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  • Mar, 2014

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    Level of taxation

    Q. Do you think the current level of taxation is enough for the Government to fund services such as the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) and the Gonski education reforms or will taxes need to increase to pay for them?

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other

    Current level of taxation is enough

    47%

    52%

    48%

    31%

    50%

    Taxes will need to increase

    33%

    28%

    39%

    43%

    32%

    Don’t know

    20%

    20%

    13%

    26%

    18%

    47% think the current level of taxation is enough for the Government to fund services such as the NDIS and the Gonski education reforms and 33% think taxes will need to increase.

    Those more likely to think taxes will need to increase were Liberal/National voters (39%), Greens voters (43%),  aged 55+ (43%) and incomes over $1,600pw (39%).

  • Jul, 2013

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    Labor Party policies

    Q. Under Kevin Rudd’s leadership, do you think the Labor Party should dump, change or keep their policies on the following issues?

     

    Dump

    Keep

    Change

    Don’t know

    Handling of asylum seekers

    21%

    10%

    51%

    17%

    Building the NBN

    14%

    50%

    15%

    15%

    The mining tax

    29%

    30%

    24%

    18%

    The carbon tax

    39%

    25%

    23%

    13%

    The Gonski education reforms

    15%

    44%

    16%

    25%

    The NDIS

    7%

    59%

    9%

    25%

    Respondents were most likely to think the Labor Party under Kevin Rudd should keep the NDIS (59%), building the NBN (50%) and the Gonski reforms (44%).

    51% think it should change the policies around handling asylum seekers and 39% think it should dump the carbon tax. Opinions were divided over the mining tax – 30% keep, 29% dump and 24% change.

    Labor voters were most in favour of keeping the NBN (78%), the mining tax (47%), the carbon tax (39%), the Gonski reforms (67%) and the NDIS (74%) but favoured changing the policy on asylum seekers (56%).

  • Apr, 2013

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    Government’s plan for education funding

    Q. The Government has announced a plan to implement the Gonski recommendations by providing substantially increased funding for public schools, some increased funding for private schools and some reduction in funding for universities. Do you approve or disapprove of the Government’s plan?

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total approve

    40%

    60%

    28%

    42%

    Total disapprove

    43%

    25%

    59%

    42%

    Strongly approve

    12%

    23%

    5%

    14%

    Approve

    28%

    37%

    23%

    28%

    Disapprove

    25%

    15%

    33%

    30%

    Strongly disapprove

    18%

    10%

    26%

    12%

    Don’t know

    17%

    16%

    13%

    15%

    40% approved the Government’s plan for implementing the Gonski recommendations and 43% disapproved. 60% of Labor voters approved and 59% of Liberal/National voters disapproved. Greens voters were split.

    By income, for those earning $600-$1,600pw, 47% approve and 37% disapprove while for those earning over $1,600 pw, 36% approve and 50% disapprove.

  • Nov, 2012

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    Most important reform

    Q. The Federal Government are proposing to implement a number of reforms , which will require funding of billions of dollars. Which of the following reforms do you think is most important?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    National disability insurance scheme

    16%

    20%

    16%

    10%

    Extra school funding recommended by the Gonski Review

    31%

    35%

    28%

    41%

    Increased resources for aged care

    29%

    25%

    37%

    20%

    Returning water to the Murray River

    12%

    12%

    9%

    18%

    Don’t know

    12%

    8%

    10%

    9%

    31% think that the Government’s most important proposed reform is extra school funding as recommended by the Gonski Review and 29% favour increased resources for aged care.

    Extra school, funding is supported more by Labor voters, (35%), Greens voters (41%) and those aged under 45 (40%).

    Increased resources for aged care is favoured by Liberal/National voters (37%) and those aged 45+ (42%).

  • Oct, 2012

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    Major spending initiatives of the federal government

    Q. The federal government has recently announced a number of major spending initiatives on health, education and defence reforms that will involve substantial investment over the next few years.  For each of the reforms as they are described below, please indicate whether you believe it should be implemented or not

     

    Implement the reform if it means higher taxes (including corporate and mining taxes) and cuts in other areas

    Do not implement the reform if it means higher taxes (including corporate and mining taxes) or cuts in other areas

    No opinion

    National Disability Insurance Scheme to improve care and support for all people in Australia with a significant and permanent disability

    58%

    22%

    20%

    New dental health scheme to provide free dental care for low-income patients and children

    53%

    29%

    18%

    Gonski reforms to education to increase funding for each primary and secondary school student across the country

    48%

    30%

    21%

    Purchase of new advanced submarines for the Australian Defence Force

    24%

    50%

    26%

    The majority of respondents support implementing the NDIS (58%) and the new dental health scheme (53%) if it means higher taxes (including corporate and mining taxes) and cuts in other areas.

