Results: Australian Broadcasting Corporation | Queensland Electoral Commission
Hot links: Crikey Poll Bludger | ABC News Live video feed | Queensland Labor | Liberal National Party | Katter's Australian Party | Queensland Greens | Election Leaflets (mailers)
12:30 am PDT (5:30pm Qld time): How do you spell wipeout? According to the final Newspoll poll of the campaign, the LNP is leading Labor 60.8-39.2% after preferences. Which isn't good....
And if you don't know the political positions and differences between Labor and the Liberal National Party (LNP), here's some sorta heavy reading to bring you up to speed while we wait for the polls to close.
Oh and FYI, here's a fun fact for those who are scratching their heads while Brisbane is one hour behind Sydney even both are on the east coast of Australia. Queensland hasn't adopted Daylight savings. Daylight savings is not popular out in the regions. (Someone from Australia maybe can enlighten us to why this so?)
12:30 am PDT (5:30pm Qld time):
ABC has apparently unlocked their video feed ahead of schedule. So you could tune in to watch the national news. T minus 30 minutes until poll closings.
12:34 am PDT (5:34pm Qld time):
Campbell Newman says on ABC voters have to kick out Labor MPs Peta-Kay Croft, Michael Choi, and Kerry Shine. And proceeds to talk about how Labor = higher taxes...zzzzz
12:43 am PDT (5:43pm Qld time) When asked by reporters if Anna Bligh will stay on as opposition leader, she did the classic dodge of, "The caucus will decide."
12:55 am PDT (5:55pm Qld time):
Thinking back to why Campbell Newman signaled out Peta-Kay Croft, Kerry Shine, and Michael Choi as the Labor MPs that "must be defeated?" Either it's completely random or the LNP is worried that those MP's might somehow survive. The ALP and LNP has been airing ads in Shine's seat and the LNP has royally screwed up candidate wise in Broadwater. Oh and Choi's seat has a 9.7% margin.
1:00am PDT (6:00pm Qld time):
Here we go! Polls are closed. And ABC's special election broadcast is now playing. Time to watch the carnage horror...
1:04 AM PT: 1:03am PDT (6:03pm Qld time):
Ah don't you wish we could project an LNP victory based on exit polls alone? Like what happened NBC did during the SC primary.
1:08 AM PT: (1:07 Qld Time): Antony Green: ALP Seats to watch: Ashgrove, Mount Coo-tha, Greenslopes, Mulgrave, Mundingburra, Mount Isa. Independent seat of Nanango (contest between LNP and KAP).
1:10 AM PT: LNP Parliamentary leader and future Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney saying there is a massive swing against Labor out there and it will be something never seen before. ALP Paul Lucas says Labor will be wiped out and take years to recover.
1:13 AM PT: Something different this year. Neither Anna Bligh or Campbell Newman will give their election night speeches at the Tally Room. Campbell Newman will give his remarks at a hotel, Anna Bligh at a funeral home (sarcasm).
1:17 AM PT: Paul Lucas: Anna Bligh is still popular. What polls has he been reading?
1:21 AM PT: First results should be coming in ten minutes or so. Like NSW last year, expect Labor seats to start falling very quickly soon after.
1:23 AM PT: More on that Sky News exit poll showing a 15.3 percent swing. The exit poll was done in the marginal ALP seats of Chatsworth, Everton, Broadwater, Cook, and Barron River. As expected all five seats would be well under water in that case.
1:25 AM PT: Off topic, but listening to ABC news' report on sanctions being put on Assad's wife. Jesus Christ...she was spending money on her shopping habits while people were dying in the street? Talk about a Marie Antoinette complex.
1:31 AM PT: ABC in with first figures. ALP first preference vote down 20% down. Katter's party's primary vote doing very well. But please note that these figures are coming out in rural areas while nothing from South-East Queensland (Brisbane, Gold Coast) are in.
ALP on the verge of losing Whitsunday. ALP leading in 13 seats, LNP 28.
