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  • Apr, 2014

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    Impact on fees of privatising Medibank Private

    Q. Do you think the sale of Medibank Private will cause an increase or decrease in health insurance fees or will it make no difference?

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

    Total increase

    61%

    77%

    48%

    68%

    64%

    Total decrease

    3%

    2%

    3%

    5%

    2%

    Fees will increase a lot

    36%

    55%

    21%

    30%

    36%

    Fees will increase a little

    25%

    22%

    27%

    38%

    28%

    Will make no difference to fees

    19%

    7%

    36%

    10%

    21%

    Fees will decrease a little

    2%

    2%

    2%

    4%

    1%

    Fees will decrease a lot

    1%

    *

    1%

    1%

    1%

    Don’t know

    17%

    14%

    15%

    17%

    13%

    61% of respondents think that the sale of Medibank Private will cause an increase in health insurance fees, 19% think it will make no difference and 3% think fees will decrease.

    Those most likely to think fees will increase were Labor voters (77%), Greens voters (68%), aged 45-64 (66%) and people on incomes under $600pw (69%).

  • Jan, 2014

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    Support for privatisation

    Q. Would you support or oppose privatisation of the following Government-owned corporations?

     

     

    Total support

    Total

    oppose

     

    Strongly support

    Support

    Oppose

    Strongly oppose

    Don’t know

    Medibank Private

    29%

    54%

    5%

    24%

    26%

    28%

    18%

    Australia Post

    20%

    69%

    4%

    16%

    26%

    43%

    11%

    The ABC and SBS

    21%

    64%

    5%

    16%

    25%

    39%

    14%

    The National Broadband Network

    28%

    58%

    7%

    21%

    24%

    34%

    14%

    Snowy Hydro

    17%

    53%

    3%

    14%

    23%

    30%

    30%

    Australian Rail Track Corporation (which runs much of the interstate train network)

    23%

    58%

    5%

    18%

    25%

    33%

    19%

    There was majority opposition to privatising each of the Government-owned corporations listed.

    Privatisation of Australia Post (69%) and ABC/SBS (64%) were most strongly opposed.

    While support for privatisation of these corporations was higher among Liberal/National voter, they were still more likely to oppose than support. Apart from Medibank Private (40% support/46% oppose) and the NBN (42%/46%), a majority of Liberal/National voters opposed privatisation of each corporation.

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