Nuclear boosters now in meltdown
First published on The Drum: 22/03/2011
Beyond its gob-smacking human tragedy and the looming economic catastrophe, the Japanese tsunami has thrown a radioactive wildcard into the global debate over climate change.
The fallout from the meltdown of Japanese nuclear reactors will undermine the until-now successful attempts by the nuclear industry to reposition itself as part of the global warming solution.
As this week’s Essential Report shows, the public had been coming around to the idea that developing nuclear power in Australia was acceptable. This has changed dramatically over the past seven days with one quarter of all Australians changing their position.
Q. Do you support or oppose Australia developing nuclear power plants for the generation of electricity?
| 27 Jan 09 | 20 Dec 10 | Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | ||
| Total support | 43% | 43% | 35% | 29% | 46% | 18% | |
| Total oppose | 35% | 37% | 53% | 58% | 43% | 78% | |
| Strongly support | 14% | 16% | 12% | 10% | 17% | 7% | |
| Support | 29% | 27% | 23% | 19% | 29% | 11% | |
| Oppose | 21% | 21% | 21% | 23% | 22% | 15% | |
| Strongly oppose | 14% | 16% | 32% | 35% | 21% | 63% | |
| Don’t know | 22% | 19% | 13% | 13% | 11% | 5% |
Importance of Relationships with Other Countries
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%).
Change in Relationships with Other Countries
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%.
Australia’s relations with other nations
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 »
Australia’s relations with other nations
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 »
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- Scott Morrison’s impact on Australia’s international reputation
- Views towards Australia’s international reputation
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