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Coalition government report cardCoalition government report card
About the author
Natasha Kassam
Natasha Kassam was Director of the Lowy Institute's Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program from 2019 to 2022, directing the annual Lowy Institute Poll and researching China’s politics, Taiwan, and Australia-China relations.
The Australian public give high marks to the current Coalition government for its handling of key Australian foreign policy issues, with two exceptions — China and climate change.
The highest marks are awarded for the government’s response to Covid-19, for which the government scored 7.6 out of 10. Australians also score the government highly on ‘maintaining Australia’s national security’ and ‘maintaining a strong alliance with the United States’ (6.8 out of 10 for both).
Australians are positive about the government’s management of Australia’s economy (6.6 out of 10) and also for presenting a good image of Australia internationally (6.5 out of 10).
On the question of China, Australians are more divided, awarding 5.1 marks out of 10 for the government’s management of the relationship with China. As other results in the 2021 Poll show, however, more Australians lay the blame for the relationship tensions on China.
Australians mark the government hardest on the issue of climate change, awarding it a below-average 4.6 marks out of 10 for ‘managing Australia’s approach to climate change’. This is reinforced in other Poll findings, in which 60% say Australia is doing ‘too little’ to combat climate change.
