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Australia’s reputation overseasAustralia’s reputation overseas
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 are overwhelmingly positive about the effect on their country’s reputation overseas from Australia’s handling of Covid-19. Almost all Australians (97%) say Australia’s response to Covid-19 has had a ‘very positive’ or ‘positive’ influence on Australia’s reputation in the world. This is almost the same number as those who say Australia has handled Covid-19 very or fairly well (95%). The majority of Australians (57%) say the influence of Australia’s Covid-19 response on Australia’s reputation is ‘very positive’.
The vast majority of Australians also agree that Australia’s diplomatic service (84%), foreign aid program (83%) and defence force (82%) have a positive influence on our reputation overseas.
One area of foreign policy has had a less positive effect on Australia’s reputation abroad, according to most Australians. A majority (54%) say that Australia’s climate change policy has a negative influence on Australia’s reputation overseas. This issue is divisive, however: 44% of Australians think national climate change policy has a ‘very positive’ or ‘positive’ influence on Australia’s reputation overseas. This is higher than the number in 2020 (33%) who said in response to a slightly differently-worded question that Australia’s ‘approach to climate change’ had a positive effect on its reputation on the world.
