Australian government performance
Foreign policy performance
For the first time in the Lowy Institute Poll, Australians were asked their view of the federal government’s overall handling of Australia’s foreign policy.
A majority of Australians (56%) say the current Labor government is doing a good job, 15 points more than those who say it is doing a poor job (41%). Most people hold these views moderately, but a larger share say the government is doing a ‘very poor job’ (12%) compared to those who say it is doing a ‘very good job’ (7%).
Federal government foreign policy performance
Now thinking about the Australian government. To what extent do you think the current federal Labor government is doing a good job, or a poor job, of handling Australia’s foreign policy?
Government report card
Almost two years into the Labor government’s term in office, Australians were asked to give a score out of ten for its handling of a number of issues. Australians awarded the government its highest mark for ‘maintaining a strong alliance with the United States’ (6.6 out of 10), a small decline from 2023 (7.1).
Australians were moderately positive about the government’s management of relations with the Pacific Islands (5.8) and Southeast Asia (5.7).
On the question of the government ‘maintaining a capable defence force’, Australians were slightly less positive (5.3), as they were on its management of the relationship with China (5.3), a small decline from last year (5.8), notwithstanding the re-engagement between the two governments. The government received an average score (5.0) for management of the economy, a small decline from 5.7 last year.
Australians marked the government hardest on ‘responding to the Israel–Hamas war’ (4.2), ‘managing Australia’s approach to climate change’ (4.8), and ‘promoting and defending human rights internationally’ (4.9).
In 2021, the last time this question was asked of a Coalition government, Australians also awarded the highest marks for maintaining the US alliance (7.1). The then Coalition government scored a higher rating than the current Labor government for managing Australia’s economy (6.6), and slightly lower ratings than Labor for managing the relationship with China (5.1) and Australia’s approach to climate change (4.6).
Scores represent the mean of weighted responses.