State Election Day 4: Buderim’s blue as MP takes to streets
An LNP stronghold has remained so, with another seat claimed on the Coast. FOLLOW LIVE
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ELECTION DAY 4:
BUDERIM STAYS BLUE
Buderim MP Brent Mickelberg has claimed victory in the LNP stronghold.
He took to the streets Tuesday to thank his community for returning him for a second term, confident his lead over Labor candidate Ken Mackenzie was now unassailable.
It leaves Ninderry and Nicklin as the only seats still to be claimed, although Nicklin could be some time before a result is known, with only a handful of votes understood to be splitting Labor's Robert Skelton and LNP incumbent Marty Hunt, although it was expected postal votes could favour Mr Hunt slightly, and possibly be enough for him to hang on.
ELECTION DAY 3:
NICKLIN ROLLS ON
The thrilling count in Nicklin continues as Labor's Robert Skelton and incumbent LNP MP Marty Hunt appear destined to go the distance to decide who will represent the hinterland seat.
The latest ECQ figures on Monday afternoon had the pair very close on the official first preference count, with Mr Hunt leading by about 300 votes.
It was understood Mr Hunt had claimed a narrow victory in the absentee prepoll votes counted today, but there were still many postal votes to be returned, meaning the result was far from settled, although the incumbent would be favoured to win the postal vote count.
With a 5.5 per cent swing to Labor predicted, it's likely the Nicklin results will take some time to become official.
GLASS HOUSE GAME OVER
Incumbent MP Andrew Powell has claimed victory in the seat of Glass House to extend his reign, ending another tight race.
The LNP member prevailed over challenger Brent Hampstead, who signed off from the seat for Labor after what was another close race.
It was too early for any formal victory claims yet, but depending on remaining postal vote trends, it could be any day.
A result was expected in Ninderry in the next 24 hours, with incumbent Dan Purdie poised to win a second term.
ELECTION DAY 2:
Victory speeches are yet to be made in seats of Glass House and Ninderry, but the incumbent LNP MPs will be warming up the vocal chords, as they close in on another term.
Glass House MP Andrew Powell was understood to have extended his buffer over Labor candidate Brent Hampstead further in late counting today by about 100 votes on preferences after about 4600 votes were counted.
Momentous night could be canary in Coast coalmine for LNP
It was understood there were only outstanding postal votes and absentee votes to come, but based on the current trend, and with about 800 votes difference in favour of Mr Powell, he was looking likely to retain his seat.
In Ninderry Labor candidate Melinda Dodds' campaign manager Jo Justo said they were not prepared to throw in the towel yet, with the potential for a few thousand votes to still come in.
It was understood the picture would become clearer sometime tomorrow, which could pave the way for incumbent LNP member Dan Purdie to claim victory, and hold the seat which was first created in 2017.
BLEIJIE BACK IN BUSINESS
Kawana MP Jarrod Bleijie has been returned, claiming victory this evening for the LNP.
He told the Daily he was "humbled" to be re-elected, having seen off the challenge of Labor's Bill Redpath.
HISTORY MADE IN CALOUNDRA
Third time lucky Labor candidate Jason Hunt has made history in Caloundra, becoming the first ever Labor member to hold the seat.
Caloundra became a seat to watch on the Sunshine Coast, with former Liberal National Party MP of 15 years Mark McArdle retiring.
With 64.6 per cent of the vote counted, Mr Hunt received 52.2 per cent to LNP candidate Stuart Coward's 47.8 per cent on the two party preferred votes.
Mr Hunt had a 5.5 per cent swing towards him.
COUNTING RESUMES
Counting is set to begin again this morning, with scrutineers to get to work in the next hour, with several Coast seats still to be called and one well and truly on a knife-edge.
Nicklin is in the balance, after preliminary counts overnight revealed a surprise push from Labor's Robert Skelton, the realisation of fears some LNP insiders had held this week that an upset could be on the cards.
Mr Skelton leads LNP MP Marty Hunt by just 84 votes on the unofficial preference count, with just shy of 20,000 votes counted, indicating it could be some time before the result is known as a deep count looks required to determine a winner.
Momentous night could be canary in coalmine for Coast LNP
Elsewhere Labor was tipped to secure swings almost across the region.
In Buderim incumbent MP Brent Mickelberg looks set to hold his seat, ahead by almost 3000 votes after preferences on the unofficial count, ahead of Labor's Ken Mackenzie.
Jason Hunt appears to have won Caloundra for Labor, winning the race to replace retiring LNP MP Mark McArdle.
Glass House incumbent Andrew Powell held about a 700-vote lead according to latest Electoral Commission Queensland figures from the unofficial preference count overnight, and was expected to again ward off the challenge of Labor's Brent Hampstead.
Kawana LNP MP Jarrod Bleijie had almost 60 per cent of the vote secured after preferences overnight, with more than 6000 votes counted, and is odds-on to hold his seat comfortably, even with a predicted swing of about six per cent towards Labor.
