Queensland election: Safe seats await ‘cannon fodder’ candidates

With only three days to go until Queensland election nominations close, both major parties are still to announce candidates for several seats.

The date of the Queensland election has been set for nearly three years, but with only three days to go until nominations close, both major parties are still to announce candidates for several seats.

The ALP still has to announce candidates in nine seats: the Gold Coast-based seats of Surfers Paradise, Scenic Rim, Broadwater and Mudgeeraba; the Sunshine Coast seat of Maroochydore; Lockyer in the Brisbane Valley; Burnett near Bundaberg, and Callide and Condamine in the state’s west.

All these seats are safe for the LNP, and the ALP often has to get one of their younger city-based members to “fly the flag” in what is often hostile territory.

The LNP claims that it will be running candidates in all 93 seats, but they still need to announce candidates in six seats: Ipswich West, Bundamba and Jordan around Ipswich; Miller, on Brisbane’s southside; Morayfield, on the northern outskirts of Brisbane; and Woodridge, in Logan on Brisbane’s southern outskirts.

Two of the One Nation candidates in the Ipswich-based seats are former LNP candidates, with Suzie Holmes, the One Nation candidate for Ipswich, being the endorsed LNP candidate for the sea in 2009.

In nearby Jordan, the One ­Nation candidate is Neil Symes, who was the state member for the bayside electorate of Lytton in the Newman government.

While the LNP often struggles in Ipswich, One Nation generally polls better than in other parts of the state. The city is often ­described as the birthplace of One Nation, as Pauline Hanson was first elected to parliament in 1996 as the member for Oxley, which at that stage was largely Ipswich.

As with the ALP, the LNP seats where candidates still have to be announced are generally safe seats for the ALP, and it is common for party members to come from outside the electorate to contest them.

The safest seat in Queensland for the ALP is Woodridge, held by Treasurer Cameron Dick with a margin of 26.4 per cent, while Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has a margin of 26.1 per cent in the nearby electorate of Inala.

Both were in Townsville on Thursday night, where Labor holds three marginal seats.

Ms Palaszczuk had announced $100m for TAFE upgrades across the state, with much of the spending to occur in must-win Labor seats or electorates the ALP is hoping to pick up. She also announced $560,000 to upgrade the Murray Sporting Complex Basketball Stadium in Labor’s must-hold seat of Mundingburra, held on a margin of just 1.13 per cent.

It was the first big-spending policy of the campaign for Labor, and will be funded by Mr Dick’s $3bn debt-funded war chest.

Opposition leader Deb Frecklington was also in Townsville, after beginning the day in Cairns (Labor 3.39 per cent), where she promised $20m for a defence ­marine manufacturing project to allow huge ships to be lifted for maintenance.

Neither side addressed the issue of North Queensland’s battered tourism sector, which is reeling as a result of travel bans and border closures.