| I would definitely not vote | 3% | 4% | 1% | 1% | 4% | 6% | ||
| Don’t know | 7% | 5% | 2% | 8% | 6% | 8% |
80% said they would be likely to vote in a federal election, even if voting were voluntary (up 8% from August 2016), and 12% said they would be unlikely to vote if voting were voluntary (down 7%).
Those who said they were most likely to vote if voting were voluntary were Liberal/National voters (91% total likely) and those earning more than $104,000 per year (89%).
Those who said they were least likely to vote if voting were voluntary were than earning less than $31,200 per year (22% total unlikely) and those who did not complete year 12 (20%).
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 18/4/17 | 2 weeks ago 11/4/17 | 4 weeks ago 28/3/17 | Election 2 Jul 16 | |||
| Liberal | 34% | 33% | 35% | 32% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 37% | 36% | 37% | 35% | 42.0% | ||
| Labor | 36% | 37% | 36% | 37% | 34.7% | ||
| Greens | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10.2% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 3% | 3% | 3% | 4% | |||
| Pauline Hanson’s One Nation | 8% | 8% | 8% | 8% | |||
| Other/Independent | 6% | 7% | 6% | 7% | 13.1% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 47% | 46% | 47% | 46% | 50.4% | ||
| Labor | 53% | 54% | 53% | 54% | 49.6% |
Q. Under 457 visas, businesses could employ foreign workers for up to 4 years in more than 650 occupations. The Federal Government is proposing to replace the 457 visas with new visas which are more restrictive and reduce the number of occupations that foreign workers can apply for. Do you think these changes –
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Go too far in regulating foreign workers | 16% | 22% | 12% | 27% | 11% | |
| Don’t go far enough in regulating foreign workers | 28% | 27% | 30% | 21% | 42% | |
| Are about right | 39% | 34% | 47% | 35% | 36% | |
| Don’t know | 17% | 17% | 11% | 17% | 11% |
39% think that the proposed changes to the 457 visa program are about right.
Those most likely to think the changes are about right were Liberal/National voters (47%) and those aged 55-64 (45%).
Those most likely to think the changes go too far are those aged 18-24 (34%) and Greens voters (27%).
Those most likely to think changes do not go far enough were those aged 65+ (43%), other party/independent voters (42%) and those earning less than $31,200 per year (40%).
Q. Please rank the following issues in order of importance from 1 to 4 where 1 is the most important, 2 the second most important, etc.
| Most important issue | Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | |
| Restricting Australian businesses’ use of foreign workers | 26% | 26% | 24% | 29% | 25% | |
| Protecting local industries from cheap imports | 22% | 23% | 21% | 20% | 22% | |
| Making companies pay tax in Australia by preventing them from shifting profits offshore | 14% | 14% | 15% | 12% | 14% | |
| Enforcing local content rules on Australian projects | 38% | 37% | 40% | 39% | 38% |
38% think that enforcing local content rules on Australian projects is the most important issue. Those most likely to think this were those earning less than $31,200 (45%).
Those most likely to think that restricting Australian businesses’ use of foreign workers is the most important issue were South Australians (34%) and those aged 65+ (30%).