Q. Which of the following actions on climate change would you most support?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
Sep 14 |
|
| Incentives for renewable energy |
45% |
49% |
44% |
46% |
57% |
50% |
||
| An emissions trading scheme |
14% |
19% |
9% |
27% |
5% |
12% |
||
| The Government’s direct action policy |
10% |
9% |
11% |
11% |
7% |
10% |
||
| No action required |
11% |
6% |
18% |
2% |
21% |
11% |
||
| Don’t know |
20% |
17% |
18% |
15% |
9% |
17% |
In taking action on climate change, 45% most support incentives for renewable energy, 14% most support an emissions trading scheme and 10% most support the Government‘s direct action policy – while 11% say no action is required. This represents a drop in support for incentives for renewable energy since this question was asked in September.
All groups are most likely to support incentives for renewable energy. Those more likely to support an emissions trading scheme were aged 18-24 (26%) and Greens voters (27%).
Q. The Renewable Energy Target scheme encourages investment in renewable energy by requiring electricity retail companies to purchase a certain amount of renewable energy each year. By the year 2020, at least 20% of electricity must come from renewable resources.
Do you think this target of 20% renewable energy by 2020 is too high, too low or about right?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
Feb 14 |
Jul 14 |
|
| Too high |
8% |
7% |
11% |
5% |
9% |
13% |
13% |
||
| Too low |
33% |
43% |
19% |
61% |
33% |
25% |
29% |
||
| About right |
32% |
29% |
42% |
25% |
29% |
39% |
36% |
||
| Don’t know |
27% |
22% |
28% |
9% |
29% |
23% |
22% |
32% think the current renewable energy target is about right, 33% think it is too low and 8% think it is too high. Since this question was asked in July, those thinking it is too low increased 4 points and those thinking it is too high declined 5 points.
61% of Greens voters and 43% of Labor voters think it is too low.
Q. Overall, how would you describe the current state of the Australian economy?
|
|
Total
|
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
May 2012 |
Apr 2013 |
Sep 2013 |
Jan 2014 |
Apr 2014 |
Aug 2014 |
| Total good |
27% |
28% |
33% |
28% |
12% |
35% |
45% |
40% |
34% |
38% |
37% |
||
| Total poor |
33% |
34% |
28% |
33% |
48% |
29% |
26% |
25% |
26% |
24% |
26% |
||
| Very good |
3% |
3% |
4% |
2% |
– |
6% |
8% |
6% |
4% |
3% |
6% |
||
| Good |
24% |
25% |
29% |
26% |
12% |
29% |
37% |
34% |
30% |
35% |
31% |
||
| Neither good nor poor |
36% |
35% |
37% |
31% |
33% |
33% |
28% |
32% |
36% |
34% |
35% |
||
| Poor |
24% |
24% |
23% |
26% |
30% |
20% |
17% |
20% |
21% |
19% |
18% |
||
| Very poor |
9% |
10% |
5% |
7% |
18% |
9% |
9% |
5% |
5% |
5% |
8% |
||
| Don’t know |
4% |
3% |
2% |
7% |
7% |
2% |
2% |
3% |
4% |
4% |
3% |
27% described the economy as good or very good and 33% poor/very poor – 36% said it was neither. This represents a substantial net decline from +11 to -6 since August.
Views on the state of the economy were similar across age and voter groups. Among Labor voters 28% thought it was good and 34% poor; for Liberal/National voters 33% said it was good and 28% poor.
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Joe Hockey is doing as Treasurer?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other/ Indep-endent |
|
Nov 2013 |
Aug 2014 |
|
| Total approve |
27% |
|
7% |
63% |
8% |
9% |
45% |
35% |
|
| Total disapprove |
51% |
|
77% |
19% |
75% |
59% |
28% |
44% |
|
| Strongly approve |
6% |
|
1% |
14% |
3% |
1% |
13% |
11% |
|
| Approve |
21% |
|
6% |
49% |
5% |
8% |
32% |
24% |
|
| Disapprove |
25% |
|
33% |
15% |
33% |
26% |
15% |
20% |
|
| Strongly disapprove |
26% |
|
44% |
4% |
42% |
33% |
13% |
24% |
|
| Don’t know |
22% |
|
15% |
18% |
16% |
32% |
27% |
21% |
27% approve of the job Joe Hockey is doing as Treasurer and 51% disapprove. 22% could not give an opinion.
