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Political donations

27 Jun 2017

Q. Would you support or oppose introducing the following requirement concerning political donation?

  Total support Total oppose   Strongly support Support Oppose Strongly oppose Don’t know Total support (Nov 2016) Total oppose (Nov 2016)
All politicians to publicly disclose meetings with representatives of companies, donors or unions 79% 6% 45% 34% 5% 1% 16% 77% 6%
Political donations to be reported immediately by political parties, compared to annual reports at the moment 78% 5% 45% 33% 4% 1% 17% 73% 6%
A ban on foreign donations 64% 15% 43% 21% 12% 3% 21% 66% 12%
A cap on donations of $5000 61% 15% 32% 29% 12% 3% 24% 61% 13%
A ban on political donations by companies and unions 60% 16% 31% 29% 13% 3% 24% 59% 16%
All donations banned and all political party spending to be taxpayer funded 30% 46%   15% 15% 20% 26% 24% 25% 49%

 

Support by party preference Total support   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote other
All politicians to publicly disclose meetings with representatives of companies, donors or unions 79% 84% 77% 87% 86%
Political donations to be reported immediately by political parties, compared to annual reports at the moment 78% 82% 78% 88% 85%
A ban on foreign donations 64% 66% 63% 69% 81%
A cap on donations of $5000 61% 63% 57% 73% 72%
A ban on political donations by companies and unions 60% 61% 62% 70% 67%
All donations banned and all political party spending to be taxpayer funded 30%   33% 30% 37% 29%

There was majority support for all listed reforms except taxpayer funding for political parties (30% support/46% oppose). However, support for this reform has increased by 5% since it was last asked in November.

There was particularly strong support for public disclosure of meetings (79%, up 2% from November) and immediate reporting of donations (78%, up 5%).

Labor voters were a little more supportive than Liberal/National voters of all reforms listed, with the exception of a ban on political donations by companies and unions.

Greens voters were more supportive than Liberal/National voters and Labor voters for all of the reforms.

 

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