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  • Jan, 2013

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    Federal politics – voting intention

    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 = 1,861 respondents

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    Last week ago

    14/1/13

    This week

    21/01/13

    Liberal

    44%

    44%

    National

    4%

    4%

    Total Lib/Nat

    43.6%

    48%

    48%

    Labor

    38.0%

    36%

    36%

    Greens

    11.8%

    8%

    9%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    8%

    8%

     

    2PP

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    Last week

    This week

    Total Lib/Nat

    49.9%

    54%

    54%

    Labor

    50.1%

    46%

    46%

    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 2010 election. These estimates have a confidence interval of approx. plus or minus 2-3%.

  • Jan, 2013

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    Unemployment benefits

    Q. Do you think unemployment benefits are …

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Income less than $31,200

    Income $31,200

    $51,999

    Income $52,000

    $83,199

    Income $83,200
    +

    Too generous

    25%

    18%

    32%

    21%

    13%

    18%

    24%

    35%

    About right

    30%

    30%

    34%

    26%

    30%

    31%

    31%

    32%

    Not high enough

    33%

    43%

    24%

    41%

    51%

    43%

    32%

    22%

    Don’t know

    11%

    9%

    10%

    12%

    6%

    9%

    12%

    11%

    33% think that unemployment benefits are not high enough, 30% think they are about right and 25% think they are too generous.

    Those most likely to think unemployment benefits were not high enough were Labor voters (43%), Greens voters (41%), those on lower incomes (51% of those earning less than $600pw and 43% of those earning $600-1,000pw), not working (40%) and respondents aged 45-64 (47%).

    Those most likely to think unemployment benefits were too generous were Liberal/National voters (32%), aged under 45 (31%), in full-time employment (33%) and income over $1,600pw (35%).

  • Jan, 2013

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    Welfare benefits

    Q. Which of the following statements is closest to your view?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Income less than $31,200

    Income $31,200

    $51,999

    Income $52,000

    $83,199

    Income $83,200
    +

    Australia’s current welfare system has created a culture of dependency, whereby many people, and often whole families, get used to living off Government benefits; the system needs to be radically changed to get such people to take more responsibility for their lives and their families.

    53%

    42%

    67%

    32%

    40%

    44%

    47%

    69%

    Most people who rely on welfare benefits are victims of circumstances beyond their control. The benefits they receive are far from generous, and are the least a civilised society should provide in order to help them and their families avoid living in poverty.

    30%

    45%

    20%

    44%

    42%

    41%

    36%

    19%

    Neither

    10%

    6%

    8%

    18%

    11%

    10%

    9%

    7%

    Don’t know

    7%

    7%

    6%

    6%

    7%

    5%

    8%

    5%

    53% agreed that Australia’s current welfare system has created a culture of dependency . . . . and 30% agreed that most people who rely on welfare benefits are victims of circumstances  . . . .

    Those most likely to agree with the first statement were Liberal/National voters (67%), respondents on incomes over $1,600pw (69%) and full-time workers (61%).

    Those most likely to agree with the second statement were Labor voters (45%), Greens voters (44%), not working (37%) and incomes under $1,000pw (42%).

  • Jan, 2013

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    Trust in industries

    Q. How much trust do you have in the following industries to act in the public interest

     

    Total a lot/some trust

    A lot of trust

    Some trust

    Not much trust

    No trust at all

    Don’t know

    Agriculture

    72%

    20%

    52%

    18%

    4%

    5%

    Tourism

    68%

    12%

    56%

    22%

    6%

    5%

    Manufacturing

    56%

    8%

    48%

    30%

    8%

    7%

    Construction and development

    48%

    5%

    43%

    33%

    12%

    6%

    Retail

    47%

    3%

    44%

    38%

    12%

    3%

    Telecommunications

    37%

    3%

    34%

    41%

    18%

    3%

    Banking

    33%

    5%

    28%

    36%

    29%

    3%

    Mining

    32%

    3%

    29%

    35%

    25%

    8%

    Media

    30%

    2%

    28%

    40%

    27%

    2%

    Power companies

    18%

    1%

    17%

    37%

    41%

    4%

    The industries most trusted to act in the public interest were agriculture (72% some/a lot of trust), tourism (68%) and manufacturing (56%).

