Andrews ‘panic bad politics’

A LEADING political expert says Mcpherson MP Karen Andrews appeared to have “pressed the panic button” with her surprise statement about the light rail.

Ms Andrews stunned city leaders, including Mayor Tom Tate, when she on Monday declared that no federal funding should go towards the extension to the airport through Palm Beach as currently proposed.

Griffith University political guru Paul Williams said the move was “bad politics” that had “drawn fire” to her campaign.

“It’s almost like she’s hit the panic button unnecessarily,” Dr Williams said.

“She’s drawn a big red arrow to her fears. She should have let that one go through to the keeper I think. She’s made an enemy of Tom Tate. I don’t think it’s good politics.”

A Yougov poll this week showed Ms Andrews’ margin halving to 6 per cent, down from 12.2 per cent in 2019.

Her first preference vote is also predicted to fall to 42 per cent, with beneficiaries being the Greens on 17 per cent (up from 11 per cent in 2019) and the United Australia Party doubling its share to 6 per cent.

Dr Williams said the fact that Mcpherson is a border electorate may have been a factor in the poll results.

“It’s not unexpected that there’d be a decent swing away from the high watermark of 2019 against the LNP,” Dr Williams said.

“Given that Clive Palmer has run a high-profile campaign, a lot of Liberal voters have left the Morrison camp and moved to Palmer in protest over the lockdowns, particularly on the Gold Coast, where they hurt a lot of small business people.

“What is a surprise is the swing. A 6 per cent after-preference swing is bigger than the 3 to 4 per cent swing across the rest of Queensland.”