LIVE BLOG: Counting underway after North Queenslanders cast votes
Phil Thompson is fighting for a third term, and says he knows voters will pick the right leader. “People in Townsville are all educated voters, they know who they want”. LIVE BLOG.
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Live blog
6:50pm, Saturday
Polls have closed and counting has started in the seat of Herbert.
Less than 500 votes have been counted so far but incumbent MP Phillip Thompson has won teh majority of them.
We’ll bring you regular updates throughout the night as more votes are counted.
2.30pm, Saturday
While out and about at the polling booths, our election reporter ran into Darryn Casson, a defence lawyers who’s running for the Katter’s Australia Party in the seat of Herbert.
“Support for the minor parties, particularly Katter’s Australia Party, has been very strong,” Mr Casson said.
“There’s a bit of unhappiness with the two major parties, and a lot of people think they’re no different anymore.”
After speaking with voters at the Greenwood polling booth, Mr Casson said North Queenslanders need cost-of-living relief.
“People have been doing it really tough, especially post-Covid,” he said.
“The cost of fuel, cost of groceries, cost of energy, people are just sick of it.”
“The amount of small businesses we’ve lost, we’re losing $1400 per month here in Australia.”
Mr Casson said if more minor parties are elected, more can be done for North Queenslanders.
“That will force the major parties, whoever forms government, to actually be accountable and actually listen,” he said.
2pm, Saturday
Democracy sausage update:
Kirwan State High School teacher Ben Kaspar helps run the school’s polling booth canteen, which is raising funds for the students.
“We’re fundraising money for our 2025 Japanese tour,” he said.
Mr Kasper said the stall is an effective way to teach young people about elections and fundraising.
“This is just a great opportunity for our students to interact with the community, raise some money and give everyone the democracy sausage that they deserve,” he said.
“It’s been wonderful to see people come out.”
12.00, Saturday
Herbert MP Phil Thompson cast his vote early this morning.
Mr Thompson said he’s enjoying engaging with locals all across Townsville.
“From the Northern Beaches to out here in Kirwan and into the city, it’s nice and busy,” he said.
“People are happy and positive... It’s really good that people are engaging here for their democracy sausage.”
The Herbert MP joined volunteers handing out flyers at Kirwan State High School.
“I’ve got volunteers at every booth helping, they’re up late at night and early in the mornings,” he said.
“Without volunteers, we wouldn’t be able to do all this.”
Mr Thompson said whatever the outcome, he knows Townsville will pick the right leader for them.
“People in Townsville are all educated voters, they know who they want,” he said.
“They do lots of research, and they come out and talk to people.”
Mr Thompson said locals can expect cheaper fuel and lighter taxes under a Coalition government.
“We want to make fuel cheaper by 25 cents per litre, we want to give people a $1200 tax cut this year,” he said.
10.30am, Saturday
The democracy sausages are rolling off the grill at South Townsville and Oonoonba State Schools as voters grab their breakfast/brunch from polling booths around the electorate.
But are democracy sausages starting to fade from the Aussie voting tradition? Tell us if you managed to grab one this Federal election.
It’s one of North Queensland’s favourite election day traditions, the democracy sausage.
More than 70,000 people will vote in either the seat of Herbert or Dawson at polling booths on Saturday, and many will leave with a sausage and bread sandwich in their hands.
Claire Hession runs the canteen at South Townsville State School, and said a lot of sausages and baked goods were sold before 10am.
“At the moment there’s four cakes left, but we’ve sold two tables full of cakes this morning,” she said.
Ms Hession said South Townsville is the place to be for the full democracy sausage experience.
Katie Commons helps run the canteen at Oonoonba State School’s voting booth, and said the sale gets bigger each year.
“Each year our bake sale gets more donations, more people cooking for us,” she said.
“It’s great seeing everybody come out and vote and be apart of the community.”
Dawson voter Meg Kennedy said sausage sizzles help make the experience more enjoyable for her kids.
“It makes it all fun and bring the community together,” she said.
The much loved democracy sausage has seen a decline in recent years, with less polling booths offering the food.
Ms Hession said she’s seen less volunteers put their hand up.
“There’s been a decline in volunteering,” she said.
“Days like this and communities like this, we rely on volunteers to make it work.”
“My whole family is here, there’s another group of families who are here.”
10am, Saturday
Labor’s candidate for Herbert Edwina Andrew casts her vote at the Greenwood Park polling booth.
Labor candidate Edwina Andrew will travel to all 35 polling booths in Herbert, and has already engaged with voters across the region.
“The energy has been really amazing,” she said.
“People seem to be really excited to be coming out to vote today.
“The people that are here today are really passionate and really receptive to having good conversations.”
After casting her vote at the Greenwood polling booth, Ms Andrew said she was able to speak with voters across Townsville who share similar values and priorities this election.
“There’s been a lot of comments around people really appreciating the cost-of-living measures that have been put in place,” she said.
Ms Anderson said commitments such as fee-free TAFE and bulk-billing are the key priorities of voters.
“These are the things people are really passionate about,” she said.
While many North Queenslanders have already cast their vote, Ms Andrew encourages locals not to throw away their vote.
“Labor is the party that is working for the everyday person, and this has been my campaign,” she said.
