SEAT FIGHT

EXCLUSIVE: POLL PUTS PRESSURE ON TOWNSVILLE’S AT-RISK MPS

TOWNSVILLE’S three MPS will be under increasing scrutiny over their performance on crime, Adani and jobs – and they are at risk of losing their positions.

New Yougov polling reveals on a two-party preferred basis, state Labor and the LNP are locked at 50:50, a result that imperils the Government’s grip on marginal seats like Townsville and Mundingburra, which are held by Scott Stewart and Coralee O’rourke.

Youth crime has been a major issue in Townsville in the past year with the public demanding representatives take hard action.

ANNASTACIA Palaszczuk may struggle to hold on to two marginal Townsville seats at the upcoming state election, risking the State Government’s slim two-seat majority.

A shock new Yougov poll, conducted for the Townsville Bulletin, has revealed on a twoparty preferred basis, Labor and the LNP are locked at 50:50, a result that would imperil the Government’s grip on the seats of Townsville, and Mundingburra, held by Coralee O’rourke, among other seats like Aspley and Gaven.

Eight months out from the official start of the October 31 election, the poll shows Labor and the LNP are locked in a dead heat with Queensland facing the prospect of a messy minority administration for its first-ever four-year term.

Conducted during the first sitting week of State Parliament for 2020, the poll of more than 1000 voters from across Queensland found Labor’s primary vote had inched forward two points to 34 per cent in the five months since the height of Deputy Premier Jackie Trad’s integrity crisis in August.

The Palaszczuk Government holds a two-seat majority in Queensland’s 93-seat parliament while the LNP hold 38 seats and needs to win another nine to govern in its own right.

Townsville’s three MPS struggled through 2019 owing to a number of missteps, particularly on the Galilee Basin and their refusal to a sign a pledge to open the untouched mining area while copping heat for the State Government’s perceived interference in allowing Adani’s Carmichael mine to go ahead.

The Premier’s backflip on Adani immediately after Labor’s disastrous federal election campaign left egg on a few faces. It spurred Ms Palaszczuk to haul the entire government up to Townsville for a week in September, deploying ministers and bags of cash in an attempt to soothe voters.

But it was an end of year crime wave that underlined a tumultuous year for the three MPS, as residents angered by rampant juvenile offending demanded action, protesting outside Thuringowa MP Aaron Harper’s office in October.

Mr Harper and his colleagues got no cut-through in the community with government talking points, and within a fortnight attempted to break away with crime-busting ideas of their own.

Mr Harper’s idea of shipping recidivist offenders and their families out of town backfired after it was revealed the program, trialled a few years ago, had not worked.

The seat of Townsville, won by Scott Stewart at the last election by just 214 votes, is the most marginal in Queensland, after an aggressive campaign by the LNP in 2017.

But the LNP have yet to announce candidates for Townsville’s three Labor-held seats, though it is understood the preselection process is well advanced.

So far only one possible candidate, police inspector Glenn Doyle, has been flagged as a front runner to go against Ms O’rourke; one of only two North Queensland ministers in the Cabinet.

While Ms Palaszczuk ( pictured right) has plummeted to become the most unpopular Queensland premier in recent history, her second-term Government has begun to claw back lost support, in part due to the LNP’S summer of self

TOWNSVILLE’S THREE MPS STRUGGLED THROUGH 2019 OWING TO A NUMBER OF MISSTEPS, PARTICULARLY ON THE GALILEE BASIN AND THEIR REFUSAL TO A SIGN A PLEDGE TO OPEN THE UNTOUCHED MINING AREA

inflicted foibles. The party’s primary vote slipped by the same margin to 35 per cent, while Pauline Hanson’s

One Nation improved to 15 per cent and the Greens dropped to 10 per cent.

But Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington (pictured left) also faces internal criticism that she is blowing an opportunity to beat Labor following her full-frontal assault on Ms Palaszczuk’s fashion and failure to prevent veteran MP Jann Stuckey’ ssu dden re signation.

Ms Palaszczuk holds a commanding lead over Ms Frecklington as better premier 34 per cent to 22 per cent after the number of voters who preferred the LNP leader plunged by 7 per cent.

However, with 44 per cent uncommitted, vast swathes of Queenslanders are indifferent about both leaders, a record high, which is three times larger than before Campbell Newman lost in 2015 and four times larger than when Ms Bligh lost in 2012. The same sentiment is echoed in the verdict of voters on the performance of Ms Palaszczuk and Ms Frecklington with the number of voters dissatisfied with both leaders significantly outstripping the number satisfied.

Just 29 per cent of Queenslanders approve of the Premier’s performance.