Roy Morgan Indonesian Consumer Confidence for June is 150.5 (down 0.2pts). Consumer Confidence is now just below a year ago in June 2016 (150.3) although it is still a large 16.2pts above the long-run average (2005-2017) of 134.3.

In mid-2017, and only a few months before the upcoming New Zealand Election which according to Roy Morgan is too close to call*, the key Issues for the New Zealand Election are the inter-related issues of Poverty and the gap between rich & poor, House prices & Housing affordability and Housing shortages & Homelessness.

In July New Zealand’s opposition Labour/Greens has jumped 4.5% to 44% now just ahead of incumbent National on 43% (down 3.5%) following the scandal involving National MP Todd Barclay. However, in New Zealand’s September election the issues of Poverty, Housing and Homelessness and Inequality will be critical to the outcome.

In mid-2017, 31% of Australians regard Terrorism & War as the biggest problems facing the World. This has nearly doubled since March, up by 15%, while also up 8% from a year ago in mid-2016.

In mid-2017, 38% of Australians believe the economy or some kind of economic issue to be the most important problem facing Australia. This is 3% higher than in March 2017 although down 4% compared to a year ago in mid-2016.

After starting the year with record numbers of Australians intending to buy a new car, car buying intention in Australia has softened. Roy Morgan’s research shows that Consumer Confidence is often a key driver of car buying intention – and Australians are less confident about their finances now than they were at the beginning of 2017.

New research findings from Roy Morgan found that over the last decade, the big four banks have all increased their share of their customers’ dollars (‘share of wallet’). This metric is the most objective measure of customer loyalty because it is based on their financial behaviour rather than the more subjective measures that lead to this outcome.

In June the total Australian workforce was a record 13,530,000 (up 540,000 in 12 months) and employment grew to a record 12,330,000 (up a large 587,000) with 1,200,000 (down 47,000) unemployed and looking for work.

The latest Roy Morgan research shows almost one in four Australian households (23.2%) own a Home Solar Electric Panel (Year to March 2017).