As Queensland prepares to vote on Oct. 26, the battle for Bundaberg—the state’s most marginal seat with just nine votes splitting the two major parties—is one of a few key battle grounds that could decide the next government.
While the incumbent Labor Party dominates metropolitan Brisbane, and the Liberal National Party (LNP) maintains a strong presence across regional seats—both parties do not actually have the numbers to secure power from their relative strongholds, and need to capture key electorates like Bundaberg, Mackay, or Cairns to win power.
The State of Play
The incumbent MP for the neighbouring electorate of Burnett, Stephen Bennett, attended early polling booths in support of the LNP candidate Bree Watson.“It’s going to be incredibly close I think,” he told The Epoch Times. “It’s got to be half-and-half, Bundy’s on a knife’s edge for sure.”
At the last state election, Labor’s candidate narrowly secured victory with just nine votes—with 15,141 votes going to Labor after preferences, and 15,132 going to the LNP.
With early voting already underway for the weekend vote, Bennett said both postal and informal votes are expected to play a large role in shaping the ultimate outcome.
At the most recent count, 49.04 percent of votes had been cast, a total of 18,465 people.
Volunteers Jeff Brennan and David Zahn felt voters had mostly made up their minds on which party they would support.
“I think 80 percent have made up their mind,” Brennan told The Epoch Times.
One Nation volunteer Zahn agreed that voters seemed increasingly engaged in the political process and had a clearer view of what they wanted, while Brennan said younger people seemed worried about the cost of living, the climate, university fees, and housing.
Labor’s Tom Smith Says Abortion the Main Issue
Labor incumbent and former school teacher, Tom Smith, told The Epoch Times the key issue in the state was abortion laws.“There’s absolutely no doubt that the biggest issue this election is about a woman’s right to choose,” he said.
Smith expressed concern over conservative parties potentially moving to re-criminalised abortion, a procedure officially decriminalised by Labor in 2018.
“People are asking the candidates to state their position,” he said.
“I’m very happy to state my position even if it loses me votes. It’s important in a democracy that everyone’s questions are respected.”
The LNP’s Bennett, however, was critical of the sudden push on the abortion issue in the last three weeks of campaigning, saying it was a deflection from more pressing issues.
LNP Advocates for Solutions to Youth Crime
LNP contender Bree Watson focused her campaign on addressing rising crime in Bundaberg.Watson said she had heard of many cases where residents did not feel safe in their homes, or had been robbed while inside.
She also spoke of an increased trend in stealing tools from tradespeople out of the back of utility vehicles.
Watson said one of the LNP’s points of difference against Labor was offering a timeline to achieve key election promises.
“We’ve been really clear on our 100-day approach to the Making Queensland Safer laws,” she told The Epoch Times.
Watson said laws would be put in place to promote safety and the state’s Productivity Commission would be reinstated. The Commission was abolished in 2021 just weeks before the Brisbane Olympic bid was officially announced.
The LNP hopeful said laws were needed to allow police and magistrates to make the right choices.
She also proposed an “early reset” program aimed at at-risk youths, designed to provide one to three weeks of intensive work to help them with skills and career opportunities.
“A lot of them haven’t had a whole lot of support in life and it’s about getting them excited about a career whether it be a trade or something else,” she said.
One Nation Concerned About Land Transfers to Aboriginal Groups
In the 2020 election, the right-leaning One Nation saw its primary vote collapse by 16.60 percent.Alberto Carvalho is running for the party and said he was motivated after seeing state land being given to Indigenous corporations.
The dental and oral health professional, and father of three, has lived in seven countries and speaks four languages.
“I wasn’t interested in politics at all until I realised Labor is handing over most of the state to the Aboriginal population,” said the Portuguese South African migrant.
Carvalho said he had been looking up state maps for fossicking when he noted the large swathes of land and ocean in and surrounding Queensland listed under Native Title.
“It is a shocker,” he said, noting that waters listed under Native Title stretched out towards the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.
