Australia: Identity, Fear and Governance in the 21st Century

204 Pages·2012·8.391 MB·English

by  Aarons, Haydn;Pietsch, Juliet

Australia
Identity, Fear and Governance in the 21st Century

Australia
Identity, Fear and Governance in the 21st Century
Juliet Pietsch and Haydn Aarons
Published by ANU E Press
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
Email: [email protected]
This title is also available online at http://epress.anu.edu.au
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Title: Australia : identity, fear and governance in the 21st
century / edited by Juliet Pietsch and Haydn Aarons.

ISBN: 9781922144065 (pbk.) 9781922144072 (ebook)

Notes: Includes bibliographical references.

Subjects: Public opinion--Australia.
Australia--Social conditions--Public opinion.
Australia--Politics and government--Public opinion.

Other Authors/Contributors:
Pietsch, Juliet.
Aarons, Haydn.

Number: 303.380994
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
Cover design and layout by ANU E Press
Printed by Griffin Press
This edition © 2012 ANU E Press
Contents
List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
1 . Social Attitudes Towards Contemporary
Challenges Facing Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Haydn Aarons and Juliet Pietsch
2 . Keeping Our Distance:
Non-Indigenous/Aboriginal relations in Australian society . . . . 15
Maggie Walter
3 . Australian Engagement with Asia:
Towards closer political, economic and cultural ties . . . . . . . . 33
Juliet Pietsch and Haydn Aarons
4 . Minority Religious Identity and Religious Social
Distance in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Gary D. Bouma
5 . Are Neighbourhood Incivilities Associated with Fear of Crime? . . . 61
Lynne D. Roberts and David Indermaur
6 . Terrorism and Public Opinion in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Juliet Pietsch and Ian McAllister
7 . Are We Keeping the Bastards Honest?
Perceptions of corruption, integrity and influence on politics . . 95
Clive Bean
8 . A New Role for Government?
Trends in social policy preferences since the mid-1980s . . . . 107
Shaun Wilson, Gabrielle Meagher and Kerstin Hermes
9 . WorkChoices: An electoral issue and its social,
political and attitudinal cleavages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Murray Goot and Ian Watson
10 . How Do Australians Search for Jobs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Xianbi Huang and Mark Western
v

