Showdown hoedown in ‘win or lose’ regions

Annastacia Palaszczuk and Deb Frecklington have flown into Townsville for one last showdown in the key regional battleground before Saturday’s state election.

LNP leader Deb Frecklington visits Greensill Farming in the Wide Bay-Burnett region to reinforce her promise to provide more dams. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Annastacia Palaszczuk and Deb Frecklington have flown into Townsville for one last showdown in the key regional battleground before Saturday’s state election.

The party leaders have crossed paths in Townsville three times during the campaign, highlighting the importance of the north Queensland city’s three marginal seats.

Voters in the electorates of Mundingburra, Townsville and Thuringowa have voted together in every election in the past 20 years and always backed the governing party.

The LNP leader, on her fourth visit to Townsville since writs were issued on October 6, has focused on the city’s crime problem and economic woes to urge voters to support her.

Her youth curfew trial, aimed at getting young recidivist criminals off the streets, has been her centrepiece policy in the city.

The Premier, on her third visit, has pleaded with voters to back her again, promising more police officers and saying the last thing Queensland needed was a change of direction.

Labor sources said her urgent return to Townsville was driven by fear of losing the crucial seats.

Ms Palaszczuk on Sunday attended a small gathering of party faithful where she announced $10m to assist defence force veterans. She also continued Labor’s scare campaign, warning of LNP job cuts and saying the opposition had put the state’s COVID-19 recovery in “incredible danger”.

Ms Palaszczuk said voters had a choice; a majority Palaszczuk Labor government or a “One ­Nation, Palmer, LNP rabble”.

“That’s why every day this week, right across the length and breadth of Queensland, we’re going to be working hard to again earn the trust of Queenslanders,” she said.

A senior Labor source said the election would be “won or lost” in Townsville: “We could possibly afford to lose one seat, but any more and we’re in trouble.”

Labor seats around Cairns, Mackay and Rockhampton are also under threat but the party is hoping to balance that with wins in the southeast.

Ms Frecklington flew into Townsville after spending the day in the Wide Bay region, northwest of Brisbane, where she pledged $45m for two new weirs in rural Queensland and promised to return the ailing Paradise Dam to full capacity if she becomes premier.

She met with dozens of farmers and farm workers who rely on the dam for irrigation.

The 300,000 megalitre dam, west of Bundaberg, was built by the Beattie government in 2005 but was emptied of most of its water over safety concerns after a defect was discovered in its wall last year. Since then, the Palas­zczuk government has started work to stabilise the structure, resulting in the wall height decreasing and the capacity of the dam dropping significantly.

“It’s with a bit of sadness that I’m standing here on the banks of Paradise Dam, but for Queenslanders, there is an opportunity to grow our economy, create jobs and save Paradise Dam,” Ms Frecklington said.

“The sight of these excavators and the wall coming down in the middle of a drought is beyond shocking and must stop.”

Wide Bay’s unemployment rate is among the highest in the nation, which she attributed to the government’s “anti-regions, anti-dams” policies.