Shock poll reveals just how many Queenslanders ‘close to breaking point’

More than half of Queenslanders share a sad, confronting truth and many of those don’t feel like it’s going to get better anytime soon.

More than half of all Queenslanders feel they are “worse off” than they were a year ago, with 1 in 5 saying they were at or close to a financial “breaking point”.

People across the state were making significant cutbacks on basic needs to avoid falling off a cost-of-living cliff – slashing their spend on food, groceries, and insurance in a bid to curb the sting of rising prices.

An exclusive new poll commissioned for The Courier-Mail has showed that despite the Palaszczuk Government centring its re-election hopes on its ability to tackle cost of living – rolling out measures such as cashbacks, free kindy and electricity rebates – more Queenslanders are feeling the pinch.

More than two-thirds of the 1013 Queenslanders polled said they had reduced how often they eat out or get takeaway to save cash, while 53 per cent said they had been forced to cut back on basic food and groceries.

The number of people who were pull back on the type of insurance they buy – including house, car contents and income insurance – had jumped from 22 per cent in April, to 29 per cent last month.

And more people were also looking at cutting back private health insurance (21 per cent from 17 per cent in the previous poll), and looking for cheaper housing (rising to 13 per cent, from 11 per cent).

Asked whether “which of the following best describes your current financial situation”, 15 per cent said they were “close to breaking point”, while 7 per cent they had already reached it.

About a third said “we’re ok but don’t have a lot to space”, 20 per cent said they were comfortable, and 26 per cent described their situation as “coping”.

Voters outside Brisbane were more likely to be doing it tough, while more women said they were nearing financial stress than men.

Regional Queenslanders were cutting back on house, car, contents and income insurance at a faster rate than those in the south east, with more than a third saying they had made changes to save cash.

The percentage of people who feel Queensland was going in the “wrong direction” was unchanged at 47 per cent – but was 15 points higher than in February last year.

It also revealed a dramatic fall from the height of the Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s popularity during 2020 as the state battled the Covid pandemic.

An October poll pre-election showed 54 per cent of Queenslanders were going in the right direction – and just 27 per cent felt the opposite.

Slightly more people think the state is headed in the “right direction” – 31 per cent – compared with the previous poll, with men more like than women to be happy with the direction Queensland was headed.

The government has made no secret its key election pledge would be to tackle cost of living, with Ms Palaszczuk even declaring it the No. 1 issue during a press conference last week when she was being pressed on her thought’s about the state’s Path to Treaty.

Cost of living measures was also the key theme of the Premier’s state of the state address earlier this month, where she spruiked a $12,5000 rebate for small businesses to install energy efficient equipment.

That measure was on top of a $550 rebate for Queensland households and a $1000 rebate for senior and concession card holders to install energy efficient appliances.