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Importance of Relationships with Other Countries

15 Nov 2010

Q. How important is it for Australia to have a close relationship with the following nations?

Very important Quite important Not very important Don’t know Very Important April 10 Change
United States 56% 34% 5% 4% 59% -3
New Zealand 54% 36% 6% 5% 56% -2
China 45% 44% 5% 6% 51% -6
United Kingdom 44% 43% 9% 4% 46% -2
Japan 30% 53% 10% 7% 40% -10
Indonesia 30% 48% 15% 7% 39% -9
India 24% 45% 23% 8% 27% -3
Germany 15% 43% 34% 9% 18% -3
South Africa 12% 35% 43% 10% 12%

More than half the respondents think it is very important to have close relationships with the United States (56%) and New Zealand (54%) and just under half think it is very important to have a close relationship with China (45%) and United Kingdom (44%).

A close relationship with the United Sates is considered very important by 65% of Liberal/National voters and 62% of Labor voters but only 37% of Greens voters. Greens voters consider relations with New Zealand (58%) and China (47%) more important.

Since this question was asked in April, the overall rating of the importance of relations with other countries has dropped – especially for Japan (-10%) and Indonesia (-9%).

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