Do people contact government for Work or Personal

The next question-set, questions 6 to 11, asked whether the contact with government was for work or personal reasons. The results, shown in Table 2, indicate that by far the majority of contacts (75%) are for personal reasons. There is little difference between reasons for contact.

Table 2: The reasons people contacted government over the last twelve months

Table presented showing percentage (%) rounded to one decimal point

Across all categories of contact, males were significantly more likely to make contact for work reasons (19.5%) or both work and personal reasons (11%), whereas females were more likely to make contact for personal reasons (80.7%).

People who had no qualifications past high school were far more likely to contact government for the purpose of receiving money in general. Respondents with technical or trade certificates were the only group noticeably more likely to contact the government for the purpose of paying money, for work reasons, although the number (15) is too small to draw firm conclusions.

Self-employed respondents were significantly more likely to make contact for work reasons or both work and personal reasons across all categories. Respondents living alone and those with an income of $10,000 to $19,999 were most likely to make contact with government for personal reasons, particularly to receive money.

In regards to urbanisation, respondents who live in the country were significantly more likely to provide information, pay money or fill in a form, while people who live in towns were significantly less likely to pay money or fill in a form. Respondents living in the country were significantly less likely to seek information for personal reasons (and more likely to do so for work reasons). Respondents living in towns were more likely to attend appointments for personal reasons, whereas those in rural areas were more likely to attend appointments for work reasons.