The 2024 Queensland state election was held on 26 October 2024 to elect all members to the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

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 election was the first since

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

to feature two men leading the major parties. The opposition Liberal National Party (LNP) led by

David Crisafulli David Frank Crisafulli (; born 14 April 1979) is an Australian politician currently serving as the 41st Premier of Queensland since 28 October 2024 and leader of the Liberal National Party (LNP) since 12 November 2020. He has been the member ...

defeated the incumbent

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

, led by

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Steven Miles Steven John Miles (born 15 November 1977) is an Australian politician who was the 40th premier of Queensland, in office for 10 months from 2023 to 2024. He is the state leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and previously served as deputy ...

after three terms in government.

Katter's Australian Party Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian populist political party in Australia that advocates for agrarian socialist economic policies and conservative social policies. It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former National ...

and the

Queensland Greens The Queensland Greens is a Green party in Queensland, Australia, and a state member of the Australian Greens. The party is currently represented in all three levels of government, by Larissa Waters and Penny Allman-Payne in the federal Senate ...

also held seats in parliament, while other parties that contested the election included

Pauline Hanson's One Nation Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON), also known as One Nation (ON) or One Nation Party (ONP), is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia. It is led by Pauline Hanson. ...

Legalise Cannabis Queensland Legalise Cannabis Queensland, registered with the Electoral Commission Queensland as Legalise Cannabis Queensland (Party), is a single-issue political party based in Queensland, Australia. The party has a number of policies that centre around ...

, 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 A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

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 Stephen Seymour James Andrew (born 9 December 1968) is an Australian politician who served as the member for Mirani in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 2017 to 2024 when he was defeated by Glen Kelly at the 2024 Queensland state electi ...

, 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 Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

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 Sandra Leigh Bolton (born 3 March 1964) is an Australian politician. She has been the Independent member for Noosa in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2017. She is a graduate of Central Queensland University. Bolton was one of the ori ...

retained the seat of

Noosa The Shire of Noosa () is a local government area about north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast district of South East Queensland, Australia. The shire covers an area of . It existed as a local government entity from 1910 until 2008, when it w ...

. Crisafulli was sworn in as Queensland's 41st Premier by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Jeannette Young Jeannette Rosita Young (born 1963) is an Australian medical doctor and administrator who is currently Governor of Queensland, since 1 November 2021. Before being sworn in as Governor, Young was Chief Health Officer of Queensland from 2005 to 20 ...

on 28 October, alongside his deputy

Jarrod Bleijie Jarrod Pieter Bleijie ( ; born 25 January 1982) is an Australian politician serving as the Deputy Premier of Queensland since 28 October 2024. A member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) in the Queensland parliament, Bleijie was ...

. The pair formed an interim ministry, with the full ministry sworn in later in the week.

Electoral system

Queensland has

compulsory voting Compulsory voting, also called universal civic duty voting or mandatory voting, is the requirement that registered voters participate in an election. As of January 2023, 21 countries have compulsory voting laws. Law enforcement in those countries ...

and uses full-preference

preferential voting Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as cont ...

for single-member electorates. The election is conducted by the

Electoral Commission of Queensland The Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) is established under the ''Electoral Act 1992'' as an independent statutory authority, responsible for the impartial conduct of state and local government elections in Queensland. Functions The Commi ...

. The party or

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

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 A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

. The party or coalition that wins the second-highest number of seats forms the

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comedy ...

, with the remaining parties and independent candidates being allocated to the cross bench. The Queensland Parliament is the only

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

state parliament in Australia, composed of the Legislative Assembly. The upper house, the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

, 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

may call an election earlier than scheduled if the Government does not maintain

confidence Confidence is the feeling of belief or trust that a person or thing is reliable. * * * Self-confidence is trust in oneself. Self-confidence involves a positive belief that one can generally accomplish what one wishes to do in the future. Sel ...

, or the annual

appropriation bill An appropriation bill, also known as supply bill or spending bill, is a proposed law that authorizes the expenditure of government funds. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending. In some democracies, approval of the legislature ...

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 Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who served as the 39th premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2023. She held office as the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2012 unt ...

