The Liberal National Party has declared victory in a by-election in the North Queensland seat of Hinchinbrook after a huge 20% swing against Katter’s Australian Party.
The by-election in the “very safe” seat was triggered by the departure of deputy state leader Nick Dametto to run for Townsville Mayor, but LNP candidate Wayde Chiesa won more than 40% of first preference votes and is leading KAP candidate Mark Molachino by about 2,100 votes, ABC News reported.
“We asked Hinchinbrook for a seat at the table, and today they have voted for one,” Mr Chiesa said late on Saturday night while celebrating with LNP Premier David Crisafulli.
Mr Molachino won 30% of the primary vote, followed by One Nation’s Luke Sleep, who preferenced the LNP third, and the KAP fifth, only ahead of Labor and the Greens.
Mr Sleep won 13.5% of first preferences, thanks to a swing of 8.9% that mirrors One Nation’s nationwide surge in the polls.
The KAP was expected to retain the seat, which it held with a 13.2% margin, and Mr Molachino campaigned on the party’s Castle Law policy.
Mr Chiesa also campaigned on law and order, using the slogan “breach bail, go to jail” and his party ran attack ads on Mr Molachino focusing on his history with the Labor Party.
Mr Molachino said his values no longer aligned with Labor, and the KAP threatened legal action against Mr Crisafulli for a social media ad comparing their candidate to former Townsville mayor Troy Thompson, who is accused of lying about his military credentials.
At the time of writing Labor Party candidate Maurice Soars had 8.3% of first preferences, a swing of -5.8%, The Greens’ Aiden Creagh had 3.4%, Family First Queensland had 2.2%, and Independent Steven Clare had 1.1%.
Header image: Left, Wayde Chiesa celebrates with Mr Crisafulli (Facebook). Right, One Nation’s how to vote card (X).
The post Huge swing as Liberal National Party wins by-election with One Nation help first appeared on The Noticer.
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