Change in Working together
Q. And, how do you think your State or Territory government and the Federal government are working together now compared to earlier in the pandemic?
| Total | State | |||||
| NSW | VIC | QLD | SA | WA | ||
| A lot better | 13% | 14% | 10% | 14% | 16% | 14% |
| A little better | 27% | 32% | 28% | 25% | 26% | 16% |
| No better or worse | 30% | 30% | 26% | 31% | 33% | 33% |
| A little worse | 15% | 14% | 20% | 14% | 12% | 19% |
| A lot worse | 7% | 6% | 12% | 8% | 4% | 5% |
| Unsure | 6% | 5% | 4% | 8% | 10% | 12% |
| TOTAL: Better | 41% | 46% | 38% | 39% | 41% | 31% |
| TOTAL: Worse | 23% | 20% | 32% | 22% | 16% | 24% |
| Base (n) | 1,076 | 352 | 275 | 215 | 88 | 99 |
- Overall, most people believe the working relationship between the Federal and their state government has improved (41%) or stayed the same (30%) during the pandemic. 25% think the relationship between the governments has deteriorated.
- Victorians are most likely to think the relationship between the Federal and state governments has got worse (32%).
State and Federal governments working together on specific issues
Q. How well do you think your State or Territory government and the Federal government are working together on the following issues?
| Total | State | |||||
| TOTAL: Working well together | NSW | VIC | QLD | SA | WA | |
| To minimise the spread of Covid-19 within aged care facilities | 51% | 49% | 42% | 58% | 58% | 50% |
| To maintain interstate trade and ensure shops and supermarkets are fully stocked | 68% | 64% | 66% | 65% | 77% | 75% |
| The promotion of tourism and travel within states | 52% | 54% | 37% | 57% | 67% | 59% |
| To manage a safe environment in schools and childcare facilities for children and staff | 67% | 65% | 61% | 71% | 73% | 74% |
| To control the spread of Covid-19 across state borders | 68% | 67% | 65% | 67% | 81% | 68% |
| Base (n) | 1,076 | 352 | 275 | 215 | 88 | 99 |
- Around two-thirds think their state and Federal governments are working well together to address the issues of inter-state infections (68%), Trade and supply (68%) and education (67%). While half think they are working well together to minimise the spread in aged-care facilities (51%) and promoting inter-state travel (52%).
- Victorians have the lowest rating of the relationship – particularly for issues of aged care facilities (42% say Federal and state governments are working well together) and interstate travel (37%).
| NSW | TOTAL: Well | TOTAL: Poorly | Very well | Quite well | Quite poorly | Very poorly | Unsure |
| To minimise the spread of Covid-19 within aged care facilities | 49% | 42% | 18% | 31% | 25% | 17% | 9% |
| To maintain interstate trade and ensure shops and supermarkets are fully stocked | 64% | 27% | 19% | 45% | 18% | 9% | 9% |
| The promotion of tourism and travel within states | 54% | 33% | 18% | 36% | 21% | 12% | 13% |
| To manage a safe environment in schools and childcare facilities for children and staff | 65% | 26% | 19% | 45% | 17% | 9% | 10% |
| To control the spread of Covid-19 across state borders | 67% | 29% | 22% | 45% | 18% | 10% | 4% |
| VIC | TOTAL: Well | TOTAL: Poorly | Very well | Quite well | Quite poorly | Very poorly | Unsure |
| To minimise the spread of Covid-19 within aged care facilities | 42% | 51% | 10% | 32% | 31% | 20% | 7% |
| To maintain interstate trade and ensure shops and supermarkets are fully stocked | 66% | 29% | 18% | 48% | 19% | 9% | 6% |
| The promotion of tourism and travel within states | 37% | 42% | 11% | 26% | 27% | 15% | 21% |
| To manage a safe environment in schools and childcare facilities for children and staff | 61% | 30% | 14% | 47% | 22% | 8% | 9% |
| To control the spread of Covid-19 across state borders | 65% | 29% | 20% | 45% | 19% | 10% | 6% |
| QLD | TOTAL: Well | TOTAL: Poorly | Very well | Quite well | Quite poorly | Very poorly | Unsure |
| To minimise the spread of Covid-19 within aged care facilities | 58% | 33% | 17% | 41% | 20% | 13% | 9% |
