What you need to know about the Queensland election

WITH the Queensland election less than a month away, this is everything you need to know before heading to the polls.

The Queensland election is less than a month away and this is everything you need to know before heading to the polls on November 25. Picture: Darren England/AAP

IN LESS than a month the people of Queensland will be heading to the polls to decide which government will win the upcoming election.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk called the snap November 25 election yesterday after visiting acting Governor Chief Justice Catherine Holmes at Government House, sending voters to the polls two months early.

So with voting day looming, here is everything you need to need to know about the Queensland election.

Opposition leader for the Liberal National Party (LNP), Tim Nicholls, is campaigning for the position of Queensland’s Premier, currently held by the Labor Party’s Ms Palaszczuk.

This election there are 93 seats in the Queensland Parliament, up from 89 and this is the first expansion Parliament has seen in 32 years.

Both Labor and the LNP are going into the election with 41 seats and need 47 to form a majority government, with neither party getting enough votes during the last election to govern in their own right. Here are the key issues:

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Queensland Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls. Pictures: Darren England and Glenn Hunt/AAP

CONSERVATION

• The Queensland Conservation Council and the Wilderness Society want Queensland’s politicians to protect environments and place restrictions on land clearing and deforestation.
• Lock the Gate, a grassroots organisation concerned about unsafe coal and gas mining, wants all parties to commit to legislating “no go zones” in gas fields across the state from coal mining and coal seam gas.
• The Australian Marine Conservation Society wants parties to promise to protect the Great Barrier Reef, including vetoing the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility loan to Adani.
• Solar Citizens is pushing for parties to commit to setting a renewable energy target for Queensland and build solar and wind farms rather than coal-fired power stations and provide incentives for residents to go solar.
• Australian Conservation Foundation is also urging Queensland to “embrace a clean energy future”.

EDUCATION

• The Australian Christian Lobby will seek an assurance from Queensland’s Labor Party it will reject federal funding for the Safe Schools program.

EMPLOYMENT

• Queensland’s Council of Unions has labelled the election as a choice between “creating jobs, restoring frontline services and business confidence” under Labor or a “cut, sack and sell” agenda from the LNP.
• Queensland’s Property Council has promoted 22 “job-creating proposals” for the next parliamentary term including the delivery of the Cross-River Rail project and a reform of the state’s body corporate laws.

INFRASTRUCTURE

• The Local Government Association of Queensland has published a 10-point plan headed by a $500 million baseline funding model for building local infrastructure such as roads and water supply services.

Both Ms Palaszczuk and Mr Nicholls have ruled out entering into any deals with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP

Queenslanders are now required to number all the boxes on their ballot, rather than just voting for one person.

This means that minor parties like One Nation could hold the balance of power and end up deciding who forms government, particularly with both the government and the LNP on a low primary vote of around 30 per cent.

Both Labor and LNP have ruled out forming a coalition with One Nation, with Ms Palaszczuk stating she would not enter into a deal with the party even if it meant losing government.

“I have said, ‘absolutely no’. This is all or nothing. It’s either people are going to support what I stand for, or they won’t,” Ms Palaszczuk told ABC TV.

“I’m prepared to put it all at risk.”

Mr Nicholls also said that there is no way the LNP would share power with Pauline Hanson’s party.

“There is no coalition, no shared ministry and there are no deals with One Nation,” he said.

When pressed on whether that would include guaranteeing supply, he repeated his answer but added that he intended to win the 47 seats to form a majority government.

“We don’t have any deals, in fact it is abundantly clear One Nation don’t want any deals,” Mr Nicholls said.

— With AAP