Fiona Simpson claimed victory in Maroochydore for the LNP on Saturday night and will extend her parliamentary career beyond three decades this term.
Labor is not conceding in Ninderry yet either, waiting for results of the prepoll and postal count, although LNP incumbent Dan Purdie appears all but certain to secure a second term.
In Noosa, independent MP Sandy Bolton looks to have claimed a commanding win overnight, and was ahead 69.49 per cent to 30.51 per cent against LNP hopeful James Blevin on the unofficial preference count with nearly 12,000 votes counted.
Stay tuned as we bring you all the latest as the votes are counted today.
GLASS HOUSE TALLYING ROLLS ON
It looks like another tight one in Glass House, with incumbent Andrew Powell holding a 51.99 per cent to 48.01 per cent lead over Labor candidate Brent Hampstead, based on the unofficial preference count conducted by the Electoral Commission Queensland overnight.
Those figures were based on more than 17,200 formal votes counted by 11pm Saturday.
Mr Powell has been tipped to hold the seat for the LNP, with a projected 1.6 per cent swing against him, and it was too early to call overnight whether that would prove to be the case.
BLEIJIE RELUCTANT TO CLAIM WIN
The stats suggest Jarrod Bleijie will retain the seat of Kawana, but with thousands of votes still to be counted the LNP member is not yet celebrating a win.
ABC has tipped Mr Bleijie has won the seat of Kawana for the fifth consecutive election.
About 49.3 per cent of votes have been counted, with Mr Bleijie receiving 51.49 per cent of first preferences to Labor's Bill Redpath's 30.31 per cent.
PREMIER STANDS STRONG AS LABOR RETAINS POWER
Annastacia Palaszczuk has won a historic third term with Labor recording a 4.9 per cent swing across the state while the LNP and One Nation vote tanked.
Labor has the best of the early returns, recording swings towards them in some of their key targets, including Caloundra.
READ: Caloundra hopeful lost for words after early support
READ: Nicklin hanging in the balance for first-term MP
AROUND THE GROUNDS:
The battle for Caloundra is looming as an uphill one for the LNP to retain.
Elsewhere, in Buderim incumbent Brent Mickelberg has less than 40 per cent of primary votes according to latest Electoral Commission Queensland figures, but is ahead on the unofficial preference count.
In Glass House incumbent MP Andrew Powell has picked up almost 39 per cent of the primary vote, with 1825 votes counted, ahead of Labor's Brent Hampstead (29.04 per cent) and the Greens' Andrew McLean (15.59 per cent).
Kawana LNP incumbent Jarrod Bleijie is ahead with 44.64 per cent of first preferences after 1069 votes counted, with Labor's Bill Redpath picking up 30.6 per cent of votes counted so far.
More than 2700 votes have been counted in Maroochydore and incumbent Fiona Simpson has secured 39.17 per cent of those, ahead of Labor's Alison Smith (26.35 per cent) and young Greens hope Gabrielle Unverzagt, who has secured 17.62 per cent of votes counted so far.
Nicklin MP Marty Hunt holds a slim first preference lead of just two votes over Labor's Robert Skelton, with 1849 votes counted.
Greens' candidate Sue Etheridge is next best with 12.5 per cent.
Ninderry is a tighter race early than expected, with LNP incumbent Dan Purdie ahead with 39.08 per cent of the primary vote of Labor's Melinda Dodds (35.2 per cent), after 3710 votes counted, with Greens hopeful Dan Bryar next best with 12.9 per cent.
In the north Sandy Bolton is ahead of young LNP candidate James Blevin, with 43.26 per cent of votes to 25.98 per cent, after 3700 votes counted.
FIRST RESULTS IN:
The first results for Sunshine Coast seats have dropped in tonight's state election count.
In Buderim, LNP candidate Brent Mickelberg leads the charge, with 43.98 per cent of first preferences.
He leads Labor's Ken Mackenzie, with 21.69 per cent, while Steve Dickson is trailing with 8.43 per cent, after the first 171 votes have been counted.
In the unofficial indicative count, giving an indication of preference flow, Mr Mickelberg leads Mr Mackenzie 54.82 per cent to 45.18 per cent.
Noosa MP Sandy Bolton has landed at Noosa Pirates Rugby League Club with her teal army of volunteers, but they're battling a power outage as they bid to watch the results come in.
Labor hopeful Jason Hunt has jumped to an early lead in Caloundra, picking up 40.83 per cent of first preferences, ahead of LNP candidate Stuart Coward (30.73 per cent) after the first 1894 votes have been counted.
UPDATE 5PM:
Polling on the Sunshine Coast has entered its final hour as voting booths are expected to shut their doors at 6pm.
Betting agency Sportsbet at lunchtime had a Labor minority government at $1.95 - just days after the odds were $1.73 for a Labor majority, compared to $4 for a Labor mintory.
Local candidates remained tight-lipped about the election outcome.
"We'll see what happens," Independent Noosa MP Sandy Bolton said earlier on Saturday.
