Study finds Australia’s confidence in democracy plummeting outside capital cities

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A new study has revealed a dip in Australia’s trust of democracy. The report suggests only two thirds of the country has faith in the electoral process. But outside of our capital cities that number plummets, with fewer than 53% of Australians in regional areas having confidence in election outcomes.

Transcript

00:00For these students at Tulangata High School in regional Victoria, the right to vote is

00:07something they're looking forward to.

00:09I know a lot of people my age don't, but I have friends who are pretty interested in

00:13politics.

00:14I probably know a lot about it because I've like made myself know a lot about it because

00:18I know it's important.

00:20But new research has shown young regional Australians are a key demographic losing faith

00:25in democracy.

00:26When we can detect trends or cohorts of people that feel left behind, we need to turn around

00:32and face that.

00:33And that's the message to our decision makers.

00:35The study was conducted by McKinnon and is its first annual snapshot of attitudes towards

00:41Australian democracy.

00:43It's an independent foundation with people from all sides of politics, including former

00:47South Australian Premier Jay Wetherill.

00:50I think there are enough warning signs for us to be concerned.

00:55But it's not just young people.

00:57The research claims 66% of those in major cities and 63% in regional cities believe election

01:04outcomes are fair.

01:06But in regional and remote Australia, that number drops to under 53%, while 65% say they

01:14don't feel understood or represented by federal politicians.

01:18They don't listen to nobody, or they want their payment at the end of the week.

01:23So yeah, I guess we're fairly removed and distant geographically from federal politics, I think.

01:32There's nothing to stop people having sensible conversation in a democracy, so I think that's

01:38a great thing.

01:39I don't feel they understand the conditions in rural Australia.

01:46As for why faith in democracy is falling in regional Australia, McKinnon cites two main

01:52issues.

01:53Frustration with government service delivery in the bush and the continuing decline in the

01:58number of regional media outlets.

02:00The less people that consume news, and that's certainly what's happening in the regions,

02:05the lower their confidence in the democracy.

02:08But experts say the low numbers in regional Australia are likely to be influenced by Labor

02:14being in government.

02:15The regional and remote areas whose members at the moment are more likely to be in opposition,

02:21that kind of feeds into their trust and confidence in democracy and the system.

02:25A city-country divide when it comes to the state of the nation.

02:30The regional and remote areas are likely to be interested in living in schools, because of the

02:34people in the past, have very much better.

02:35Free from many countries.

02:35It's very important to what we're saying.

02:37The first time, our students we're planning to attend, and how we are in the district of the

02:40world, they're really?

02:41What do we do in this jij- organizational and how we are doing?

02:42The first time, our students we really have a healthy opportunity to register.

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