Australian Republic, commonwealth, ER, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberals, Nationals, Republic
Q. Are you in favour or against Australia becoming a republic?
| Jan 2010 | March 2011 | Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| In favour | 41% | 39% | 41% | 51% | 35% | 56% |
| Against | 32% | 34% | 33% | 21% | 45% | 19% |
| No opinion | 27% | 27% | 26% | 28% | 19% | 26% |
41% favour Australia becoming a republic and 33% are against – showing little change since this question was asked in January 2010. 26% have no opinion.
Those most in favour were men (51%), Greens voters (56%) and Labor voters (51%).
Those most against were aged 65+ (56%) and Liberal/National voters (45%).
commonwealth, Commonwealth of Nations, ER, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberals, Nationals
Q. Do you think Australia benefits from being part of the Commonwealth of Nations (formerly known as the British Commonwealth)?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total some/a lot of benefit | 47% | 47% | 55% | 38% |
| Benefits a lot | 14% | 13% | 20% | 3% |
| Some benefit | 33% | 34% | 35% | 35% |
| Benefits a little | 19% | 21% | 18% | 24% |
| No benefit | 19% | 19% | 18% | 23% |
| Don’t know | 14% | 13% | 10% | 15% |
47% believed there is some or a lot of benefit in being part of the Commonwealth and 19% think there is no benefit.
Those most likely to think there is some/a lot of benefit were aged 65+ (64%) and Liberal/National voters (55%)
British Throne, commonwealth, ER, Essential Report, Greens, king, Labor, Liberals, Nationals, queen, royal, Royal Family, royal succession
Q. Currently a male child takes precedence over a female child in succeeding the British throne, even if he is younger than his older sister. In your opinion, should the laws relating to the Royal Family be changed to allow the first born to become King or Queen regardless of whether they are male or female?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| The law should change so the first born child succeeds the throne regardless of gender | 61% | 69% | 59% | 77% |
| The law should remain the same so that male heirs have priority | 13% | 9% | 17% | 4% |
| No opinion | 25% | 22% | 24% | 19% |
61% agreed that the law should change so the first born child succeeds the throne and only 13% think the law should remain the same so that male heirs have priority. These results are very similar to a poll conducted in UK in April which showed 60% agreeing with a law change and 18% opposed (Angus Reid Public Opinion).
A majority of all demographic and voter groups supported a law change.
ER, Essential Report, Greens, Industrial action, job cuts, Labor, Liberals, Nationals, Qantas, Qantas Dispute, Qantas management, Qantas workers
Q. Qantas and its workers are currently in dispute over pay, conditions and jobs. Who do you think is most to blame for this dispute – Qantas management or the workers?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Qantas management | 36% | 54% | 25% | 47% |
| Qantas workers | 13% | 6% | 22% | 4% |
| Both equally | 37% | 30% | 41% | 34% |
| Don’t know | 14% | 10% | 12% | 15% |
36% believe that Qantas management is most to blame for the current dispute and 13% think the workers are most to blame – 37% think both are equally to blame.
All demographic and voter groups are more likely to think management is to blame than workers.
54% of Labor voters and 47% of Greens voters think management is most to blame while Liberal/National voters are more likely to think both are equally to blame (41%).
ER, Essential Report, Industrial action, job cuts, Qantas, Qantas Dispute, Qantas workers
Q. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
| Total agree | Total disagree | Strongly agree | Agree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Don’t know | |
| Moving some operations to Asia is necessary to ensure a strong future for Qantas | 21% | 61% | 6% | 15% | 31% | 30% | 17% |
| Qantas should keep jobs in Australia | 88% | 7% | 51% | 37% | 5% | 2% | 5% |
| Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is overpaid | 73% | 7% | 49% | 24% | 6% | 1% | 20% |
| Qantas employees are overpaid | 20% | 44% | 5% | 15% | 34% | 10% | 37% |
| Union industrial action at Qantas is irresponsible and disruptive | 54% | 31% | 20% | 34% | 21% | 10% | 15% |
| Qantas workers have legitimate concerns which management should address | 67% | 13% | 21% | 46% | 10% | 3% | 19% |
Respondents most strongly agreed with the statements that “Qantas should keep jobs in Australia” (88% agree) and “Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is overpaid” (73%) – but they are more likely to disagree that “Qantas employees are overpaid” (20% agree/44% disagree).