| To maintain interstate trade and ensure shops and supermarkets are fully stocked | 65% | 25% | 19% | 45% | 17% | 8% | 10% |
| The promotion of tourism and travel within states | 57% | 28% | 18% | 39% | 21% | 8% | 15% |
| To manage a safe environment in schools and childcare facilities for children and staff | 71% | 20% | 15% | 56% | 12% | 8% | 9% |
| To control the spread of Covid-19 across state borders | 67% | 29% | 23% | 44% | 19% | 10% | 4% |
| SA | TOTAL: Well | TOTAL: Poorly | Very well | Quite well | Quite poorly | Very poorly | Unsure |
| To minimise the spread of Covid-19 within aged care facilities | 58% | 32% | 17% | 41% | 14% | 18% | 10% |
| To maintain interstate trade and ensure shops and supermarkets are fully stocked | 77% | 11% | 16% | 61% | 7% | 3% | 12% |
| The promotion of tourism and travel within states | 67% | 16% | 16% | 51% | 9% | 7% | 18% |
| To manage a safe environment in schools and childcare facilities for children and staff | 73% | 16% | 21% | 52% | 10% | 6% | 11% |
| To control the spread of Covid-19 across state borders | 81% | 14% | 33% | 48% | 8% | 6% | 5% |
| WA | TOTAL: Well | TOTAL: Poorly | Very well | Quite well | Quite poorly | Very poorly | Unsure |
| To minimise the spread of Covid-19 within aged care facilities | 50% | 35% | 19% | 30% | 22% | 13% | 16% |
| To maintain interstate trade and ensure shops and supermarkets are fully stocked | 75% | 17% | 24% | 51% | 13% | 4% | 8% |
| The promotion of tourism and travel within states | 59% | 28% | 22% | 36% | 22% | 6% | 13% |
| To manage a safe environment in schools and childcare facilities for children and staff | 74% | 17% | 18% | 56% | 14% | 4% | 9% |
| To control the spread of Covid-19 across state borders | 68% | 24% | 28% | 40% | 16% | 8% | 8% |
Federal government better at
Q. Do you think a Federal Government led by Labor or the Coalition would be better at…?
| Coalition | Labor | Neither | |
| Reducing national debt | 45% | 27% | 28% |
| Managing the economy | 45% | 32% | 24% |
| Stopping community transmission of Covid-19 as soon as possible | 39% | 31% | 30% |
| Working with other countries’ leaders appropriately | 38% | 34% | 28% |
| Creating jobs | 37% | 40% | 23% |
| Supporting those in financial need | 35% | 43% | 22% |
| Improving the education system | 32% | 41% | 27% |
- A Coalition government is thought to be better than Labor at governance issues such as recovering the economy from Covid-19 (46% Coalition), reducing national debt (45%) and managing the economy (44%).
- Elements where Labor is seen to do a better job than the Coalition is in improving the education system (41%), supporting those in financial need (43%) an creating jobs (40%).
- Across all issues between one-fifth (22%) and almost a third (30%) of participants believe that neither party would be better at any of the listed elements.
Importance of re-establishing ABCC
Q: Compared to other issues the Government needs to address, how important is the issue of re-establishing the ABCC?
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
| Total important | 34% | 25% | 51% | 30% | 28% | |
| Total not important | 41% | 53% | 29% | 54% | 48% | |
| Very important | 10% | 5% | 16% | 7% | 12% | |
| Somewhat important | 24% | 20% | 35% | 23% | 16% | |
| Not so important | 26% | 31% | 25% | 22% | 24% | |
| Not at all important | 15% | 22% | 4% | 32% | 24% | |
| Don’t know | 26% | 23% | 20% | 15% | 24% |
34% say that re-establishing the ABCC is very or somewhat important compared to other issues the Government needs to address and 41% say it is not important.
Those more likely to think it is important were Liberal/National voters (51% and people aged 65+ (47%).
Those more likely to say it was not important were Labor (53%) and Greens (54%) voters.
Government decisions
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the following decisions the Federal Government has made over the last 12 months?
