Two-thirds of Australians felt the severity and duration of COVID-19 lockdowns were "just right", a new study claims, although Victorians were most likely to view emergency pandemic orders as too restrictive.
The University of Tasmania study, which surveyed 1162 people, revealed just 8 per cent of Aussies thought lockdowns were "definitely too restrictive".
Another 11 per cent of people thought the lockdowns, which often required people to stay at home, comply with mask mandates and the drastic curtailment of access to non-essential services, were "probably" too restrictive.
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Coalition voters were three times as likely as Labor supporters to view the lockdowns as too heavy handed, while attitude differences between men and women also emerged in the peer-reviewed paper, published in Australian Journal of Social Issues.
Overall, 24 per cent of men believed the lockdowns were over the top, compared with 15 per cent of women. When asked their biggest worry about the deadly virus, which has killed more than 8000 Australians since 2020, men were much more likely than women to choose the economy over health.
People who prioritised the economy over health were less likely to wear masks in public, check-in to venues, be tested in case they had to self-isolate, and were also less likely to be vaccinated, the study said.
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When it came to health versus the economy, Labor voters were almost twice as likely as Coalition supporters to be worried about the health impacts of the coronavirus.
Former head of the federal department of health Stephen Duckett told 9news.com.au it was hardly surprising Victorians were more negative about lockdowns than other Australians, given Melburnians were living in what outgoing Treasurer Josh Frydenberg described as the "most locked down city in the world".
Melbourne's six lockdowns totalled 262 days since March 2020, more than double the total number of days New South Wales was locked down.
"It's probably not fair to say there's an Australian response to COVID," Duckett said, explaining how the six states and two territories had come up with "eight different responses" to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"But what this study shows is that, on average, across all the states and territories, most thought that lockdowns were fine," he said.
Duckett accused the federal government of "right from the start, undermining the state responses" to the lockdowns, with some senior ministers issuing public criticism of school closures and what Canberra often framed as overly-long border shutouts.
Measures in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, in particular, were attacked, including at times by then-prime minister Scott Morrison.
But Duckett said the study showed the government had misread public opinion.
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"They tried to imply that there was strong criticism, and that everybody wanted freedom and so on and so forth.
"This survey, I think, reflects fairly the reality that most Australians understood the trade offs being made, understood the risks, and felt that the state's public health responses were reasonable."
Of the other states, behind Victoria, residents in Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia were next most likely to find their state lockdowns were overly restrictive.
