Poll reveals Premier Roger Cook’s record on health has prompted approval rating to drop to new low

New polling has revealed Premier Roger Cook’s record on health has prompted his approval rating to slip to a new low of 28 per cent — down five per cent since public opinion was last gauged in September. Polling on the State Labor leader’s overall satisfaction was included in a Painted Dog Research survey of 610 Perth residents in mid-October, commissioned by the WA nurses union as part of their consultation assessing if a political party is viable. When asked if Mr Cook was qualified to be WA Premier, given his performance in health, almost 40 per cent of respondents said “no”. Twenty-eight per cent of respondents said “yes”, while 33 per cent declared they were unsure. Mr Cook has grappled with issues across Cabinet in his first 150 days since taking the helm in June after former Premier Mark McGowan stepped down in May. It has included revelations a 13-year-old girl claimed to have been raped inside Perth Children’s Hospital and continued fallout over abandoning plans to build a new maternity hospital at QEII in favour of shifting the facility to Murdoch. With less than 500 days until the 2025 election, health is shaping up to be a battleground issue for the former health minister. In her first Liberal State Conference speech as leader to declare the party could win in 2025, Libby Mettam outlined the shifting of the maternity hospital as the first big issue she will drill down on to help win government. Almost two-thirds or 63 per cent of survey respondents didn’t believe the Cook Government was “successfully solving problems faced by WA’s hospital system”. Only 13 per cent of the poll backed the Cook Government’s record in health, while 25 per cent said they were unsure. Mr Cook garnered a 33 per cent rating in a September Painted Dog poll commissioned by The West Australian, which was just ahead of Ms Mettam then 26 per cent satisfaction level. Almost 55 per cent of respondents thought the Cook Government needed to do more to recruit essential workers — such as police officers, nurses and emergency services. Just under a fifth, or 18 per cent, thought they were doing enough. Asked on Sunday if he was concerned the government’s shifted maternity hospital plan could impact votes at the next State Election, Mr Cook said: “What is clear now is that only a WA Labor Government will deliver for the people of Western Australia”. “If you’re going to develop that hospital on top of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, it will mean a delay of between 10 and 20 years,” Mr Cook said. “If the Liberals are committing to building it there, they are essentially cutting, cancelling the redevelopment of a women’s and babies hospital.” Australian Nurses Federation researched as they’ve taken unprecedented steps towards forming their own political party to contest the 2025 State election. The union, which is one of WA’s most powerful, predicted the move could allow them to seize the balance of power in the Upper House. A political party, that has strong backing from members in internal polling, would be an escalation of the union’s stagnant wage deal dispute with the Cook Government. ANF boss Janet Reah said the polling came off the back of the union’s advertising blitz, which was launched on September 1 against the ongoing public sector dispute, with radio commercials expected daily and weekly front-page newspaper adverts. “What this shows is that our campaign has been successful,” Ms Reah said. “Western Australians are demanding real action for our health system, these numbers prove that. The government needs to commit to a better wage offer on both this current deal and next year. “Otherwise, the shortages and constant bad news coming from WA’s health system will continue.”