Qld gives Bligh another chance

At the Queensland state election on March 21, the Australian Labor Party, led by Premier Anna Bligh was returned with a reduced majority.

The ALP, which had been consistently behind in the
opinion polls, crawled back into government because the newly formed Liberal National Party promised budget cuts and redundancies.

The Greens, who stood in all 89 seats for the first time, secured 8.27% of the primary vote. While this was a gain from their 2006 result of 7.99%, it appears that they have been unable to get Ronan Lee returned in Indooropilly.

Lee, while a sitting ALP member, left the Labor Party and joined the Greens in October last year. He received 25.94% and through a deal struck by the Greens, secured ALP preferences.

The Socialist Alliance fielded two candidates as independents, as the party is not yet registered in Queensland. Mike Crook stood in Sandgate and received 1.33% of the primary vote.

In South Brisbane, running against Bligh, Socialist Alliance's Sam Watson obtained 1.38% of the first preference votes from among a large field of independents.

From GLW issue 789