Attitude towards Australia first hiring
Q. Last weekend Kristina Kenneally, a NSW senator, called for the federal government to reduce the number of temporary migrant worker visas permitted after the Covid-19 outbreak. She argues that Australian businesses should prioritise training and hiring Australians for roles, rather than seeking temporary workers to fill skill-shortages.
To what extent, do you support or oppose this idea of “Australia first” hiring?
| Gender | Age Group | ||||||
| Total | Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | ||
| Strongly support | 41% | 36% | 46% | 27% | 42% | 53% | |
| Somewhat support | 26% | 28% | 23% | 25% | 26% | 25% | |
| Neither support, nor oppose | 21% | 21% | 21% | 30% | 24% | 10% | |
| Somewhat oppose | 6% | 7% | 4% | 10% | 3% | 5% | |
| Strongly oppose | 6% | 8% | 5% | 9% | 5% | 6% | |
| TOTAL: Support | 67% | 64% | 70% | 52% | 68% | 78% | |
| TOTAL: Oppose | 12% | 15% | 9% | 18% | 8% | 12% | |
| Base (n) | 1,067 | 532 | 535 | 341 | 341 | 385 | |
| Federal Voting Intention | ||||
| Labor | Coalition | Greens | TOTAL: Other | |
| Strongly support | 41% | 44% | 23% | 61% |
| Somewhat support | 22% | 31% | 26% | 21% |
| Neither support, nor oppose | 24% | 15% | 34% | 12% |
| Somewhat oppose | 7% | 4% | 7% | 4% |
| Strongly oppose | 6% | 5% | 10% | 2% |
| TOTAL: Support | 63% | 75% | 50% | 82% |
| TOTAL: Oppose | 13% | 10% | 17% | 7% |
| Base (n) | 306 | 418 | 86 | 143 |
- Kristina Kenneally’s “Australia first” hiring approach is supported by 67% of participants; women (70%), those over 55 (78%), Coalition (75%) and other party voters (82%) are more likely to support this approach than men (64%), 18-34 year olds (52%) and Greens voters (50%).
Immigration and Religion
Q. When a family applies to migrate to Australia, should it be possible for them to be rejected purely on the basis of their religion?
|
|
Total
|
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
Feb 2011 |
| Should be rejected on basis of religion |
21% |
16% |
27% |
9% |
29% |
19% |
||
| Should not be rejected on basis of religion |
63% |
71% |
53% |
84% |
56% |
65% |
||
| Don’t know |
17% |
13% |
20% |
7% |
15% |
15% |
63% believed that when a family applies to migrate to Australia, they should not be rejected purely on the basis of their religion and 21% think it should be possible to reject purely based on religion. These figures are similar to when this question was asked in 2011.
There were no substantial differences across age and gender groups.
Liberal voters were a little more supportive of being able to reject based on religion (27%) and Greens voters were strongly opposed (84%).
Perceived intake of asylum seekers as a proportion of annual immigration
Q. From what you have read and heard, what percentage of Australia’s annual immigration intake are asylum seekers arriving by boat?
| 7 Jun 2010 | This week | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| 50% or more | 10% | 12% | 11% | 13% | 10% |
| About 25% | 15% | 11% | 10% | 12% | 6% |
| About 10% | 13% | 10% | 9% | 10% | 8% |
| About 5% | 15% | 16% | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| 1% or less | 18% | 25% | 26% | 24% | 39% |
| Don’t know | 30% | 27% | 25% | 23% | 21% |
Twenty three per cent (23%) of respondents think that the proportion of asylum seeker intake by boat is 25% or more of the annual immigration intake.
Ten per cent (10%) of respondents think that the percentage of boat arrivals is about 10% of annual immigration intake and 16% believe it to be about 5%.
Twenty five per cent (25%) of respondents believe that the proportion of asylum seekers arriving by boat constitutes 1% or less of our annual immigration intake and 27% of respondents don’t know.
Greens voters are the most likely to think that the percentage was 1% or less, with 39% of Greens respondents selecting this response.
The proportion of respondents believing the proportion to be ‘1% or less’ has shifted 7 points up from 18% to 25% since 7 June 2010.
Immigration and Religion
Q. When a family applies to migrate to Australia, should it be possible for them to be rejected purely on the basis of their religion?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Should be rejected on basis of religion | 19% | 17% | 24% | 10% |
| Should not be rejected on basis of religion | 65% | 67% | 63% | 85% |
| Don’t know | 15% | 16% | 13% | 5% |
65% believed that when a family applies to migrate to Australia, they should not be rejected purely on the basis of their religion and 19% think it should be possible to reject purely based on religion. There were no substantial differences across age and gender groups.
