Herald Sun
From: AAP
Climate change, education and immigration are the top three political issues Australians seek on the internet, new research reveals.
The research tracked online searches by Australians on political issues between May 8 and August 14 this year.
Climate change came out on top, with 0.00077 per cent of all Australian internet searches over the period.
The second most popular election issue search was for education, with 0.0059 per cent of searches.
Education had led climate change until mid-July, when the major parties released their climate change policies.
The number of searches for education declined by 62 per cent over the period, following a spike in mid-May when teachers threatened a nationwide ban on NAPLAN standardised testing of students.
Immigration came next. Although the number of searches was less, at 0.00066 per cent, searches for immigration as an election issue have risen 10 per cent since June.
Health and Work Choices were fourth and fifth, with 0.0063 per cent and 0.0058 per cent of all Australian searches respectively.
Despite their emphasis in the campaign, searches for both issues were down 14.3 per cent and 12.5 per cent respectively in the three months to August 14.
Internet searches for political leaders revealed Prime Minister Julia Gillard accounted for 0.2 per cent of all internet searches over the same period, with a major spike in searches for her immediately after she deposed Kevin Rudd.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was next, with 0.14 per cent. Searches for him were up 86 per cent over the period.
Last was Greens leader Bob Brown, with 0.0016 per cent.
The research was conducted by information services company Experian and sampled the searches of three million Australian internet users.
Meanwhile, the latest Sensis business index shows business confidence has improved slightly among small businesses in recent weeks.
But the author of the business index report said the Federal Government was unpopular with businesses.
"There has been further erosion in small business support for the federal government's policies, report author Christena Singh said.
"The indicator, which is substantially lower than the same time last year, shows that support is actually at its lowest point since August 2008."
Sensis Business Index has been released quarterly since 1993.
It surveys 1800 people in small to medium businesses with up to 199 employees each.
The latest interviews were conducted between July 22 and August 11.