Most Important Industries
Q. And which of these industries are the three most important for Australia’s economic future?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Mining | 67% | 77% | 67% | 61% |
| Agriculture | 58% | 57% | 59% | 58% |
| Tourism | 46% | 47% | 43% | 56% |
| Manufacturing | 37% | 30% | 40% | 36% |
| Construction | 25% | 26% | 26% | 31% |
| Finance | 21% | 18% | 23% | 17% |
| Retail | 17% | 18% | 17% | 12% |
| Telecommunications | 14% | 16% | 11% | 20% |
| Hospitality | 10% | 10% | 9% | 6% |
| Media | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Don’t know | 4% | * | 4% | 3% |
Australia’s most important industries are thought to be mining (67%), agriculture (58%), tourism (46%) and manufacturing (37%). Opinions are consistent across voter groups in terms of order of importance.
Good or Bad for Australia
Q. Overall, do you think the Government’s carbon pricing scheme will be good or bad for Australia’s future?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total good | 34% | 67% | 11% | 76% |
| Total bad | 46% | 13% | 73% | 16% |
| Very good | 11% | 26% | 1% | 31% |
| Good | 23% | 41% | 10% | 45% |
| Bad | 20% | 9% | 29% | 9% |
| Very bad | 26% | 4% | 44% | 7% |
| It will make no difference | 8% | 8% | 10% | – |
| Don’t know | 12% | 13% | 7% | 7% |
34% think the carbon pricing scheme will be good for Australia and 46% think it will be bad.
By age, those aged under 35 split 42% good/36% bad, and those aged 55+ split 31% good/52% bad.
For those who consider themselves very well or somewhat informed about the carbon pricing scheme, 42% think it will be good for Australia and 48% bad.
Party Best at
Q. Which of the following parties – Labor, Liberal or Greens – do you think is the best party when it comes to –
| Labor | Liberal | Greens | Don’t know | |
| Representing the interests of Australian working people | 42% | 27% | 6% | 25% |
| Standing up to the big multinational corporations | 32% | 27% | 13% | 28% |
| Handling the economy in a way that best protects working people in Australia | 36% | 35% | 4% | 25% |
| Understanding the needs of the average Australian | 29% | 27% | 9% | 35% |
| Representing the interests of you and people like you | 32% | 34% | 10% | 24% |
| Having a vision for Australia’s future | 29% | 33% | 9% | 29% |
| Taking Australia forward, not backwards | 29% | 34% | 9% | 28% |
| Handling Australia’s relations with other countries | 30% | 38% | 4% | 27% |
| Handling Australia’s economy | 30% | 42% | 3% | 25% |
| Dealing with the issue of immigration | 20% | 41% | 7% | 32% |
| Being honest and ethical | 19% | 21% | 15% | 45% |
| Handling environmental and climate change issues | 19% | 19% | 36% | 27% |
The Labor Party was thought to be better than the Liberal Party at “representing the interests of Australian working people” (42% to 27%) and “standing up to the big multinational corporations “ (32%/27%).
The Liberal Party was thought to be better than the Labor Party at “dealing with the issue of immigration “ (41% to 20%), “handling Australia’s economy” (42%/30%), “handling Australia’s relations with other countries” (38%/30%), “taking Australia forward, not backwards” (34%/29%) and “having a vision for Australia’s future” (33%/29%).
There was little difference between the Liberal and Labor Parties in terms of “handling the economy in a way that best protects working people in Australia”, “understanding the needs of the average Australian” and “representing the interests of you and people like you”.
36% believed the Greens were best at “handling environmental and climate change issues” and 45% could not nominate a party best at “being honest and ethical”. Comments »
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
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Two Party Preferred:
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Top Federal Government priorities for 2021
- Uptake of a Covid-19 vaccine
- Perceptions of change in the standard of living for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Changing views towards Australia Day
- Support towards a separate national day
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