Queensland Election 2017: Premier plays underdog card as election day dawns

FORGET the battle of South Brisbane, the Greens candidate for Maiwar reckons he’ll be the first elected as a Queensland MP, toppling one of the LNP’s most prominent frontbenchers. ALL YOUR ELECTION DAY NEWS

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MICHAEL Berkman says he is increasingly confident of becoming the first Greens candidate elected to Queensland Parliament.

He said it would take a big turnaround to arrest the party’s strong showing in an Essential Research poll this week, which found it was within 0.9 per cent of clinching the newly created seat of Maiwar. THE BEST WAY TO FOLLOW QUEENSLAND ELECTION RESULTS The two-party-preferred count had Mr Berkman leapfrogging Labor’s Ali King, which meant that with preferences he could win the seat from the LNP member for the former seat of Indooroopilly Scott Emerson. “The feedback we’re getting is people are sick of the way this area has been neglected in the time it was the very safe LNP seat of Indooroopilly,” he said. Meanwhile, the combative nature of the election campaign appears to have spilled over into polling day, with allegations of spitting, ‘rent-a-crowd’ mobs and one man filmed ripping down bunting at a voting booth in Brisbane’s north. On the Gold Coast, Member for Currumbin Jann Stuckey was shaken when her car windscreen was smashed at a polling booth. Aspley candidate Shaun Byrne said about 8.45am one of his volunteers was handing out how-to-vote cards at Geebung State School when he was assaulted. “My guy was holding out a how-to-vote card, the bloke didn’t take it, but then he swore and spat at (my volunteer),” he said. Angry Member for Whitsunday Jason Costigan said he been hounded by Greens campaigners this morning. And further north in Townsville political players have accused each other of foul play over signage. In the southeast, Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls was confronted by Adani protesters at several polling booths. At a booth in Mr Nicholls electorate, an elderly man was filmed ripping down anti-LNP/One Nation banners Polling puts Labor marginally ahead of the Liberal National Party 52 per cent to 48 in a two-party-preferred basis but the reintroduction of compulsory preferential voting has clouded the results. The rise of One Nation, major boundary redistributions and numerous three-cornered contests has the major parties on tenterhooks as they expect the race to go down to the wire. Nicholls' TV slip-up could prove costly A victory will write Ms Palaszczuk’s name in the history books, making the Inala MP the first Australian woman to win two elections at either state or federal level. Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls, who enjoyed a smooth four-week campaign, ended it on a sour note with an embarrassing gaffe on breakfast television. Poll Position Mr Nicholls had done his best to distance the LNP from One Nation but had not ruled out accepting their support to form a minority government, and the stumble won’t help traditional LNP voters worried about an alliance with Pauline Hanson’s party. FOLLOW THE ELECTION ACTION BELOW

Originally published as Queensland Election 2017: Premier plays underdog card as election day dawns

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