Lowy Institute Poll 2021 Report

The Covid-19 pandemic

Border and consular policies

As thousands of Australians continue to seek repatriation during the Covid-19 pandemic, the majority of Australians appear to support the federal government’s current approach.¹ Six in ten Australians (59%) say that the federal government has done about the right amount to bring Australians home from overseas. A third of Australians (33%) say that the federal government has not done enough, while 7% say the government has done too much.²

Australians hold mixed views over the question of Australia’s closed borders. Four in ten Australians (41%) agree with the current policy that ‘only Australians granted special exemptions should be allowed to leave’. The same number (40%) say ‘Australians who have been vaccinated should be free to leave’. One in five Australians (18%) say that ‘all Australians should be free to leave’. Older Australians aged 60 and above are more likely to say that once vaccinated they should be able to leave the country, with 50% agreeing with this approach. By contrast, only 36% of Australians aged 18–59 say that vaccinated Australians should be free to leave now.

Global responses to Covid-19

Australians continue to be extremely confident in Australia’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, ranking Australia well ahead of five other countries included in this year’s survey.

Almost all Australian adults (95%) say that Australia has handled Covid-19 ‘very well’ or ‘fairly well’ so far. The proportion that say Australia has handled Covid-19 very well has jumped from 43% in 2020 to 65% in 2021.

Despite tensions in the Australia-China relationship, Australian views of China’s handling of Covid-19 have improved over the past year. However, fewer than half (45%) say China has handled Covid-19 fairly or very well, an increase of 14 points from 2020.

Asked about Taiwan’s handling of the virus, two-thirds (66%) say that Taiwan has handled Covid-19 well. Fieldwork for the Lowy Institute Poll was carried out prior to the recent Covid-19 outbreak in Taiwan.

The majority of Australians say that India has not handled Covid-19 well so far, even though fieldwork for this polling was conducted prior to the dramatic increase in Covid-19 cases in India in April 2021. Only a quarter of Australians (27%) say India has handled Covid-19 very or fairly well.

Despite strong progress in UK and American vaccine rollouts, Australian views of the United Kingdom and the United States’ handling of the Covid-19 pandemic have worsened from a low base. One in five Australians (19%) say the United Kingdom has handled Covid-19 very or fairly well, an 11-point drop from 2020.

As in 2020, the United States sits at the bottom of this list of six countries. No Australians (0%) say that the United States has handled Covid-19 very well. Only 7% of Australians say the United States has handled the pandemic fairly well. Nine in ten Australians (92%) say that the United States has handled Covid-19 very or fairly badly.

Foreign aid and Covid-19

While many have been wary of Australia investing in foreign aid in the past,³ the vast majority in 2021 (83%) say that Australia should help Pacific Islands countries to pay for Covid-19 vaccines. Over the course of the past six months, the Australian government has pledged over $800 million in funding for vaccines in Pacific Island and Southeast Asian countries.⁴

A majority (60%) also say that Australia should help Southeast Asian countries to pay for Covid-19 vaccines. Younger Australians are more likely to support vaccine assistance for Southeast Asian countries than older Australians, with seven in ten 18–29 year olds (70%) saying that Australia should fund vaccines for Southeast Asia, compared to 56% of Australians over 30. More than 80% across all age groups polled say that Australia should fund vaccines for Pacific Island countries.