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This was published 1 year ago
Palaszczuk Labor still favoured by voters at political halfway mark
By Matt Dennien
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s third-term Labor government remains in favour with voters as both major parties shed support to independents and the Greens at the halfway point of Queensland’s first fixed four-year term of parliament.
The Labor leader also remains ahead of her LNP counterpart, a still relatively little-known David Crisafulli, as preferred premier, according to a state-first survey conducted for this masthead by Resolve Strategic.
Annastacia Palaszczuk and her Labor Party still enjoy a lead over David Crisafulli and the LNP.
Queensland has passed the midway point of its political cycle after a pandemic-tinged first half since 2020, with political eyes shifted to the next state vote on October 26, 2024.
Labor’s election primary vote of 39.57 per cent has dipped to 37 per cent, the first Queensland-specific Resolve survey shows. The LNP has shed one percentage point to 35 per cent.
But the survey shows a lift in support for the Greens from 9 per cent to 11 per cent, and the idea of an independent candidate from 2 per cent to 7 per cent. The share of voters handing their first vote to the right-wing One Nation or Katter’s Australian Party has slipped.
The survey of 924 registered voters was carried out between August 21 and December 4, with a margin for error of 3.2 per cent.
Resolve director Jim Reed said while the shift from major parties was a pattern seen across other states and the May federal election, the results would likely see state Labor returned to power — though perhaps on a slimmer margin.
“It looks like some of the paint has come off Palaszczuk this term, but it remains to be seen how Crisafulli will fare against her in an election campaign because he’s not well known right now,” Reed said.
Palaszczuk remains preferred premier for 42 per cent of survey respondents, with Crisafulli favoured by 30 percent and 28 percent undecided. In a 2020 election runup YouGov poll, Palaszczuk led then-LNP leader Deb Frecklington 48-22.
But only 59 per cent of respondents were familiar with Crisafulli, elevated to leader after his party’s 2020 loss under Frecklington. Of those able to rate him, 23 percent had a positive view, 22 percent were neutral and 15 per cent considered him negatively.
In contrast, 98 per cent of respondents were familiar with Palaszczuk. A total of 39 per cent rated her positively, 28 per cent were neutral and 31 per cent held negative views.
Overall, the majority of respondents thought the outlook over the next year for themselves and the state would not change. Those remaining who believed both would get worse almost doubled those who thought things would get better.
Despite continued questions raised by the opposition and some elements of the media, Palaszczuk has said she intends to face voters at least one more time in 2024. If successful, she would within months pass Peter Beattie as the longest-serving Labor premier since World War II.
After a stop-start 2021 amid sometimes controversial pandemic decisions, 2022 has seen COVID rise to a belated peak in Queensland. The state’s federal Greens success in May also drew national attention to the slow-boil grassroots work of that party across Brisbane.
Meanwhile, the Palaszczuk government has been able to pass laws legalising voluntary euthanasia, and take early steps to outlaw coercive control, transition from coal and rollout nation-leading cabinet transparency.
Issues spanning cost-of-living, housing and hospital pressure, along with high-profile probes into the police, state DNA testing lab and integrity matters, have also led headlines and opposition attacks.
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