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  • Apr, 2011

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    Childcare Rebate

    Q. The Federal Government currently pays parents 50 per cent of money they spend on childcare via its childcare rebate. Which of the following policies would you support most?

    Total Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Men Women Age

    18-34

    Aged

    35-54

    Aged 55+
    Maintaining the child care rebate at current levels 22% 23% 23% 25% 21% 22% 33% 18% 14%
    Limiting the rebate to families earning less than $150,000 per annum 42% 46% 41% 44% 42% 42% 38% 42% 47%
    Scrapping the rebate and paying the money directly to child care providers to contain costs and improve services 21% 25% 18% 18% 25% 18% 12% 24% 26%
    Don’t know 15% 13% 11% 14% 12% 18% 17% 16% 12%

    Only 22% favour maintaining the child care rebate at current levels – 42% think it should be means tested and 21% think it should be scrapped and the money paid directly to child care providers. There were no significant differences by voting intention.

    Those aged 18-34 were more likely to support maintaining the rebate at current levels (33%) as were people earning over $1,600 pw (31%).  Limiting the rebate to families earning less than $150,000 was supported by 55% of people earning $1,000-$1,600 pw.

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  • Apr, 2011

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    Federal politics – voting intention

    Q. If a Federal Election was held today to which party will you probably give your first preference vote? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward?

    Q. If don’t know -Well which party are you currently leaning to?

    sample size =1,837

    First preference/leaning to Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago 2 weeks ago Last week This week
    Liberal 43% 43% 43% 43%
    National 3% 3% 3% 4%
    Total Lib/Nat 43.6 46% 46% 47% 47%
    Labor 38.0 37% 35% 35% 35%
    Greens 11.8 10% 11% 11% 10%
    Other/Independent 6.6 7% 8% 8% 8%
    2PP Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago 2 weeks ago Last week This week
    Total Lib/Nat 49.9% 52% 53% 54% 54%
    Labor 50.1% 48% 47% 46% 46%

    NB.  The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived the first preference/leaning to voting questions.  Respondents who select ‘don’t know’ are not included in the results.  The two-party preferred estimate is calculated by distributing the votes of the other parties according to their preferences at the 2010 election.

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  • Apr, 2011

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    Attributes of the Labor Party

    Q. Here is a list of things both favourable and unfavourable that have been said about various political parties. Which statements do you feel fit the Labor Party?

    6 Jul 09 14 Mar 10

    27 April 11

    % change
    Will promise to do anything to win votes 57% 63% 72% +9%
    Divided 30% 36% 66% +30%
    Out of touch with ordinary people 44% 48% 61% +13%
    Moderate 65% 63% 51% -12%
    Too close to the big corporate and financial interests 46% n.a.
    Have a vision for the future 43% n.a.
    Understands the problems facing Australia 62% 54% 40% -14%
    Looks after the interests of working people 39% n.a.
    Extreme 25% 26% 38% +12%
    Has a good team of leaders 60% 52% 34% -18%
    Clear about what they stand for 28% n.a.
    Keeps its promises 44% 33% 20% -13%

    The Labor Party’s main attributes were – will promise anything to win votes (63%), divided (66%) and out of touch with ordinary people (61%).
    Since these questions were last asked in March 2010, all of Labor’s positive attributes have declined and the negative attributes increased. Main changes since last March were divided (up 30% to 66%), has a good team of leaders (down 18% to 34%) and understands the problems facing Australia (down 14% to 40%).

    Note that the 2PP voting intention for 14 March 2010 was 56%-44% to Labor compared to the current 46%-54%.

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  • Apr, 2011

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    Attributes of the Liberal Party

    Q. And which statements do you feel fit the Liberal Party?

    6 July 09 14 Mar 10

    27 April 11 % change
    Will promise to do anything to win votes 67% 72% 65% -7%
    Too close to the big corporate and financial interests 60% n.a.
    Moderate 50% 50% 55% +5%
    Out of touch with ordinary people 62% 58% 54% -4%
    Understands the problems facing Australia 44% 43% 51% +8%
    Divided 74% 66% 49% -17%
    Have a vision for the future 48% n.a.
    Clear about what they stand for 44% n.a.
    Has a good team of leaders 29% 31% 40% +9%
    Looks after the interests of working people 38% n.a.
    Extreme 36% 38% 36% -2%
    Keeps its promises 28% 23% 33% +10%

    The Liberal Party’s main attributes were – will promise anything to win votes (65%), too close to the big corporate and financial interest (60%), moderate (55%) and out of touch with ordinary people (54%).

