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 14/2/17 | 2 weeks ago 31/1/17 | 4 weeks ago 24/1/17 | Election 2 Jul 16 | |||
| Liberal | 33% | 34% | 33% | 33% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 2% | 3% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 36% | 36% | 36% | 35% | 42.0% | ||
| Labor | 34% | 35% | 37% | 37% | 34.7% | ||
| Greens | 10% | 9% | 8% | 10% | 10.2% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 4% | 3% | 3% | 3% | |||
| Pauline Hanson’s One Nation | 10% | 10% | 10% | 9% | |||
| Other/Independent | 6% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 13.1% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 48% | 48% | 47% | 46% | 50.4% | ||
| Labor | 52% | 52% | 53% | 54% | 49.6% |
Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Nov 2009 | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Nov 2015 | Aug 2016 | Dec 2016 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 60% | 75% | 49% | 90% | 44% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | 57% | 54% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 25% | 14% | 37% | 3% | 41% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | 26% | 27% | ||
| Don’t know | 14% | 10% | 13% | 7% | 15% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% | 17% | 18% |
60% (up 6% since December) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 25% (down 2%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 70%/15% and those aged 55+ split 47%/40%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 72%/19%.
Q. The Labor Party has committed to a target of 50% renewable energy by 2030. Do you approve or disapprove of this policy?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aug 2015 | |||
| Total approve | 65% | 82% | 55% | 89% | 56% | 65% | ||
| Total disapprove | 18% | 5% | 32% | 1% | 29% | 16% | ||
| Strongly approve | 25% | 43% | 11% | 49% | 17% | 25% | ||
| Approve | 40% | 39% | 44% | 40% | 39% | 40% | ||
| Disapprove | 9% | 4% | 16% | 1% | 10% | 9% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 9% | 1% | 16% | – | 19% | 7% | ||
| Don’t know | 16% | 13% | 13% | 10% | 15% | 19% |
65% approve of the Labor Party commitment to a target of 50% renewable energy by 2030 and 18% disapprove. These figures are little changed since the question was asked in 2015.
A very high majority of Labor voters (82%) and Greens voters (89%) approve.
Liberal/National voters were split but more likely to approve (55%) than disapprove (32%).
Q. Some people have said recent power black outs are a result of too much reliance on renewable energy. Others have said they have occurred because of failures in the way the energy market responds to extreme weather events (i.e. storms and high temperatures) or that privatization of services is the problem. Which is closest to your view?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| The power black outs are the result of too much reliance on renewable energy | 16% | 13% | 26% | 4% | 17% | |
| The power black outs are due mainly to failures of the energy market in responding to extreme weather events | 45% | 45% | 45% | 64% | 38% | |
| The power black outs are due mainly to the privatization of electricity supply | 19% | 24% | 13% | 22% | 25% | |
| Don’t know | 20% | 18% | 15% | 10% | 20% |
45% believe that recent blackouts are due mainly to failures of the energy market in responding to extreme weather events, 19% think they are mainly due to privatization of electricity supply and 16% think they are a result of too much reliance on renewable energy.
26% of Liberal National voters think they are due to a reliance on renewable energy.
51% of those with university education think they are due mainly to failures of the energy market.
Although a small sample, 36% of South Australians think they are due to privatization.
Q. Do you think renewable energy is the solution to our future energy needs or is renewable energy a threat to our future energy supply?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Oct 2016 | |||
| The solution to our energy needs | 64% | 72% | 58% | 90% | 55% | 60% | ||
| A threat to future energy supply | 14% | 10% | 20% | 6% | 20% | 16% | ||
| Don’t know | 22% | 17% | 22% | 4% | 24% | 24% |
64% (up 4% since October) agree more that renewable energy is the solution to our future energy needs and 14% (down 2%) think it is a threat to future energy supply.
72% of Labor voters and 90% of Greens voters think it is the solution to future energy needs.
Although a small sample, 51% of South Australians think it is the solution and 19% think it is a threat.
Q. Do you think the Federal Government is doing enough, not enough or too much to ensure affordable, reliable and clean energy for Australian households and businesses?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Doing enough | 12% | 9% | 23% | 1% | 9% | |
| Not doing enough | 71% | 78% | 62% | 92% | 76% | |
| Doing too much | 3% | 1% | 4% | 3% | 3% | |
| Don’t know | 14% | 12% | 12% | 4% | 11% |
71% think the Federal Government is not doing enough to ensure affordable, reliable and clean energy for Australian households and businesses and only 12% think they are doing enough. Even 62% of Liberal Natio0nal voters think they are not doing enough.
Q. Would you support or oppose building new coal fired power stations in Australia?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Total support | 31% | 25% | 47% | 7% | 36% | |
| Total oppose | 45% | 51% | 33% | 80% | 42% | |
| Strongly support | 7% | 3% | 14% | – | 12% | |
| Support | 24% | 22% | 33% | 7% | 24% | |
| Oppose | 25% | 25% | 24% | 31% | 25% | |
| Strongly oppose | 20% | 26% | 9% | 49% | 17% | |
| Don’t know | 24% | 24% | 20% | 12% | 22% |
31% support building new coal fired power stations in Australia and 45% oppose.
Those most likely to support new coal fired power stations were Liberal/National voters (47%), men (39%) and aged 65+ (53%).
Those most likely to oppose new coal fired power stations were Greens voters (80%) and Labor voters (51%).
Q. The WA Liberal Party has said it will direct its preferences for the upper house to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party in this year’s state election. Do you approve or disapprove of the Liberal Party directing preferences to One Nation?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Liberal | Vote Greens | Vote One Nation | ||
| Total approve | 29% | 17% | 43% | 6% | 75% | |
| Total disapprove | 38% | 54% | 25% | 73% | 2% | |
| Strongly approve | 11% | 8% | 13% | 1% | 37% | |
| Approve | 18% | 9% | 30% | 5% | 38% | |
| Neither approve nor disapprove | 21% | 18% | 25% | 10% | 13% | |
| Disapprove | 14% | 17% | 16% | 10% | 1% | |
| Strongly disapprove | 24% | 37% | 9% | 63% | 1% | |
| Don’t know | 14% | 10% | 8% | 10% | 11% |
29% approve of the Liberal Party directing preferences to One Nation and 38% disapprove.
Among Liberal voters, 43% approve and 25% disapprove. 75% of One Nation voters approve.