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Australian voters turn to far-right as poll support for gov't slides

Xinhua, February 27, 2017 Adjust font size:

Australian voters are increasingly turning to the far-right as dissatisfaction with the major parties continues to grow, with the One Nation party now attracting 10 percent of the nation's primary vote, a national survey has revealed.

The latest Newspoll, published on Monday, showed the vote Pauline Hanson's One Nation had received double the support it had in November, mirroring the worldwide trend of voters flocking to far-right political parties.

Worryingly for the Liberal-National Party (LNP) coalition government, a separate ReachTEL poll revealed One Nation was eating into the support of the coalition in key electorates in Dawson, held by Nationals MP George Christensen. One Nation had secured 30 percent of the support - just 0.4 percent behind the support for Christensen and the government.

Meanwhile the government's overall approval rating continues to slide; In the two-party preferred vote, Malcolm Turnbull's coalition government finds itself 10 points behind the Labor opposition at 45 percent support to 55 percent after preferences, while the government received just 34 percent in the primary vote - 5 points lower than when Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott to take over the premiership in 2015.

When questioned about the poor results, the prime minister said last week's "outburst" by the former PM Abbott, in which he said the government was "drifting towards defeat" with its current policies, had the "desired effect."

"A poll is a snapshot of opinion at one particular time. The election is two years away, and what we've seen is an outburst on Thursday, and it had its desired impact on the Newspoll. It was exactly as predicted and calculated," Turnbull told the press, "(Abbott) knew exactly what he was doing."

Despite the poor results for Turnbull and his government, he remains the preferred prime minister among voters; 40 percent of those surveyed said Turnbull would be a better PM, compared to 33 percent for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Twenty-seven percent were undecided. Endit