The new seat of Maiwar made history in 2017 when it elected a Greens candidate, Michael Berkman, to Queensland's Parliament for the first time. Can the LNPs Lauren Day win it back?
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Annastacia Palaszczuk denies she's lost control over candidates Craig Crawford, Brittany Lauga and Mike Brunker
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk denies she's lost control of her candidates after Craig Crawford, Brittany Lauga and Mike Brunker defied her direction by urging voters to put the LNP last, rather than One Nation.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she’ll “read the riot act” to a Labor MP and candidate who are flouting her direction to tell voters to put One Nation last.
Volunteers for Barron River MP and Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford and Keppel MP and education assistant minister Brittany Lauga have been seen waving bright yellow placards today asking people to 'Put the LNP last'.
It comes after Burdekin candidate Mike Brunker was caught out asking voters to put sitting LNP MP "Dale Last last" in social media posts in a move that blindsided Annastacia Palaszczuk on Monday's campaign trail.
Ms Palaszczuk denied she’d lost control of her candidates.
“No, no…yeah well, they’ll be read the riot act, I’ll tell you that,” she said.
“I’ve made it very clear and the party secretary has made it very clear that One Nation is last.”
She said she was not aware of Ms Lauga’s signs.
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Ms Palaszczuk was campaigning at a gravel plant at Jacobs Well, in the northern Gold Coast, in the LNP-held electorate of Coomera.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles has previously warned voters “freaks and weirdos” could be elected because of the LNP’s plan to put One Nation ahead of Labor across the state.
Asked about the rogue Labor candidates on Tuesday, he said One Nation was the worst of the “freaks and weirdos”.
“If there are worse freaks and weirdos, they’ll be considered. But the campaign here is between us, a united Palaszczuk majority government, and Deb Frecklington and all of the freaks and weirdos Deb Frecklington hopes to elect and govern in minority government.”
On Monday, Ms Palaszczuk had just warned voters the state’s economic and health recovery “could be at risk because of Deb Frecklington and her deals with One Nation and all the other parties” when news of Mr Brunker’s move caught her off guard yesterday.
Despite that, the CFMEU-backed Mr Brunker doubled down, saying he "doesn't care" how people vote, as long as they vote for him and that he would continue posting the direction.
Asked whether she was aware of Mr Brunker’s direction to voters, she said: “No, I’m very clear that I’ve said to everyone that One Nation is last.”
Ms Palaszczuk did not say whether she would require Mr Brunker to “fix” the advertisement and said “he should talk to the party about that”.
Mr Brunker’s post was afterwards missing from his social media page, but he denied having been ordered to take it down.
I’ll go and put it up again this afternoon,” he said of the offending post.
Mr Brunker said he didn’t care which way people voted, as long as they voted for him first.
“It’s just a play on words,” he said of the post.
“People can do whatever they like.
“I’d like a dollar for everyone who comes up to me and say, ‘I put Last last’, it’s just a throwaway line.
“As long as I’m number one, or if they’re voting for the minority party, I’m number two, I don’t care which way they vote.”
Ms Lauga told The Courier-Mail that she believed the sign had been "created, authorised and erected" by the Queensland Council of Unions.
She insisted it was not an ALP sign and that it was not endorsed by the ALP.
“We do not support its message which says to put the LNP last,” Ms Lauga said.
“The Palaszczuk Government has been consistently loud and clear that our preference is for voters to put One Nation last.
“That is reflected unequivocally in our How-to-Vote cards. In Keppel after Labor at No.1, we have LNP at 4 and One Nation last at 7.”
Ms Lauga claimed any vote for One Nation or the LNP ran the risk of delivering “a chaotic, minority government where they may hold the balance of power”.
Mr Crawford has been contacted for comment.
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Labor MP Corrine McMillan, LNP contender Janet Wishart, and minor party candidates Brendan Taylor (Legalise Cannabis) and Jarrod Wirth (independent) will be answering your questions from 6.30pm.
Watch live here.
Anna Palmer could be 'queenmaker' in key seat
He's a would-be political kingmaker, but Clive Palmer’s wife could well play the queenmaker in a key state election seat as part of a newly-revealed preference deal.
Mr Palmer, the billionaire Gold Coast mining tycoon and former federal MP, has spent millions bankrolling his United Australia Party and on advertising blitzes trying to influence state and federal election results – including his latest bid to oust the Palaszczuk Government.
His wife Anna, deputy leader of the UAP to former Brisbane Broncos and Maroons State of Origin star Greg Dowling, is standing in the southern Gold Coast seat of Currumbin – almost 50km from the Sovereign Islands mansion she shares with Mr Palmer and their children.
Now, how-to-vote cards handed out at Currumbin’s pre-polling booth, which opened at Tugun on Monday, have revealed that Ms Palmer and incumbent LNP MP Laura Gerber will swap first preferences.
Ms Gerber narrowly won the marginal seat from Labor’s Kaylee Campradt in a march by-election after long-serving former Newman Government Jann Stuckey’s resigned suddenly, citing mental health issues she blamed on alleged LNP bullying.
