Coronavirus concerns
Q To what extent are you concerned about the threat of the Coronavirus in Australia?
| Mar’20 | Feb’20 | Difference | |
| Very concerned | 27% | 25% | +2 |
| Quite concerned | 36% | 43% | -7 |
| Not that concerned | 28% | 26% | +2 |
| Not at all concerned | 9% | 6% | +3 |
| Base (n) | 1,096 | 1,057 | – |
- Net concern about the threat of Coronavirus has decreased overall with 36% of participants now ‘quite concerned’, down from 43% in Feb’20.
- 9% of participants are now ‘not at all concerned’ about Coronavirus, up from 6% last month.
Likelihood of developing Coronavirus
Q How likely do you think it is, that you will develop Coronavirus?
| Age group | Federal Voting Intention | |||||||
| Total | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | Labor | Coalition | Greens | NET: Other | |
| Very likely | 7% | 11% | 9% | 2% | 6% | 7% | 6% | 10% |
| Somewhat likely | 24% | 25% | 27% | 21% | 27% | 26% | 18% | 21% |
| Somewhat unlikely | 43% | 35% | 42% | 49% | 40% | 48% | 37% | 38% |
| Very unlikely | 26% | 29% | 22% | 27% | 27% | 19% | 38% | 31% |
| Base (n) | 1,096 | 341 | 370 | 385 | 347 | 359 | 92 | 171 |
- Overall, two-thirds (68%) of participants think it’s unlikely that they will develop Coronavirus.
- Especially those over 55 years old (77%) tend to believe it’s unlikely they will develop Coronavirus.
- Greens voters tend to believe it’s very unlikely they will develop Coronavirus (38%) compared to all other voters (24%).
Coronavirus concerns and government actions
Q. To what extent are you concerned about the threat of the Coronavirus in Australia?
| Total | |
| Very concerned | 25% |
| Quite concerned | 43% |
| Not that concerned | 26% |
| Not at all concerned | 6% |
| Base (n) | 1,056 |
Q. Do you think the Government is doing enough to protect Australians from the threat of Coronavirus?
| Age | Federal Voting Intention | |||||||
| Total | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | Labor | Coalition | Greens | NET: Other | |
| Government is doing enough | 49% | 43% | 45% | 57% | 43% | 68% | 34% | 37% |
| Government is not doing enough | 30% | 38% | 35% | 19% | 38% | 16% | 38% | 40% |
| Don’t know | 21% | 19% | 20% | 24% | 19% | 15% | 28% | 23% |
| Base (n) | 1,056 | 341 | 366 | 349 | 354 | 320 | 113 | 155 |
- 25% are very concerned about the threat of the Coronavirus to Australia and 43% are quite concerned. 26% are not at all concerned and 6% say they are not at all concerned.
- 49% of participants believe the government is doing enough to protect Australians from Coronavirus; those over 55 years old (57%) and Coalition voters (68%) are most likely to say that the Government is doing enough.
- Those aged 18-54 year old (37%), with dependent children (35%), Greens voters (38%) and other/independent party voters (40%) are more likely to believe that the government isn’t doing enough.
Attitudes towards Coronavirus management
Q. To what extent do you support or oppose the following measures to limit the spread of the Coronavirus to Australia?
| NET: Agree | NET: Disagree | Strongly agree | Somewhat agree | Somewhat disagree | Strongly disagree | Unsure | |
| Stopping all flights to and from China until more is known about the disease | 85% | 10% | 59% | 25% | 8% | 2% | 5% |
| Stopping anyone from entering the country who has who has been to China in the last 14 days | 84% | 11% | 59% | 25% | 8% | 3% | 5% |
| People entering Australia from affected areas in China will be quarantined on Christmas Island for 14 days | 82% | 12% | 59% | 23% | 8% | 4% | 6% |
| NET: Agree | Age | Federal Voting Intention | ||||||
| Total | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | Labor | Coalition | Greens | NET: Other | |
| Stopping all flights to and from China until more is known about the disease | 85% | 77% | 83% | 92% | 84% | 91% | 72% | 82% |
| Stopping anyone from entering the country who has who has been to China in the last 14 days | 84% | 76% | 84% | 90% | 84% | 90% | 71% | 86% |
| People entering Australia from affected areas in China will be quarantined on Christmas Island for 14 days | 82% | 73% | 82% | 90% | 79% | 92% | 67% | 83% |
| Base (n) | 1,056 | 341 | 366 | 349 | 354 | 320 | 113 | 155 |
- More than four-fifths of participants agree with each of the three measures to limit to the spread of the Coronavirus; stopping all flights to and from China has 85% agreement, stopping anyone entering the country who has been to China in the last 14 days has 84% agreement, and 82% agree that people entering Australia from affected areas in China should be quarantined.