While 54% agreed that “Union industrial action at Qantas is irresponsible and disruptive”, 67% agreed that “Qantas workers have legitimate concerns which management should address”.
61% disagreed that “Moving some operations to Asia is necessary to ensure a strong future for Qantas”.
ER, Essential Report, Industrial action, job cuts, Qantas, Qantas Dispute, Qantas workers
Q. Do you think the Federal Government should intervene in this dispute or is it up to Qantas and its workers to negotiate an agreement?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Federal Government should intervene | 24% | 26% | 26% | 18% |
| Qantas and workers should negotiate an agreement | 62% | 65% | 64% | 65% |
| Don’t know | 14% | 9% | 10% | 18% |
Only 24% think that the Federal Government should intervene in the Qantas dispute – 62% think it is up to Qantas and its workers to negotiate an agreement.
All demographic and voter groups were at least twice as likely to favour negotiation over intervention.
ER, Essential Report, Industrial action, job cuts, Qantas, Qantas Dispute, Qantas workers
Q. Which of the following is likely to cause the most damage to Qantas’ reputation?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Cutting Australian jobs and moving some operations to Asia | 62% | 71% | 56% | 66% |
| Industrial action by Qantas workers over pay and conditions | 27% | 20% | 36% | 22% |
| Don’t know | 11% | 9% | 9% | 12% |
62% believed that cutting Australian jobs and moving some operations to Asia was more likely to damage Qantas’ reputation than industrial action by Qantas workers. Only 27% thought industrial action would cause most damage.
Those most likely to think cutting jobs and moving operations offshore would cause most damage were women (69%), aged 55% (66%), Labor voters (71%) and Greens voters (66%). More than half of all demographic and voter groups believed cutting jobs would do most damage.
Commonwealth Bank, ER, Essential Report, Federal Government, GST, Privatising Medicare, Qantas, superannuation, Telstra, trade protection
Q. Thinking about some of the major decisions the Federal Government has made over recent years, do you think the following decisions have been good for Australia or bad for Australia?
| Total good | Total Bad | Very good | Good | Neither good nor bad | Bad | Very bad | Don’t know | |
| Introducing the GST | 39% | 30% | 10% | 29% | 24% | 17% | 13% | 7% |
| Privatising Qantas | 23% | 44% | 4% | 19% | 20% | 31% | 13% | 13% |
| Privatising Telstra | 20% | 53% | 4% | 16% | 16% | 32% | 21% | 10% |
| Privatising the Commonwealth Bank | 26% | 42% | 7% | 19% | 19% | 25% | 17% | 13% |
| Floating the dollar | 46% | 11% | 13% | 33% | 22% | 7% | 4% | 21% |
| Free trade agreements | 41% | 21% | 11% | 30% | 21% | 13% | 8% | 18% |
| Compulsory superannuation | 79% | 7% | 42% | 37% | 10% | 4% | 3% | 5% |
| Medibank (now Medicare) | 76% | 6% | 38% | 38% | 12% | 4% | 2% | 6% |
Only the Government decisions to introduce compulsory superannuation (79%) and Medibank (76%) were considered good for Australia by a majority of respondents – although opinions of floating the dollar (46% good/11% bad), free trade agreements (41%/21%) and the GST (39%/30%) were more likely to be positive than negative.
The decisions to privatize three major national enterprises were more likely to be considered bad. Although Labor voters were more negative about privatisations, Liberal/National voters were also more likely to describe them bad for Australia – Qantas 47% bad/34% good, Telstra 49%/29% and Commonwealth Bank 38%/36%.
47% of Labor voters thought the introduction of the GST was bad while 50% of Liberal/National voters thought it was good.