New polling reveals overwhelming public support for greater independence in appointments to government boards and organisations like Australia Post, the ABC and the Australian War Memorial.

The research comes as Parliament considers reforms to improve merit-based appointments and reduce real or perceived political cronyism.

Key Findings:

•  Two in three Australians (68%) think that the Government should be limited to appointing candidates who have been shortlisted by an independent selection panel, four times as many as think the Government should be able to appoint whomever it likes (15%)
• Most Australians think that the Government should be limited to appointing candidates who have been shortlisted by an independent selection panel, irrespective of voting intention (64–79%).
• Across all voting intentions, fewer than 1/5 think the Government should be able to appoint whomever it likes (3–18%).

“This research shows public support across all voting intentions for strengthening the independence of appointments to government bodies,” said Bill Browne, Democracy & Accountability Program Director at the Australia Institute.

“Voters expect that appointees to important public organisations, like the ABC, Australia Post and the War Memorial, should be chosen on merit, not because they are mates with the Government of the day.”

The Australia Institute is a member of the Australian Polling Council. The polling methodology, long disclosure statement and margin of error for polling questions are included in the appendix of the report