Family ties loom large in premier’s by-election test
The first major election test for a state premier who champions the fight against youth crime will come in his own backyard.
But Queensland leader David Crisafulli is not claiming home advantage in Saturday’s Hinchinbrook by-election.
The north Queensland constituency, which covers an area of about 6500 square kilometres, includes Mr Crisafulli’s hometown of Ingham.
The Prime Minister still has close ties to the community where his family established a cane farm.
One of his old friends, Wayde Chiesa, is even running as the local Liberal National Party candidate.
But Mr Crisafulli thinks the LNP will be the underdog in an electorate synonymous with another family, the Katters.
Katter’s Australia Party, led by Robbie Katter, son of Bob Katter, a firebrand in the state parliament and long-serving federal MP, has held Hinchinbrook since Nick Dametto came to power in 2017.
The weekend by-elections were triggered by Mr Dametto’s resignation and his triumphant bid for Mayor of Townsville earlier this month.
Mr Crisafulli led the LNP to a drought-breaking election victory in 2024 by campaigning heavily on youth crime reforms to end Labour’s nine-year reign.
He quickly introduced controversial “adult crime, adult time” laws that have been criticized by social justice campaigners and human rights activists.
But the government claimed a significant drop in crime rates thanks to divisive reforms that attracted the attention of other states.
Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan has proposed her own “adult time for violent crime” campaign in a bid to stem a rise in youth crime.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that the by-election result would be seen as a political report card for his government, which has also pushed through the CFMEU crackdown and new infrastructure.
“Elections are about choice; it’s a choice between stronger laws and opening the door to the weakening of laws that we saw under Labor,” he said.
“This is a choice between investing in road infrastructure or opening the door for the CFMEU to return to looting and bullying on construction sites.”
Katter’s Australian Party hopes to retain Hinchinbrook, which it holds by more than 13 per cent, through candidate and former Townsville Deputy Mayor Mark Molachino.
Former Townsville councilor Maurie Soars appears to be in favor of Labor and Saturday’s voting date coincides with the start of the party’s state conference in Brisbane.
The Queensland Electoral Commission said more than a quarter of the seat’s 39,000 voters had already voted.
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
