The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

  • Aug, 2020

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    State Government response to Covid-19

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

    TOTAL: Good 24/08 10/08 27/07 13/07 22/06 15/06 08/06 01/06 25/05 18/05 11/05
    NSW 59% 61% 62% 63% 70% 65% 67% 62% 65% 70% 70%
    VIC 47% 49% 53% 49% 65% 75% 72% 71% 73% 71% 71%
    QLD 73% 68% 67% 69% 64% 67% 68% 69% 74% 66% 70%
    SA 65% 72% 76% 79% 79% 76% 79% 70% 84% 80% 78%
    WA 84% 86% 82% 77% 75% 77% 84% 79% 83% 86% 83%

     

    • Positive rating of the NSW Government’s handling of the crisis moved -2%pts this week to 59%, this is down from a peak of 70% in June.
    • Positive rating of the Victorian Government also moved -2%pts this week (to 47%). This is consistent with ratings since the outbreak in Victoria in July.
    • Western Australia (84%) have the highest state government ratings for handling the crisis.
    VICTORIA ONLY 24/08 10/08 27/07 13/07 22/06 15/06 08/06 01/06 25/05 18/05 11/05
    Very poor 15% 16% 13% 14% 8% 6% 6% 4% 3% 3% 4%
    Quite poor 20% 14% 17% 12% 5% 5% 6% 7% 9% 10% 11%
    Neither good, nor poor 17% 21% 17% 25% 22% 13% 16% 17% 16% 15% 15%
    Quite good 29% 28% 34% 32% 38% 39% 38% 39% 37% 38% 34%
    Very good 18% 21% 19% 17% 26% 36% 34% 33% 36% 33% 37%
    TOTAL: Poor 36% 30% 30% 26% 13% 11% 12% 11% 11% 14% 14%
    TOTAL: Good 47% 49% 53% 49% 65% 75% 72% 71% 73% 71% 71%
    Base (n) 275 499 239 281 261 275 275 275 275 267 275

  • Jun, 2020

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    State Government response to Covid-19

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

      15/06 08/06 01/06 25/05 18/05 11/05 04/05 27/04 20/04
    Very poor 4% 4% 6% 4% 3% 4% 4% 4% 5%
    Quite poor 8% 7% 6% 7% 8% 8% 8% 9% 9%
    Neither good, nor poor 17% 17% 20% 17% 17% 16% 18% 17% 20%
    Quite good 38% 39% 38% 38% 39% 39% 38% 41% 39%
    Very good 33% 32% 30% 35% 33% 34% 31% 30% 26%
    TOTAL: Poor 12% 11% 12% 11% 11% 12% 12% 13% 14%
    TOTAL: Good 71% 71% 68% 73% 72% 73% 70% 70% 66%
    Base (n) 1,087 1,073 1,059 1,087 1,073 1,067 1,093 1,054 1,051

     

        State
      Total NSW VIC QLD SA WA
    Very poor 4% 4% 6% 6% 1% 3%
    Quite poor 8% 9% 5% 12% 6% 4%
    Neither good, nor poor 17% 22% 13% 15% 17% 17%
    Quite good 38% 41% 39% 39% 40% 28%
    Very good 33% 24% 36% 28% 36% 49%
    TOTAL: Poor 12% 13% 11% 18% 7% 6%
    TOTAL: Good 71% 65% 75% 67% 76% 77%
    Base (n) 1,087 352 275 217 83 107
  • Apr, 2020

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    State Government response to Covid-19

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

      20/04 13/04
    Very poor 5% 5%
    Quite poor 9% 11%
    Neither good, nor poor 20% 20%
    Quite good 39% 38%
    Very good 26% 23%
    NET: Poor 14% 17%
    NET: Good 66% 63%
    Base (n) 1,051 1,068

     

