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Queensland MPs sledge each other on social media

QUEENSLAND is less than two weeks away from electing its next premier — and on social media the gloves have well and truly come off.

Natalie Wolfe
3 min read
November 16, 2017 - 7:26AM
Tim Nicholls and Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Annette Dew and Darren England
Tim Nicholls and Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Annette Dew and Darren England
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LESS than two weeks out from the Queensland state election, things are well and truly heating up in the northern state.

The state’s MPs are frantically travelling all over Queensland to campaign ahead of the November 25 election and while they might be reasonably civil to each other on camera, all bets are off on social media.

No one has been spared from the social media sparring with the state’s politicians resorting to calling each other “trolls” and “snookums”.

Some MPs have made memes sledging their opponents while others have banked on their opposition being no-shows at certain events.

One MP even posted a photo of an opposition member’s empty seat at a Remembrance Day rally with a “Lest We Forget” wreath sitting on top.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has kept her hands relatively clean through the whole election.

However, her deputy premier Jackie Tran has done some of the sledging for her.

Ms Palaszczuk beat out former premier Campbell Newman for the top job in 2015 — something Ms Tran is adamant Labor voters can’t forget.

Ms Palaszczuk came to power on January 31, 2015, after Labor recorded an incredible 37 seat swing to oust the LNP, led by Campbell Newman, to form a minority government.

And it isn’t just the ALP and the LNP who are bagging each other.

One Nation has thrown plenty of people under the bus, with ousted dual citizen Malcolm Roberts claiming no one from either party had visited a constituent in the country town of Ipswich.

A claim Queensland’s chatty Environment Minister Steven Miles refuted.

And this isn’t the first time Mr Miles has lashed out, even creating his own memes for the election.

Then there was an entire Twitter conversation between a number of Queensland MPs, who went for personal jabs and emojis to get their points across.

Opposition leader Tim Nicholls, who was the treasurer for Campbell Newman when he was premier of Queensland, has had a number of loose-lipped MPs.

Specifically, the Shadow Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations Jarrod Bleijie.

When Lateline host Emma Alberici tweeted a newspaper advertisement advocating for Australians to vote No in the now-successful same-sex marriage postal survey, Mr Bleijie responded.

“Big call! Are parents lying too — accounts in Vic State schools & UK Govt schools of parents told they could not ‘opt-out ‘ their child?”

When Mr Bleijie was challenged by SBS reporter Benjamin Law about the Safe Schools program, he called him a “leftie do gooder troll”.

Ben Law shut down Jarrod Bleijie's Safe Schools argument.
Ben Law shut down Jarrod Bleijie's Safe Schools argument.

Opposition leader Tim Nicholls and his media team’s official Twitter account have also lashed out at the Labor Party.

Speaking to ABC, Griffith University political analyst Dr Tracey Arklay said things are getting too personal.

“I think it is a real pity and they become really personal and attack the man and not the policies. I do not think it does our politics any good at all,” she said.

Dr Arklay also said in the long run, politicians are doing themselves a disservice.

“It probably undermines voter’s trust and at the end of the day if they do not trust the politicians they are doing themselves a disservice in the long run,” she said.

“Personally it does not appeal to me and I think a lot of people out there would say this is our lives that you’re dealing with here. So get on with the issues please and drop this silly stuff. It seems unnecessary,” she added.

Today, both party leaders narrowly missed each other on the campaign trail.

Premier Palaszczuk continued campaigning in far north Queensland, starting in Cairns before travelling to Proserpine and then flying back into Brisbane.

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls also started the day in Cairns with a morning radio interview blitz before travelling to Tully and then stopping in Townsville.

And, considering the election is less than two weeks away, the bitter Twitter battles are probably only going to heat up from here.

It’s an all out social media war in Queensland right now. Picture: Darren England
It’s an all out social media war in Queensland right now. Picture: Darren England
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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/politics/queensland-mps-sledge-each-other-on-social-media/news-story/9331f5088e75ef872db93c56a151d8df