Addressing Climate Change
Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Male | Female | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | Dec 2018 | Oct 2018 | Sep 2017 | |
| Not doing enough | 51% | 43% | 58% | 64% | 34% | 79% | 46% | 58% | 48% | 48% | 53% | 56% | 56% |
| Doing enough | 27% | 31% | 23% | 18% | 43% | 10% | 28% | 26% | 26% | 29% | 24% | 23% | 20% |
| Doing too much | 11% | 16% | 6% | 8% | 15% | 2% | 16% | 8% | 9% | 15% | 9% | 7% | 8% |
| Don’t know | 12% | 10% | 13% | 10% | 9% | 8% | 10% | 8% | 18% | 9% | 14% | 13% | 16% |
Just over half (51%) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change. This has not statistically changed from December 2018.
Those people most likely to think Australia was not doing enough include women (58%), Greens voters (79%) and Labor voters (64%).
Doing enough to address climate change
Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aug 2015 | Mar 2016 | Aug 2016 | Dec 2016 | Sep 2017 | Oct 2018 | |||
| Doing enough | 24% | 23% | 32% | 10% | 24% | 24% | 21% | 22% | 22% | 20% | 23% | ||
| Not doing enough | 53% | 63% | 42% | 82% | 53% | 53% | 57% | 52% | 49% | 56% | 56% | ||
| Doing too much | 9% | 3% | 14% | 1% | 9% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 11% | 8% | 7% | ||
| Don’t know | 14% | 11% | 12% | 7% | 14% | 16% | 13% | 18% | 18% | 16% | 13% |
Just over half (53%) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change. This has not statistically changed from October 2018.
Those people most likely to think Australia was not doing enough include women (58%), Greens voters (82%) and Labor voters (63%).
Climate change
Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Nov 2009 | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Nov 2015 | Aug 2016 | Sep 2017 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 63% | 73% | 57% | 78% | 47% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | 57% | 64% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 25% | 15% | 34% | 12% | 45% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | 26% | 24% | ||
| Don’t know | 13% | 12% | 9% | 10% | 8% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% | 17% | 12% |
63% (down 1% since September last year) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 25% (up 1%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 66%/19% and those aged 55+ split 56%/37%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 70%/20%.
Doing enough to address climate change
Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aug 2015 | Mar 2016 | Aug 2016 | Dec 2016 | Sep 2017 | |||
| Doing enough | 23% | 16% | 36% | 5% | 24% | 24% | 21% | 22% | 22% | 20% | ||
| Not doing enough | 56% | 69% | 45% | 88% | 45% | 53% | 57% | 52% | 49% | 56% | ||
| Doing too much | 7% | 3% | 9% | 2% | 21% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 11% | 8% | ||
| Don’t know | 13% | 12% | 10% | 5% | 9% | 16% | 13% | 18% | 18% | 16% |
56% (no change since September last year) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change and 23% (up 3%) think Australia is doing enough.
Those most likely to think Australia is not doing enough were aged 18-44 (61%) and university educated (65%).
Liberal National voters were split but were more likely to think the Government was not doing enough (45%).
Drought and climate change
Q. Do you think that the current drought across eastern Australia is likely or unlikely to be linked to climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | |||
| Likely to be linked to climate change | 54% | 64% | 47% | 80% | 40% | ||
| Unlikely to be linked to climate change | 25% | 17% | 33% | 13% | 45% | ||
| Don’t know | 21% | 19% | 19% | 7% | 15% |
54% think that the current drought is likely to be linked to climate change and 25% think it is unlikely to be linked to climate change.
Those most likely to think it is linked to climate change were Greens voters (80%), Labor voters (64%), aged under 35 (62%) and university educated (62%).
Those thinking it is not linked to climate change were more likely to be other party voters (45%) and aged 65+ (40%).
Climate change
Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Nov 2009 | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Nov 2015 | Aug 2016 | Dec 2016 | Feb 2017 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 64% | 74% | 57% | 86% | 54% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | 57% | 54% | 60% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 24% | 17% | 34% | 9% | 37% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | 26% | 27% | 25% | ||
| Don’t know | 12% | 9% | 10% | 6% | 8% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% | 17% | 18% | 14% |
60% (up 4% since February) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 24% (down 1%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 68%/18% and those aged 55+ split 54%/36%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 72%/18%.
Doing enough to address climate change
Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Climate change is happen-ing | Aug 2015 | Mar 2016 | Aug 2016 | Dec 2016 | ||||
| Doing enough | 20% | 17% | 30% | 4% | 21% | 15% | 24% | 21% | 22% | 22% | |||
| Not doing enough | 56% | 69% | 42% | 89% | 48% | 75% | 53% | 57% | 52% | 49% | |||
| Doing too much | 8% | 2% | 13% | 1% | 18% | 2% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 11% | |||
| Don’t know | 16% | 12% | 15% | 6% | 14% | 8% | 16% | 13% | 18% | 18% |
56% (up 7% since December) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change and 20% (down 2%) think Australia is doing enough.
Those most likely to think Australia is not doing enough were aged 18-34 (60%) and university educated (62%).
Of those who believe climate change is happening, 75% think Australia is not doing enough.
Addressing climate change
Q. To address climate change, would you support or oppose setting a clean energy target (CET) which means that a set percentage of energy would have to be generated from clean sources (e.g. wind, solar, etc.)?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | ||
| Total support | 64% | 73% | 61% | 87% | 50% | |
| Total oppose | 10% | 4% | 16% | 3% | 10% | |
| Strongly support | 30% | 35% | 25% | 56% | 23% | |
| Support | 34% | 38% | 36% | 31% | 27% | |
| Neither support nor oppose | 18% | 18% | 19% | 7% | 23% | |
| Oppose | 3% | <1% | 6% | 1% | 4% | |
| Strongly oppose | 7% | 3% | 10% | 2% | 6% | |
| Don’t know | 8% | 6% | 4% | 2% | 6% |
Q. To address climate change, would you support or oppose establishing an emissions intensity scheme (EIS) – which means that pollution over a certain level would be taxed?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | ||
| Total support | 54% | 62% | 50% | 77% | 44% | |
| Total oppose | 15% | 9% | 20% | 7% | 22% | |
| Strongly support | 23% | 27% | 16% | 53% | 22% | |
| Support | 31% | 35% | 34% | 24% | 22% | |
| Neither support nor oppose | 21% | 20% | 21% | 12% | 26% | |
| Oppose | 7% | 4% | 9% | 5% | 6% | |
| Strongly oppose | 8% | 5% | 11% | 2% | 16% | |
| Don’t know | 11% | 9% | 8% | 4% | 8% |
Both policies for addressing climate change were supported by a majority of respondents.
64% support a clean energy target and 54% support an emissions intensity scheme.
10% oppose CET and 15% oppose an EIS.
Those most likely to support a CET were Labor voters (73%), Greens voters (87%), aged 18-24 (72%) and university educated (70%).
Those most likely to oppose a CET were Liberal/National voters (16%) and aged 65+ (25%).
Those most likely to support an EIS were Labor voters (62%), Greens voters (77%) and university educated (62%).
Those most likely to oppose an EIS were Liberal/National voters (20%), other party voters (22%) and aged 65+ (28%).
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