Q. Overall, how would you rate the federal government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak?

• 46% of people rate the federal government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak as quite good or very good, with 31% rating it as poor.
• Since peaking at 70% in March, positive rating of the federal government’s handling of Covid-19 has dropped off, falling to 44% earlier this month, the lowest rating recorded to date for this question which was first asked in March 2020.
• Positive rating of the federal government’s handling of Covid-19 has improved in WA (up 9 percentage points to 51%), NSW (up 5 percentage points to 49%) and SA (up 3 percentage points to 48%).
• In Victoria, positive rating is now at 39%, down from 65% in March. This positive rating also continues to drop in QLD, now 46% (from 69% in March).

Q. How would you rate your state government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak?

• Amidst the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown in NSW, positive rating of the state government’s response to Covid-19 continues to drop, now at 54% from 57% earlier this month and 69% in June.
• With the current outbreak and lockdown in VIC, rating of the state government remains the lowest of all states at 49%, a similar level to earlier this month and last month (50% and 48% respectively).
• While still the highest rating among all states, rating of the WA government has dropped to 77% from 86% earlier this month. This is similar to the level in June (75%).
• Rating of the QLD and SA governments’ handling of Covid-19 remains high at 62% and 68% respectively (65% and 67% last month).

Q. Thinking about why you haven’t been vaccinated against Covid-19 yet, which of the following applies to you? Select all that apply.

[ASKED ONLY TO THOSE WHO SAY THEY WOULD GET VACCINATED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE / WOULD GET VACCINATED BUT NOT STRAIGHT AWAY]

• Once a vaccine becomes available to them, of those who say they would get vaccinated as soon as possible, or they would get vaccinated but not straight away, the most common reason out of those listed for not being vaccinated yet is ‘I’m waiting for the Pfizer vaccine to be available to me’ (41%).
• Despite the AstraZeneca vaccine now being technically available to all adults, 47% of those aged 18-34 state waiting for Pfizer to be available to them as their top reason for not getting vaccinated yet, followed by 41% of those aged 35-54 and 30% of those over 55.
• The second most common reason out of those listed is ‘I’m waiting to see how others react to the vaccine first’ (29%). Those aged 18-34 and 35-54 are more likely to state this than those over 55 (33% and 31% to 17% respectively).
• 13% say the reason they haven’t been vaccinated yet is because they ‘haven’t tried to book an appointment because they assume it will be too hard to get one’. Those aged 18-34 are more likely to state this as their reason compared to older cohorts (20% to 12% of those aged 35-54 and 4% of those over 55).

Q. Overall, do you think NSW moved too quickly, too slowly or at about the right speed in terms of enforcing lockdown restrictions?

• Compared to two weeks ago, more NSW residents now think NSW moved too slowly when enforcing lockdown restrictions (44% from 39%).
• Fewer now think NSW moved at about the right speed (44% from 51% two weeks ago), and about the same proportion think NSW moved too quickly (12% from 10%).

• People from other states mostly think NSW moved too slowly with lockdown. Western Australians are most likely to think this (68%), followed by Victorians (62%), Queenslanders (60%) and South Australians (53%).

• Women are more likely than men to think NSW moved too slowly with lockdown (61% to 50% respectively).
• The sentiment that NSW moved too slowly increases with age – 47% of those aged 18-34 hold this view, compared to 56% of those aged 35-54 and 63% of those over 55.
• Labor voters are the most likely to think NSW moved too slowly with lockdown (66%), followed by minor/independent party voters (54%) and Greens voters (51%). Coalition voters are the least likely to think this (46%).

Q. How long do you think it will take for the following to occur in NSW?

• 46% of people think the Covid-19 outbreak in NSW will be controlled within a month. A further third (33%) think this will most likely happen within six months.
• Most Australians are optimistic the NSW lockdown will be lifted within a month (62% in Greater Sydney and 71% in other affected areas of NSW).

• Most of those in NSW still expect the lockdown to be lifted within a month (62% in Greater Sydney and 69% in other affected areas of NSW), however this is less compared to the proportion who thought this two weeks ago (76% and 77% respectively).

Q. Thinking about the future, how long do you think it will take for the following to occur? / And how long do you think it will take for the following to occur in Australia?

• A similar proportion of people as in April think most of the events above will occur within a year.

• Those in NSW are most likely to think the Covid-19 vaccine rollout will be completed in their state within a year (48%), followed by Western Australians (44%) and South Australians (43%). Victorians and Queenslanders are less likely to think this (38% and 33% respectively).

• Out of the events listed, people are most optimistic about interstate travel – just under half (48%) think interstate travel will be allowed without restriction within a year.
• 31% of Australians think the Covid-19 vaccine rollout will be completed nationally within a year. A further 35% think this will take one to two years, and about a quarter (26%) think this will take more than two years.
• 31% think it will take one to two years for international travel to be allowed without restriction, 37% think this will take more than two years.

Q. Thinking about how Scott Morrison has treated your state compared to how he has treated NSW during the Covid-19 pandemic, which of the following is closer to your view? [ASKED TO ALL RESPONDENTS EXCEPT FOR THOSE IN NSW]

• Thinking about how Scott Morrison has treated NSW compared to how he has treated other states during the Covid-19 pandemic, which of the following is closer to your view? [ASKED TO RESPONDENTS IN NSW ONLY]

• When thinking about how Scott Morrison has treated their state compared to how he has treated NSW during the Covid-19 pandemic, over a third (37%) of respondents in states besides NSW say Scott Morrison has treated their state less favourably. 29% think Scott Morrison has treated their state the same as NSW and 26% are unsure. Only 8% think the PM has treated their state more favourably than NSW.
• Victorians and Western Australians are more likely than those in other states to think the PM has treated their state less favourably than NSW (40% and 50% respectively).
• When thinking about how Scott Morrison has treated NSW compared to how he has treated other states during the Covid-19 pandemic, just under half (46%) of those in NSW think the PM has treated their state equally, while 23% think he has treated NSW more favourably. 14% think the PM has treated NSW less favourably than other states, and 18% are unsure.
• In other states besides NSW, compared to other voters, Labor voters are most likely to think Scott Morrison has treated their state less favourably (51%), whereas Coalition voters are most likely to think their state has been treated equally (47%).
• In NSW, compared to other voters, Coalition voters are the most likely to think the PM has treated NSW equally (57%), while Labor voters are the least likely to think this (33%).

Q. Overall, how would you rate the federal government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak?

• Since peaking at 70% in March, positive rating of the federal government’s handling of Covid-19 has dropped off, falling sharply to 44% this month (from 53% last month). This is the lowest rating recorded to date for this question which was first asked in March 2020.
• Positive rating of the federal government’s handling of Covid-19 has decreased in all states since last month, however it has fallen the most steeply in NSW where it is now 44% (down 18 percentage points from 62% in June).
• In SA, WA and QLD, this rating has also decreased to 48%, 42% and 48% respectively (from 58%, 49% and 54% in June).
• After a sharp fall last month, positive rating of the federal government’s handling of Covid-19 remains the lowest of all states in VIC at 40%.