- Participants over 55 years old and Coalition voters are more likely to agree with these measures, than participants 18-34 and Greens voters.
Most important factor in government regulation
Q. What should be the most important factor Governments consider in relation to regulating each of these issues – protecting rights and freedom, protecting people’s health and safety or managing the cost to taxpayers (e.g. health costs of drug/alcohol/tobacco use)?
|
Protecting rights and freedom |
Protecting people’s health and safety |
Managing the cost to taxpayers |
Don’t know |
|
| Wearing seatbelts in cars |
5% |
89% |
3% |
3% |
| Wearing bike helmets |
6% |
88% |
3% |
3% |
| Personal use of recreational drugs |
14% |
64% |
13% |
10% |
| Smoking in public places |
16% |
70% |
8% |
6% |
| Buying and consuming alcohol |
18% |
64% |
11% |
7% |
| Shopping hours |
48% |
13% |
16% |
23% |
| Cigarette packaging |
15% |
65% |
10% |
10% |
| Junk food advertising |
13% |
70% |
8% |
9% |
| Gambling, poker machines |
22% |
46% |
20% |
12% |
| Films (i.e. censorship) |
51% |
21% |
8% |
19% |
| The internet |
56% |
21% |
7% |
16% |
| Making public statements which other people might find offensive |
54% |
18% |
5% |
23% |
For most of the areas listed above, the majority of respondents thought the most important factor for Governments to consider was ‘protecting people’s health and safety’.
The areas where respondents thought that is was more important to consider ‘protecting rights and freedoms’ were the internet (56%), making statements which other people might find offensive (54%), films (51%) and shopping hours (48%). ‘Managing the cost to tax payers’ was not considered to be an important factor by most respondents.
Most Important Factor in Government Regulation
Q. What should be the most important factor Governments consider in relation to regulating each of these issues – protecting rights and freedom, protecting people’s health and safety or managing the cost to taxpayers (e.g. health costs of drug/alcohol/tobacco use)?
|
Protecting rights and freedom |
Protecting people’s health and safety |
Managing the cost to taxpayers |
Don’t know |
|
| Wearing seatbelts in cars |
5% |
91% |
3% |
2% |
| Wearing bike helmets |
6% |
89% |
3% |
2% |
| Personal use of recreational drugs |
18% |
61% |
12% |
9% |
| Smoking in public places |
19% |
67% |
9% |
5% |
| Buying and consuming alcohol |
25% |
58% |
11% |
6% |
| Shopping hours |
55% |
11% |
16% |
19% |
| Cigarette packaging |
16% |
61% |
14% |
8% |
| Junk food advertising |
16% |
66% |
11% |
8% |
| Films (i.e. censorship) |
59% |
19% |
7% |
15% |
| The internet |
62% |
18% |
6% |
15% |
For most of the areas listed above, the majority of respondents thought the most important factor for Governments to consider was ‘protecting people’s health and safety’.
The three areas where respondents thought that is was more important to consider ‘protecting rights and freedoms’ were ‘the internet’ (62%), ‘films’ (59%) and ‘shopping hours’ (55%).
‘Managing the cost to tax payers’ was not considered to be an important factor by most respondents.
Workplace Issues
Q. How much say should employees have in the following issues in their workplace?
| Total a lot/
some say |
A lot of say | Some say | A little say | No say at all | Don’t know | |
| Health and safety | 90% | 63% | 27% | 7% | 2% | 1% |
| Working conditions | 88% | 55% | 33% | 8% | 2% | 1% |
| When they can take annual leave | 86% | 42% | 44% | 11% | 2% | 2% |
| Hours of work and rostering | 77% | 26% | 51% | 19% | 3% | 2% |
| Wages | 76% | 24% | 52% | 18% | 4% | 2% |
| Offshoring jobs (i.e. transferring jobs to another country) | 66% | 37% | 29% | 18% | 12% | 4% |
| Redundancies | 65% | 24% | 41% | 21% | 11% | 3% |
| CEO salary and bonuses | 59% | 29% | 30% | 18% | 20% | 3% |
| Board decisions | 44% | 16% | 28% | 29% | 22% | 4% |
A majority of respondents think employees should have a lot or some say in all workplace issues listed except for board decisions.
63% think employees should have a lot of say in health and safety, 55% in working conditions, 42% in annual leave and 37% in offshoring jobs.
Those on lower incomes (under $1,000pw) were more likely to think employees should have a lot of say in off-shoring jobs (45%) and CEO salary and bonuses (35%).
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Essential Report
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Views towards re-electing the federal Coalition government
- Party trust to handle issues
- Importance of Australia’s international reputation
- Scott Morrison’s impact on Australia’s international reputation
- Views towards Australia’s international reputation
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