The Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) has reported that all seats in the Queensland General Election have now been declared.
As a result, the Queensland Labor Party holds 52 seats, the Liberal National Party of Queensland 34, Katter’s Australia Party three, Queensland Greens two, with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Queensland Division and an independent, one each.
ECQ Commissioner Pat Vidgen said the declaration had been due to the huge response from postal voters who had returned their ballot papers before the 10 November deadline.
“The return of such a large number of postal votes has been remarkable, and I commend electors all around Queensland for heeding our message by mailing their vote back to the ECQ before the deadline,” Mr Vidgen said.
“Every vote is important and postal votes are crucial in many electorates where the contest is very close.”
He noted that electorates such as Nicklin, Whitsunday, Currumbin, Bundaberg, and Barron River had been tight contests, requiring a full preference count.
Bundaberg and Nicklin had required a recount, requested by the Liberal National Party, before a final decision was made.
Mr Vidgen said that while there was no prescribed recount requirement in Queensland’s Electoral Act 1992, a federal automatic recount was triggered by less than 100 votes and as both Bundaberg and Nicklin were under that trigger threshold it was appropriate a recount was conducted.
He said that after the recounts, both seats were declared for Labor.
