Ashgrove race tightening #qldpol
Friday saw a ReachTel poll showing Kate Jones gaining 3.4% on primaries in Ashgrove since January. According to ReachTel, Campbell Newman is still on 49% of the primary. However, it may be that because of the nature of the sample [...]
LNP off to a very bad start in Queensland campaign
Here in paradoxical Quinceland, we have an alternative premier who isn’t an MP and isn’t Opposition Leader, and we have a campaign that’s started before parliament has been dissolved. And I think that’s actually what is causing the LNP so [...]
Clive Palmer not helping LNP
The big news in the Queensland state election campaign today, overshadowing as journos like to say even Kevin Rudd’s launch of Kate Jones’ new website and Anna Bligh and Campbell Newman’s trip to flood ravaged Charleville, is an “extraordinary” press [...]
Queensland election roundup 1
Before the formal election campaign starts when Parliament is dissolved on February 19, I’m going to keep people updated with a series of Queensland election roundups. The big question, of course, is how politicised things get before the campaign kicks [...]
Queensland election called for March 24
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has just announced that the state election, originally intended to be held on March 3, will now be held on March 24. Local Council elections, scheduled for March 31, will be delayed until April or May. [...]
The Big Dumb Number approach to fire hazard reduction redux.
I have previously posted about the potential pitfalls of framing the fire hazard reduction task in Australian landscapes in terms of simple numerical targets, which I characterised as a Big Dumb Number approach. Nonetheless, the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission decided [...]
Queensland State Election 2012: A tale of two campaigns
This is the concluding entry in my scene-setting series of posts on the upcoming Queensland election, which has also been published in Crikey. One of the threshold assumptions in elections in a single member constituency Westminster system is that each [...]
Queensland State Election 2012: The Greens, Katter and Independents
The third and penultimate entry in my series of posts setting the scene for the Queensland election this year. The entire series is collected here. One of the many peculiarities of Queensland politics is the entrenching of the ‘Just Vote [...]
Queensland State Election 2012: Links post
My series of posts setting the scene for the Queensland state election due this year is being re-published this week on Crikey. The first instalment is here. In my last post, I looked at the ALP and its chances, and [...]
Queensland State Election 2012: The ALP and its prospects
In part one of my scene setting series on this year’s Queensland election, I looked at Campbell Newman, the LNP and its prospects, arguing that a majority LNP government can’t be taken for granted as the outcome. So it’s time [...]
Queensland State Election 2012: The LNP and its prospects
It’s a rule of thumb that Queensland elections are always interesting, sometimes surprising, and invariably full of colour and movement. Through most of 2011, it appeared that the next state election would depart from that pattern. Campbell Newman’s elevation to [...]




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