That is what matters most to Australian voters

With the last federal election in 2022 approaching, we asked Australians what they thought concerning the necessary issues facing Australia. We used Melbourne Institute-Roy Morgan examines the heartbeat of the nationa nationally representative survey of Australian adults.

At the highest of the list were healthcare, an open and honest government, economic stability and inexpensive housing. The 2022 federal election then brought a change of presidency.

The survey asked Australians the identical query in May 2024. While Australians still see healthcare, economic stability, inexpensive housing and an open and honest government as the highest 4 issues facing Australia, the extent of concern and rating of those issues has modified. It has develop into apparent that other issues require more attention.

Here's what Australians told us about their priorities and what it says concerning the country's transformation.

Changing priorities

In each years, 3,772 respondents were presented with an inventory of 17 potential issues facing Australians and asked to point which they thought were necessary.

In 2022, 77.5% cited health services and hospitals and 64.3% considered housing affordability necessary.

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Two years later, the 4 most significant topics were still a very powerful, but their relative order had modified.

Healthcare stays at the highest of the list, but only 69.4% say it’s a vital issue. The importance of economic stability (68.9%) and housing affordability (64%) have increased in comparison with their rankings in 2022. Although it’s now in fourth place, the importance of open and honest government has decreased from 75.3% to 54.5% between 2022 and 2024.

Overall, there’s less agreement amongst Australians about what issues are necessary. At the identical time, there have been changes within the perception of other issues. For example, the proportion of Australians who imagine climate change or older people's support must be addressed has decreased.

Is political color necessary?

Do a very powerful issues vary depending on party affiliation? It's a mixed picture.

Health services and hospitals were the highest three issues for Labour, Green and Coalition supporters in 2024. Economic stability is essential to all parties except the Greens. Housing was not a vital issue for Coalition voters.

Instead, reducing crime is one in every of the highest three issues for coalition supporters. Not surprisingly, tackling global warming and climate change is a top issue for those near the Greens.

How much has modified in two years?

Two years will not be an extended time, so what has modified?

The issues that saw the most important decline in perceived importance were open and honest government (minus 20.8 percentage points), support for older people (minus 17.2 percentage points) and combating global warming and climate change (minus 16.4 percentage points).

By far the problem that has gained essentially the most importance amongst Australians has been interest in reducing migration from other countries, with the proportion of those that said this was a vital issue increasing by 17.6 percentage points in comparison with 2022.

Does the importance of those issues change to the identical extent no matter party preference?

We found that the importance of open and honest government is declining across all party types, but most noticeably for the Labour Party, followed by the Greens.

Likewise, voters from all parties said that take care of the elderly could be a less necessary issue in 2024 than in 2022. Across the three major parties, the importance of this issue fell by 15 to twenty percentage points.

A smaller proportion of voters across all parties considered tackling global warming and climate change a vital issue. Support for tackling climate change fell most sharply amongst Labour voters, from 79.2% in 2022 to 58.6% in 2024.

Notably, in 2024, 79% of Greens voters believed that tackling climate change was necessary for Australia, up from 90.4% in 2022.

Finally, as mentioned above, significantly more Australians imagine that reducing immigration is essential, with this opinion greater than doubling amongst voters of most parties.

From 2022 to 2024, support for reduced immigration increased from 25% to 50.3% amongst Coalition voters, from 11.8% to 22.4% amongst Labor voters, and from 5.2% to fifteen.7% amongst Greens voters. Among voters of other parties (including, for instance, independents, One Nation, and the United Australia Party), support increased from 28.3% to 50.7%.