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  • May, 2013

    , , ,

    Liberal Party and WorkChoices

    Q. If they won the next election, how likely do you think it would be that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices?

     

    31 May 10

    12
    July

    21
    Nov
    11

    23
    Jul
    12

    3
    Sept

    18
    Mar
    13

     

    Total 20 May

    Vote
    ALP

    Vote
    Lib

    Vote Greens

    Work full
    time

    Work part time

    Total likely

    58%

    56%

    51%

    53%

    51%

    48%

    51%

    78%

    28%

    84%

    50%

    47%

    Total unlikely

    21%

    24%

    27%

    22%

    25%

    28%

    27%

    9%

    48%

    7%

    29%

    25%

    Very likely

    28%

    26%

    22%

    26%

    23%

    25%

    26%

    49%

    5%

    57%

    25%

    19%

    Quite likely

    30%

    30%

    29%

    27%

    28%

    23%

    25%

    29%

    23%

    27%

    25%

    28%

    Not very likely

    18%

    18%

    19%

    16%

    18%

    19%

    16%

    5%

    29%

    7%

    18%

    14%

    Not at all likely

    3%

    6%

    8%

    6%

    7%

    9%

    11%

    4%

    19%

    11%

    11%

    Don’t know

    20%

    20%

    22%

    26%

    24%

    25%

    23%

    12%

    24%

    9%

    22%

    28%

    Respondents were a little more likely to think that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices than when a similar question was asked in March. 51% (up 3%) think it is likely that Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party would try to bring back industrial laws similar to WorkChoices if they won the next election and 27% (down 1%) think it is unlikely.

    78% (up 11%) of Labor voters and 84% (up 17%) of Greens voters think it is likely, while Liberal/National voters split 28% likely (down 3%) to 48% unlikely (up 4%).

  • May, 2013

    , ,

    Concern about Liberals bringing back WorkChoices

    Q. If the Liberals won the election and reintroduced WorkChoices or similar laws, how concerned would you be?  

     

    31 May 10

    12 July

    21 Nov 11

    23 Jul 12

    3
    Sep

    18 Mar 13

    Total 20 May

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib

    Vote Greens

    Work full time

    Work part time

    Very concerned

    28%

    29%

    26%

    30%

    27%

    27%

    26%

    50%

    5%

    62%

    25%

    24%

    Quite concerned

    17%

    19%

    15%

    16%

    15%

    16%

    15%

    22%

    12%

    15%

    16%

    13%

    A little concerned

    20%

    16%

    20%

    15%

    19%

    17%

    17%

    12%

    22%

    5%

    20%

    18%

    Not concerned

    24%

    25%

    27%

    26%

    26%

    25%

    27%

    8%

    48%

    13%

    27%

    25%

    Don’t know

    11%

    11%

    11%

    14%

    13%

    15%

    14%

    8%

    14%

    4%

    11%

    19%

    Concern about the re-introduction of WorkChoices has not changed significantly since this question was last asked in March. 41% (down 2%) would be quite or very concerned if WorkChoices or similar laws were re-introduced and 44% (up 2%) were only a little or not concerned.

    72% of Labor voters and 77% of Greens voters would be concerned. 70% of Liberal/National voters would be a little/not concerned and 17% concerned.  41% of full-time workers and 37% of part-time workers said they would be very/quite concerned.

    45% of those aged 25-64 said they would be very/quite concerned.

  • May, 2013

    , , , ,

    Importance of unions

    Q. And how important are unions for Australian working people today?

     

    19 Mar 2012

    10 Sept 12

    Total

    20 May 13

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Work full time

    Work part time

    Total important

    56%

    52%

    56%

    80%

    38%

    70%

    54%

    57%

    Total not Important

    35%

    38%

    36%

    12%

    59%

    23%

    39%

    36%

    Very important

    19%

    16%

    21%

    35%

    8%

    38%

    18%

    26%

    Quite important

    37%

    36%

    35%

    45%

    30%

    32%

    36%

    31%

    Not very important

    27%

    28%

    24%

    11%

    36%

    18%

    25%

    27%

    Not at all important

    8%

    10%

    12%

    1%

    23%

    5%

    14%

    9%

    Don’t know

    9%

    10%

    8%

    7%

    3%

    7%

    7%

    7%

    The majority of respondents regarded unions to be important for Australian working people today (56%), whilst 36% believe that they were not important.  Belief that they are important increased 4 points from 52% in September 2012 to 56% in this week’s results.

    80% of Labor voters and 70% of Greens voters believed that unions were important for Australian working people today, while Coalition voters were the most likely to regard unions as not important (59%).

    The majority of full time workers (54%) and part time workers (57%) regarded unions as important for Australian working people today.

     

  • May, 2013

    , , ,

    Better or worse off with stronger unions

    Q. Overall, would workers be better off or worse off if unions in Australia were stronger?

    10 Sept 12

    Total

    20 May 13

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Work full time

    Work part time

    Total better off

    39%

    43%

    65%

    28%

    61%

    43%

    44%

    Total worse off

    30%

    29%

    11%

    50%

    10%

    32%

    28%

    A lot better off

    13%

    14%

    23%

    7%

    26%

    15%

    14%

    A little better off

    26%

    29%

    42%

    21%

    35%

    28%

    30%

    A little worse off

    15%

    14%

    9%

    19%

    9%

    15%

    16%

    A lot worse off

    15%

    15%

    2%

    31%

    1%

    17%

    12%

    Make no difference

    15%

    12%

    10%

    12%

    16%

    13%

    11%

    Don’t know

    15%

    14%

    13%

    10%

    12%

    12%

    17%

    The perception that workers would be better off with stronger unions has increased since this question was asked in September last year. 43% (up 4%)  felt that workers would be better off if unions in Australia were stronger and 29% (down 1%) that believed workers would be worse off.

