More Australians support our world-class minerals industry

Community support for Australia’s world-class minerals industry has grown markedly since last year, with 55 per cent of Australians backing the industry, up from 46 per cent in May 2018.

The latest research for the MCA by JWS Research has also shown the ‘There’s more to Australian mining’ campaign is boosting the industry’s favourability, with net favourability rising from 29 points to 46 points after viewing the MCA’s content  on mine rehabilitation and how mining and farming work together.

Australian mining companies understand land rehabilitation is part of responsible mining and that we recognise our responsibility as a temporary custodian of land.

Mine rehabilitation is highly regulated, better implemented and more accountable than ever before, and we work to improve rehabilitation methods to ensure mining’s compatibility with current and future land uses such as farming.

The evaluation research was conducted by JWS Research between 15 and 20 March, with an online national survey of 1,000 Australians.

Other highlights included:

• Support for the industry increasing by five points to 60 per cent after viewing the MCA’s content
• Solid levels of prompted recall of one or more campaign executions of 24 per cent, only six weeks after the campaign started
• 51 per cent of Australians wanting to see more of the campaign.

The research also found that women were significantly more likely to be positive in their support of the industry after viewing MCA content.

The campaign is also attracting the interest of many Australians online, with video plays since it was launched on 7 February reaching 7 million and 57 per cent of the audience watching the video to completion.

The research found that policies towards mining and resources will be an important determinant of voting patterns at the upcoming Federal election.

Almost half (44 per cent) of Australians said their vote at the election would be very or somewhat influenced by a candidate’s policies related to the mining and resources sector.

Our industry is very pleased that more Australians are supporting mining because a strong mining industry is essential to our nation’s future, especially our economy and highly paid, highly skilled job opportunities.

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