My analysis of the Queensland state election, 2015

Readers, in the latest update on politics in British Commonwealth nations, the state of Queensland in Australia-which has produced some particularly notorious political figures in Australian history, especially the late Johannes 'Joh' Bjelke-Petersen-held an election two days ago, and in another substantial blow for Tony Abbott, the Liberals were defeated heavily by Labor. In fact, (now ex-) Premier Campbell Newman, notable for his anti-biker legislation to win over right-wing populist voters, lost his own seat of Ashgrove (which he had himself won from Labor in 2012, just for the record) albeit on a lower swing than average. There is a chance, however (since at this time of writing some divisions' results are in doubt), of Labor not quite being able to win a majority in Queensland's legislative assembly and possibly having to gain confidence and supply from either independents or the two Katter's Australian Party MLAs (who both kept their seats even though KAP fielded fewer candidates than in 2012)

Unusually, Queensland is not home to many single-issue parties that have been springing up in recent state elections of Australia. New South Wales, by contrast (which is having its next state election soon) will be contested by several single issue-parties, such as the Cyclists Party, the Outdoor Recreation Party, and the No Parking Meters Party (no, I am not making this up!).

Sadly, Queensland Green Party was unable to win any legislative assembly seats (when other Australian Green Parties have some representation in their respective state assembly) despite increasing its vote share overall (if marginally) and making some important advances in several seats, especially the few divisions Labor held in Queensland back in 2012 (e.g. South Brisbane). And in another showing of how proportional representation (not AV in single-member constituencies) is needed for fair results, the Palmer United Party did not even come close to winning any seats meanwhile despite getting 5% of the statewide vote-but worryingly the far-right One Nation Party could gain the division of Lockyer despite winning 0.9% of the vote in Queensland, as it did not field many candidates.

I hope you find my short analysis useful.

Alan.





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