The day after the election, ABC election analyst Antony Green predicted that Labor would win up to 48 seats and was likely to form government in its own right.[5] By 6 December, several news agencies reported that Labor had won a majority of seats in the Parliament.[6][7][8]
With the redistribution increasing the size of parliament from 89 seats to 93 seats, Labor increased its representation by a net seven seats to a total of 48 seats, an increase of four since the last election and a notional increase of one since the redistribution, allowing it to form government in its own right by two seats. The Liberal National opposition decreased their representation by a net three seats to a total of 39 seats, a decrease of two seats since the last election and a notional decrease of five since the redistribution. On the crossbench, Katter's Australian Party won three seats, an increase of one since the last election and a notional increase of two since the redistribution, one new independent candidate won a seat while all the incumbent independents lost their seats. One Nation won its first seat since 2009 and the Greens won a seat at a state election for the first time.[9]
Despite a small two-party swing to Labor statewide and Labor increasing its seat total, a number of regional seats notably swung to the Coalition. The LNP regained the seat of Bundaberg from Labor as well as Burdekin which was held by the LNP prior to the election but made notionally Labor due to redistribution.
On 8 December 2017, Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls conceded defeat and announced he would step down as leader of the party.[10] Later that day, Palaszczuk visited Government House and was invited to form a majority government by the Governor.[11] The Second Palaszczuk Ministry was subsequently sworn in by the Governor on 12 December 2017.[12] This marked the tenth time in the last eleven elections that Queensland Labor has won government; it won eight consecutive election victories from 1989 to 2009, and was only out of government from 1996 to 1998 when Labor lost its parliamentary majority as well as from 2012 to 2015 following the Liberal National Party's 2012 landslide win.
Wellington gave confidence and supply support to Labor to form government, giving it the majority of 45 out of 89 seats in parliament, and consequently the previous Liberal National government under the leadership of Campbell Newman, who lost his seat of Ashgrove, lost office after one term.
Calling of election
After Labor's retraction of endorsement for MP Rick Williams on 27 October 2017, the party's seat count dropped to 41, equalling that of the LNP. Several media sources reported that Premier Palaszczuk would call a snap election.[14][15] On 29 October Palaszczuk asked the Acting Governor Catherine Holmes to dissolve parliament and a writ was issued for a 25 November state election.[16][17]
Amendments to electoral laws increased the number of seats by four from 89 to 93, necessitating the redrawing of district boundaries, and changed the optional preferential voting system to compulsory full-preferential voting.[20]
A 2016 referendum also replaced the state's unfixed maximum three-year terms with fixed four-year terms, but these would not apply until the 2020 election.[21][22]
Electoral redistribution
A redistribution of electoral boundaries occurred earlier in 2017.
The Legislative Assembly was expanded from 89 to 93 members. Indooroopilly was abolished west of Brisbane, while Bancroft was created in the corridor north of Brisbane, Bonney created on the Gold Coast, Jordan created in the corridor west of Brisbane, Macalister created in the corridor south of Brisbane, and Ninderry created on the Sunshine Coast. Albert was renamed Theodore, Ashgrove was renamed Cooper, Beaudesert was renamed Scenic Rim, Brisbane Central was renamed McConnel, Cleveland was renamed Oodgeroo, Dalrymple was renamed Hill, Kallangur was renamed Kurwongbah, Mount Coot-tha was renamed Maiwar, Mount Isa was renamed Traeger, Sunnybank was renamed Toohey, and Yeerongpilly was renamed Miller. Burdekin, Mansfield, and Mount Ommaney became notionally Labor-held, while Pumicestone became notionally Liberal National-held.
The changes resulted in 48 notionally Labor-held seats, 2 notionally Katter's Australian-held seats, 42 notionally Liberal National-held seats, and 1 notionally Independent-held seat.
Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
The Labor Party also retained the seat of Cairns, where the sitting Labor member had resigned and contested the election as an Independent, and the seat of Cook, where the sitting Labor member was expelled and sat as an Independent.