Liberal voters were a little more supportive of being able to reject based on religion (24%) and Greens voters were strongly opposed (85%).
So where is the Left?
First Published on The Drum 26/10/2010
If political progressives want to stop the ALP from drifting to the Right, energetically backing the decision to move women and children out of immigration detention looks like a good place to start.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Immigration minister Chris Bowen took the new minority government’s first truly brave decision last week, yet all they got was a sullen acceptance from a Left still acting like jilted lovers after the disappointments of the election campaign.
Moving children out of detention centres
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the Federal Government’s decision to move children and their families out of immigration detention centres and allow them to live in the community while their cases are being processed?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total approve | 33% | 42% | 24% | 63% |
| Total disapprove | 53% | 45% | 67% | 28% |
| Strongly approve | 11% | 15% | 4% | 39% |
| Approve | 22% | 27% | 20% | 24% |
| Disapprove | 24% | 22% | 29% | 12% |
| Strongly disapprove | 29% | 23% | 38% | 16% |
| Don’t know | 13% | 13% | 9% | 8% |
53% disapproved the Federal Government’s decision to move children and their families out of immigration detention centres and allow them to live in the community while their cases are being processed and 33% approved.
63% of Greens voters approved, 67% of Liberal/National voters disapproved and Labor voters were split 42% approve/45% disapprove.
By gender – men 38% approve/50% disapprove, women 28% approve/57% disapprove.
Importance of Issues in Voting
Q. How important are the following in deciding which party you will vote for?
| Top priority | Very important | Quite important | Not so important | Don’t know | |
| Better at handling Australia’s economy | 37% | 48% | 10% | 1% | 4% |
| They have better policies on things like education and health | 31% | 47% | 16% | 1% | 4% |
| They are more capable of governing effectively than the other parties | 30% | 47% | 16% | 1% | 6% |
| They are more likely to represent the interests of all Australians | 30% | 45% | 18% | 3% | 5% |
| They will do things that help me and my family | 28% | 42% | 21% | 4% | 5% |
| They have better policies on things like national security and immigration | 24% | 42% | 22% | 6% | 5% |
| Better at looking after the interests people like me | 23% | 47% | 22% | 4% | 4% |
| They have better policies on things like industrial relations and supporting Australian workers | 23% | 44% | 24% | 4% | 5% |
| More trustworthy than the other parties | 22% | 44% | 21% | 5% | 8% |
| They have better policies on things like environment and climate change | 21% | 41% | 23% | 9% | 5% |
| They have a better leader | 16% | 40% | 28% | 8% | 7% |
| I always vote for them | 9% | 15% | 24% | 42% | 10% |
Key factors in deciding which party to vote for are handling the economy (37% top priority), policies on education and health (31%), capable of governing effectively (30%) and representing the interests of all Australians (30%). Comments »
Importance of Issues in Voting – by Party
Q. How important are the following in deciding which party you will vote for?
| Top priority | Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens |
| Better at handling Australia’s economy | 37% | 33% | 51% | 19% |
| They have better policies on things like education and health | 31% | 41% | 25% | 35% |
| They are more capable of governing effectively than the other parties | 30% | 30% | 35% | 18% |
| They are more likely to represent the interests of all Australians | 30% | 36% | 25% | 25% |
| They will do things that help me and my family | 28% | 32% | 27% | 17% |
| They have better policies on things like national security and immigration | 24% | 24% | 29% | 20% |
| Better at looking after the interests people like me | 23% | 27% | 21% | 22% |
| They have better policies on things like industrial relations and supporting Australian workers | 23% | 36% | 17% | 20% |
| More trustworthy than the other parties | 22% | 23% | 23% | 21% |
| They have better policies on things like environment and climate change | 21% | 26% | 13% | 46% |
| They have a better leader | 16% | 24% | 14% | 13% |
| I always vote for them | 9% | 11% | 11% | 6% |
The most important issues for Labor voters are policies on education and health (41% top priority), representing the interests of all Australians (36%), policies on industrial relations and supporting workers (36%) and doing things to help me and my family (32%).
For Liberal/National voters the key issues are handling the economy (51% top priority), capable of governing effectively (35%) and policies on national security and immigration (29%).
The major issue for Greens voters is policies on the environment and climate change (46%). Comments »
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Download this week's ReportEssential Report
Two Party Preferred:
In this week's report:
- Coronavirus concerns
- Federal government response to Covid-19
- State government response to Covid-19
- Attitudes to latest Victorian restrictions (VICTORIA ONLY)
- Attitudes towards Queensland border closure
- State of the economy
- Indictors of whether the Australian economy is in a good or poor state
- State of the economy in next six months
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