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  • Apr, 2012

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    TRENDS: Seeing through the feel-good mining ads


    Peter Lewis says the public no longer believes that mining has personal benefits – despite an expensive ad campaign from the industry.

    The long-running ‘This is our story’ campaign is the soft side of the anti-mining tax’s shock-and-awe bombardment of 2010 that delivered the head of a prime minister and a windfall approaching $20 billion for its sponsors.

    But in the intervening 18 months, the national tone has changed from one where the mining industry’s success was seen as central to the national interest to one where the question appears to be: is this ‘our’ story or just theirs?

    http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3968928.html

  • Apr, 2012

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    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 =  1,910 respondents

     

    First preference/leaning to

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    2/4/12

    Last week

    16/4/12

    This week

    23/4/12

    This week

    30/4/12

    Liberal

    46%

    45%

    45%

    46%

    National

    3%

    3%

    3%

    3%

    Total Lib/Nat

    43.6%

    48%

    48%

    49%

    50%

    Labor

    38.0%

    33%

    31%

    31%

    31%

    Greens

    11.8%

    11%

    11%

    11%

    11%

    Other/Independent

    6.6%

    8%

    9%

    9%

    9%

     

    2PP

    Election

    21 Aug 10

    4 weeks ago

    2 weeks ago

    Last week

    This week

    Total Lib/Nat

    49.9%

    55%

    56%

    56%

    57%

    Labor

    50.1%

    45%

    44%

    44%

    43%

     

    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 figures have a confidence interval of approx. + or – 2%.

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  • Apr, 2012

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    Next Election

    Q. Do you think the Labor Government should run its full term until 2013 when the next Federal election is due or should a new election be held now?

     

    5 Sept 11

    5 Dec 11

    30 Jan 12

    5 Mar 12

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Should run to 2013

    40%

    47%

    48%

    46%

    48%

    87%

    21%

    74%

    Should hold election now

    48%

    41%

    41%

    44%

    42%

    7%

    75%

    20%

    Don’t know

    12%

    12%

    10%

    10%

    10%

    5%

    5%

    6%

     

    48% think the Labor Government should run its full term until the 2013 election and 42% think an election should be held now.

    10% don’t know.

    Opinions have shifted a little toward having an election now since this question was polled in March 2012.

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  • Apr, 2012

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    Government Regulation

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of Governments making laws to regulate the following?

     

    Total approve

    Total disapprove

    Strongly approve

    Approve

    Disapprove

    Strongly disapprove

    Don’t know

    Wearing seatbelts in cars

    97%

    2%

    74%

    23%

    2%

    *

    1%

    Wearing bike helmets

    94%

    6%

    65%

    29%

    5%

    1%

    1%

    Personal use of recreational drugs

    59%

    34%

    32%

    27%

    19%

    15%

    7%

    Smoking in public places

    67%

    30%

    40%

    27%

    16%

    14%

    3%

    Buying and consuming alcohol

    69%

    26%

    26%

    43%

    19%

    7%

    5%

    Shopping hours

    56%

    38%

    16%

    40%

    28%

    10%

    6%

    Cigarette packaging

    64%

    29%

    35%

    29%

    16%

    13%

    6%

    Junk food advertising

    66%

    28%

    29%

    37%

    19%

    9%

    6%

    Films (i.e. censorship)

    62%

    31%

    20%

    42%

    20%

    11%

    7%

    The internet

    49%

    43%

    19%

    30%

    23%

    20%

    8%

     

    For each of the areas listed above (except for ‘the internet’) more than half of respondents approve of Governments making laws to regulate the area.

     

    The highest levels of approval were for ‘wearing seatbelts in cars’ (97% approve) and ‘wearing bike helmets’ (94% approve).

     

    The highest levels of disapproval were for ‘the internet’ (43% disapprove) and ‘shopping hours’ (38% disapprove).

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  • Apr, 2012

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    Most Important Factor in Government Regulation

    Q. What should be the most important factor Governments consider in relation to regulating each of these issues – protecting rights and freedom, protecting people’s health and safety or managing the cost to taxpayers (e.g. health costs of drug/alcohol/tobacco use)?

