Australians reject politicisation of LGBT issues ahead of election

A new poll has found that the majority of Australians do not want politicians to use LGBT issues for political gain in the upcoming federal election.

While the election has yet to be called, it will happen at some point in May this year, with political leaders already looking to score points with voters.

A Redbridge poll conducted for queer advocacy group Equality Australia in February and made public on Thursday has found that politicians won’t be able to score many political points if they use LGBT issues for political gain.

The poll – conducted via a random sample of 1013 Australians and across two focus groups – found 75 per cent agreed that politicians shouldn’t politicise LGBT people.

This was even stronger when it came to support for trans people, with 86 per cent agreeing politicians should not politicise their issues.

“Australians aren’t interested in seeing trans people be used as a distraction in an election campaign. It’s been tried before in Australia and is clearly a losing strategy,” said Teddy Cook, the chair of the TransEquality Council.

“Talking about gender and obsessing about a vulnerable 1 per cent of the population won’t help pay the bills or find a home.”

The poll found broad support for the queer community, with 89 per cent saying LGBT people deserve to live with dignity and respect and 91 per cent agreeing trans people deserve the same rights and protections as other Australians.

“This polling proves that Australian values of equality and a fair go immediately come to the fore when it comes to issues affecting the vulnerable,” said Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown.

“It also proves that attacking the marginalised is not only morally wrong but politically foolish.”

Instead, the issues front of mind were cost of living, healthcare and housing affordability, with only 3 per cent of respondents ranking LGBT rights as an election issue.

“These are the salient issues that are underpinning their vote considerations,” said director of Redbridge Tony Barry.

“The major parties cannot allow themselves to go off-message with self-indulgent culture wars because that’s the dog that isn’t barking.” 

In the focus groups following the survey, specific prompting around LGBT+ issues were elicited from respondents. While issues surrounding the queer community may not have been front of mind, 64 per cent recognised that LGBT people still experienced discrimination.

This was across both Liberal and Labor voters present in the room, with one Liberal voter saying: “Everyone should be equal and there should not be any discrimination at all.”

This still rang true around specific trans issues, but there was more nuance, with access to free healthcare for gender transition and competition in sport being two contentious issues.

Despite this, 78 per cent of respondents agreed that health services should treat and support trans patients.

On another prompted discussion, most voters rejected the proposition that Australia was “too woke”, with conversations around “woke issues” eliciting responses of frustration.

One Liberal voter argued the word was a tactic to “shut down proper debate on real issues” while a respondent in the LGBT community argued that being woke “refers to being socially aware”.