Regional voters reject gas led recovery, support investment in renewables

New polling has shown that regional and inner city voters have nearly identical views on the need to tackle climate change, rejecting the Morrison government’s gas led recovery and supporting public investment in new renewable energy projects.

Polling commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation surveyed 15,000 people across Australia, testing support for renewables, as well as support for the ongoing roll of fossil fuels in Australia’s energy system.

The polling showed that climate change remained a key political issue, with a majority of those surveyed saying that climate change ranked as an important election issue.

An overwhelming majority of those surveyed – 70 per cent – said that they thought governments should be directly investing in the construction of wind and solar projects.

A smaller proportion – 36 per cent – said the government should be investing in new battery storage projects, possibly reflecting a recognition of comparatively higher technology costs.

As a repudiation of the Morrison government’s current energy investment agenda, less than 20 per cent of respondents said that governments should be investing in new coal and gas projects.

“The poll shows Australians reject the government’s gas-led recovery,” the Australian Conservation Foundation’s CEO Kelly O’Shanassy said.

“Australia is a diverse nation but united in our desire for climate action.

“It’s time for the Morrison government to get on with building clean industries and jobs for Australians and cutting climate pollution this decade,” O’Shanassy added.

Despite the focus of the Morrison government on supporting fossil fuel projects – including paying coal power stations to stay open and subsidising the exploration for new gas reserves – none of the 151 federal electorates surveyed showed majority support for fossil fuels.

Support for fossil fuels was highest in the electorate of deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce – New England – which recorded 45 per cent support for the ongoing use of fossil fuels; and the Queensland electorate of Maranoa – represented by Agriculture minister David Littleproud – which reported 41 per cent support for the same.

Just 34 per cent of survey respondents in Joel Fitzgibbon’s Hunter electorate supported the ongoing use of fossil fuels, while just 32 per cent of the electorate of federal minister for energy and emissions reduction, Angus Taylor, said the same. The result confirms that some of the most ardent supporters of coal and gas are largely out of step with the views of their own electorates.

In the last federal budget, the Morrison government committed $600 million of public funds towards the construction of a new gas fired generator in Kurri Kurri. The project – to be built by the government owned Snowy Hydro – has been widely panned as unnecessary and a questionable use of public funds at a time when Australia faces increasing pressure to reduce its emissions.

Half of Coalition voters surveyed said that they wanted the government to take greater action on climate change and one-in-five Coalition voters said that climate change would be a determinative factor in how they would vote at the next federal election.

The polling results were combined with a new “multilevel regression with poststratification (MRP)” analysis tool – which linked results with key demographic data to provide a more detailed outcome of the levels of support of renewable energy and climate action between different socio-economic groups.

Crucially, the polling found that there is little difference between the opinions of those in regional and metropolitan parts of Australia, with more than two-thirds of people in each saying that they did not believe that coal and gas should play a role in Australia’s future energy mix.

“This poll reveals a groundswell of voters prioritising climate change as a key election issue in response to longer droughts and heatwaves, devastating bushfires and damaging floods,” O’Shanassy said.

“This polling shatters the myth there’s one view in the bush about climate change and another in the city.”

“One-in-three voters in inner metro electorates and one-in-four voters in rural electorates say climate change is the most important issue for them at the next election,” O’Shanassy added.

The poll also found that 61 per cent of responses expressed support for 2030 emissions reduction targets of greater than 50 per cent.

The ACF commission poll comes as a new Newspoll, published by The Australian, shows the federal Labor opposition holding a 54-46 lead in two-party preferred support, while Scott Morrison maintains a 50-34 lead over Anthony Albanese as preferred prime minister.