Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the Fair Work Commission’s recent decision to reduce current Sunday penalty rates paid in retail, fast food, hospitality and pharmacy industries?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Work full time | Work part time | |||
| Total approve | 32% | 19% | 55% | 14% | 29% | 39% | 27% | ||
| Total disapprove | 56% | 74% | 36% | 73% | 61% | 52% | 58% | ||
| Strongly approve | 9% | 5% | 17% | 2% | 10% | 10% | 6% | ||
| Approve | 23% | 14% | 38% | 12% | 19% | 29% | 21% | ||
| Disapprove | 22% | 21% | 23% | 25% | 21% | 20% | 23% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 34% | 53% | 13% | 48% | 40% | 32% | 35% | ||
| Don’t know | 12% | 7% | 10% | 14% | 10% | 9% | 15% |
32% approve of the Fair Work Commission’s recent decision to reduce current Sunday penalty rates and 56% disapprove.
Those most likely to approve were Liberal National voters (55%), men (40%) and aged 65+ (49%).
Those most likely to disapprove were Labor voters (74%), Greens voters (73%), women (63%) and aged 18-24 (64%).
Q. What do you think will be the more likely result of cutting penalty rates for hospitality and retail workers?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Work full time | Work part time | |||
| Businesses will make bigger profits | 57% | 73% | 41% | 66% | 61% | 60% | 55% | ||
| Businesses will employ more workers | 24% | 12% | 42% | 12% | 23% | 24% | 22% | ||
| Don’t know | 20% | 15% | 17% | 22% | 16% | 17% | 23% |
57% think that the most likely result of cutting penalty rates will be that businesses will make bigger profits. 24% think businesses will employ more workers.
Those most likely to think businesses will make more profits were Labor voters (73%) and Greens voters (66%).
Those most likely to think businesses will employ more workers were Liberal National voters (42%) and aged 65+ (41%).
Q. Which of the following statements represents your view of how the Government should respond to these penalty rate reductions?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Work full time | Work part time | |||
| The Government should accept the decision to cut penalty rates | 31% | 15% | 55% | 14% | 32% | 37% | 27% | ||
| The Government should pass legislation to protect current penalty rates | 51% | 73% | 29% | 64% | 52% | 47% | 51% | ||
| Don’t know | 18% | 12% | 16% | 22% | 16% | 16% | 22% |
51% think that the Government should pass legislation to protect current penalty rates and 31% think the Government should accept the decision to cut penalty rates.
Those most likely to think the Government should pass legislation to protect current penalty rates were labor voters (73%), Greens voters (64%) and women (55%).
Those most likely to think the Government should accept the decision to cut penalty rates were Liberal National voters (55%), men (37%), aged 65+ (51%) and full-time workers (37%).
Q. Which of the following do you think would make the best leader of the Liberal Party?
| Total | Vote ALP |
Vote Lib/Nat | Vote GRN |
Vote other | Jun 2014 | Feb 2015 | Aug 2015 | Sep 2015 | Dec 2015 | Mar 2016 | Jul 2016 | Nov 2016 | |||
| Malcolm Turnbull | 20% | 18% | 36% | 15% | 8% | 31% | 24% | 24% | 37% | 42% | 39% | 30% | 21% | ||
| Tony Abbott | 10% | 8% | 15% | 2% | 12% | 18% | 11% | 18% | 9% | 9% | 9% | 9% | 11% | ||
| Julie Bishop | 17% | 18% | 19% | 15% | 18% | 4% | 21% | 17% | 14% | 13% | 12% | 16% | 20% | ||
| Christopher Pyne | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | <1% | <1% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 2% | ||
| Scott Morrison | 2% | 1% | 3% | – | 3% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 3% | ||
| Peter Dutton | 2% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 4% | ||||||||||
| Someone else | 18% | 25% | 6% | 32% | 25% | 19% | 13% | 13% | 10% | 9% | 15% | 19% | 18% | ||
| Don’t know | 28% | 27% | 17% | 34% | 29% | 21% | 24% | 22% | 21% | 22% | 21% | 21% | 25% |
20% (down 1% since November) think Malcolm Turnbull would make the best leader of the Liberal Party, 17% prefer Julie Bishop (down 3%) and 10% prefer Tony Abbott (down 1%). 18% (no change) prefer someone else.
