2024 Queensland state election

The 2024 Queensland state election was held on 26 October 2024 to elect all members to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland pursuant to the Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Act 2015. As a result of the 2016 Queensland term length referendum, the term of the parliament will run for four years.The Queensland Electoral System Queensland ParliamentQueensland referendum: Vote on four-year parliamentary terms passes ABC News 5 April 2016

The election was the first since 2006 to feature two men leading the major parties. The opposition Liberal National Party (LNP) led by David Crisafulli defeated the incumbent Labor government, led by Premier Steven Miles after three terms in government. Katter's Australian Party and the Queensland Greens also held seats in parliament, while other parties that contested the election included Pauline Hanson's One Nation, Legalise Cannabis Queensland, other minor parties as well as independents.

The LNP's victory was not clear until late on the night of the election count, when analysts projected Labor had lost their majority and the LNP was on track to form a majority government. Crisafulli declared victory in a late-night speech following the close of polls, however Miles initially held back on conceding pending further counting in several seats, though by the following morning he conceded defeat at a press conference.

The LNP won 52 seats in the assembly (enough for a six-seat majority), with a positive swing of over five and a half percentage points on first-preference (primary) votes translating into a net 17-seat gain. Labor by contrast had a swing against them of seven percent, losing a net 15 seats and leaving them on 36 seats. Katter's Australian Party (KAP) retained three of their seats, though former One Nation MP Stephen Andrew, who joined KAP six weeks prior to the election and boosted the party's seat figure in parliament to four, lost the seat of Mirani to the LNP. The Greens were targeting victories in multiple seats throughout metropolitan Brisbane after strong performances at the 2022 federal election, however their primary vote stagnated and the party's representation in parliament was halved, winning only one seat (Maiwar). Independent Sandy Bolton retained the seat of Noosa.

Crisafulli was sworn in as Queensland's 41st Premier by Governor Jeannette Young on 28 October, alongside his deputy Jarrod Bleijie. The pair formed an interim ministry, with the full ministry sworn in later in the week.

Electoral system Queensland has compulsory voting and uses full-preference preferential voting for single-member electorates. The election is conducted by the Electoral Commission of Queensland. The party or coalition that wins the majority of seats (at least 47) forms the government. If no majority emerges, then the party or coalition that is able to command the confidence of the Legislative Assembly forms government as a minority government.

The party or coalition that wins the second-highest number of seats forms the opposition, with the remaining parties and independent candidates being allocated to the cross bench.

The Queensland Parliament is the only unicameral state parliament in Australia, composed of the Legislative Assembly. The upper house, the Legislative Council, was abolished in 1922.

Key dates The election was for all 93 members of the Legislative Assembly. Pursuant to Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Act 2015 Queensland has fixed terms, with all elections following the 2020 election held every four years on the last Saturday of October. The Governor may call an election earlier than scheduled if the Government does not maintain confidence, or the annual appropriation bill fails to pass.

Issue of election writ – Tuesday 1 October 2024, by the Governor of Queensland. Candidate nominations period – Wednesday 2 October to Tuesday 8 October 2024 at 12pm, local time. Ballot paper order draw – Tuesday 8 October 2024 at 2.30pm. Early voting period – Monday 14 October to Friday 25 October 2024 from 8am–6pm (excluding the weekend). Postal vote applications close – Monday 14 October 2024 at 7pm. Election Day – Saturday 26 October 2024 (from 8am–6pm). Postal vote return deadline – Tuesday 5 November 2024.

Background After suffering a landslide defeat at the 2012 state election, the Labor Party achieved a 37-seat swing and returned to power in Queensland at the 2015 state election under the leadership of Annastacia Palaszczuk. Initially forming a minority government, they later won a majority at the 2017 state election, and further increased their number of seats in 2020 at an election overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Palaszczuk resigned as Premier in December 2023 and was succeeded by her deputy, Steven Miles. On 16 March 2024, the first elections during his leadership, two by-elections, were held in Inala and Ipswich West. Despite being held by safe margins of 28.2% and 14.3% respectively, a massive swing against the Labor party was recorded in both seats, resulting in the margin in Inala being cut by more than 20%, and the loss of Ipswich West to the LNP.

Registered parties The following parties are registered with Queensland Electoral Commission: Australian Labor Party (State of Queensland) Liberal National Party of Queensland Katter's Australian Party (KAP) Queensland Greens Animal Justice Party (Queensland) Family First Queensland Legalise Cannabis Queensland (Party) Libertarian Party of Queensland Pauline Hanson's One Nation Queensland Division

Campaign The LNP campaigned heavily on four key issues, which it has labelled as crises: crime (particularly youth crime), cost-of-living, housing affordability and health. Crisafulli credited Labor's poor results at by-elections, held in March 2024, with voters' anger over Labor's handling of those key issues. After what Miles described as a "very bad result" for Labor at the two state by-elections, he accused the LNP of "sensationalising and politicising" crime to win votes.

Opinion polling and betting odds had the LNP as the firm favourites to win the election in a landslide, with Miles himself conceding that it was "very likely" that Labor would lose the election, whilst also criticising Crisafulli's "small target strategy" and claiming he had a lack of plans despite likely becoming the state's next Premier. An opinion poll conducted by YouGov and released on 26 April 2024 saw Labor record a two-party-preferred vote of just 44%, while Miles had a net negative approval rating of –22%, marking the worst opinion poll result for a Queensland Premier in 20 years.

