Union-funded poll shows boost for Steven Miles’s Labor government after $1000 energy rebate announcement
Support for Steven Miles’s third-term Labor government has lifted on the back of a pledge to give every household a $1000 energy rebate.
Support for Steven Miles’s third-term Labor government has lifted on the back of a pledge to give every household a $1000 energy rebate, as the Queensland Premier prepares to announce more handouts in the upcoming budget.
New polling commissioned by Together Union suggests Mr Miles clawed back electoral ground from the Liberal National Party after announcing the unprecedented rebate in early May.
Together Union boss Alex Scott, a close friend of Mr Miles and who gave him his first job in the 1990s, said Labor’s primary vote went from 26.9 per cent in April to 30 per cent on May 14 – the night of the federal budget – with the LNP’s falling from 35.1 per cent to 33.7 per cent.
In the uComms poll of 2400 voters the Greens’ primary vote went from 13 per cent in April to 10.9 per cent, with One Nation’s primary falling from 10 per cent to 5.2 per cent, Katter’s Australia Party moving from 2.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent and others from 2.5 per cent to 2.4 per cent.
There was also a sizeable undecided vote of 10 per cent in April and 16 per cent in May.
But when those undecided voters were pressed to allocate their preference, Labor’s primary vote rose to 36 per cent against the LNP’s 38 per cent.
The poll suggests a tighter race than was widely anticipated. Annastacia Palaszczuk secured re-election in 2017 with a primary vote of just 35.43 per cent.
“Our poll has shown a significant shift in community sentiment as a result of the government’s cost-of-living measures, which is indicative of a very close contest if an election was held today,’’ Mr Scott told The Weekend Australian.
Together is one of 18 organisations to have officially registered as third parties ahead of the October 26 state election and has already spent $500,000 on a campaign disguised behind the banner of “The Coalition of Working Families”.
On Friday Mr Miles said Labor could win the election, but he refused to commit to serving out a full four-year term in opposition if he fails to form government.
“I am not going to get into that … I am not going to entertain those hypotheticals. My goal is to win the election and then to stay Premier,” he said. “The election is still 148-odd days away. I am working hard to do what Queenslanders ask of me.
“Queenslanders across the state have talked to me about the cost of living and that’s why we’ve brought in $1000 energy rebates and 50c public transport fares.”
The big-spending budget, designed to ease the cost-of-living crisis, will be handed down on June 11 and plunge the state into a $3bn deficit next financial year.
It will include a $150m six-month trial to slash public transport fares to a flat 50c fee across the state.
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