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Budget priorities
About the author
Ryan Neelam
Ryan Neelam was Director of the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program at the Lowy Institute. He led the flagship annual Lowy Institute Poll, was project director for the Global Diplomacy Index, and wrote about climate diplomacy and multilateral policy.
This year, Australians were asked whether they think the government should increase, decrease, or keep spending the same for a range of budget priorities. As in previous years, most Australians support an increase in spending on health (85%) and education (73%). Across all other areas, the 2023 survey shows a drop, to varying degrees, in the number of Australians who believe spending should be increased.
The largest shift in opinion relates to defence spending. In 2022, 51% of Australians supported an increase in defence spending, a 20-point rise on the last time the question about budget priorities was asked in 2019. This year, however, support for increasing defence spending has fallen ten points to 41%. An almost equal number of Australians (39%) think defence spending should remain about the same, while 20% think it should be decreased.
In 2023, most Australians would keep foreign aid spending the same (43%). However, in a seven-point drop from last year, only 17% now support an increase in foreign aid spending. And more than double this number would reduce the aid budget (40%), a rise of six points on last year.
Support for increasing social welfare declined five points to 51% in 2023. Support for increasing spending on border protection dropped six points to 33%.
