Federal Election 2022 Gympie, Maryborough, Noosa voters head to pre-poll

An exit poll of 300 Gympie, Maryborough and Noosa voters at pre-polling booths has revealed a surprising initial shift in trends in the Wide Bay. Read the poll results here.

Early voters in the Wide Bay have so far turned back towards the major parties with the LNP and Labor candidates drawing more than three quarters of first preference votes on day one of pre-polling.

An exit poll of 300 voters, carried out by NewsCorp on the first day of voting across the Maryborough, Gympie and Noosa booths, revealed incumbent LNP candidate Llew O’Brien was the early preferred choice of 51 per cent of voters.

Labor’s Geoff Williams was the next top pick of 27.3 per cent, with the Greens’ Craig Armstrong a distant third at 5.3 per cent.

There is still 10 days left and tens of thousands of votes to come in the election, but if the trend holds, it will be a significant improvement in first preference support at the pre-poll booths for the LNP and Labor.

In 2019, the LNP received 48 per cent of first preference votes at the Wide Bay’s pre-poll booths, and Labor only 20.8 per cent.

Only 7.4 per cent of Wide Bay pre-poll voters surveyed had Greens candidate Craig Armstrong as their first preference, with the party facing the possibility of having its support at Noosa halved if the early trend holds.

Early support for the Greens in this year’s election is down from the 7.4 per cent it had in 2019, with day one pre-poll support for the party at Noosa significantly down on its 2019 pre-poll total.

Support for One Nation in the Wide Bay also appeared to have dropped with only five per cent of voters surveyed putting candidate Nathan Buckley first.

Palmer United Party candidate Tracey Bennett received the same level of support from early voters.

The remaining 8.6 per cent of the vote was spread across the remaining Independent and Minor Party candidates.

The strongest support for Mr O’Brien among early voters was at Noosa where he was the top choice for 54 per cent of voters.

His weakest performance was at the Maryborough booth with 47 per cent.

Support for One Nation and candidate Nathan Buckley was at 5 per cent among surveyed early pre-poll voters.

This was flipped for Mr Williams who was the top choice for 32 per cent of surveyed Maryborough voters, but only 21 per cent at Noosa.

A total of 3028 voters turned out across all three pre-poll booths on the first day of voting on Monday, almost double the 1696 voters who turned out at these booths’ opening day in 2109.

Gympie had the strongest turnout of first day voters with 1061 casting their ballots on Monday.

Another 1015 voted at the Maryborough pre-polling booth, and 952 at Tewantin.

The results add to what was already a controversial start to pre-polling in the electorate.

Wide Bay political opponents united to condemn One Nation candidate Nathan Buckley over a social media post which appeared to promote “slagging off” pre-poll supporters of the major parties.

It comes just days after Mr Buckley’s Hinkler ally Zak Menhennett complained he was being unfairly targeted by corflute sign vandals and offered a reward for information.

In a Sunday evening Facebook post, the day before pre-poll booths opened, a post under Mr Buckley’s name on his official page read: “Anyone up for some pre-polling? It will be fun. Plenty of slagging off Australian Labor Party, LNP – Liberal National Party and The Australian Greens supporters”.

It was a comment which drew the ire of Labor candidate Geoff Williams who said the electorate “deserves better”.

“That action is not in doing with a candidate for any seat,” Mr Williams said.

“Wide Bay deserves better.”

Wide Bay One Nation candidate Nathan Buckley has come under fire over a Facebook post calling for the "slagging off" of major parties' supporters at pre-polling booths.

Mr Buckley dismissed Mr Williams’s criticism Monday afternoon.

“No, I don’t care what a Labor candidate thinks,” Mr Buckley said.

“Who made him the AEC?”

LNP candidate Llew O’Brien, whose supporters were mentioned in the post, also condemned the comment on Monday evening.

“It’s disappointing that anyone would advocate for people to be slagged off as they go to vote,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Free and fair elections are the most important part of our democracy and people should be able to cast their vote without fear of harassment or intimidation.

“Most polling booth workers are volunteers and they, together with the officials from the Australian Electoral Commission, should all be treated with respect.”

Political rivals Llew O’Brien and Geoff Williams have each condemned Nathan Buckley’s social media post promoting the “slagging off” of LNP and Labor supporters at pre-polling booths.

Greens candidate Craig Armstrong was contacted for comment.

It is the latest clash in what has been a volatile relationship between the parties at recent election pre-polling in the Wide Bay.

In 2020, the party’s Maryborough One Nation candidate Sharon Lohse had a pie smeared on the front window of her car and discovered malicious signage at the pre-poll booths.

That same year veteran Jason Scanes, who had run for the Wide Bay in 2019 and is challenging the Hinkler seat at the 2022 election, fired up on social media after an Australian flag draped over a table by the One Nation candidate drew criticism from another veteran soldier and Labor supporter.

Another person was arrested and charged over the theft of two of 2020 LNP state candidate Denis Chapman’s signs.

The clash over Mr Buckley’s post arrived at the same time as hundreds of Gympie voters took the opportunity to have their say early on the first day of pre-polling, with a strong favourite emerging according to The Gympie Times exit poll of 100 voters.

More than 200 voters passed through Gympie’s pre-poll booth by 11am on the first day of voting.

Forecast heavy rainfall failed to appear as more than 200 voters passed through the Tozer St pre-polling booth by 11am as part of a large early voter turnout. The AEC has predicted more than 17,000 Gympie voters will pre-poll this year.

An exit poll survey of 100 people on Monday morning revealed incumbent LNP candidate Llew O’Brien remained a popular choice among voters.

Mr O’Brien was the first preference choice of 52 per cent of those surveyed, well above the 29 per cent support received by Labor’s Geoff Williams first.

If the trend holds it would be an improvement for both parties on their 2019 first preference voting results at the booth. But it is early days in the 2022 Federal Election vote.

In 2019, Mr O’Brien and the LNP received 49 per cent of first preference votes, and Labor 18 per cent.

One Nation’s Nathan Buckley was third on Monday with 9 per cent support, followed by the United Australia Party’s Tracy Bennett at 5 per cent and the Greens’ Craig Armstrong at 3 per cent.

Police were called after nearby Tozer St business owners raised concerns about the presence of election volunteers and campaign signs outside their shops. Those involved in the gauntlet are required to be at least 6m away from the voting booth’s doors.

Independent Tim Jerome and Informed Medical Options Party candidate Andrea Newland each had 1 per cent of the primary vote of those surveyed.

While the pre-poll booths proved popular with residents, they were less than welcome by close-by shop owners.

Election volunteers were asked to move themselves and their campaign signs away from the Tozer St business located next to the pre-poll booth, which his located in the old Gympie Jungle shopfront.

Police were called out, speaking first with the shop owners and then the election campaigners.

Campaigners, including Labor’s Geoff Williams, agreed to keep the path clear but said they were already being restricted by rules requiring them to be at least 6m from the booths.

Pre-polling will continue for the next two weeks, with election day on May 21.