Next Queensland state election
Encyclopedia
The 2012 Queensland state election will elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly
. Queensland elections must be held on a Saturday, the last possible date being calculated by reference to the previous election writs, and therefore slightly longer than 3 years after the previous election. All seats in the Legislative Assembly, whose current members were elected at the 2009 election
, will become vacant.
The Labor Party
, currently led by Premier Anna Bligh
, will attempt to win a sixth term against the Liberal National Party. It would also be the ALP's attempt at a ninth consecutive election victory having won every general election since 1989 although it was out of office between 1996 and 1998.
In the 2009 state election
—of 89 seats total—Labor won 51 seats, the Liberal Nationals won 34 seats, with four seats held by independents.
Katter's Australian Party
will be contesting the election for the first time. It currently holds two seats in parliament, one gained as a result of Aidan McLindon
's merger of his Queensland Party
with Katter's group and the other after LNP MP Shane Knuth
defected.
Queensland uses Optional Preferential Voting
. The election will be conducted by the Electoral Commission of Queensland, an independent body answerable to Parliament.
will lead the LNP electoral team against Labor in the election and simultaneously contest the seat of Ashgrove
as the LNP candidate. If he is successful, Newman will assume the position of parliamentary leader of the LNP, and if the party is elected to government, Premier of Queensland.
Newman is not in the parliament therefore the parliamentary leader of the Liberal National Party, and therefore Opposition Leader
, is Jeff Seeney
.
was held on 21 March 2009 to elect the 89 members of the Legislative Assembly
.
Section 80 of the Queensland Electoral Act 1992 states that an election must be held on a Saturday; and that the election campaign must run for a minimum of 26 or a maximum of 56 days following the issue of the writs. Five to seven days following the issue of the writs, the electoral roll is closed, which gives voters a final opportunity to enrol or to notify the Electoral Commission of Queensland of any changes in their place of residence.
The Constitution Act Amendment Act 1890 provides that the Legislative Assembly continues for (up to) three years from the day set for the return of writs for the previous election, after which time the Legislative Assembly lapses.
The day set for the return of writs for the 2009 election was 20 April 2009. The Electoral Act requires the Governor to issue writs for a general election "not later than 4 days after the day on which the Legislative Assembly is dissolved or expires by the passage of time" (section 78(2)).
The last possible day for the next election is therefore a Saturday not more than 56 days beyond 4 days after the expiry of the Legislative Assembly on 24 April 2012, namely, 16 June 2012. The Premier may advise the Governor to issue writs for a general election at an earlier date.
where the Australian Labor Party
led by Premier Anna Bligh
competed against the newly formed Liberal National Party led by Leader of the Opposition Lawrence Springborg
for a fifth consecutive term in office. The election was the first for Bligh who had succeeded former Premier Peter Beattie
a little over a year before the election. Springborg had taken the former Coalition to the 2004 and 2006 State elections losses but had reduced Labor's margin at each.
The Labor Party went into the election with a substantially comfortable margin with 59 seats to the Liberal National Parties 25 seats. Queensland re-elected the Labor Party with a reduced majority and in turn elected the first Government to be led by a female within Australia. The only Green member of parliament lost his seat of Indooroopilly
and the only One Nation member, Rosa Lee Long
failed in her attempt to win the new seat of Dalrymple
after her electorate of Tablelands was abolished.
polling was conducted via random telephone number selection in city and country areas. Sampling sizes
usually consist of around 1000 electors, with the declared margin of error
at around ±3 percent.
Queensland Legislative Assembly
The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...
. Queensland elections must be held on a Saturday, the last possible date being calculated by reference to the previous election writs, and therefore slightly longer than 3 years after the previous election. All seats in the Legislative Assembly, whose current members were elected at the 2009 election
Queensland state election, 2009
The Queensland state election was held to elect members to the unicameral Parliament of Queensland on 21 March 2009. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National Party of Queensland led by Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, and gain a...
, will become vacant.
The Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
, currently led by Premier Anna Bligh
Anna Bligh
Anna Maria Bligh is an Australian politician and the Premier of Queensland since 2007. The 2009 Queensland state election was the first time a female-led political party won or retained state or federal government in Australia...
