Government expenditure on a number of social programs has increased in recent years, including aged care, the NDIS, childcare, and other areas. There are ongoing spending pressures in these areas, as expectations of wider access and the improved quality of government funded services increases the demand for additional funding.

These challenges are coupled with increasing budgetary pressures in other areas and rising debt levels, which will create a significant budgetary problem for governments. Understanding public expectations around these services – what is considered fair, and how the increases in funding should be paid for – would be valuable as government assess future policy settings.

Research objectives:

• Understand public attitudes towards and perceptions of Australia’s social safety net system currently.
• Identify groups in the community who are perceived to need a social safety net.
• Ascertain what the general public wants in a social safety net, including perceptions of what constitutes a high quality service.
• Gauge perceptions on the current state of aged care, childcare and the NDIS in Australia, and what we should be aspiring to as a society.
• Identify any trade-offs or compromises the Australian public is willing to make to improve the delivery of the aforementioned services.
• Measure receptiveness to various potential solutions to fund service improvements.

Key findings:

• Social services are important priorities but are not currently meeting the needs of Australians. Almost two thirds of Australians (65%) consider the cost of living to be among the top five most pressing issues Australia needs to tackle, followed by hospitals and healthcare (57%). While overall, aged care and our ageing population (32%), education and childcare (24%) and the provision of public services, including NDIS (22%) are second tier priorities, they are of significantly greater importance to those in the relevant life stages.
• With considerable cost of living pressures in mind and the aversion to increased personal tax rates, over half of Australians agree that while a certain level of services need to be provided to all, user contributions are appropriate for additional services among those with the means to do so. This applies to aged care, childcare and disability services, although in the case of disability services, there is an inclination to provide a high level of services to anyone who needs it, regardless of ability to pay.
• Australians want fundamental issues to be addressed across aged care, the NDIS and childcare before more funding is sought. Those surveyed identified the need for more and better qualified staff, the need for better management, regulation and monitoring of high standards by government, the need for a customer-centred approach and solutions to ensure the most vulnerable do not miss out on access.