Budget Fails to Boost Australia’s Government as Election Looms
2022.04.04 09:21
© Bloomberg. Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021. Over the years, Australia has increasingly legislated to curb foreign interference and acquisitions of critical infrastructure — moves widely seen as an attempt to contain Chinese influence. Photographer: Rohan Thomson/Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) — Cash sweeteners and cheaper petrol have failed to substantially boost the Australian government’s opinion polls ahead of an election that Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to call within days.
Two new surveys published by Newspoll and Ipsos late Sunday show the government is still trailing the opposition Labor Party, despite a high-profile pre-election budget delivered by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on March 29, which included payments for low-income earners and a cut to the petrol tax.
According to Newspoll, Morrison’s center-right Liberal National coalition has improved by just 1 percentage point in the past three weeks, to trail the Labor Party 54% to 46%. The Ipsos survey found the government was in an even worse position, with the opposition leading 55% to 45%.
The poor polling comes despite positive economic news in the 2022 Australia budget, including unemployment forecast to drop to 3.75%, a rapid drop in government debt thanks to high commodity prices and a prediction that wages will rise above inflation as early as next year.
Morrison must call an election on or before May 21 under Australian law, and he is widely expected to dissolve parliament and begin the campaign within days. While the government is currently trailing in the polls, Morrison was widely written off before the 2019 election only to win a surprise victory.
The government is hoping for another “miracle” win, but Morrison is facing internal division inside his own party even before the race has begun. In a speech to Parliament last week, a government senator called him an “autocrat” and a “bully,” adding he was “unfit” to be prime minister.
Over the weekend, two media organizations published accusations that during Morrison’s selection for parliament in 2007, he used racist language to denigrate his opponent. Morrison has strongly denied the allegations made against him.
Morrison’s personal approval rating is still behind Opposition Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s in both Newspoll and Ipsos. The prime minister’s net satisfaction is -12% in Newspoll, a slight improvement in the past three weeks, while Ipsos puts him on -15%.
In comparison, Albanese has a net approval rating of -1% in Newspoll and -2% in Ipsos.
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