“The Aboriginals never had claims to the sea that we know,” he said.
Carvalho said he had investigated the issue and found Native Title claims started gaining traction around 2010-11, before speeding up in 2015.
“It’s being done at a legal level without our knowledge,” he said. “When we are being dispossessed as a country, we need to know.”
In his opinion, the same socialist forces that shaped the demise of other nations are now working through Australia’s political left wing.
Carvalho said political correctness had become too extreme in Australia, noting that when he was lecturing at TAFE, staff were required to “acknowledge their white privilege” at every meeting.
While studying at Griffith University, Carvalho said he was asked to leave a library room once after being told it was reserved for Indigenous people.
Greens Gaining Ground, Volunteer Says
Lindon Oldfield, a volunteer for the Greens, handed out flyers for Bundaberg candidate Nat Baker, who lives two hours north in the regional city of Gladstone.He said support appeared to be growing.
“The Greens’ profile has been much raised since three years ago,” he told The Epoch Times.
Oldfield said during the past election campaign, he had around one person a day expressing interest in voting for his party—this time, he is finding positive responses from around 20 people a day.
Oldfield said voters were interested in the Greens’ stance on housing, cost of living, and opposition to coal mining.
He also believed Greens support has been bolstered by the influx of people from southern states to Queensland, as well as younger voters.
“I know with the younger people we get a high strike rate,” he said.
The Greens’ state policies include taxing corporations to fund housing, schools, hospitals, essential services, and free childcare.
The party also stands for rent freezes and caps, as well as having entirely publicly-owned renewables.
Independent Wants to Tackle ‘Forever Chemicals’
Independent candidate Geoff Warham is advocating for more support for organ transplant patients, as well as building a third river crossing for Bundaberg, discouraging Airbnb-type accommodation, and dealing with PFAS contamination (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).PFAS is a nationwide issue with the chemical being found in several sites across the country. The human-made chemical is found in products like non-stick cookware and firefighting foams.
Warham says PFAS levels, detected in the Svensson Heights suburb in 2018, have caused health issues for local residents and he wants to see recognition, support, and better laws around the use of the chemical.
Contamination of underground water sources was said to have come from firefighting foam used at Bundaberg Airport.
Free blood tests were offered when the contamination was discovered, but Warham says people were told they were of little benefit and so only 60 locals took up the offer.
He now says many people in the community are suffering from fatty liver issues or cancers.
Warham says that since the initial discovery and testing of residents, science had advanced and could now reveal more about the exposure, but he feels his plight has been ignored.
The Bundaberg candidate says he contacted the Minister for Water Glenn Butcher, who directed him to Wide Bay Health, where he was told the cancer rates in the suburb would be checked.
Warham claims it has been 14 weeks with no answers.
The Candidate Supporting the Use of Hemp, Cannabis
Multiple sclerosis sufferer Ian Zunker said he had endured a decade of pain before finding cannabis.He advocates for changes in the federal scheduling of cannabis, so that it can be grown and used freely to treat various illnesses and ailments.
He also supports using hemp in construction, noting that “hempcrete”—the hemp-based alternative to concrete—is fire and mould resistant.
Independent Wants Committee for the Public
Independent Alan Corbett would like to see a new way of doing politics.Corbett’s main election platform is to set up a committee of local voices to decide if issues should be taken to government.
“Whether I win or lose, I am satisfied that I have run a respectful campaign, shown myself to be a viable alternative to the major party candidates, and am confident I can do a good job of representing the community,” he told The Epoch Times.
“If elected, my priority will be to establish a non-partisan advisory group of well-respected and knowledgeable people who are on the front line on various issues and can advise me on what is needed in Bundy.
“No other candidate has promised this, but listening to, evaluating, and acting on residents’ concerns is fundamental to being a genuine grassroots representative.”
Corbett said he would like to see people making decisions about where they live.
“If a major party candidate wins, it will be more of the same when their first priority is obeying the political party that owns them, not the people who elected them,” he said.
