Queensland Premier blocks release of secret polling

When David Crisafulli was opposition leader, he criticised Annastacia Palaszczuk for spending ‘hundreds of thousands of Queensland taxpayers’ dollars’ on secret polling. Now he’s doing his own market research.

Premier David Crisafulli’s department has ordered taxpayer-funded market research costing more than $650,000 since December, public records reveal. Picture: Lachie Millard

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

David Crisafulli’s department has quietly commissioned more than $650,000 in taxpayer-funded polling and market research in just five months, after he criticised former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for doing the same thing.

Government spending disclosures show Mr Crisafulli’s Department of Premier and Cabinet ordered four tranches of “market research” and “concept testing” from polling and research companies The Lab Insight and Strategy, Verian Group, and Fifty-Five Five between December and April, at a total cost of $651,107.

The Australian revealed ahead of the 2020 state election that Labor premier Ms Palaszczuk’s department had spent $528,000 for Ipsos to do Covid-19 polling and market research.

She refused to release the data. But in February last year, her successor, Labor premier Steven Miles, eventually published thousands of pages of research dating back to 2020.

The Labor government ended up spending more than $1m surveying Queenslanders on issues such as youth crime, the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, the Indigenous voice to parliament and pandemic border closures.

As opposition leader, Mr Crisafulli was highly critical of Ms Palaszczuk’s decision to order the research and not release it.

In parliament in November 2023, he accused the premier and her government of having the “wrong priorities” and focusing on spending “hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to secure its political future”.

“The premier always says that the only poll that matters is the one on election day. Why, then, would she spend hundreds of thousands of Queensland taxpayers’ dollars to save her job today?” Mr Crisafulli said.

“Why do we have a government so focused on its own survival rather than on what Queenslanders are experiencing in their lives?

“Queenslanders are living with a health crisis, a youth crime crisis, a cost-of-living crisis and a housing crisis. This government’s focus is on how it can get secret polling to try to save itself from facing its date with destiny.”

During the Covid pandemic, then Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk commissioned taxpayer-funded polling and market research but refused to release it. Picture: Dan Peled

When Steven Miles succeeded Ms Palaszczuk as premier, he published the taxpayer-funded polling. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

At the same time, Mr Crisafulli’s LNP opposition moved a motion in parliament in an unsuccessful attempt to force Ms Palaszczuk to release the Ipsos polling.

Then opposition integrity in government spokeswoman Fiona Simpson – now Mr Crisafulli’s Minister for Women – said there was “simply no justification for this secret polling to continue to be locked away from public view”.

On Thursday, The Australian asked Mr Crisafulli’s office to release the research, to commit to releasing any in-progress research once complete, and to detail the terms of reference for each contract, but was rebuffed.

A government spokesman said “concept development of policy campaigns and the development of their corresponding communication campaigns is a longstanding practice employed across the Queensland government, and is a vital step to ensure critical communications resonate with Queenslanders and is effective”.

“An example of this work undertaken by the Queensland government is the anti-bullying campaign, which engaged directly with parents, teachers and students to ensure anti-bullying messaging was as effective as possible in driving down bullying in schools,” he said.

The spokesman did not answer questions about what methodology – such as focus groups – the market research companies were using, and declined to give a full list of what topics or policies were being canvassed with voters.

In parliament in September 2021, opposition MP Laura Gerber – now Mr Crisafulli’s Youth Justice Minister – called for the Palaszczuk government to release the pandemic-related polling and be “open and accountable”.

“This is public money,” Ms Gerber said.

“At the very least, Queenslanders deserve to see what they got for their half a million dollars. Taxpayers deserve to see the results of the secret polling they paid for.”