CANBERRA, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The majority of Australians believe mining companies should require consent from communities before operations can begin, a survey has found.
The survey, carried out by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), found that three quarters of 8,020 respondents agreed with the idea that mines should require community consent first before operation.
Respondents were asked a series of questions pertaining to what mining means to Australians, the benefits of mining, the negative impacts of mining and confidence in the governing of mining,
The survey found that the majority of Australians accepted mining and held positive views about its role in the economy with 81.7 percent agreeing that it created jobs for Australians, while 63.4 percent agreed that the industry improved infrastructure such as roads and ports in regional areas.
Kieran Moffat, a CSIRO social scientist and leader of the study, said that participants in the survey were over the age of 18 living in mining regions, non-mining regions and metropolitan regions.
"For the most part, results were fairly consistent across mining regions, non-mining regions and metropolitan areas," Moffat told Xinhua News on Tuesday.
"We found that most Australians strongly agree that mining contributes significantly to Australia's economy and is important for Australia's future prosperity no matter where they live."
"This was a departure from the 2014 survey results which found that mining regions felt more strongly about the importance of mining for Australia than non-mining and metropolitan regions."
