Carbon fight worth it, Australians say

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|By Gerard McManus - Sourced From Herald Sun|

MOST Australians are prepared to pay more for energy to combat carbon pollution, despite the fallout from the global economic turmoil. And one in five voters is urging the Rudd Government to speed up plans to introduce an emissions trading scheme ahead of its 2010 timetable.

A Herald Sun Galaxy Research poll conducted at the weekend also revealed 60 per cent of voters remain dissatisfied with the Government’s handling of petrol prices.

This is despite a fall in the price of petrol, which dipped below $1.10 a litre in some places yesterday.

But pollster David Briggs said the petrol issue was even more of a problem for the former Howard government.

“John Howard faired even worse when the price of petrol increased under his term,” the Galaxy director said. “In September 2005, 77 per cent of voters were dissatisfied with John Howard’s response to spiralling petrol prices.”

Almost a third of voters say that they want more to be done to wind back the former government’s unpopular WorkChoices laws.

The Galaxy poll was taken exclusively for the Herald Sun at the weekend and shows the Government has improved its standing with voters a year after the election.

The poll reveals that 62 per cent of voters are either happy with the Government’s ambitious 2010 timetable to introduce a carbon trading scheme — or they want it introduced even sooner.

Just 25 per cent of voters want the Government to postpone the scheme.

Mr Briggs said that there were almost as many voters (21 per cent) who wanted the emissions scheme fast-tracked as those who wanted it postponed (25 per cent).

The Federal Opposition has criticised the 2010 timetable and urged the Government to delay its introduction, particularly following the recent economic uncertainty.

On WorkChoices, even more Coalition voters (32 per cent) than Labor voters (27 per cent) said the Rudd Government had not done enough to scrap the laws.

Just 13 per cent of voters said they were now better off than they were 12 months ago — including 5 per cent of Coalition voters, and 11 per cent of Labor voters.

Those who believed they were worse off totalled 22 per cent, while 64 per cent said they were about the same.

Petrol remains a hot-button issue for the Government, with just 4 per cent of voters declaring they were “very satisfied” with its handling of the issue.

Just last week the Government was forced to abandon its controversial FuelWatch scheme after it faced defeat in the Senate.

Just 30 per cent of those polled said they were satisfied with the Government’s handling of petrol, compared with 60 per cent who were either somewhat or very dissatisfied.

Almost half of Labor voters, or 48 per cent, expressed dissatisfaction over the petrol issue.

The Galaxy Research poll was a telephone survey of 1004 people across Australia.