As we prepare to head to the polls, almost half of Australians think corruption across the nation is "very much a problem", Vote Compass has found.
We asked Australians how much of a problem corruption is in Australia today as part of Vote Compass — the largest survey of voter attitudes in the country.
At 49 per cent, just under half of Australians said corruption was a big problem, and 36 per cent thought it was "somewhat of a problem".
Only 1 per cent of us think corruption is not a problem at all.
Views on the size of the corruption problem do differ, depending on which party you intend to vote for.
Fewer Liberal and National voters seem majorly concerned with corruption in Australia. Nineteen per cent think it is "very much a problem" but only 3 per cent believe it isn't a problem at all.
Of Labor voters, 55 per cent believe it is "very much a problem", and that increases to 62 per cent for Greens voters.
About 44 per cent of Australians who intend to vote for the Coalition believe corruption is "somewhat of a problem".
ABC chief election analyst Antony Green said he was not surprised by the results splitting along party lines.
"I think some of the attitude to this question by party is actually reflective of who is in government and who is not in government," Green said.
The issue of corruption and its influence on major policy decisions has been in sharp focus in the past few years, with Labor accusing the Coalition of putting forward a toothless proposal for a federal integrity commission.
In its last term, the Coalition government decided against introducing legislation to establish its proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission, arguing that Labor should have supported the model before it was debated in parliament.
This week, Scott Morrison said it was still the Coalition's position to proceed with the legislation to create a federal watchdog, but only if Labor agreed to pass the bill.
Labor has promised to establish a national anti-corruption commission, which would operate with the powers of a royal commission to investigate systemic corruption in the federal government.
Many new independent candidates have sought to raise a perceived lack of integrity in federal politics as a key election issue.
Last year, the Australia Talks survey found about 9 in 10 Australians wanted the government to establish a federal independent commission against corruption.
Many of us think the tax on petrol is about right, and we're pretty done with COVID-19 restrictions
Vote Compass also gives us some insight into how Australians are feeling about the exorbitant cost of petrol recently, and the fuel excise imposed by the Commonwealth.
Most of us are wincing at the bowser every time we go to fill up the car, as petrol prices soar due to global oil prices spiking after the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
So do we think the tax on petrol is too high or could it be ramped up?
Actually, almost 40 per cent of Australians told Vote Compass that the tax is about right, saying there should be "about the same" amount of tax on petrol.
Australia's fuel excise — or the money we give to the Commonwealth at the pump — has been halved, from 44.2 cents per litre to 22.1 cents.
That change was announced in the federal budget last month.
But at this stage, it's a temporary measure for six months, and Labor has also said it would not be sustainable to continue a long-term cut to the fuel excise.
Still, there are plenty of Australians who are clearly struggling with the hit to their weekly budget while petrol prices are so high.
Vote Compass found about 43 per cent of us feel that the fuel excise could be "less" or "significantly less" to enable us to make ends meet.
The cost of living is just one of the stressors we've faced as a nation in the past three years.
All of us have been impacted by the devastating effects of the pandemic, and Vote Compass reveals Australians are very reluctant to accept more lockdowns and restrictions into the future.
Asked if the federal government should impose further restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19, 45 per cent of Australians disagreed, strongly or somewhat.
Another 27 per cent were neutral on the question of more restrictions, and another 27 per cent agreed that it could be necessary.
About the data
- Vote Compass responses have been weighted by gender, age, education, language, religion, place of residence and past vote to match the Australian population, creating a nationally representative sample.
- The sample size for this report is 173,956 respondents.
- Find about more about the methodology in this explainer.
