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  • Mar, 2020

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    Financial situation during Covid-19 outbreak

    Q. Which of the following best describes your financial situation during the Covid-19 outbreak?

        Gender Age Group Location
      Total Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ Capital Non-Capital
    I do not expect the Covid-19 will impact my income 24% 22% 26% 16% 18% 37% 22% 28%
    I have sufficient savings to deal with a short-term loss of income 26% 29% 22% 19% 26% 31% 28% 21%
    I will struggle with a short-term loss of income, but will get by 29% 30% 28% 40% 28% 20% 31% 26%
    I will be in serious financial stress with short-term loss of income 21% 18% 24% 25% 28% 11% 19% 25%
    Base (n) 1,034 519 515 342 327 365 703 331
    • One in five people expect to be in serious financial stress due to a loss of income (21%), a further 29% say they will struggle.
    • Women (24%), those aged 18-34 (25%) or 35-54 (28%) and those living in non-capital areas (25%) are most likely to be in serious financial stress.
    • Around half people say they either have sufficient savings to manage a loss of income (26%) or will not suffer a loss of income as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak (24%).
    • Those aged over 55 are more likely to be in a strong financial position, with 37% not expecting their income to be impacted and 31% having sufficient savings to manage a short-term loss of income.
        Household Employment
      Total Have dependent children Do not have dependent children In paid employment Not in paid employment Retired
    I do not expect the Covid-19 will impact my income 24% 18% 28% 12% 31% 41%
    I have sufficient savings to deal with a short-term loss of income 26% 23% 27% 27% 14% 36%
    I will struggle with a short-term loss of income, but will get by 29% 32% 27% 37% 25% 17%
    I will be in serious financial stress with short-term loss of income 21% 26% 18% 23% 30% 7%
    Base (n) 1,034 372 662 519 255 228
    • A quarter of families with dependent children in the household expect to be in serious financial stress with a short-term loss of income.
  • Oct, 2014

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    Government financial actions

    Q. The government is considering savings and taxing options to pay for the war in Iraq, lower commodity prices and its inability to pass savings from its May budget this year. Would you approve or disapprove of the following actions it might take?

     

    Total approve

    Total dis-approve

     

    Strongly approve

    Approve

    Dis-approve

    Strongly dis-approve

    Don’t know

    Higher corporate tax

    68%

    22%

    26%

    42%

    15%

    7%

    10%

    Abandon its paid parental leave scheme

    56%

    31%

    31%

    25%

    17%

    14%

    12%

    Cuts to tax concessions in areas like superannuation

    21%

    67%

    4%

    17%

    33%

    34%

    13%

    Higher income taxes

    21%

    69%

    5%

    16%

    31%

    38%

    10%

    Cuts to social services, health or education

    12%

    81%

    2%

    10%

    26%

    55%

    7%

    A majority approve of higher corporate tax (68%) and abandoning the paid parental leave scheme (56%) to pay for the war in Iraq, lower commodity prices and the Government’s inability to pass savings from its May budget this year.

    A majority would disapprove of cuts to social services, health or education (81%), higher income taxes (69%) and cuts to tax concessions in areas like superannuation (67%).

  • May, 2012

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    Household Financial Situation

    Q. How would you describe the current financial situation of your household?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total satisfactory

    43%

    53%

    39%

    49%

    Total unsatisfactory

    28%

    27%

    30%

    17%

    Very satisfactory

    7%

    12%

    3%

    15%

    Satisfactory

    36%

    41%

    36%

    34%

    Neither satisfactory nor unsatisfactory

    28%

    19%

    31%

    33%

    Unsatisfactory

    18%

    18%

    19%

    10%

    Very unsatisfactory

    10%

    9%

    11%

    7%

    Don’t know

    1%

    1%

    *

    1%

    43% consider their current household financial situation to be satisfactory and 28% say it is unsatisfactory. 28% said it was neither.

    Those most likely to be satisfied were full-time workers (49%) and those on incomes over $1,600pw (61%).

    Those most likely to be dissatisfied were aged 45-54 (38%), not working (34%) and on incomes under $1,000pw (44%).

    Comments »

  • May, 2012

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    Australian Industries

    Q. How much do average Australians benefit from having strong industries in each of the following sectors?

    Benefit a lot

    Some benefit

    A little benefit

    No benefit

    Don’t know

    Tourism

    45%

    30%

    11%

    4%

    10%

    Agriculture

    45%

    29%

    12%

    4%

    11%

    Construction

    44%

    32%

    11%

    3%

    10%

    Mining

    44%

    31%

    10%

    4%

    11%

    Manufacturing

    44%

    30%

    11%

    4%

    10%

    Retail

    40%

    34%

    11%

    5%

    10%

    Hospitality

    36%

    36%

    13%

    4%

    10%

    Finance

    34%

    34%

    15%

    5%

    11%

    Telecommunications

    31%

    36%

    17%

    5%

    11%

     Over 40% of respondents think the average Australian benefits a lot from having strong industries in tourism (45%), agriculture (45%), construction (44%), mining (44%) and manufacturing (44%).

