Revealed: What NSW voters really think of their schools and transport

Key worker strikes, hospital scandals and delays to major transport projects are challenging Premier Chris Minns’s commitment to rebuild trust in the public service as polling shows fewer than half of voters in NSW have a positive opinion of state-run health, education and transport.

More than two years into Labor’s first term of government in NSW, Minns maintains a commanding lead over Opposition Leader Mark Speakman as preferred premier, leading 40 to 15 per cent, and the NSW Labor Party’s primary vote has quickly bounced back from a low of 29 per cent at the start of 2025 to 33 per cent.

But figures from the latest Resolve Political Monitor, conducted for The Sydney Morning Herald by Resolve Strategic, suggest Labor is struggling to convince voters it has improved key public services.

Amid widespread industrial strife in the NSW health system including doctor strikes, a staffing crisis in mental health and a long-running pay dispute with nurses, more voters in NSW have a negative opinion of the public health system than positive.

The poll of 1123 people taken in March and April shows 42 per cent rated public hospitals as poor or very poor, compared to only 38 per cent who had a positive view.

In troubling findings for the government, only 6 per cent of those polled had a “very good” opinion of public hospitals.

Doctors demanding more pay and better conditions at Westmead Hospital during a strike this month.Credit: Janie Barrett

But the dim view of public services was repeated across the board, with less than half of those polled expressing a positive opinion of public schools (42 per cent), public transport (43 per cent) and road infrastructure (37 per cent).

Resolve director Jim Reed said it was surprising to see voters held such a low opinion of key public services, particularly in the context of a federal election campaign in which health funding in particular has been prominent.

“It’s surprising that only a minority of voters seem satisfied with state services, including those using them,” he said. “They clearly have high expectations.”

Labor came to power vowing to restore confidence in the public service, in part by abolishing the former government’s controversial wages cap, which had fuelled concerns about key a shortage of key workers.

It has made progress on some measures – landing landmark pay deals with teachers and police, for example – but the removal of the cap has also prompted industrial action in the public service. In the two years since coming to power, Minns has had ugly fights with the NSW Teachers Federation, the Health Services Union and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, among others.

The health system in particular has been rocked industrial action, including a rare three-day strike by doctors this month that led to widespread elective surgery cancellations and emergency bed closures. At the same time, questions have been raised about the safety of the Northern Beaches Hospital after the high-profile and tragic deaths of toddler Joe Massa and newborn Harper.

“In NSW, we’ve suffered a series of rolling strikes and other actions that we know have affected people’s views,” Reed said.

“Consistency and reliability are almost as important as quality.”

One bright spot for the government was that while only 42 per cent of people rated public schools positively, the result was higher (49 per cent) among those with children of school age.

The government has boasted of a 40 per cent reduction in teacher vacancies since 2021, and last month secured a $4.8 billion school funding deal with the Commonwealth. It has also sought to address rising private school enrolments by investing in new public schools and upgrading others.

Education Minister and Acting Premier Prue Car conceded rebuilding trust in the public schools system was a “long project”.

“We made it really clear upon coming to government that we are focused on rebuilding the public education system after more than a decade of underinvestment,” she said.

“We gave teachers the biggest pay rise in a generation that has resulted, among other interventions, in vacancies dropping by more than 40 per cent since we came to government. There are more teachers than ever in front of our children in public school classrooms.

“But this is a long project. It can’t be done overnight. We acknowledge we need to rebuild the public education system.”

The latest Resolve poll shows Labor’s primary vote climbing back to 33 per cent after it dipped at the beginning of 2025, while the Coalition fell two points (from 38 per cent to 36 per cent). Support for the Greens fell from a post-election high of 14 per cent to 11 per cent while 14 per cent of respondents preferred an independent.

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