Leaders burn rubber in regional race
An election like no other in Queensland enters the sprint to polling day with the leaders at last focusing on Brisban.
An election like no other in Queensland enters the sprint to polling day with the leaders at last focusing on Brisbane, the historically decisive battleground that has been sidelined by their efforts to win over regional voters.
Both Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and LNP Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington have prioritised the far-flung northern seats and those bookending the capital on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.
The longest the Premier has spent working the city was two consecutive days on October 11 and 12, when she visited the inner-city ALP seat of McConnel, which is threatened by the Greens, and Pumicestone on the northern urban fringe, in the frame to be snatched by Labor from the LNP.
Ms Palaszczuk was not in Brisbane again until the Labor campaign launch a week later and was soon back in the regions, returning only last Friday, before attending the transplanted AFL grand final at the Gabba. She has made three visits to Townsville.
Ms Frecklington’s longest stint in Brisbane was three days from October 17-19, taking in the LNP campaign launch. She too has made three trips to Townsville, where she crossed paths with the Premier on Sunday.
She has not set foot in the marginal seats of Redlands and Mount Ommaney in Brisbane, lost by the LNP to Labor in 2017 on One Nation preferences. They are considered must-wins, along with suburban bellwethers Mansfield, on the city’s southside, and northside Aspley, also Labor gains at the last election.
Asked in Rockhampton on Tuesday whether she was neglecting the city, Ms Frecklington said: “I’ve spent a great deal of time in Brisbane, in actual fact most people in my electorate probably think I spend too much time there.
“I want to be a premier for all Queensland; I want to bridge the divide between the southeast and the rest of Queensland.”
The focus by the leaders on the regions means voters in Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and Rockhampton will have an outsized say in who governs next and whether it is in majority government or through a deal with a minority party: likely Katter’s Australian Party for the LNP and the Greens for Labor.
Ms Palaszczuk and Ms Frecklington each flew into Brisbane for their opening debate on Wednesday at a town hall-style people’s forum hosted by Sky News and The Courier-Mail, an important encounter with early voting in full swing and the opinion polls pointing to such a close result on Saturday that a hung parliament looms.
Ms Frecklington’s travel illuminates the narrow path for the LNP to return to power in Queensland.
It starts in Cairns in the northern beaches electorate of Barron River, held by Labor on a margin of 1.86 per cent, Cairns (3.39 per cent) and on to the Townsville based-seats of Thuringowa (4.15 per cent), Mundingburra (1.13 per cent) and Townsville (0.38 per cent), which Ms Palaszczuk is equally desperate to save.
Labor-held Mackay is a surprise inclusion on the list of seats in play with its margin of 8.34 per cent placing it well outside what’s usually considered vulnerable. Ms Frecklington has visited the city twice during the campaign, most recently on Tuesday, reflecting the LNP’s hopes of an upset, coinciding with Ms Palaszczuk’s latest campaign stop there.
The contest for adjoining Whitsunday, the second most marginal seat after Townsville and held by outcast former LNP MP Jason Costigan on a margin of 0.68 per cent, is heating up. Both major parties insist they are in the hunt.
Winning the seat of Mirani (4.8 per cent) straddling the coast between Mackay and Rockhampton off One Nation is another LNP priority, along with Keppel (3.14 per cent) and Rockhampton (5.19 per cent) from Labor.
In the unlikely event the LNP’s northern strategy paid off in full, it would deliver 10 seats and the premiership to Ms Frecklington, but that also assumes the party loses none of its existing 38 seats, which is an improbability.
The Australian’s Newspoll shows Pumicestone is likely gone and Ms Palaszczuk’s attention to nearby Caloundra (4.32 per cent) on the Sunshine Coast, vacated by longstanding MP and former Newman government minister Mark McArdle, points to it being a Labor target.
The Premier followed her Sunday visit to Townsville with a swing through Bowen in the marginal LNP seat of Burdekin (0.8 per cent) and has twice ventured to LNP-held Currumbin on the Gold Coast.
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