Preferred energy sources for government support
Q. As you may be aware, many of Australia’s coal-fired power stations are reaching the end of their operational lives and will soon need to be replaced.
Which of the following would you prefer that the government supported?
| Total | Gender | Age Group | Federal Voting Intention | |||||||
| Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | Labor | Liberal + National | Greens | TOTAL: Other | ||
| Renewable energy solutions (e.g. wind and solar) | 65% | 52% | 77% | 61% | 72% | 60% | 76% | 51% | 79% | 54% |
| New nuclear power stations | 19% | 28% | 10% | 17% | 15% | 25% | 12% | 28% | 11% | 19% |
| New coal-fired power stations | 8% | 8% | 9% | 11% | 8% | 7% | 5% | 11% | 3% | 14% |
| New gas-fired power stations | 8% | 12% | 4% | 11% | 5% | 8% | 7% | 9% | 7% | 12% |
| Base (n) | 1,094 | 539 | 555 | 341 | 368 | 385 | 366 | 397 | 101 | 130 |
- Renewable energy is the preferred power for the future for the majority of Australians (65%).
- One in five (20%) say they want the government to prioritise support for nuclear power.
- Fossil fuels receive little support – with just 8% wanting government support for coal or gas.
- The majority of all demographics want the government to prioritise support for renewables.
Government spending on energy sources
Q To what extent would you support or oppose the Government spending taxpayers’ money to research the following energy sources?
| NET: Support | NET: Oppose | Strongly support | Somewhat support | Neither support nor oppose | Somewhat oppose | Strongly oppose | |
| Renewables (such as large-scale solar or wind farms) | 71% | 12% | 45% | 27% | 16% | 7% | 5% |
| Hydrogen technology | 57% | 10% | 24% | 33% | 32% | 7% | 3% |
| Clean coal | 50% | 23% | 20% | 29% | 28% | 11% | 11% |
| Nuclear | 38% | 35% | 17% | 21% | 27% | 15% | 20% |
| Gender | Age Group | Federal Voting Intention | Location | ||||||||||
| NET: Support | Total | Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | Labor | Coalition | Greens | NET: Other | Capital City | Non-Capital City | |
| Renewables (such as large-
scale solar or wind farms) |
71% | 71% | 72% | 74% | 69% | 72% | 78% | 66% | 95% | 63% | 74% | 67% | |
| Hydrogen technology | 57% | 65% | 51% | 53% | 52% | 66% | 58% | 61% | 63% | 54% | 59% | 53% | |
| Clean coal | 50% | 50% | 50% | 49% | 44% | 56% | 43% | 64% | 28% | 48% | 51% | 47% | |
| Nuclear | 38% | 47% | 30% | 32% | 34% | 47% | 34% | 50% | 25% | 37% | 39% | 36% | |
- 71% of participants support the Government spending taxpayers’ money to research renewables, compared to 50% support for clean coal.
- Support for research into renewables is higher in capital cities (74%) than non-capital cities (67%), and higher among Greens voters (95%) than all other voters (63%).
- Coalition voters are most likely to support research into clean coal (64%) and nuclear power (50%) whereas Greens voters are least likely to support those energy sources (28% and 25% respectively).
- Men tend to support research into hydrogen technology (65%) and nuclear (47%) more than women (51% and 30% respectively).
- Participants over 55 years are more likely to support research into hydrogen technology (66%), clean coal (56%) or nuclear (47%) than those aged 18-54 (52%, 46% and 33% respectively).
Government support for energy industries
Q. Do you think the Federal Government gives enough or not enough support to the following?
|
Gives enough support |
Does not give enough support |
Don’t know |
|
|
The coal industry |
60% |
12% |
28% |
|
Wind farms |
18% |
56% |
25% |
|
Large scale solar |
15% |
55% |
30% |
|
Roof top solar |
21% |
57% |
22% |
60% think that the Federal Government gives enough support to the coal industry and a majority think they do not give enough support to roof top solar (57%), wind farms (56%) or large scale solar (55%).
A majority of all voter groups think the Government gives enough support to the coal industry.
A large majority of Labor and Greens voters think the Government does not give enough support to roof top solar (Labor 67%/Greens 79%), wind farms (71%/86%) or large scale solar (66%/82%).
Liberal/National voters were more divided but were more likely to think the Government does not give enough support to large scale solar (26% enough/42% not enough), roof top solar (33%/43%) or wind farms (34%/39%).
Energy Sources
Q. Do you think Australia should put more emphasis, less emphasis or about the same emphasis as it does now on producing domestic energy from the following sources?
|
More emphasis |
Same emphasis |
Less emphasis |
Don’t know |
Sep 2014 More emphasis |
Sep 2014 Less emphasis |
||
|
Solar power |
71% |
14% |
4% |
11% |
70% |
3% |
|
|
Wind |
62% |
20% |
6% |
12% |
60% |
8% |
|
|
Hydro |
55% |
25% |
4% |
17% |
46% |
6% |
|
|
Gas |
22% |
41% |
20% |
17% |
23% |
22% |
|
|
Nuclear power |
23% |
25% |
32% |
21% |
18% |
41% |
|
|
Coal |
9% |
25% |
50% |
16% |
9% |
53% |
71% think Australia should put more emphasis on producing domestic energy from solar power and 62% think there should be more emphasis on wind power. A majority (50%) think there should be less emphasis on producing energy from coal.
There were few substantial differences since this question was asked in September, except for an increase for more emphasis on hydro power – up from 46% to 55%.
Energy sources
Q. Do you think Australia should put more emphasis, less emphasis or about the same emphasis as it does now on producing domestic energy from the following sources?
|
|
More emphasis |
Same emphasis |
Less emphasis |
Don’t know |
| Solar power |
70% |
21% |
3% |
5% |
| Wind |
60% |
26% |
8% |
6% |
| Hydro |
46% |
39% |
6% |
9% |
| Gas |
23% |
47% |
22% |
8% |
| Nuclear power |
18% |
26% |
41% |
15% |
| Coal |
9% |
31% |
53% |
8% |
70% think Australia should put more emphasis on producing domestic energy from solar power and 60% think there should be more emphasis on wind power. A majority (53%) think there should be less emphasis on producing energy from coal.
There were few significant differences across demographic groups. Those aged 55+ were a little more likely to want more emphasis on solar (74%) and less emphasis on coal (64%).
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Essential Report
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Views towards re-electing the federal Coalition government
- Party trust to handle issues
- Importance of Australia’s international reputation
- Scott Morrison’s impact on Australia’s international reputation
- Views towards Australia’s international reputation
Sign up for updates
Receive the Essential Report in your inbox.Essential Tags
Recent Comments
