By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — In an election in which the major parties dodged most of the key issues, the Labor Party government has been returned at the September 19 Queensland poll.
Despite late opinion polls showing a possible landslide to the ALP, the status quo appears to have been generally maintained, with wins and losses for Labor, the Nationals and the Liberals being roughly balanced out.
The final result after distribution of preferences from the minor parties and independents in several close seats could give the ALP a couple of extra MPs at best.
In the previous parliament, the ALP held 54 seats, the Nats 26 and Liberals nine.
Labor appears to have retained its vote and seats in Brisbane, but suffered a swing back to the Nationals in some coastal and rural electorates.
Calls for formal coalition or even merger have broken out again among the conservative parties after their pre-election squabbling prevented them putting up a serious threat to Goss and Co.
Both National Party leader Rob Borbridge and Liberal chief Joan Sheldon survived challenges from candidates of their rival conservative parties, creating an image of disunity in doing so.
On a statewide basis, all three major parties suffered a fall in support compared with the 1989 election.
Labor was down 1.3%, the Liberals down 0.8% and the Nationals 0.6%.
Support for independents and smaller parties was up 2.7% statewide, demonstrating the popular feeling in favour of alternatives.
Greens and green independents, who contested more than 10 seats, gained strong support, with votes of 7-14% in a variety of urban and country electorates.
The new Aboriginal and Islander party, the Australian Indigenous People's Party, won good votes in the 10 seats it contested.
All smaller parties, including the Australian Democrats, were disadvantaged by the Goss government's undemocratic electoral laws, which require a list of 500 members to be provided before party names can be printed on the ballot paper.
A campaign to change this restrictive law, together with further cooperation among alternative parties and independents, is expected to D>