Queensland election results 2017: LNP’s Dale Last wins Burdekin

THE Queensland Electoral Commission has declared the LNP’s Dale Last has won the seat of Burdekin. Mr Last’s win comes after his Labor counterpart Michael Brunker let fly at the QEC saying they needed to take a “long, hard look” at how they operate.

THE Queensland Electoral Commission has declared the LNP’s Dale Last has won the seat of Burdekin.

The Electoral Commissioner declares the winners in the following seats:
* Bonney: Sam O'Connor (LNP)
* Burdekin: Dale Last (LNP)
* Coomera: Michael Crandon (LNP)
* Gaven: Meaghan Scanlon (ALP)
* Ipswich: Jennifer Howard (ALP)
* Kurwongbah: Shane King (ALP)

— ECQ (@ECQInfo) December 7, 2017

Mr Last took to Twitter to confirm the win, over Labor’s Michael Brunker.

“Thrilled to have the seat of Burdekin declared by the ECQ this morning, time to roll up the sleeves and get back in the saddle,” Mr Last tweeted on Thursday. Mr Last has held the seat of Burdekin for the LNP since the 2015 Queensland election.

Thrilled to have the seat of #Burdekin declared by the #ECQ this morning, time to roll up the sleeves and get back in the saddle.

— Dale Last (@DaleLast1) December 6, 2017

Earlier this week Mr Brunker let fly against the ECQ, saying they needed to take a “long, hard look” at how they operate and questioned whether they could be trusted with the results.

He also hit out against compulsory preferential voting, despite his own party introducing it.

Mr Brunker said the voting system was “absurd” because he had won the most votes primary votes in the election.

“If it was first past the post like previous elections you’d have me and Jimmy Pearce sitting in the parliament right now,” he said.

“Instead, you’ve run your 100-yard sprint, you’ve got past the tape in front and the judge comes out and says to the person in third, ‘who do you want to win?’ – it’s absurd.”