Health and the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic are a significant drag on the Coalition vote, with one in three Australians less likely to vote for the Morrison government due to the level of public hospital funding, according to new polling.
An Essential poll, commissioned by the Australian Medical Association, found voters who had traditionally supported the Coalition on health and hospital funding were now deserting them. Support in this key area had dropped, with 34% now questioning the government’s record.
Only the Morrison government’s handling of the climate crisis and cost of living pressures registered greater levels of disapproval. Of those polled, 37% were less likely to vote for the government on climate, while 38% were not supportive of Morrison on cost of living.
The poll of 1,069 voters was conducted from 3 to 6 February, before a torrid parliamentary fortnight in which the Morrison government dropped its religious discrimination bill and pivoted to national security to recover its poor standing in the polls.
On Friday states and territories reiterated their demand for the commonwealth to provide 50% of public hospital funding, up from 45%, and abandon a 6.5% growth cap on health funding.
States believe the cost-sharing deal struck during the Covid-19 pandemic is not fit-for-purpose now coronavirus is circulating in the community, as it does not keep up with increased staffing costs, PPE and expected new demand from delayed care and long-Covid.
Despite the pressure from the states in the lead-up to the 2022 election, the AMA is yet to secure a commitment from either side of politics for 50-50 funding, with Labor more focused on GP and specialist out-of-pocket costs.
Anthony Albanese has promised Labor will “always be better” on health, signalling higher levels of funding, but is yet to announce its full policy.
Coalition voters still approved of the Morrison government’s handling of hospitals, with 29% saying it made them more likely to support the government and 19% less likely.
But the issue is biting among voters aged 55 and over, 19% more of who said they’d be less likely to vote Coalition, and non-major party voters, 37% more of who said they’d be less likely to vote Coalition.
The AMA’s Clear the Hospital Logjam campaign argues that the public hospital system was struggling before Covid-19, but now faces blowouts in ambulances ramping, emergency departments at capacity, and long waits for essential surgery.
The AMA president, Dr Omar Khorshid, said the results “put the political parties on notice that public hospital funding is resonating as a vote-changer with the Australian electorate”.
“The distressing picture we are getting of our hospital funding crisis should be a warning shot to all politicians that they need to pledge they’ll fix public hospital funding if elected,” he said.
In October the Morrison government dismissed calls for more hospital funding as a form of “shakedown politics”, targeting the Queensland premier in particular despite the bipartisan call from Labor and Liberal premiers.
The Queensland health minister, Yvette D’Ath, told Guardian Australia “Queensland’s position is unchanged – we’re calling for long-term sustainable health funding from the commonwealth”.
In addition to 50-50 funding, it wants “an extension of the current financial arrangements in the fight against Covid because the challenge the pandemic poses to Queensland is ongoing”, she said.
“The Morrison government needs to start taking its health responsibilities far more seriously.
“This includes providing aged care packages to the more than 500 Queenslanders who are currently in Queensland public hospital beds.”
The Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, said the health system “is under extreme pressure and the current funding arrangement with the commonwealth, where the states pay more, is unfair and unsustainable”.
“The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on everything from primary health care in the community to our hospitals will mean states will be carrying the impact of this one-in-100-year event for many years to come.”
The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, has again rejected calls for more funding, citing the federal contribution to health growing by 92% between 2012-13 and 2020-21, compared with state increases of 44%.
“There is nothing stopping the states and territories matching the Australian government investment in public hospitals, and if they did, hospitals would be adequately funded,” a spokesperson for Hunt said.
The Essential poll showed the Coalition was also losing votes on economic management and online safety.
