Confidence in government and public institutions is vital for the success of a democracy. Australians have a high degree of satisfaction in democracy as a whole, but lack faith in the quality of government, a trend which has increased over the 2000s. This century has seen a rise in confidence in both the public service and the legal system of the country, but a decline in faith in both the media and political parties.
A clear majority of Australians (71%) are satisfied with democracy. Satisfaction with democracy sits at 71% among Australians.
Satisfaction has dipped from 2007 when the level of satisfaction was at 86%.
The defence forces have the highest public confidence at 85%.
Australians’ have the lowest confidence in political parties with only 18% having ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’ of confidence.
Public confidence in both state and federal political parties has declined over the first decade of the 21st century. Despite this, Australians are still very happy with the way democracy works, with high satisfaction with the idea of democracy.
This shows that while they think of democracy as working for the most part, there are areas of governance that Australians do not see as successful. Australians with lower satisfaction in democracy single out issues such as ‘better government’ and immigration. Australians who are mostly concerned about climate change and the environment are more likely to have high satisfaction.
Looking at other Australian institutions, we have the highest confidence in the defence forces, the police, and major Australian companies. This means Australians perceive these institutions as carrying out the jobs they are meant to do, something not seen among the institutions with the lower confidence levels.
Of particular note are the changes in trends over the decades crossing the end of the 20th century. Police and armed forces saw a large increase in confidence, whereas the church saw one of the largest declines, coinciding with major global scandals.
Political institutions show the most short-term fluctuation, with a long term decline overall. This decline appears to be the most consistent problem with overall confidence in democracy.