Q. Do you think the issue of same sex marriage should be decided by Parliament or should there be a national vote?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aug 2015 | Sep 2015 | Mar 2016 | Jul 2016 | Vote yes | Vote no | ||||
| Should be decided by Parliament | 25% | 32% | 21% | 40% | 25% | 22% | 21% | 23% | 25% | 33% | 17% | |||
| Should have a national vote | 59% | 55% | 66% | 48% | 61% | 66% | 67% | 66% | 60% | 58% | 68% | |||
| Don’t know | 16% | 13% | 13% | 13% | 14% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 15% | 8% | 15% |
59% favour a national vote on same-sex marriage and 25% think the issue should be decided by Parliament.
This represents little change since this question was asked in July.
Q. Compared with 50 years ago, do you think life for people like you in Australia today is better, worse or about the same?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Men | Women | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | |||
| Total better | 45% | 47% | 54% | 60% | 27% | 46% | 46% | 50% | 42% | 46% | ||
| Total worse | 34% | 32% | 29% | 25% | 57% | 36% | 32% | 27% | 36% | 40% | ||
| A lot better | 18% | 17% | 26% | 23% | 8% | 19% | 18% | 22% | 15% | 20% | ||
| A little better | 27% | 30% | 28% | 37% | 19% | 27% | 28% | 28% | 27% | 26% | ||
| About the same | 14% | 14% | 14% | 13% | 13% | 13% | 15% | 16% | 16% | 11% | ||
| A little worse | 23% | 22% | 22% | 18% | 29% | 24% | 22% | 21% | 23% | 25% | ||
| A lot worse | 11% | 10% | 7% | 7% | 28% | 12% | 10% | 6% | 13% | 15% | ||
| Don’t know | 6% | 7% | 4% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 8% | 8% | 7% | 3% |
45% think that life for people in Australia today is better than 50 years ago and 34% think it is worse.
Those more likely to think it is better were Greens voters (60%), Liberal/National voters (54%), aged 18-34 (50%), incomes over $2,000 pw (51%) and university educated (54%).
Those more likely to think it is worse were independent and other party voters (57%), aged 55+ (40%), those who had not completed year 12 (40%) and those with incomes under $1,000 pw (40%)
Q. Do you think life for the next generation of Australians will be better, worse or about the same compared with life today?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Men | Women | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | |||
| Total better | 24% | 24% | 29% | 34% | 15% | 27% | 22% | 29% | 24% | 20% | ||
| Total worse | 47% | 46% | 41% | 32% | 66% | 45% | 47% | 36% | 47% | 55% | ||
| A lot better | 6% | 5% | 9% | 5% | 5% | 7% | 5% | 7% | 7% | 3% | ||
| A little better | 18% | 19% | 20% | 29% | 10% | 20% | 17% | 22% | 17% | 17% | ||
| About the same | 22% | 22% | 24% | 30% | 17% | 21% | 23% | 24% | 21% | 21% | ||
| A little worse | 27% | 25% | 27% | 24% | 32% | 24% | 29% | 23% | 26% | 31% | ||
| A lot worse | 20% | 21% | 14% | 8% | 34% | 21% | 18% | 13% | 21% | 24% | ||
| Don’t know | 7% | 8% | 5% | 4% | 3% | 6% | 9% | 11% | 7% | 4% |
24% think that life for the next generation of Australians will be better than life today and 47% think it will be worse.
Those more likely to think it will be better were Greens voters (34%).
Those more likely to think it will be worse were aged 55+ (55%) and other/independent voters (66%).
discrimination, discrimination against women, women
Q. Which of the following statements is closest to your view?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Men | Women | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | |||
| Significant obstacles still make it harder for women to get ahead than men | 46% | 48% | 41% | 71% | 46% | 31% | 60% | 43% | 45% | 51% | ||
| Obstacles that made it harder for women to get ahead are largely gone | 40% | 39% | 47% | 20% | 45% | 53% | 27% | 42% | 37% | 40% | ||
| Don’t know | 14% | 13% | 12% | 9% | 10% | 16% | 13% | 15% | 18% | 9% |
46% think significant obstacles still make it harder for women to get ahead than men and 40% think that those obstacles are largely gone.
Those most likely to think there are still significant obstacles were Greens voters (71%) and women (60%).
53% of men think those obstacles are largely gone.
