Newspoll: Voters deliver verdict on bushfires crisis

Meeting climate change targets has for the first time emerged as a greater priority for voters than keeping energy prices down.

Residents look on as flames burn through bush in Lake Tabourie NSW. Picture: Getty Images

Meeting climate change targets has for the first time emerged as a greater priority for voters than keeping energy prices down, with more people now also claiming they would be prepared to wear at least some cost to achieve it.

An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian, however, shows significantly more people believe a failure to conduct adequate hazard reduction burns was the main cause for the severity of the summer bushfires, rather than climate change.

A total of 56 per cent of those polled said they believed that state and territory government failure to conduct adequate hazard reduction was the main contributor compared with 35 per cent supporting the argument for climate change as the primary cause.

A marked shift over the past two years has been revealed, with almost double the number of voters now saying they believe meeting greenhouse gas targets is equally if not more important than cutting ­energy prices.

But a significant generational split remains, with the groundswell of support for climate change as a priority ahead of energy prices evident in younger voters, with a majority of older voters yet to be convinced.

Labor votes were split on the issue, with 47 per backing either side of the argument, with 72 per cent of Greens voters citing climate change and 69 per cent of Coalition voters blaming a lack of hazard reduction.

Click here for the full Newspoll results.

On this issue, young voters were almost evenly divided, with the strength of support for the hazard reduction argument increasing with age.

A total of 11 per cent of voters claimed preventing blackouts should be the higher priority.

Women were more likely than men to put greenhouse emission reductions ahead of power prices — 46 per cent to 39 per cent.

At the height of the energy price debate in 2018, more than 60 per cent of voters claimed driving down electricity prices should be the government’s key priority over greenhouse gas targets, with barely a quarter of voters believing otherwise.

The number favouring climate change has now almost doubled from 24 per cent to 43 per cent, with a sharp drop to 42 per cent wanting power prices to take precedent.

Of those polled, 41 per cent claimed they would be prepared to pay more for their electricity bill compared with 30 per cent three years ago.

Yet 50 per cent of voters still maintained they were not prepared to pay anything extra.

The first poll to measure the mood of the nation as the ­debate over meeting a 2050 zero net emissions target ­intensifies comes ahead of the likely release this week of the ­Morrison government’s technology road map, which will underpin a broader climate change policy.

The survey polled 1513 voters between February 19 and 22 across capital cities and regional areas.