Australians are far less worried about the world choking on greenhouse gas emissions than they were five years ago - and a record number of people now oppose a price on carbon, new polling has found.
The hardening of attitudes on environment policy appears to further dent support for Julia Gillard’s proposed carbon tax, with nearly 40 per cent of Australians now not prepared to pay anything if tackling climate change involves a rise in electricity bills - an almost two-fold increase compared with 2008.
Overall, the number of Australians who believe the country should take urgent steps to address the problem ”even if this involves significant costs” has plunged from 68 per cent in 2006 to 41 per cent today.
The poll of Australian’s opinion on international issues by the Lowy Institute in Sydney also shows combating climate change has continued to drop among issues ranked as priorities for Australia - with only 46 per cent seeing it as ”important” compared with 75 per cent in 2007.
The number of people willing to pay an extra $10 each month for energy fell to 19 per cent - down from 25 per cent last year.
But there is little consolation for the government, even among those who see global warming as a gradual problem that will involve some costs.
This group is intensely critical of federal Labor’s environment policy, with more than 80 per cent saying the government is doing a poor job.
Protecting Australian workers, stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and combating terrorism remain the major public priorities in world affairs.
Asylum-seeker arrivals are also a major concern, with most people fearing for refugees’ safety during a hazardous boat journey, the cost of processing and security risks.
The poll also shows the war in Afghanistan remains deeply unpopular, with well over half of Australians wanting to see troops return home.
But at the same time, 72 per cent of people are willing to keep a military presence in Afghanistan to protect rights of local women.
Only 38 per cent agree Australia should remain engaged as long as its US ally is in the country.
The poll of 1002 people was taken in early April, before the April 29 death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
As the government embarks on a major review of the positioning of Australia’s defense assets - known as a force posture review - the prospect of additional US bases in Australia has support from 55 per cent of the population.
But efforts to cast any change to defense arrangements as a response to a growing threat of China runs against majority opinion, with most people believing the rise of China has been good for Australia and unlikely to rank Beijing as a future military threat.
The WikiLeaks website gets a tick from almost two-thirds of Australians as a ”good thing” after leaking thousands of classified US military and diplomatic files.