    The industries least trusted to act in the public interest were power companies (18%), the media (30%), mining (32%) and banking (33%).

    The only industry on which there were major differences was mining where 43% of Liberal/National voters had a lot/some trust compared to only 25% of Labor voters and 17% of Greens voters.

  • Jan, 2013

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    Satisfaction with current job

    Q. Overall, how satisfied are you with your current job?

     

    Total

    Men

    Women

    Aged 18
    -34

    Aged 35
    -44

    Aged 45
    +

    Income less than $31,200

    Income $31,200

    $51,999

    Income $52,000

    $83,199

    Income $83,200
    +

    Total satisfied

    71%

    67%

    77%

    71%

    75%

    70%

    73%

    58%

    74%

    74%

    Total dissatisfied

    13%

    14%

    12%

    13%

    13%

    13%

    8%

    16%

    15%

    13%

    Very satisfied

    30%

    26%

    36%

    30%

    31%

    31%

    21%

    26%

    30%

    32%

    Somewhat satisfied

    41%

    41%

    41%

    41%

    44%

    39%

    52%

    32%

    44%

    42%

    Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

    15%

    19%

    10%

    15%

    12%

    17%

    19%

    25%

    12%

    13%

    Somewhat dissatisfied

    9%

    9%

    9%

    11%

    8%

    8%

    8%

    10%

    9%

    9%

    Very dissatisfied

    4%

    5%

    3%

    2%

    5%

    5%

    6%

    6%

    4%

    Don’t know

    1%

    1%

    *

    *

    1%

    1%

    *

    71% of working people say they are satisfied with their current job while 13% are dissatisfied.

    There were few major differences across demographic groups – women (77%) tended to be more satisfied than men (67%) and those on incomes of $600-$1,000pw were least likely to be satisfied (58%).

  • Jan, 2013

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    Choice of job

    Q. If you had a choice, would you prefer to be –

    Total

    Men

    Women

    Aged 18
    -34

    Aged 35
    -44

    Aged 45
    +

    Income less than $31,200

    Income $31,200

    $51,999

    Income $52,000

    $83,199

    Income $83,200
    +

    Working in a different occupation

    30%

    35%

    24%

    35%

    25%

    28%

    22%

    36%

    36%

    30%

    Working in the same occupation but with a different employer

    18%

    18%

    18%

    19%

    18%

    17%

    33%

    9%

    19%

    18%

    Working in my current occupation with my current employer

    40%

    33%

    48%

    35%

    43%

    43%

    37%

    44%

    31%

    44%

    Don’t know

    12%

    14%

    9%

    11%

    14%

    12%

    7%

    12%

    14%

    8%

    40% agreed that if they had a choice they would prefer to be working in their current occupation with their current employer.

    30% would prefer to be in a different occupation and 18% would prefer a different employer.

    Those most likely to prefer a different occupation were men (35%), aged 18-34 (35%) and those on incomes of $600-$1,600pw (36%).

    33% of those earning under $600pw would prefer to be working in the same occupation with a different employer.

  • Jan, 2013

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    Employment by religious organisations

    Q.  Should religious organisations be allowed to refuse to hire people who don’t live according to the organisations’ beliefs?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Men

    Women

    Aged 18-34

    Aged 35-54

    Aged 55+

    Yes

    34%

    26%

    42%

    22%

    34%

    33%

    35%

    31%

    37%

    No

    52%

    58%

    48%

    63%

    54%

    51%

    54%

    50%

    54%

    Don’t know

    14%

    16%

    10%

    15%

    12%

    15%

    11%

    19%

    9%

    34% think that religious organisations should be allowed to refuse to hire people who don’t live according to the organisations’ beliefs and 52% think they should not.

    Those most likely to think they should not were Labor voters (58%), Greens voters (63%) and respondents on lower incomes (57% of those earning less than $1,000pw).

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