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GlobalisationGlobalisation
About the author
Natasha Kassam
Natasha Kassam was Director of the Lowy Institute's Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program from 2019 to 2022, directing the annual Lowy Institute Poll and researching China’s politics, Taiwan, and Australia-China relations.
Australians have tended to avoid trends of protectionist and anti-globalisation sentiment, and despite the ongoing pandemic which has affected every part of the world, their embrace of globalisation endures. Seven in ten (70%) say that globalisation is ‘mostly good for Australia’, which has not changed significantly from 2019. There is a gap, but only slight, between urban and regional populations. Residents of urban parts of Australia are slightly more supportive of globalisation (72% saying it is mostly good) than their regional and remote counterparts (65% saying mostly good).
At a time where many countries are focused on their own domestic situations, Australians are calling for more global cooperation in response to international crises. More than half (53%) say ‘we need more global cooperation, rather than every country putting their own interests first’. Only a third (31%) say ‘the balance between global cooperation and the interests of individual countries is about right’. And even fewer (16%) say ‘we need less global cooperation. Every country should put their own interests first.’
Australians have always been travellers: they take more than 11 million trips overseas each year and approximately one million Australians live and work overseas at any given time.8 The majority appear undeterred by the pandemic, with 59% of Australians saying that they are just as likely to travel as before, once the pandemic is contained. Only 6% say they are more likely to travel once the pandemic is contained, and 35% say they are less likely to travel than before the outbreak.
