(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Most people in Australia support a proposal by opposition leader Tony Abbott to employ thousands of people to develop major environmental projects, according to a poll by Essential Research. 59 per cent of respondents back Abbott’s idea, while 15 per cent oppose it.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Most people in Australia support a proposal by opposition leader Tony Abbott to employ thousands of people to develop major environmental projects, according to a poll by Essential Research. 59 per cent of respondents back Abbott’s idea, while 15 per cent oppose it.
On the other hand, 30 per cent of respondents side with the government when it says that carbon must be priced for there to be enough incentives to reduce harmful emissions. Conversely, 45 per cent of respondents agree with the opposition’s idea that this way of thinking conceals the goal to implement a new tax.
Australia held a federal election in November 2007. Final results gave the Australian Labor Party (ALP) 85 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives. ALP leader Kevin Rudd was officially sworn in as prime minister in December, bringing an end to the 11-year tenure of Liberal leader John Howard as head of Australia’s government.
Howard failed to retain his seat in the Bennelong constituency and stepped down as Liberal leader. Since their electoral defeat in 2007, the Liberals have had three different leaders: former defence minister Brendan Nelson, former environment minister Malcolm Turnbull, and former health minister Abbott, who defeated Turnbull in an internal leadership ballot by just one vote in December 2009.
Abbott opposes a government-sponsored plan to create a carbon Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). On Jan. 15, the opposition leader proposed the creation of a 15,000-strong "green army," at a cost of about $625 million U.S. a year, to work on large environmental projects. Abbott declared: "The political left shouldn’t be seen as owning the environment—it is too important for that—and I am determined to challenge any assumption that it does."
Polling Data
The opposition leader Tony Abbott recently announced a plan to employ 15,000 people at an annual cost of up to $750 million to work on large scale environmental projects. Do you support or oppose this plan?
|
Support |
59% |
|
Oppose |
15% |
|
No opinion |
26% |
The federal government says placing a price on carbon is crucial to addressing climate change as there must be a strong incentive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors to achieve the cuts necessary. The opposition says the Government’s plan to include a price on carbon as part of its proposed emissions trading scheme is nothing more than a new tax. Do you agree more with the government or more with the opposition?
|
Agree more with the government |
30% |
|
Agree more with the opposition |
45% |
|
Don’t know |
24% |
Source: Essential Research
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,128 Australian adults, conducted from Jan. 18 to Jan. 24, 2010. No margin of error was provided.
