Most people think Australia’s economic system is “broken” and want the government to take a more active role, including by imposing price caps on essential services, the latest Guardian Essential poll suggests.
The findings come as the government prepares to bring industry and unions together at next week’s jobs and skills summit, which the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, wants to use as a springboard for his economic reform agenda.
The survey of 1,065 people also found strong support for the union movement’s push for industry-level bargaining and a super profits tax.
Almost 70% of those surveyed want to see the government set limits for prices of essential services such as energy, with just 7% opposing the idea, amid a high inflation environment that has seen electricity generation costs soar.
There is also strong support (61%) for placing taxes on companies that make additional profits due to rising inflation, despite the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, ruling out a super profits tax.
The call from employer groups for an urgent boost to skilled migration has also found strong support, with the Essential poll suggesting 47% of people back the move, while just 18% oppose it.
As Albanese flags the need to find consensus between government, business and unions, the poll found a majority of people (56%) agreed that the view of small businesses aligned with their best interests.
In the survey, half (51%) agreed that community groups represented their interests, 36% nominated unions and 29% agreed the view of big business – when it came to the economy – aligned with their own best interests.
Overall, there is strong support for government intervention in the economic system, with 80% of those polled agreeing that governments should take an active role in shaping the economy, compared with just 20% who say governments should “stay out of the economy and leave it up to the market”.
The majority (58%) believe that Australia’s economic system is broken and “the government needs to make fundamental changes to sort it out”, with this sentiment stronger among female voters.
Fewer than half (42%) of those surveyed think the country’s economic system is “basically sound” and the government “should only make minor adjustments to make it better”. Men were more likely to see the system working than women – 46% compared to 38%.
Almost half of those surveyed (48%) also back a shake-up of the Reserve Bank’s mandate, wanting it to focus “primarily on full and secure employment” – another key demand of the ACTU, which has been critical of the RBA’s focus on the inflation band of between 2% and 3%.
The survey suggests Albanese heads into the summit with the backing of voters, with the prime minister recording a “positive” rating from 43% of voters, compared to the 23% who gave him a “negative” rating.
People feel less positive about Peter Dutton, with just 26% ranking him positively, compared with the 34% who rank him negatively. Dutton’s positive rating is even lower among women, with just 22% feeling positive about the opposition leader compared with 30% of men.
About a third of those expressed a “neutral” view when asked how they felt about the leaders, ranking them between four and six on a 10-point scale.
Dutton’s deputy, Sussan Ley, will warn industry leaders on Tuesday against “sidling up” to the new Labor government, saying it will always back unions over business and imploring them to stick with the Liberal party.
“Beware sidling up too closely to a government who will drop you like a sack of potatoes should the political winds turn – beware the indulgences you accommodate,” Ley will tell an Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry event on Tuesday.
“This new Labor government is not a friend of yours, is not a friend of your members, is not a friend of your businesses. Tread carefully. Whenever Labor come knocking on your door for your support on their initiatives, make sure you extract something in return.”
Ley, in a draft of her speech, urges the business community not to abandon the Liberal party despite acknowledging it had lost the backing of some small business owners at the last election.
Ley says she understands why businesses want to attend the summit – which she and Dutton have derided as a “talk fest” – but argues the government is not interested in “genuine engagement”.
“They don’t have the policies to create more jobs or provide tax relief for workers and small businesses – and despite your best will and engagement, they won’t have those policies after the summit either.”
