Q. If the Liberal Party won Government at the next election, do you think they would increase or decrease spending on the following areas or spend about the same as the Labor Government?

Overall, respondents were more likely to think a Liberal Government would reduce spending on welfare support, the arts, the environment, foreign aid, pensions, public schools and universities. They were more likely to think they would increase spending on  border security, defence and subsidies for business.

Liberal voters thought a Liberal Government would be more likely to increase than decrease spending on public schools, manufacturing industries, pensions, public transport, health and hospitals, defence, roads, border security and subsidies for business.

Q. Which of the following are better run by the private sector and which are better run by Government?

Most services listed were clearly thought to be better run by Government than the private sector.

The only exception was telecommunications where respondents were split 45% private sector, 44% Government.

The areas most preferred to be run by Government were – community services (75%), prisons (73%), hospitals and health services (71%), schools (69%) and water (69%).

Compared to the results when this question was asked in January 2011, preference for the private sector running services has increased a little – +6% for trains, buses and ferries and motorways and +7% for prisons and universities.

Matt McGowan explains why opening up university places is admirable but will fail unless it is matched with better funding.

This year almost 90 per cent of school leavers who applied to go to university got a place. That’s because the government removed the caps on university enrolments to create more opportunities for those from lower socio-economic groups.

But Matt McGowan from the National Tertiary Education Union tells 3Q that academics are already suffering with the swelling numbers of foreign fee paying students. With this new influx – which brings in much less funding capital – the pressures on the system will be magnified.

He talks about the NTEU’s campaign Invest in Universities calling for a fix to the problem.