Queensland election results 2017: Campbell Newman says party should have talked up his legacy

FORMER premier turned Sky News presenter Campbell Newman blamed the LNP’s poor showing at Saturday’s election on the party’s failure to defend his era.

FORMER premier turned Sky News presenter Campbell Newman blamed the LNP’s poor showing at yesterday’s election on the party’s failure to defend his era.

Mr Newman said the LNP allowed Labor to define his era as one of cuts, even though they had three years to redefine his government as a positive one.

The Newman government was in power from 2012-15 when it held 78 seats, the largest majority in any Queensland parliament, but lost in a surprise defeat to Labor led by Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Labor won in 2015 by focusing on Mr Newman’s record of slashing 14,000 public service jobs and used the message again to successfully paint LNP leader Tim Nicholls as the architect of those cuts.

Mr Newman defended his time as premier and said his government delivered for Queensland in areas including hospitals and services.

Originally published as Queensland election results 2017: Campbell Newman says party should have talked up his legacy