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Reversing Past Government Decisions

24 Oct 2011

Q. Would you support or oppose the Federal Government taking any of the following decisions

Total support Total oppose Strongly support Support Oppose Strongly oppose Don’t know
Abolishing the GST 35% 43% 14% 21% 24% 19% 21%
Buying back Qantas 43% 34% 13% 30% 23% 11% 22%
Buying back Telstra 47% 33% 16% 31% 22% 11% 20%
Buying back the Commonwealth Bank 41% 36% 13% 28% 24% 12% 23%
Regulating the dollar 32% 36% 10% 22% 22% 14% 32%
Increasing trade protection 59% 20% 20% 39% 13% 7% 21%
Making superannuation voluntary 24% 64% 9% 15% 26% 38% 13%
Privatising Medicare 11% 74% 4% 7% 26% 48% 17%

When asked whether these decisions should be reversed, 59% supported increasing trade protection and 47% supported buying back Telstra. There was very strong opposition to privatizing Medicare (74%) and making superannuation voluntary (64%). No other issues had clear majority support or opposition.

Liberal/National voters supported buying back Telstra (47% to 39%), were split on Qantas (43%/41%), but opposed buying back the Commonwealth Bank (39%/44%).

Although Coalition voters were more likely to think free trade agreements were good for Australia (41%/25%), they were also more likely than Labor voters to support increasing trade protection (64%/19%) – 59% of Labor voters supported more trade protection and 21% opposed.

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