The two party preferred estimate based on stated preferences shows Labor on 48%, leading the Coalition 47%, and 5% of Australians saying they are currently undecided.
With the Abbott led Liberal-National coalition settled in for its first term, ‘The Economy’ has taken pride of place as the top issue facing the nation. Reaching number one on this chart is nothing to aspire to, and this will not come as welcome news for the newly established government who will spend the rest of their term negotiating what Australians might have finally accepted, that it is going to be a tough couple of years (at least) as we attempt to positively offset declining mining revenues.
As the Abbott led Liberal-National coalition settles in for its first term, ‘Healthcare’ (41%) and ‘Cost of Living’ (33%) continue their reign as the most important issues facing our nation. While relative concern for these issues is subject to some fluctuation, only twice in the Gillard era did another issue make its way into the top two concerns.
Anniversaries are observed, some with joy others with sadness. In a political cycle, anniversaries are used as pause points; an opportunity to compare where we are against where we were and where we are against where we were promised to be.
As we close on November’s election, the issues of most concern to Victorians’ have remained largely unchanged for some time. Anxiety around ‘Healthcare’ continues to lead the way, a few lengths ahead of the peloton; a pack that includes relative newcomer but now mainstay ‘Unemployment’, ‘Crime’, ‘Cost of Living’ and our (uniquely Victorian) worries around ‘Transport’.
In the second quarter of 2014 we saw Queenslanders continue their recent focus on unemployment and increase their focus on the economy and the cost of living.
In the second quarter of 2014 we saw the NSW community return to a more familiar headspace with some reshuffling of the issues of concern that saw healthcare return to the top spot (44%) in terms of the being the most important issue facing NSW. This was then followed be a cluster of three issues, namely cost of living (30%), housing (30%) and crime (29%), with unemployment rounding out the top five (25%), marginally ahead of transport (24%) and education (24%).
For most of Prime Minister Abbott’s first term, ‘The Economy’ has been the top issue facing the Australia. A unique scenario, given Prime Ministers’ Gillard and Rudd presided over an environment where ‘Healthcare’ and, for a time, ‘Cost of Living’ topped the list.
The first quarter of 2014 saw the top issues facing Queensland converge somewhat, with healthcare again topping the list followed by cost of living, crime, unemployment, and petrol prices.
