The latest Lowy Institute survey on Australians' attitudes towards the world includes a 'feelings thermometer, where attitudes are measured as the temperature in degrees - hot or cold.
“Feelings towards India (53°) and Indonesia (51°) have marginally cooled from previous years, but remain slightly warmer than neutral. Australians place Israel (48°) and Myanmar (46°) on the cooler side of the thermometer,” reads the survey report released on Wednesday.
The author or the report, Ms Natasha Kassam, who is a research fellow at the Lowy Institute, says Australians have consistently warm feelings towards India and the change in marginal.
This year’s the feelings thermometer included 19 countries and territories, as well as the European Union.
The respondents were asked to rate their feelings towards some countries and territories, with one hundred meaning a very warm, favourable feeling, zero meaning a very cold, unfavourable feeling, and fifty meaning not particularly warm or cold.
“India has consistently ranked in the mid-fifties which is a little bit warmer than neutral but not nearly as warm as they perhaps feel about Japan or the US or New Zealand which is at the top of the list at the moment,” Ms Kassam told SBS Hindi.
This is how India has fared in the 'feelings thermometer' over the years. Source: LOWY INSTITUTE POLL 2019
The survey indicates the feelings towards India have cooled from previous years. This year the temperature is 5 degrees colder than last year. It was 62 degrees in 2006.
However, Ms Kassam stresses that the change is marginal.
“I do think it is important to keep that in context. It is marginal. It is only a small number. Having said that, I suspect it is the reflection of Australia’s increasing concern about the whole region. You can see quite a few countries have marginally cooled this year.
"And I think this speaks to Australians feeling vulnerable because of how major trading partner China and the US are in this long term trade conflict which puts Australia at risk. So, on many different factors, I can say Australians being more worried in the region and I am sure that to some extent that could have had some impact on feelings towards India, as opposed to any particular behaviour of India as well.”
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Australians continue to feel cold towards Russia (43°) and Saudi Arabia (34°). However, the most frozen feelings from Australians were received by North Korea (25°).
One of the significant findings of this year’s survey is that Australians’ trust in both major economic partner China and the long-term ally the US is declining.
“Only 32 per cent of Australians trust China and 52 per cent trust the United States. This is the lowest level of trust that Australians have expressed in the Lowy Institute poll,” Ms Kassam said.
According to the survey, 59 per cent Australians say New Zealand is our best friend in the world, followed by the United States (20%) and the United Kingdom (15%).
Only 4% consider China at Australia’s best friend, which has halved since 2017. For 2 per cent Australians, Japan and only for one per cent, Indonesia is Australia’s best friend in the world.
For the first time, most Australians believe climate change is the primary threat to the country in the next ten years.
“Climate change is for the first time at the top of the list. In the past, the top of the list has been dominated by nuclear or terrorism-related threats. So, to see the climate change at the top is of great interest,” says Ms Kassam.
Australians views towards immigration have also softened, according to the survey.
In 2018 we saw a majority Australians saying for the first time that Australia was allowing too many immigrants into the country. However, now we can say that there was a sharp spike in that sentiment in 2018, and it has come back down slightly.
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Forty-seven per cent of Australians now say we are allowing too much migration, which is seven per cent lower than last year.
However, a majority of Australians continue to say that immigration is good for the economy and the migrants strengthen Australia with their hard work and talent,” the survey shows.
However, 40 per cent believe that immigrants take jobs away from other Australians.