, will attempt to win a sixth term against the Liberal National Party. It would also be the ALP's attempt at a ninth consecutive election victory having won every general election since 1989 although it was out of office between 1996 and 1998.
In the 2009 state election
Queensland state election, 2009
The Queensland state election was held to elect members to the unicameral Parliament of Queensland on 21 March 2009. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National Party of Queensland led by Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, and gain a...
—of 89 seats total—Labor won 51 seats, the Liberal Nationals won 34 seats, with four seats held by independents.
Katter's Australian Party
Katter's Australian Party
Katter's Australian Party is a registered political party in Australia. It was formed by the independent Federal Member of Parliament Bob Katter with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral Commission on 3 June 2011...
will be contesting the election for the first time. It currently holds two seats in parliament, one gained as a result of Aidan McLindon
Aidan McLindon
Aidan Patrick McLindon is an Australian politician. He was first elected for the seat of Beaudesert to the Queensland State Parliament for the Liberal National Party of Queensland at the 2009 Queensland Election...
's merger of his Queensland Party
The Queensland Party
The Queensland Party is a political party based in Queensland, Australia. It is not affiliated with the North Queensland Party. The Queensland Party had one member in the Queensland Legislative Assembly and claims to be "neither left nor right with a focus on providing a balanced, moderate voice"...
with Katter's group and the other after LNP MP Shane Knuth
Shane Knuth
Shane Andrew Knuth is an Australian politician. He has represented the seats of Charters Towers and Dalrymple in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, for the National Party , the Liberal National Party and Katter's Australian Party .Knuth was born in the Queensland town of Tully...
defected.
Queensland uses Optional Preferential Voting
Optional Preferential Voting
Optional Preferential Voting is a system of vote-casting used in the states of Queensland and New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. Most Australian elections are run under full-preference preferential voting, where all candidates must be numbered in order of the preference of the...
. The election will be conducted by the Electoral Commission of Queensland, an independent body answerable to Parliament.
Leadership of the Liberal National Party
Campbell NewmanCampbell Newman
Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman is the leader of the Liberal National Party of Queensland. He was the 15th Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 2004 to 2011....
will lead the LNP electoral team against Labor in the election and simultaneously contest the seat of Ashgrove
Electoral district of Ashgrove
The division of Ashgrove is a Queensland Legislative Assembly electoral division in the state of Queensland, Australia.It is located in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, encompassing Alderley, Ashgrove, Enoggera, The Gap, and Newmarket...
as the LNP candidate. If he is successful, Newman will assume the position of parliamentary leader of the LNP, and if the party is elected to government, Premier of Queensland.
Newman is not in the parliament therefore the parliamentary leader of the Liberal National Party, and therefore Opposition Leader
Leader of the Opposition (Queensland)
This is a list of Leaders of the Opposition in Queensland. Prior to 1898, opposition to the government of the day was less organised. Thus the Queensland Parliamentary Record does not designate Leaders of the Opposition before then....
, is Jeff Seeney
Jeff Seeney
Jeffrey William Seeney is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since the 1998 state election, representing the National Party and merged Liberal National Party ....
.
Date
In Queensland, a parliamentary term is a maximum of three years, measured from the day set for the return of the electoral writs. The previous state electionQueensland state election, 2009
The Queensland state election was held to elect members to the unicameral Parliament of Queensland on 21 March 2009. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National Party of Queensland led by Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, and gain a...
was held on 21 March 2009 to elect the 89 members of the Legislative Assembly
Queensland Legislative Assembly
The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...
.
Section 80 of the Queensland Electoral Act 1992 states that an election must be held on a Saturday; and that the election campaign must run for a minimum of 26 or a maximum of 56 days following the issue of the writs. Five to seven days following the issue of the writs, the electoral roll is closed, which gives voters a final opportunity to enrol or to notify the Electoral Commission of Queensland of any changes in their place of residence.
The Constitution Act Amendment Act 1890 provides that the Legislative Assembly continues for (up to) three years from the day set for the return of writs for the previous election, after which time the Legislative Assembly lapses.
