Newspoll: Cost of living top vote-deciding issue in Queensland as by-election results awaited

Counting has begun in two Queensland state by-elections with any big anti-Labor swing putting Premier Steven Miles under more pressure to dole out financial relief.

Premier Steven Miles will come under increasing pressure to dole out more financial relief in his pre-election budget. Picture: Lachie Millard

Premier Steven Miles will come under increasing pressure to dole out more financial relief in his pre-election budget with 75 per cent of Queenslanders ranking the cost of living in their top two vote-deciding issues.

Mr Miles’ Labor government faces its first electoral test since he took over as premier, with voting in two state by-elections today for Labor-held seats – in Ipswich West, on the outskirts of the Brisbane metropolis, and in Inala, in outer Brisbane.

Voters across Queensland were also choosing local councils today, including the City of Brisbane, the nation’s biggest local government with about 1.2 million residents. The Brisbane council is controlled by the Liberal National Party but Labor and the Greens are being watched for the strength of their challenge.

An exclusive Newspoll for The Weekend Australian showed a majority of people listed the cost of living as the most important issue when deciding who to vote for at the October state election, followed by crime, health and hospitals, the economy and education.

A total of 50 per cent of voters ranked cost of living as their top issue, 25 per cent said crime and 12 per cent rated health and hospitals.

Crime, and particularly youth crime in regional centres, has dogged the government since it ­watered down juvenile justice laws in 2015 and has been scrambling to toughen its stand after a series of high-profile killings in past two years.

Ranking of election issues is part of the latest Newspoll survey that showed the Liberal National Party had surged eight points ahead of Labor – 54 to 46 per cent after preferences – which would translate to a crushing defeat and the loss of 18 seats for Mr Miles.

Homeless people living rough along the Bicentennial Bikeway, from Victoria Bridge though to William Jolly Bridge, in Brisbane. Picture: David Clark

The June budget will give the third-term Labor government a vital opportunity to salvage support and boost targeted relief for households ahead of the general election on October 26.

While federal treasurer Jim Chalmers has flagged there would be no “cash splash” in his upcoming budget, Mr Miles declared the state’s budget would “have the biggest cost-of-living package Queenslanders have ever seen”.

“This budget will respond to what Queenslanders have said to me in the last three months; they’ve said to me that the most important thing we can do over anything else is to put more money into their household budget and that is what we will do,” he said. “Our goal will be to ease the pressure for every single household.”

December’s budget update forecast revenue from coal royalties would pump $9.2bn into government coffers this year, an extra $3.8bn than what was projected in last year’s budget.

The state government used ­record coal royalty revenue last year to bankroll $550 energy ­rebates for every household, wipe power bills for some pensioners, and make kindergarten free.

Mr Miles this week would not commit to extending power bill ­rebates next financial year, but Opposition Leader David Crisafulli insisted the government had no other option.

“Those programs have to continue – they have to – because people are at breaking point, and they’re at breaking point because the underlying structural issues in the state are broken,” he said. “I’ll put the Premier on notice – if it’s not in your budget, it will be in mine.”

There was almost universal agreement among city-based and regional voters that cost of living was most pressing but results were most pronounced for younger age groups with 68 per cent of 18 to 34-year-old saying it would decide their vote compared with 31 per cent of those aged 65 and older.

Older Queenslanders were more concerned about crime, with 36 per cent ranking it as their top issue compared with 11 per cent of voters younger than 34.

The survey – of 1037 voters ­between March 7-13 – shows the LNP has lifted its primary vote six points on the 2020 poll result to 42 per cent, while ­support for Labor plummeted ­almost 10 points in the same period, down to 30 per cent primary.

Mr Crisafulli’s opposition must win a net 13 seats to secure a ­majority in the 93-electorate parliament, which it could do easily if the 7.2 per cent swing against Labor, identified in the Newspoll survey, was uniform across the state at the election.

Mr Crisafulli leads Mr Miles 43-37 with 20 per cent of voters undecided in the better premier stakes.