. Initially forming a

, they later won a majority at the 2017 state election, and further increased their number of seats in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

at an election overshadowed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Palaszczuk resigned as Premier in December 2023 and was succeeded by her deputy,

. 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 The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) is a major conservative political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed in 2008 by a merger of the Queensland divisions of the Liberal Party and the National Party. In most other states ...

* Katter's Australian Party (KAP) *

* 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 In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

(particularly youth crime),

cost-of-living The cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living for an individual or a household. Changes in the cost of living over time can be measured in a cost-of-living index. Cost of living calculations are also used to compare t ...

housing affordability Housing refers to a property containing one or more shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and human right, playing a crit ...

and

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

. 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 Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

, 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 YouGov plc is a international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm headquartered in the UK with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. History 2000–2010 Stephan Shakespeare and Nadhim ...

and released on 26 April 2024 saw Labor record a

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Nati ...

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 State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

petrol stations A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

, while Crisafulli promised to re-introduce

optional preferential voting One of the ways in which ranked voting systems vary is whether an individual vote must express a minimum number of preferences to avoid being considered invalid ("spoiled" or "informal" or "rejected"). Possibilities are: * Full preferential vot ...

, 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

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 Seven News (stylised 7NEWS) is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia. National bulletins are presented from Seven's high definition studios in South Eveleigh, Sydney, while its flags ...

'' 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. In 2 October 2024, Labor's Miles announced a policy of a

energy retailer. On 13 October 2024, Labor announced a policy of

Free school meals A school meal (whether it is a breakfast, lunch, or evening meal) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world offer various kinds of schoo ...

. 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 October 22. 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 The 20th-century German Nazi Party made extensive use of graphic symbols, especially the swastika, notably in the form of the swastika flag, which became the co-national flag of Nazi Germany in 1933, and the sole national flag in 1935. A very ...

Results

Seats changing hands

Members in italics did not recontest their seats.

Candidates

A total of 525 candidates from nine political parties (or independent) will contest the election. It is 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 LNP announced several other candidates afterwards. The second party to formally endorse a candidate was

(KAP), announcing their candidate for the

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...

seat of

Cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * C ...

on 6 October 2023. Labor, the LNP, and the Greens have announced candidates in all 93 electorates. Pauline Hanson announced 2 October her One Nation Party would also be contesting every seat.

Preferences

Candidates and parties may publish recommendations to voters on

How-to-vote card In Australia, how-to-vote cards (HTV) are small leaflets that are handed out by party supporters during elections. Voting in the Australian lower house uses a preferential voting system. Voters must rank every candidate on the ballot in order f ...

s and other materials indicating how that candidate or party suggests a voter should order their ballot under the state's full-preference

instant-runoff voting Instant-runoff voting (IRV; ranked-choice voting (RCV), preferential voting, alternative vote) is a single-winner ranked voting election system where Sequential loser method, one or more eliminations are used to simulate Runoff (election), ...

system. Voters must number every candidate on the ballot paper to cast a formal vote. A candidate or party cannot determine the order a vote is distributed for a voter. Preference deals refer to parties or candidates agreeing to order recommendations on each other's how-to-vote materials that are favourable to the other.

Liberal National

In late 2023, it was reported in ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' that

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

considered preferencing the Greens over Labor at the upcoming state election. Crisafulli told the newspaper: "Now, the same doesn't happen on the other side of the draw – the preferences on the right don't flow in the same way that the Greens' preferences flow to Labor," adding: "So it is a corrupt system... and I have a big concern about the prospect of a

Labor–Greens coalition The Labor–Greens coalition was a political alliance between the Labor Party and the Greens in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. The coalition was founded in 2012 but was dissolved after the 2024 election, with the Gree ...

. They will say no deals... but they've said that before and they then broke the promise anyway. So I am deeply concerned by that." On 1 October 2024, the LNP officially announced they would preference Labor over the Greens at the state election.

One Nation

One Nation leader and federal Senator for Queensland,

Pauline Hanson Pauline Lee Hanson (''née'' Seccombe, formerly Zagorski; born 27 May 1954) is an Australian politician who is the founder and leader of One Nation, a right-wing populist political party. Hanson has represented Queensland in the Australian S ...

