Boothby Polling: Strong Support for Protecting the Bight in Tightly Contested Seat

The Australia Institute commissioned ReachTEL to poll the federal seat of Boothby (722 respondents) on the evening of 11 December 2018.

Key Findings:

• 51/49 TPP favouring Liberal Party MP Nicolle Flint
• 83.6% of Boothby resident support giving the Great Australian Bight World Heritage Protection, with more than half (54.2%) of Boothby residents strongly supporting the idea.
• A majority of all party’s supporters want to see the Bight given World Heritage Protection, with 92.4% of Labor voters and 75.7% of Liberal voters backing the idea.
• 58.9% of residents oppose allowing companies to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight, with just 32.9% of voters supporting the idea.
• Just 17% of Labor voters want drilling in the Bight to take place, while Liberal voters were the only group with a majority that supported drilling, at 51.7%. 

“Boothby is absolutely in play at this election, as this polling has shown,” said Noah Schultz-Byard, South Australian Projects Manager at The Australia Institute.

“The last time Labor held Boothby was shortly after World War II, way back in 1949, but the Liberal Party’s margin has been in decline over recent years.

“Protecting the Great Australian Bight is clearly a big issue for voters in SA and any party wanting to take the seat of Boothby needs to consider where they stand on that.

“Giving the Great Australian Bight World Heritage Protection would help to preserve the area for generations to come, while also promoting this natural wonder to the world.

“Allowing companies to drill for oil in the Bight is a very unpopular move with voters.”