Qld election: Battleground seats mapped as Steven Miles fends off LNP, KAP attacks

Steven Miles has spent much of the campaign fending off attacks from the LNP and Katter’s Australian Party in a desperate bid to save Labor-held seats. INTERACTIVE MAP

An analysis reveals Steven Miles has spent the campaign defending Labor held seats from a two-pronged attack from the LNP and Katter’s Australian Party.

Steven Miles has been forced to defend Labor-held seats from a two-pronged attack from the LNP and Katter’s Australian Party in the dying days of the state election campaign.

Mr Miles is blitzing Labor electorates in regional Queensland and Brisbane’s outer suburbs in an attempt to contain the heavy defeat expected to face the government.

An analysis of Mr Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli’s movements in the 24 days of the campaign reveal the opposite strategies being run by the two major parties.

This month, Mr Miles has visited nine non-Labor-held seats – but none are considered winnable for his party.

In contrast, Mr Crisafulli has toured only three LNP-held electorates.

The leaders’ movements indicate Labor, after three successive elections growing its majority, is now focused on saving electorates.

Mr Crisafulli must win 12 seats to reach 47 and form a majority in the 93-seat parliament.

For Labor, the loss of just five seats would put them in minority.

Mr Miles is visiting 36 seats in the final 36 hours in a last-ditch campaign blitz scheduled to last until 7pm on the eve of the election.

By 9am Thursday Mr Miles had visited the LNP-held electorates of Ninderry and Maroochydore along with Labor’s second-most-marginal electorate of Nicklin.

This election about half of the 93 electorates are up for grabs.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli and his deputy Jarrod Bleijie are consistently assaulting red electorates – including Rockhampton and Mackay – which Labor has not lost in a century.

In the final week the LNP leader has cheekily launched his campaign in Labor’s Ipswich heartland before jetting to the Townsville-central seat of Mundingburra, Rockhampton and the Fraser Coast’s Maryborough and Hervey Bay.

Mr Crisafulli visited only three LNP-held seats including its third-safest, Gregory.

For almost four weeks Mr Miles has run a defensive strategy to blunt the LNP’s attack.

The LNP is pinning its hopes for victory on the significant swing against Labor in regional Queensland, where it is battling to win 11 seats.

Once feared to be under significant threat in the outer suburbs of Brisbane, government insiders say Mr Miles has effectively clawed back Labor’s vote.

It has prompted Mr Crisafulli to launch a late pitch across southeast Queensland with the northern suburbs of Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast firmly on his radar.

Premier Steven Miles campaigns in Mackay, a seat Labor has held since 1915. Picture: Adam Head

In regional Queensland, the premier is attempting to save a cluster of four seats in Cairns and long-time Labor electorates Rockhampton and Mackay from being lost to the LNP and Katter’s Australian Party.

Three seats Townsville are almost certain to fall, with a two-horse race now underway between the LNP and KAP in two: Mundingburra and Thuringowa.

Labor’s vote is thought to be so dire in Mundingburra, the LNP is concerned Katter’s candidate Michael Pugh could outpoll MP Les Walker.

In Thuringowa, KAP’s Reuben Richardson could defeat Labor MP Aaron Harper.

Mr Miles’s movements this campaign – combined with predictions by party sources – indicate the trio of Labor’s Townsville MPs, including Resources Minister Scott Stewart, will be convincingly defeated.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli holds a press conference in Townsville. Picture: Liam Kidston.

Mr Crisafulli has spent half of the campaign in regional Queensland, largely targeting the Townsville, Cairns, Rockhampton and Mackay areas.

Cairns and Townsville are Labor’s most at risk, with seven seats across the two regions at risk of falling to the LNP or Katter’s Australian Party.

Mr Miles has visited Cairns four times during the campaign in an effort to protect four MPs – including Tourism Minister Michael Healy – from defeat.

Labor’s Cook MP Cynthia Lui, whose electorate includes the Daintree, Cape York and Torres Strait Islands, is under threat from KAP and the LNP.

In one of the more unusual days of the campaign, Mr Miles dragged Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and his media contingent on an eight-hour round trip travelling from Brisbane to Mareeba to pledge a $20m expansion of the hospital if Labor is re-elected.

On Monday he blitzed the seats of Cairns and Barron River – joined by the party’s Mulgrave candidate.

One Nation’s hope of returning to the Queensland Parliament rests with Pauline Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby in Keppel.

Labor’s Brittany Lauga is expected to lose the seat to either Mr Ashby or LNP candidate Nigel Hutton.

Originally published as Qld election: Battleground seats mapped as Steven Miles fends off LNP, KAP attacks