Trust in government
Trusting that the government will do the right thing, listen, lead, respond effectively and represent the community has an impact on our wellbeing.
Trust in government
This measure shows how much confidence adult residents in the ACT have in the ACT government to do what is right. In this measure, government is defined as including elected members, public servants and government services.
The 2024 University of Canberra Living Well in the ACT Region survey found that 67.5% of Canberrans had moderate to high confidence in the government, compared to 76.7% in 2023. Conversely, 30.0% had low confidence in the government in 2024, compared to 20.1% in 2023.
Levels of confidence have varied since this measure was first surveyed in December 2020. At that time, 83.6% of ACT residents had moderate to high confidence. However, during COVID-19, trust in many Australian governments (national, state and territory) increased significantly. The results of the University of Canberra survey show that the ACT was no exception. Current results appear to have returned closer to pre-pandemic levels.
This is a new measure on the dashboard, previously identified as being under development. The University of Canberra has worked over successive waves of the Living Well in the ACT Region survey to test and develop measures appropriate for the ACT, recognising that trust in government can be measured in a wide range of ways and that, internationally, no single approach to measurement is widely accepted as being best.
Data source
Data for this indicator are sourced from the University of Canberra Living well in the ACT Region survey. Detailed survey data, survey user guide and published reports from the survey can be accessed at https://www.regionalwellbeing.org.au/living-well-in-the-act-region/.
Chart description
Bar chart for 2020, 2023 and 2024, of percentage of respondents reporting levels of confidence in the ACT government to do what is right.
In 2024:
- 24.4% of respondents reported high confidence, compared to 34.8% in 2023
- 43.1% reported moderate confidence, compared to 41.9% in 2023
- 30.0% reported low confidence compared to 20.1% in 2023.
Technical notes
The Living Well in the ACT Region survey, conducted by the University of Canberra, aims to measure, track and understand the wellbeing and resilience of adult residents living in the Australian Capital Territory region of Australia. It examines factors known to affect wellbeing and resilience at the individual, household, community and regional level.
When generating data for the ACT, statistical weighting is used to address differences between the sample of people who respond to the survey, and the characteristics of the ACT adult population.
Data are produced from this survey for different groups of people in the ACT. The ‘overall response’ category represents responses at the ACT population level. Where reliable estimates can be produced, data are also presented for Canberrans by: gender, age, cultural background, gender identity and sexuality, carer role and experience of disability. Not all differences over time or between groups are statistically significant: information on confidence intervals for the data presented here is available in data tables that can be accessed at https://www.regionalwellbeing.org.au/living-well-in-the-act-region/.
Care is needed when interpreting the differences in findings between groups as the descriptive statistics published here show where there are differences in wellbeing, but not what has caused those differences in wellbeing.
Further information about the survey can be found at Living Well in the ACT Region or by contacting regionalwellbeing@canberra.edu.au.
