Doorknocking police officer may hold key to Palaszczuk government re-election

The future of Annastacia Palaszczuk’s could very well be in the hands of a doorknocking police officer.

ALP candidate Melissa McMahon with three-month-old baby Mackenzie meets real estate agent Brian Reynolds in Beenleigh, south of Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

For Annastacia Palaszczuk to have any hope of securing majority government at the Queensland election, police officer and mother Melissa McMahon must win the new seat of Macalister for Labor.

But the second-time Labor candidate is trying to ignore the expectations of the Premier, and ALP headquarters, as she aims to doorknock and call 10,000 of the electorate’s voters — in the growth corridor south of Brisbane and north of the Gold Coast — before Ms Palaszczuk calls the poll.

“I’m up to about 2000 doorknocks and 3000 phone calls, so we’re almost halfway there, but the longer (Ms Palaszczuk) leaves it, the more time I’ve got to speak to as many people as possible,” said Ms McMahon, whose most recent position with the Queensland Police Service was as a senior project officer in the area of domestic violence.

“But there’s also a part of me who wants to get it over and done with, sooner rather than later.”

Notionally held by Labor with a margin of 6.4 per cent, Macalister is one of four new electorates created by the biggest electoral redistribution in Queensland in 30 years, which boosted the number of seats from 89 to 93.

The electorate takes in the working-class suburbs of Beenleigh and Eagleby, as well as the aspirational Cornubia, and is the type of city-fringe seat where Pauline Hanson’s One Nation — the wildcard at the next election — is likely to poll well.

That’s why Ms McMahon has been doorknocking in Eagleby and Beenleigh, where One Nation scored strong support in last year’s federal election.

“One Nation support, it’s out there … there are a lot of factors: people feel voters are forgotten out here, that jobs are scarce, and infrastructure spending always seems to be in the inner-urban areas — all those things manifest themselves in voters being disillusioned,” she said. “That’s why I’ve got to get out and talk to them, knock on every door.”

Minority Premier Ms Palas­zczuk holds 42 seats, and needs 47 seats for a majority. Of the new electorates, Labor is expected to win Jordan (near Ipswich) and Macalister, while the LNP should win Ninderry (Sunshine Coast) and hopes to pick up marginal Bonney (Gold Coast).

The LNP has preselected Judi van Manen, the wife of local federal MP for Forde Bert van Manen, to run against Ms McMahon in Macalister.