Annastacia Palaszczuk sticks with secrecy on restrictions polling
A shroud of secrecy has been thrown over taxpayer-funded polling on Covid restrictions ordered by the Palaszczuk government.
A shroud of secrecy has been thrown over taxpayer-funded polling on Covid restrictions ordered by the Palaszczuk government amid allegations it was used by Labor strategists to shape its re-election campaign last year.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Wednesday refused to explain why more than $528,000 in polling won’t be released.
Contract documents for the monthly polling, which ALP insiders said was used by campaign strategists ahead of the October 31 election, show it was designed by advisers within Department of Premier and Cabinet to “help guide decision making” about state Covid restrictions.
The polling by Labor-favoured market researcher Ipsos Public Affairs also involved polling into the government’s Covid-19 strategy across a regional, Labor-held marginal seat targeted by the opposition ahead of the election. Ms Palaszczuk has repeatedly said Covid-related restrictions imposed by her government were based solely on health advice and dismissed suggestions she had ordered the polling to ensure her decisions were popular.
But Ms Palaszczuk has refused to release the polling reports, which also involve focus group analysis, saying it was only conducted to inform advertising on Covid measures.
“It was market research and sentiment testing and, no, it won’t be released,” said Ms Palaszczuk during her Wednesday morning press conference. She again refused to explain why.
Ms Palaszczuk denied the polling had been shared with campaign staff, claiming she had only seen “very limited amounts of it”.
More than $40,000 in polling was commissioned with hundreds of residents of the Livingstone Shire – almost exclusively in Labor’s seat of Keppel – just days after a newspaper poll showed it was in danger of falling to the Liberal National Party.
“They were issues about impacts on tourism, impacts on business, people’s wellbeing,” Ms Palaszczuk said about the polling in Keppel. “And most of it went to … that Covid taskforce that was looking at in terms of the health campaigns and the health messaging to the public.”
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