Port Stephens MP Kate Washington has dismissed polling showing a collapse in NSW Labor's electoral support as a union "hatchet job" against leader Jodi McKay.
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A report in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday said "internal" polling conducted by ALP pollster Redbridge and supplied by the Australian Workers Union showed Labor's primary vote plummeting 9.4 percentage points to 23.9 per cent.
It said the results would put pressure on Ms McKay's leadership as she and a host of Labor members, including Ms Washington, faced losing their seats at the 2023 election if the numbers did not improve and were uniform across the state.
But Ms Washington said after a shadow cabinet meeting on Monday that the survey was not Labor polling but part of a long-running campaign by AWU and Health Services Union leaders to undermine Ms McKay.
"We haven't seen it," she said. "If they want to be constructive, maybe they could share it with us.
"It's not internal polling. They've used their members' funds, presumably, to fund a poll two years out from an election to undermine Jodi McKay's leadership."
Ms Washington, Labor's Shadow Environment Minister, said the unions had "continued to undermine" Ms McKay after opposing the former Newcastle MP during her election by rank-and-file Labor members in 2019.
Ms Washington was a potential candidate in that leadership ballot until Ms McKay confirmed she would run.
She said polling two years before an election was "meaningless".
"I can say that the caucus is angry about what is going on, because this is the last thing we should be talking about.
"It doesn't help any of the communities across NSW."
Former premier Morris Iemma, the last Labor leader to win a NSW election, in 2007, told the SMH that the Redbridge polling results were the worst he had seen.
"These numbers are basically an indication that the last 10 years have been a complete waste of time," he was quoted as saying."
The unions' involvement echoes the construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union releasing negative polling numbers on federal Labor in January then calling for leader Anthony Albanese's removal.
Ms Washington said the results of last weekend's Western Australia state election, when the Labor incumbents won 50 seats and the Liberals two, demonstrated how hard it was for oppositions to perform strongly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ms Washington increased her margin to 5.7 per cent in Port Stephens in 2019.
The Hunter's six other Labor MPs all hold double-digit margins.
Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
