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Katy Gallagher’s commanding lead as preferred Chief Minister is the result of a “honeymoon” period as a new Labor Leader, says Canberra Liberals Leader Zed Seselja.
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But Ms Gallagher, whose popularity with voters ahead of Saturday’s election leads Mr Seselja 54 per cent to 26 per cent, says the honeymoon is over after 18 months in the top job.
The ACT Greens said the results of the Canberra Times poll on preferred Chief Minister reflected the “negative contribution” by the Canberra Liberals to the most recent Assembly.
Mr Seselja said Saturday’s election would still be “very close”, despite lead pollster Keith Patterson describing Ms Gallagher’s advantage in the poll as “enormous”.
“I certainly know that Katy Gallagher is likeable,” Mr Seselja said.
“The real question is not whether she’s likeable, it’s whether or not people can afford another four years of her government.
“Obviously that’s the case when you change from a long serving leader to someone who’s only been in the job 12 months.
“It’s not unusual that leaders get a honeymoon in terms of their popularity.
“Leaders of governments tend to perform better as new leaders.”
The Patterson Research poll shows Mr Seselja’s approval ratings have plummeted since the 2008 election, where he was nearly neck-and-neck with then Chief Minister Jon Stanhope as preferred Chief Minister, at 40 per cent to 41.6 per cent.
Mr Seselja said: “Obviously not having seen all the numbers I’m not going to get into a running commentary on the detail.
“That’s not the feeling we get in Brindabella.
“In the end, how many votes we get in each electorate will be the key thing.
“Saturday is not going to come down to whether or not people like Katy Gallagher, it’s about whether or not they can trust her not to triple their rates and whether they think they can afford this reform.”
Ms Gallagher said elections were about more than which leader voters preferred.
“I’ve worked really hard so it’s nice to see there’s a level of support for my leadership,” she said.
“[But] the election is much more than that.
“My focus hasn’t changed, it will be on bringing our campaign home now.”
Ms Gallagher said she did not feel the poll result could be explained by Labor’s change in leadership 18 months ago.
“I hadn’t noticed any honeymoon. I think the last year has been very challenging on a number of fronts," she said.
“What I’ve tried to do is front up every day, answer every question, talk people through things, even if it means acknowledging that there are problems that need to be fixed.”
ACT Greens Leader Meredith Hunter said the result was definitive.
“Canberra’s a progressive place and obviously Zed has not connected with the majority of Canberra voters,” Ms Hunter said.
“I think it’s quite obvious it would be a concern for the Canberra Liberals, also the fact that his result has dropped since last time.
“We came in to play a really positive role and add value and this may reflect the Canberra Liberal’s negative contribution.
“That is, the ‘just say no’ contribution they’ve made to this assembly.”
