Australians are most likely to worry about the environment, economy and water and want "much more" spent on health and education, a landmark survey shows.
But Australians are less likely to think government can deliver health care to the sick, a decent standard of living for older people or affordable housing.
In the lead-up to the 2020 Summit, the Australian National University has issued findings from its inaugural poll on "public opinion towards governance".
The report's co-author, Associate Professor Andrew Leigh, said yesterday the environment had "really leapt out of the woodwork".
"The environment swamps everything else. It's the No1 issue for Australians," he said.
About one in five people believed the environment including global warming and sustainability was the most important problem facing the country.
It was the most common concern, outranking the economy (18 per cent) water management (8 per cent), interest rates (7 per cent) and housing affordability (7per cent).
"It is clear from these results that the environment has very quickly become a hot issue," Professor Leigh said.
"As a recently as 2004, only 6per cent rated the environment as the most important issue facing the country."
The results indicated that Australians would become increasingly anxious about the state of the environment in years ahead.
One in three respondents rated the environment as the most important problem facing the country in five year's time. ACT Labor Senator Kate Lundy who was on-hand to help launch the report was "most surprised" that the environment outranked the economy.
"The big questions [on the environment] still need to be answered," she said.
About half of respondents wanted "much more" spending on health care, 43 per cent on education, 37 per cent on the environment, 27 per cent on aged pensions and 25 per cent on police.
There was little support to boost funding for defence, the arts and unemployment benefits.
Professor Leigh said the differences between Australians' main concerns and their spending priorities could be an "efficacy" issue.
"So Australians perhaps feel the environment is very important but are less confident that just ramping up spending is going to solve the problem."
From 2006 to 2008, researchers also charted a shift in citizens' views on the government's ability to deal with problems.
Government was seen as most successful in dealing with threats to Australia's security, followed by fighting unemployment, controlling crime and protecting the environment.
In the same period, there was a dramatic drop in public confidence on three fronts.
Government was rated least successful in delivering health care to the sick, a decent standard of living to older people and affordable housing.
About one in three Australians had a "great deal" of confidence in the defence forces, 24 per cent in universities and 22 per cent in police. Banks, unions and the public service were at the bottom of the rankings.
A majority were satisfied with the way democracy worked in Australia and believed the country was heading in the right direction.
Community support had built for the states and territories to hand over powers to the Commonwealth rising from 17 per cent in 1979 to 40 per cent in 2008.
Researchers interviewed 1000 adults the same number of people invited to take part in the 2020 Summit at Parliament House on Saturday and Sunday.
The survey showed 37 per cent believed the environment should be the main issue discussed at the meeting.
ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Chubb has "put up" $200,000 annually to conduct the surveys, which are likely to be repeated on a quarterly basis.