    By voting intention, 65% of Labor voters and 61% of Greens voters believed that workers would be better off while Coalition voters were by far the most likely to believe that workers would be worse off (50%).

    51% of respondents on incomes of $600-$1,000pw thought that workers would be better off with stronger unions.

  • May, 2013

    , , ,

    Penalty rates

    Q. Do you think people who are required to work outside of normal hours – like night shifts, weekends or public holidays – should receive a higher hourly rate of pay?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Yes

    81%

    88%

    74%

    92%

    No

    12%

    7%

    19%

    5%

    Don’t know

    7%

    5%

    7%

    3%

    81% of respondents agreed that people who are required to work outside of normal hours – like night shifts, weekends or public holidays – should receive a higher hourly rate of pay.

    79% of full-time workers and 88% of part-time workers agreed.

  • May, 2013

    , , , , , ,

    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 = 1,945 respondents

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    15/4/13

    2 weeks ago

    29/4/13

    Last week

    6/5/13

    This week

    13/5/13

    Liberal

    44%

    45%

    44%

    44%

    National

    3%

    3%

    4%

    3%

    Total Lib/Nat

    43.6%

    48%

    48%

    48%

    48%

    Labor

    38.0%

    34%

    34%

    33%

    34%

    Greens

    11.8%

    9%

    9%

    9%

    9%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    9%

    9%

    10%

    10%

     

    2PP

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    2 weeks ago

    Last week

     

    This week

    Total Lib/Nat

    49.9%

    55%

    55%

    56%

    55%

    Labor

    50.1%

    44%

    45%

    44%

    45%

    NB.  The data in the above tables comprise 2-week averages derived from 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. These estimates have a confidence interval of approx. plus or minus 2-3%.

  • May, 2013

    , ,

    Approval of Julia Gillard

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister?

     

    19 Jul 2010

    20 Dec

    14 June 2011

    12 Dec

    12 Jun 2012

    10 Dec

    14 Jan 2013

    11 Feb

    11 Mar

    15 Apr

    13 May

    Total approve

    52%

    43%

    34%

    34%

    32%

    37%

    41%

    36%

    36%

    34%

    38%

    Total disapprove

    30%

    40%

    54%

    54%

    56%

    53%

    49%

    55%

    56%

    56%

    54%

    Strongly approve

    11%

    10%

    6%

    6%

    6%

    10%

    9%

    7%

    8%

    8%

    10%

    Approve

    41%

    33%

    28%

    28%

    26%

    27%

    32%

    29%

    28%

    26%

    28%

    Disapprove

    17%

    24%

    29%

    25%

    22%

    25%

    23%

    25%

    24%

    23%

    23%

    Strongly disapprove

    13%

    16%

    25%

    29%

    34%

    28%

    26%

    30%

    32%

    33%

    31%

    Don’t know

    18%

    17%

    13%

    11%

    12%

    11%

    10%

    9%

    9%

    9%

    9%

    38% (up 4%) approve of the job Julia Gillard is doing as Prime Minister and 54% (down 2%) disapprove – a 6-point change in net rating from -22 to -16 over the last 4 weeks.

    78% of Labor voters approve (up 4%) and 16% disapprove (down 2%).

    By gender – men 36% approve/57% disapprove, women 38% approve/51% disapprove.  In net terms this represents no change with men and an improvement with women (from -25 to -13).

  • May, 2013

    , , ,

    Approval of Tony Abbott

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader?

    18 Jan

    2010

    5 Jul

     

    20 Dec

    14 June  2011

    12 Dec

    12 Jun 2012

    10 Dec

    14 Jan 2013

    11 Feb

    11 Mar

    15 Apr

    13 May

    Total approve

    37%

    37%

    39%

    38%

    32%

    32%

    33%

    33%

    36%

    37%

    37%

    40%

    Total disapprove

    37%

    47%

    39%

    48%

    53%

    54%

    56%

    57%

    53%

    51%

    52%

    50%

    Strongly approve

    5%

    8%

    9%

    6%

    6%

    6%

    8%

    8%

    7%

    7%

    8%

    9%

    Approve

    32%

    29%

    30%

    32%

    26%

    26%

    25%

    25%

    29%

    30%

    29%

    31%

    Disapprove

    20%

    23%

    21%

    25%

    25%

    24%

    25%

    27%

    22%

    22%

    24%

    18%

    Strongly disapprove

    17%

    24%

    18%

    23%

    28%

    30%

    31%

    30%

    31%

    29%

    28%

    32%

    Don’t know

    26%

    16%

    22%

    15%

    14%

    13%

    12%

    10%

    11%

    12%

    10%

    11%

    40% (up 3%) approve of the job Tony Abbott is doing as Opposition Leader and 50% (down 2%) disapprove – a change in net rating from -15 to -10 over the last 4 weeks, Tony Abbott’s best rating since July 2011.

    77% (up 5%) of Coalition voters approve and 13% (down 8%) disapprove.

    By gender – men 42% approve/49% disapprove, women 37% approve/50% disapprove. In net terms this represents a shift with men from -9 to -7 and with women from -22 to -13.

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