Liberal National Party leader Deb Frecklington has resigned after the party’s heavy defeat in the Queensland state election.
The opposition is set to lose up to four seats with Labor on track to hold 52 seats as counting continues on Nov. 2 after Saturday’s poll.
Frecklington declared that she would stay on as LNP leader in her concession speech, but says she has since changed her mind.
She says as soon as the election results are declared she will call a party-room vote for a new leader and not stand herself.
“I will not be a candidate in the leadership contest, whoever the new leader of the LNP is will have my full support, and my full loyalty. I will assist them in any way possible to help this party move forward,” Frecklington told reporters on Monday.
“Now it has been the greatest privilege of my life so far, to be the leader of the Liberal National Party.”
She apologised for the party’s loss and thanked all the LNP’s candidates and volunteers for the hard work on the election.
“I am sorry that despite all of that support that we have had we were unable to win this election. I am the leader, and I do take responsibility for the election loss,” Frecklington said.
She is the third LNP leader to have failed to beat Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the ballot box after Campbell Newman in 2015 and Tim Nicholls in 2017.
It’s understood that Broadwater MP and opposition tourism spokesman David Crisafulli is the leading candidate to take the reins.
Deputy Leader Tim Mander may also put his hand up in the leadership ballot.
Not only did Frecklington face a powerful Labor adversary at the polls, she was also the target of damaging leaks from her own party during the election campaign.
“Look the internal distractions haven’t been helpful but that’s for the future,” she said.
“But what I want to say is this: I am really excited to be able to, this afternoon, get in my car and go to Kingaroy and spend some time out there.”
Meanwhile, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Treasurer Cameron Dick and Deputy Premier Steven Miles are meeting with departmental director-generals on Monday to keep their promise of delivering a budget before Christmas.
Labor didn’t deliver a budget because the federal budget, which includes crucial GST forecasts, wasn’t delivered until Oct. 6 when the state government was already in caretaker mode ahead of the election.
“I promised Queenslanders that we will deliver a budget before Christmas, and if that means working right up until Christmas we will,” the premier said on Sunday.
She says the state budget is likely to be handed down on December 8, the week after the new parliament is sworn in.