The day set for the return of writs for the 2009 election was 20 April 2009. The Electoral Act requires the Governor to issue writs for a general election "not later than 4 days after the day on which the Legislative Assembly is dissolved or expires by the passage of time" (section 78(2)).
The last possible day for the next election is therefore a Saturday not more than 56 days beyond 4 days after the expiry of the Legislative Assembly on 24 April 2012, namely, 16 June 2012. The Premier may advise the Governor to issue writs for a general election at an earlier date.
Last election
The last state election to be held was the 2009 Queensland State electionQueensland state election, 2009
The Queensland state election was held to elect members to the unicameral Parliament of Queensland on 21 March 2009. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National Party of Queensland led by Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, and gain a...
where the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
led by Premier Anna Bligh
Anna Bligh
Anna Maria Bligh is an Australian politician and the Premier of Queensland since 2007. The 2009 Queensland state election was the first time a female-led political party won or retained state or federal government in Australia...
competed against the newly formed Liberal National Party led by Leader of the Opposition Lawrence Springborg
Lawrence Springborg
Lawrence James Springborg is an Australian politician and became Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Queensland since 2 April 2009. He was deputy leader of the new Liberal National Party...
for a fifth consecutive term in office. The election was the first for Bligh who had succeeded former Premier Peter Beattie
Peter Beattie
Peter Douglas Beattie , Australian politician, was the 36th Premier of the Australian state of Queensland for nine years and leader of the Australian Labor Party in that state for eleven and a half years...
a little over a year before the election. Springborg had taken the former Coalition to the 2004 and 2006 State elections losses but had reduced Labor's margin at each.
The Labor Party went into the election with a substantially comfortable margin with 59 seats to the Liberal National Parties 25 seats. Queensland re-elected the Labor Party with a reduced majority and in turn elected the first Government to be led by a female within Australia. The only Green member of parliament lost his seat of Indooroopilly
Electoral district of Indooroopilly
The district of Indooroopilly is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.The district is based in the western suburbs of Brisbane, and straddles both sides of the Brisbane River. It is named for the suburb of Indooroopilly and also includes the...
and the only One Nation member, Rosa Lee Long
Rosa Lee Long
Rosa Theresa Lee Long is a former member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly representing the electorate Tablelands in Northern Queensland, Australia for the One Nation Party...
failed in her attempt to win the new seat of Dalrymple
Electoral district of Dalrymple
The district of Dalrymple is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.-Geography:Based in inland northern Queensland, Dalrymple is a north–south elongated electorate, running from the Atherton Tableland west of Cairns at its northern end, down to areas...
after her electorate of Tablelands was abolished.
Retiring MPs
The following Members of Parliament have announced they will not seek re-election:Labor
- Desley BoyleDesley BoyleDesley Carole Boyle is an Australian Labor Party politician. Boyle represents the electoral district of Cairns, Queensland in the Queensland Legislative Assembly and was elected in the 1998 State election-Career:...
(CairnsElectoral district of CairnsThe electoral district of Cairns is an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly in the state of Queensland, Australia.The division encompasses the central business district and inner-suburbs of Cairns, in Far North Queensland...
) — announced 17 February 2011 - Paul LucasPaul Lucas (politician)Paul Thomas Lucas is the Attorney-General of Queensland and Minister for Local Government and Special Minister of State in the Bligh Labor Government and the Member for Lytton...
(LyttonElectoral district of LyttonThe district of Lytton is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.The district is based in the eastern suburbs of Brisbane, to the south of the Brisbane River. It is named for the suburb of Lytton and also includes the suburbs of Hemmant, Lota, Manly...
) — announced 15 September 2011 - John MickelJohn Mickel (politician)Reginald John Mickel is an Australian politician who is currently Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly and MP for the electoral district of Logan, but he will retire from those roles at the next election.-Early life:...
(LoganElectoral district of LoganThe district of Logan is an electoral division in southern Queensland, Australia.Logan encompasses urban and semi-rural environments on the southern outskirts of the Brisbane metropolitan area...