Candidates reported a quiet day around the booths, with voter numbers way down on previous elections, driven by a massive prepoll contingent and higher than usual postal votes.
Labor party sources said as expected Nambour Central, Burnside and Nambour West numbers were well down today, as many of those voters had prepolled in town.
Booths further out from the former mill town still experienced fairly steady flows of voters today.
Incumbent Glass House MP Andrew Powell reported a similar experience across his electorate today.
He said locations with early voter centres had been well down, but more remote booths, and places like Mooloolah, between prepoll sites, had been "pretty solid" today.
He estimated there had only been 12,000-13,000 voters left to cast their ballots today, and plenty were keeping tight lipped about their decision.
UPDATE 4.10PM:
Voters should at least have an indication of which way their electorate is going tonight, with the Electoral Commission Queensland confirming votes from booths on election day, as well as returned postal votes and local prepoll votes were to be counted tonight.
The efforts, set to go until about 11pm, should provide some indication, albeit as an unofficial count, before official counting kicks off Sunday morning.
First results are expected to drop shortly after 6pm, and an ECQ spokeswoman assured the technical issues that plagued results of the March local government elections were not expected to be repeated, with IT systems running "smoothly" so far.
UPDATE 3PM:
Noosa MP Sandy Bolton has unashamedly admitted she would push a list of "Noosa-centric" requests if the independent was to hold the balance of power.
Ms Bolton was up early to visit every booth in the electorate and speak with her "teal army" of passionate volunteers on election day.
READ MORE: Independent MP vows to use balance of power
UPDATE 1.30PM:
It appears plenty of Coast voters have made their minds up early, with reports of quiet booths across the region today.
Candidates in Caloundra and Kawana have reported very sporadic voter numbers, with quiet the word of the day.
It's been a similar story in Kawana, across a range of booths, and Maroochydore has followed the trend.
Whether there is a high number of non-voters remains to be seen, but prepoll numbers indicate plenty had engaged in the process, and made their votes early this year.
Postal vote numbers were also expected to be significantly higher this year than in previous elections and if that is the case, it would explain the much reduced number of election day voters in attendance today.
Electoral Commission Queensland figures show more than 16,000 people had prepoll voted in Caloundra, a seat which had a little over 34,000 voters registered in 2017.
Glass House was similar, with more than 15,000 residents having their say ahead of election day.
Stay tuned for rolling coverage and live results as they come through tonight.
UPDATE 10.30AM:
Scary turnout at Maroochydore booth
With election day and Halloween coinciding this year, party volunteers have some stiff competition for best dressed at polling stations on the Sunshine Coast.
A woman turned heads at the Maroochydore State School polling booth on Saturday morning, when she turned up dressed as a spooky nurse.
Sharon Perryman, a group fitness instructor at World Gym, had spent the morning taking a Halloween-themed fitness class.
After placing her vote, the Sippy Downs resident said none of the local candidates had stood out to her.
Isha Wilson felt the same, and said he only turned up to the polling booth so he wasn't fined for not voting.
Other voters were glad to be able to have their say.
Roslyn Riethmuller said the issues that were important to her this election were the environment, revegetation and concerns about the COVID-19 vaccination.
She said she hopes the vaccination is not mandatory.
"My vote was more or less an easy decision, I want to get away from the oligarchy of the major parties, and instead have more representation from smaller parties."
Katrina Kimber also voted at the Maroochydore school booth, with daughter Emily, 7.
"I want someone who's confident and someone who's able to make things happen.
"They need to make sure that tourism is supported on the Sunshine Coast, but that it doesn't come to the detriment of this beautiful area."
Quiet start to election at Buderim booth:
It was a quiet start to the election at Buderim Mountain State School with few voters lining up to cast their vote on Saturday morning.
Buderim is one of the hottest contested seats on the Sunshine Coast with nine candidates vowing for your votes.
The LNP's Brent Mickelberg has held the seat since 2017 but Steve Dickson, who lost the seat as a One Nation candidate during the last election, is vowing to make a comeback as an independent this year.
Other candidates include Michael Andrews (Ind), Deborah Moseley (Greens), Alison Barry-Jones (Ind), Joyce Hosking (One Nation), Ken Mackenzie (Labor), Daniel Philp (UAP- United Australia Party), and Alina Lee (IMOP- Informed Medical Options Party).
Earlier 5am:
The final day for Sunshine Coast political hopefuls seeking a seat in the next state parliament has arrived.
Record postal and pre-polling numbers were expected in the lead up to Saturday's state election, but Sunshine Coast voters will still be out in droves to cast their vote.
About 1300 booths will open at 8am across the state for one of the most important elections in Queensland's history.
Every vote counts so if you aren't one of the many who have already cast their ballots via postal or pre-poll voting, make sure you head to the polls by 6pm to have your say.
The Sunshine Coast Daily will release regular updates throughout election day and as counting starts.
Send in your election predictions or polling photos to scdaily@news.com.au or message us on Facebook.
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