Australians positive about finances and optimistic for the future

Australians have maintained strong social cohesion and individual resilience through the pandemic.

Australians have maintained strong social cohesion and individual resilience through the pandemic, reporting positive attitudes about their finances, optimism for the future, and higher trust in ­government.

More people were satisfied with their financial position in 2020 than in 2019, the latest Scanlon Foundation social cohesion report finds, and there was no drop in personal happiness.

Trust in government improved significantly, and even though the Andrews government in Victoria trailed the other states in terms of support for its response to the pandemic, it gained ground in the ­second half of the year.

 

Australians also saw no need to turn inward as a result of COVID-19, with support for multiculturalism and immigration remaining strong. The Scanlon Foundation report, ­undertaken by Monash University researchers, canvassed the views of 3000 people in June and again in November.

At the height of the pandemic in July, 70 per cent of people said they were optimistic about Australia’s future, a figure that rose to 75 per cent in November, a sign of national resilience and confidence in government, report author ­Andrew Markus said. “In parts of the world, social cohesion has started to fray … but such fraying has not been observed in Australia,” Professor Markus said.

“Here, governments have succeeded in controlling the spread of the virus and there are signs of economic recovery. In November, nearly nine months since the COVID-19 pandemic began to disrupt life across the world, a large majority of Australians remained positive about the future.”

 

Despite more than one in four people saying their employment had been affected by COVID-19 either through job loss or reduced hours, 73 per cent said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their financial situation, up from 64 per cent in 2019.

At 54 per cent, the 2020 level of trust in government was the highest recorded in more than a decade of surveys. And 85 per cent gave the Morrison government the thumbs up for its response to the pandemic, both in July and November. While state governments generally found their support in the 90 per cent range, the Andrews government sat at 65 per cent in July, but bumped up to 78 per cent by ­November.