, confirmed in February 2024 that One Nation would preference the LNP over Labor in every seat, despite her reported distrust of both major parties.

Labor

Retiring Labor MP and Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath claimed on 24 August the that the Greens were "happy to do deals" with the LNP to get more members elected to parliament. While Ms D'Ath issued a plea to voters to not replace Labor MPs with Greens members, she refused to concede that the polling showed a progressive swing among inner-city residents. Labor is giving preferences to Legalise Cannabis ahead of the Greens in 28 seats.

Greens

The Queensland Greens had previously ruled out doing any preference deal with the LNP in 2024.

Katter

The Katter's Australian Party will give its preference to the LNP in North Queensland seats.

Retiring members

Labor

Yvette D'Ath Yvette Maree D'Ath (born 26 July 1970) is an Australian politician. She served as the Labor member for Redcliffe in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 2014 until her retirement in 2024. D'Ath served as Attorney-General and Minister for ...

( Redcliffe) – announced retirement on 22 February 2024, citing the need to find more balance in her life. *

Julieanne Gilbert Julieanne Claire Gilbert (born 6 May 1962) is an Australian former politician. She served as the Assistant Minister for Health and Regional Health Infrastructure of Queensland from 2020 until 2023. She was the Labor member for Mackay in the Qu ...

( Mackay) – announced retirement on 25 July 2024. *

Stirling Hinchliffe Stirling James Hinchliffe (born 23 November 1970) is an Australian politician. Early life Born in Dalby, Queensland, he was educated at state schools and received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland. He was a property indus ...

( Sandgate) – announced retirement on 11 October 2023. * Barry O'Rourke (

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

) – announced retirement on 13 November 2023, citing health issues. *

Curtis Pitt Curtis Warren Pitt (born 1 February 1977) is an Australian politician who has been a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland since 2009, representing the district of Mulgrave. On 14 February 2015, he was sworn in as Treas ...

( Mulgrave) – announced retirement on 22 August 2024.

Liberal National

* Michael Hart ( Burleigh) – announced retirement on 6 September 2023. * Lachlan Millar (

Gregory Gregory may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gregory (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gregory (surname), a surname *Gregory (The Walking Dead), fictional character from the walkin ...

) – announced retirement on 18 October 2023. * Mark Robinson ( Oodgeroo) – announced retirement on 16 June 2023. * Darren Zanow ( Ipswich West) – announced retirement on 12 July 2024, due to his diagnosis of Microvascular ischemic disease.Theocharous, Mikala (12 July 2024)
"Queensland MP Darren Zanow diagnosed with 'devastating' incurable brain disease"
''Nine News.'' Retrieved 23rd July 2024.

Electoral pendulum

Pre-election pendulum

This is a pre-election pendulum for the 2024 Queensland state election. Members in italics are not contesting the election. By-elections were held in four seats during this term of Parliament that changed their margins. See the footnotes for details. ; Notes

Post-election pendulum

Opinion polling

In the lead-up to the state election, polling companies conduct regular

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...

s for various news organisations. These polls collect data on parties' primary vote, and contain an estimation of the

. They also ask questions about the electorates' views on major party leaders. Some polls do not publish a two-party-preferred result. In these cases, the result has been manually calculated from preference flows at the 2020 election.

Voting intention

Preferred Premier and satisfaction

Preferred Premier

Satisfaction ratings

Notes

References

External links

2024 State General Election (Electoral Commission Queensland)
{{Queensland elections Queenslandstate ElectionState

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Elections in Queensland

Electoral system

Key dates

Background

Registered parties

Campaign

Controversy

Results

Seats changing hands

Candidates

Preferences

Liberal National

One Nation

Labor

Greens

Katter

Retiring members

Labor

Liberal National

Electoral pendulum

Pre-election pendulum

Post-election pendulum

Opinion polling

Voting intention

Preferred Premier and satisfaction

Preferred Premier

Satisfaction ratings

See also

Notes

References

External links