We're happy with the people not the processes of the public service, says latest survey

Australians are generally happy with the public servants they deal with but not too impressed with the processes that bog them down while trying to access services.

That’s the takeout from the latest 2022-23 Survey of Trust in Australian public services, released this week.

It is the second annual report outlining findings from the survey, following the Federal Government’s commitment to transparency in annually releasing the results.

The report shows overall trust in public services has remained stable, with 61 per cent of respondents reporting they trust public services – similar to last year’s result.

The same goes for those who distrust services. This year’s distrust figure remains the same as last year at 30 per cent.

Three in four respondents, however, stated they were satisfied with public services.

But while people were most satisfied with their experiences with staff and the information they were given while accessing services, the survey shows they were least satisfied with public service processes.

“Before asking people about accessing Australian public services, our survey asks people about significant events that have occurred in their lives in the last 12 months,” the report states.

“We don’t ask people details about their service expectations, such as how long they thought it might take, but we make a reasonable assumption that the decision to access a service was based on an expectation the service would help meet their needs.

“It’s often not possible to control the events which happen in your life, and some of them mean you are more likely to access services than others.

“For example, experiencing financial hardship is not something people seek out, but it happens to 27 per cent of people in a 12-month period. Of those, a quarter access services. Similarly, disability is a reality for 15 per cent of our respondents and 41 per cent of those access Australian public services as a result.”

The survey observed a higher percentage of distrusting individuals (42%) accessed services for financial reasons compared to trusting individuals (33%).

Trusting individuals were more likely to access services for compliance or registration (33%) compared to distrusting individuals (26%).

“Taken together, we can see that distrusting individuals tended to need public services but could not get them due to difficulties in the system, or were not able to access financial assistance, compared to trusting people who either had other means of support, received assistance or were accessing services for compliance or registration,” it states.

Two standout agencies in the latest survey are the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry with the largest trust increase from 2022 (11%) and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (5% increase).

The survey asks 1000 Australians every month about their experiences of public services over the previous 12 months.

Assistant Minister for the Public Service Patrick Gorman said the stable levels of trust and satisfaction recorded in the survey meant public services were keeping up with rising levels of expectations.

“This decision to publicly release results of the 2022-23 Survey of Trust in Australian public services is an important one,” he said.

“It supports the Australian Government’s commitment to put integrity and trust at the centre of everything we do. That’s why we made the decision to share the survey results publicly each year.

“Our government has chosen to give the public service a fresh start after the negative impacts of Robodebt and a decade of neglect.”

He said the survey helped identify areas of improvements to deliver better community outcomes.

“Our government sees the need for greater transparency on what Australians are saying about their experiences and expectations of public services.

“Each public servant has a role to play in helping create trust and integrity in the service.”