Q. Thinking about the House of Representatives, which of the following do you think would provide the best Government for Australia?

49% think that the best Government would be if the governing party has an absolute majority in the House of Representatives while 25% think the independents and minor parties should hold the balance of power.

A majority (56%) of Greens voters would prefer to see the independents and minor parties should hold the balance of power while a majority (61%) of Liberal/National voters think the governing party should have an absolute majority.

Q. Thinking about the Federal Government, which of the following scenarios would you prefer –

Most respondents think that ‘one of the major parties having a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate’ is preferable (36%).  Lib/Nat voters are the most likely to prefer this scenario (49%) and Greens voters the least likely to do so (7%).  Male respondents were also more likely to prefer this scenario (40%) than female respondents (32%).

Respondents then selected ‘one of the major parties having a majority in the House of Representatives and the other having a majority in the Senate’ as their next preferred scenario (21%).  Lib/Nat voters are the most likely to regard this scenario as preferable (27%).

The least favoured option amongst respondents is ‘one of the major parties having a majority in the House of Representatives and the Greens having the balance of power in the Senate’, with 16% selecting this option.  Greens voters are the most likely to regard this option as the most preferable (63%).

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Q. Which of the following voting systems would you prefer when voting for the Federal House of Representatives.

• A preferential voting system where voters rank all candidates in order of preference.
• An optional preferential system where voters can rank one, some, or all candidates in order of preference.
• A “first past the post” system, where voters only vote for one candidate and the candidate with the most votes wins.

Of the three voting options given, 44% favoured “first past the post”, 26% optional preferential and 22% the current preferential system.

Optional preferential was most preferred by those aged under 35 (35%) while older groups strongly favoured first past the post (50% of aged 35-54 and 54% of aged 55+).

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