Transcript of AE 951 - Pete Breaks Down his Australia Talks Survey Results

Alrighty, let's see what the results are, guys. Up close and personal, let's start with your habits and personal experiences on the streets and in the sheets. When it comes to the bedroom, you're pretty average, most Australians, 73, in fact, change their sheets several times a month, just like you. Men change their sheets a little less frequently than women, and we all tend to change them more often as we get older.

Like 78% of Australians, you're not keeping any big secrets. You're with the vast majority of Aussies who say that they're not holding back any relationship-ending news. But 10% of us think we are, and young people are more than twice as likely as older Australians to have a secret they fear might end a relationship. You're pretty friendly, just like 62% of Aussies, you know your neighbours by name, but one in three Australians say they don't.

Women, along with older Aussies, are more likely to know their neighbours. Unlike men, women have made more connections since we last asked in 2019. But the people most likely to know their neighbours are still those who probably live the furthest away from them, those who live in rural parts of the country. Like 60% of Australians, you're trying to lose weight.

Aussies aged under 25 and those over 65 are the least likely to be trying to lose weight, while those in their 40s are the most likely to say they are. Just like three quarters of Australians, you like your boss. In fact, just 13% of Australians say they don't like their bosses. Women and younger people are more likely to say they do. Like most Aussies, you cry at least once a year. Well, there you go, I'm normal.

A third of women cry at least once a year, another third, at least once a month and 17% reach for the tissues once a week or more. Men are far less likely to shed a tear, 19% say they never cry. There you go. Let's talk about sex, you're having it more often than 64% of people, there you go, one in five Aussies say they never have sex. Young people have more sex than older people, with about a third saying they get to it once a week or more.

60% of people your age say they have trouble switching off. About half of Aussies think they spend too much time online, but younger people struggle more. Older Australians say they are less concerned about the time they spend online, but even a quarter of people over 75 think it's a problem.

Like most Australians, you've got relatives, friends or colleagues who make racist jokes. Overall, 61% of Aussies say people they know tell racist jokes, and 26% say they don't. Younger people are almost twice as likely as older people to say to- Say their friends, family or colleagues make racist jokes. That's interesting. Maybe- Yeah, younger people are the ones saying the jokes and the older people aren't.

You're a non-believer, just like 43% of men. More than a third of Aussies say they don't believe in a higher power at all and 16% believe very little. Even some religious folks aren't convinced. 11% of Catholics, 14% of Protestants and 8% of those from other religions say they don't believe in a higher power at all. I don't know how you can say you're from those religions then. Women are more likely than men to believe in a higher power.

You choose friends over catching up with the cat. Like you just under half of us say we would rather spend time with people then pets, but the proportion who would choose pets is rising. Perhaps the real question is, do you prefer cats or dogs? According to the wider Australia talks national survey, it's dogs all the way. Four out of five Aussies, including you, say they donate their organs when they die.

It's a clear majority, with 67% of people saying they're very likely and 14% saying they're somewhat likely. But did you know just one in three people have actually registered as organ donors? If you'd like to sign up, but haven't yet, you can register online. How has covid-19 impacted you? The covid-19 pandemic came along and changed everything, our health, our priorities, relationships and the way we feel about the world.

Let's see what impacts it's had on you and the nation. Is Australia the best place in the world to live? You and 80% of people think it is. Well, we're biased. Living through the covid-19 pandemic has prompted even more of us to feel lucky that we call Australia home. No matter people's age or income since 2019, we've seen a market rise in positivity about living in Australia. I guess it would be interesting to see from you guys in the comments below.

What do you reckon? You know, for those of you who live in Australia, do you reckon it's the best place in the world? Do you like it? What do you reckon? You're with a growing majority of Aussies who think we sometimes need to restrict people's freedoms to keep Australia safe.

Since 2019 as the pandemic has placed this question firmly at the centre of our lives, there's been a huge shift in how we weigh up individual freedoms versus the wider public good. Like you, 38% of Aussie men have developed a better grip on their priorities since the pandemic. That's good to hear. More than half of Australian women are in the same boat with the challenges of the past year, leading to a clearer sense of what matters most.

You and 22% of people haven't let a pandemic get in the way of your health and fitness goals. However, one third of Australians say their health has suffered. Unsurprisingly, given their epic lockdown, Victorians are the most likely to say their health and fitness has taken a hit since the pandemic started. That's crazy. 57% of people say their mental health hasn't changed one way or the other during the pandemic, but that's not the case for everyone.

Young adults in particular are more likely to say their mental health is worse now than before the pandemic. Yeah, that's interesting. You've got a lot of 'neithers' here in the graph and it only gets better with age, as age increases in terms of thinking their mental health has gotten worse and or better. So, it looks like it's affected older Australians a lot less. About one third of people say they occasionally feel anxious.

