Q. Which of the following issues are the most important for the Federal Government to address over the next 12 months?
| Total | Most import-ant | 2nd most import-ant | 3rd most import-ant | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | Dec 2014 | Change | ||||
| Improving our health system | 45% | 16% | 17% | 12% | 51% | 40% | 39% | 47% | 47% | -2 | |||
| National security and terrorism | 37% | 15% | 12% | 10% | 27% | 50% | 17% | 41% | 23% | +14 | |||
| Reducing unemployment | 31% | 11% | 9% | 11% | 34% | 28% | 10% | 33% | 37% | -6 | |||
| Tax avoidance by big companies | 31% | 10% | 11% | 10% | 38% | 26% | 28% | 36% | 27% | +4 | |||
| Housing affordability | 31% | 11% | 9% | 11% | 37% | 24% | 35% | 25% | 22% | +9 | |||
| Reducing the budget deficit | 30% | 12% | 9% | 9% | 23% | 44% | 12% | 36% | 32% | -2 | |||
| More funds for education | 20% | 4% | 7% | 9% | 23% | 17% | 27% | 16% | 23% | -3 | |||
| Protecting workers wages and conditions | 18% | 5% | 6% | 7% | 23% | 12% | 15% | 21% | 24% | -6 | |||
| Addressing climate change | 18% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 20% | 10% | 55% | 13% | 20% | -2 | |||
| Investing in public transport | 14% | 3% | 4% | 7% | 10% | 17% | 12% | 16% | 14% | – | |||
| Protecting the environment | 14% | 4% | 4% | 6% | 15% | 7% | 40% | 15% | 13% | +1 | |||
| Investing in roads | 7% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 5% | 10% | 2% | 11% | 10% | -3 | |||
| Free trade agreements | 5% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 7% | 4% | 4% | 6% | -1 |
The most important issues for the Federal Government to address over the next 12 months were improving our health system (45%), national security and terrorism (37%), reducing unemployment (31%), tax avoidance by big companies (31 and housing affordability (31%).
For Labor voters the most important issues were improving our health system (51%), tax avoidance by big companies (38%) and housing affordability (37%).
For Liberal/National voters the most important issues were national security and terrorism (50%), reducing the budget deficit (44%) and improving our health system (40%).
For Greens voters the most important issues were addressing climate change (55%), protecting the environment (40%) and improving our health system (39%).
Since this question was asked in December 2014, there have been increases for national security and terrorism (up 14%) and housing affordability (up 9%) and decreases for reducing unemployment (down 6%) and protecting workers wages and conditions (down 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 | Mar 2016 | Jun 2016 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 57% | 71% | 44% | 90% | 45% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | 63% | 59% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 26% | 16% | 38% | 5% | 36% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | 27% | 28% | ||
| Don’t know | 17% | 13% | 17% | 5% | 19% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% | 10% | 13% |
57% (down 2% since June) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 26% (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%/13% and those aged 55+ split 45%/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 64%/21%.
Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Climate change is happening | Aug 2015 | Mar 2016 | ||||
| Doing enough | 22% | 15% | 36% | 5% | 23% | 11% | 24% | 21% | |||
| Not doing enough | 52% | 66% | 36% | 92% | 46% | 76% | 53% | 57% | |||
| Doing too much | 8% | 3% | 12% | 3% | 13% | 2% | 7% | 8% | |||
| Don’t know | 18% | 15% | 17% | 1% | 17% | 10% | 16% | 13% |
52% (down 5% since March) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change and 22% (up 1%) think Australia is doing enough.
Those most likely to think Australia is not doing enough were aged 18-34 (65%) and university educated (57%).
Of those who believe climate change is happening, 76% think Australia is not doing enough.
Q. Do you think the following types of foreign investment are good or bad for the Australian economy?
| Total good | Total bad | Very good | Good | Neither good nor bad | Bad | Very bad | Don’t know | ||
| Foreign investment in mining | 27% | 28% | 6% | 21% | 29% | 17% | 11% | 15% | |
| Foreign investment in ports | 23% | 37% | 5% | 18% | 25% | 21% | 16% | 16% | |
| Foreign investment in agriculture | 21% | 44% | 6% | 15% | 22% | 22% | 22% | 14% | |
| Foreign investment in infrastructure e.g. electricity | 19% | 45% | 5% | 14% | 21% | 21% | 24% | 14% | |
| Foreign investment in real estate | 14% | 54% | 3% | 11% | 20% | 23% | 31% | 12% |
| Total good | Total bad | Vote Labor good | Vote Labor bad | Vote LNP good | Vote LNP bad | Vote Green good | Vote Green bad | Vote other good | Vote other bad | ||
| Foreign investment in mining | 27% | 28% | 23% | 33% | 37% | 24% | 19% | 38% | 23% | 42% | |
| Foreign investment in ports | 23% | 37% | 19% | 37% | 31% | 35% | 14% | 38% | 18% | 51% | |
| Foreign investment in agriculture | 21% | 44% | 19% | 42% | 29% | 42% | 11% | 51% | 13% | 62% | |
| Foreign investment in infrastructure e.g. electricity | 19% | 45% | 18% | 46% | 25% | 44% | 13% | 54% | 14% | 57% | |
| Foreign investment in real estate | 14% | 54% | 14% | 51% | 19% | 56% | 9% | 62% | 10% | 65% |
By a factor of more than two to one, respondents think foreign investment in real estate (54%), infrastructure (45%) and agriculture (44%) is bad for the Australian economy.