This represents a change in net rating from -9 to -24 since this question was asked in August.
By gender – 28% (-12) of men approve and 54% (+8) disapprove; 27% (-3) of women approve and 48% (+5) disapprove.
Q. Who would you trust most to handle Australia’s economy – The Treasurer Joe Hockey or the Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other/ Indep-endent |
|
Aug 2014 |
|
| Joe Hockey |
26% |
|
5% |
62% |
6% |
14% |
34% |
|
| Chris Bowen |
25% |
|
49% |
6% |
42% |
10% |
23% |
|
| Don’t know |
49% |
|
46% |
31% |
52% |
76% |
43% |
26% have more trust in Joe Hockey to handle Australia’s economy and 25% have more trust in Chris Bowen. 49% don’t know who they would trust more.
This represents a 10-point shift in favour of Chris Bowen since this question was asked in August.
Q. The Government will provide special protections for journalists from its proposed data retention scheme (which involves keeping the phone and internet records of all Australians for two years) by requiring a warrant to access journalists’ communications data in certain circumstances. Do you think a warrant should be required to access all Australians’ data, just journalists’ data or should all data be able to be accessed without a warrant?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other/ Indep-endent |
|
| Warrant required to access journalists’ data |
10% |
10% |
13% |
4% |
7% |
|
| Warrant required to access all Australians’ data |
58% |
62% |
50% |
79% |
75% |
|
| No warrant required for any data |
12% |
10% |
18% |
2% |
10% |
|
| Don’t know |
19% |
17% |
18% |
15% |
8% |
The majority (58%) of respondents think under the proposed data retention scheme, a warrant should be required to access all Australians’ data, not just journalists’.
A majority of all voter and demographic groups think a warrant should be required to access all data.
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?
Q. If don’t know -Well which party are you currently leaning to?
Sample size = 1,787 respondents
| First preference/leaning to |
Election 7 Sep 13 |
|
4 weeks ago 17/2/15 |
2 weeks ago 3/3/15 |
Last week 10/3/15 |
This week 17/3/15 |
| Liberal |
|
36% |
37% |
37% |
37% |
|
| National |
|
3% |
3% |
3% |
3% |
|
| Total Liberal/National |
45.6% |
39% |
40% |
40% |
40% |
|
| Labor |
33.4% |
41% |
41% |
40% |
39% |
|
| Greens |
8.6% |
10% |
9% |
9% |
9% |
|
| Palmer United Party |
5.5% |
2% |
2% |
2% |
2% |
|
| Other/Independent |
6.9% |
8% |
9% |
9% |
9% |
| 2 Party Preferred |
Election 7 Sep 13 |
|
4 weeks ago 17/2/15 |
2 weeks ago 3/3/15 |
Last week 10/3/15 |
This week 17/3/15 |
| Liberal National |
53.5% |
46% |
47% |
47% |
48% |
|
| Labor |
46.5% |
54% |
53% |
53% |
52% |
NB. 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.
Awareness of intergenerational report
Q. How much have you read or heard about the Government’s Intergenerational Report which was released recently?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote Other |
|
| A lot |
5% |
7% |
2% |
9% |
5% |
|
| Some |
14% |
15% |
16% |
23% |
8% |
|
| A little |
25% |
24% |
30% |
24% |
25% |
|
| Nothing at all |
45% |
46% |
42% |
37% |
56% |
|
| Not sure |
11% |
8% |
10% |
8% |
6% |
Only 19% said they had read or heard a lot/some about the Government’s Intergenerational Report.
Those most likely to have read or heard about it were Greens voters (32%), aged 55+ (26%) and those with university education (23%).