Who are the Qld crossbench contestants – and what do they want?

Along with major parties Labor and the LNP, Queensland voters in all 93 seats will also have the choice of candidates from two minor parties this election.

One Nation and the Greens will again stand a full pack of candidates, with five other parties also vying for a range of seats alongside dozens of independents.

So who are they all, what do they want, and how are their chances? Read on below. (And check out Labor and the LNP’s election platforms here.)

A total of nine political parties (including Labor and the LNP) and 525 candidates are contesting the Queensland election – just shy of the 2020 candidate high watermark of 597.Credit: Aresna Villanueva

The state of play

After the four parties fielding full teams, Family First – the ultraconservative Christian outfit now run by former Australian Christian Lobby boss Lyle Shelton – will contest 59 seats, more than double its previous high watermark, after contesting none at the last two statewide polls.

The next-largest cohort are independent candidates or those not officially endorsed by a party, running in 38 seats.

The what-it-says-on-the-tin Legalise Cannabis party will run in 29 seats, and the similarly self-descriptive Animal Justice Party in 12.

The KAP, illustrating its focused approach, will run in just 11 seats, while the one-term LNP premier Campbell Newman-linked Libertarian Party will contest four.

With Queensland’s lonely place as the sole Australian state with a single house of parliament, the influence of minor parties is almost nil if a major party takes all in an outright majority.

But Labor and LNP fears of shedding votes to their right and left flanks can make them a little more likely to play nice with some, but not all – even while talking down deals to form government.

So, without further ado, in order of your likelihood of seeing them on a ballot paper near you:

The game

The election of some incumbent crossbenchers has been bolstered by how voters (not parties) allocate their preferences – most often when they finish second on primary votes above a major party.

In 2020, this included One Nation’s Stephen Andrew in Mirani and The Greens’ Amy MacMahon in South Brisbane. But it more often helps boost a major party’s bottom line.

This is where talk of “preference deals” (usually labelled “dodgy”) comes into play. Really, all this involves are party or candidate decisions, often on a seat-by-seat basis of how to suggest voters number preferences after “1”.

How closely people follow these is another matter. Research from the Victorian and South Australian electoral commissions puts this figure below 45 per cent for Labor and Liberal/National voters, with minor party rates lower still.

There are some general rules though.

The LNP tends to recommend One Nation and KAP above Labor. Labor and Greens will suggest One Nation last unless there’s a candidate further to the political right.

But in the case of the KAP, Labor has recommended voters put the LNP below the northern crossbench force in some seats despite its promise to bring forward a bill to recriminalise abortion.

For its part, the LNP is also suggesting voters favour Family First second in some seats – including health spokesperson Ros Bates’ Gold Coast electorate of Mudgeeraba.

But not in Redcliffe, where the minor party is absent, Labor Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath is retiring, and LNP candidate Kerri-Anne Dooley has run since 2012 – including for the previous iteration of Family First.

Much has been made of falling support for the major parties nationwide, and the state leaders have again made the usual vows not to lead governments where they may have to share power or rely on the goodwill of the crossbench.

But, however the cards fall after October 26, you can almost be sure neither Steven Miles nor David Crisafulli would follow such declarations to the logical endpoint that is a fresh election should their party fail to win 47 seats.