In an election campaign dominated by law and order and an ‘it’s time’ factor, the Queensland Labor Party released an ambitious raft of popular, progressive policies that has kept the new Liberal National government to a narrow majority. The big swing to the LNP predicted before the election campaign did not arrive, especially in Brisbane.

The implications for the Federal election are clear: voters want progressive policies on cost of living, climate change, reproductive rights, education and more.

New polling research by The Australia Institute, released just days before the election, revealed broad support for 12 progressive policies, even in policy areas which had previously proven controversial.

These policies appear to have been the difference between last night’s narrow defeat of Queensland Labor and electoral wipeout expected by so many commentators at the beginning of the campaign.

Key findings:

• Most Queenslanders supported each of the 12 Queensland Labor policies presented to them.
• The net effect of each of the 12 policies was to make Queenslanders more likely to vote for the Labor Government.
• Cost of living policies were the most popular among the policies presented to Queenslanders:
  • Limiting petrol station price increases to 5 cents a litre per day and banning petrol stations raising prices more than once a day was the most popular policy, with almost six in seven (84%) Queenslanders supporting it.
  • Four in five Queenslanders (81%) support lowering public transport fares to a flat rate of $0.50 per trip.
  • Four in five (80%) support more funding for school food programs.
• Abortion and reproduction policies received support from three in five Queenslanders:
  • 63% support funding for abortion services and pregnancy termination care.
• Three in four Queenslanders (73%) supported purchasing private motels, hotels and former retirement villages to provide emergency housing.
• Three in five Queenslanders (61%) supported higher and progressive coal royalties.

“Queensland voters voted for change last night, but while the final composition of the Queensland Parliament remains unclear, what is clear is that the vast majority of Queenslanders want their government to provide them with more support to tackle the cost of living, more government services, and for the coal industry to pay more tax to support such tax to support such services,” said Dr Richard Denniss, Executive Director of The Australia Institute.