{"id":412947,"date":"2025-11-29T13:48:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T13:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/412947\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T13:48:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T13:48:22","slug":"qld-premier-claims-lnp-victory-in-bitterly-contested-hinchinbrook-by-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/412947\/","title":{"rendered":"QLD Premier claims LNP victory in bitterly-contested Hinchinbrook by-election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland’s Liberal National Party has claimed victory in the Hinchinbrook by-election in North Queensland<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With most of the first preferences counted, the LNP’s Wayde Chiesa has more than 40 per cent of the vote and will go on to win the seat.<\/p>\n

Premier David Crisafull spoke in Ingham just after 9.30pm.<\/p>\n

“This place used to be called Katter country, it’s now Chiesa country,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr Crisafulli said.<\/p>\n

Just before 9pm, the LNP had secured more than 40 per cent of the vote in what has been a very safe Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) seat.<\/p>\n

You can get live results and commentary on the by-election here from ABC’s chief elections and data analyst Casey Briggs.<\/a><\/p>\n

On the latest count, the ABC is projecting a swing toward the government of more than 16 per cent.<\/p>\n

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of KAP deputy state leader Nick Dametto, who left parliament to successfully contest the Townsville mayoral race.<\/p>\n

The KAP now has 30.7 per cent of the preliminary count, with One Nation in third place at 13.48 per cent.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

More than 39,000 votes are expected in the Hinchinbrook by-election (ABC News: Chloe Chomicki)<\/p>\n

Crime, crocs, and cane<\/p>\n

The seat reaches far into cane and croc country, from Townsville’s northern suburbs to south of Tully, as well as Premier David Crisafulli’s hometown of Ingham.<\/p>\n

The KAP was tipped to retain the seat \u2014 which it holds with a more than 13 per cent margin \u2014 with its new candidate, the former Townsville deputy mayor Mark Molachino.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n

Mark Molachino (second from right) is a former deputy mayor of Townsville. (Supplied: Facebook\u00a0)<\/p>\n

The LNP, however, has run a series of attack ads highlighting Mr Molachino’s past membership of the Labor Party.<\/p>\n

Mr Molachino has stressed his values no longer align with those of the ALP.<\/p>\n

He has campaigned hard on the KAP’s so-called Castle Law bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The LNP received a little over 28 per cent of first preference votes in Hinchinbrook at the 2024 state election.<\/p>\n

Wayde Chiesa, a childhood friend of the premier’s and rugby league caller, is contesting the seat for the LNP.<\/p>\n

His main slogan has been “breach bail, go to jail”<\/a>, promising to toughen bail laws for young offenders.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

ALP candiate Maurie Soars with Opposition Leader Steven Miles. (Supplied: Facebook\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Maurie Soars, who served on the Townsville council alongside Mr Molachino, is contesting the seat for Labor.<\/p>\n

The ALP won just 14 per cent of first preference votes in Hinchinbrook at the state election last year.<\/p>\n

Heated campaign<\/p>\n

The outcome will make little difference to state parliament, where the LNP has a healthy majority.<\/p>\n

The LNP has aggressively pursued the seat, to prove its popularity as a first term government.<\/p>\n

The number of early voters has been high, with almost half of the expected ballots cast before Saturday, according to the Queensland Electoral Commission.<\/p>\n

But as voters have streamed to pre-polling booths, tempers have flared.<\/p>\n

Last week, the LNP released a video of the ALP candidate exchanging angry words with a Liberal staffer in Deeragun.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the KAP has threatened legal action against Premier David Crisafulli over comments made comparing Mark Molachino to the disgraced former mayor Troy Thompson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland’s Liberal National Party has claimed victory in the Hinchinbrook by-election in North Queensland.\u00a0 With most of the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":412948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,193993,4795,193992,193994,606,95255,193995,50,107460,193991],"class_list":{"0":"post-412947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-by-election","10":"tag-david-crisafulli","11":"tag-hinchinbrook","12":"tag-kap","13":"tag-labor","14":"tag-lnp","15":"tag-mark-molachino","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-nick-dametto","18":"tag-townsivlle"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115633305270152350","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}