Regional infrastructure and climate change the biggest issues for regional voters

More than 500 readers of Australian Community Media's agricultural publications were asked what their top three election issues were.

Almost half of all responders put regional infrastructure (47.2 per cent) in their top three, closely followed by climate change (46pc), health and education (42.3pc), and cost of living (41.3pc).

Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has been on a regional infrastructure spending spree, with multi-billion-dollar commitments in the recent budget and plenty of multi-million-dollar election promises.

Mr Joyce is armed with a regional infrastructure war chest of at least $20 billion, which was negotiated in exchange for the Nationals support of the government's target of net-zero emissions by 2050.

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Despite agreeing to net-zero by 2050, Mr Joyce has struggled to openly support the target, despite the ACM poll echoing the results of other recent surveys, which have found climate change is an important election issue to the majority of Nationals voters.

Mr Joyce backed hydrogen as the resource industry of the future, but refused to use the term energy "transition" because it "equals unemployment" and defended high-profile Nationals candidate for Flynn, Collin Boyce, who called the 2050 commitment "Morrison's document" and branded it a "flexible plan".

The Deputy Prime Minister's vague stance on net-zero has allowed the climate wars to reignite within the Coalition, with Senator Matt Canavan declaring the policy was "dead" - who was promptly told to "pull his head in" by both former Nationals leader Michael McCormack and Nationals Capricornia MP Michelle Landry.

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison was forced to clarify the Coalition's policy and said commitment to net zero by 2050 "is the government's absolute policy".

NBN and mobile connectivity (26.7pc), water security (26.3pc) and the labour workforce shortage (23.3pc) were the next most common top three.

Biosecurity was the next most pressing issue, with 17.8pc of responders putting it in their top three, echoing recent outcries from the agriculture industry about insufficient biosecurity spending.

There are also lingering fears about trade access and the effects of Australia's international relations (17.6pc), as the war in Ukraine and China's presence in the Pacific continue to make headlines.

Despite the national focus on housing availability, only 14.2pc of responders were concerned enough about house and rent prices to place the issue in their top three, while concerns about COVID-19 have faded into the background, with only 6.7pc of voters mentioning it.

- Regional infrastructure: 47.2pc

- Climate change: 46pc

- Health/education: 42.5pc

- Cost of living: 41.3pc

- NBN/Mobile connectivity: 26.7pc

- Water security: 26.3pc

- Labour workforce shortage: 23.3pc

- Biosecurity: 17.8pc

- Trade access/international relations: 17.6pc

- House/rent prices: 14.2pc

- Managing COVID: 6.7pc

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