China, diplomacy, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Polling, polls, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States
Q. Would you like to see Australia’s relationship with these countries get closer, stay the same or become less close?
| Get closer | Stay the same | Become less close | Don’t know | Get closer
15 Nov |
Change | ||
| New Zealand | 37% | 55% | 3% | 5% | 29% | +8 | |
| China | 32% | 52% | 9% | 7% | 30% | +2 | |
| Japan | 26% | 59% | 8% | 7% | 21% | +5 | |
| United Kingdom | 25% | 62% | 7% | 5% | 20% | +5 | |
| United States | 24% | 61% | 11% | 5% | 20% | +4 | |
| Indonesia | 21% | 51% | 20% | 8% | 23% | -2 | |
| India | 19% | 53% | 18% | 9% | 22% | -3 | |
| Germany | 18% | 62% | 10% | 10% | 14% | +4 | |
| South Africa | 13% | 59% | 17% | 11% | 11% | +2 |
37% think that Australia’s relationship with New Zealand should get closer and 32% think our relationship with China should get closer.
Labor voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with China (31%) and New Zealand (31%).
Liberal/National voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with New Zealand (42%) and United States (34%).
Greens voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with New Zealand (43%), China (38%) and Japan (34%).
Since this question was asked in November, the percentage wanting a closer relationship with New Zealand has increased 8%, and increased 5% for Japan and the United Kingdom.
China, EMC, ER, essential report, Germany, India, Indonesia, International relationships, International ties, Japan, NZ, South Africa, UK, US
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%).
China, EMC, ER, essential report, Germany, India, Indonesia, International relationships, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, UK, US
Q. Would you like to see Australia’s relationship with these countries get closer, stay the same or become less close?
| Get closer | Stay the same | Become less close | Don’t know | Get closer April 10 | Change | ||
| China | 30% | 50% | 9% | 11% | 33% | -3 | |
| New Zealand | 29% | 58% | 3% | 11% | 33% | -4 | |
| Indonesia | 23% | 49% | 15% | 13% | 30% | -7 | |
| India | 22% | 50% | 14% | 14% | 24% | -2 | |
| Japan | 21% | 58% | 8% | 13% | 24% | -3 | |
| United States | 20% | 60% | 11% | 10% | 24% | -4 | |
| United Kingdom | 20% | 63% | 7% | 10% | 24% | -4 | |
| Germany | 14% | 62% | 9% | 15% | 16% | -2 | |
| South Africa | 11% | 59% | 14% | 16% | 13% | -2 |
30% think that Australia’s relationship with China should get closer and 29% think our relationship with New Zealand should get closer.
Labor voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with China (32%) and New Zealand (29%).
Liberal/National voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with New Zealand (29%) and China (28%).
Greens voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with China (38%), Indonesia (36%) and New Zealand (36%).
Since this question was asked in April, the percentage wanting a closer relationship with Indonesia has dropped from 30% to 23%.
China, Germany, India, Indonesia, International Relations, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States
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 | |
| United States | 59% | 33% | 4% | 4% |
| New Zealand | 56% | 34% | 6% | 5% |
| China | 51% | 36% | 7% | 5% |
| United Kingdom | 46% | 41% | 9% | 5% |
| Indonesia | 40% | 40% | 13% | 7% |
| Japan | 39% | 48% | 8% | 5% |
| India | 27% | 44% | 21% | 7% |
| Germany | 18% | 44% | 29% | 8% |
| South Africa | 12% | 41% | 39% | 8% |
Over half think that it is very important for Australia to have a close relationship with the United States (59%), New Zealand (56%) and China (51%).
Labor voters were more likely to think a close relationship with China is very important (56%) while Green voters were more likely to think it is not very important (15%).
Labor voters were more likely to think relations with Indonesia are very important (48%) and relations with India are quite important (51%).
Coalition voters were more likely to think Australia’s relations with India are not very important (26%). However, these voters were more likely to think Australia’s relations with the United Kingdom (52%) and the United States (68%) are very important. Comments »
China, Germany, India, Indonesia, International Relations, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States
Q. Would you like to see Australia’s relationship with these countries get closer, stay the same or become less close?
| Get closer | Stay the same | Become less close | Don’t know | |
| China | 33% | 45% | 13% | 9% |
| New Zealand | 33% | 56% | 2% | 8% |
| Indonesia | 30% | 48% | 12% | 10% |
| United States | 24% | 59% | 9% | 8% |
| United Kingdom | 24% | 62% | 5% | 8% |
| India | 24% | 50% | 16% | 10% |
| Japan | 24% | 59% | 8% | 10% |
| Germany | 16% | 65% | 7% | 12% |
| South Africa | 13% | 63% | 12% | 12% |
When it comes to Australia’s relationship getting closer with various countries, 33% think Australia’s relations with China should get closer, 45% think our relations with China should stay the same and 13% think they should become less close.
33% support a closer relationship with New Zealand and 30% support a closer relationship with Indonesia. The country that scores the highest in terms of one which Australia should become less close with is India (16%).
Labor (36%) voters were more likely to think that Australia’s relations with China should become closer, while Coalition (17%) and Greens (23%) voters were more likely to think it should be less close.
Labor voters were more likely to think Australia’s relations with India should stay the same (55%), while Coalition voters were more likely to think they should become less close (20%). Comments »