Labor MPs hanging on in grim seat-by-seat battle

Half-a-dozen electorates across Queensland are set to be decided in a nailbiting finale, while some MPs have already suffered shock defeats.

Mick de Brenni in his Springwood electorate on polling day. Picture: Scott Powick

Half-a-dozen electorates across Queensland will be decided in a nailbiting finale, while some MPs have suffered shock defeats.

The LNP insists it remains alive in the must-watch seat of Gaven, where pre-poll votes are chipping away at Labor’s rising star Meaghan Scanlon.

Near the end of counting on Sunday, Ms Scanlon narrowly led the LNP’s Bianca Stone.

In a stunning battle for survival, Member for Bundaberg Tom Smith is set to defy the odds and take his fight with the LNP’s Bree Watson deep into preferences.

Mr Smith won the seat in 2020 by just nine votes and faced almost certain defeat as a crumbling Paradise Dam wall and slow progress on the city’s new hospital combined to erode his margin.

However Mr Smith – a former teacher – recorded a strong early vote and is expected to retain the seat over Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers CEO Ms Watson.

Labor’s triumph in Bundaberg contrasted with tragedy in Maryborough, as third-term MP Bruce Saunders suffered a shock loss at the hands of the LNP’s John Barounis.

Mr Saunders’s 11.9 per cent margin entering the campaign evaporated, despite Labor pumping billions of dollars into rebuilding train manufacturing.

It was a similar story in Hervey Bay, where Labor incumbent Adrian Tantari held a comparatively slender 2 per cent margin going into what was expected to be a tight race.

Former Fraser Coast councillor David Lee ended up running away with the contest for the LNP.

Member for Gaven and outgoing housing minister Meaghan Scanlon on election night. Picture: Nigel Hallett

In South East Queensland, as many as five Labor ministers were preparing for defeat, but only outgoing transport minister Bart Mellish and emergency services minister Nikki Boyd lost their outer suburbs seats.

Mr Mellish’s battle against former LNP Brisbane city councillor Amanda Cooper went down to the wire.

In Pine Rivers, Ms Boyd pushed Opposition challenger Dean Clements all the way, and at the very least deprived the LNP of a barnstorming victory.

Serious question marks remain over the future of outgoing energy minister Mick de Brenni in his Springwood seat, despite an 8.3 per cent margin.

He is narrowly in front of the LNP’s Susanna Damianopoulos.

The collapsing Greens vote in the inner city translated to comfortable victories for Labor MPs Grace Grace and Jonty Bush in McConnel and Cooper respectively.

Other surprises included Greens state leader Michael Berkman in his battle to retain Maiwar in inner Brisbane, the retirement of Speaker Curtis Pitt seeing Labor lose its historical 12.2 per cent margin in Mulgrave in Cairns, and Ali King surrendering her 5.3 per cent margin in Pumicestone.