Labor has declared victory at the Queensland state election, meaning Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is back in government for a few more years.
The count was slower than usual, thanks to the record number of postal votes from the coronavirus chaos. But ultimately, Palaszczuk and Labor pulled through, just like they were expected to.
“I give my commitment to the people of this state that my team will roll up our sleeves and we will get back to work as quickly as possible for you,” Palaszczuk told supporters.
“And I’m confident we will do it with a majority Labor government!”
For the LNP, the loss put to bed a frankly weird election campaign, which involved proposing an evening curfew for teens and posting Funniest Home Videos-style clips of the Deputy Premier swallowing a fly.
For many, the best news out of the election is that Pauline Hanson‘s One Nation absolutely tanked compared to last election. With roughly half the votes counted, the party saw a savage −6.6% swing against it.
Queensland, after all, is Hanson’s own state and widely regarded as One Nation heartland. After doing well in previous state elections, Green said the far-right party had “failed dreadfully” this time around.
The party still held onto its lone seat in state parliament, but they thankfully didn’t get anywhere close to picking up any more.
I don’t like it when you turn my vote about https://t.co/wXC25qRWCu
— Pauline Pantsdown (@PPantsdown) October 31, 2020
https://twitter.com/Hippopeteamus/status/1322462878947897346
Get in https://t.co/JelTHf4DXl
— Tim Watts MP (@TimWattsMP) October 31, 2020
The Greens also did well this time around, picking up the seat of South Brisbane from Labor.
That specific seat was the site of one of the most stupid election smears in recent years, when a Mean Girls quote used to parody Jackie Trad was misconstrued into being a misogynistic smear against her.
Trad ultimately lost her seat to Greens candidate Amy MacMahon.
It was a thrashing, too. Not only did MacMahon win on first preference votes, but the two-party preferred vote had a roughly 9% swing against her.
After defeating one of the most senior Labor politicians in Queensland, MacMahon struggled to give an interview because her ecstatic supporters were cheering so loudly.
“This sends a message to the political establishment that the time where mining corporations are able to dictate to our political system who gets what is completely over,” she eventually told the ABC.
a clear vote of confidence in the hit 2004 movie Mean Girls pic.twitter.com/s70Cw5Mt9P
— Nick Schadegg (@nickschadegg) October 31, 2020
Oh, and remember the new party that wanted to make North Queensland its own state? They didn’t pick up a single seat.
The same goes for Clive Palmer‘s United Australia Party, which got less than 1% of the vote despite spending over $4 million on campaigning.
You can catch the full results and view a seat-by-seat breakdown at the ABC’s election dashboard.
More to come.
