Polling: Labor Ahead on Energy Policy But Many Undecided Voters Up For Grabs

The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of Australians about which major party policies they thought would be better for reducing emissions, lowering electricity prices and energy reliability.

"Interestingly, while Labor is very clearly ahead with voters when looking at which major party has the best policies on addressing emissions, Labor also leads on reliability and prices as well," said Richie Merzian, Climate & Energy Program Director at the Australia Institute.

"Crucially, the large number of voters who 'don't know' which party has the best policies for energy reliability, prices and emissions suggests there's still a lot of voters up for grabs with a little over two weeks of electioneering to go.

"Federal politics has been consumed for many years now by heated debate between Government and Opposition about energy policy, including playing a role in bringing down a Prime Minister - or several.

"Yet surprisingly, all this energy debate has resulted in been very little change in views about which major party's energy policy they favour, with large parts of the community still unsure.

"Meanwhile, our Climate of the Nation research also shows that the number of Australians concerned about climate change is only increasing, and almost seven in 10 Australians agree the Government needs to implement a plan to ensure the orderly closure of old coal plants and their replacement with clean energy."