LABOR AT WORK ON NUMBERS
MOST Queenslanders don’t believe Annastacia Palaszczuk deserves a second term but have resigned themselves to a Labor victory at today’s state election.
As the leaders yesterday blitzed crucial southeast corner marginal seats, a Galaxy Poll revealed two out of three Queenslanders were unimpressed with Ms Palaszczuk’s efforts in high office.
The findings came as Labor was under fire for its $ 500 million election- eve tax heist with warnings the revenue grab would hit ordinary Queenslanders in the hip pocket.
It was also revealed Labor had raided another $ 800 million from Government entities, used dubious debt figures to dress up its election costings and pushed out the cost of much- hyped M1 upgrades beyond the budget.
“The last election I had to climb Mount Everest and I think I’m going to have to climb Mount Everest again,” Ms Palaszczuk said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls, who has postponed the $ 5.4 billion Cross River Rail to fund many of his commitments, bumbled his way through a breakfast television interview in which he almost inadvertently advocated a vote for One Nation.
“It’s been a long campaign, I was simply going to say that you need to vote one for your local LNP candidate, as I’ve said probably 500 times during this election campaign,” he later said.
After Galaxy research also showed One Nation’s support had slipped during the campaign, Pauline Hanson rejected the findings despite trumpeting the results when they indicated enormous backing nine months ago.
The Courier- Mail Galaxy Poll showed Labor leading the LNP 52 per cent to 48 per cent on a two- party preferred basis although preference flows from One Nation will be crucial to the major parties.
While pundits were predicting the LNP would not be able to form government in their own right, the party was confident it would defy expectation and advance its numbers through strong preference flow across the state.
Labor faces losses in the regions but could pick up enough replacement seats in the southeast corner to avoid any wheeling and dealing with crossbench MPs after backflipping on a promise not to do deals after the 2015 election.
And amid the tumult, there’s mounting concern independents may snare seats such as Noosa and Macalister from the major parties.
The latest poll showed Queenslanders were unconvinced about Ms Palaszczuk’s efforts governing over the past three years following a tumultuous term in which two MPs joined the crossbench and four ministers resigned.
The poll found 46 per cent thought Ms Palaszczuk did not deserve to be re- elected while a further 18 per cent were uncommitted. Just over one in three back her re- election.
The split mirrors voting intentions and indicates One Nation supporters were more likely to put the LNP higher than Labor on ballot papers.