The Liberal National Party also retained the seat of Buderim, where the sitting Liberal National member had resigned and contested the election as a member of the One Nation Party, and the seat of Pumicestone, which had a notional Liberal National margin.
the election of the first Queensland Greens MP, Michael Berkman (the first ever Queensland MP Ronan Lee was elected under the Australian Labor Party, and lost his re-election bid after defecting to the Greens).[35]
Following the successful 2016 referendum to introduce four-year fixed-term elections, this was the last Queensland election where the date of the election could be chosen at the serving Premier's discretion.[38]
Section 84 of the Electoral Act 1992 stated that an election must be held on a Saturday, and that the election campaign must run for a minimum of 26 or a maximum of 56 days following the issue of the writs including the day the writ drops and polling day. Five to seven days following the issue of the writs, the electoral roll is to be closed, which gives voters a final opportunity to enrol or to notify the Electoral Commission of Queensland of any changes in their place of residence.[39]
The Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Act 2015,[40] which amended the Constitution of Queensland to provide for state elections on the fourth Saturday in October every four years, did not come into effect until the 2020 election. Therefore, this was the last election to which section 2 of the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1890 applied before its repeal.[41] It provided that the Legislative Assembly continues for no more than three years from the day set for the return of writs for the previous election, after which time the Legislative Assembly expires.[42]
The day set for the return of writs for the 2015 election was 16 February 2015, but the deadline appointed in the writ for its return was Wednesday 11 March 2015.[21][43] The Electoral Act requires the Governor to issue writs for a general election no more than four days after the Legislative Assembly is dissolved or expires.[39]: §78(2) The last possible day for the next election was therefore a Saturday not more than 56 days beyond four days after the expiry of the Legislative Assembly on 11 March 2018, namely 5 May 2018.[21][38]
Palaszczuk faced constant media questions during 2017 about whether she would call an early election.[38][44] She stated that it was her intention to hold it in 2018, and that it would take something "extraordinary" for it to be held in 2017. Following Agriculture Minister Bill Byrne's resignation on health grounds and the disendorsement of Pumicestone MP Rick Williams,[45] on Sunday 29 October 2017, she announced the election would be held on 25 November 2017.[46]Pauline Hanson described this as a "cowardly" move, given that she was overseas on a federal parliamentary trip and would be delayed in starting her One Nation party's campaign.[46]
As the election was held in 2017, this meant that the fixed date for the next state election was on 31 October 2020.[21] Had the election instead been held in 2018, the next fixed election date would have been 30 October 2021.[21]
In January 2017, One Nation disendorsed its Bundamba candidate Shan Ju Lin after her anti-gay social media post. Lin accused James Ashby of deciding on Hanson's behalf that Lin should be disendorsed.[50] In December 2016, Andy Semple withdrew as a candidate for Currumbin, after the party told him to delete an LGBT joke on Twitter.[51]
The ALP and The Greens pledged to place One Nation candidates last on their respective party How-To-Vote cards. Both parties also placed each other ahead of the LNP on their cards. Katter's Australia Party exchanged preferences with One Nation in the seats they both contested. The LNP placed Greens candidates below ALP candidates, and placed One Nation candidates ahead of the ALP in 52 of the 61 seats One Nation was contesting, the exceptions being in Buderim, Logan, Mudgeeraba, Nicklin, Coomera, Scenic Rim, Stretton, Toohey and Thuringowa. One Nation, with a few notable exceptions, placed all ALP and LNP sitting MPs last. One Nation also made an agreement with Katter's Australia Party, not to challenge the two sitting KAP MPs in their respective seats.
Retiring MPs
The following Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly have announced their intention to not contest the 2017 state election:
Several research, media and polling firms conduct opinion polls during the parliamentary term and prior to the state election in relation to voting. Most firms use the flow of preferences at the previous election to determine the two-party-preferred vote; others ask respondents to nominate preferences.
Primary vote opinion polling graph
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Two-party preferred opinion polling graph
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
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