Climate Change and Public Opinion - Liberal voters remain resistant

COP21 event (Arnoud Bouissou)

As the climate change negotiations draw to a close at COP21 in Paris, the question of support for the appropriate level of Government action to meet the challenge ahead has its own inherent weakness. While the change in Australian Prime Minister from Tony Abbott to Malcolm Turnbull also heralded a change from a climate change sceptic to a climate change believer, the overall perspective of the Liberal voters has not. By and large, Liberal Party voters and supporters do not believe in climate change.

Research released by Australia's CSIRO presents a different picture for the wider Australian community. Over a five year period from 2010-2014, CSIRO conducted a longitudinal survey of 17,493 Australians to assess the ways in which they think about climate change and what steps they are taking to mitigate its effect on their lives. A dozen of the key findings are summarised below:

• Just under 80% of respondents thought that climate change was happening;
• On average, respondents predicted that around 23% of Australians were of the opinion that climate change was not happening when only around 8% of the respondents actually had that opinion;
• Opinions on climate change are not related to demographic differences - age, gender and education accounted for little, if any differences, of opinion;
• Those who believe in climate change based their opinions on scientific research  and very few selected 'politicans and government' or 'news and media'  as sources for their opinion;
• People's opinions about climate change are related to voting behaviour but more strongly related to environmental worldview;
• Most people expect temperatures to rise in their region;
• People think extreme climate and weather events will. increase in intensity and frequency in the future;
• People report being less able to cope with bushfires and storms if they occur in the future;
• There is broad support for a wide range of adaptation initiatives with most support given to renewable energy resource, protection form invasive species, increased investment in public transport and restrictions on development in vulnerable areas. 
• Least support was given to investment in nuclear power stations.
• People trust university scientists the most to provide truthful information on climate change. Oil companies and car companies were trusted the least.
• The strongest emotions associated with climate change are negative but there is a sense of hope with climate-relevant behaviour.

The report from the CSIRO can be accessed at the link below:

CSIRO Report