Climate change no longer a ‘serious issue’ for most Australians: Poll

June 27, 2011 | World News | Written by

Canberra, June 27: Only 41 percent of Australians believe that the issue of climate change is a serious and pressing problem, according to a poll.

According to the poll conducted by the Lowy Institute, the percentage of people who believe climate change is a serious issue has decreased five points from last year and 27 points since 2006.

The poll also revealed that 75 per cent of Australians believe the government has done a poor job addressing climate change, News.com.au reports.

Australians are also much less willing to pay a price to tackle climate change, with 39 per cent not prepared to pay anything extra, the poll revealed.

John Connor, chief executive of The Climate Institute, an independent research organization, said the polling results did not surprise him and believes that a strong commitment by Britain to act on climate change had improved attitudes by Australians to a carbon price.

“It’s a worrying trend but not a surprising trend,” Connor said.

“We’ve picked up at least a change in the momentum since we launched the Say Yes campaign,” he added.

Connor said that analysis of talkback radio by the institute showed an improvement in support for climate change action since February.

“I’m not at all relaxed but I think we are seeing a turning point,” he added. (ANI)