1:34 AM PT: 3.2% of the vote in the ALP seat of Whitsunday. Primary votes: ALP 46.9%, KAP 27.6%, ALP 20.0%. Antony Green is saying LNP has probably won Whitsunday.
1:37 AM PT: LNP seat of Mirani where Labor had an outside chance of winning, apparently there is only a 1% swing towards the LNP....with one booth in. Reason why Labor has an outside chance of winning Mirani is because former Labor MP Jim Pearce who represented much of the seat in the past is running for Labor here.
1:38 AM PT: Antony Green: 18-20 Labor seats on the verge of falling to the LNP.
1:42 AM PT: Current seat figures: LNP has won 34 seats, Labor 2.
1:43 AM PT: Antony Green: Labor has lost 20 seats. LNP is probably now in government. Shit...
1:45 AM PT: 1.6% of the vote in Anna Bligh's seat of South Brisbane in. She is trailing the LNP on primaries and preferences. Still early though....
1:51 AM PT: Jeff Seeney reporting that LNP counters are saying that KAP Aiden McLindon is only polling half the vote of the LNP....
1:52 AM PT: Premier Anna Bligh's fate will be depended on Green Preferences....
1:52 AM PT:
1:58 AM PT: KAP is badly under performing expectations. Same thing happened to the Greens in NSW back in 2011.
1:59 AM PT: Antony Green had to go through three pages of marginal Labor seats before seeing a Labor seat the party is actually holding....
2:00 AM PT: LNP 53 seats won. ALP 3 seats won.
2:02 AM PT: First figures coming into Ashgrove. Campbell Newman ahead of Kate Jones 57.6-42.4% after preferences.
2:08 AM PT: CanDo-a-mania!
2:11 AM PT: LNP back in the lead after preferences in Premier Bligh's seat of South Brisbane. Greens preferences will definitely matter here.
2:18 AM PT: It's looking like a 15% swing against Labor is firming up. Polls were projecting +/- 10% swing against Labor here.
ABC panelists are already saying this might be bigger than NSW...
2:22 AM PT: 1.3% of the vote in the marginal Labor Gold Coast seat of Broadwater in. Labor MP Peta-Kay Croft only narrowly trailing after preferences. The LNP royally fucked up with candidate preselection here so it's possible the LNP margin here will be less than the other Labor seats they'll pick up on the Gold Coast.
2:25 AM PT: ReachTEL's latest poll in Mount Coot-tha and the current results from the ABC seem to be almost identical. Ditto on ReachTEL's primary vote results in the seat of Ferny Grove.
2:28 AM PT: Jeff Seeney reporting that Independents are suffering a swing against them as well. Just like New South Wales....
2:30 AM PT: I just have to say this because I said this while live blogging the NSW election. While 2010 was bad, it wasn't as bad as what Labor is suffering right now....
2:33 AM PT: On these current figures, Labor will be lucky to be considered a major party in parliament.
2:35 AM PT:
2:38 AM PT: Spin time....Jeff Seeney is saying the LNP's landslide win is because voters embraced the idea of a single merged conservative party and their unorthodox plan to make Newman premier.
While Paul Lucas is saying Labor is being defeated in a landslide because they were in power for 20 years.
2:42 AM PT: ABC projecting Anna Bligh will be reelected. The only seats Labor is ahead of north of the Brisbane River is Rockhampton and Mackay.
2:46 AM PT: Antony Green reporting Katter's Australian party is doing better in North Queensland than in areas where coal seam gas is a major issue.
2:50 AM PT: Things are quieting down right now, so here are the seats Labor is projected to hold: South Brisbane, Bundamba, Inala, Rockhampton, Woodridge. Labor is ahead in Mackay and Waterford.
2:53 AM PT: ABC projecting KAP leader Aidan McLindon will be defeated. LNP picking up the seat of Beaudesert.
2:55 AM PT: Labor was hoping to hold this seat....
2:56 AM PT: Labor down 38 seats, LNP up 41.
3:00 AM PT: Last update for tonight. All I can say is that statewide polling gravely underestimated the swing against Labor. Labor probably won't even achieve major party status (10 seats).