Confidence in the federal government has fallen to levels last seen during the Black Summer bushfires, according to a new survey.
Rocked by a summer of frustrations caused by the COVID-19 Omicron variant, the Australian National University (ANU) has found only three in ten (34.5 per cent) of Australians now hold either a “great deal or quite a lot” of faith in the Coalition’s performance.
The measure of confidence is at its lowest levels to be recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This is a down from a peak of 60.6 per cent in May 2020 and lower than in October of last year (41.4 per cent)," said the study's co-author Professor Nicholas Biddle said.
"In fact, this is only slightly above the level of confidence prior to the pandemic and during the Black Summer bushfires.”
The study - which surveyed 3,472 people during January 2022 - also shows a large decline in satisfaction in the direction of the country as the nation grappled with the latest COVID-19 wave.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently addressed frustrations within the community over the COVID-19 response, about looking forward to a summer of freedom.
“It’s fair that this disappointment leads you to ask ‘couldn’t you have done more? Couldn’t this have been avoided? After all, aren’t you responsible?' I get that,” he told the National Press Club.
The report notes how during this period, COVID-19 infections rose dramatically, with people facing long queues at COVID-19 testing centres and difficulty accessing rapid antigen tests (RATs).
In fact, three-quarters (75.6 per cent) of those who had issues accessing a test said the reason was that they were unable to find a RAT in their local area.
The survey also depicts that between October 2021 and January 2022, satisfaction with the direction of the nation fell to 63.6 per cent of Australians holding this sentiment.
This figure down from a peak of 80.6 per cent during May 2020, and more recently 69.8 per cent in October last year.
"One of the potential reasons for this drop in satisfaction is that respondents don’t feel that key institutions are handling the pandemic as well as they have in the past, or as well as they should be doing given the current circumstances," Professor Biddle said.
A key question of the analysis was whether the positive impact of easing restrictions would outweigh the negative impact of increased infection rates due to the Omicron variant.
But the report says on balance, Australians have worse outcomes and more negative views in January 2022 compared to October 2021.
A key metric behind this is that when asked in mid-January 2022, 40 per cent of Australians thought that "the worst of the pandemic is behind us", a substantial decline from October 2021, when more than half (54.6 per cent) of adult Australians did so.
The report also found 80 per cent of people thought they would be infected with COVID-19 in the next six months.
Chief medical officer Paul Kelly recently warned of a winter wave of the Omicron variant is expected by health authorities.
This is despite a recent fall in the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalisations and ICU admissions across most states and territories.
National Cabinet has now agreed to develop a winter preparedness audit by the second week of March to ensure systems are prepared for an expected winter COVID-19 and flu season.
The report also shows no significant improvement in life satisfaction or psychological distress since October last year.
The survey - which commenced in October 2019 - is described by ANU researchers as the longest and largest study on the impact of the pandemic in Australia.
The latest results were recorded from 17 January and 31 January this year.
