Playing politics, kicking goals: Annastacia Palaszczuk says paying pollsters $528,000 for Covid feedback won’t help election

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s says critics of hiring pollsters to gauge voter ‘sentiment’ on restrictions should ‘take a cold shower’.

As Annastacia Palaszczuk readies for the October 31 state election, it can be revealed her office has spent more than $528,000 on corona­virus polling in the past few months. Picture: Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says spending $528,000 of taxpayers’ money on polling voter sentiment about COVID-19 restrictions will not help Labor in the election and people should take a “cold shower” because all states commissioned research.

The Australian revealed on Wednesday that as Ms Palaszczuk readies for the October 31 state election, her office hired political strategist Mike Kaiser to help craft the state’s COVID-19 economic recovery.

Asked on Wednesday morning whether the polling company asked Queenslanders about border closures, Ms Palaszczuk did not answer directly, and said the pollster asked “numerous questions across the spectrum”.

Ms Palaszczuk said every state and federal government commissioned research on coronavirus sentiment, after revelations the Department of Premier and Cabinet commissioned Ipsos twice to do COVID-19 polling and market research for the government, ahead of the October 31 election.

“Every state does that, for example, when people were in lockdown, we asked people how they were feeling, and because people were going through a really tough time, we put more money (into mental health),” Ms Palaszczuk said.

She said the pollster asked people, for example, how they’d feel about signing into restaurants, which had not been done before.

“This sentiment (testing) is done across Australia, it’s done by every state, and it’s done by the federal government,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Asked whether it would help Labor in the October 31 election: “No it won’t, because it’s about how people are responding to the economic recovery”.

Asked whether the pollster asked Queenslanders about border closures, Ms Palaszczuk did not answer the question.

“Ipsos, is my understanding, has asked numerous questions across the spectrum on a whole range of issues,” she said.

“Everyone needs to have a cold shower when it comes to this, because every other state is asking a whole range of questions.

On a separate issue, Ms Palaszczuk said she told Deputy Prime Minister Malcolm McCormack Queensland could potentially accept more Australians returning from overseas into hotel quarantine in the state.

“I don’t want families to be separated by very, very long distances,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

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Pollsters paid $528k for Covid feedback

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s department has spent more than $528,000 on corona­virus polling in the past few months and hired political strategist Mike Kaiser to help craft the state’s COVID-19 economic recovery.

The Queensland government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis — and its border closures — is expected to be the key issue at the knife-edge election, with the Premier’s department spending millions on advertising, communications experts and consultants.

Political strategist Mike Kaiser.

Government disclosures reveal consultancy firm KPMG, where Mr Kaiser serves as the Brisbane-based corporate affairs advisory partner, was awarded a confidential $275,000 contract on May 7 to provide “advice to (the Department of Premier and Cabinet) on the development of an economic recovery roadmap”.

The following day, Ms Palas­zczuk released the state’s roadmap for easing restrictions, including that border closures would be reviewed at the end of every month, and borders would possibly reopen on July 10.

Queensland shut its borders on March 26, reopened to all but Victoria on July 10, and on August 8 closed to all of NSW and the ACT.

Mr Kaiser, regarded by former premier Peter Beattie as one of the “most gifted campaigners” the party has produced, was considered crucial to Ms Palaszczuk’s 2017 election victory, and he attended a re-election strategy summit with the Premier and her senior ministers on the Sunshine Coast hinterland last November.

A KPMG spokesman said Mr Kaiser would not be helping Labor with its October 31 election campaign, a claim that will surprise many in the ALP ranks.

“KPMG has been engaged to provide assistance to the COVID-19 taskforce on the state’s economic recovery strategy, including assisting the development of an infrastructure project roadmap,” he said.

The Australian revealed last week that Labor campaigner and Ms Palaszczuk’s former government chief of strategy Evan Moorhead was now one of the state’s most in-demand lobbyists, while being paid by the ALP for campaign advice ahead of the poll.

Queensland Treasury separately awarded five contracts to KPMG last financial year worth $1.96m, including a $145,251 contract on April 1 — at the height of the state’s COVID-19 response — for professional advisory ser­vices, understood to be about the jobs crisis.

The disclosures reveal that also on May 7, Ms Palaszczuk’s department hired market research and polling company Ipsos Public Affairs to run a $138,077 “COVID-19 Key Insights Project” — followed by an “additional waves” top-up contract of $390,380 on June 19.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Premier and Cabinet declined to say whether voters were asked about the border shutdown, but confirmed that Ipsos was “engaged to conduct market research and sentiment testing to ensure the government’s COVID-19 public information and behaviour change campaigns were effective, achieved value for money and were evaluated … This is a requirement under the Government Advertising Communication Committee process.”

Ms Palaszczuk’s office has repeatedly said she relies solely on advice from Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young in making decisions about restrictions and the government’s health response to coronavirus. A spokesman for Ms Palaszczuk last month denied the government had done polling on the views of Queenslanders to test support for border closures.

The market research was commissioned as the border debate heated up and just before Ms Palaszczuk announced the first stage of restrictions to be eased.

The second tranche of market research was ordered shortly after the government had given the green light to intrastate travel.

Communications firm and registered lobbyist Newgate Communications received two contracts from the Department of Premier and Cabinet worth $190,476 on April 20 and May 25, described only as the “provision of services for COVID-19 response and recovery taskforce”.

Ad agency MediaCom appears to have received the most lucrative contracts from the Department of Premier and Cabinet since the pandemic began, raking in $4.9m for COVID-19-related advertisements.

Ms Palaszczuk’s departmental spokeswoman said the firms were engaged by the Department of Premier and Cabinet to support the COVID-19 response and recovery taskforce “with the co-­ordination of a range of pandemic-related issues across government and with business and industry”.