    Since these questions were last asked in March 2010, most of the Liberal Party’s positive attributes have increased and the negative attributes decreased. Main changes since last March were – divided (down 17% to 49%), keeps its promises (up 10% to 33%) and has a good team of leaders (up 9% to 40%).

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  • Apr, 2011

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    Attributes of the Greens

    Q. And which statements do you feel fit the Greens?


    Extreme 61%
    Out of touch with ordinary people 60%
    Will promise to do anything to win votes 52%
    Clear about what they stand for 51%
    Have a vision for the future 49%
    Understands the problems facing Australia 36%
    Divided 35%
    Looks after the interests of working people 31%
    Keeps its promises 31%
    Has a good team of leaders 29%
    Moderate 28%
    Too close to the big corporate and financial interests 22%

    The Greens’ main attributes were – extreme (61%), out of touch with ordinary people (60%), will promise to do anything to win votes (52%) and clear about what they stand for (51%). Compared to the major parties, the Greens were rated more highly for being clear about what they stand for and having a vision for the future.

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  • Apr, 2011

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    Party Attributes Comparison – Labor vs Liberal

    Labor Liberal

    % difference
    Divided 66% 49% +17%
    Will promise to do anything to win votes 72% 65% +7%
    Out of touch with ordinary people 61% 54% +7%
    Extreme 38% 36% +2%
    Looks after the interests of working people 39% 38% +1%
    Moderate 51% 55% -4%
    Have a vision for the future 43% 48% -5%
    Has a good team of leaders 34% 40% -6%
    Understands the problems facing Australia 40% 51% -11%
    Keeps its promises 20% 33% -13%
    Too close to the big corporate and financial interests 46% 60% -14%
    Clear about what they stand for 28% 44% -16%

    When these questions were last asked in March 2010, the Labor Party had significant leads over the Liberal Party on all positive attributes.

    For this survey, the only attribute on which there is any significant advantage for the Labor Party is  “too close to the big corporate and financial interests” (Labor 46%/Liberals 60%).

    The Liberal Party is seen more favourably in terms of being divided, clear about what they stand for, keeps it promises and understands the problems facing Australia.

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  • Apr, 2011

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    Careers

    Q. Which of the following occupations do you think provide good careers for young people?

    Yes No Don’t know
    Trades 88% 6% 6%
    Computing and information technology 86% 6% 7%
    Nursing 78% 15% 7%
    Teaching 75% 17% 8%
    Tourism and hospitality 72% 19% 9%
    Police 71% 20% 9%
    Defence forces 71% 20% 9%
    Banking and finance 70% 19% 10%
    Retail 54% 36% 10%

    The most favoured occupations for providing good careers were thought to be trades (88%), computing and IT (86%) and nursing (78%).

    All occupations tested scored at least 70% except for retail at 54%.

    Younger respondents (aged 18-35) tended to have a similar order of preference to the general population – their most favoured occupations were trades (78%), computing and IT (76%), teaching (68%) and nursing (67%).

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  • Apr, 2011

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    Regulation of Gambling

    Q. For each of the following forms of gambling, which do you think need more or less regulation?

    Needs more regulation Needs less regulation Current regulation is about right Don’t know
    Online gambling in general 68% 4% 16% 12%
    Poker machines 62% 5% 24% 9%
    Casinos 53% 4% 32% 11%
    Betting on sport e.g. football, cricket 46% 4% 36% 14%
    Betting on horse racing 37% 4% 47% 13%
    Lotto 20% 4% 65% 11%

    About two thirds of respondents think there should be more regulation of online gambling (68%) and poker machines (62%). 53% think that casinos need more regulation.

    Differences by voting intention were –

    • Liberal/National voters were less likely to favour more regulation of casinos (47%) and poker machines (55%)
    • More regulation of poker machines was more strongly favoured by Greens (74%) and Labor (65%) voters.

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