{"id":260213,"date":"2025-11-03T18:22:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T18:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/260213\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T18:22:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T18:22:17","slug":"hinchinbrook-by-election-a-test-for-queensland-lnp-government-as-writs-issued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/260213\/","title":{"rendered":"Hinchinbrook by-election a ‘test’ for Queensland LNP government as writs issued"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Crisafulli LNP government is set to be tested after it announced November 29 as the date for the by-election in the north Queensland seat of Hinchinbrook.<\/p>\n

Writs for the election were issued this morning.<\/p>\n

While the poll won’t significantly affect the LNP’s sizeable majority,<\/a> and is far from the premier’s own seat of Broadwater on the Gold Coast, Premier David Crisafulli has been campaigning hard in the electorate.<\/p>\n

The by-election, based around Ingham where the premier was raised, is seen as detailing the state of play for Queensland politics just a year after he was swept to power.<\/p>\n

By-election ‘test ‘ for premier<\/p>\n

The poll was triggered when Katter’s Australian Party MP Nick Dametto resigned<\/a> from state parliament nearly three weeks ago, to run for the job of Townsville mayor.<\/p>\n

Mr Dametto was re-elected to parliament with a 13 per cent margin on a two-party preferred basis in last year’s state election, with the LNP coming in second and Labor placing third.<\/p>\n

Politics lecturer Dr Liam Moore, from James Cook University, said the upcoming election would be seen as a test for the premier.<\/p>\n

“They [the LNP] need to show progress, they need to show some wins and get some runs on the board,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This will be seen as a one-year early test as to how this LNP government is going.”\"Drone<\/p>\n

The by-election comes less than a year after devastating floods hit Ingham. (Supplied: Lachlan Smith)<\/p>\n

The by-election will be held just a fortnight after the Townsville mayoral by-election, meaning many voters in the south of the electorate will be heading to the polls twice in as many weeks.<\/p>\n

But avoiding the peak of the wet season would also have been a key concern.<\/p>\n

“I know a lot of the Hinchinbrook residents and even the electoral commission [would] be concerned about prepping for disasters,” Dr Moore said.<\/p>\n

“There would be similar issues if [elections were] held in late December as well, which is why the commission tends not to hold it around these major holidays.”<\/p>\n

‘Once in a generation’ by-election<\/p>\n

The LNP is putting up former Regional Development Australia Townsville chief executive Wayde Chiesa for the state seat.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

David Crisafulli is pinning his hopes on LNP candidate Wayde Chiesa (left). (ABC News)<\/p>\n

The premier described the election a “once in a generation opportunity \u2026 [to elect someone] who will work with me around the table of the LNP government”.<\/p>\n

Katter’s Australian Party announced former Townsville deputy mayor Mark Malachino as its candidate for Hinchinbrook.<\/p>\n

The LNP has been pushing hard to highlight Mr Malachino’s past links to the Labor Party, distributing documents showing he was a member of the ALP from 2017 to 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Townsville<\/p>\n

KAP candidate Mark Malachino was previously a Labor Party member. (ABC North Qld: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n

But Mr Malachino stressed he had cut ties with Labor.<\/p>\n

“I had the fortitude to walk away; there’s not a chance in hell \u2026 hell would freeze over before I join that party again,” he said.Opposition plays up Crisafulli links<\/p>\n

The opposition has also positioned the Hinchinbrook by-election as a test for the year-old government.<\/p>\n

Labor announced on Monday former Townsville councillor, Maurie Soars, as its candidate.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Maurie Soars faces a tough battle after Labor finished third in the seat at the last election. (ABC North Qld: Chloe Chomicki)<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Steven Miles said the by-election would be a chance for voters to show what they thought of the LNP.<\/p>\n

“The voters of Hinchinbrook deserve better than another David Crisafulli yes man,” he said.<\/p>\n

“David Crisafulli sees the LNP winning Hinchinbrook as his birthright.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Crisafulli LNP government is set to be tested after it announced November 29 as the date for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[38323,37921,23812,49865,43,153141,79455,1788,44,79457,9801,701,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-260213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-by-election","tag-candidate","tag-date","tag-david-crisafulli","tag-headlines","tag-hinchinbrook","tag-katters-australian-party","tag-labor","tag-news","tag-nick-dametto","tag-parliament","tag-queensland","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}