Australian foreign policy

Australians are divided on many of the big questions about our role in the world. They hold mixed views on immigration, foreign aid, relationships with neighbours and security partnerships. In 2022, it remains an open question as to which partners, regions and forums should be the highest priority for Australia’s foreign policy. Four in ten Australians (43%) say that ‘focusing on Australia’s region, including Asia and the Pacific’ should be the highest priority for the federal government’s foreign policy. A third (33%) prioritise a globalist approach, saying that the government’s highest priority should be ‘focusing on global cooperation through multilateral institutions, including the United Nations’. Only one in five (20%) say Australia’s focus should be on ‘cooperation with Western countries and traditional partners, including the United States’. On 16 September 2021, the leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States announced the creation of a trilateral security partnership called AUKUS. A slim majority of Australians (52%)say AUKUS will make Australia safer. Around one in five (22%) say AUKUS will make no difference to Australia’s safety, and 7% say the partnership will make Australia less safe. There are partisan differences to these responses: 70% of Australians who lean towards the Liberal and National parties say AUKUS will make Australia safer, a view shared by only 47% of Australians who lean towards the Labor Party and 44% who lean towards the Greens. Australians appear to see the implications of AUKUS in the region in a similar light. Around half (49%) say AUKUS will make the region more safe, 24% say the partnership will make no difference, and 8% say it will make the region less safe. A minority of Australians (11%) say they are not sure about AUKUS, and a similar proportion (8%) say they have never heard of AUKUS. In 2021, the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States convened in person as the Quad grouping. A slim majority of Australians say the Quad will make Australia (53%) and our region (52%) safer. One in five Australians say the Quad will make no difference to Australia (20%) or to the region (21%). Only a small proportion of Australians say the Quad will make Australia (4%) or the region (5%) less safe. One in ten Australians are unsure about the Quad’s impact on Australia (10%) and the region (11%), and 12% of Australians have never heard of the Quad. The Quad Leaders’ Tokyo Summit took place in May 2022, after the fieldwork for the 2022 poll had been completed.