Marginal seat targeted with anti-nuclear ‘push poll’

Voters in Sydney’s north have received a mysterious phone call which misrepresents the Coalition’s nuclear energy plan. Rival political parties deny any involvement.

A mysterious political “push poll” described as a “nuclear scare campaign”, has been targeting residents in one of Sydney’s most marginal seats.

Voters in the seat of Bradfield have received the phone call in recent days, asking provocative questions about Peter Dutton’s proposal to lift the ban on nuclear power in Australia.

“Push-polling” is a technique used during election campaigns where a political party attempts to alter a voters’ views under the guise of conducting an opinion poll.

The call asks: “Of the following, which is the main reason you would oppose the Liberals’ nuclear energy plan?”

“Press 1 for higher energy prices … press 2 for risk of incident or explosion … press 3 for nuclear waste management … press 4 for reducing investment in renewable energy … press 5 for high build cost for nuclear … or press 6 for ‘I support the Liberal nuclear plan’.”

The mysterious calls have targeted the marginal seat of Bradfield. Picture: iStock

The next question states: “the CSIRO has estimated that it will cost $600 billion to build and roll out the Liberals nuclear plan. How would you most likely see their nuclear plan paid for?”.

The poll then asks the recipient to select either an “increase on taxes, increased government debt or cuts to government services and programs”.

Will Shackel, founder of Nuclear for Australia, said the ‘push poll’ in Bradfield was a nuclear ‘scare campaign’, 15 May 2023.

In a statement, Nuclear for Australia described the stunt as a “scare campaign”.

“Disinformation campaigns should have no place in the energy debate.

The leading questions also falsely conflated civil nuclear power plants with nuclear weapons,” Nuclear for Australia spokesman Will Shackel said.

Bradfield currently has a margin of 2.5 per cent in favour of Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian, who faces a tough battle with Climate 200-backed independent Nicolette Boele.

Representatives from the Liberal, Climate 200 and Greens campaigns in Bradfield have told this masthead they are not responsible for the stunt.

When approached for comment, polling company uComms said: “In the interest of our customers’ privacy, we can’t comment on individual engagements”.

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Originally published as Marginal seat targeted with anti-nuclear ‘push poll’