To Be Treated With a Modicum of Scepticism

The latest study of which countries Australians feel positive about poses more questions than it answers

In view of the uncountable times where we have been told all the significance we should attach to the numerous polls that inform us that Uncle Sam is unpopular just in such-and-such country, in so-and-so nation, and in various groups of countries and/or continents, and how much this should make us think deeply and profoundly about (i.e., put into doubt) Washington's policies and decisions, it is refreshing that Australia's The Age should add some common-sense remarks on polls in general and their (true) significance:

Australians have been fearful of foreigners and invasion virtually since the beginning of white settlement in 1788. First it was the French, then the Russians. A century ago Australians were divided about who they feared most - China or Japan. Within a decade it was Germany that posed the immediate threat and the Japanese had become a strategic ally. A quarter of a century later a seemingly unstoppable Japan was sweeping southward towards the Australian continent. By the 1980s most Australians saw the Soviet Union as the biggest threat to global security, according to an AgePoll. Fast forward to 1994 and the Japanese had disappeared from view, while China was again seen as a threat. More recently Indonesia has been deemed unfriendly. Such attitudes are often rooted in xenophobia or driven by a range of other equally irrational influences. Almost invariably such perceptions have also been closely linked to the prevailing global power balances.

The latest summation of popular opinion, provided by the Lowy Institute for International Policy, continues in this view. A survey of 1000 Australians has found that while an overwhelming majority feel positive about Britain, Europe, Singapore and Japan, they are less enthusiastic about the United States and ambivalent about Indonesia. Only 58 per cent of Australians have "positive feelings" towards the US - less than for Malaysia (62 per cent) and a lot less than for China (69 per cent). Yet, according to the institute, an independent think tank based in Sydney chaired by shopping centre developer Frank Lowy, Australians want to have it both ways. While one-third are "very worried" about US foreign policy and Australian dependence, there remains solid support for the continuation of the ANZUS alliance.

The lies, damned lies and statistics of which Disraeli complained are probably no more apparent than in surveys about foreign relations. The outcomes, of course, depend in large part on the questions asked. Little wonder Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was moved to comment that "you can't run a foreign policy on the back of opinion polls". And any survey that produces a positive outcome ranking China - where political repression and human rights abuses still abound despite economic reforms - ahead of France and the US must be treated with a modicum of scepticism.