Voters join budget revolt
Support for Tony Abbott’s Coalition has plunged as Australian voters react to a widely unpopular budget, two opinion polls show.
However, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he is unfazed by his Government’s plummeting support.
A Newspoll, published in The Australian, and a Fairfax-Nielsen poll were taken last week, with both suggesting a massive hit to the Coalition after a budget that’s been criticised for being too harsh.
The polls’ findings suggest there is voter anger over the government’s $80 billion of cuts to schools and hospitals over the next 10 years, as well as harsh treatment of low-income families and broken promises.
The Coalition’s primary vote dipped two percentage points to 36 per cent, compared to Labor’s 38 per cent, Newspoll shows.
That’s the Coalition’s worst standing since Tony Abbott won the Liberal leadership in December 2009, and the ALP’s best result in four months with a rise of four points.
On a two-party preferred basis Newspoll gives the ALP a 10-point lead – 55 to 45 per cent – and has Labor Leader Bill Shorten leading Abbott by 10 points.
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The Nielsen poll shows similar results.
It has Labor’s primary support sitting at 40 – up six points – and the Coalition trailing behind on 35 – down five points.
If an election were held today, Labor would win government, according to the results.
In the Nielsen poll’s two-party preferred basis results, Labor has a 12 percentage point lead over the Coalition.
The party is up four points, cruising on 56 per cent to the Coalition’s 44 per cent.
The swing against the government has also translated to the preferred prime minister, with Shorten enjoying an 11-point lead over Abbott – 51 per cent to 40, according to Nielsen.
Fairfax-Nielsen polled 1400 people between May 15-17, while Newspoll surveyed 1157 people between May 16-17.
Abbott, who visited a medical research facility in Brisbane on Monday, said selling a tough budget was never going to be easy.
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“This has been a tough budget, but it has also been a visionary budget,” he said of plans for a $20 billion research fund, paid for by a $7 charge for visiting a GP.
Abbott said the Howard Coalition government had also taken a hit in the polls after the 1996 budget, which also included large cuts to public spending.
However, the Nielsen poll figures from that period showed 47 per cent satisfaction with the budget, compared with 33 per cent now, and 29 per cent dissatisfaction compared with 65 per cent now.
Facing claims of breaking election promises, the prime minister said the Coalition’s four “elemental commitments” were to stop the boats, scrap the carbon tax, build roads and get the budget under control.
“We are delivering on all four of them,” he said.
Premiers and chief ministers want an emergency meeting with the prime minister before the end of July, saying cuts to health and education funding will have an immediate impact on services.
Mr Abbott said hospital funding was still set to rise, but not as much as under Labor’s “pie in the sky” plan.
Victorian Liberal premier Denis Napthine said the cuts would have an immediate impact.
“We need to sit down and sort that out,” he said.
The prime minister also faces hurdles to convince Senate cross benchers to pass legislation to bring in the Medicare co-payment, reintroduce indexed tax rises on petrol, raise the top income tax rate temporarily, deregulate university fees and tighten pension and welfare eligibility.
Abbott again said he would be talking to cross benchers “with courtesy and respect” in coming week
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill says states and territories will cause the “maximum amount of political pain possible” for the Abbott government unless it reverses $80 billion in budget cuts.
Weatherill says state and territory leaders will rally voters against the cuts and the Abbott government.
