Party Politics, Political Leaders and Trust in Government in Australia¹

1 An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference, University of Sydney, September 1999. The author is grateful to Murray Goot and to the referees and editors of this joumal for comments.

Abstract

The diminishing trust in government observed in some countries over recent decades has been linked to theories about declining social capital in the late twentieth century. The best evidence available for Australia suggests that, rathe R than moving inexorably downward, political trust is cyclical. At least part of the reason would appear to be that trust in government is linked to party politics and in particular to the standing of political party leaders. This paper explores patterns of political trust in Australia, using survey data generated over a period of almost thirty years.

• political trust
• Australian politics
• political leaders
• social capital

Notes

1 An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference, University of Sydney, September 1999. The author is grateful to Murray Goot and to the referees and editors of this joumal for comments.