Spending surplus to delay economic slowdown

Q. Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted that Australia’s national growth rate in 2019 will be 1.7%, lower than the 2.1% estimated earlier in the year.

Some people believe that this economic slowdown could be avoided by spending some of the federal surplus on infrastructure projects. Others think that the surplus shouldn’t be spent at all.

Which of the below is closest to your view?

	Total	Gender		Age
		Male	Female	18-34	35-54	55+
The Government should maintain the federal surplus at all costs to reduce the national debt	33%	41%	24%	37%	32%	29%
The Government should stimulate the economy to help prevent a downturn and delay the surplus	56%	53%	58%	49%	54%	64%
Don’t know	12%	5%	18%	14%	13%	8%
Base (n)	1,033	516	517	298	366	369

 

	Total	Voting Intention
		Labor	Coalition	Greens	NET: Other
The Government should maintain the federal surplus at all costs to reduce the national debt	33%	25%	47%	20%	29%
The Government should stimulate the economy to help prevent a downturn and delay the surplus	56%	66%	43%	62%	59%
Don’t know	12%	9%	10%	18%	12%
Base (n)	1,033	371	401	106	119

•  Majority of participants (56%) think that the Government should stimulate the economy to help prevent a downturn and delay the surplus, while a third (33%) think the Government should maintain the surplus at all costs.
• Those over 55 years old (64%), intending to vote Labor (66%) or Greens (62%) are more likely to say the Government should stimulate the economy than 18-34 year olds (49%) and Coalition voters (43%).
• Participants with dependent children are more likely to say the government should maintain the surplus (40%) than those without dependent children (30%).