Rising Living Costs Are Top Concern for Australian Voters: Survey

Residents shop at a supermarket in Canberra, Australia, on Aug. 12, 2021. Rohan Thomson/AFP via Getty Images

Surging living costs have become the most concerning issue for Australian voters as the federal election is only a couple of weeks away, a new study has found.

The Australian National University (ANU) has surveyed 3,500 voters and found that 64.7 percent of the respondents believed reducing living costs should be the top priority of the next federal government.

“This outranks all other major policy considerations,” study co-author Nicholas Biddle said.

“Interestingly, we also found that this was a view held by people who said they would vote for Labor, for people who said they would vote for the Coalition, and for those who weren’t planning on voting for either party.

Additionally, fixing aged care (60 percent) and improving the economy (54 percent) ranked second and third among voters’ top concerns, followed by reducing health care costs (54 percent) and addressing climate change (53 percent).

On the other hand, only 37 percent of voters still considered COVID-19 as a significant concern, and the figure was even lower for immigration, standing at 22 percent.

At the same time, the ANU study indicated that the proportion of people saying they would vote for the Labor party in the upcoming election fell slightly from 36.3 percent in January to 34.4 percent in April.

The Coalition also saw an insignificant drop from 31.7 percent in January to 31.2 percent in April.

In contrast, the percentage of voters supporting the Green party rose noticeably from 14.2 percent to 16.2 percent during the same period.

Furthermore, over six in ten survey takers (62.4 percent) expressed their disappointment with the country’s current direction.

Shoppers queue to purchase prawns in Sydney, Australia, on April 14, 2022. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Australians are spending a lot more on fuel than they did a year ago, increasing the financial burden on households.

The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) said average weekly fuel costs jumped 40 percent in the 12 months to March 31, 2022.

At the same time, the country’s peak motoring body found that Australian households in capital cities spent over $400 (US$284) for weekly transport on average, while the figure for regional households was $330.

“Rising fuel prices continue to be a significant contributor to cost of living pressures across both regional and metropolitan Australia,” AAA managing director Michael Bradley said.

Across Australia, Sydney households had the highest average transport spending at $474.44 a week, out of which $94.80 was spent on petrol.

In comparison, Hobart motorists spent the most on petrol at $100.18 a week, but their overall spending on transport was the lowest among the capital cities, standing at $354.45.

The transport spending calculated by the AAA encompassed a wide range of costs: loan payments, fuel, tolls, insurance, servicing, registration, roadside assistance and public transport.