Despite shocking revelations in the last year that the Australian government spied on its neighbours, most people are unfazed by government espionage against other countries, friendly or otherwise.



As prime minister Tony Abbott meets with Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for the first time since a diplomatic scandal over spying revelations in November, the 10th annual Lowy Institute poll has also revealed that many Australians think the relationship is continuing to worsen.



The poll found that 70% of Australian adults believe it is acceptable to spy on nations Australia does not have a good relationship with, and half of Australian adults also find spying on friendly nations acceptable, including key allies such as New Zealand (51%), Japan (58%), France (53%) and the United States (54%).

“It seems to be acceptable to the majority of Australians to conduct espionage activities against all of those countries, regardless of whether Australia has generally good relations or not good relations with each of them,” the poll’s author, Alex Oliver, told Guardian Australia.

Australians were apparently left unperturbed by news that intelligence agencies spied on Yudhoyono, his wife and several key advisers, as revealed by Guardian Australia in November last year, or that the government also spied on East Timor during negotiations over a resources deal.

The poll found that 62% and 60% of Australians respectively thought spying on those two nations was acceptable.

“The timing of the poll was taken in the second two weeks of February so it was just a few months after the Snowden revelations,” said Oliver, adding that the revelations would have had an impact on people’s responses.

“What’s surprising is the high levels of acceptance Australians have of that conduct by their government. The espionage practices, if you like, of the Australian government seem to be quite acceptable to the majority of Australians.”

Just 7% of respondents thought the relationship between Australia and Indonesia was improving, while 40% believed it was worsening. More than half still think of it as “friendly” however.

Abbott will meet with Yudhoyono on Wednesday, in the first face to face meeting since relations between the two countries soured over the spying scandal.

Before his departure, Abbott downplayed revelations on Tuesday that Yudhoyono had allowed journalists to record a phone call between the two leaders, unbeknown to the Australian prime minister.

When the two leaders meet, Australians will be hoping regional security, terrorism and people smuggling will be on the agenda, which, according to the poll, are the most important areas that about three-quarters of Australians want to see worked on.

When asked to choose one single issue, 29% of respondents said “asylum seekers and people smuggling”.

The majority of Australian adults agree with Abbott’s turnback policy, but 57% do not support the Rudd-introduced policy that sees no person seeking asylum by boat granted settlement in Australia.

A similar portion (60%) is in favour of offshore processing on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, a figure which is largely unchanged from 2013. Both those Australian-run detention centres are routinely criticised by human rights advocates, medical professionals and the United Nations.

On the proposition that all asylum seekers should be processed in Australia regardless of their mode of arrival, 51% were in favour and 49% against. A similar split occurred on the issue of temporary protection visas

