'Insider' scoffs at poll talk | Politics

Bill Hoffman | 15th January 2009

ELECTION signs are starting to appear in marginal state seats, candidates are dropping leaflets and the flow of traffic from George Street will soon see a procession of ministers on our doorstop.

However, despite mounting evidence that premier Anna Bligh will call an election soon, both she and party insiders continue to insist that Queensland Labor will serve its full term, which still has six months to run.

Such frenzied activity is normally as reliable in predicting the election cycle as ants before rain, but there remains contrary evidence to dispute the murmurs that suggest an election date will be set as early as January 28.

One Labor insider points out that the party has still to endorse a candidate for the seat of Maroochydore, held by LNP infrastructure spokeswoman Fiona Simpson by a secure 7%.

The party has received a nomination for preselection but its rules require that it lie on the table for a month in case there is a challenger. That period ends early next month.

Labor has named 45-year-old former health bureaucrat Jenny Goodwin as its candidate for Kawana, 25-year-old hairdresser Laura Hawkins in Buderim, Bridges campaigner Peter Baulch in Nicklin, Jennifer Hansen-Read in Glass House, Jody Tunncliffe in Caloundra and Brian Stockwell in Noosa.

Caloundra is the most winnable seat for Labor, requiring a swing of only 1%, followed by Kawana, where it needs 2.9% and there is no sitting member standing.

Nicklin is an impossibility in the face of independent Peter Wellington's stranglehold, and Maroochydore and the new seat of Buderim, at a notional 8%, would be much harder.

The insider described Noosa as “anyone's guess”, with the outcome likely to depend on Green preferences. Sitting LNP member Glen Elmes secured only 38% of the vote at the last poll.

The state's 31-year-old treasurer, Andrew Fraser, will be on the Sunshine Coast on January 28 for a campaign fundraiser for Laura Hawkins.

The insider said: “The last time I spoke to those at the centre of the government the intention was to run the full term. All the speculation is coming from those not in the know.”