Queensland state election 2024: Meaghan Scanlon says Labor can still triumph despite LNP polling advantage

Incumbent Minister Meaghan Scanlon insists Labor can still win the election – despite polls and pundits suggesting otherwise – as she talks up the party’s record after nine years in office.

Incumbent Minister Meaghan Scanlon insists Labor can still win the election – despite polls and pundits suggesting otherwise – as she talks up the party’s record after nine years in office.

Despite virtually all polls suggesting the Labor state government will be swept from office in a landslide, the Gold Coast’s sole Labor MP says neither she nor her colleagues take voters for granted and are fighting for every vote.

Speaking on Tuesday morning while on the hustings on the Gold Coast, Ms Scanlon said Labor had a path to victory, despite fears she herself, and other prominent government ministers including Premier Steven Miles and Health Minister Sharon Fentiman, could lose their seats.

“We are doing everything in our power to win government because there is a lot at risk if the LNP get elected,” she said.

Gaven Labor MP Meaghan Scanlon and Labor Coomera candidate Chris Johnson outside Robina Hospital during the 2024 election campaign. Picture: Andrew Potts

“I have never taken this community for granted and I have worked incredibly hard for my electorate to get investment for them like the second M1 and on-demand buses.

“The LNP in my community have a track record of cutting services and health staff and a record of privatisation.

“When I talk to people on the ground they know who has delivered for them and who has got their back.”

When asked if the LNP would win the election, Ms Scanlon said: “I certainly hope not.”

Ms Scanlon said she had not given any thought to her future if she was defeated in the seat, which she currently holds with a 7.8 per cent margin.

“My sole focus is delivering for my community.”

Ms Scanlon is facing LNP candidate Bianca Stone.

LNP Candidate Bianca Stone. Pics Adam Head

Labor appears to face an uphill battle to secure a fourth-term in government, having first been elected in 2015.

The most recent Newspoll showed the LNP leading Labor 55-45 on a two-party vote.

It tipped an 8.2 per cent swing against Labor which, if replicated in a uniform swing across the state, would see the government lose up to 20 seats, including up to five held by Ministers.

However LNP strategists have warned swings are rarely uniform, with the battles focused on key seats.

“We need to win more seats in Brisbane and north Queensland, that’s the way to power and while the overall polling looks solid, it’s not as simple as that,” one strategist told the Bulletin.

Several of its Gold Coast press conferences during the first seven days of the campaign have focused less on announcements but instead on warning of the LNP’s prospective agenda if it was returned to office after nearly a decade in the wilderness.

Both parties are yet to make any major infrastructure or spending announcements, with the first week focused on smaller community announcements for sporting clubs.

The LNP has again underlined its plans to “put the brakes” on the extension of the light rail south to the airport, while Labor says it will continue to support the project, as well as the completion of the Coomera Connector.