Live updates: Queensland polls officially open as the LNP tries to ...

Psychic croc Jack the Ripper predicts Labor win

1 hours agoSat 26 Oct 2024 at 12:53am

1.62 million Queenslanders vote at early polling centres

1 hours agoSat 26 Oct 2024 at 12:45am

What matters to voters in Queensland's most marginal seat?

1 hours agoSat 26 Oct 2024 at 12:14am

Reporting by Georgia Loney

Labor claims their signage was cut down or moved by LNP workers at three sites in the hotly contested seat of Mundingburra this morning, where ALP MP Les Walker is fighting to keep his seat.

"We've escalated to the ECQ already," Mr Walker said.

But the LNP says Labor was breaching long-standing agreements about where signs should go.

The LNP's Peter Lindsay said workers had moved Labor signs "which were on the right hand side of the gate, when they should have been on the left".

Separately, both the ALP and the KAP have reported their signs have been defaced in and around Townsville in recent days.

Mr Lindsay said the LNP was not responsible.

... for the number of locations to register an election sausage sizzle.

According to Democracy Sausage — a crowd-sourced map of sausage and cake availability at Australian elections (it's like the Antony Green of BBQ foods) — more than 340 locations across Queensland have logged a snag.

What a time to be alive.

The Brisbane inner city seat of McConnel is held by Labor's Grace Grace but there's been a big push here by the Greens.

Martin, a voter at New Farm, wants a change of government but concedes LNP leader David Crisafulli is an "unknown".

Another says Mr Crisafulli "not very appealing to me at all" and he'd prefer a coalition between Labor and Greens.

Voters across the state tell us what matters to them this election.

Reporting by Hannah Walsh in Longreach

The LNP has held Queensland's largest seat since 1957.

Gregory is bigger than Victoria and Tasmania combined, with a spine running along the Capricorn Highway from Blackwater through Emerald and Barcaldine to Longreach and on to the Northern Territory and South Australian borders.

The LNP's Lachlan Miller won the outback seat in 2020 with a margin of 17.2 per cent but is not running again.

Barcaldine Regional Council's former mayor Sean Dillon will run for the LNP against Labor's Rebecca Humphreys. 

The LNP is expected to keep its grip.

Reporting by Grace Whiteside in Bundaberg

Labor incumbent Tim Smith and LNP candidate Bree Watson are at the same polling booth in Bundaberg.

Mr Smith won the seat by just nine votes in 2020.

"Election days are always exciting, especially for people who are political nerds like me," he says.

Bundaberg had some of the strongest pre-polling figures in the state.

Ms Watson reckons it'll favour the LNP.

"It shows that a lot of people have made up their mind and they're ready to get on with it."

Key Event

1h agoSat 26 Oct 2024 at 12:53am

Jack the Ripper, a Cairns crocodile with a 90 per cent success rate, has predicted Labor's Steven Miles will win the state election.

Key Event

1h agoSat 26 Oct 2024 at 12:45am

Electoral Commission Queensland confirms 1.62 million Queenslanders voted at early polling centres this election.

Together with postal and telephone votes, just under 2 million Queenslanders will have voted early.

It's well clear of the 2020 state election figures, although those were affected by COVID.

Let's take a look at the current state of play with Jessica van Vonderen.

Queensland's parliament has 93 seats — right now Labor has 51 and the LNP has 35.

Katter's Australian Party has four seats, The Greens have two and there's one independent.

The most important number is 47 — that's how many seats a party needs to govern in its own right without having to negotiate.

Watch the full video below for more.

Reporting by Liam O'Connell in Mackay

The race in the Mackay is the closest it's been in more than a decade.

Only five people have held the seat in the past 100 years.

The last time it was this tight was in the 2012 Campbell Newman landslide, when Labor's Tim Mulherin held Mackay as the red team's then most marginal seat.

LNP candidate Nigel Dalton has promised tougher penalties for young offenders.

Meanwhile Labor's Belinda Hassan says her party will build a satellite hospital and six bulk-billing clinics.

They're both well known: Mr Dalton was a senior police officer in Mackay and Ms Hassan was elected deputy mayor earlier this year before standing down to run in the state election.

Read more about whether Mackay's most loyal Labor voters are "rusting off" here.

Key Event

1h agoSat 26 Oct 2024 at 12:14am

Labor won Bundaberg by just nine votes in 2020.

The ABC's Johanna Marie asks: what matters most to voters in the state's most marginal seat?

The ABC's Julia Andre joins us now from the Gold Coast.

Julia: I'm here in Runaway Bay in the electorate of Broadwater, which is the Opposition Leader David Crisafulli's electorate.

Now, it's such a safe electorate for him that he's not even here this morning — he's in another Gold Coast electorate, Gaven, where the race is really heating up between Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon and ex-TV journalist, Bianca Stone.

You can get a democracy samosa or a sausage in the Brisbane electorate of Maiwar, held by Greens MP Michael Berkman.

Maiwar is considered a "very safe" seat for the minor party, held by Mr Berkman since 2017.

Key Event

2h agoFri 25 Oct 2024 at 11:50pm

The major party leaders both cast their votes outside of Brisbane.

Steven Miles told reporters at Kallangur State School, north of Brisbane, only time would tell if he'd done enough to secure the leadership.

David Crisafulli voted at Springwood State High School in Logan.

As he dropped his ballot in the box, he said "Here's to a fresh start for Queensland".

Steven Miles has broken former Labor premier Anna Bligh's record after hitting 36 electorates in 36 hours.

In 2012 Ms Bligh visited 50 seats in five days.

Yesterday Mr Miles rode a jet ski from Southport to Bonney, telling media "What better way to get between two Gold Coast seats than on a jet ski".

Key Event

2h agoFri 25 Oct 2024 at 11:34pm

A healthcare worker tells David Crisafulli "I really hope you don't stuff it up" as he campaigns to wrest the Gold Coast seat of Gaven from Labor's Meaghan Scanlon.

Former TV presenter Bianca Stone is the LNP candidate there.

"Are you going to cut any more jobs?" she asks.

"We’ve spoken about that, it was a mistake," Mr Crisafulli replied.

Deb has asked how we know polls are tightening.

The latest Newspoll predicts a two-party-preferred result of 52.5 per cent to the LNP and 47.5 per cent to Labor after polling 1,151 Queenslanders from last from last Friday.

A robo-poll survey of 3,651 Queenslanders on Thursday night by Labor-aligned firm uComms suggests an even tighter result.

More than a third of Queenslanders already voted ahead of polling day.

Labor leader Steven Miles promises democracy sausages at pre-polling booths if re-elected.

Read more about the early voting trend here.

Reporting by Mackenzie Colahan in Gaven

Labor's rising star Meaghan Scanlon is fighting for political survival in the Gold Coast seat of Gaven where she's up against ex-TV reporter Bianca Stone.

The LNP is throwing the kitchen sink at the popular housing minister's marginal seat – the only Gold Coast electorate held by the Labor party – with several sitting MPs pausing their own campaigns to help Ms Stone on the booths.

Eight LNP MPs, including health spokeswoman Ros Bates, as well as former premier Rob Borbidge and federal MP Cameron Caldwell were in Gaven this week. 

Bonney MP Sam O’Connor says it'll be "an incredibly hard seat" for the LNP to pick up.

"Bianca is absolutely worth supporting to get her over the line.

"We're all in behind her and we are throwing everything we can at this because we know it's an important seat."

Making his last pitch before polling day, David Crisafulli told the ABC it'll be a tough election.

The LNP will need more than a dozen seats to win.

He's promised a "fresh start" for Queensland.