List of Tables
Table 2.1 Attitudes Towards Aboriginal Issues 20
Table 2.2 OLS Regression Variable Description and Coefficients Predicting 21
‘Attitudes to Aboriginal Issues’ Scores
Table 2.3 Social Distance Scenario Attitudes 23
Table 2.4 OLS Regression Variable Description and Coefficients Predicting 26
‘Attitudes to Aboriginal Issues’ Scores
Table 3.1 Australian Engagement with Asian Cultures, AuSSA 2007 41
Table 3.2 Factor Analysis of Australian Engagement with Asian Cultures 42
Table 3.3 Effects of Background Experiences on Engagement with Asia 43
(OLS estimates), AuSSA 2007
Table 4.1 Social Distance Preferences for Selected Religious Groups: 51
Anglicans, Catholics, United, Presbyterians
Table 4.2 Anglicans, Catholics, United, Presbyterians: Mean social 53
distances for religious groups
Table 4.3 Catholics, Anglicans, Uniting and Presbyterians: One-way 55
ANOVA—respondents’ religions by social distance from select
religions
Table 5.1 Ratings of Size of Problem of a Range of Incivilities in Local 67
Area
Table 5.2 Percentage of Population Worried about Being the Victim of a 69
Range of Crimes
Table 5.3 Correlations between Perceptions of Incivilities and Fear of 71
Crime by Gender
Table 5.4 Unstandardised (B) and Standardised (β) Regression 72
Coefficients, and Squared Semi-Partial Correlations (sr2) for
Each Predictor Variable on Each Step of a Hierarchical Multiple
Regression Predicting Fear of Physical Crime
Table 5.5 Unstandardised (B) and Standardised (β) Regression 72
Coefficients, and Squared Semi-Partial Correlations (sr2) for
Each Predictor Variable on Each Step of a Hierarchical Multiple
Regression Predicting Fear of Identity-Related Crime
Table 6.1 Likelihood of a Terrorist Attack 82
Table 6.2 Concern about Terrorism and Socioeconomic Status 84
Table 6.3 Support for Measures to Counter Terrorism 86
Table 6.4 Support for Extending Legal Measures to Counter Terrorism 86
Table 6.5 Concern about Terrorism and Methods to Reduce the Threat 87
vii
Australia: Identity, Fear and Governance in the 21st Century
Table 7.1 Perceptions of Corruption in Australian Politics, 2007 97
Table 7.2 Perceptions of Fair Dealing and Influence in Australian Politics, 98
2007
Table 7.3 Perceptions of Efficacy and Trust in Australian Politics, 2007 99
Table 7.4 Perceptions of Corruption by Socio-Demographic Characteristics 101
Table 7.5 Perceptions of Treatment from Public Officials by Socio- 102
Demographic Characteristics
Table 7.6 Perceptions of Political Efficacy by Socio-Demographic 103
Characteristics
Table 8.1 Social Spending and Taxation Trends in Australia, 1985–2005 110
Table 8.2 Fiscal Mood, 1987–2007 112
Table 8.3 Australian Spending Preferences by Policy Area, 1985–2007 117
Table 8.4 Australian Beliefs about the Role of Government, 1985–2007 120
Table A8.1 Country Groups 130
Table A8.2 Ratios for Figure 8.1 131
Table 9.1 Approval Scale for WorkChoices, Combined Results for Models 148
Table 9.2 Predicted Probabilities, Union and Age 152
Table 9.3 Predicted Probabilities, Union and Occupation 152
Table 9.4 Predicted Probabilities, Class and Union 153
Table 9.5 Predicted Probabilities, Class and Union 153
Table 9.6 Predicated Probabilities, Left–Right Scale and Union 154
Table 9.7 Predicted Probabilities, Voting and Union 155
Table 9.8 Predicted Probabilities, Voting and Left–Right Scale 156
Table A9.1 Results for Multinomial Logit Model: Structural model 163
Table A9.2 Results for Multinomial Logit Model: Political model 165
Table A9.3 Results for Multinomial Logit Model: Attitudinal model 167
Table 10.1 Methods Used in Job-Search Processes, AuSSA 2007 173
Table 10.2 Associations between Job-Search Methods and Demographic 176
and Socioeconomic Characteristics, AuSSA 2007
Table 10.3 Network Resources Accessed by Job Searchers, AuSSA 2007 180
Table 10.4 Types of Social Ties Mobilised by Job Searchers, AuSSA 2007 181
Table 10.5 Association between Network Resources and Social Ties, 181
AuSSA 2007
Table 10.6 Association between Job-Matching Status and Job-Search 184
Methods, AuSSA 2007
Table 10.7 Binary Logistic Regression in Predicting Effects of Job-Search 184
Methods on Job Match, AuSSA 2007
viii
List of Figures
Figure 2.1 Indigenous Population Across Geographic Regions, 2006, by 16
State/Territory
Figure 2.2 Gender, Age and Education and Social Distance Items 24
Figure 2.3 Gender, Education, Age and Locality and Aboriginal Social 26
Proximity
Figure 5.1 Types of Incivilities Rated as a Big Problem by Location 68
Figure 5.2 Worry about Being a Victim of Various Crimes by Location 70
Figure 5.3 Gender Differences in Worry about Being a Victim of Crime 70
Figure 6.1 Ideological Position and Attitudes Towards Terrorism 90
Figure 8.1 Pro-Spending Preferences: Part of a more liberal mood, 1987–2007 114
Figure 8.2 Beliefs about Government Responsibility, Australia and Other 122
Welfare Regimes/Country Groups, 2006
Figure 8.3 Beliefs about Government Responsibility and Perceptions of 124
Government Success, Mean Scores by Regime Type, 2006
Figure 8.4 Perceptions of Government Responsibility, Difference from Mean 126
Scores Overall by Political Party Orientation, All Respondents, 2006
Figure 10.1 Job Matching between Job-Seekers and Positions, AuSSA 183
2007
ix