Contributed from Victoria

It’s a no brainier, Australia wants serious action on the cost-of-living crisis and feels far too little is being done. It doesn’t take the latest Guardian Essential poll to tell us this. but the poll does give us a good idea of how far the disenchantment has gone.

This random poll of more than a thousand prospective voters found that 50 percent support for ending negative gearing and other tax breaks for property investors.  Only 16 percent were opposed. The rest were undecided. These are telling numbers, given that the major political parties will have none of it. Hardly surprising, given that the huge cost of housing is the most important component pulling down the capacity of most of Australia to maintain a normal standard of living.

Unbearable reality of Australia’s cost of living crisis

Video from EconoMe

Meanwhile, Labor remains fixated on its shared equity scheme. It’s not popular, and this has led to boosting support for the Greens. They argue that this will do little to address the problem. Australia seems to agree.

Appetite for more ambitious solutions is rising. Support for the government stepping in and putting a cap on the price of groceries and energy bills has 70 percent support. If the Albanese government puts real content to its promise to do something about prices, it will generate a swell of support. But limiting to reliance on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to keep an eye on the matter may be seen as a failure to act. Honouring the promise to tighten rules to tighten rules against price gauging and shrinkflation will be seen in a positive light.

Respondents were asked a further set of questions. The result is that 70 percent support increasing taxes paid by larger corporations, reducing income taxes (60 percent), boosting funding for social services (61 percent), running budget surpluses to reduce inflation (60 percent), and raising the level of income support for the unemployed (53 percent).

The high numbers suggest that this view cuts across voters for all political parties. It’s a social consensus that stands at odds with the policies of Labor and Coalition alike. The more uncomfortable the respondent felt over their economic security, the more likely they were to feel more must be done to combat the rising cost of living. There is a lot of concern (71 percent) over the widening gap between rich and poor, and support for a fairer distribution of the benefits of economic growth (51 percent).

It all indicates the growing class divide across Australia. This translates into how the nation sees the major political parties. Judgments are being made on whether they serve the interests of the working man and woman or the big end of town, and this is having an impact on electoral politics, in the shape of falling primary votes for the main contenders and the rise of the Greens and independents.

This has the potential to transform Australia’s political landscape.