|
Total approve |
Total dis-approve |
Net |
|
Strongly approve |
Approve |
Dis-approve |
Strongly dis-approve |
No opinion |
|
| Turning back asylum seeker boats |
61% |
30% |
+31 |
37% |
24% |
15% |
15% |
10% |
|
| Freezing foreign aid at current levels |
58% |
27% |
+31 |
25% |
33% |
14% |
13% |
15% |
|
| Dumping the carbon tax |
53% |
34% |
+19 |
24% |
29% |
14% |
20% |
12% |
|
| Sending military aid to Iraq |
44% |
43% |
+1 |
12% |
32% |
20% |
23% |
13% |
|
| Dumping the mining tax |
41% |
42% |
-1 |
15% |
26% |
19% |
23% |
18% |
|
| A six-month wait for under-30’s before they can receive unemployment benefits |
38% |
52% |
-14 |
16% |
22% |
21% |
31% |
10% |
|
| Cutting public sector jobs |
34% |
52% |
-18 |
10% |
24% |
28% |
24% |
14% |
|
| Cutting $120 million in future funding to the ABC |
25% |
58% |
-33 |
11% |
14% |
28% |
30% |
17% |
|
| Increasing the pension age |
28% |
63% |
-35 |
9% |
19% |
28% |
35% |
9% |
|
| $7 co-payment for visits to the doctor |
27% |
66% |
-39 |
7% |
20% |
22% |
44% |
8% |
|
| Deregulating university fees |
22% |
63% |
-41 |
6% |
16% |
23% |
40% |
14% |
|
| Cutting $20 billion from future hospital funding to the states |
12% |
81% |
-69 |
4% |
8% |
27% |
54% |
8% |
The most approved Government decisions were turning back asylum seeker boats (61% approve), freezing foreign aid (58%) and dumping the carbon tax (53%). The most disapproved decisions were cutting $20 billion from hospital funding (81% disapprove), $7 co-payment for doctor visits (66%), deregulating university fees (63%) and increasing the pension age (63%).
Sending military aid to Iraq was approved by men (51% approve/39% disapprove) but disapproved by women (37% approve/47% disapprove).
The $7 co-payment was disapproved by 72% of those aged 45-64 and 71% of those earning less than $1,000 pw.
Deregulating university fees was disapproved by 77% of those aged 18-24.
Reason for cutting funding to ABC
Q. If the Federal Government cut funding to the ABC do you think it would be because:
|
Total
|
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
| The Government needs to reduce overall spending |
45% |
36% |
64% |
25% |
39% |
|
| The Government doesn’t like the ABC’s news coverage |
28% |
38% |
6% |
65% |
36% |
|
| The ABC has more than enough funding to do its job efficiently |
10% |
6% |
17% |
1% |
7% |
|
| Don’t know |
18% |
20% |
13% |
9% |
18% |
45% think that funding cuts to the ABC would be made because the Government needs to reduce overall spending and 28% think it would be because the Government doesn’t like the ABC’s news coverage.
Those more likely to think it would be because the Government doesn’t like the ABC’s news coverage were Greens voters (65%), Labor voters (38%), income less than $600pw (38%) and university educated (34%).
Same party in Government at State and Federal levels
Q. Do you think it is better to have the same party in Government at both State and Federal levels or do you think it is better to have different parties in Government at State and Federal levels?
|
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
Total Nov 13 |
|
| Same party in Government |
26% |
26% |
38% |
10% |
11% |
26% |
||
| Different parties in Government |
24% |
27% |
17% |
41% |
37% |
22% |
||
| Makes no difference |
36% |
36% |
34% |
33% |
40% |
40% |
||
| Don’t know |
13% |
11% |
11% |
15% |
12% |
12% |
36% think it doesn’t make any difference whether the parties in Government at State and Federal levels are different or the same. 26% think it is better if they are the same and 24% think it would be better if they were different. These figures have changed little since this question was asked in November.
Labor voters were a little more likely to favour different parties while Liberal/National voters were more likely to favour having the same party in power at both levels.
Government support for Qantas
Q. Would you approve or disapprove of the Federal Government taking any of the following actions on Qantas?
|
Total approve |
Total disapprove |
|
Strongly approve |
Approve |
Disapprove |
Strongly disapprove |
Don’t know |
|
| Buy a share of Qantas |
49% |
30% |
12% |
37% |
19% |
11% |
21% |
|
| Guarantee Qantas loans |
45% |
32% |
8% |
37% |
21% |
11% |
22% |
|
| Nationalise Qantas, i.e. the Government has full ownership and control |
36% |
42% |
11% |
25% |
24% |
18% |
22% |
|
| Provide direct funding and subsidies |
35% |
42% |
7% |
28% |
27% |
15% |
23% |
|
| Allow increased foreign ownership of Qantas |
31% |
52% |
6% |
25% |
25% |
27% |
16% |
Overall, respondents approved the Government buying a share of Qantas (49% approve/30% disapprove) and guaranteeing Qantas loans (45%/32%).
They tended to disapprove of allowing increased foreign ownership (31% approve/52% disapprove), providing direct funding (35%/42%) and nationalising Qantas (36%/42%).
Liberal/National voters were more likely to disapprove of all forms of assistance except allowing increased foreign ownership (40% approve/48% disapprove).
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Download this week's ReportEssential Report
Two Party Preferred:
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Federal government response to Covid-19
- State government response to Covid-19
- Better leadership during Covid-19 – PM vs state leader
- Attitudes towards Craig Kelly controversy and Scott Morrison’s leadership
- Views towards federal vs state government responsibility to manage Covid-19 hotel quarantine system
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