In 2025, 46% of Australians said the Labor Party would do a better job than the Coalition at when asked about promoting and defending human rights internationally.

In 2025, we asked Australians which of the two major political parties they thought would do a better job at handling specific foreign policy issues. No party had a majority on any single issue.

The incumbent Labor government had the most pronounced leads over the Liberal–National Coalition opposition on promoting and defending human rights (25-point lead) and managing Australia’s response to climate change (21-point lead). Australians also said Labor would do a better job than the Coalition at responding to the Russia–Ukraine war (eight-point lead). By contrast, the Coalition was preferred on maintaining a capable defence force (six-point lead). Responses were more evenly divided on responding to the Israel–Hamas conflict (four-point lead for Labor with a greater proportion of undecideds than support for either of the parties), managing immigration (two-point lead for the Coalition), and managing the economy (two-point lead for Labor).