        State
      Total NSW VIC QLD SA WA  
    Very poor 5% 5% 6% 3% 3% 4%  
    Quite poor 9% 12% 5% 11% 8% 7%  
    Neither good, nor poor 20% 21% 20% 23% 23% 12%  
    Quite good 39% 37% 38% 47% 43% 34%  
    Very good 26% 24% 32% 16% 23% 43%  
    NET: Poor 14% 17% 11% 14% 11% 11%  
    NET: Good 66% 61% 69% 63% 66% 77%  
    Base (n) 1,051 322 275 216 88 106  
    • Nationally, the perception of state governments’ handling of the crisis in in line with government, with 66% rating their own state’s handling as Very/Quite good (compared to 65%).
    • In the past week the rating in Queensland has increased from 52% to 63%, while Victoria has fallen from 76% to 69%. Western Australia and Victoria remain the states with the highest rating.
  • Apr, 2020

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    State Government response to Covid-19

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

        State
      Total NSW VIC QLD SA WA
    Very poor 5% 6% 4% 6% 3% 3%
    Quite poor 11% 15% 5% 16% 7% 8%
    Neither good, nor poor 20% 23% 15% 27% 19% 11%
    Quite good 38% 38% 42% 33% 38% 36%
    Very good 26% 18% 33% 19% 33% 43%
    NET: Poor 16% 21% 10% 21% 10% 11%
    NET: Good 64% 56% 76% 52% 72% 79%
    Base (n) 1,068 328 272 222 87 110
    • Across the country, the overall perception of states’ handling of the crisis in in line with government 64% rating their own state’s handling as Very/Quite good (compared to 63%).
    • Victoria and Western Australia have the highest rating of their state government, while this is lower for Queensland (52%) and NSW (56%).
  • Apr, 2014

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    Selling Government-owned assets

    Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the Treasurer Joe Hockey’s proposal that State Governments sell their Government-owned assets (e.g. ports, rail, roads) to fund construction of new infrastructure?

     

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Vote other/ Indep-endent
    Total approve

    25%

     

    10%

    44%

    17%

    23%
    Total disapprove

    58%

     

    80%

    41%

    63%

    60%
    Strongly approve

    7%

    3%

    11%

    4%

    8%
    Approve

    18%

    7%

    33%

    13%

    15%
    Disapprove

    27%

    25%

    31%

    28%

    22%
    Strongly disapprove

    31%

    55%

    10%

    35%

    38%
    Don’t know

    18%

    11%

    16%

    19%

    16%

    58% disapprove of the Treasurer Joe Hockey’s proposal that State Governments sell their Government-owned to fund construction of new infrastructure and 25% approve.

    Labor voters (80%) and Greens voters (63%) strongly disapprove but Liberal/National voters are divided with 44% approve/41% disapprove.

  • Mar, 2014

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    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.

  • Dec, 2012

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    Responsibility for gas/electricity prices

    Q. Who do you think is mainly responsible for electricity and gas prices?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens
    The Federal Government

    27%

    17%

    40%

    15%
    The State Government

    16%

    18%

    14%

    18%
    The power companies

    45%

    54%

    37%

    56%
    Don’t know

    13%

    11%

    9%

    11%

    45% believe that power companies are mainly responsible for electricity and gas prices, 27% think the Federal Government is mainly responsible and 16% State Governments.

    40% of Liberal/National voters think the Federal Government is mainly responsible. Answers were similar across the major states – NSW, Victoria, Queensland.

  • Aug, 2012

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    Responsibility for Power Prices

    Q. Who do you think is mainly responsible for electricity and gas prices?

     

    Total

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Increased a lot

    Increased a moderate amount

    Increased a little

    Stayed the same or decreased
    The Federal Government

    28%

    16%

    40%

    18%

    40%

    22%

    19%

    22%
    The State Government

    23%

    27%

    21%

    28%

    23%

    28%

    21%

    18%
    The power companies

    37%

    50%

    28%

    42%

    32%

    42%

    44%

    38%
    Don’t know

    12%

    7%

    10%

    12%

    6%

    9%

    17%

    21%

    37% think the power companies are mainly responsible for electricity and gas prices, 28% think the Federal Government is mainly responsible and 23% think the State Governments are mainly responsible.

    Those who think power prices have increased a lot are more likely to think the Federal Government is mainly responsible (40%), while those who think prices have increased a moderate amount, a little or not at all think the power companies are mainly responsible.

    50% of Labor voters think the power companies are mainly responsible and 40% of Liberal/National voters think the Federal Government is mainly responsible.

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