Queenslanders yesterday elected Labor under Anna Bligh to a fifth term in government. Anna Bligh now becomes the first woman to be elected as Premier in Australia – Joan Kirner and Carmen Lawrence were both appointed after the resignations of Peter Dowding and John Cain respectively, and Anna became Premier in Queensland when Peter Beattie resigned.
The recently united Liberal/Country Party under Lawrence Springborg needed a swing of 7.6% to win government, and in the end achieved around 4%, much less than many had expected.
Bligh’s campaign was built around a relentless focus on protecting Queenslanders’ jobs.
Springborg ran on a remarkably familiar platform: “There is a mood for change, and after 11 years of a failed Labor government in Queensland there should be a mood for change,’. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25189567-601,00.html
Luck for Queenslanders, they saw through it.
Queenslanders saw right through it indeed. They have elected a great Premier and a government that will protect Queensland jobs and deliver them through this economic crisis.
With a young nephew and neice living in Queensland, this is the best news I have heard in a while.
Congratulations to her. But had it not been for the Greens who I’m guessing all had Labor as their preference over Liberals/National then the result would have been even closer. And of course as Idiot/Savant at No Right Turn points out, the Greens have no representation. Even though they grabbed 8% of the vote.
you’re right that’s why MMP is so much better than STV
Barryb: Queensland doesn’t use STV. It uses single-constituency preferential voting. Marginally better than FPP (and it wouldn’t hurt to cruft it onto our electorate vote here), but with almost all of its flaws, particularly around disproportionality.
John Cain and Peter Dowding respectively.
It was optional preferential voting too, to complicate things further.