) — announced 10 August 2011 - Lindy Nelson-CarrLindy Nelson-CarrLindel Helena "Lindy" Nelson-Carr , an Australian Politician, has been the Queensland Government Minister for Communities, Disability Services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Partnerships, Multicultural Affairs, Seniors and Youth since September 2007 and has been the State Member for...
(MundingburraElectoral district of MundingburraThe district of Mundingburra is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.- Overview :The seat is one of four within the Townsville urban area in North Queensland. Significant utilities within the Mundingburra electorate are the Townsville Hospital,...
) — announced 28 March 2011 - Stephen RobertsonStephen Robertson (politician)Stephen Robertson , Australian politician, is a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly representing the electoral district of Stretton for the Australian Labor Party. He was the Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy and Minister for Trade in the cabinet of Premier Anna Bligh...
(StrettonElectoral district of StrettonThe district of Stretton is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.The district is based in the southern suburbs of Brisbane. It is named for the suburb of Stretton and also includes the suburbs of Calamvale, Eight Mile Plains, Kuraby, Sunnybank...
) — announced 27 March 2011 - Robert SchwartenRobert SchwartenRobert Evan Schwarten is an Australian politician. He was born in Rockhampton, and is married with two sons. Before his entry into politics, he was a teacher, a union official, and a ministerial advisor to the Deputy Premier. From 1985 to 1991 he was an alderman on Rockhampton City Council...
(RockhamptonElectoral district of RockhamptonThe district of Rockhampton is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.Wedged between the electoral districts of Keppel to the east and Mirani to the west, Rockhampton encompasses the bulk of the regional city of Rockhampton and many of its outlying...
) — announced 17 February 2011 - Judy SpenceJudy SpenceJudith Caroline "Judy" Spence is an Australian politician and member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for the Australian Labor Party since the 1989 election. She represented Mount Gravatt until 2009, but after a redistribution she switched to Sunnybank, which covered much of the same territory...
(SunnybankElectoral district of SunnybankThe district of Sunnybank is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.The district is based in the area of southern suburbs of Brisbane previously named as the suburb of Sunnybank before Sunnybank was broken up into smaller suburbs...
) — announced 15 December 2010
LNP
- Mike HoranMike HoranMichael James "Mike" Horan is an Australian politician representing the seat of Toowoomba South in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 18 May 1991. He was the Shadow Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries and now serves as Opposition Whip...
(Toowoomba SouthElectoral district of Toowoomba SouthThe district of Toowoomba South is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. It was created with the 1972 redistribution, and replaced the abolished Toowoomba East....
) — announced 26 March 2011
Independent
- Dorothy PrattDorothy PrattDorothy Ruth "Dolly" Pratt is an Australian politician. Born in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, she was a Justice of the Peace and coffee shop proprietor in Queensland before entering politics. She also worked at cattle sale yards. In 1998, she was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly as...
(NanangoElectoral district of NanangoThe district of Nanango is an electoral division in the state of Queensland, Australia.Nanango was the original seat of Sir Joh-Bjelke Petersen . In the 2006 legislative election, incumbent member Dorothy Pratt beat off a strong challenge by the late Bjelke-Petersen's son John to retain the seat...
) — announced 15 April 2011
Polling
NewspollNewspoll
Newspoll Market Research is an Australian company providing opinion polling and other market research services. Its chief executive is Martin O'Shannessy.Newspoll's surveys of voter opinion are published in The Australian....
polling was conducted via random telephone number selection in city and country areas. Sampling sizes
Sample size
Sample size determination is the act of choosing the number of observations to include in a statistical sample. The sample size is an important feature of any empirical study in which the goal is to make inferences about a population from a sample...
usually consist of around 1000 electors, with the declared margin of error
Margin of error
The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in a survey's results. The larger the margin of error, the less faith one should have that the poll's reported results are close to the "true" figures; that is, the figures for the whole population...
at around ±3 percent.
