As one reader put it, "it's the environment, stupids."

National security and defence has rated a lowly ninth on a list of top election priorities among Bendigo Advertiser readers, we can reveal as the federal election looms.

Whether the rapidly evolving war in Ukraine has changed that calculus is yet to be seen.

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Australian Community Media conducted the survey last month, before Russia crossed the Rubicon and declared a war with far reaching international security implications.

ACM owns this masthead.

Its research suggests an overwhelming number of readers want a reckoning on environment and climate change.

"Without a livable world nothing matters. We need real action, not dogma and silly games," one of the 241 Advertiser readers who responded to the survey said.

They and many others specifically highlighted their concerns about climate change when asked about the most important thing a government could do to make life better for regional Australians.

"Droughts, bushfires & water all have massive implications for the regions and are directly impacted by climate change," one reader said.

"Address climate change in a proactive manner instead of sidestepping the issue," another said.

Others wanted a greener economy, incentives for electric vehicles and more water infrastructure.

The results have come in the midst of an unfolding biodiversity crisis in the forests around Bendigo, and as climate change continues to intensify across bushfire-prone areas still bearing the scars of the 2009 Black Saturday blaze.

Health concerns have ranked second among Advertiser readers, with aged care in fifth place.

"For too many years this sector [aged care] has been allowed to go backwards, do the politicians think they won't be needing care?" a reader asked.

Leadership ranked third overall, in a period when the major party's leaders are trying to define themselves to the national electorate.

Nearly 50 per cent of Advertiser readers want a prime minister who is "accountable and responsible".

"Be honest," one Advertiser reader said bluntly when asked what the government could do to make regional Australians' lives better.

Bendigo election candidates, so far:

Across ACM's network of readers, more than 60 per cent of respondents wanted a trustworthy prime minister.

With little policy to debate early on, the election is focusing on character, trust and integrity and "perhaps not taking a punt on the other guy", ACM's Karen Barlow has written in analysis of survey numbers published in Tuesday's Advertiser.

Economic management ranked sixth.

But perhaps surprisingly, in a country picking up the pieces from the pandemic, jobs and wages did not crack the top ten.

Neither did housing affordability, which multiple Bendigo election candidates have so far listed as a significant campaign issue.

And in a sign of voter anger about the quality of politics at the federal level, nearly one quarter of all Advertiser respondents named a federal corruption commission as a major election issue.

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