Just one in five Aussies back Peter Dutton’s call to boycott Woolies

Australians have voted and shared how they feel about Peter Dutton’s call to boycott Woolies over its Australia Day call.

Peter Dutton urged Australians to boycott Woolworths.

Peter Dutton’s boycott of Woolworths is only backed by one in five voters, as a majority of Australians insist supermarket price increases are their main concern.

Woolworths and Big W last week announced it would not stock Australia Day merchandise this year due to a “gradual decline in demand”.

The Opposition Leader responded by calling for Australians to not shop at the supermarket giant and demanded chief executives making decisions with a “woke agenda”.

But a YouGov public data poll found that just 20 per cent of voters supported the demand, while 66 per cent said their main concern was “excessive price rises”.

Another 14 per cent of voters said they supported the Woolworths Group’s decision.

The results of a recent YouGov Australia Day poll.

Australians across all demographics indicated excessive price increases are their main concern.

YouGov director of government Paul Smith said the poll showed Mr Dutton had “picked the wrong focus”.

“Even Liberals were twice as concerned with excessive pricing, as expressed by 61 per cent of voters, with only 32 per cent backing (Mr) Dutton’s boycott,” he said.

The poll found even a majority (67 per cent) of Australians who voted No in the recent Voice referendum rated rising prices as their primary concern.

A majority of No voters said their biggest concern was prices.

The supermarket giants have come under fire in recent months from politicians of all stripes amid claims they engaged in price gouging during the inflation crisis.

Both Woolworths and Coles have repeatedly denied the allegations.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has flagged making a voluntary code of conduct that governs the supermarkets conduct mandatory, as well as offered to give the competition watchdog powers to combat price gouging.

“We need to make sure that some of the cheaper prices that supermarkets are paying to farmers for goods coming through are passed on to the consumers,” he said on Thursday.

“I think people feel quite rightly that they deserve cheaper prices when they get to the checkout.”

Labor has dismissed the Liberal leader’s boycott of Woolworths as a political point scoring exercise and said it was focused on fighting inflation, not “culture wars”.

Mr Dutton’s boycott was quickly dismissed. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Woolworths is not the first retailer to move away from Australia Day.

Last January, Kmart announced it would not sell merchandise specific to January 26.

Aldi also confirmed it would not be running any special promotions for Australia Day in 2024.

Coles, however, said it would be stocking a “small range” of Australian-themed products.

Meanwhile, the YouGov poll found 49 per cent of voters think Australia Day should be celebrated on January 26.

Another 21 per cent believe it should be moved while 30 per cent of respondents said they were open to a two-day public holiday that celebrated both the old and new.

Woolworths said there was a decline in demand for Australia Day merch. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

Mr Albanese said he respected there were going to be different views on the national holiday.

But he was encouraged that many communities now acknowledge thatIndigenous Australians have lived on the continent for 65,000 years as well as the start of the colony in NSW and Australia’s modern multicultural society.

“It’s a difficult day for Indigenous Australians. From my perspective, the day is important to acknowledge,” he told Hobart radio on Thursday.

“There’s more discussion about the fullness of our history around that time than there is at any other time.”

The YouGov poll surveyed 1532 people over a six day period following Mr Dutton’s intervention.

Originally published as Just one in five Aussies back Peter Dutton’s call to boycott Woolies