Essential poll: two-thirds of voters would prefer Coalition support renewables rather than new gas plants
Australians are sceptical that bringing forward tax cuts in the October budget will stimulate the economy, while two-thirds of voters would prefer the Morrison government to support renewables rather than new gas plants, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.
While voters in the survey continue to give the prime minister the thumbs up for his management of the pandemic, there is less enthusiasm for the general direction of the Coalition’s much-vaunted “gas-led recovery”, or for bringing forward tax cuts that benefit
high-income earners.
According to the latest survey of 1,081 respondents, 61% of the Guardian Essential sample rates Scott Morrison’s handling of the coronavirus crisis as very good or quite good, which is up from 59% in the previous survey.
But only one in five people (21%) believe that tax cuts for higher income earners will be very effective as economic stimulus. A further 41% says the strategy will be moderately effective while 38% says it won’t be effective at all.
Australians are more worried about the state of the economy now than they were 12 months ago, before the pandemic hit, but they are divided about the outlook over the coming months.
Despite forecasts pointing to a sustained downturn, a quarter of the sample (25%) expects the economy to improve in the next six months. Some 39% think things will stay much as they are now while 36% fears things will get worse.
With the government clearly signalling income tax cuts will be part of the mix on October 6, 33% of the sample indicates they would support a decision by the government to fast-track previously flagged tax cuts for highincome earners from 2022 to 2020.
A significant chunk of the sample (38%) favours scrapping the tax cuts and 29% thinks the government should stick with their original timetable.
Voters were asked to identify their top three priorities for the budget from a supplied list. The top ranked priority was building more affordable houses (60%).
Investing in renewable energy (52%), large-scale infrastructure (48%) and the extension of jobseeker and jobkeeper payments (47%) were also ranked highly. Only 25% of the sample ranked tax cuts for high-income earners in their top three.
The Morrison government has already taken the decision to deliver tax cuts and unleash a new round of spending to stimulate the economy in the upcoming budget. The prime minister hinted on Sunday that new programs would be rolled out to support Australians once the jobkeeper and jobseeker payments were tapered at the end of September, including, potentially, subsidies for businesses hiring unemployed workers.
Morrison has also declared that gas will play a significant role in Australia’s recovery after the economic shock of the pandemic, last week unveiling the first steps in that strategy, including potential government involvement in a gas plant to replace generation capacity after the closure of Liddell coal plant.
But voters aren’t rushing to endorse the idea of new gas plants. Asked which technology they would prefer for future energy generation, 70% of voters backed renewable power, with just 15% each selecting gas and coal powered stations.
Renewables are popular across all gender, age and voting demographics, with the most supportive cohorts including women (79%), Labor (78%) and Greens voters (78%). Support among Coalition voters stands at 60%.
While Morrison has stepped up his campaign to persuade the premiers to open their borders and manage outbreaks of Covid-19 with a hotspot strategy, including a significant public confrontation with the Queensland premier, voters back Annastacia Palaszczuk in imposing the controls.
Two-thirds (66%) of Australians support Queensland’s closure of its internal borders, including 70% of respondents in the state. Support for that decision is also strong in Western Australia (85%) and South Australia (78%) but support is lower in New South Wales (57%).
While Victoria appears to have turned the corner on the second wave, there are some signs, however, in the latest poll, that Victorians are tiring of their lockdown. While 74% of the sample reports having a good understanding of what they are allowed or not allowed to do under the current restrictions, that’s down six points from last month.
Similarly, 60% of the sample says the restrictions affecting their area seem appropriate compared with 67% last month. A month ago, 54% of the sample said state and federal governments were doing enough to help people and businesses negatively affected by the restrictions, but that’s dropped to 40%.
Approval of the Victorian government management of Covid-19 stands at 47%, which is the same as the result a fortnight ago. The New South Wales government has enjoyed a rebound in approval, with 67% rating the performance as very or quite good, up 7% from earlier in September.