banking, banking competition, banks, competing banks, EMC, ER, essential report
Q. Do you think there needs to be more competition between Australian banks or is there enough competition?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| There is enough competition | 21% | 21% | 25% | 13% |
| Needs to be more competition | 68% | 70% | 68% | 81% |
| Don’t know | 11% | 8% | 6% | 7% |
68% believe there needs to be more competition between banks and 21% think there is currently enough competition.
81% of Greens voters believe there needs to be more competition.
Younger respondents are a little more likely to think there is enough competition (27% of aged 18-34) while 76% of respondents aged 55+ think there should be more competition.
banking, banking regulation, banks, EMC, Essential Report, Joe Hockey, peter lewis, private banks, regulation, The Drum
First Published on The Drum 02/11/2010
Joe Hockey is swanning around the airwaves like the coolest kid at school, convinced he’s discovered a new fad that’s sure to catch on. It’s called regulation and it rocks.
Of course many old hands may wonder whether all Joe has done is stumble upon a bit of retro, like some early Midnight Oil recordings, but right now Joe is stoked, he’s got a new tattoo and everyone is checking him out. Even the Greens want to play with him.
Still, if the old post-election cliche that the ‘people always get it right’ has any sort of credibility, Joe’s biggest risk is he’ll soon be overtaken by a bunch of converts who want to take the trend way more seriously than a wide-boy with a beat-box can.
As the latest Essential Report shows, there are votes to be won in regulating the bastard banks, especially in a week when Westpac is tipped to tip the Big Four’s profits over the $20 billion mark.
banking, banking regulation, banks
Q. Thinking about banking in Australia, do you think there needs to be more or less regulation of banks or is the present level of regulation about right?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Needs to be more regulation | 64% | 68% | 67% | 57% |
| Needs to be less regulation | 4% | 2% | 5% | 4% |
| Present regulation about right | 20% | 20% | 20% | 35% |
| Don’t know | 12% | 10% | 8% | 4% |
64% believe there needs to be more regulation of Australian banks and 20% think the present level of regulation is about right. Only 4% think there needs to be less regulation. Labor and Coalition voters show similar support for more regulation while Greens voters are more likely to approve of the present level regulation. 72% of those aged 45-64 want more regulation. Comments »
bank fees, banking, banking regulation, banks, controlling interest rates, Interest rates, loans, off-shoring, Reserve Bank, salaries
Q. Would you support or oppose the following regulations for Australia’s banks?
| Total support | Total oppose | Strongly support | Support | Oppose | Strongly oppose | Don’t know | |
| Stopping banks from sending jobs off-shore | 83% | 7% | 46% | 37% | 5% | 2% | 9% |
| Only permitting banks to change interest rates in line with Reserve Bank rates | 82% | 11% | 53% | 29% | 8% | 3% | 7% |
| Capping bank CEO’s salaries | 84% | 9% | 60% | 24% | 7% | 2% | 6% |
| Ensuring bank fees are not higher than the actual cost of the service | 91% | 4% | 67% | 24% | 3% | 1% | 4% |
| A requirement to let customers know if their personal data is being sent to other countries for processing | 93% | 2% | 71% | 22% | 2% | * | 6% |
| Tougher rules about giving loans and credit | 74% | 15% | 32% | 42% | 13% | 2% | 12% |
More than 90% support regulations requiring banks to let customers know if their personal data is being sent to other countries for processing and ensuring bank fees are not higher than the actual cost of the service. Over 80% support stopping banks from sending jobs off-shore, only permitting banks to change interest rates in line with Reserve Bank rates and capping bank CEO’s salaries.
There were no substantial differences by voting intention – all regulations were strongly supported by all voter groups.
| Total support | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Stopping banks from sending jobs off-shore | 83% | 85% | 85% | 83% |
| Only permitting banks to change interest rates in line with Reserve Bank rates | 82% | 87% | 82% | 73% |
| Capping bank CEO’s salaries | 84% | 88% | 83% | 86% |
| Ensuring bank fees are not higher than the actual cost of the service | 91% | 93% | 93% | 90% |
| A requirement to let customers know if their personal data is being sent to other countries for processing | 93% | 94% | 93% | 94% |
| Tougher rules about giving loans and credit | 74% | 71% | 80% | 77% |
banking, banking regulation, banks, Government owned bank
Support for Government-owned Bank
Q. Would you support or oppose the establishment of a Government-owned bank to compete with the private banks?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total support | 62% | 68% | 60% | 72% |
| Total oppose | 17% | 14% | 21% | 16% |
| Strongly support | 28% | 32% | 27% | 33% |
| Support | 34% | 36% | 33% | 39% |
| Oppose | 11% | 9% | 13% | 13% |
| Strongly oppose | 6% | 5% | 8% | 3% |
| Don’t know | 22% | 19% | 19% | 13% |
62% support and 17% oppose the establishment of a Government-owned bank to compete with the private banks.