     

    Protecting rights and freedom 

    Protecting people’s health and safety

    Managing the cost to taxpayers

    Don’t know

    Wearing seatbelts in cars

    5%

    91%

    3%

    2%

    Wearing bike helmets

    6%

    89%

    3%

    2%

    Personal use of recreational drugs

    18%

    61%

    12%

    9%

    Smoking in public places

    19%

    67%

    9%

    5%

    Buying and consuming alcohol

    25%

    58%

    11%

    6%

    Shopping hours

    55%

    11%

    16%

    19%

    Cigarette packaging

    16%

    61%

    14%

    8%

    Junk food advertising

    16%

    66%

    11%

    8%

    Films (i.e. censorship)

    59%

    19%

    7%

    15%

    The internet

    62%

    18%

    6%

    15%

     

    For most of the areas listed above, the majority of respondents thought the most important factor for Governments to consider was ‘protecting people’s health and safety’.

     

    The three areas where respondents thought that is was more important to consider ‘protecting rights and freedoms’ were ‘the internet’ (62%), ‘films’ (59%) and ‘shopping hours’ (55%).

     

    ‘Managing the cost to tax payers’ was not considered to be an important factor by most respondents.

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  • Apr, 2012

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    Awareness of Aged Care Reforms

    Q. The Federal Government recently announced changes to aged care which included extra funding, better access to aged care services, capping costs of aged care accommodation and in-home care and means testing aged care accommodation costs. How much have you read or heard about those aged care changes?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    A lot

    7%

    11%

    7%

    4%

    Some

    26%

    31%

    26%

    26%

    A little

    32%

    28%

    35%

    32%

    Nothing

    30%

    25%

    28%

    37%

    Don’t know

    5%

    4%

    5%

    1%

    Just 7% of respondents claim to have read or heard ‘a lot’ about the recent Federal Government changes to aged care. A further 26% have read or heard ‘some’.

    32% of respondents have read or heard ‘a little’ while 30% have read or heard ‘nothing’.

    Labor voters were more likely to have read or heard ‘a lot’ (11%) or ‘some’ (31%).

    There were no significant differences based on gender.

    Older respondents were more likely to state that they had read or heard ‘some’ about the aged care changes (33% of those aged 55-64 and 39% of those aged 65+).

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  • Apr, 2012

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    Opinion of Aged Care Reforms

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the Government’s changes to aged care?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total approve

    61%

    71%

    56%

    68%

    Total disapprove

    7%

    4%

    10%

    5%

    Strongly approve

    16%

    24%

    11%

    20%

    Approve

    45%

    47%

    45%

    48%

    Disapprove

    6%

    3%

    9%

    3%

    Strongly disapprove

    1%

    1%

    1%

    2%

    Don’t know

    33%

    25%

    34%

    28%

     

    61% of respondents approve of the Government’s changes to aged care. Just 7% disapprove.

    Labor voters were more likely to approve (71%); however approval rates were still high for Lib/Nat voters (54%).

    Females (65%) were more likely than males (56%) to approve of the changes.

    Older respondents were also more likely to approve of the changes (78% of those aged 55-64 and 71% of those aged 65+).

    Comments »

  • Apr, 2012

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    Party Trust Most on Aged Care

    Q. Which party would you trust most to provide aged care services?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Labor Party

    31%

    77%

    6%

    46%

    Liberal Party

    27%

    58%

    7%

    No difference

    30%

    17%

    26%

    43%

    Don’t know

    12%

    6%

    10%

    4%

    There was very little difference between the parties as to who respondents would trust more to provide aged care services – 31% selected Labor, 27% selected the Liberal Party and 30% said there was no difference.

    Respondents tended to follow party lines in terms of which party they would trust most to deliver aged care services. However a large proportion of Labor (17%), Liberal (26%) and Green (43%) voters said there was no difference between the parties.

    Males (32%) were more likely than females (22%) to most trust the Liberal party.

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