Most Australians are more comfortable with the idea of wind farms than with the Internet or nuclear power, according to Swinburne’s annual study of how people feel about technological change.

The National Technology and Society Monitor also found many of us still aren’t comfortable with genetically modified plants and animals for food, despite a government report to the contrary.

The nationwide survey is carried out every year by a team of researchers at the Australian Centre for Emerging Technologies and Society and largely reflects the overall population.

For the first time in 2007, the question of wind farms was raised. The Monitor found 81 percent of respondents had some level of comfort with them, and furthermore, the overall ‘comfort rating’ was higher than the rating for the Internet.

Director of the Centre Professor Michael Gilding said that most people now are pretty comfortable with the Internet but the results do also reflect the fact that some people have been left behind and they are not comfortable with it.

“What is striking is this high level of comfort with wind farms. However, for most people it’s an abstract kind of support because they don’t live near wind farms and don’t have much to do with them,” Gilding explained.

Gilding adds that even though the same could be said for nuclear plants, there is still widespread discomfort with them. “In the last twelve months we’ve seen the issue come back onto the public agenda, but the mood of the public hasn’t shifted and people remain highly concerned about the technology.”  The survey also found significant differences in comfort ratings for nuclear power related to gender, and that Liberal voters were more comfortable with nuclear power than Labour voters.

Another interesting finding in the Monitor report, according to Gilding, is people’s reactions to genetically modified food and animals. The survey found just over half of those questioned were uncomfortable with GM plants, while two thirds felt the same way about GM animals for food.

“In this country, governments are in fact moving towards a more permissive position on genetically modified plants, and earlier this year, a government report suggested landmark shifts in attitudes,” said Gilding. “But in the Monitor, there wasn’t any change in reaction to genetically modified plants and overall most people remain uncomfortable with GM agriculture. There’s certainly no evidence for a major sea change on that score.”

Moving away from specific technologies, Australians’ general attitude to technological change was also tested. The results suggest most people are comfortable with the rate of change in the world today, with men being significantly more comfortable than women, and young people more comfortable than older people.

Professor Gilding believes that on the whole, Australians are optimistic about technology and the annual survey shows that from one year to the next. Australians believe that science and technology are continually improving our quality of life. However, he points out that this optimism should not be taken for granted as it depends heavily upon confidence in public and scientific institutions.

For this reason, the survey also considers how much people trust various institutions, organisations and groups for information about new technologies. Scientific institutions such as CSIRO come out on top, but the rankings in trust ratings for Federal and State Government have dropped since last year. When it comes to the medical profession, we trust our family doctors the most, followed by specialists, and then hospitals.

One thousand people across all Australian states were questioned during July for Swinburne’s 2007 Monitor. The majority of the respondents were employed, with an average age of 52. Sixty one percent were women.