It's not uncommon to feel that way. The biggest jump in the past two years is the number of people saying they feel anxious frequently and younger people are much more likely to report feeling this way. So, yeah, far out we've got like 7% here saying never, 30% saying rarely, 37% to 40% saying occasionally, and then 21% to 25% now saying frequently and only 4% saying always. I guess that's not too bad.

The pandemic brought you and one in three people a better relationship with your loved ones. Covid-19 forced many people to focus on what's important and for a lot of us, that meant family. Young people are a lot more likely to have felt an improvement in their family relationships than older Australians. That's interesting that it's obviously- Yeah, younger people are doing a lot better than older people.

I guess older people probably have really good relationships with their family as it is, and younger people obviously before the pandemic were having a worse time of having good relationships. But also, it shows that younger people are also reporting that they have worser relationships compared to older people. So, it looks like it's swinging both ways. Like you, one in five people say their friendships improved during the pandemic.

Younger people are the most likely to say their relationships with mates are different from the times before, but they're evenly split on whether they've gotten worse or better. The big issues, what keeps you up at night? Gender, race, money and politics. We're not pulling any punches when it comes to asking about the big challenges facing Australia. Like you, about one in five men say money is tight at the moment.

Men were always more likely than women to say money isn't a huge issue for them, but the gap has grown since the pandemic. One in ten people, including you, say the wealth gap isn't too big, compared to so- Wow, okay, so a lot of Australians think it is. So, nine out of ten think the wealth gap's too big. Wow. Maybe I'm living under a rock.

Compared to before the pandemic, young Australians are now much more likely to say that the gap between rich and poor is too big. A larger majority of Aussies think that the wealth gap is a problem regardless of where they live and what they earn. That's interesting. More than one in three men say sexual assault claims are usually believable and you're one of them. See, you've changed that.

You- The language that was used in the question was almost always true. And now that the question's been answered, it's changed to usually believable. I would have wholeheartedly agreed with that, that sexual assault claims are usually believable, but are almost always true. Yeah, that one was one I had trouble with just in the way that the question was formed.

Men are considerably less likely to believe these allegations than women, but both have shifted a lot in the past two years. In reality, false allegations are very rare. Yeah, true. But again, they occur. Half of Aussie men think men and women do not share a level playing field. That compares to four in five Australian women who hold the same view.

Since 2019 there's been a big shift in how the youngest and oldest Australians answer this question, with both groups now much more likely to say men and women are not treated equally. Yeah, I had trouble here just because of the term "equally" wasn't defined, so I don't know what you mean. You know, men and women aren't the same, so we're going to be treated unequally in terms of just having different treatment. Right.

But are you talking about unfairly? Maybe that would have been a better term to use, right. You're not confident you'll have enough money to retire and roughly 15% of Australians are right there with you. When we asked this question in 2019 women were less confident than men about their chances of a comfortable retirement. In the past two years, men's confidence has remained steady, but women's has fallen further. That's not good to hear.

It's interesting that men are still confident, though. I'm not. You think hard work makes all the difference, along with 40- 47% of people your age. The older you are, the more likely you are to believe that hard work can make somebody successful regardless of their personal circumstances. However, there's been a big shift in opinion since 2019, with younger people in particular more likely to say hard work can't overcome every obstacle.

Again, I understand that. I would agree hard work can't overcome every single obstacle. But do I think that hard work can make you successful no matter what circumstances you were born into? If you're talking about, you know, what family you have, the poverty you have, I think hard work is definitely an important aspect to getting out of that situation.

Though, yeah, it's not going to work every sin- In every single situation. Like 94% of Australians, you think that lying politicians should resign. This is one thing all voting groups can agree on with high levels of support across parties. Yeah, that's interesting. And we can see the parties here. So, Labor is like 96% agree, Greens was 98%, the Liberal Party and national parties are like 91%.

It's interesting that they have the lowest adherence to that. So, Liberal voters and National Party voters are more- They're more happy to have lying politicians than any other group, even One Nation are at 93%. There you go. You're with nearly nine in ten people who say Australia needs a federal corruption watchdog. There are strong majorities among all voters in favour of a corruption commission to watch over federal politics.

Again, it's interesting that liberal voters here in the graph have- Only 79% of them want or agree that there should be a corruption watchdog, whereas One Nation has 80%, only a little bit better. But all the other parties are in the 90%'s with Labour voters being 96%. So, that's interesting. Two thirds of people think an indigenous voice to parliament should be enshrined in the Constitution, and you're one of them.

