Welcome to Queensland Bill, hope you survive the experience

We don’t want to pay more for groceries or petrol to cut carbon and there’s support for coal mining and a new coal-fired power station. Welcome to Queensland Bill Shorten.

QUEENSLANDERS back coal and don’t want to pay more for groceries, fuel or power to cut carbon pollution as cost of living pressures bite, revealing new polling shows.

It is a stark message for Opposition leader Bill Shorten who touches down in the Sunshine State tomorrow as Labor comes under fire for its confused position on Adani and the lack of detail around his climate policy.

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Mr Shorten has taken well over a week to come to Queensland on his election campaign despite it being a key battleground state and having been a frequent visitor before the poll was called.

In shock findings, almost 50 per cent of Australians support coal mining in the country while less than one-in-three are opposed.

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten arrives in the Sunshine State as Queenslanders have their say on coal, cost of living and the Olympics. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled

The findings were revealed in The Courier-Mail YouGov-Galaxy poll, which has been one of the most extensive political surveys conducted.

It found specifically that less one-in-three Queenslanders were willing to pay more for their groceries, fuel and power in order to cut their carbon pollution footprint.

Millennials, aged from their early 20s to late 30s, are much more willing to pay to cut carbon as 45 per cent agree to fork out for it, while just 20 per cent of Baby Boomers say they would do so.

Just over one in five of the people willing to pay more would shell out up to $500 a year to do so and less than one in 10 would pay more than that.

Even 61 per cent of Labor voters would not be willing to pay more and almost three-quarters of the Coalition supporters.

Despite this, Labor’s climate change policy includes extending the Coalition Government’s existing cap-and-trade scheme on the 140 top polluting companies to 250 companies.

Clean Energy Regulator data shows this could capture companies like Aldi, Arnotts, Bega, Coca-Cola, Ingham, Lion, McCain, Nestle, Parmalat and Pepsico, putting upwards pressure on groceries, biscuits, drinks and beer.

But Queenslanders are divided on a new coal-fired power, though a narrow majority were in favour.

Most Queenslanders don’t want to pay more for groceries to cut their carbon footprint, a YouGov-Galaxy poll has found.

Of the 3197 people surveyed, 40 per cent said they supported a new coal-fired power station, 38 per cent said they were opposed and the rest were undecided.

The level of support or opposition did not vary significantly between Brisbane and the rest of the state.

Just one-third of Labor voters backed the new coal power, compared to a whopping 57 per cent of Coalition voters.

The older you are the more likely you are to support a coal-fired power station, with just 33 per cent of 18-24 year olds backing the idea, building up to 54 per cent of those aged 64 or older.

This has been a problematic issue for the Coalition, with Nationals-aligned LNP MPs and senators strongly pushing for a new coal-fired power station in Queensland, while those in the southeast reject the idea.

Brisbane MP Trevor Evans has said there is not support in the party room for the Government to underwrite a coal-fired power plant, suggesting it was a small minority “whistling dixie”.

Meanwhile, Queenslanders are feeling civic pride, with 45 per cent supporting the southeast’s bid to host the 2032 Olympics.

Just a quarter of people did not believe Australia should host the Games, while 12 per cent of Queenslanders want the Games to be hosted here, just not in the Sunshine State.

Both sides of the political divide have offered some support for a southeast Queensland Olympic Games, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying the Coalition would be “willing participants” in any bid and Mr Shorten saying “you’ve always got to weigh up the cost of things … but I certainly think the door is not closed on it”.