The unprecedented bushfire emergency in 2019-2020 had an impact on most Australians. The January 2020 ANU Poll found nearly 3 million Australians adults were directly exposed to the fires and 15 million reported indirect exposure.
Most Australians were impacted by the 2019-2020 bushfires in one way or another.
The bushfires also had an impact on Australians’ views towards politics with 20% of respondents saying in January they would vote for a different party.
The number of people who thought the environment was the first or second most important issue facing Australia climbed from 42% in October 2019 to 50% in January 2020.
The bushfires had an impact on satisfaction with the way the country is heading with a near 6% drop from October (65%) to January (60%).
Close to 80 per cent of respondents reported at least one form of exposure, from the severe form of having a home or property destroyed to being affected by the smoke from the fires.
One of the characteristics of the bushfires is their very large geographic range, the length of time that they lasted and the large amount of smoke haze that spread across some of Australia’s largest cities and regional towns.
More than half of Australian adults - 54 per cent - reported feeling anxious or worried by the bushfires.
The bushfires were unprecedented in scale, global in impact, and appear to have had wide ranging political and attitudinal impacts.
Satisfaction with the way the country is heading fell from October 2019 to January 2020. Before the fires, 65 per cent said they were satisfied with the way the country was heading, but by January it had fallen to 60 per cent.
There was an impact too on what Australians think of their politicians with a significant decline in the likeability of the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.
While the confidence in most institutions (public service, police) was relatively stable, the number of people who said they’d vote for the coalition fell from 40 per cent in October 2019 to 35 per cent in January.
The Prime Minister, Soctt Morrison’s average rating fell from 5.25 out of ten to 3.92, while the Opposition leader, Anthony Albanese’s rating went up slightly from 4.87 to 5.04
Concern about the environment rose with 50 per cent of people saying aspects of the environment were either the most or second most important issue facing Australia in January, up 8 per cent from October. Concern about specific issues rose, with worry about loss particularly over loss of native vegetation up or animal species up 13 per cent and drought up 9 per cent.