Only 41% of Australians believe that addressing climate change is a serious and pressing issue according to the results of a poll conducted by the Lowy Institute.

 

The findings are the results of a poll conducted in March, in which the institute quizzed 1000 people on their views on climate change.

 

The research also shows that 75 per cent of Australians believe the Federal Government has done a poor job of handling the issue.

 

39 per cent of the participants said they were unwilling to pay any increases in taxes or rates to deal with climate change.

 

Greens deputy Christine Milne has downplayed the results, arguing that public sentiment will support carbon tax and other policy after the Federal Government enacts them.

 

"I think what we are seeing now is people having been affected by a very strong sceptics campaign ... (but) people are still saying `I'd still like to see some action on climate change'," Senator Milne said.

 

Lowy Institute’s executive director Dr Michael Wesley has warned that the falling sentiment represents a drop of five points from the same time last year.

 

“The fact that the Government hasn't acted decisively, it's been on-again off-again with the ETS and then the carbon tax, I think it's a belief that the Government is wavering on this. There is not much political will to do anything serious about it, and it's also tied to a belief well, the Government is doing anything serious about it so therefore perhaps this isn't such a serious issue and doesn't need to be acted on immediately.” Dr Wesley said.