Climate Change, The Voice Loses Public Support As Cost of Living Problems Bite: Poll

Australian lose faith in government's handling of cost of living

Shoppers are seen in the Pitt Street Mall in Sydney, Australia on Dec. 26, 2019.Jenny Evans/Getty Images

Australians are pessimistic about the future of the country as ongoing cost of living pressures continue to bite.

SEC Newgate, the country’s largest strategic communications firm, released the findings of a survey of 2,207 Australians from Jun 23-28, which also found issues like climate change and The Voice lose public interest.

The company found that 61 percent of the respondents believed Australia was going in the wrong direction, up ten percent from the previous survey in April.

Among the jurisdictions, Queensland had the largest percentage of respondents (63 percent) who had a negative attitude toward the state government’s direction, followed by New South Wales and Victoria at 58 percent.

However, the biggest shift in national sentiment was in Victoria, which saw a 14 percent increase in negative sentiment in the past two months.

It comes after the Victorian Labor government introduced a new round of taxes targeting large businesses and landowners in May to repay the state’s massive COVID-19 debts, sparking strong criticism from the business community.

Personal Finance A Major Concern

About 46 percent of those surveyed said they were having difficulty making ends meet or were struggling to pay bills and cover basic expenses, up seven percent since April.

Within the population, groups that were most likely to experience financial problems were unemployed people (76 percent), students (63 percent), renters (60 percent), and casual workers (58 percent).

In addition, the top three cost-of-living concerns for Australians were groceries at 90 percent (up 8 percent), electricity bills at 84 percent (up 11 percent), and petrol prices at 75 percent (up 8 percent).

People are seen shopping at the South Melbourne Market in Melbourne, Australia, on June 18, 2021. Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages jumped 7.9 percent in the 12 months to May, with dairy and related products seeing the most significant growth (15.1 percent).

Meanwhile, millions of Australians have been hit with a surge in electricity bills as the new default market offer, which caps the maximum rate energy retailers can charge residential and small business customers in New South Wales, South Australia, and Southeast Queensland, come into effect from July 1.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has acknowledged that consumers across the country are paying too much for electricity.

Mortgage (55 percent) and rent (54 percent) were also major sources of concern after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates 12 times since May 2022, taking the official cash rate from the historic low of 0.1 percent to the current 4.1 percent.

Australians Losing Faith in Government’s Handling of Cost of Living

As the cost of living crisis deepens, more Australians are losing faith in the federal government’s handling of the economy.

Specifically, only 39 percent of respondents thought the federal government was doing a good or better job (down seven percent).

In the May federal budget, the federal government unveiled a $14.6 billion (US$10.6 billion) living cost package that included taxpayer-subsidised energy price relief for welfare recipients, cheaper medicines, and tax incentives for electrification and energy efficiency upgrades.

The huge spending package has raised concerns about worsening inflation among economists.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has stated that the government is currently not considering more living cost relief but instead will focus on repairing the budget.

While the federal government does not expect Australia to fall into a recession due to the central bank’s monetary tightening policy and weak economic growth, some economists have warned risks still exist.

Significant Change in Public Priorities

Meanwhile, there has been a big shift in public priorities due to Australia’s bleak economic outlook.

Cost of living (69 percent), housing affordability (32 percent), and interest rates (23 percent) are now the most important factors for those surveyed.

In contrast, healthcare dropped to 14 percent from a high of 20 percent, while only nine percent of the respondents were worried about climate change (down from 20 percent).

There was also a noticeable fall in support for The Voice, with 43 percent of Australians approving the initiative, down from 52 percent in April.

The above result was similar to the latest Newspoll conducted by The Australian newspaper, which indicated a three percent drop in support for the referendum to include an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.