One Nation supporters are the only category of voter where those who disagree outnumber those who agree. Well, no surprise there. Holy moly. You look at the graph, only 17% of One Nation agree about that. 74% disagree. Holy moly. And again, liberal voters are so close as well, with 46% agreeing, 38% disagreeing. And then when you look at other, the Greens and the ALP, it's 66%, 84%, 94%. Much higher. Isn't that crazy?

You consider misinformation a problem for Australia, so do 94% of the rest of us. Misinformation is the number one issue selected by Australians as a problem for the country, beating other major issues such as climate change and having enough money for retirement. Yeah, I think this is a massive, massive issue that we need to sort of deal with. Like 79% of Australians, you think it's harder to know who to trust these days.

Voters of all stripes tend to think it's becoming more challenging to decide which sources of information are trustworthy. But the concern is most widespread among conservative voters. There you go. Let's get going. You think Australia is doing poorly at addressing climate change, so does 73% of people your age.

In general, Australians think we're doing poorly at tackling climate change, and an even higher percentage of people say we need to do better at holding politicians to account housing affordability and supporting people in poverty. 100%, I agree with all of those. You trust the United States to act responsibly more than 53% of Australians do. Maybe I'm living under a rock then.

Though less than half of Australians trust the US somewhat or a lot, our faith in the world's biggest superpower was much lower before the 2020 election. Yeah, 100%. Since Biden got into control, it's definitely, increased and you can see that here. 2019 it went from 27% to this year 38%. So, it's gone up 11% in the somewhat category. You and around one third of Australians say they don't trust China much.

Trust in China has dropped sharply between 2019 and 2021, that shift has also been seen amongst Chinese Australians, with a majority now saying they don't trust China at all. Yeah, that's actually a really interesting fact.

The most vociferous, the most loudly spoken people I know about China and being against Chinese, you know, interference in Australia and their political coercion with all of these, you know, massive tariffs and taxes and everything like that tend to be the Chinese Australians that I know, all the Australians of Chinese descent. So, it's interesting.

But, yeah, I think this is largely because of what's happened during the pandemic with the sort of political bullying of Australia. Anyway, let's keep going. Like most Australians, you don't think people need to try harder to find a job. The only age group more likely to think unemployed people aren't trying hard enough are those who mostly no longer have to work, people aged 75 or older.

And the further people live from the cities, the more likely they are to think people need to put in more of an effort to find a job. That's such a sort of stereotype that's been around for a long time. The older people are always like, you don't work hard enough, you got to find a job, you're not trying. You think the job seeker payment should be higher and a majority of Australians agree with you.

Overall, 65% of Australians think unemployment payments should be higher. Conservative leaning voters are more likely to say they're about right where they are, while left leaning voters want to see a further increase. Conversation starters. What has Australia talking? That's an interesting one. Confused me there. I was thinking, what is Australia? And then looking for the past tense. What has Australia talking?

This is like what's causing Australia to talk. It's important to keep your finger on the pulse, so let's dive into some of the more topical issues Australians care about. You say technology does more harm than good for our mental health and three in four agree. Our devices have arguably brought us convenience, but a big majority now says that comes at the expense of our state of mind.

And it's not just our mental health that seems to be suffering as we move through a period of being extra reliant on technology. So, they've got some things here. Here's how people think technology is affecting different aspects of life in Australia negatively, sleep, mental health, teens, children, social cohesion, sex, politics, interpersonal relationships, national security.

And then it starts to sort of skew towards positive with dating, public safety, education, the economy and jobs. 65% of people your age think younger Australians will be worse off than their parents. Overall, 59% of Australians agree that the future looks tough for younger people. About three in four Australians aged 18 to 29 think they'll have it tougher than their parents. But the older someone is, the less likely they are to share this view.

You're among the 57% of Australians who know who the traditional owners are, where they live. Overall, 33% of Australians say they don't. But rural Australians are more likely to know than city slickers. That's interesting. Like 55% of Aussies, you want to change the date. There's been a large jump in the proportion of Aussies who think Australia Day should not be celebrated on January the 26th, but 33% don't want to see it moved.

People living in inner metro areas and Labor and Green voters are more likely to support changing the date. You're with 41% of Australians who think smacking kids is acceptable. Again, context dependent guys. Context dependent. Since 2019, the idea of smacking your kids has become less socially acceptable, a change driven largely by women, young women in particular, and men aged 25 to 29. 62% of Australians don't mind which pronouns people want to use.

Again, that wasn't the question that was asked. Sneaky, sneaky. You said people should be referred to, as in it must happen, you know. I think I have no problem with people using whatever pronouns they want to use. If it's done in good faith and they're not trying to manipulate me. Anyway, let's get going. You're in the 21% who think people should be referred to based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Yeah, as default. Right.