Q. Do you think the Federal Liberal/National Government is too tough or too soft on asylum seekers or is it taking the right approach?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Oct 2010 | Jul 2012 | Jan 2014 | Jul 2014 | Apr 2015 | Nov 2016 | |||
| Too tough | 21% | 29% | 9% | 59% | 15% | 7% | 12% | 22% | 27% | 22% | 25% | ||
| Too soft | 29% | 26% | 29% | 13% | 42% | 63% | 60% | 25% | 18% | 27% | 29% | ||
| Taking the right approach | 31% | 23% | 52% | 13% | 23% | 18% | 11% | 35% | 36% | 34% | 31% | ||
| Don’t know | 19% | 22% | 10% | 15% | 20% | 12% | 17% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 15% |
29% (no change since November) think the Government is too soft on asylum seekers, 21% (down 4%) think they are too tough and 31% (no change) think they are taking the right approach.
Those most likely to think they are taking the right approach were Liberal/National voters (52%) and aged 65+ (46%).
Q. As far as you know, are the conditions in which asylum seekers are kept on Nauru and Manus Island good or poor?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Feb 2016 | |||
| Total good | 28% | 27% | 36% | 9% | 35% | 34% | ||
| Total poor | 46% | 54% | 35% | 74% | 42% | 40% | ||
| Very good | 8% | 7% | 9% | 4% | 11% | 9% | ||
| Good | 20% | 20% | 27% | 5% | 24% | 25% | ||
| Poor | 23% | 25% | 24% | 14% | 21% | 20% | ||
| Very poor | 23% | 29% | 11% | 60% | 21% | 20% | ||
| Don’t know | 26% | 19% | 28% | 17% | 22% | 25% |
28% (down 6% since February) think that the conditions in which asylum seekers are kept on Nauru and Manus Island are good and 46% (up 6%) think they are poor.
36% of Liberal/National voters think the conditions are good while 74% of Greens voters and 54% of Labor voters think they are poor.
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
16/8/16 |
2 weeks ago
9/8/16 |
4 weeks ago
26/7/16 |
Election 7 Sep 13 | |||
| Liberal | 36% | 36% | 37% | 35% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 2% | 4% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 39% | 39% | 40% | 39% | 45.6% | ||
| Labor | 36% | 37% | 37% | 37% | 33.4% | ||
| Greens | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 8.6% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% | – | ||
| Other/Independent | 12% | 11% | 10% | 11% | 12.4% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 49% | 48% | 48% | 49% | 53.5% | ||
| Labor | 51% | 52% | 52% | 51% | 46.5% |
Q. Which party would you trust most to handle the following issues?
| Liberal | Labor | Don’t know | NET | NET
Jun 2016 |
||
| Security and the war on terrorism | 39% | 21% | 40% | +18 | +18 | |
| Management of the economy | 41% | 26% | 34% | +15 | +12 | |
| Controlling interest rates | 35% | 23% | 42% | +12 | +12 | |
| Managing population growth | 33% | 23% | 44% | +10 | +8 | |
| Political leadership | 35% | 26% | 39% | +9 | +8 | |
| Treatment of asylum seekers | 32% | 26% | 41% | +6 | +4 | |
| Ensuring a quality water supply | 28% | 28% | 43% | – | -1 | |
| Ensuring a fair taxation system | 30% | 34% | 36% | -4 | -5 | |
| A fair industrial relations system | 30% | 38% | 32% | -8 | -11 | |
| Protecting Australian jobs and protection of local industries | 29% | 37% | 34% | -8 | -12 | |
| Ensuring the quality of Australia’s health system | 30% | 38% | 32% | -8 | -13 | |
| Ensuring a quality education for all children | 29% | 37% | 34% | -8 | -14 | |
| Housing affordability | 25% | 35% | 40% | -10 | -8 | |
| Addressing climate change | 25% | 35% | 40% | -10 | -10 | |
| Protecting the environment | 24% | 35% | 40% | -11 | -12 |
The Liberal Party is trusted more to handle security and the war on terrorism (+18), management of the economy (+15) and controlling interest rates (+12).
The Labor Party is trusted more to handle protecting the environment (-11), addressing climate change (-10) and housing affordability (-10).
Since this question was asked in June, The Liberal Party has improved its position against Labor on ensuring the quality of the health system (up 5) and ensuring a quality education for all children (up 6).