Australians' optimism fades with Isis seen as biggest threat, survey finds
|
Version 0 of 1. Australians’ sunny optimism is dimming, according to an annual snapshot of the country’s attitude, which recorded the lowest feelings of safety and gloomiest economic outlook in the poll’s 11-year history. Concern for climate change rose again, Indonesia was on the nose, and Islamic State dominated Australians’ fears, according to the 2015 Lowy Institute poll. Fewer than one in four (24%) of the 1,200 people surveyed said they felt “very safe”, down 20% from 2009. The emergence of Isis – described last week by Tony Abbott as “coming if it can for every person and every government” – ranked as the highest threat. Comparatively fewer (20%) saw a military conflict between the US and China as “high risk”, while 77% saw China as “more of an economic partner to Australia” than a “military threat”. Warming sentiments towards the Asian giant had limits, however, with seven in 10 agreeing the government allowed “too much” Chinese investment in residential real estate. Economic optimism fell 13%, the largest drop in the poll’s history. It came off a high base: 63% of Australians remain at least optimistic about Australia’s economic performance over the next five years. With a UN climate change conference looming, 63% also said the country should “commit to significant reductions” in carbon emissions. A plurality, 43%, believed solar energy would be Australia’s primary source of energy in 10 years. The next highest was coal, with 17%. Tension over the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran saw feelings towards Indonesia cool to 46/100, in the doldrums with Egypt (48) and Russia (45). Vladimir Putin was the least admired world leader, followed by Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo. Jokowi shouldn’t take it personally: 42% of Australians didn’t know who he was, and only about a third knew Indonesia was a democracy, a consistent finding across the past decade. As in past years, young Australians (aged 18-29) are sour on democracy, favoured only by 49%, though substantially fewer (23%) than in past years agreed “in some circumstances, a non-democratic government can be preferable”. The full report, including results from past years, is available here. |