Qld voters send message to major parties as Greens join Labor celebrations

Anthony Albanese will be the next Prime Minister of Australia, after an extraordinary surge in votes for independents and minor parties across the country, with shock results in Queensland underpinning his victory.

Anthony Albanese will be the next Prime Minister of Australia, after an extraordinary surge in votes for independents and minor parties across the country.

But it remained uncertain whether Labor would be able to form government in its own right, with a hung parliament a possibility.

It could be days before a final result in known, with extremely close contests continuing in key seats.

There were shock results in South East Queensland amid a surge in the Green vote, with three-cornered contests between the minor party, Labor, and the LNP in the Brisbane’s inner-city seats, while teal independents were picking up seats in NSW and Victoria.

The Greens were also on track to pick up a second Queensland senate spot for the first time.

There was a bloodbath for Scott Morrison’s party which was seat to lose about a dozen seats, including the Queensland electorates of Brisbane and Ryan, while Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was set to be a high-profile casualty.

While Labor will form the next government, it was yet to secure the necessary 76 seats out of 151 needed to govern in its own right.

“We expect to be in a position to govern, but we hope to be in a position to form majority government,” a senior Labor source said.

Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese. (Photo by Wendell Teodoro / AFP)

Question marks over Labor’s seats in Griffith, Gilmore and high-profile candidate Kristina Keneally’s seat of Fowler, where she was parachuted in, make it difficult for Labor to claim the net seven seats it needs for an outright victory.

LNP rising star Trevor Evans conceded defeat last night in Brisbane, but Labor’s Madonna Jarrett was yet to claim victory with the Greens slightly ahead on the primary vote last night.

Chaotic results saw the Coalition looking like holding some seats it was expected to lose in Tasmania, and going backwards in electorates thought safe.

There was a rise votes for independents and minor parties across the country as Australians sent a message to the political establishment.

The record number of pre-polls and postal votes were expected to skew the early results, with both major parties cautioning against the initial count.

But senior Labor figures admitted they had work to do to win back voters turning to the minor parties, as the ALP’s primary vote fell to about 31 per cent, below where it was in 2019.

The Coalition was being punished in NSW, where Labor was ahead in Bennelong, Reid and Robertson, while Higgins and Chisholm were also likely to change hands, as well as Boothby in South Australia.

Early results from WA had Swan, Pearce and Hasluck likely to fall as well.

Teal independents were set to defeat moderate Liberals including Dave Sharma, Tim Wilson, Jason Falinski, Trent Zimmerman and Mr Frydenberg.

The Coalition’s only likely win was in Gilmore where a NSW state government minister Andrew Constance was running for the Nationals.

There was a big rise in the Greens primary vote in South East Queensland, including in Brisbane, Ryan and Griffith where they had potential to snatch victory from Labor and the LNP.

The Greens Max Chandler-Mather had the highest primary vote in Griffith, with a huge jump in support after running a campaign on a local airport noise issue, with Labor’s incumbent still in the race but in a close contest.

In Ryan, a safe Coalition seat lost to Labor for just eight months at a 2001 by-election, was coming down to nailbiting results with the Greens likely to claim victory.

There was an almost 10 per cent surge to the Greens in the seat, which had the minor party running second and putting pressure on first-term LNP MP Julian Simmonds.

There was a scare for Mr Dutton in his seat of Dickson, with Labor projecting they would narrowly win it earlier in the evening, but the vote tightened and saw him retain the lead with Coalition sources confident he would win.

Max Chandler-Mather, Elizabeth Watson-Brown, Stephen Bates, Penny Allman-Payne and Larissa Waters at the Greens party at West End. Picture: Richard Walker

Longman on the Sunshine Coast and Leichhardt in far north Queensland, were close but LNP sources said they were looking like staying with them.

Queensland Labor Senator Murray Watt said the Greens vote tended to be larger on the day, but fell back as pre-polls and postals were counted.

“Clearly we have work to do to appeal to people parking their vote with the minor parties,” Senator Watt said.

Opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said Labor was still hoping to form majority, when asked if they would still rule out doing a deal with the Greens if needed.

Federal election 2022 live: How every seat is falling in Qld

“Our intention is to be a majority government,” he said. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce issued a strong warning against voting for independents.

“What I would say to both sides, if you believe independents are the way to go, let’s have 151 independents, let’s have total chaos on Parliament. We’d be a laughing stock,” Mr Joyce said.

Mr Morrison went with his wife Jenny and their two daughters, Abbey and Lily, to vote at Lilli Pilli primary school in his Sydney electorate of Cook.

“What I know is each and every day, I’ve approached this job with a great sense of responsibility,” he said.

Also in Sydney, Mr Albanese appeared at the Marrickville library with partner Jodie Haydon and son Nathan to cast his vote.

“What I wanted to know in myself was that I hadn’t left anything on the field. And I’ve done that. I’ve done my best for the cause of Labor, which I’m passionate about,” he said.

Originally published as Qld voters send message to major parties as Greens join Labor celebrations