8am, Saturday
North Queensland is in trouble.
If the polling is right, the region is looking at another three years of stagnated growth with a MP in opposition.
Labor seems to have forgotten the region exists (except for Cairns), and the Coalition has promised just $9.5m – if they form government, which is looking unlikely.
The latest Newspoll revealed Labor was ahead of the Coalition at 52 per cent to 48 per cent, on a two-party preferred basis.
Locally, it is likely that current sitting MP Herbert Thompson will remain.
He seems particularly sticky, despite Herbert being a bellwether seat in the past.
Thompson secured a 9.9 per cent swing towards the Coalition in first-preference votes in 2022, and a 3.41 per cent in two-party-preferred.
On contrast, in the 2019 election, he took 1.61 per cent swing in first preference, but a 8.38 per cent swing in two-party-preferred away from former Labor MP Cathy O’Toole.
Historically, the seat has gone the way of whoever is in government, but anti-Labor sentiment fuelled at a state and local level in Townsville has strengthened his position.
This might be good for Thompson, but it’s not good for Townsville.
The city might be important in the defence landscape, but that is not enough to secure us big ticket items when the voters are not going to be swayed from their primary choice – Thompson.
Edwina Andrew, the Labor candidate, has promised little of substance, other than backing a few projects that are already costed and funded under Labor’s 2025/26 budget including $100m for Reef HQ and $30m for the roundabout at Townsville University Hospital.
It should be noted that both parties have promised $7.9bn in Bruce Highway upgrades, but there is no way to know where that cash will be spent.
Townsville Enterprise CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith hit the nail on the head on Friday when she said it was “disappointing” how the major parties had treated North Queensland this election.
At a fundamental level, this newspaper understands why there is little on the table for the region – it’s a safe seat and there is no point in Labor trying to claw it back and the Coalition believe it will win anyway.
But on the ground, it hurts.
Townsville is the capital of North Queensland, but it’s not being treated like it.
There were key projects that are likely to be left behind for years, stalling development and creating a concerning air around the city’s future.
Townsville Enterprise had pushed for stage two of the Townsville Port Expansion Plan, the Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor, housing, and a Flinders Highway upgrades this election, but they remain unanswered.
“The failure of the two major parties to invest accordingly in our future will set the region back,” Ms Brumme-Smith said.
During the 2019 election, one Coalition promise alone was worth $200m (Haughton Pipeline), and Labor had promised $50m.
In 2022, Labor push more cash on the table, including $22m for Landsown Eco-Industrial Precinct, $32m for NQ Spark and cash to help combat the region’s crazy ant problem.
Thompson secured his win with just a few million on the table, with upgrading the lights at Riverway Stadium (a new election promise this year as well), his biggest spender.
So, in the next three years, how much will the city’s future be set back, and how much investment will it see from the government?
They are the key questions we will probably never get an answer to.
Almost half of voters already decided
Herbert MP Phillip Thompson has preferenced every other party, bar the Greens, over his Labor adversary Edwina Andrew.
Ms Andrew’s comparative generosity by putting the incumbent Mr Thompson fourth in preferences is likely due to the conservative policies of some of the minor far right parties, like Family First and One Nation. Interestingly, the Greens have opted to put Mr Thompson at three on their preference list, after Ms Andrew.
Labor and the Greens are closely aligned in core beliefs, while the minor party is often at odds with other parties of a similar size.
Darryn Casson’s votes are expected to flow towards the LNP, given the parties are more aligned, however the Katter’s Australian Party always preference conservative parties first (Family First, People First, One Nation and the Trumpet of Patriots), and then give their voters the option of putting the LNP or Labor second last with the Greens at number 8.
The votes of conservative parties usually flow towards the LNP first with People First, and Family First both opting to put Labor and the Greens last.
Meanwhile, almost half of Herbert voters – 43,351 of 121,315 people – have voted already. In the 2022 federal election, there were 92,440 formal votes and 5658 informal votes – with only 86 per cent of the enrolled voters heading to the polls.
There has been a bit of an up-tick in people choosing to vote before polling day in recent years, but each year, the numbers climb.
The Greenwood Park polling booth in Kirwan has been packed every day leading up to the election with people desperate to have their say so it doesn’t impact their weekend.
In Kennedy, 51,416 people have already voted and in Dawson, 50,000 people have gone to the polls.
The election falling on a public holiday weekend in Queensland has likely played a role in the number of people heading to the polls early. La Trobe University Professor Andrea Carson said earlier in the campaign that in 2022, more than 50 per cent of people went to the polls early.
“We know Australians love early voting,” she said.
Across the country, a third of enrolled voters have gone to the polls early.
Australian Electoral Commission figures reveal about 5.7 million votes (31 per cent) had been received by end of play Thursday – up from about 4.6 million (27 per cent) two days out from the 2022 election.
Pre-polling rates were also above 40 per cent in Fowler (NSW), Fisher (QLD), Gilmore (NSW), Gippsland (VIC), Nicholls (VIC), Fairfax (QLD) and Eden-Monaro (NSW).
The Australian Electoral Commission has also reminded people of where they can vote if they have a trip to Brisbane planned for the Magic Round.
Originally published as LIVE BLOG: Counting underway after North Queenslanders cast votes
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