Botterill, Linda CourtenayLake, JoshuaWalsh, Michael James2025-06-122025-06-121036-1146ORCID:/0000-0002-6060-5090/work/174170450http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115757764&partnerID=8YFLogxKhttps://hdl.handle.net/1885/733759698The COVID-19 crisis highlighted issues of trust in government and experts, as citizens were asked to accept restrictions on liberties in order to slow the spread of the virus. Based on a survey of 1992 Australians conducted in May 2020, this paper reports on the attitudes of Australians toward the responses of their State and Federal governments to the pandemic. Unsurprisingly, we found support for government responses differed with partisan alignment. However, when we controlled for values differences, we found that values predicted social distancing attitudes and behaviour. This oppugns the common conclusion in political psychology that party alignment is a proxy for values. Scientists were trusted more than political institutions or actors for accurate COVID-19 information, and likewise, traditional media were preferred to online sources. These findings have implications for policy communication when individual action is required to address collective goals.This research was funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant in partnership with Pureprofile (Project LP150100434). Joshua Lake is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and University Postgraduate Award. The authors would like to thank Professor Julie Lee, Director of the Centre for Human and Cultural Values at UWA for inviting them to be part of the survey that underpins the research reported in this paper.18enPublisher Copyright: © 2021 Australian Political Studies Association.COVID-19partisan alignmentPersonal valuespolitical communicationsource credibility202110.1080/10361146.2021.197838985115757764