| Primary vote | 2PP vote Two-party-preferred vote In politics, the two-party-preferred vote , or two-candidate-preferred vote , in an election or opinion poll uses preferential voting to express the electoral result after the distribution of preferences... |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALP | LNP | GRN | OTH | ALP | LNP | ||
| Jul – Sep 2011 | 27% | 50% | 8% | 15% | 39% | 61% | |
| Apr – May 2011 | 31% | 51% | 7% | 11% | 40% | 60% | |
| Jan – Mar 2011 | 38% | 37% | 10% | 15% | 52% | 48% | |
| Oct – Dec 2010 | 26% | 45% | 13% | 16% | 41% | 59% | |
| Jul – Sep 2010 | 29% | 44% | 14% | 13% | 43% | 57% | |
| 2009 Election Queensland state election, 2009 The Queensland state election was held to elect members to the unicameral Parliament of Queensland on 21 March 2009. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National Party of Queensland led by Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, and gain a... |
42.3% | 41.6% | 8.4% | 7.8% | 50.9% | 49.1% | |
| 18 – 19 Mar 2009 | 42% | 42% | 7% | 9% | 49.9% | 50.1% | |
| Polling conducted by Newspoll Newspoll Newspoll Market Research is an Australian company providing opinion polling and other market research services. Its chief executive is Martin O'Shannessy.Newspoll's surveys of voter opinion are published in The Australian.... and published in The Australian The Australian The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly.... . |
|||||||
| Bligh | Newman | |
|---|---|---|
| ALP | LNP | |
| Jul – Sep 2011 | 34% | 48% |
| Apr – May 2011 | 35% | 49% |
| Jan – Mar 2011 | 53% | 26%2 |
| Oct – Dec 2010 | 31% | 41%2 |
| Jul – Sep 2010 | 34% | 42%2 |
| 2009 election Queensland state election, 2009 The Queensland state election was held to elect members to the unicameral Parliament of Queensland on 21 March 2009. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National Party of Queensland led by Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, and gain a... |
– | – |
| 18 – 19 Mar 2009 | 53% | 33%1 |
| Polling conducted by Newspoll Newspoll Newspoll Market Research is an Australian company providing opinion polling and other market research services. Its chief executive is Martin O'Shannessy.Newspoll's surveys of voter opinion are published in The Australian.... and published in The Australian The Australian The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly.... . ^ Remainder were "uncommitted" to either leader. 1 Lawrence Springborg Lawrence Springborg Lawrence James Springborg is an Australian politician and became Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Queensland since 2 April 2009. He was deputy leader of the new Liberal National Party... 2 John-Paul Langbroek John-Paul Langbroek John-Paul Honoré Langbroek is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly representing the Liberal Party and its successor, the centre-right Liberal National Party, in the seat of Surfers Paradise since 2004... |
||
| Bligh | Newman | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | |
| Jul – Sep 2011 | 38% | 52% | 51% | 27% |
| Apr – May 2011 | 40% | 50% | 50% | 22% |
| Jan – Mar 2011 | 49% | 43% | 33%2 | 40%2 |
| Oct – Dec 2010 | 24% | 67% | 38%2 | 38%2 |
| Jul – Sep 2010 | 26% | 65% | 32%2 | 42%2 |
| 2009 election Queensland state election, 2009 The Queensland state election was held to elect members to the unicameral Parliament of Queensland on 21 March 2009. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National Party of Queensland led by Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, and gain a... |
– | – | – | – |
| 18 – 19 Mar 2009 | 46% | 44% | 39%1 | 49%1 |
| Polling conducted by Newspoll Newspoll Newspoll Market Research is an Australian company providing opinion polling and other market research services. Its chief executive is Martin O'Shannessy.Newspoll's surveys of voter opinion are published in The Australian.... and published in The Australian The Australian The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly.... . ^Remainder were "uncommitted" to either leader. 1 Lawrence Springborg Lawrence Springborg Lawrence James Springborg is an Australian politician and became Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Queensland since 2 April 2009. He was deputy leader of the new Liberal National Party... 2 John-Paul Langbroek John-Paul Langbroek John-Paul Honoré Langbroek is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly representing the Liberal Party and its successor, the centre-right Liberal National Party, in the seat of Surfers Paradise since 2004... |
||||