The Miles government appears certain to have lost the safe seat of Ipswich West after an 18 per cent swing gave Ipswich Show Society president Darren Zanow and the Liberal National Party a 2.9 per cent margin.
Premier Steven Miles had predicted big swings against Labor,but emphasised that swings against incumbent governments were expected.AFR
The LNP also cannoned through a 28 per cent margin built up by former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in Inala before retiring last year.
Labor’s primary vote fell to a historic low of 36 per cent,but projections on Sunday had candidate Margie Nightingale retaining the seat in Brisbane’s south-west on a 7 per cent margin,beating out the LNP’s Trang Yen.
Federal Nationals leader and outback Queenslander David Littleproud said everyone in federal and state Labor should be very concerned about the results.
“This is a big ‘up yours’ to the Queensland Labor government,” he told Nine’sToday on Sunday.
Former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and father Henry held the seat of Inala since 1992.Jono Searle/Getty Images
“But I wouldn’t be measuring up the curtains just yet.
“If I was[LNP leader] David Crisafulli,there’s a lot of work to do between now and October.”
The Queensland election is due to be held in October,with an opinion poll released on Friday indicating Miles is facing defeat,with 46 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote to the LNP’s 54 per cent.
Yesterday,Queenslanders in Ipswich West and Inala were asked to send Labor a message,and that’s what they did.
Queenslander David Littleproud says everyone in both federal and state Labor should be very concerned by Saturday’s election results.Alex Ellinghausen
The pain continued for Labor in the Brisbane City Council elections,in which the party suffered a 5.5 per cent fall in primary votes,as 800,000 voters kept the LNP in power at City Hall.
Federal Aged Care Minister Anika Wells,whose electorate of Lilley is in northern Brisbane,said there was “clearly a lot for us to work on” as she closely watched the council results in her electorate.
“There are two races ... currently on a knife’s edge where we,Labor,are a genuine prospect of taking two wards off the Liberals at Brisbane City Council,which remains the largest Liberal government on the mainland,” she told Sky News on Sunday.
Miles told reporters on Saturday he expected swings against the government “in the double digits”,but underlined swings against governments were expected.
Since 1992,the average byelection swing against Labor in government is 5 per cent.
About a third of Ipswich West and Inala electors lodged their vote before election day,according to the Queensland Electoral Commission.
Contested for the first time in 1992,the Inala electorate was initially held by Palaszczuk’s father,Henry.
He went on to become a senior minister before being succeeded by his daughter,who resigned in December.
Inala is considered Queensland’s safest Labor seat,but Annastacia Palaszczuk took no chances on Saturday,stopping by a polling booth in the electorate to show her support.
Until Saturday,Labor had only once needed preferences to win the seat,securing more than 50 per cent of primary votes at all but the 2012 election,when the younger Palaszczuk won 46 per cent.
Her replacement,Nightingale,appears to have won about 36.5 per cent of the primary vote.
The Ipswich West byelection was triggered by the January departure of Labor MP Jim Madden.
He ran for Ipswich council in Saturday’s local government elections,and as of Sunday morning,looked likely to secure a seat.
–AAP