They were also more likely to think foreign investment in ports is bad for the economy (37% bad/23% good) but split on foreign investment in mining – 27% good/28% bad/ 29% neither.
While Liberal/National voters had a more positive view of foreign investment overall, they were still more likely to think it was bad for agriculture (42%), infrastructure (44%) and especially real estate (56%).
Q. Do you think people of the same sex should or should not be allowed to marry?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Nov 2010 | Jul 2011 | Sep 2012 | Oct 2013 | Jun 2014 | Oct 2015 | Mar 2016 | Jul 2016 | |||
| Should be allowed to marry | 62% | 72% | 53% | 92% | 48% | 53% | 54% | 55% | 57% | 60% | 59% | 64% | 58% | ||
| Should not be allowed to marry | 27% | 20% | 35% | 5% | 41% | 36% | 35% | 36% | 31% | 28% | 30% | 26% | 28% | ||
| Don’t know | 12% | 85 | 12% | 3% | 10% | 11% | 11% | 9% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 10% | 14% |
62% (up 4% since July) agreed that people of the same sex should be allowed to marry and 27% (down 1%) think they should not.
Support for same sex marriage is 56% among men and 67% among women. 71% of under 35’s support same sex marriage – while those aged 65+ split 47% in favour/39% against.
Q. As part of the national plebiscite on same-sex marriage, it has been proposed that tax-payer funding be provided for advertising for both the in favour and against campaigns.
Do you approve or disapprove of the Government providing funding for campaign costs in the lead-up to the vote?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Should be allowed to marry | Should not be allowed to marry | |||
| Total approve | 25% | 26% | 30% | 23% | 16% | 30% | 17% | ||
| Total disapprove | 62% | 62% | 61% | 68% | 72% | 57% | 78% | ||
| Strongly approve | 7% | 10% | 7% | 5% | 4% | 9% | 3% | ||
| Approve | 18% | 16% | 23% | 18% | 12% | 21% | 14% | ||
| Disapprove | 23% | 23% | 25% | 20% | 21% | 24% | 21% | ||
| Strongly disapprove | 39% | 39% | 36% | 48% | 51% | 33% | 57% | ||
| Don’t know | 13% | 11% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 12% | 5% |
62% disapprove of the Government providing funding for campaign costs for the same-sex marriage plebiscite and 25% approve.
Those most likely to disapprove were aged 55 (73%).
78% of those opposed to same-sex marriage disapproved compared to 57% of those in favour.
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
9/8/16 |
2 weeks ago
2/8/16 |
4 weeks ago
19/7/16 |
Election 7 Sep 13 | |||
| Liberal | 36% | 37% | 36% | 35% | |||
| National | 3% | 2% | 3% | 4% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 39% | 40% | 39% | 39% | 45.6% | ||
| Labor | 37% | 37% | 37% | 36% | 33.4% | ||
| Greens | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 8.6% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% | – | ||
| Other/Independent | 11% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 12.4% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 48% | 48% | 48% | 49% | 53.5% | ||
| Labor | 52% | 52% | 52% | 51% | 46.5% |
Sample = 1,791. The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived from the first preference/leaning to voting questions. Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ are not included in the results. The two-party preferred estimate is calculated by distributing the votes of the other parties according to their preferences at the 2013 election.
Q. How much interest are you taking in the Olympic Games being held In Rio?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Men | Women | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 65+ | Aug 2012 | |
| A lot of interest | 19% | 22% | 21% | 17% | 13% | 21% | 16% | 19% | 20% | 18% | 22% |
| Some interest | 33% | 31% | 43% | 23% | 27% | 33% | 33% | 37% | 30% | 33% | 36% |
| A little interest | 30% | 30% | 29% | 37% | 29% | 30% | 31% | 28% | 32% | 30% | 27% |
| No interest | 17% | 16% | 8% | 23% | 31% | 15% | 20% | 15% | 18% | 19% | 14% |
| Don’t know | 1% | – | – | – | – | * | 1% | 1% | – | – | 1% |
52% say they have some or a lot of interest in the Olympic games. 47% have little or no interest.
This is less interest than the London Olympics when 60% said they had a lot or some interest.
Those most interested were aged 18-34 (56%), full-time workers (60%) and university educated (60%).