Opinion: Hinkler voters switched off to Labor from the start

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has etched himself a special place in the pages of the Liberal party and nation's history books with a victory few saw coming.

Labor candidate for Hinkler Richard Pascoe hands out how to vote cards at Kepnock High School. For Labor, it was a disappointing election with a swing against the party in Hinkler. Picture: Mike Knott BUN180519PAS6

Opinion by editor Adam Wratten

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has etched himself a special place in the pages of the Liberal party and nation's history books with an election victory few saw coming.

He deserves the plaudits.

Saturday's election result was a rejection of Labor's controversial platform.

No where was this rejection more strongly felt than in regional Queensland, particularly Hinkler, where the electorate recorded the highest pre-poll figure anywhere in the country.

I'd suggest this showed voters were clearly not wanting to listen to Labor's message.

It is no surprise Keith Pitt has been returned for the LNP.

He was the best candidate by some way locally and has a strong record of delivery.

What is a surprise is that there was a swing towards him, given the chaos of the Coalition during the past six years and that some of his policies had been controversial and polarising, such as the introduction of the Cashless Debit Card.

It's still too early to understand the full lessons from Saturday, but Labor wasn't the only party to lose its share of the vote locally.

One Nation also fell, the Greens barely made an impact and Clive Palmer must be disappointed at the numbers for his candidate, Joseph Ellul, after such a huge advertising blitz.

One consequence I do hope happens from this result is that it shakes the Queensland Labor Government.

The government needs to get on board with the Hinkler Regional Deal immediately.

With a state election next year, it's time for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her team to start taking seriously the concerns of the people of Bundaberg.

I hope they don't repeat the same mistakes federal Labor has made.

Just days out from an election and the party was playing semantics and unable to speak in plain language about how it would handle the Hinkler Regional Deal.

Whoever the next leader of Australian Labor Party is they must fight once more for the centre and not be held hostage to the far left.

Originally published as Opinion: Hinkler voters switched off to Labor from the start