Queensland election: Parties ready to make it official as voters prepare to go postal

Queensland’s two major parties will officially launch their election campaigns on Sunday — the day before pre-polls open.

Queensland LNP leader Deb Frecklington with Anthony Joseph at the Brisbane Markets. Picture: Sarah Marshall

Queensland’s two major parties will officially launch their election campaigns on Sunday — the day before pre-polls open and a record number of postal votes begins to flood in.

Labor’s campaign launch, which comes two weeks after the election writs were issued, will be in the heartland blue-collar suburb of Logan. Sources said the LNP was considering a more central Brisbane location.

More than 820,000 people have submitted postal vote applications, and even more of the state’s 3.3 million voters are expected to cast their votes early at pre-polling booths ahead of election day on October 31.

In the ACT election, more than 60 per cent of voters lodged their ballots early, and LNP and Labor strategists said they expected a similar turnout in Queensland. LNP leader Deb Frecklington spent most of the week campaigning outside the southeast corner. She travelled north to Hervey Bay to sandbag the seat held by retiring stalwart Ted Sorensen.

Briefly returning to Brisbane, she then flew to Mackay and Townsville to rendezvous with Scott Morrison before finishing the week in the southeast.

She spent Friday in the Labor strongholds of Algester (14.43 per cent) and Miller (8.18 per cent), ­visiting the Brisbane produce markets to spruik her party’s plan to double the value of Queensland’s agricultural production to $30bn by 2035.

Ms Frecklington seized on new unemployment figures on Friday, saying Queensland’s nation leading 7.7 per cent unemployment rate was proof that Labor could not be trusted with the economy. She accused Labor of playing catch-up after Annastacia Palaszczuk matched a $20m commitment to upgrade the Sunshine Coast stadium and speed up construction of Bells Creek Arterial Road, both of which have been promised by the LNP.

The Premier, who visited Gladstone and Rockhampton during the week, made the announcements on her two-day tour of the Sunshine Coast.

She accused the LNP of taking the Sunshine Coast for granted.

“A lot of people are moving into this area,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“My government has invested heavily in this area – a brand new primary school … and a high school under construction that we visited earlier this year.”

The LNP-held electorate of Pumicestone, on a margin of 0.84 per cent, is the most likely seat north of Brisbane to fall to Labor, according to party strategists. The party is also eyeing Caloundra, held by outgoing LNP MP Mark McArdle on 3.4 per cent.