She and her GP husband Richard later resigned from the LNP and Dr Stuckey is now standing as an independent in Currumbin.
In another intriguing twist, he is exchanging preferences with Ms Campradt, who in turn has Greens candidate second on her how-to-vote card, with Dr Stuckey third..
One Nation candidate Glen Wadsworth, meanwhile, is preferencing Dr Stuckey while putting Ms Gerber and Ms Campradt sixth and seventh respectively on his how-to-vote card for Currumbin which is being contested by a field of eight candidates.
Ms Gerber won Currumbin by just 567 votes as the LNP suffered a 2.1 per cent swing to hold the seat at the by-election.
– Greg Stolz
LNP's $49.8 million TAFE pledge
THE LNP would partner with CQU to establish a Central Queensland TAFE Centre of Excellence – a training facility that would create 350 construction jobs.
Leader Deb Frecklington visited the university in Rockhampton this afternoon to spruik the $49.8 million commitment, saying it would be a blue-collar university to get the region working again.
“The LNP’s training facility will allow for an additional 1100 apprentices and vocational students each year by 2025, growing to 2500 by 2030," she said.
“It will form part of a world-class smart precinct in north Rockhampton consisting of a manufacturing hub and new Central Queensland School of Mining and Manufacturing."
The promise would create 350 local construction jobs and secure an additional 300 local long-term jobs.
– Domanii Cameron
Labor says it will release costings faster than LNP
Queensland Labor claims it will release its election costings faster than the LNP Opposition, detailing how it will spend $4bn in extra debt.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles attacked LNP leader Deb Frecklington for “hiding” her costings, challenging her to “show leadership” and tell Queenslanders how she would fund her promises.
Until Tuesday, Premer Annastacia Palaszczuk has not committed to releasing costings of her own, pointing to an announcement last month that Labor would borrow an extra $4bn to help the state recover from COVID-19 and fund election commitments.
But Ms Palaszczuk said Treasurer Cameron Dick would release details before October 31.
“We have been very upfront and have said we are borrowing $4bn. We’ve taken the advice of the reserve bank, we’ve taken the advice of the head of Treasury, in fact the federal government is borrowing. This is what governments are doing around the world, in terms of dealing with this economic response.
“What we know from Deb Frecklington is they have made announcements up to $25bn worth of election commitments, now how are they going to pay for that?”
Ms Palaszczuk said the LNP had they had a couple of options to pay for their promises: cut jobs or sell assets.
“The Treasurer will absolutely detail those $4bn in borrowings and match it up with what we’ve been saying to each and every one of you during the course of this election campaign for our commitments for a brighter future for this state,” she said,
“I think the final week of the campaign – the end of the final week of the campaign – is far too late. So I’m quite sure our Treasurer Cameron Dick has in his mind when he will talk about those $4bn of borrowings and go into detail. I’m very confident.”
“it’s up to Deb Frecklington to detail when she will release her costings and how she intends to pay for $23bn to $25bn…of their unfunded election commitments.”
Campaigning in central Queensland, Ms Frecklington refused to say whether an LNP Government would absorb Labor's $4 billion worth of borrowings while insisting the party would release its costings before October 30.
The Opposition Leader was grilled about the party's growing list of commitments while making a tourism announcement in the marginal Labor seat of Keppel.
"We haven't seen Labor's costings because they're not announcing any, we've not seen Labor's economic plan because they don't have one, we've not seen Labor's budget because they haven't released one," she said.
Then pressed on Labor's multi-billion dollar borrowings, Ms Frecklington wouldn't respond.
She said the party would release its costings, which has hit more than $23 billion, before a second leaders' debate that's planned for October 30 which Ms Frecklington said Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had not agreed to yet.
"We'll release our costings when all of our announcements have been made," she said.
Asked why voters didn't deserve to know now, given both pre-poll and postal voting has begun, Ms Frecklington said they were welcome to cast their votes after the costings were released.
The election is October 31.
But the LNP Leader said it was up to the people as to when they wanted to vote.
"You need to remember, Labor in Queensland have not released a budget," she said.
Ms Frecklington said setting up the economic recovery agency was something she would prioritise if she became Premier, along with looking at projects that are yet to be greenlighted and approving the New Acland Stage Three expansion.
She said she wanted to make sure Regional Tourism Organisations could get to work on their marketing plans and to fix the "failed" health system.
– Sarah Elks and Domanii Cameron
Premier says she's not picking a fight with churches
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has denied picking a fight with the churches on the contentious issue of euthanasia during the state election campaign.
Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge, in an interview with The Australian, challenged Ms Palaszczuk to explain why she reneged on a commitment to let the Queensland Law Reform Commission report on draft voluntary assisted dying legislation in March, before it was put to state parliament.
At her campaign launch on Sunday, Ms Palaszczuk made the surprise announcement that, if re-elected, she would move to legalise euthanasia, by introducing legislation in February and bringing forward the QLRC report.
Asked to explain the change on Tuesday, in light of Archbishop Coleridge’s concerns, Ms Palaszczuk said it was only fast-tracked by a matter of weeks.
