International relations under a Coalition Government
Q. Do you think under the Coalition Government, relations with the following countries will improve or get worse?
|
Improve |
Get worse |
Stay much the same |
Don’t know |
|
| United States |
24% |
12% |
48% |
16% |
| United Kingdom |
20% |
11% |
52% |
17% |
| New Zealand |
19% |
12% |
53% |
16% |
| Germany |
11% |
11% |
57% |
21% |
| Japan |
15% |
16% |
50% |
19% |
| China |
19% |
22% |
40% |
19% |
| South Africa |
9% |
12% |
56% |
23% |
| India |
13% |
19% |
47% |
21% |
| Indonesia |
11% |
49% |
22% |
18% |
For most countries, about half think that relations will stay much the same. The exceptions were China (19% improve, 22% get worse) and Indonesia (11% improve, 49% get worse).
Respondents were more likely to think that relations with the United States, New Zealand and United Kingdom would improve.
The main differences by party preference were for China (Labor 7% improve/38% get worse compared to Lib/Nat 33% improve/6% get worse) and Indonesia (Labor 4% improve/68% get worse compared to Lib/Nat 21% improve/31% get worse).
Trust in the Government’s handling of international relations
Q. How much trust do you have in Tony Abbott and the Liberal Government to handle Australia’s international relations?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
9 Oct 13 |
|
| A lot of trust |
20% |
4% |
44% |
1% |
6% |
18% |
||
| Some trust |
21% |
8% |
37% |
4% |
16% |
23% |
||
| A little trust |
18% |
18% |
13% |
24% |
31% |
16% |
||
| No trust |
35% |
64% |
3% |
67% |
41% |
37% |
||
| Don’t know |
7% |
7% |
3% |
4% |
5% |
7% |
20% of people have “a lot of trust” in Tony Abbott and the Liberal Government to handle Australia’s international relations.
35% have no trust.
Labor (64%) and Greens (67%) voters were far more likely to have ‘no trust’. Liberal/National voters were far less likely (3%) to have no trust. 44% of Liberal/National voters have “a lot of trust”.
These results have changed little since this question was asked in October.
International Relations (preference for close relationships)
Q. Would you like to see Australia’s relationship with these countries get closer, stay the same or become less close?
|
Get closer |
Stay the same |
Become less close |
Don’t know |
|
Get closer (28 Mar 11) |
Get closer (14 Nov 11) |
Get closer (29 Oct 11) |
Change – Oct 12 to Oct 13 |
|
| China |
33% |
49% |
10% |
9% |
32% |
35% |
29% |
4% |
|
| New Zealand |
34% |
55% |
3% |
8% |
37% |
33% |
26% |
8% |
|
| Indonesia |
29% |
45% |
15% |
10% |
21% |
23% |
25% |
4% |
|
| India |
21% |
52% |
16% |
12% |
19% |
23% |
24% |
-3% |
|
| Japan |
24% |
57% |
9% |
10% |
26% |
24% |
22% |
2% |
|
| United Kingdom |
22% |
60% |
9% |
8% |
25% |
19% |
21% |
1% |
|
| United States |
20% |
59% |
13% |
8% |
24% |
18% |
21% |
-1% |
|
| Germany |
18% |
60% |
10% |
13% |
18% |
20% |
18% |
– |
|
| South Africa |
12% |
59% |
14% |
15% |
13% |
14% |
12% |
– |
33% favour closer relations with China, 34% with New Zealand, 29% with Indonesia and 24% with Japan.
Liberal/National voters were more likely to favour closer relationships with the United States (24%). Greens voters are more likely to favour closer relationships with Indonesia (38%).
Labor voters were more likely to favour closer relationships with New Zealand (40%) and Japan (28%)
Those aged 18-25 were more likely to favour closer relationships with Japan (45%), New Zealand (48%), China (51%) and Germany (28%).
Since this question was asked last year, the percentages wanting a closer relationship with the New Zealand (+8%) has increased.
Trust in the Government’s handling of international relations
Q. How much trust do you have in Tony Abbott and the Liberal Government to handle Australia’s international relations?
|
|
|
| A lot of trust |
18% |
| Some trust |
23% |
| A little trust |
16% |
| No trust |
37% |
| Don’t know |
7% |
Just 18% of people have ‘a lot of trust’ in Tony Abbott and the Liberal Government to handle Australia’s international relations.
37% have no trust.
Females (41%) were more likely than males (32%) to have no trust.
Labor (67%) and Green (63%) voters were far more likely to have ‘no trust’. Liberal/National voters were far less likely (2%) to have no trust.
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 »
Likelihood of Liberal’s Re-introducing WorkChoices
Q. If they won the next election, how likely do you think it would be that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices?
| Total likely | 58% |
| Total unlikely | 21% |
| Very likely | 28% |
| Quite likely | 30% |
| Not very likely | 18% |
| Not at all likely | 3% |
| Don’t know | 20% |
58% believe it is likely that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices if they won the next election – 21% think it is unlikely.
83% of Labor voters and 42% of Liberal/National voters think it is likely – 44% of Liberal/National voters think it is unlikely.
64% of workers think it is likely and 17% unlikely. Comments »
Concern about Liberals Re-introducing WorkChoices
Q. If the Liberals won the election and reintroduced WorkChoices or similar laws, how concerned would you be?
| Very concerned | 28% |
| Quite concerned | 17% |
| A little concerned | 20% |
| Not concerned | 24% |
| Don’t know | 11% |
Overall, 45% were very or quite concerned about the reintroduction of WorkChoices or similar laws and 44% either a little or not concerned. 77% of Labor voters were concerned compared to 20% of Liberal/National voters. 50% of full-time workers were very/quite concerned and 39% a little or not concerned.
Q. The Opposition Leader Tony Abbot has indicated he would remove the unfair dismissal laws and he would re-institute AWA Individual contracts. How concerned are you about this?
| Very concerned | Quite concerned | A little concerned | Not concerned | Don’t know | |
| Removal of unfair dismissal rights | 36% | 17% | 20% | 16% | 11% |
| Re-institution of AWA individual contracts | 27% | 17% | 19% | 23% | 14% |
53% were very/quite concerned about the removal of unfair dismissal rights and 44% very/quite concerned about re-institution of individual contracts. 77% of Labor voters and 24% of Liberal/National voters were concerned about removal of unfair dismissal rights. 70% of Labor voters and 16% of Liberal/National voters were concerned about re-institution of individual contracts. There were no substantial differences across demographic groups. Comments »
Essential Report
Two Party Preferred: 14 May 2019
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