Australian voters are more inclined now than a year ago to believe the primary purpose of government is boosting the wellbeing of the population, and less inclined to worry about law and order, according to new research.
Polling undertaken for the Centre for Policy Development records a five-point year-on-year rise in support for the idea that the primary purpose of government is to improve overall wellbeing and a seven-point drop in the number of respondents saying government should prioritise public safety and the rule of law.
When asked earlier in February what they thought was the primary purpose of government, 32% of respondents said improving wellbeing (up from 27% in 2021) and 11% (down from 18%) said maintaining safety and the rule of law.
More survey participants in 2022 also nominated the delivery and funding of social services as a primary purpose of government (31% said this was important, up from 28% last year).
The Centre for Policy Development has been researching voter attitudes to the role of government since 2017. The centre’s chief executive, Travers McLeod, said it had been clear for a long time that a majority of Australians supported the maintenance of public sector capability to deliver critical services.
But he said the coronavirus pandemic prompted a noticeable community shift. “Since Covid has revealed the critical weaknesses in our service systems people have become even more forthright in their views, not just about the purpose of government, but about the need for government to maintain and deliver the social infrastructure at the heart of our nation,” McLeod said.
The research comes ahead of a May federal election. Scott Morrison has declared it is time for governments to step back after a period of interventionism during the pandemic while the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, is campaigning on the idea that government is transformative for people.
The poll of 1,069 respondents undertaken by Essential suggests 58% of respondents believe it’s very important that government delivers social services directly, compared with 53% in 2021 and 57% in 2020.
Older voters are more likely to hold that view than younger cohorts, and there has been a significant increase in Victorian voters holding that view (57% this year compared to 48% last year).
Voters on higher incomes, younger voters and voters in full-time work were less likely to say government delivery of services was very important.
The poll shows nine in 10 respondents felt it was either very or somewhat important for governments to maintain capacity to deliver services directly rather than outsourcing provision to third parties.
McLeod said responses to this question since 2017 had consistently shown support above 75%, with a “sharp and sustained increase” to about 90% from 2020, which was the first wave of the pandemic.
Labor voters were more inclined to agree with this proposition than Coalition voters, although super majorities apply in both cases – 90% of Liberal and National party voters thought maintaining capacity for direct service delivery was important, compared with 95% of Labor voters. Attitudes were more or less consistent between voters in the inner city, outer suburban and regional cohorts.
Voters are also conscious of the role of state governments in service provision, consistent with their lived experience during the pandemic, with 43% of respondents saying their state government directly benefits them the most (compared to 47% last October), and 48% say the states are most responsible for delivering services to the community (50% last year).
But the polling shows more people acknowledged direct benefits provided by the federal government. Last year, 31% of respondents said the federal government directly benefited them the most. In 2022, this was up to 37%.
Travers said the research tracking a growing desire “for all governments to protect and preserve wellbeing, to deliver critical services and to strengthen social infrastructure shows a way forward for proponents of Australian democracy which can help Australia unify and flourish as we recover from the pandemic”.
The trends, he said, suggested “Australians want government as an active participant in service delivery, either a direct service provider or a partner that knows what it takes to make services work most effectively at the local level”.
