Q. Do you think a Federal Government led by Labor or the Coalition would be better at…?

• A Coalition government is thought to be better than Labor at governance issues such as recovering the economy from Covid-19 (46% Coalition), reducing national debt (45%) and managing the economy (44%).
• Elements where Labor is seen to do a better job than the Coalition is in improving the education system (41%), supporting those in financial need (43%) an creating jobs (40%).
• Across all issues between one-fifth (22%) and almost a third (30%) of participants believe that neither party would be better at any of the listed elements.

Q: Compared to other issues the Government needs to address, how important is the issue of re-establishing the ABCC?

34% say that re-establishing the ABCC is very or somewhat important compared to other issues the Government needs to address and 41% say it is not important.

Those more likely to think it is important were Liberal/National voters (51% and people aged 65+ (47%).

Those more likely to say it was not important were Labor (53%) and Greens (54%) voters.

Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the following decisions the Federal Government has made over the last 12 months?

The most approved Government decisions were turning back asylum seeker boats (61% approve), freezing foreign aid (58%) and dumping the carbon tax (53%). The most disapproved decisions were cutting $20 billion from hospital funding (81% disapprove), $7 co-payment for doctor visits (66%), deregulating university fees (63%) and increasing the pension age (63%).

Sending military aid to Iraq was approved by men (51% approve/39% disapprove) but disapproved by women (37% approve/47% disapprove).

The $7 co-payment was disapproved by 72% of those aged 45-64 and 71% of those earning less than $1,000 pw.

Deregulating university fees was disapproved by 77% of those aged 18-24.

Q. If the Federal Government cut funding to the ABC do you think it would be because:

45% think that funding cuts to the ABC would be made because the Government needs to reduce overall spending and 28% think it would be because the Government doesn’t like the ABC’s news coverage.

Those more likely to think it would be because the Government doesn’t like the ABC’s news coverage were Greens voters (65%), Labor voters (38%), income less than $600pw (38%) and university educated (34%).

Q. Do you think it is better to have the same party in Government at both State and Federal levels or do you think it is better to have different parties in Government at State and Federal levels?

36% think it doesn’t make any difference whether the parties in Government at State and Federal levels are different or the same. 26% think it is better if they are the same and 24% think it would be better if they were different. These figures have changed little since this question was asked in November.

Labor voters were a little more likely to favour different parties while Liberal/National voters were more likely to favour having the same party in power at both levels.

Q. Would you approve or disapprove of the Federal Government taking any of the following actions on Qantas?

Overall, respondents approved the Government buying a share of Qantas (49% approve/30% disapprove) and guaranteeing Qantas loans (45%/32%).

They tended to disapprove of allowing increased foreign ownership (31% approve/52% disapprove), providing direct funding (35%/42%) and nationalising Qantas (36%/42%).

Liberal/National voters were more likely to disapprove of all forms of assistance except allowing increased foreign ownership (40% approve/48% disapprove).

Q. Overall, do you think the Federal Government spends too much, not enough or about the right amount on welfare payments – such as age pensions, disability support pensions, unemployment benefits, parenting payments?

41% think the Government does not spend enough on welfare payments, 27% think spending is about right and 24% think it spends too much.

Those most likely to think it spends too much were Liberal/National voters (36%), full-time workers (33%) and those on income over $1,600pw (34%).

Those most likely to think it doesn’t spend enough were Labor voters (56%) and those on incomes under $600pw (64%).

Q. Who do you think is mainly responsible for electricity and gas prices?

45% believe that power companies are mainly responsible for electricity and gas prices, 27% think the Federal Government is mainly responsible and 16% State Governments.

40% of Liberal/National voters think the Federal Government is mainly responsible. Answers were similar across the major states – NSW, Victoria, Queensland.