Basil Zempilas’ leadership barely dents Labor’s lead while Roger Cook faces danger ahead on cost of living

The Liberal Party’s leadership switch to Basil Zempilas has barely dented Labor’s lead as WA’s preferred government, according to new opinion poll. But the research has put Premier Roger Cook on notice that two thirds of voters believe he’s doing a “bad job” addressing the rising cost of living. The Demos AU poll shows Labor’s primary vote has slipped by just 0.4 per cent, with the Liberals up 2 per cent in the nine months since the Cook Government’s massive March election win. That’s enough for Labor to maintain a landslide-sized 56-44 two-party preferred lead among voters. But there were warning signs for the Government, with the poll finding that 63 per cent of voters surveyed rate its handling of the rising cost of living and housing as bad. Only 10 per cent of those surveyed believe Labor is doing a good job tackling these front-of-mind issues. Cost of living and inflation were rated the biggest issues facing WA by 34 per cent of the 1012 voters surveyed, a long way ahead of health and hospitals on 10 per cent, immigration on five per cent and climate change and crime on four per cent. “Roger Cook remains popular but WA Labor can’t be complacent on cost of living and housing as voters clearly want more action on these issues,” Demos AU pollster George Hasanakos said. While a two per cent boost to the Liberals’ primary vote isn’t much, Mr Hasanakos said it had dispelled fears Mr Zempilas could cost the party votes — though the new Opposition Leader is more disliked than liked. The Opposition leader has a net negative rating of three per cent, with 38 per cent of respondents having a neutral view, which might give the Liberals hope that there is plenty of room for improvement. “They are still well behind Labor,” Mr Hasanakos said. Mr Cook had a net positive rating of 8 per cent and was rated preferred premier ahead of Mr Zempilas 47 to 34 per cent, with 19 per cent undecided. The Premier is under pressure to offer cost of living relief after new inflation figures dashed hopes of more interest rate cuts. On Monday, he appeared to rule out providing households with more power bill credits — saying he preferred “targeted” measures instead. Mr Cook has made health and housing priorities for Government investment. He could have more funds to play with, given this month’s mid-year economic review could see $2 billion added to the Budget bottom line, thanks to a higher than expected iron ore price. “The best form of cost of living relief for Western Australians is to make sure that we keep the economy the strongest in the nation,” Mr Cook said. “We acknowledge there’s still many people in the Western Australian community who are doing it tough. “Our approach around cost of living measures is to continue to focus on targeted measures. “That’s why we have our our current arrangements for free student travel on buses. Next year, we’re bringing our one zone travel arrangements, so that will save more people money.”