Cheeseman slams mystery phone poll

South Barwon MP Darren Cheeseman said he believed the polls were being carried out by “dodgy developers and their political mates” to influence people’s attitudes about building houses west of Duffields Road, which Mr Cheeseman promised last year that he would prevent if he was elected.

The Labor MP said he had been contacted by several of his constituents about the survey, which was reportedly asking pro-development questions such as “Would you support having shopping options in Spring Creek?” and “If development of greenfield sites is stopped, do you support higher densities in Torquay and Jan Juc?”.

The survey was also reportedly making claims such as “A new primary school in Spring Creek will take pressure off Bellbrae Primary School” and “A new pool will be built”.

The surveys were conducted by Brisbane-based firm Q&A Market Research.

Times News Group spoke to Q&A Market Research, who said they had been contracted to carry out the surveys in Torquay by Melbourne firm JWS Research.

JWS Research were also contacted but refused to comment.

Mr Cheeseman ran his own survey on his Facebook page asking whether people would prefer “Spring Creek” or “Developer Creek”. Of the 267 respondents as of Tuesday afternoon, 88 per cent voted for the former.

He said he wanted transparency from whoever was behind the survey.

“I invite whoever commissioned this survey to release the results for public inspection to see how closely they match.”

Mr Cheeseman said locals’ response to the surveys had backed his belief in shielding Spring Creek from over-development.

“The only poll on Spring Creek that I care about was the poll last November.

“But this reaffirms community support for protecting the Surf Coast from unnecessary development.”