Heartbeat of Australia survey: tell us about your community | The Canberra Times

What is most important to you in your local community in 2026?

A great place to live with a bright future? Or are you concerned about housing, crime or the effects of climate change?

How important is it to you to shop local and support local businesses?

What about social media and productive AI chatbots like ChatGPT? Do you trust them as a reliable source of news and information?

These are some of the questions we asked this year. Australia’s heartbeat survey.

ACM, publisher of this imprint, and the University of Canberra’s News and Media Research Center are celebrating their fifth anniversary collaborating on a national study on consumer sentiment, community wellbeing and the role of local news.

The aim of the survey is to understand how people across Australia, particularly in the regions, feel about their lives, where they live, their future and how they stay informed and connected.

confidential online survey It takes approximately 15 minutes. Individual responses cannot be identified.

Survey participants can enter a drawing to win one of five $500 e-gift cards.

ACM marketing chief Jarrah Petzold said the annual Heartbeat survey provided vital information about Australians living in regional cities and rural towns and how they felt about life in their communities.

“ACM’s long-standing news brands across the country provide a trusted voice for millions of Australians living outside their state capitals,” Mr Petzold said.

“Australia’s heartbeat It’s a chance for Australians to share how they feel about the future, their plans for the next 12 months and how they can stay informed and connected to what’s happening where they live.

“The cost of living, housing availability and affordability pressures, the role of social media and now artificial intelligence in our lives – these are the kinds of personal and social concerns that Heartbeat research seeks to understand, particularly among young people and those living in the regions.”

heart rate survey The findings help the News and Media Research Centre’s ongoing work into how access to local news and information affects community wellbeing, including how the Australian Research Council-funded research project monitors, understands and engages news audiences.

The News and Media Research Center is Australia’s only research center specializing in the legal, ethical and social impacts of news consumption, social and digital media networks and communications technologies.

The center produces the annual national Digital News Report: Australia, which tracks news consumption as part of a global study covering more than 40 countries.