Public service more trustworthy but still disrespectful, says study

Up to one-third of Australians say they were not treated with respect by the public service, while more than 40 per cent say the information they received was hard to understand.

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Phil Gaetjens. Picture: Gary Ramage

Up to one-third of Australians who dealt with the public service in the year to June say they were not treated with respect, while more than 40 per cent say the information they received was not easy to understand, according to a survey conducted by Scott Morrison’s department.

The Citizen Experience Survey of more than 15,000 Australians also found more people trusted and were satisfied with the federal public service compared to a year ago, but only 51 per cent said it took an acceptable amount of time to reach an outcome.

Published by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the survey has measured Australians’ satisfaction, trust and engagement with public service delivery from March 2019 to June this year.

While the public service’s delivery has improved under all five categories, still a large number of respondents (40 per cent) either disagreed or did not offer an opinion that staff were knowledgeable, while 38 per cent did not agree that staff did what they said they would do.

Two-thirds of Australians felt they were treated with respect, compared to 58 per cent in March last year, and 57 per cent agreed they could easily understand information provided.

Services included helping people look for work, seeking financial support, finding information about education or training, or accessing assistance when having a baby.

The number who were somewhat satisfied, satisfied or completely satisfied was 78 per cent in June this year compared to 71 per cent 15 months earlier, while the dissatisfaction rate dropped from 15 per cent in March 2019 to 10 per cent in June.

Trust in the public service jumped from 59 per cent to 65 per cent in that time.

PM&C secretary Phil Gaetjens said the survey’s results worsened in March this year but from June onwards they started climbing.

“Satisfaction and trust are tracking up, and now we need to keep it that way,” he said.

Young people aged 18-24 were less confident in accessing services, with 43 per cent of the age group knowing how to compared to 53 per cent of people in other age brackets.