{"id":316305,"date":"2025-11-29T10:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/316305\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T10:59:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:59:09","slug":"lnp-lead-narrows-in-bitterly-contested-hinchinbrook-by-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/316305\/","title":{"rendered":"LNP lead narrows in bitterly contested Hinchinbrook by-election"},"content":{"rendered":"

The LNP’s early lead is narrowing as early votes flow in the Hinchinbrook by-election in North Queensland.<\/a><\/p>\n

The result will make little difference in the state parliament, where the LNP holds a strong majority.<\/p>\n

Just before 8pm, the LNP had secured 38 per cent or more than 10,000 votes 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

The LNP has aggressively pursued the seat, keen to wrest it away from KAP to prove its popularity as a first-term government.<\/p>\n

The KAP now has 30.6 per cent of the preliminary count, with One Nation in third place at 15.6 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

\"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 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

Polls closed at 6pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The LNP’s early lead is narrowing as early votes flow in the Hinchinbrook by-election in North Queensland. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,38323,49865,153141,21705,1788,49264,178641,44,79457,178640],"class_list":["post-316305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-by-election","tag-david-crisafulli","tag-hinchinbrook","tag-kap","tag-labor","tag-lnp","tag-mark-molachino","tag-news","tag-nick-dametto","tag-townsivlle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316305","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=316305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}