Exclusive polling across a number of marginal seats, and some safer seats, shows multibillion-dollar funding cuts to the federal health budget are weighing heavily on voters’ minds.
In some electorates, such as the former health minister Peter Dutton’s seat of Dickson in Queensland, more than 40% of voters say they are less likely to vote for the Liberal party in the election because of the cuts.
GetUp commissioned Reachtel to poll numerous electorates over the past two months to determine voting intention, which issues are important and how concerned voters are about Liberal and Labor policies.
Among the electorates polled were Warringah in NSW (Tony Abbott’s seat, on a 15.3% margin), Macquarie in NSW (marginal Liberal, on 4.5%), and Bass in Tasmania (marginal Liberal, held by the conservative Andrew Nikolic, on 4%).
The polls were conducted between 2 May and 14 June, as the Coalition and Labor confirmed they would not be restoring the majority of the $50bn in health funding cut from the federal health budget by the former Abbott government.
The polls found in the marginal seat of Bass in Tasmania 43% of voters believed health services had become worse over the last three years, while 43% think they have stayed the same and 13.7% believe they have worsened.
In Abbott’s seat, 44.7% of those polled said they were “very concerned” about the impact of health cuts on public hospitals.
The concern for health services was felt across all seats polled.
“If you cut $54bn from health, it is going to cause people pain,” Paul Oosting, the national director of GetUp, told Guardian Australia.
“It’s not ‘strong economic management’ to cut funding for health and hospitals, make it more expensive to see a doctor and take away funding for bulk billing and pharmaceuticals. People start wondering who you are managing the economy for, because these are things that they care about deeply.
Another poll, conducted by Essential for the Australian Council of Trade Unions, has found fewer than one third of voters believe the government’s signature company tax cut policy will create jobs.
The poll found just 30% of voters thought giving companies a $48bn tax cut over 10 years would create jobs, compared with 46% who disagree and 25% who did not know.
Respondents gave a thumbs-up to Labor’s policy to increase the number of apprenticeships by requiring minimum numbers on government projects, with 71% agreeing this would create jobs.
Protectionist measures fared well, with 78% saying requiring companies to use Australian-made products such as steel on large infrastructure projects would create jobs, and 71% saying limiting the number of temporary migrant worker visas available to companies would do the same.
Respondents also wanted a boost to investment in renewable energy technologies, with 74% saying this will create jobs.
The ACTU president, Ged Kearney, said: “It’s clear voters have seen through the Liberal government’s empty talk on jobs and growth to realise the truth.
“This $48bn corporate handout will do nothing to create much-needed jobs for Australians.
“The overwhelmingly positive support for other measures – such as minimum apprenticeship levels on government projects and investing in renewable energy technologies – gives the government a clear indication of where they should be focussing their efforts.”
