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 |
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 | |
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.
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%).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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