Essential Report
Attitudes towards unions
Q. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about unions?
NET: Agree | NET: Disagree | Strongly agree | Somewhat agree | Somewhat disagree | Strongly disagree | Unsure | |
Union officials should be disqualified for breaching administrative laws such as failing to file annual financial reports | 68% | 18% | 30% | 38% | 13% | 5% | 14% |
The government seems to be more concerned about the actions of union officials than the CEO’s of banks and other corporations | 62% | 24% | 29% | 34% | 18% | 6% | 14% |
Union officials should be disqualified for taking unprotected industrial action, such as snap strikes | 51% | 32% | 20% | 31% | 22% | 10% | 17% |
Overall unions have too much power in Australia today | 49% | 37% | 18% | 31% | 24% | 13% | 14% |
- Two-thirds of participants agree that ‘union officials should be disqualified for breaching administrative laws such as failing to file annual financial reports’ (68%) and 62% agree that the government seems to be more concerned about the actions of union officials than the CEO’s of banks and other corporations.
- Half of participants agree that union officials should be disqualified for taking unprotected industrial action, such as snap strikes (51%) and 49% agree that overall unions have too much power in Australia today.
- Capital city residents are more likely than non-capital city residents to agree that overall unions have too much power in Australia today, with 53% of capital city and 41% of non-capital city residents agreeing with the statement.
- Broadly, Coalition voters and those over 55 years old were most likely to agree with statements that are more negative towards unions.

COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Essential Report
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Views towards re-electing the federal Coalition government
- Party trust to handle issues
- Importance of Australia’s international reputation
- Scott Morrison’s impact on Australia’s international reputation
- Views towards Australia’s international reputation
Sign up for updates
Receive the Essential Report in your inbox.Essential Tags
2PP
Abbott
ALP
Anthony Albanese
Approval of opposition leader
Approval of Tony Abbott
asylum seekers
Australian economy
Bill Shorten
Carbon Tax
climate change
coronavirus
covid-19
economy
Education
Election
EMC
environment
ER
Essential Media
Essential Report
Federal Budget
Federal Government
federal politics
Gillard
Greens
Julia Gillard
kevin rudd
Labor
Labor Party
Liberal
Liberal Party
Liberals
mining
Nationals
Opposition leader
peter lewis
Polling
polls
Prime Minister
Scott Morrison
tony abbott
two party preferred
voting
Voting intention
Recent Comments