    Major demographic differences were –

    60% of aged 55+ think there is a lot of benefit from manufacturing

    62% of aged 55+ and 50% of Labor voters think there is a lot of benefit from construction

    53% of aged 45-64 think there is a lot of benefit from retail

    60% of aged 55+ and 52% of Labor voters think there is a lot of benefit from tourism

    58% of aged 55+ and 48% of Coalition voters think there is a lot of benefit from mining

    57% of aged 55+ think there is a lot of benefit from agriculture

    Comments »

  • May, 2012

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    Bank Regulation

    Q. Thinking about banks in Australia, would you support or oppose the Government taking the following actions on banking?

     

    Total support

    Total oppose

    Strongly support

    Support

    Oppose

    Strongly oppose

    Don’t know

    Establishing a Government-owned bank

    55%

    23%

    21%

    34%

    15%

    8%

    22%

    Only permitting banks to change interest rates in line with Reserve Bank rates.

    74%

    16%

    37%

    37%

    11%

    5%

    10%

    Capping bank CEO’s salaries.

    81%

    12%

    55%

    26%

    9%

    3%

    7%

    Ensuring bank fees are not higher than the actual cost of the service

    90%

    5%

    64%

    26%

    4%

    1%

    5%

    Imposing a super profits tax on banks (like the mining tax)

    59%

    21%

    34%

    25%

    16%

    5%

    20%

     

    A majority of respondents supported all listed actions on banking. In particular, 90% supported regulating bank fees, 81% supported capping CEO salaries and 74% supported making banks pass on Reserve Bank interest rate changes.

    There was majority support for all actions from both Labor and Liberal/National voters – although support tended to be stronger from Labor voters.

    Comments »

  • Mar, 2012

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    The Economy – Heading in the Right/Wrong Direction

    Q. Overall, from what you have read and heard, do you think the Australian economy is heading in the right direction or the wrong direction?

     

    17 May 10

    (Post 2010 budget)

    9 May 11

    (Post 2011 budget)

    4 Jul 11

    26 Mar 12

    Vote Labor

    Vote Liberal/ National

    Vote Greens

    The right direction

    51%

    45%

    37%

    36%

    65%

    19%

    47%

    The wrong direction

    25%

    29%

    43%

    41%

    15%

    64%

    23%

    Don’t know

    24%

    25%

    20%

    22%

    21%

    17%

    30%

    36% of respondents think that Australia’s economy is heading in the right direction – 41% think it is heading in the wrong direction. Opinions have changed little since this question was asked in July last year – “right direction” has dropped 1% and “wrong direction” dropped 2%.

    65% of Labor voters, 19% of Liberal/National voters and 47% of Greens voters think the economy is heading in the right direction.

    Comments »

  • Mar, 2012

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    Party Best at Handling Economy

    Q. Which party do you think would be best at handling the Australian economy in the interests of you and people like you?

     

    4 Jul 11

    26 Mar 12

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    The Labor Party

    26%

    29%

    76%

    1%

    39%

    The Liberal Party

    43%

    41%

    2%

    89%

    7%

    No difference

    23%

    20%

    14%

    7%

    45%

    Don’t know

    8%

    10%

    7%

    4%

    9%

     

    41% (down 2% since July last year) think the Liberal Party would be best at handling the Australian economy in their interests and 29% (up 3%) nominated the Labor Party. 20% think there is no difference.

    There were significant differences by income – those earning under $600pw split 38% Labor/30% Liberal while those earning over $1,600pw favoured the Liberal Party 49% to 23% Labor.

    Comments »

  • Mar, 2012

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    The Economy

    Q. Over the next 12 months do you think economic conditions in Australia will get better, get worse or stay much the same?  

     

     

    1 Dec

    08

    15 Jun 09

    5 Oct

    09

    28 Jun

    10

    18 Oct

    10

    4 April

    11

    4 Jul

    11

    3 Oct

    11

    26 Mar 12

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total better

    21%

    43%

    66%

    33%

    40%

    27%

    22%

    16%

    25%

    42%

    17%

    26%

    Total worse

    61%

    37%

    15%

    31%

    30%

    37%

    49%

    58%

    46%

    29%

    60%

    37%

    Get a lot better

    2%

    5%

    8%

    5%

    6%

    4%

    3%

    2%

    3%

    5%

    2%

    1%

    Get a little better

    19%

    38%

    58%

    28%

    34%

    23%

    19%

    14%

    22%

    37%

    15%

    25%

    Get a little worse

    45%

    28%

    11%

    23%

    20%

    27%

    31%

    41%

    31%

    25%

    36%

    34%

    Get a lot worse

    16%

    9%

    4%

    8%

    10%

    10%

    18%

    17%

    15%

    4%

    24%

    3%

    Stay much the same

    13%

    17%

    15%

    30%

    24%

    27%

    25%

    22%

    21%

    24%

    19%

    26%

    No opinion

    5%

    3%

    4%

    7%

    6%

    8%

    4%

    4%

    7%

    4%

    4%

    12%

    Confidence in the economic outlook has strengthened with the percentage of respondents believing conditions to be getting better increasing 9 points to 25%, from 16% in October last year.  Those believing that economic conditions will get worse over the next 12 months has fallen 12 points from 58% to 46%.

    Labor voters are optimistic overall – 42% better/29% worse.  Coalition voters are the most pessimistic, with 60% believing that thing will get worse over the next 12 months and only 17% better.

    There was little difference across income groups.

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