Federal government is now the least-trusted tier of power and more than one in four Australians are convinced democracy is not working, a survey of constitutional values has found.
It also found that 36 per cent of voters believe the system of having three tiers of government is not working, and half say the different levels of power do not collaborate well.
The biennial Constitutional Values Survey indicates that dysfunctional government has created a crisis of faith in political leadership, News Corp Australia reported on Friday.
The survey cites damage to voter confidence caused by the turmoil of the Rudd and Gillard leadership battles, minority government and the rocky start by the Coalition government and its poorly received budget.
The Newspoll of 1204 voters for Griffith University's Centre for Governance and Public Policy reveals that, for the first time, federal government is ranked third behind state and local government on the crucial issue of trust.
Only 52.5 per cent said they trusted and had confidence in the federal government to do a good job and carry out its responsibilities.
That marks a fall of 3.1 points from the previous survey in 2012 and cements a tumble in confidence from 81 per cent trust over the majority of the six years of the Rudd and Gillard governments.
