Premier facing predicament

ANNASTACIA Palaszczuk’s pathway to secure the 47 seats needed to form majority government just became further obstructed.

Today’s Galaxy Poll demonstrates how Labor is being stripped of seats in the volatile North but not replacing them in the southeast corner.

The Townsville electorate of Mundingburra, which has decided who governs Queensland before, is an example.

Political greenhorn Coralee O’Rourke won the seat with Greens and a Palmer United Party support in 2015 as angry voters numbered every box on their ballot paper.

Now the same is happening to oust O’Rourke.

Compulsory preferencing means votes from One Nation and Katter’s Australian Party are flowing to the LNP.

And the Tim Nicholls-led team will win the seat despite one in four of their voters deserting them at this election.

The same story is being repeated across regional seats.

One Nation is stripping significant votes from the LNP and soaking up support from independents. But where Pauline Hanson’s party finishes third, Labor loses.

And that’s a problem when marginal LNP electorates in the southeast aren’t swapping to Labor’s side of the ledger.

Glass House and Bonney, both marginal LNP electorates are 50:50 equations.

On the Gold Coast in particular, where Labor is desperate for a foothold, the Palaszczuk Government is struggling to make an impact.

Labor is even fighting to resist a One Nation surge in Logan, a seat that shouldn’t even be in play.

With two weeks until polling day, Labor faces a choice.

Does Palaszczuk attempt to turn things around in the North and hopes the southeast seats switch? Or does she forsake the regions and try to win the southeast?

But pathways are littered with potholes.