Victoria COVID: Shell-shocked Victorians signal slow reopening recovery

Shell-shocked Victorians are more anxious than other Australians about the country reopening, including returning to the office, shops, restaurants and travel, as exclusive new polling shows Australians will cautiously embrace their freedoms.

Despite Victoria’s lockdown ending last week and virtually all restrictions set to be removed for the vaccinated once the state reaches its 90 per cent target, Victorians report feeling a bag of mixed emotions, with higher anxiety and nervousness than any other state, as COVID-19 cases remain in the thousands each day.

Overall, Australians feel most exposed about larger events (67 per cent) and travelling on planes and at airports (66 per cent).

The research shows optimism and life satisfaction have rebounded significantly as lockdowns end.

Victoria is showing the greatest rebound, up 11 percentage points to 59 per cent, while 63 per cent of Victorians are feeling optimistic, up a massive 19 percentage points from September.

as lockdown lifts, but at the same time it is also not surprising that many Victorians may struggle with the reopening, as the research shows [their] anxiety has hit an all-time high,” Ms Gardiner said.

The research also shows that Australians are divided over the politics of the pandemic.

Western Australians and South Australians are overwhelmingly supportive of the way their state governments have responded to the pandemic.

The Bastion polling comes as Commsec’s state of the states analysis shows that Tasmania holds the mantle for the best-performing economy, with the ACT second

Next strongest is Western Australia (up 0.57 per cent), followed by the Northern Territory (up 0.48 per cent); ACT (up 0.39 per cent); Tasmania (up 0.39 per cent); South Australia (up 0.15 per cent); NSW (up 0.14 per cent); and Victoria (down 0.64 per cent)