Votes of 16,000 Queenslanders could catapult Bill Shorten into The Lodge

THE votes of just 16,000 Queenslanders could catapult Bill Shorten into The Lodge delivering him the six key state seats he needs to triumph over Malcolm Turnbull.

• Editorial: Job creation key to winning Queensland

THE votes of just 16,000 Queenslanders could catapult Bill Shorten into The Lodge, delivering him the six key seats he needs to triumph over Malcolm Turnbull.

As the LNP begins sandbagging seats across the state, Labor has begun targeting weak links, including the electorates of Bonner, Brisbane, Capricornia, Forde, Leichhardt and Petrie.

Of those seats, it will take just 15,943 Queenslanders to switch their votes to the Labor Party and boot out incumbents, gifting Opposition Leader Bill Shorten an ­election-winning chance.

It is understood internal Labor polling shows Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is significantly less popular in regional Queensland than in urban electorates.

It means Queenslanders can expect both parties will target regional Queensland, including Capricornia – where just 651 votes would strip the LNP’s Michelle Landry of her seat – and Leichhardt, where a popular Warren Entsch has a margin of 5.7 per cent but about 4750 voters could boot him out of office.

The Labor leader now believes there is “every chance” he will win the election, toppling the Liberal Party after only one term.

Labor believes it can win up to 10 seats in Queensland – almost half the 21 needed to win government. Flynn and Longman are also on its hit list.

However, the LNP is likely to pick up Clive Palmer’s seat of Fairfax and heavily target marginal Labor seats, including Lilley, Griffith, Oxley and Rankin.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks to the media during a visit to a construction site in Canberra yesterday. PIC: Lukas Coch/AAP

esterday, Malcolm Turnbull confirmed he would seek a July 2 double dissolution election over union corruption.

Mr Shorten said that as far as he was concerned the election campaign had begun, unveiling his election slogan claiming Labor would “put people first”.

“Today is day one of Malcolm Turnbull’s 74-day election campaign,” Mr Shorten said.

“And despite all the tactics and the political games of the Government, which has seen the Parliament with absolutely nothing to consider today, Labor is ready for this ­election.”

Mr Shorten will travel in Queensland with his wife Chloe, the daughter of former governor-general Dame Quentin Bryce.

The Prime Minister will not trigger the caretaker convention until after the May 3 Budget when he will seek the Governor-General’s consent to dissolve both houses of ­Parliament.

He confirmed in Question Time that he would call a joint sitting of Parliament after the election to pass the Government’s Bill to restore the Australian Building and Construc­tion Commission, which was rejected for the second time by the Senate on Monday to provide the trigger for the double dissolution.

Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. PIC: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The latest Newspoll, published in The Australian on Monday, shows that Labor is ahead of the Coalition 51 per cent to 49 per cent on a ­­two-party-preferred basis.

That means that if an election were to be held today, Labor would have about an eight-point swing in Queensland, delivering Mr Shorten at least eight seats.

“Queensland is the key battleground for the federal election,” Labor state secretary Evan Moorhead told The Courier-Mail yesterday.

“Labor has some great opportunities in regional Queensland, where Turnbull is clearly seen as out of touch.”

However, highly-placed sources told The Courier-Mail they believe Mr Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison will be able to out-campaign Mr Shorten and be more credible when it comes to costings.

And while Mr Turnbull told his partyroom yesterday that the Government was not in official campaign mode, the executive had other ideas.

“With confirmation today that a double dissolution election will be called for July 2, the LNP has announced a restructure to boost its coming campaign,’’ it said in a statement yesterday.

“Current state director Lincoln Folo will move into the fulltime position of campaign director. Michael O’Dwyer assumes the position of LNP state director.”