Observation
The Australian public give high marks to the current Coalition government for its handling of key Australian foreign policy issues, with two exceptions — China and climate change. The highest marks are awarded for the government’s response to Covid-19, for which the government scored 7.6 out of 10. Australians also score the government highly on ‘maintaining Australia’s national security’ and ‘maintaining a strong alliance with the United States’ (6.8 out of 10 for both).
As indicated in other results this year, Australians are positive about the government’s management of Australia’s economy, awarding 6.6 marks out of 10 to the government. The government receives an above-average mark of 6.5 out of 10 for presenting a good image of Australia internationally.
On the question of China, Australians are more divided, awarding 5.1 marks out of 10 for the government’s management of the relationship with China. As other results in the 2021 Poll show, however, more Australians lay the blame for the relationship tensions on China.
Australians mark the government hardest on the issue of climate change, awarding it a below-average 4.6 marks out of 10 for ‘managing Australia’s approach to climate change’. This is reinforced in other Poll findings, in which 60% say Australia is doing ‘too little’ to combat climate change.