LNP wins election: David Crisafulli to become Queensland Premier
Queenslanders have chosen who they want to lead them for the next four years.
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For the first time in nearly a decade, Queensland will be run by the Liberal National Party (LNP) as David Crisafulli led his party to a nail biting victory.
Mr Crisafulli will be the 41st Queensland Premier after his party got just over the line on Saturday.
Sky News have reported the LNP will form a majority government.
With the LNP winning 46 seats, Sky News reported they were on track to win at least one of the nine seats in play.
While the result was meant to be a Labor wipe-out, the LNP have secured enough seats to take power from the former government for the first time since 2015.
A record number of postal votes slowed the count significantly on Saturday night, with much still to be counted on Saturday night and in the coming days.
Sky News analyst Tom Connell called the election for the LNP just before 9.30pm on Saturday.
PREMIER PLEDGES ‘FRESH START’ FOR QUEENSLAND
Queensland’s newest premier has thanked those who backed his party at the election.
“Queenslander have voted for hope over fear,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“They have voted for a fresh start, they have voted for majority LNP Government.
“To the people of this great state, I have lived and worked at both ends of it and I love every inch of it and I want to let them know that we will be serving them with every ounce of fibre we have and we are determined to make sure that this state returns to the powerhouse we all know it can be.
“This result is a vindication of a hell of a lot of hard work and ahead of a little strategy, and I want outline how large this achievement is.
“Of the last 12 general elections in this state, we have only won one on election night, and tonight we get to celebrate the biggest achievement we have had in over a decade.”
Mr Crisafulli said he will now turn his attention to delivering for Queensland what he promised he would do throughout the election.
“Elections are about people, and it’s about doing good for those who don’t have a voice, and what history will show is that tonight was the turning corner of the youth crime crisis,” he said.
“And it will be the turning corner to mean that there are fewer victims in this state and, by Christmas, ‘Adult Crime, Adult Time’ will be law and we’re going to work on early intervention and rehabilitation to give kids the opportunity to turn their life around as well.
“(Also) within 100 days, you will see what’s happening in your hospital in real time, and you will have doctors and nurses back in charge of those hospitals.”
Mr Crisafulli said he planned to prove to Queenslanders over the next four years he’s the one to lead them into a better future.
“My vision for Queensland is one where we get on with building the kind of infrastructure we once did in this state, roads and rail
and dams and schools and hospitals, the generational infrastructure to open up opportunities,” he said.
“We asked Queenslanders to choose hope over fear and they did.
“We asked Queenslanders to vote for a fresh start and they did.
“Tomorrow we get to work and we do what we say we were going to do.
“We don’t do what we say we wouldn’t do.
“We have a contract with Queenslanders and we intend to honour it.
“So we govern with humility and decency and vision and tenacity and, in doing so, we get the opportunity to govern for a longer period of time.
“And if we get that opportunity we can do great things for our party, for our kids, for our state.”
STEVEN MILES DOESN’T CONCEDE
Outgoing Premier Steven Miles has thanked his supporters but fell short of congratulating Mr Crisafulli on his win.
Mr Miles said it was clear that Labor has failed to secure a majority of seats for but “it is unlikely that the LNP is likely to have a majority”.
“Many seats remain too close to call,” Mr Miles said.
“If you consider what we were up against, this is an extraordinary result.
“We have seen some incredible results against the odds.”
However, he did thank his deputy Cameron Dick for his efforts while in government.
“I know a thing or two about being a Deputy Premier and Cameron has been a good one,” he said.
Mr Miles said his opponent has confused a lot of voters.
“David Crisafulli ducked and weaved and tied himself into the tiniest small target Queensland has ever seen,” he said.
“Never before has a party taken to an election with so little detail of their agenda.
“This election finishes with many more questions about the LNP’s plans, then answers.”
Mr Miles said he planned on “holding the LNP to account” regardless of the outcome.
“Whatever the final number of seats, I will keep doing what matters for Queensland,” he said.
“I will never stop fighting for our Labor agenda and I will never stop holding the LNP to account.”
VOTING CONTINUES
The LNP currently have 40 seats to Labor’s 38, with nine still undecided at 9.30pm on Saturday.
Katter’s Australian Party has won four seats, Greens have one and Independent Sandy Bolton is likely to retain her seat.
Meanwhile, the Greens have likely lost the seat of South Brisbane.
Former Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk - who only stood down from the top job 10 months ago to give Steven Miles a chance at winning the election - told Sky News Australia she’ll be interested to see how Mr Crisafulli performs.
“It’s hard, after nine years there was a mood out there for change,’ Ms Palaszczuk said.
“I think Steven did a great job in stemming that tide.
“I think he outperformed David Crisafulli in the campaign as we’ve talked about tonight, with various issues dominating.
“But now I think that challenge is going to be what sort of Government will David Crisafulli lead?
“Is it going to be a one-term government or is it going to be a two-term government?
“And that’s going to depend on how he treats the regions, whether there is ministerial representation in those regions.”
The last time Queenslanders voted in the LNP was in 2012 with Campbell Newman at the helm.
Now, with another shot at government, the LNP will hope Mr Crisafulli’s premiership will allow them the opportunity to show Queensland what they’ve truly got.
However, the pressure is well and truly on from day one, after Friday’s Newspoll found former premier Steven Miles was the preferred premier leading Mr Crisafulli 45-42 per cent, despite the LNP tipped to win the election.
During the election Mr Crisafulli gave himself a 100-day deadline to improve victims of crime numbers and elective surgery delays.
However, Mr Crisafulli seemed to clarify his promise would rely on population figures on Friday.
Griffith University politics lecturer Paul Williams said that 100-day promise could leave those who voted in the LNP with a sour taste in their mouth if Mr Crisafulli doesn’t deliver.
“I think it’s a noose he’s made for his own neck. You don’t do that,” Dr Williams said.
“Politicians in the past have done it but I think that’s a terrible trap he’s put the LNP in because he’s said it so much that I think voters are going to think in 100 days, which really only takes us up into the new year, they think grocery prices will come down, hospitals will be free to get surgery, there will be no more crime and there will be plenty of houses to go around.
“It’s been talked up so much that I think people are going to expect it.
“When it doesn’t come to pass, I pretty much guarantee this time next year, Labor will be well ahead in the polls again.”
More to come.
Originally published as LNP wins election: David Crisafulli to become Queensland Premier
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