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WorkChoices Polling Cost Revealed
In Australia, an official report has revealed that the Howard government spent $AUD 1.6m of taxpayers' money in 2007 on its controversial research on voters' views of industrial relations issues. The work was conducted by Melbourne-based Open Mind Research.
The studies ran from April last year until the day after the announcement of the start of election campaigning, according to the Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au ). The figure was disclosed in the annual report of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
The surveys were used to steer the government's second major wave of advertising during the 2007 election year, promoting changes to its WorkChoices legislation including the introduction of a 'fairness test'. More generally, they would have provided ministers with insights into voters' views of their industrial relations policies and messages, leading critics to claim the money was used for party political purposes.
Similar polls to the tune of $AUD 1.8m were conducted for the same government in 2005-6 by Colmar Brunton.
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