Liberal National Party (LNP) leader David Crisafulli has claimed victory in the Queensland election as Labor’s outgoing Premier Steven Miles fell short of conceding defeat.
The LNP crossed the line for a 47-seat majority government late on Saturday night following a roller-coaster count which quickly indicated that there would be no landslide victory for Mr. Crisafulli’s team and no return to power for Mr. Miles and Labor which was all but wiped out in regional Queensland.
At the close of counting, the ABC’s respected chief election analyst Antony Green had the LNP on 48 seats, the ALP on 30, Katters Australian Party (KAP) on three while Independent Sandy Bolton retained her seat of Noosa and the Greens and One Nation were yet to win a seat. Eleven seats remained in doubt.
The statewide swing to the LNP was 7.3% giving it a 54% to 46% overall margin on a two-party preferred basis.
“Tonight Queenslanders have voted for hope over fear, they have voted for a fresh start and they have voted for a majority LNP government, ” Mr Crisafulli declared in his victory speech.
“We’ll be serving them with every ounce of fibre we have and we are determined to make sure that this state returns to the powerhouse it can be.”
Queensland’s 41st premier has vowed to start work right away to implement the policies he promised during the election campaign.
“We get to work and we do what we say we were going to do. We have a contract with Queenslanders and we intend to honour it.”
The grandson of Italian immigrants to northern Queensland cane farmers led a campaign focused on crime, health, housing and cost of living.
He has vowed to legislate his controversial “adult time for adult crime” policy that would see youth offenders jailed on lengthy sentences for committing serious crimes.
Mr Crisafulli also plans to introduce a 100-day review of 2032 Olympic Games infrastructure, deliver real-time health data and scrap a payroll tax on general practitioners.
“To borrow a phrase from a different era and a different political movement It’s time,” he said, in reference to Gough Whitlam’s 1970’s campaign slogan.
As he vowed to be a two-term premier and gave a veiled reference to the mistakes of the one-term Campbell Newman LNP government, Mr. Crisafulli promised to be humble and to secure a “world-class” public service.
“We will govern with humility and decency and vision and tenacity and, in doing so, we get the opportunity to govern for a longer period of time,” he proclaimed.
The premier-elect thanked Mr. Miles for his service to the state after his predecessor had pointedly refused to concede defeat and congratulate him on his victory, instead launching an attack on the new government.
“Queenslanders know what I believe and what I stand for, while David Crisafulli ducked and weaved and tied himself into the tiniest, small target Queensland has ever seen. This election finishes with many more questions about the LNP’s plans than answers.”
Former Labor minister and powerbroker Graham Richardson described Mr. Miles’ speech to Sky News as: “It was as graceless as it was pathetic. I’m not going to defend that. It was a boofhead performance.”
Tony Barry of pollsters Redbridge Group told the ABC’s election panel: “Steven Miles’ speech was full of delusion.”
“He clearly wants to stay on as opposition leader. There is nothing more ex than an ex-premier,” Mr Barry added.
Following widespread condemnation of his speech, Mr. Miles phoned the incoming premier on Sunday morning to formally concede defeat.
There’s already media speculation the ALP is plotting to replace him with his former Health Minister Shannon Fentiman although she’s quoted as saying she won’t challenge Mr. Miles if he wants to stay on as party leader.
The LNP win is the first Coalition party victory in a mainland state election since 2019 and Mr Crisafulli will be the highest ranked centre-right politician in the country.
Photo: Facebook — David Crisafulli MP
