If current trends continue, fewer than 10 per cent of Australians will trust their politicians and political institutions by 2025, according to research conducted by Democracy 2025.

Sadly, this research will shock no-one, least of all anyone under the age of 40. What is more concerning is that this research was conducted in 2018.

At that time, it found that fewer than 41 per cent of Australian citizens are currently satisfied with the way democracy works. This was down from 86 percent in 2007, falling sharply since 2013, after Labor had spent a good five years tearing apart the institution known as the Office of the Prime Minister.

The foundations of the teal movement, the record levels of Greens senators, the election of Jacqui Lambie, can all be traced back to the decision to remove a popularly elected Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, using a suitcase full of dodgy polling, before returning him to office (briefly) at Julia Gillard’s expense, with substantially more baggage.

Maybe public faith in the Office of the Prime Minister could have survived this body blow with a Prime Minister who could once again demonstrate a clear sense of direction, and purpose for the nation.

But it got worse. A lot worse. Two more publicly elected prime ministers were booted from power by their caucus. This time it was the Liberal Party that ran onto the stage and performed a rendition of the Ides of March, removing any illusion of stability and responsibility within the highest levels of our government.

Public satisfaction continued to fall sharply.

The Democracy 2025 report found that Generation X was the least satisfied with politics, at 31 percent satisfaction levels, whilst Baby Boomers still held out hope, with 50 percent mostly satisfied.

Fast forward four years through catastrophic bushfires, a pandemic, revelations of systemic abuse of women in politics and many other failures, disappointments and perceived betrayals, this report’s prediction that fewer than 10 percent of Australians will trust their politicians looks decidedly optimistic.

Revelations of Scott Morrison’s bizarre kleptocratic approach to running his government, by swearing himself into the jobs of his own Ministers, will only cement this trend.

Unless you are a baby boomer, your trust in politicians and political institutions is at an all-time low. We witnessed this dynamic in the recent round of focus groups we conducted within Melbourne’s western and north western suburbs. We recruited people who had voted for major parties over the last 4 years, across all levels of government, but recently supported a minor party or independent.

What was surprising was that despite having not applied an age filter on our recruitment, most individuals who volunteered to speak to us were all under 40 years of age. Present were several Muslim women, young professionals and even a musician. In this case, most wanted to support progressive independents or minor parties. There was genuinely a strong Greens and teal tone about them.

Gough Whitlam once held multiple portfolios, but unlike Scott Morrison, he held them publicly. During Gough’s time, young migrants were overwhelmingly in support of his party. As they got older, like many within my community, they gravitated towards the Liberal Party.

Today, young migrants are following a different path, driven by a significant distrust of the major parties. In Melbourne, it’s not unusual to come across Greens voters who have come from Africa and the Middle East.

Maybe Anthony Albanese can reverse this trend in the coming months and years. But with an electorate continually disappointed by its leaders, gaining their trust is much harder than losing it.