    A large portion of respondents (48%) also agree with implementing the Gonski reforms if it means higher taxes and cuts in other areas, whereas 30% would prefer to see these reforms not implemented.

    On the purchase of new submarines for the ADF, most respondents felt that this reform should not be implemented if it means higher taxes and cuts in other areas (50%), whilst 24% are in favour of implementing the reform.

  • Sep, 2012

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    Decisions of the Labor Government

    Q. Thinking about the decisions the Labor Government has made over the last few years, do you think the following decisions were good or bad for Australia?

    Total good

    Total bad

    Very good

    Good

    Neither good nor bad

    Bad

    Very bad

    Don’t know

    Expanding dental health services for people on low incomes

    77%

    5%

    33%

    44%

    14%

    2%

    3%

    5%

    Increasing the tax free threshold from $6,000 to $18,200

    75%

    4%

    36%

    39%

    16%

    3%

    1%

    5%

    Increasing the age pension

    70%

    11%

    30%

    40%

    13%

    7%

    4%

    6%

    Increasing superannuation from 9% to 12%

    68%

    9%

    27%

    41%

    16%

    6%

    3%

    6%

    Protecting large areas of Australia’s marine environment in a network of marine reserves

    67%

    8%

    28%

    39%

    20%

    5%

    3%

    7%

    Introducing the National Disability Insurance Scheme

    58%

    5%

    21%

    37%

    23%

    3%

    2%

    14%

    Implementing the recommendations of the Gonski report to increase education funding

    54%

    8%

    20%

    34%

    25%

    5%

    3%

    13%

    Stimulus spending to tackle the Global Financial Crisis (GFC)

    54%

    22%

    22%

    32%

    18%

    14%

    8%

    8%

    Spending on new school buildings during the GFC

    53%

    22%

    15%

    38%

    18%

    12%

    10%

    6%

    Paid parental leave

    52%

    20%

    17%

    35%

    23%

    12%

    8%

    5%

    Introducing a tax on large profits of mining companies

    49%

    25%

    24%

    25%

    17%

    13%

    12%

    8%

    Implementing the recommendations of the expert committee on asylum seekers including offshore processing

    45%

    15%

    15%

    30%

    28%

    8%

    7%

    12%

    Building the NBN (National Broadband Network)

    43%

    28%

    17%

    26%

    22%

    14%

    14%

    7%

    Abolished WorkChoices

    42%

    27%

    23%

    19%

    19%

    17%

    10%

    12%

    Introducing a carbon tax to tackle climate change

    28%

    51%

    14%

    14%

    15%

    16%

    35%

    7%

    The two most popular decisions of the Labor Government are ‘expanding dental health services for people on low incomes’ (77% total good) and ‘increasing the tax free threshold from $6,000 to $18,000 (75% total good).   The least popular decisions were ‘Building the NBN’ (43% total good), ‘Abolished WorkChoices’ (42% total good) and ‘introducing a carbon tax to tackle climate change’ (28% total good).

    Of the fifteen decisions put to respondents, the majority of respondents believed that 10 of the 15 decisions were good for Australia.  For the remaining 5 decisions, a larger portion of respondents generally regarded the decision to be good for Australia except for ‘introducing a carbon tax to tackle climate change’, where the majority of respondents (51%) believed it to be bad for Australia.

    Female respondents were more likely to endorse the dental health reforms (80% total good) compared with male respondents (74% total good).

    Increasing the age pension was most strongly supported by respondents aged 65+ (77% total good).

    Introducing paid parental leave was more popular with female respondents (57% total good), compared with male respondents (46% total good).  Looking at this decision by age, it was most popular amongst respondents aged 25-34 (62%) and 35-44 (62%) whereas respondents aged 65+ were the most likely to regard the decision as a bad one (36% total bad).

    Implementing the recommendations of the expert committee on asylum seekers including offshore processing proved to be a very popular decision amongst respondents aged 65+ (65% total good), whereas respondents aged 25-34 were the most likely to regard it as a bad decision (43% total bad).

    Female respondents were more likely to regard ‘protecting large areas of Australia’s marine environment’ as a good decision (72% total good) compared with male respondents (60% total good).

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