The coronavirus "tracing app" is looming as a fascinating test.

Are Australians willing to share information about who they've been near? Is a sacrifice of some privacy worthwhile if it helps ease restrictions and take the pressure off health workers?

And perhaps most politically interesting, do Australians trust the Prime Minister, who's giving assurances the data will be tightly controlled and only accessed by state health officials?

Scott Morrison originally suggested at least 40 per cent of the population would need to download the app for it to be effective. After blowback from some of his own backbenchers worried about too much government intrusion, that 40 per cent benchmark was dropped.

Now the Prime Minister simply says the take-up needs to be "as high as possible".

Loading

It seems he needn't worry about falling short of the initial target. A poll conducted by the Australia Institute has found 45 per cent of respondents intend to download the app and that's before the National Cabinet has even finalised the details or begun an advertising campaign.

Only 28 per cent say they will not download the app, while 27 per cent don't know.

Interestingly, men (52 per cent) are more likely than women (38 per cent) to say they will download the app, as are Coalition voters (53 per cent) compared with Labor voters (47 per cent).

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 46 seconds 46 s Stuart Robert says there's no tracking involved with the app

Rumblings of discontent

The positive overall response is a solid base of support to work from and suggests this will be a worthwhile exercise from a health perspective.

If this app is indeed taken up by most Australians and helps keep COVID-19 under control in Australia, it will be chalked up as another victory for the National Cabinet, which is widely seen to have generally done a good job in supressing the virus so far.

There have been some notable differences between state and federal leaders along the way over business closures and schools, but when it comes to saving lives, Australia has achieved a better outcome than nearly any other country.

Not that everyone is keen to see this National Cabinet process continue any longer than it absolutely must. There are already rumblings of discontent from those who feel sidelined.

"The normal cabinet process has to resume as soon as possible," says one member of the Morrison Government cabinet who understands the need for a different set of arrangements during this crisis but is wary of it continuing.

The concern is that the National Cabinet does not represent the different interests and perspectives of the elected Federal Government, which the Federal Cabinet typically does.

The full Federal Cabinet has continued to meet over the past six weeks, but not all decisions have gone before it, including the decision to stick Australia's neck out and lead the charge for an independent inquiry into China's handling of COVID-19.

This may be a sensible idea, but there hasn't exactly been a rush of international support and China's predictably furious reaction means it will cause yet another long-running strain in the relationship.

The Prime Minister appears unfazed by this and is now talking about rallying the G-20 behind his push for an inquiry. Perhaps this is a sign of a tougher attitude towards China in the post-COVID world.

'Harvesting' ideas for the road to recovery

Scott Morrison has been more focused this week on the need for post-pandemic economic reform, something that will give both the National Cabinet and the Federal Cabinet plenty to consider in the months ahead.

The Prime Minister is currently "harvesting" ideas and says he's looking at all options with "fresh eyes". He's raised expectations of delivering sweeping "pro-growth" reforms, to take Australia to a stronger position than it was in pre-crisis.

Tackling the enormous mountain of debt will not be the immediate priority.

It may be a little optimistic to expect the coronavirus cooperation between the Commonwealth and states, government and opposition, business and unions over the past six weeks will continue as this reform journey begins, but it's not a bad position from which to start.

The process here will matter. The Prime Minister will be "harvesting" ideas from previous reports, particularly the Productivity Commission's "Shifting the Dial" blueprint delivered in 2017.

He'll be listening to his Coronavirus Commission led by businessman Nev Power and consulting the National Cabinet as well as his own cabinet and backbench.

The question is, will he give the opposition any role in this? Labor is already wary this will become an excuse for the government to deliver a conservative wish list of reforms.

Voters have welcomed the rare show of bipartisanship and cooperation over the past six weeks. It's one of the reasons they've put their trust in the process so far.

David Speers is the host of Insiders, which airs on ABC TV at 9am on Sunday or on iview.