Jarrod Bleijie used his first press conference as Queensland’s new Deputy Premier to boast about the LNP’s election result and predict the party will claim “at a minimum, 53 seats” in the next parliament.
“Now, if this trajectory continues, even with the 53 seats, the Liberal National Party will form a majority government with more seats than the Labor Party achieved at the 2020 COVID election,” Bleijie said.
Queensland’s new Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie.Credit: Joe Ruckli
“And I’ve seen a lot of interesting commentary on election night from the Labor Party, and Labor former ministers, in terms of their result.”
The LNP is on track to claim at least 48 seats, ahead of Labor’s 30, with 10 seats still in doubt. Forty-seven seats are needed for a majority.
Bleijie also extolled his party’s success in inner Brisbane, pointing to the result in the electorate of Maiwar where there was a swing of at least 4.7 per cent towards the LNP’s Natasha Winters from Greens MP Michael Berkman – although Berkman is still expected to retain his seat.
“Everybody was saying it was going to be a contest between Labor and the Greens … in the inner-city Brisbane, [and it was] between the Greens and, not the Labor Party, but the Greens and the Liberal National Party,” Bleijie said.
“[This] shows that no matter whether you’re in the city or rural and regional Queensland, Queensland voted for change … We want to be a government for all Queensland, and we want to govern for all Queenslanders. That’s our intention, and we intend to stick to it.”
Maiwar, a new electorate first contested in 2017, was notionally an LNP seat, but won by Berkman in a contest against the LNP’s then-shadow treasurer Scott Emerson. The 2020 result was also a contest between Berkman and the LNP candidate.
