Inside the ‘nasty’ Toowoomba North state election
It’s been described as one of the nastiest elections Toowoomba has ever seen. At 6pm tonight it will be over, one way or another.
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One of the most heated election campaigns Toowoomba has seen will come to an end at 6pm today.
The campaign has seen hundreds of signs from all parties damaged, Greens candidate Alyce Nelligan being told because of her physical disability she isn’t fit for parliament, LNP MP Trevor Watts being told people with dyslexia shouldn’t be in parliament, and Labor’s Megan O’Hara Sullivan having her supporters followed home by anti-abortion activists.
Mr Watts said it was disappointing the election turned nasty.
“We’ve had well over $8000 worth of damage, destruction and theft of our signs,” he said.
“Democracy is something we should all fight to preserve and it’s disappointing when people think their opinion is more important than everybody elses.”
Cr O’Hara Sullivan said she blamed the nastiness on examples set by Donald Trump.
“I don’t solely blame Trump, but that hyper-partisanship is coming from a world leader who thinks he can say and do anything and treat people in the most disrespectful way,” she said.
Ms Nelligan said when people see President Trump act that way, it gives them permission to act in the same way.
While Trevor Watts grew his margin at the 2017 election, both major parties are expecting the result to be much closer this time around.
An LNP insider said this was because of public perceptions that Labor had done a good job at handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Labor insider said if there was a uniform swing towards the party across the state, that would be Cr O’Hara Sullivan’s best bet at grabbing the seat.