Strongest support is shown by men (68%), Greens voters (72%) and full-time workers (68%). Comments »
banks, business, influence, media, mining, parties, religious, unions
Q. How much influence do you think the following groups have on the policies of Australian political parties?
| Too much | About the right amount | Not enough | Don’t know | |
| The media | 53% | 27% | 5% | 15% |
| Banks | 50% | 28% | 5% | 18% |
| Business lobby groups | 40% | 33% | 5% | 21% |
| Mining companies | 40% | 33% | 10% | 17% |
| Unions | 40% | 33% | 12% | 14% |
| Religious groups | 38% | 29% | 11% | 21% |
| Environment groups | 25% | 31% | 29% | 15% |
About half the respondents believed that the media (53%) and banks (50%) have too much influence on the policies of Australian political parties.
40% believed that business lobby groups, mining companies and unions have too much influence.
Only 25% thought environmental groups have too much influence and 29% think they have not enough influence.
There were substantial differences by party preference on the influence of business lobby groups (Labor 52% too much, Lib/Nat 28%), unions (26%/61%), and mining companies (57%/26%). However, there was little difference on the perceived influence of the media (Labor 57% too much, Lib/Nat 56%) and banks (53%/51%). Comments »
banks, business lobby, environment, mining, the media, trust, trust in group, unions
Q. And how much trust do you have in the following groups to represent the interests of people like you?
| Total a lot/some trust | A lot of trust | Some trust | A little trust | No trust at all | Don’t know | |
| Environment groups | 38% | 8% | 30% | 28% | 22% | 11% |
| Unions | 33% | 8% | 25% | 27% | 30% | 10% |
| Business lobby groups | 21% | 4% | 17% | 30% | 35% | 15% |
| Religious groups | 20% | 5% | 15% | 24% | 43% | 13% |
| Mining companies | 20% | 2% | 18% | 27% | 40% | 13% |
| Banks | 15% | 2% | 13% | 26% | 49% | 10% |
| The media | 14% | 1% | 13% | 33% | 43% | 9% |
38% said they have a lot or some trust in environment groups and 33% have a lot/some trust in unions. Banks (15%) and the media (14%) were the least trusted groups.
49% had no trust at all in banks and 43% had no trust at all in religious groups and the media.
51% of Labor voters have trust in unions and 47% have trust in environment groups. The most trusted groups for Liberal/National voters are mining companies (32%) and business lobby groups (31%). Comments »
banks, Federal Government, Government support, immigrants, pensioners, rudd, small business, unions
Q7. During their term in office, do you think the Rudd Government has given too much support, not enough support or just about the right amount of support to the following –
| Given too much support | Given enough support | Not given enough support | Don’t know | |
| Pensioners | 3% | 27% | 57% | 12% |
| Poor families | 3% | 28% | 54% | 16% |
| Country Australia | 2% | 31% | 46% | 21% |
| Small businesses | 2% | 37% | 39% | 22% |
| Working people | 2% | 47% | 37% | 13% |
| Unemployed workers | 10% | 37% | 34% | 19% |
| Recent immigrants | 41% | 26% | 17% | 17% |
| Large businesses | 26% | 37% | 14% | 23% |
| Unions | 19% | 42% | 13% | 26% |
| The banks and other large financial institutions | 43% | 33% | 5% | 19% |
About half the respondents think that the Rudd Government has not given enough support to pensioners (57%), poor families (54%) and country Australia (46%). A sizable proportion think that too much support has been given to the banks and other large financial institutions (43%) and recent immigrants (41%). 47% think the Rudd Government has given enough support to working people and 42% think they have given enough support to unions.
Among Labor voters, 50% think the Government has not given enough support to pensioners and 54% think they have not given enough support to poor families. Comments »