In August 2024, Miles announced a policy of state-owned petrol stations, while Crisafulli promised to re-introduce optional preferential voting, which was previously used in Queensland from 1992 to 2015, and is currently used at a state level in New South Wales and Tasmania.

The lack of affordable rentals, and rent increases emerged as a major issue over the campaign. In Brisbane, median advertised rents increased by 49 per cent from the start of the COVID pandemic to December 2023.

On 26 September Miles suggested Labor would consider introducing a cap of 10% on the amount rent can increase each year. Miles subsequently came under pressure by property industry lobbyists to rule out the policy, with Queensland Greens MP, Amy MacMahon commenting “Make no mistake, the only reason Labor is finally considering something they've opposed for years is because they're under massive pressure from the Greens this election,”. Support for rent caps was expressed by social housing peak body Queensland Shelter.

A YouGov poll commissioned by the Queensland Greens published by Seven News on 2 October and the Courier Mail 3 October indicated 54% of Queenslanders polled supported rent increases being capped at 1% annually, with 60% of Labor voters, 44% of LNP voters and 70% of Greens voters supporting the policy.

A leaders debate was held on the 3rd of October broadcast by Channel 9, 4BC radio and the Brisbane Times. An online reader poll with 64,000 votes conducted by the Brisbane Times declared opposition Leader David Crisafulli won the debate with 57% of the vote.

Miles and Crisafulli ruled out introducing a rent cap during the leaders debate.

On 2 October 2024, Labor's Miles announced a policy of a state-owned energy retailer. On 13 October 2024, Labor announced a policy of Free school meals.

A second leaders debate between the LNP and ALP leaders was held on the 16th of October.

A final leaders debate between the ALP and LNP leaders was hosted by Sky News and The Courier-Mail People's Forum on 22 October. The debate consisted of 100 undecided voters picked by YouGov, who would then be chosen to ask questions to the leaders. The results of the debate are as follows: 39% Miles, 35% Crisafulli, and 26% still undecided.

Controversy Some candidates attracted controversy during the course of the campaign, in particular for insensitivity regarding Nazi symbolism.

Results

36 1 1 3 52ALP GRNINDKAP LNP +Legislative Assembly (IRV) – Turnout TBD (CV) PartyVotes%SwingSeats +/–   Liberal National 1,289,535 41.52 +5.63 52 17   Labor 1,011,211 32.56 −7.01 36 15   Greens 307,178 9.89 +0.42 1 1   One Nation 248,334 8.00 +0.88 0   Katter's Australian 75,773 2.44 –0.08 3 1   Family First 57,826 1.86 +1.86 0   Independents 52,657 1.69 −0.79 1   Legalise Cannabis 49,621 1.60 +0.69 0   Animal Justice 9,669 0.31 −0.03 0   Libertarian 4,141 0.13 +0.13 0  Formal votes 3,105,945 96.10 −0.50  Informal votes 126,023 3.90 +0.50  Total 3,231,968 100 93  Registered voters / turnout 3,683,368 87.74 −0.17 Two-party-preferred vote Liberal National 1,669,799 53.8 +7.0 Labor 1,436,146 46.2 −7.0

Seats changing hands Members in italics did not recontest their seats. Seat Pre-election Swing Post-election Party Member Margin Margin Member Party Barron River Craig Crawford 3.1 6.8 3.7 Bree James Caloundra Jason Hunt 2.5 4.3 1.8 Kendall Morton Capalaba Don Brown 9.8 11.7 1.9 Russell Field Cook Cynthia Lui 6.3 11.2 5.0 David Kempton Hervey Bay Adrian Tantari 2.0 10.4 8.4 David Lee Ipswich West Darren Zanow 14.4 (ALP) 10.4 (LNP) 3.9 Wendy Bourne Keppel Brittany Lauga 5.6 16.1 10.5 Nigel Hutton Mackay Julieanne Gilbert 6.7 17.2 10.4 Nigel Dalton Maryborough Bruce Saunders 11.9 14.6 2.7 John Barounis Mirani Stephen Andrew 9.0 (ONP) 50.9 0.9 Glen Kelly Mulgrave Curtis Pitt 12.2 15.4 3.1 Terry James Mundingburra Les Walker 3.9 13.3 9.4 Janelle Poole Nicklin Robert Skelton 0.1 2.8 2.7 Marty Hunt Pumicestone Ali King 5.3 5.7 0.4 Ariana Doolan Redcliffe Yvette D'Ath 6.1 9.2 3.1 Kerri-Anne Dooley Redlands Kim Richards 3.9 5.8 1.9 Rebecca Young Rockhampton Barry O'Rourke 8.6 10.4 1.8 Donna Kirkland South Brisbane Amy MacMahon 5.3 11.4 6.1 Barbara O'Shea Thuringowa Aaron Harper 3.2 13.2 9.9 Natalie Marr Townsville Scott Stewart 3.1 8.7 5.6 Adam Baillie

Candidates

A total of 525 candidates from nine political parties, plus independents, contested this election. It became the second-most contested election by nominated candidates in Queensland history, behind the previous election (2020).

Crisafulli began announcing LNP candidates 18 months prior to the election, making the LNP the first party to formally endorse candidates for the election. The second party to formally endorse a candidate was Katter's Australian Party (KAP), announcing their candidate for the Far North Queensland seat of Cook on 6 October 2023.

Labor, the LNP, One Nation, and the Greens each ran candidates in all 93 electorates.

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