Australians believe the nation’s mineral exports benefit mining company executives and shareholders the most, not ordinary Australians or the poor people in countries to which resources are sold, a new poll shows.
On Monday the prime minister insisted coal exports should go “up and up” for many decades in the interests of Australian jobs, domestic and international prosperity and “humanity”.
But asked by Essential Media who benefited from Australian mining exports, 67% of voters said mining company executives benefited “a lot”, 40% said mining company shareholders benefited “a lot”, while 67% said the poor people in the countries to which Australia exported would receive little or no benefit, 57% said all Australians received little or no benefit and 50% said regional communities received little or no benefit.
The two-party preferred vote in the poll was unchanged, with Labor leading 52% to 48, but with the political debate focused on security issues, Tony Abbott’s personal approval ratings were the highest they have been since April.
Forty per cent approved of the job he is doing (up 5%) and 48% disapproved (down 4%).
Bill Shorten’s approval ratings were static – 35% approve of the job he is doing and 36% disapprove. Twenty-nine per cent did not know what they thought about the opposition leader.
On the question of who would be a better prime minister, 38% opted for Abbott (up 3% since September) and 32% preferred Shorten (down 4%).
Australians favoured higher corporate tax (68%) or ditching the government’s proposed paid parental leave scheme (56%) to pay for the war in Iraq, lower commodity prices and the Senate’s refusal to pass savings measures from the May budget.
A strong majority (81%) disapproved of cuts to social services, health or education to make up the budget shortfall, or higher income taxes (69%) or cuts to tax concessions for superannuation (67%).
Seventy-two per cent of people were convinced the gap between rich people and everyone else in Australia had increased over the past 10 years – under Labor and Coalition governments – and only 22% thought it had decreased.
Sixty-four per cent thought the government should act to reduce that gap, and 57% supported raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
The survey was conducted online from 10 to 13 October, based on 1,023 respondents.