Among Liberal/National voters, 36% (no change) prefer Malcolm Turnbull, 19% (down 1%) Julie Bishop and 15% (down 4%) prefer Tony Abbott.
Preferences of men were Malcolm Turnbull 22% (-3%), Julie Bishop 16% (-3%) and Tony Abbott 13% (no change).
Preferences of women were Julie Bishop 19% (-3%), Malcolm Turnbull 19% (+2%) and Tony Abbott 7% (-2%).
Q. Which of the following do you think would make the best leader of the Labor Party?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aug 2015 | Dec 2015 | Mar 2016 | Jul 2016 | Nov 2016 | |||
| Bill Shorten | 21% | 46% | 12% | 18% | 6% | 16% | 13% | 15% | 27% | 17% | ||
| Anthony Albanese | 11% | 10% | 12% | 7% | 16% | 12% | 14% | 14% | 11% | 12% | ||
| Tanya Plibersek | 13% | 16% | 14% | 15% | 9% | 13% | 14% | 14% | 12% | 14% | ||
| Chris Bowen | 3% | 3% | 3% | 1% | 6% | 5% | 3% | 7% | 3% | 4% | ||
| Tony Burke | 2% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 2% | – | – | – | – | 2% | ||
| Someone else | 16% | 7% | 19% | 22% | 24% | 18% | 17% | 18% | 17% | 18% | ||
| Don’t know | 35% | 17% | 38% | 34% | 36% | 36% | 38% | 32% | 30% | 32% |
21% (up 4% since November) think Bill Shorten would make the best leader of the Labor Party, 13% (down 1%) prefer Tanya Plibersek and 11% (down 1%) Anthony Albanese. 16% prefer someone else and 35% don’t know.
Among Labor voters, 46% (up 9%) prefer Bill Shorten, 13% (down 3%) Tanya Plibersek and 10% (down 4%) Anthony Albanese.
Preferences of men were Bill Shorten 24% (+5%), Anthony Albanese 13% (-3%) and Tanya Plibersek 12% (-1%).
Preferences of women were Bill Shorten 18% (+2%), Tanya Plibersek 13% (-1%) and Anthony Albanese 8% (-1%).
Q. How much trust do you have in the following industries to act in the public interest?
| Total a lot/some trust | A lot of trust | Some trust | Not much trust | No trust at all | Don’t know | Jan 2013
A lot/ some trust |
|||
| Tourism | 70% | 18% | 52% | 16% | 5% | 9% | 68% | ||
| Agriculture | 68% | 18% | 50% | 15% | 6% | 11% | 72% | ||
| Manufacturing | 55% | 8% | 47% | 27% | 9% | 10% | 56% | ||
| Retail | 53% | 8% | 45% | 29% | 10% | 9% | 47% | ||
| Construction and development | 46% | 8% | 38% | 31% | 14% | 9% | 48% | ||
| Telecommunications | 36% | 7% | 29% | 35% | 20% | 9% | 37% | ||
| Mining | 36% | 6% | 30% | 30% | 245 | 11% | 32% | ||
| Banking | 33% | 8% | 25% | 30% | 30% | 7% | 33% | ||
| Media | 29% | 3% | 26% | 31% | 31% | 8% | 30% | ||
| Power companies | 24% | 3% | 21% | 35% | 32% | 8% | 18% |
The industries most trusted to act in the public interest were tourism (70% some/a lot of trust), agriculture (68%) and manufacturing (55%).
The industries least trusted to act in the public interest were power companies (24%), the media (29%), banking (33%) and mining (36%).
Since this question was asked in 2013, trust in power companies has increased 6 points – although remains the least trusted industry.
The only industry on which there were major differences was mining where 50% of Liberal/National voters had a lot/some trust compared to only 30% of Labor voters and 18% of Greens voters.
