Palaszczuk eyes victory, shelves ‘no deals’ vow

Queensland Labor leader Annastacia Palaszczuk has left open the door to crossbench negotiations.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at Rocks Riverside Park in Brisbane yesterday

Queensland Labor leader Annastacia Palaszczuk insists she is ­confident of forming majority ­government, but with 13 seats hanging in the balance, she has left open the door to crossbench negotiations.

It appears all but certain Ms Palaszczuk will be returned as Premier but she may be forced to break her no-deals campaign promise and form minority government with the help of a crossbench that could swell to seven.

Labor is still short of the 47 seats it needs to govern in its own right in the new 93-electorate parliament, with the ALP having won 41 seats, the Liberal National Party 37 and Katter’s Australian Party two. Six of the 13 seats that are still undecided are leaning towards Labor with counting unlikely to finish until next week. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation fizzled — and may win just one seat — but its presence on ballot papers slashed the LNP’s primary vote from 41.32 per cent at the 2015 election to a dismal 33.51 per cent on Saturday, throwing Tim Nicholls’ leadership into doubt and sparking recriminations about LNP campaign strategies.

There is also concern about the LNP’s decision to direct preferences to Labor Deputy Leader Jackie Trad ahead of the Greens, in a move backed by the state executive of the LNP, which helped her retain the seat of South Brisbane.

Labor is likely to take its grip on power in Queensland since the Nationals were ousted in 1989 to 26 out of 31 years. Yesterday, an ebullient Ms Palaszczuk fronted supporters with some of her possible “class of 2017” MPs, including Bart Mellish — who has declared victory over the LNP in Brisbane’s Aspley but is sweating on a late swing to the LNP — and Meaghan Scanlon, who is threatening the LNP’s Sid Cramp’s hold on the Gold Coast seat of Gaven.

While Ms Palaszczuk said she was confident of winning a majority, she would not restate a central commitment of her campaign: that she would not do post-election deals and would prefer to be in opposition than return to minority government. “I am not even thinking of that. I am confident, I have just spoken to Evan Moorhead, the state secretary. He is confident, we are both confident of a Labor majority,” she said yesterday.

In recognition of voters’ abandonment of the major parties — in favour of One Nation, KAP, and the Greens — Ms Palaszczuk yesterday reached out to disgruntled voters. “The people of Queensland have spoken in terms of rejecting (One Nation) values (as) not being aligned to their values, but let me say this, even to people out there who voted One Nation, I will work with you,” she said.

One Nation lost state leader Steve Dickson when the LNP picked up the defector’s Sunshine Coast seat of Buderim. One Nation’s Stephen Andrew looked set to oust Labor’s Jim Pearce from the seat of Mirani.

But the minor party’s biggest impact was its effect on the LNP vote, sending it diving, and not returning it through preferences. One Nation preferences helped Labor win the LNP seats of Mansfield and Mount Ommaney. Ms Palaszczuk confirmed yesterday that she would keep her vow to veto the federal loan to Adani. “As I said, yes we will,” she said.

Mr Nicholls’ leadership is vulnerable, after he rolled veteran LNP MP Lawrence Springborg last year. His deputy, Deb Frecklington, Brisbane MP Tim Mander and ambitious former Newman government minister David Crisafulli are the likely frontrunners.

There will be soul-searching over the LNP’s campaign strategies, including failing to go negative enough, the decision not to put One Nation last on its how-to-vote cards across the state, and the failure to have a clear answer on whether the LNP would form minority government with One Nation.