24 June 2013, 240613, age pension, Carbon Tax, dental health scheme, Labor decisions, Labor Government, NBN, Stimulus package, tax free threshold
Q. Thinking about the decisions the Labor Government has made over the last few years, do you think the following decisions were good or bad for Australia?
Total good |
Total bad |
Very good |
Good |
Neither good nor bad |
Bad |
Very bad |
Don’t know |
Sep 12 good |
Sep 12 bad |
|
Expanding dental health services for people on low incomes |
73% |
8% |
28% |
45% |
15% |
4% |
4% |
5% |
77% |
5% |
Increasing the tax free threshold from $6,000 to $18,200 |
72% |
8% |
34% |
38% |
15% |
5% |
3% |
5% |
75% |
4% |
Increasing the age pension |
67% |
14% |
27% |
40% |
16% |
10% |
4% |
4% |
70% |
11% |
Protecting large areas of Australia’s marine environment in a network of marine reserves |
66% |
10% |
27% |
39% |
19% |
6% |
4% |
5% |
67% |
8% |
Introducing the National Disability Insurance Scheme |
63% |
9% |
26% |
37% |
20% |
5% |
4% |
8% |
58% |
5% |
Increasing superannuation from 9% to 12% |
62% |
14% |
24% |
38% |
19% |
10% |
4% |
5% |
68% |
9% |
Stimulus spending to tackle the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) |
50% |
26% |
21% |
29% |
19% |
17% |
9% |
5% |
54% |
22% |
Introducing a tax on large profits of mining companies |
49% |
27% |
21% |
28% |
20% |
15% |
12% |
5% |
49% |
25% |
Building the NBN (National Broadband Network) |
48% |
28% |
22% |
26% |
18% |
15% |
13% |
6% |
43% |
28% |
Paid parental leave |
48% |
22% |
14% |
34% |
24% |
13% |
9% |
5% |
52% |
20% |
Spending on new school buildings during the GFC |
47% |
26% |
12% |
35% |
20% |
15% |
11% |
6% |
53% |
22% |
Implementing the recommendations of the Gonski report to increase education funding |
46% |
22% |
17% |
29% |
23% |
12% |
10% |
9% |
54% |
8% |
Abolished WorkChoices |
42% |
27% |
23% |
19% |
22% |
17% |
10% |
10% |
42% |
27% |
Introducing a carbon tax to tackle climate change |
32% |
48% |
14% |
18% |
16% |
18% |
30% |
4% |
28% |
51% |
The two most popular decisions of the Labor Government are ‘expanding dental health services for people on low incomes’ (73% total good) and ‘increasing the tax free threshold from $6,000 to $18,000 (72% total good). The least popular decisions were ‘Implementing the recommendations of the Gonski report (46% total good), ‘Abolished WorkChoices’ (42% total good) and ‘introducing a carbon tax to tackle climate change’ (32% total good).
The only issue which received a net negative response was ‘introducing a carbon tax to tackle climate change’, where 48% of respondents believed it to be bad for Australia.
Since this question was previously asked last September, perceptions of most decisions have become a little more negative – with the exceptions of the “carbon tax” which shifted from 28% to 32% ‘good’, the ‘NDIS’ which shifted from 58% to 63% ‘good’ and building the NBN which shifted from 43% to 48% ‘good’.
The largest negative shifts were for the ‘Gonski recommendations’ (down 8% to 46%), increasing super (down 6% to 62%) and spending on schools during the GFC (down 6% to 47%).