Approval of Environment Minister, Peter Garrett
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Peter Garrett is doing as Environment Minister?
| % | |
| Strongly approve | 4% |
| Approve | 24% |
| Disapprove | 26% |
| Strongly disapprove | 30% |
| Don’t know | 16% |
| Total approve | 28% |
| Total disapprove | 56% |
Just over half (56%) of those surveyed disapprove of the job Peter Garrett is doing as Environment Minister, 28% approve and 16% don’t know.
This gives Peter Garrett an approval rating of -28%.
Results followed party lines – Labor voters were more likely to approve (47%), while Coalition voters were more likely to disapprove (84%). 37% of Labor voters disapprove of the job Garrett is doing as Environment Minister.
Green voters were reasonably split in terms of their level of approval of the Environment Minister – 42% approve and 46% disapprove of the job Garrett is doing.
People aged 65 years and over were more likely to disapprove (82%) while those aged 35 – 44 were more likely to approve (35%).
We asked a similar question in June 2008 asking people to rate the performance of Peter Garrett – 32% rated his performance as very good/good and 47% rated it as very poor/poor. Comments »
Issues of importance
Q. Which are the three most important issues in deciding how you would vote at a Federal election? (Number from 1 to 3 where 1 is the most important, 2 the second most important, etc)
| One | Two | Three | Total | |
| Management of the economy | 36% | 17% | 10% | 63% |
| Ensuring the quality of Australia’s health system | 14% | 17% | 17% | 48% |
| Australian jobs and protection of local industries | 8% | 13% | 12% | 33% |
| Political leadership | 10% | 7% | 6% | 23% |
| Ensuring a quality education for all children | 5% | 8% | 10% | 23% |
| Ensuring a fair taxation system | 4% | 5% | 9% | 18% |
| Protecting the environment | 4% | 7% | 5% | 16% |
| Addressing climate change | 6% | 5% | 5% | 16% |
| Controlling interest rates | 3% | 6% | 6% | 15% |
| Housing affordability | 3% | 4% | 7% | 14% |
| Ensuring a quality water supply | 3% | 4% | 5% | 12% |
| A fair industrial relations system | 3% | 4% | 3% | 10% |
| Security and the war on terrorism | 2% | 4% | 3% | 9% |
63% of people surveyed rate management of the economy as one of their three most important issues, followed by 48% that rate ensuring the quality of Australia’s health system and 33% that rate Australian jobs and protection of local industries as one of their three most important issues.
10% rate a fair industrial relations system as one of their three most important issues that would decide how they vote in a Federal election and 9% rate security and the war on terrorism. Comments »
Party best at
Q. Which party do you think is best at handling each of the following issues?
| Labor | Liberal | Labor margin | No difference | Don’t know | Labor margin Oct 09 | |
| A fair industrial relations system | 42% | 23% | +19% | 19% | 16% | +27% |
| Addressing climate change | 35% | 16% | +19% | 29% | 19% | +18% |
| Protecting the environment | 32% | 15% | +17% | 34% | 19% | +21% |
| Australian jobs and protection of local industries | 35% | 22% | +13% | 26% | 17% | +17% |
| Ensuring a quality education for all children | 32% | 20% | +12% | 32% | 17% | +17% |
| Political leadership | 36% | 25% | +11% | 23% | 16% | +20% |
| Ensuring a quality water supply | 24% | 17% | +7% | 38% | 20% | +13% |
| Ensuring the quality of Australia’s health system | 27% | 21% | +6% | 34% | 19% | +10% |
| Ensuring a fair taxation system | 30% | 24% | +6% | 28% | 18% | +8% |
| Housing affordability | 23% | 19% | +4% | 38% | 20% | +9% |
| Management of the economy | 28% | 35% | -7% | 20% | 16% | – |
| Security and the war on terrorism | 18% | 25% | -7% | 38% | 19% | +2% |
| Controlling interest rates | 20% | 28% | -8% | 34% | 18% | – |
Labor has its strongest lead over the Liberal Party when it comes to a fair industrial relations system (+19%), addressing climate change (+19%) and protecting the environment (+17%). Labor trails the Liberal Party in terms of controlling interest rates (-8%), security and the war on terrorism (-7%) and management of the economy (-7%).
Since October 2009, Labor has lost the margin it had over the Liberal Party in some areas, most significantly in the areas of political leadership (-9%), a fair industrial relations system (-8%), ensuring a quality water supply (-6%).
Results followed party lines with Labor voters tending to favour the Labor Party and Liberal voters favouring the Liberal Party. Comments »
Liberal Party’s environmental/employment plan
Q. The Opposition Leader Tony Abbott recently announced a plan to employ 15,000 people at an annual cost of up to $750 million to work on large scale environmental projects. Do you support or oppose this plan?
| % | |
| Total support | 59% |
| Total oppose | 15% |
| Strongly support | 14% |
| Support | 45% |
| Oppose | 10% |
| Strongly oppose | 5% |
| No opinion | 26% |
Over half (59%) support Tony Abbott’s recently announced plan to employ 15,000 people at an annual cost of up to $750 million to work on large scale environmental projects, 15% oppose such a plan and 26% have no opinion.
Coalition voters were more likely to support the plan (80%), while Labor voters were more likely to oppose the plan (25%). 52% of Labor voters and 70% of Green voters support the plan.
People aged 55 years and over were more likely to support the plan (62%), as were males (61%). Comments »
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