Cost of living top-order political issue for more than half of West Australian voters

The cost of living is a top-order political issue for more than half of West Australian voters but they are generally more optimistic about the state of the economy than the rest of the country. A new poll also shows WA Labor would comfortably retain government in the State election, with its two-party preferred vote dropping back to the level when Mark McGowan first took office in 2017. The polling by Wolf and Smith – a new campaign agency run by former Liberal strategist Yaron Finkelstein – surveyed 878 WA voters between August 6 and 29. Living costs, the economy and housing were the issues that people wanted politicians to focus on a State and Federal level. Two in five people nominated the cost of living as the most pressing issue their family faced, while 59 per cent included it in their top three. Housing made the top three for 33 per cent of voters, closely followed by the economy (28 per cent) and healthcare (21 per cent). People surveyed pointed to large hikes in costs and rents squeezing their budgets, with one saying it seemed like supermarkets put up their prices every fortnight. “Costs are going up so much that there’s no way wages can keep up,” another person said. There was also gloominess about the prospects of a recession, although generally, West Australians were aware the continued strength of the resources sector was helping. “We’re doing better than over east because we actually export things. We’re propping them up really,” one person said, while another observed they were lucky because the resources sector was “quite well paid” although they knew others were struggling. “Mining is strong, but we can’t put all our eggs in one basket,” another person said. The Federal Government has been caught up in a stoush with the Reserve Bank during the past week over the management of inflation after Treasurer Jim Chalmers said high interest rates were “smashing the economy” while the Government was doing what it could to help people via tax cuts, power bill relief and cheaper medicines and childcare. RBA governor Michele Bullock disagreed with the criticism but acknowledged that about 5 per cent of households were having to make “painful adjustments” to keep affording their mortgage payments and some may have to sell their homes. Mr Finkelstein said the concerns of West Australians were mirrored around the country. “Western Australian voters have more to be optimistic about with a healthy state economy and a strong mining sector but, in spite of that, are just as concerned by the same potent set of issues relating to living costs and housing we see in the eastern states,” he told The Sunday Times. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has spent recent months running scare campaigns over high immigration levels, visa cancellations and law and order issues. But the polling shows just 17 per cent of people rated crime and safety as a top-order issue for their family while 8 per cent were worried about immigration. Both the WA and Federal governments are headed to elections in the early part of next year. At a State level, 37 per cent of people intended to vote Labor and 29 per cent Liberals. That would be a 23-point drop from Labor’s mammoth 60 per cent primary vote in the 2021 pandemic election and also falls below its 2017 level. But it’s not necessarily good news for the Liberals, with much of the lost Labor primary spraying to minor parties and independents instead, resulting in a 55-45 two-party preferred vote. If that swing was replicated uniformly, Liberals and Nationals would regain all 12 seats lost in 2021 plus Albany and Kalamunda but Labor would still hold 40 seats to their 18. This is similar to internal Liberal Party polling revealed by The West Australian last month. “The task ahead of the Liberals over the next six months is to build on this momentum, but the scale of that task is underscored by Labor leading them in all but one demographic group,” Mr Finkelstein said. “There will be a number of factors at play in Labor’s decline, including leadership change and the growth in minor party and independent options.”