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

• 60% now think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change, this has increased from 51% in March 2019.
• Those people most likely to think Australia was not doing enough include young people aged 18-34 (69%), Greens voters (87%) and Labor voters (72%).

Q. Thinking about the bushfires in Queensland and New South Wales, which of the following statements is closest to your view?

•  43% now think It likely that the bushfires are linked to climate change and it is appropriate to publicly raise this issue. When this question was last asked in 2013, 27% gave this answer.
• The proportion of people who think it is likely that the bushfires are linked to climate change but it is inappropriate to publicly raise this issue at this this time has remained fairly constant. 17% saying this in 2019, and 14% in 2013.
• Those least likely to think bushfires are linked to climate change and it is appropriate to publicly raise this issue are Coalition (31%) and other minor party and independent voters (31%).

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

53% think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change and 24% think Australia is doing enough.

Those most likely to think Australia is not dong enough were aged 18-34 (63%) and university educated (62%).

Q. Which of the following international issues represents the biggest threat to the world? And which is the second biggest threat? 

61% think that terrorism is one of the two biggest threats to the world and 51% nominated global economic instability as one of the biggest threats.

38% think climate change is one of the two biggest threats.

Labor and Liberal/National voters nominated terrorism and global economic instability as the biggest threats while Greens voters were more likely to think climate change was a bigger threat (68%). Only 21% of Liberal/National voters think climate change is one of the two biggest threats.

Q. Which of the following international issues represents the biggest threat to Australia? And which is the second biggest threat? 

55% think that global economic instability is one of the two biggest threats to Australia and 47% nominated terrorism as one of the biggest threats.

38% think climate change is one of the two biggest threats and 36% nominated the Chinese economic slowdown.

Labor voters think global economic instability, terrorism and climate change represent similar levels of threat while Liberal/National voters were more likely to think the Chinese economic slowdown was a threat. Only 18% of Liberal/National voters thought climate change was one of the two biggest threats to Australia.

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?

56% (up 2% since March) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 31% (no change) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate. This is the second highest belief in climate change recorded over the last 6 years.

By age groups, those aged under 35 split 63%/21% and those aged 55+ split 47%/45%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 68%/22%.

Q. As far as you know, do you think the following countries are doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?

53% of respondents think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change – while 57% think the USA is not doing enough and 69% think China is not doing enough. Only 28% think that Australia is doing enough.

Those most likely to think Australia is not doing enough were aged 18-34 (60%), Greens voters (95%), Labor voters (69%) and people with university education (65%).

Q. Australia’s current target to reduce its carbon emissions is a 5% reduction on our 2000 level of emissions by 2020. The Climate Change Authority recently recommended that, because of commitments by other countries, Australia’s target should be 30% below our 2000 level of emissions by 2025. Should Australia:

Only 18% think that Australia should retain its current target of 5% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020. 34% think that Australia should move to the recommended target of 30% and 25% think we should move to a higher target such as 10%.

43% of Labor voters and 72% of Greens voters think Australia should move to the 30% target. 34% of Liberal/National voters think Australia should keep the current 5% target while 45% think it should be higher.