If you know the person and they don't want that and their friend, obviously you do what they want. Overall, women and younger people are happier to use the pronouns someone identifies with, but the majority of men and Australians in all age groups also agree with this sentiment. Just like you, 24% of people your age don't think capitalism does more harm than good. Wow. Okay, so I'm in the minority.

The older people are, the more likely they are to think that capitalism's benefits outweigh its problems. So, you can see there, yeah, it just skews. The older you get, the more you disagree with the fact that capitalism is- Does more harm than good. Again, I guess it depends on what aspects of capitalism you're talking about. There's pros and cons.

Like 74% of men, you think we should spend whatever is needed to give people with disabilities equal opportunities. About four in five Australians are with you, including 50% who strongly agree. There are strong majorities among both men and women, but women are more likely than men to agree with this statement. It's life, but not as we know it. Like you, more than half of Aussie men believe in extra-terrestrial life.

Men are more likely than women to believe that there's life beyond Earth. Older people, meanwhile, are far more sceptical than younger generations on this subject. More than half of Australians under 50 believe in extra-terrestrial life, at least somewhat, whereas nearly two thirds of people over 75 have ruled out the possibility entirely. Wow. Like the majority of Australians, you aren't in favour of smaller government.

Overall, Aussies don't seem interested in trading services for smaller government. How people vote has an impact, but even coalition voters are more likely to agree with you. Women are more likely than men to think racism is prevalent in sport. While 69% of women say racism is prevalent on our sporting fields, at 51% only a slim majority of men agree. Looking across the country, Queenslanders are the least likely to think racism is common in sport.

Interestingly, that is sort of the inverse of what the rest of Australia thinks about Queensland. We think that they are, you know, the sort of mecca of racism in Australia. That tends to be the joke. 34% of Australians said they were willing to spend as much as or more than you to prevent climate change. Not only are more Australians willing to spend than when we asked this question in 2019, they're also putting more money on the line.

Generally, people who are younger have a higher income or live-in metropolitan areas are more willing to increase their spend, but every age group is more likely to be willing to pay since 2019. Like one third of men, you think Australia is doing a good job of respecting and taking care of the elderly. Overall, 65% of us don't think Australia is doing a good job taking care of our older citizens and women are much more likely than men to hold that view.

Yeah, again, this was a hard one to answer with respect to what Australia alone, it's kind of like we're probably not doing a great job compared to, you know, the past or where we want to be. But broadly speaking, globally speaking, a bit of a different story. Optimist or pessimist, what does the future hold? When you look into your crystal ball, does the glass look half empty or half full?

Let's take a look at how Aussies feel about their own futures and the future of the world. You are more optimistic about your future than 20% of Australians. Overall, Australians are pretty upbeat about their own futures compared with those of the country in the world. You are more optimistic about the future of Australia than 85% of people.

Australians are more optimistic about the future of the country than two years ago, when we were almost evenly split into optimists and pessimists. Regardless of age, sex and even how they vote, people are now more likely to have a positive outlook for Australia. You are more optimistic about the future of the world than 68% of Australians. On the whole, Australians don't think things look too rosy on a global scale.

But even a pandemic hasn't budged the one in three who are feeling optimistic. You're with the majority of Australians who think it'll be at least a year before life gets back to normal. One in five Aussies think it'll be less than a year before things mostly return to normal. But another one in five think it'll be at least two years, and almost one in ten don't think life will ever return to the way it was pre-covid.

Let's finish on a high note. You're pretty happy as are 76% of Australians and here's what Aussies told us would make them even happier. Australians think they would be even happier if they spent more time in nature. They took better care of themselves. They travelled more often. They had more money. They slept more. They spent more time with family. They worked less. They socialised more.

They could do the things they could do before the covid-19 pandemic, and they were more involved in their community. So, there you go, guys, I did not expect this to go for almost an hour. I hope you found it interesting. I hope it gave you a bit of an insight into my mind, my sort of, you know, version of an Australian, you know, as a- it's just one of me. Right?

So, it's a sample of one, but then the cool thing was going through all of the statistics here and seeing how I stacked up against other Australians and also just to see how other Australians, you know, statistically are on these different positions and how it's changed in just a matter of two years. So, I recommend that you go and do this survey.

So, just type in "Australia talk survey" into Google, you'll be able to do it and then you'll see how you stack up against other Australians and other people who filled out this survey. So, yeah. Definitely give it a go, give it a read, practise your English and send me a message and let me know how you went. Did you find out anything really surprising whilst you were doing it?

Anyway, I'm Pete. This is Aussie English. Thank you for joining me. It's been a pleasure. And I'll see you next time. Bye.