Commonwealth Bank, ER, Essential Report, Federal Government, GST, Privatising Medicare, Qantas, superannuation, Telstra, trade protection
Q. Thinking about some of the major decisions the Federal Government has made over recent years, do you think the following decisions have been good for Australia or bad for Australia?
| Total good | Total Bad | Very good | Good | Neither good nor bad | Bad | Very bad | Don’t know | |
| Introducing the GST | 39% | 30% | 10% | 29% | 24% | 17% | 13% | 7% |
| Privatising Qantas | 23% | 44% | 4% | 19% | 20% | 31% | 13% | 13% |
| Privatising Telstra | 20% | 53% | 4% | 16% | 16% | 32% | 21% | 10% |
| Privatising the Commonwealth Bank | 26% | 42% | 7% | 19% | 19% | 25% | 17% | 13% |
| Floating the dollar | 46% | 11% | 13% | 33% | 22% | 7% | 4% | 21% |
| Free trade agreements | 41% | 21% | 11% | 30% | 21% | 13% | 8% | 18% |
| Compulsory superannuation | 79% | 7% | 42% | 37% | 10% | 4% | 3% | 5% |
| Medibank (now Medicare) | 76% | 6% | 38% | 38% | 12% | 4% | 2% | 6% |
Only the Government decisions to introduce compulsory superannuation (79%) and Medibank (76%) were considered good for Australia by a majority of respondents – although opinions of floating the dollar (46% good/11% bad), free trade agreements (41%/21%) and the GST (39%/30%) were more likely to be positive than negative.
The decisions to privatize three major national enterprises were more likely to be considered bad. Although Labor voters were more negative about privatisations, Liberal/National voters were also more likely to describe them bad for Australia – Qantas 47% bad/34% good, Telstra 49%/29% and Commonwealth Bank 38%/36%.
47% of Labor voters thought the introduction of the GST was bad while 50% of Liberal/National voters thought it was good.
Commonwealth Bank, ER, Essential Report, Federal Government, GST, Privatising Medicare, Qantas, superannuation, Telstra, trade protection
Q. Would you support or oppose the Federal Government taking any of the following decisions –
| Total support | Total oppose | Strongly support | Support | Oppose | Strongly oppose | Don’t know | |
| Abolishing the GST | 35% | 43% | 14% | 21% | 24% | 19% | 21% |
| Buying back Qantas | 43% | 34% | 13% | 30% | 23% | 11% | 22% |
| Buying back Telstra | 47% | 33% | 16% | 31% | 22% | 11% | 20% |
| Buying back the Commonwealth Bank | 41% | 36% | 13% | 28% | 24% | 12% | 23% |
| Regulating the dollar | 32% | 36% | 10% | 22% | 22% | 14% | 32% |
| Increasing trade protection | 59% | 20% | 20% | 39% | 13% | 7% | 21% |
| Making superannuation voluntary | 24% | 64% | 9% | 15% | 26% | 38% | 13% |
| Privatising Medicare | 11% | 74% | 4% | 7% | 26% | 48% | 17% |
When asked whether these decisions should be reversed, 59% supported increasing trade protection and 47% supported buying back Telstra. There was very strong opposition to privatizing Medicare (74%) and making superannuation voluntary (64%). No other issues had clear majority support or opposition.
Liberal/National voters supported buying back Telstra (47% to 39%), were split on Qantas (43%/41%), but opposed buying back the Commonwealth Bank (39%/44%).
Although Coalition voters were more likely to think free trade agreements were good for Australia (41%/25%), they were also more likely than Labor voters to support increasing trade protection (64%/19%) – 59% of Labor voters supported more trade protection and 21% opposed.
air travel, Network Ten, Polling, polls, Qantas
Q. Qantas recently announced plans to reduce their workforce by 1,000 and to launch new airlines in Asia. Do these plans make you more likely or less likely to choose to fly with Qantas or does it make no difference?
(This question was commissioned by Network Ten)
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Men | Women | Age
18-34 |
Aged
35-54 |
Aged 55+ | |
| Total more likely | 5% | 6% | 3% | 2% | 5% | 3% | 5% | 5% | 2% |
| Total less likely | 47% | 50% | 46% | 51% | 46% | 48% | 49% | 45% | 49% |
| Much more likely | 2% | 2% | 1% | – | 2% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 2% |
| A little more likely | 3% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 4% | * |
| A little less likely | 21% | 20% | 21% | 23% | 20% | 22% | 30% | 17% | 18% |
| Much less likely | 26% | 30% | 25% | 28% | 26% | 26% | 19% | 28% | 31% |
| Makes no difference | 44% | 40% | 47% | 44% | 44% | 44% | 41% | 45% | 46% |
| Don’t know | 5% | 3% | 4% | 3% | 5% | 5% | 6% | 6% | 3% |
47% said that Qantas’ recent announcement to reduce their workforce by 1,000 and to launch new airlines in Asia will make them less likely to choose to fly with Qantas, 44% said it makes no difference and 5% said they would be more likely to fly Qantas.
There were no substantial differences across demographic and voter groups. However, those aged 55+ were a little more likely have a stronger negative opinion (31% much less likely).