Q. Do you agree or disagree with the following proposals for actions the Federal Government could take?
| Total agree | Total disagree | Strongly agree | Agree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Don’t know | ||
| Abolish subsidies for renewables and cut renewable energy targets to reduce household power bills | 40% | 38% | 12% | 28% | 19% | 19% | 22% | |
| Abolish the Human Rights Commission to allow more free speech | 33% | 44% | 12% | 21% | 25% | 19% | 23% | |
| Stop all new government spending to reduce future debt | 43% | 41% | 15% | 28% | 29% | 12% | 17% | |
| Cut immigration to make housing more affordable | 57% | 28% | 27% | 30% | 18% | 10% | 15% | |
| Reform the Senate to reduce the power of small parties. | 41% | 34% | 14% | 27% | 22% | 12% | 25% |
Q. Do you agree or disagree with the following proposals for actions which Tony Abbott has said the Federal Government should take
| Total agree | Total disagree | Strongly agree | Agree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Don’t know | ||
| Abolish subsidies for renewables and cut renewable energy targets to reduce household power bills | 47% | 33% | 16% | 31% | 13% | 20% | 20% | |
| Abolish the Human Rights Commission to allow more free speech | 39% | 43% | 14% | 25% | 25% | 18% | 18% | |
| Stop all new government spending to reduce future debt | 51% | 35% | 22% | 29% | 25% | 10% | 14% | |
| Cut immigration to make housing more affordable | 57% | 31% | 29% | 28% | 18% | 13% | 12% | |
| Reform the Senate to reduce the power of small parties. | 41% | 37% | 18% | 23% | 23% | 14% | 23% |
Note: this question was split so that half the sample were told that Tony Abbott had made these proposals and half were asked about the proposals without any reference to Tony Abbott.
The question which referenced Tony Abbott showed higher support for cutting the RET, abolishing the Human Rights Commission and stopping all new Government spending but similar support for cutting immigration and reforming the Senate.
Overall, support for each proposal was higher than opposition except for abolishing the Human Rights Commission.
Among Liberal National voters, reference to Tony Abbott increased agreement with stopping new spending (from 51% to 62%) but made only small differences to other proposals.
Among Labor voters, reference to Tony Abbott increased agreement with abolishing the RET (from 36% to 44%) and abolishing the Human Rights Commission (from 24% to 32%).
A majority of Liberal National voters agreed with each proposal except for abolishing the Human Rights Commission.
| No reference to Tony Abbott | Total agree | Total disagree | Labor voters agree | Labor voters disagree | LNP Voters agree | LNP voters disagree | |
| Abolish subsidies for renewables and cut renewable energy targets to reduce household power bills | 40% | 38% | 36% | 46% | 56% | 24% | |
| Abolish the Human Rights Commission to allow more free speech | 33% | 44% | 24% | 56% | 42% | 39% | |
| Stop all new government spending to reduce future debt | 43% | 41% | 38% | 47% | 51% | 38% | |
| Cut immigration to make housing more affordable | 57% | 28% | 53% | 34% | 69% | 19% | |
| Reform the Senate to reduce the power of small parties. | 41% | 34% | 39% | 38% | 57% | 24% |
| Reference to Tony Abbott | Total agree | Total disagree | Labor voters agree | Labor voters disagree | LNP Voters agree | LNP voters disagree | |
| Abolish subsidies for renewables and cut renewable energy targets to reduce household power bills | 47% | 33% | 44% | 36% | 57% | 28% | |
| Abolish the Human Rights Commission to allow more free speech | 39% | 43% | 32% | 53% | 46% | 45% | |
| Stop all new government spending to reduce future debt | 51% | 35% | 42% | 47% | 62% | 27% | |
| Cut immigration to make housing more affordable | 57% | 31% | 49% | 41% | 63% | 30% | |
| Reform the Senate to reduce the power of small parties. | 41% | 37% | 34% | 40% | 59% | 26% |
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 21/2/17 | 2 weeks ago 14/2/17 | 4 weeks ago 31/1/17 | Election 2 Jul 16 | |||
| Liberal | 34% | 33% | 34% | 32% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 37% | 36% | 36% | 35% | 42.0% | ||
| Labor | 37% | 34% | 35% | 37% | 34.7% | ||
| Greens | 9% | 10% | 9% | 9% | 10.2% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 3% | 4% | 3% | 3% | |||
| Pauline Hanson’s One Nation | 9% | 10% | 10% | 10% | |||
| Other/Independent | 6% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 13.1% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 47% | 48% | 48% | 46% | 50.4% | ||
| Labor | 53% | 52% | 52% | 54% | 49.6% |