A poll released today by the Royal Commonwealth Society in London found Australians were far less attached to their membership of the 53-member body than developing countries, including India.
More than 6000 people from seven Commonwealth member countries — Australia, Canada, Great Britain, India, Jamaica, Malaysia and South Africa – took part in the survey to mark the Commonwealth’s 60th anniversary.
Just 25 percent of the 1020 Australians polled said they would be “sorry” if Australia gave up its membership of the Commonwealth, while 38 percent said they “wouldn’t mind one way or the other” and 10 percent would be “fairly pleased”.
Australians viewed Asia as being most important (43 percent) to their homeland ahead of the United States (25 percent), the Commonwealth (22 percent) and Europe (three percent).
They also nominated the United Nations (64 percent) and APEC (61 percent) as being more valuable as organizations than the Commonwealth (59 percent). Most Australians (84 percent) correctly identified the Queen as the head of the Commonwealth, compared to 37 percent who didn’t know in India.
However unlike the other countries surveyed, Australians nominated Prince Charles as the person they wanted to see take over the Queen’s Commonwealth role when she dies.
Australians appeared slightly confused about what the Commonwealth’s function was, with 37 percent unable to name its activities.
Overall, the survey found people in developing countries were twice as likely to think the Commonwealth was important compared to developed countries.
The findings follow a separate survey released in March which found the Commonwealth had suffered a major drop in popularity in its homeland of Britain, where most knew little about the Commonwealth’s functions.
Royal Commonwealth Society director Danny Sriskandarajah said knowledge about the Commonwealth was at a low.
He hoped a new website being launched by the Society to gather ideas on how to boost the Commonwealth’s profile would help increase its popularity.
“A quarter of Jamaicans think President Barack Obama is the head and one in 10 Indians and South Africans think Kofi Annan is head. “While few people dislike the Commonwealth, our polls show that not enough people know much about it or have reason to love it.”