“It is a deeply personal issue, families, people have been raising it with me,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“We put the extra funding into palliative care as well, at the end of the day this is a choice for individuals. It’s a very deeply personal choice, and the Law Reform Commission, it was a matter of weeks, and what we’re doing is we’re asking them to bring that forward.”
Asked whether it was wise to pick a fight with the churches on the issue, Ms Palaszczuk denied that’s what was happening.
“No one’s – no, that’s not true, that’s not happening – at all,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“I respect the churches, I went to a Catholic high school, we can agree to disagree on a whole range of matters, I absolutely respect the views of individuals, and as I’ve said, this is an incredibly, deeply personal choice for individuals. But I’m on the record saying what I believe. Once again, Deb Frecklington needs to show leadership: what is her personal view?”
While Ms Palaszczuk has said she would vote for the reform, Ms Frecklington has not said where she stands on the issue.
– Sarah Elks
LNP promises $50m marketing tourism blitz
The LNP will splash $50 million on a marketing tourism blitz in a bid to claw back visitors that have been flocking to Victoria in recent years.
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington, with Keppel candidate Adrian De Groot, were at Keppel Bay Sailing Club this morning to make the announcement.
Keppel is Labor's ninth most marginal seat, held by Brittany Lauga by 3.14 per cent.
Ms Frecklington said the funding injection meant more jobs for Queenslanders and would be spent within the first 12 months of an LNP Government.
"This is such an exciting day for Queensland and Queensland tourism," she said.
The Leader said the money was for the 13 Regional Tourism Organisations so they could promote the uniqueness of their local regions.
"They are dying to promote their local regions," she said.
"It's about doing destinational marketing so we're promoting everywhere from the Cape to the Gold Coast to the outback and all of the beautiful regional centres in between."
– Domanii Cameron
Frecklington grilled over growing list of promises
Deb Frecklington has refused to say whether an LNP Government would absorb Labor's $4 billion worth of borrowings while insisting the party would release its costings before October 30.
The Opposition Leader was grilled about the party's growing list of commitments today while making a tourism announcement in the marginal Labor seat of Keppel.
"We haven't seen Labor's costings because they're not announcing any, we've not seen Labor's economic plan because they don't have one, we've not seen Labor's budget because they haven't released one," she said.
Then pressed on Labor's multi-billion dollar borrowings, Ms Frecklington wouldn't respond.
She said the party would release its costings, which has hit more than $23 billion, before a second leaders' debate that's planned for October 30 which Ms Frecklington said Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had not agreed to yet.
"We'll release our costings when all of our announcements have been made," she said.
Asked why voters didn't deserve to know now, given both pre-poll and postal voting has begun, Ms Frecklington said they were welcome to cast their votes after the costings were released.
The election is October 31.
But the LNP Leader said it was up to the people as to when they wanted to vote.
"You need to remember, Labor in Queensland have not released a budget," she said.
Ms Frecklington said setting up the economic recovery agency was something she would prioritise if she became Premier, along with looking at projects that are yet to be greenlighted and approving the New Acland Stage Three expansion.
She said she wanted to make sure Regional Tourism Organisations could get to work on their marketing plans and to fix the "failed" health system.
– Domanii Cameron
Premier unveils $880m cash splash at LGAQ conference
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has dipped into the state’s sky-rocketing borrowings to splash $880m to the state’s councils to build local infrastructure, roads and create jobs.
In a speech to the Local Government Association of Queensland conference on the Gold Coast, where Ms Palaszczuk’s Labor holds just one of 11 seats, the Premier said if she was re-elected on October 31, an extra $400m would go to the state’s 65 regional councils to continue the Works for Queensland program.
That policy gives cash to councils to build local projects such as an upgrade to the Cairns lagoon, a refurbishment of the Longreach library, and a new splash park for the Cape York Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal.
Since 2016, the program has paid out $800m in funding, so the $400m over six years is less than previous funding but Ms Palaszczuk said it would create 11,800 jobs.
“Works for Queensland is about direct jobs,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has dipped into the state’s sky-rocketing borrowings to splash $880m to the state’s councils to build local infrastructure, roads and create jobs
But for the first time, south-east Queensland councils will be paid an extra $200m for community stimulus packages, to support 6000 jobs.
Ms Palaszczuk also committed $280m over four years to go to local transport road projects in councils.
“My government’s commitment Works for Queensland…it’s a partnership between my government and councils to deliver local infrastructure and local jobs across this state,” she said.
All of the election commitments announced on Tuesday for local councils will be paid for by borrowings, after Treasurer Cameron Dick announced in September that the government would be “borrowing to build”.
Mr Dick said an extra $4bn would be borrowed, with most to be allocated during the campaign.
The decision to weaponise debt wedges the LNP Opposition, which says it will attempt to stabilise Queensland’s debt and will not borrow more.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has dipped into the state’s sky-rocketing borrowings to splash $880m to the state’s councils to build local infrastructure, roads and create jobs.
On Day 15 of the election campaign, Ms Palaszczuk is starting the day on the Gold Coast, and is later expected to fly again to the regions.
– Sarah Elks