Q. Would you support or oppose the Federal Government taking any of the following decisions –
Total support | Total oppose | Strongly support | Support | Oppose | Strongly oppose | Don’t know | |
Abolishing the GST | 35% | 43% | 14% | 21% | 24% | 19% | 21% |
Buying back Qantas | 43% | 34% | 13% | 30% | 23% | 11% | 22% |
Buying back Telstra | 47% | 33% | 16% | 31% | 22% | 11% | 20% |
Buying back the Commonwealth Bank | 41% | 36% | 13% | 28% | 24% | 12% | 23% |
Regulating the dollar | 32% | 36% | 10% | 22% | 22% | 14% | 32% |
Increasing trade protection | 59% | 20% | 20% | 39% | 13% | 7% | 21% |
Making superannuation voluntary | 24% | 64% | 9% | 15% | 26% | 38% | 13% |
Privatising Medicare | 11% | 74% | 4% | 7% | 26% | 48% | 17% |
When asked whether these decisions should be reversed, 59% supported increasing trade protection and 47% supported buying back Telstra. There was very strong opposition to privatizing Medicare (74%) and making superannuation voluntary (64%). No other issues had clear majority support or opposition.
Liberal/National voters supported buying back Telstra (47% to 39%), were split on Qantas (43%/41%), but opposed buying back the Commonwealth Bank (39%/44%).
Although Coalition voters were more likely to think free trade agreements were good for Australia (41%/25%), they were also more likely than Labor voters to support increasing trade protection (64%/19%) – 59% of Labor voters supported more trade protection and 21% opposed.