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Addressing climate change

19 Jan 2021

Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?

Jan’21 Jan’20 Nov’19 Mar’19 Dec’18 Oct’18 Sep’17 Aug’16
Not doing enough 42% 62% 60% 51% 53% 56% 56% 52%
Doing enough 35% 19% 22% 27% 24% 23% 20% 22%
Doing too much 10% 8% 8% 11% 9% 7% 8% 8%
Don’t know 13% 11% 10% 12% 14% 13% 16% 18%
Base (n) 1,084 1,081 1,083 1,089 1,032 1,027 1,011 1,022
  • Over a third (35%) of people think Australia is doing enough to address climate change, the highest proportion in the last five years.
  • 42% still think not enough is being done, however this is a significant drop from last year (62%) and the years before.
  • 10% think Australia is doing too much to address climate change and 13% don’t know. Both figures are similar to previous years. 
  Total Gender Age Group Federal Voting Intention
  Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ Labor TOTAL: Coalition Greens TOTAL: Other
Not doing enough 42% 36% 48% 40% 41% 45% 56% 28% 69% 39%
Doing enough 35% 38% 33% 33% 34% 39% 29% 52% 17% 28%
Doing too much 10% 15% 4% 9% 13% 7% 6% 12% 7% 21%
Don’t know 13% 11% 15% 17% 12% 9% 9% 8% 8% 12%
Base (n) 1,084 539 545 341 358 385 334 431 118 106
  • Greens voters are the most likely to think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change (69%), followed by Labor voters (56%).
  • Compared to other voters, Coalition voters are the most likely to think enough is being done (52%), and those voting for minor and independent parties are the most likely to think Australia is doing too much for climate change (21%).
  • Women are more likely to think not enough is being done to address climate change than men (48% to 36% respectively).
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