Queensland election results 2017: Labor and LNP squeezed by Right and Left

BOTH major parties emerge from the 2017 election flanked by populist political movements threatening their traditional strongholds.

Queensland Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls chats to his mother Barbara as he meets friends and family at a Brisbane cafe the day after the election. Picture: AAP/Dan Peled

BOTH major parties emerge from the 2017 election flanked by populist political movements threatening their traditional strongholds.

From One Nation on the right to the Greens on the left, these all-care-no-responsibility outfits spread a simplified message that’s difficult to disassemble.

Clearly, the LNP faces the most serious conundrum.

In many ways it was the double act of One Nation and Katter’s Australian Party that cost Tim Nicholls this election rather than Labor.

Pauline Hanson’s party may only end up with one seat.

But One Nation consumed 14 per cent of the vote statewide and then turned that against sitting members.

This cost the LNP city seats such as Mansfield, Mount Ommaney, Aspley and Redlands where the swing towards Labor was either negligible or non-existent.

It also allowed Labor to regain regional seats where its vote fell away, such as Mundingburra.

Meanwhile, Katter’s Australian Party looks like inching forward to three seats and achieving formal party status in the Queensland Parliament.

Two of this trio – Hill and Hinchinbrook – would be LNP electorates.

However, KAP’s simplistic “us versus them” message resonates strongly with the north.

It’s hardly the first time third parties have polled well in Queensland.

In fact, One Nation’s 13.7 per cent on Saturday wasn’t much more than the 11.5 per cent KAP achieved in 2012.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with supporters at a barbecue at Seventeen Mile Rocks the day after the election. Picture: AAP/Glenn Hunt

The crucial difference is the Nicholls-led team lacked credibility and were defined by Labor rather than the other way around.

This can be partly blamed on the baggage the LNP leader carried into the campaign as the former Newman government treasurer.

However, perhaps more potent was the LNP’s failure to make this election anything to do with Labor’s time in office.

And a fair chunk of the blame for that should be worn by a largely apathetic and lethargic frontbench who’d haughtily assumed their exile in Opposition would just naturally end.

With key supporters among the fallen, Nicholls may have to go.

Whoever ends up the leader, though, will have to consider whether there’s more energetic LNP MPs available for the frontbench.

Labor’s victory is a historic one.

But it’s one of the party’s worst performances in a generation and the Greens are a critical concern.

Labor didn’t mind having the Greens around when they were a single-digit distraction.

However, the Greens remain a chance in the marginal inner-city LNP seat of Maiwar that would have otherwise been a Labor gain.

Just a few hundred votes separated the Greens and Labor in McConnel.

And only the LNP’s preferencing saved Deputy Premier Jackie Trad in South Brisbane.

Even in Nicholls’ own seat of Clayfield, all the movement away from the LNP went to the Greens, in a sign the party’s influence may spread.

Right now, it’s the LNP with the greatest challenge.

But both major parties have lost their connection with key voter groups, making hung parliaments an ever-present possibility.

Originally published as Queensland election results 2017: Labor and LNP squeezed by Right and Left