Is Brisbane conservative?
The election reveals a tale of two Queenslands
First of all, congratulations to the LNP and new Premier David Crisafulli.
And commiserations to Steven Miles and the ALP, whose best takeaway is that they weren’t wiped off the electoral map.
In fact, Labor remains reasonably strong in Brisbane and the southeast.
Which raised the question: is the capital more progressive — i.e. left of centre —than the rest of the state?
The short answer is yes, but the situation is nuanced.
For example, the LNP has dominated Brisbane City Council for a long. long time. But are people in council elections voting along political lines or just for the team that’s getting things done? Rates. Roads. Rubbish.
It ain’t broke…
With the state election, the LNP pounced on political issues such as health and crime, and the perception that the situation in those areas is dire — worse in fact than they actually are. That’s politics well played, I suppose, but now they have to deliver on improvements.
The LNP swung the regional vote and it made a small difference in the south east.
Brisbane may be less red than it was but it’s far from true blue.
The important thing is we had an election, some people are happy with the result, others not so much.
I don’t think anyone will be storming parliament to overturn the outcome, and that’s a good thing.
We’ll do it all again in another four years.
P.S. I am overseas for the next two weeks, and may not be able to reply quickly to feedback. But it is, as always, most welcome.