Federal Election 2019: New UComm polling commissioned by Australian Forest Products Association shows Liberals tipped to take Bass

Labor is trailing the Liberals in the key marginal seat of Bass, according to polling the Australian Forest Products Association will release today. SEE HOW THE NUMBERS STACK UP

LABOR is trailing the Liberals in the key marginal seat of Bass, according to polling commissioned by the Australian Forest Products Association.

The northern Tasmanian electorate has emerged as a key battleground for the Coalition in its bid to retain government, with the Liberals already pledging tens of millions of dollars to Bass voters.

And it appears to be paying off, with a UComm poll of 847 Bass voters, to be released today, placing the Liberals at 54 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

Candidate Bridget Archer — also George Town mayor — was set to attract 42.8 per cent of first preference votes.

Incumbent Ross Hart trailed on 32.6 per cent of first-preference votes and the Opposition sat at 46 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

Bass has changed hands at seven of the nine last elections and is held by Labor on a margin of 5.4 per cent.

The poll has a 3 per cent margin of error.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison spent several days in northern Tasmania in the days before calling the election in his bid to pull voters from Labor to the Liberals in Bass, Braddon and Lyons by the May 18 poll.

Among key pitches so far was a Tasmanian Health Package worth $92 million that included funds for a walk-in mental health hub in Launceston.

MORE TASSIE NEWS

SWARM OF FLYING INSECTS GROUNDS HOBART FLIGHT

COUNCIL PURSUIT OF PARKING FINE SPIRALS TO $3000-PLUS

SAVE THE FRANKLIN WARRIOR EN ROUTE TO STOP ADANI

HEAD-ON CRASH LANDS TWO DRIVERS IN HOSPITAL

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right) and Liberal candidate for Bass Bridget Archer greet Liberal supporters at the opening of the party’s Bass campaign office in Launceston, Tasmania in February. Picture: AAP/SARAH RHODES

Opposition leader Bill Shorten has not visited Tasmania since the election was called on April 11 but announced irrigation funding in the North-West late March and is expected to visit soon.

The AFPA will target Bass, Braddon and Lyons in its bid to attract greater investment in the sector.

It will today launch a 10-point, 10-year national plan it will sell as having capacity to create up to 20,000 jobs throughout Australia.

Among the body’s requests is $13 million for 13 regional forest industry hubs — $4 million and four hubs more than the Coalition has already committed.

One of those hubs should be developed in southern Tasmania, AFPA chief executive Ross Hampton told the Mercury.

“We think it’s inexplicable the southern part of Tasmania — Franklin and the bottom of Lyons — isn’t nominated as a key forestry hub,” Mr Hampton said.

North and North-West Tasmania were nominated pilot regional forestry hubs in February.

Eight out of 10 Bass voters believe forest industries are important to the Tasmanian economy, according to the UComm polling.

Mr Hampton, travelling Tasmania this week, said the state remained “the strategic heart of forest industries in Australia”.

“It’s got a very old, established history, it’s got a huge future and, most importantly and critically when it comes to a federal election campaign, it has a community activated to look for candidates who support forest industries.”