Australia’s wealth, big decisions, broadband, economy, employment, Federal Government, handling Issues, health and education, infrastructure, jobs, Polling, polls, Roles of Government, support, taxpayers
Q. From the following list, what do you think are the three most important roles of the Federal Government? (Number from 1 to 3 where 1 is the most important, 2 the second most important, etc)
| Most important | Second | Third | Total | |
| Delivering basic services like health and education | 18% | 27% | 20% | 65% |
| Managing the economy in uncertain economic times | 20% | 15% | 14% | 49% |
| Making the big decisions for the nations future | 20% | 12% | 12% | 44% |
| Ensuring that all Australians benefit from Australia’s wealth | 13% | 10% | 11% | 34% |
| Supporting Australian industries to provide jobs | 8% | 12% | 12% | 32% |
| Reducing government spending so money can be returned back to taxpayers | 9% | 8% | 8% | 25% |
| Investing in infrastructure including road rail and broadband | 3% | 7% | 10% | 20% |
| Providing support to the most disadvantaged | 4% | 4% | 8% | 16% |
| Don’t know | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
Respondents considered that the most important roles of the Federal Government were delivering basic services like health and hospitals (65%), managing the economy in uncertain economic times (49%) and making the big decisions for the nations future (44%).
The least important roles were providing support for the most disadvantaged (16%), investing in infrastructure including road rail and broadband (20%) and reducing government spending so money can be returned to taxpayers (25%).
Australia’s wealth, big decisions, broadband, economy, employment, handling Issues, health and education, infrastructure, jobs, Polling, polls, support, taxpayers
Q. Which party do you think is best to handle each of the following issues?
| Labor | Liberal | Greens | Don’t know | |
| Making the big decisions for the nations future | 28% | 41% | 5% | 26% |
| Managing the economy in uncertain economic times | 30% | 44% | 2% | 24% |
| Delivering basic services like health and education | 34% | 36% | 5% | 25% |
| Investing in infrastructure including road rail and broadband | 34% | 36% | 2% | 28% |
| Supporting Australian industries to provide jobs | 33% | 39% | 3% | 25% |
| Reducing government spending so money can be returned back to taxpayers | 21% | 46% | 3% | 29% |
| Ensuring that all Australians benefit from Australia’s wealth | 31% | 34% | 6% | 29% |
| Providing support to the most disadvantaged | 34% | 27% | 9% | 29% |
The Liberal Party was considered substantially better than Labor at making the big decisions for the nations future (41% to 28%), managing the economy in uncertain economic times (44%/30% ) and reducing Government spending so money can be retuned back to taxpayers (46%/21%).
They were also considered a little better at supporting Australian industries to provide jobs (39%/33%). The Labor Party was considered a little better at providing support to the most disadvantaged (34%/27%) and the two parties scored similarly on delivering basic services like health and education, investing in infrastructure including road rail and broadband and ensuring that all Australians benefit from Australia’s wealth.
automobile, car industry, cars, Greens, jobs, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Polling, polls
Q. Do you know how many jobs are in the car industry in Australia?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| 500,000 | 5% | 8% | 4% | 3% |
| 200,000 | 9% | 8% | 10% | 12% |
| 100,000 | 9% | 9% | 9% | 11% |
| 50,000 | 9% | 8% | 11% | 6% |
| 20,000 | 3% | 4% | 3% | 5% |
| Don’t know | 66% | 63% | 64% | 63% |
Only 9% correctly nominated 50,000 as the number of jobs in the car industry in Australia. 66% said they didn’t know and the rest of the responses were spread across all options – suggesting that most who gave an answer were probably guessing.
investment, jobs, mining, profits, resources super profits tax, RSPT, tax
Q. Which of the following statements is closest to your view in relation to the Government’s proposed resources super profits tax?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | |
| The new tax will result in mining companies cutting back on their investments in Australia and there will be a significant loss of Australian jobs | 42% | 16% | 72% |
| Mining companies will continue to make large profits. They are just trying to avoid paying their fair share of tax. | 40% | 69% | 16% |
| Don’t know | 17% | 15% | 11% |
Respondents were split over which statement best described their view of the Government’s proposed resources super profits tax – 42% agreed “the new tax will result in mining companies cutting back on their investments in Australia and there will be a significant loss of Australian jobs” and 40% agreed “mining companies will continue to make large profits. They are just trying to avoid paying their fair share of tax”.
Opinions were strongly related to party preference – 69% of Labor voters agreed that “mining companies will continue to make large profits. They are just trying to avoid paying their fair share of tax” and 72% of Liberal/National voters agreed that “the new tax will result in mining companies cutting back on their investments in Australia and there will be a significant loss of Australian jobs”.
53% of those on low incomes (<$600pw) agreed that “mining companies will continue to make large profits. They are just trying to avoid paying their fair share of tax”. Comments »
Abbott, Australian jobs, environment, jobs
Q. The Opposition Leader Tony Abbott recently announced a plan to employ 15,000 people at an annual cost of up to $750 million to work on large scale environmental projects. Do you support or oppose this plan?
| % | |
| Total support | 59% |
| Total oppose | 15% |
| Strongly support | 14% |
| Support | 45% |
| Oppose | 10% |
| Strongly oppose | 5% |
| No opinion | 26% |
Over half (59%) support Tony Abbott’s recently announced plan to employ 15,000 people at an annual cost of up to $750 million to work on large scale environmental projects, 15% oppose such a plan and 26% have no opinion.
Coalition voters were more likely to support the plan (80%), while Labor voters were more likely to oppose the plan (25%). 52% of Labor voters and 70% of Green voters support the plan.
People aged 55 years and over were more likely to support the plan (62%), as were males (61%). Comments »
Australian jobs, economic conditions, economy, job security, jobs
Q. How concerned are you that you or some member of your immediate family will lose their job in the next year or so: very concerned, somewhat concerned, or not at all concerned?
| 16 Feb 09 | 27 Apr 09 | 8 Jun 09 | 6 Jul 09 | 31 Aug 09 | 5 Oct 09 | 18 Jan 10 | |
| Total concerned | 62% | 67% | 52% | 56% | 53% | 49% | 45% |
| Very concerned | 22% | 24% | 13% | 15% | 18% | 14% | 12% |
| Somewhat concerned | 40% | 43% | 39% | 41% | 35% | 35% | 33% |
| Not at all concerned | 29% | 23% | 35% | 32% | 37% | 40% | 40% |
| Don’t know | 4% | 5% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 6% | 8% |
| No employees in the immediate family | 5% | 5% | 8% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 8% |
45% of people are very/somewhat concerned that they or a member of their immediate family will lose their job in the next year or so, 40% are not concerned at all. This is the lowest level of concern regarding job loss that has been recorded in the Essential Report since we began tracking this question in February 2009.
Females were more likely than males to be very/somewhat concerned over job loss (47% v 41%).
People in part-time work were more likely than those in full-time work to be concerned over job loss (55% v 45%).
Coalition voters were more likely than Labor voters to be very/somewhat concerned (52% v 43%). Comments »