EXIT POLL: Dale Last enjoying loyalty in Ayr voting

Free school lunches haven’t done much to win support in the Burdekin electorate, where angry residents feel change is needed in Brisbane.

Ayr is a heartland for Dale Last. It remains to be seen if voting outcomes are different in the southern side of the electorate where Moranbah-based Anne Baker has a higher public presence as the long-serving former Isaac Regional Council mayor.

Free school lunches have not done much to win support in the Burdekin electorate, with some confused and angry voters set against the Labor government.

An exit poll conducted by our journalist outside an Ayr early voting location revealed that Liberal politician Dale Last was enjoying loyalty from the constituents he’s represented for the last nine years.

Exit poll results (40 people polled)

Liberals, 24

Labor, 11

Katters, 4

One Nation, 2

Dale Last volunteer Doug "Tippo" Chappell with his pigging ute that got stolen two years ago. "I'll do anything for Dale Last, I'll mow his lawn, because he made sure the ones who stole my ute got locked up."

Several voters were unable to name the party they’d voted for, except to say “Dale Last, whichever one he is”.

Home Hill mum Christeine Lenkeit said she was not voting Labor because Steven Miles’ offer of free school lunches for $1.2 billion “doesn't make sense”.

“You have kids with allergies, fussy kids, I’m a single mum of three daughters and I don’t want someone else feeding them,” she said.

“There are so many other things that money could be used for. Even when it comes to littlies you won’t be able to tell how much they are eating, at least when you pack the lunch you can see how much they ate of it when they come home.”

Anne Baker volunteer Gino Giachin said there was a feel at the voting booths that Liberal were going to win it, "after some time, people want a change, whether they need one or not."

Suzanne Jeffrey used to live in Brisbane and owned a laundry business, she now lives in a converted bus in Home Hill.

Ms Jeffrey said Labor had “done jack sh-t”.

“They’ve done nothing apart from put us in debt. We were in small business and Covid destroyed us,” Ms Jeffrey said.

Suzanne Jeffrey said Labor had done "jack sh-t" to help her as a business owner during Covid.

Brandon resident Roslyn Elliot said she was worried about “how Albanese is going with everything”.

“I’m just not comfortable with where it’s going. What they are doing with energy is scary and letting Chris Bowen do what he wants, and they keep giving us handouts as a bandaid fix and I don’t know about you but my groceries are through the roof,” Ms Elliot said

Roslyn Elliot said she was "a bit worried about how Albanese was going with everything", and cost of living.

Allen Orr from Ayr said he was concerned the Liberals had “no policy on abortion” and voted Labor because of it.

“Abortion is a big thing, and they haven’t released a policy,” he said

Rodney Cooper said the issues that influenced his voting was: “crime number one, cost of living number two, our roads number three and our bridge (Burdekin Bridge) fourth because it needs to be replaced and Labor have been in power long enough to do that.”

Rodney and Win Cooper felt that Dale Last had done a good job as their representative.

Clive Glasgow from Ayr said he voted for the Katters because he had an issue with the “focus on the South-East Corner” and the lack of attention on the rest of the state.

“I also voted for the Katter Party because they support sensible firearm laws,” Mr Glasgow said.

Peter Henderson from Brandon said his vote for Dale Last was influenced by the Glendale issue.

“I just don’t understand the state government wanting to relocate the Glendale town, I don’t understand it.”

Peter Henderson from Brandon said the Glendale issue influenced his vote. "I just don't understand why the state government wants to relocate them."

Ayr is a heartland for Dale Last, who lives close by in Alligator Creek.

It remains to be seen if voting outcomes are different in the southern side of the electorate where Moranbah-based Anne Baker has a higher public presence as the long-serving former Isaac Regional Council mayor.

Mayor Anne Baker. Mayor of Isaac Regional Council. Friday 18 August 2023 Picture: Michaela Harlow

Originally published as EXIT POLL: Dale Last enjoying loyalty in Ayr voting