Qld may face wait for poll result: Bligh

Voting has closed in the Queensland election, with the first exit poll suggesting the Bligh Labor government will be returned but with a massive swing against it.

Premier Anna Bligh has warned Queenslanders they may have to wait until Sunday or
beyond for a firm result.
But Auspoll said exit polling in marginal seats pointed to a narrow win for Labor,
handing it a fifth consecutive term and Ms Bligh the honour of becoming Australia's
first elected female premier.
Auspoll gave the opposition Liberal National Party 47 per cent of the primary vote,
two points ahead of Labor. The two-party preferred vote gave both parties an even 50
per cent.
Auspoll chief executive and former ALP national director Tim Gartrell told Sky News
that if the exit poll's trends were borne out across Queensland, Labor would hold
on, but with a massive swing against it.
"So this gives a whole swag of seats (to the LNP) but doesn't get them government,"
Mr Gartrell said.
As the counting got underway, LNP president Bruce McIver said: "I think it's close,
it's very, very close".
"I think we really have welded together as a strong, united force to take government
tonight if it's the people of Queensland's wish, and if it's not we will be a very
strong viable opposition," he said.
The last opinion poll of the campaign put Lawrence Springborg's LNP slightly ahead
on a two-party preferred vote, by 50.1 per cent to 49.9 per cent, but that was an
almost one per cent drop since a Galaxy poll on Friday.
If the five-percentage-point swing since the last election was replicated uniformly
across Queensland, Labor would lose 13 of the seats it is notionally deemed to hold
after a recent redistribution.
On that basis, Ms Bligh would be left with a five-seat majority in parliament.
Mr Springborg, who voted at Yelarbon State School in his electorate of Southern
Downs, said there was a "positive feeling" in the air but would not speculate on a
result.
He said he was extremely pleased with the way he and the other LNP candidates had
run the campaign.
"We had a disciplined campaign and we personally didn't get into negative attacks."
Ms Bligh seemed to concede her party would lose its massive parliamentary majority
at a minimum.
She said the Newspoll had shown the election was so close that every vote, including
her own, was going to count.
"... every single vote is going to count in this election," she said as she voted at
East Brisbane State School with her family in tow.
"We may not have a result tonight, but I think what we will see tonight is a very
interesting outcome."
Ms Bligh has said she's "not thinking about minority government" but on Saturday she
continued to leave that option open.
"I've been out at the polling booths already for a couple of hours this morning and
I intend to spend the rest of the day at polling booths talking to people, working
very hard, leaving no stone unturned to make sure I deliver a stable majority
government," Ms Bligh said.
"That's what we need right now and we'll see what Queenslanders deliver tonight and
we might have to work on that tomorrow."
Mr Springborg has also said he's only interested in a stable majority government,
something Ms Bligh said was "implausible". His comments also raised the ire of
high-profile independent candidate for Beaudesert Pauline Hanson.
Ms Hanson said the LNP leader's comments that he was not going to do deals with
independents to form a minority government were "arrogant".
"I think Lawrence Springborg was terribly arrogant in his comments last night saying
he won't work with anyone," she told Sky News.
"It's a slap in the face for the people of Queensland because if the people of
Queensland, and the seat of Beaudesert, have voted for me as an independent well I
think it's very arrogant on his part to say he won't work with me."
Meanwhile, alleged assaults and cries of dirty tactics surfaced at some polling booths.
The LNP was accused of dirty tactics in the hotly contested seat of Indooroopilly
after fake Labor how-to-vote cards were handed out.
The cards encouraged Labor voters not preference Labor defector and Greens MP Ronan
Lee despite a deal being struck between the two parties.
Labor also successfully sought a Supreme Court injunction to ban the handing out of
how-to-vote cards in electorates across north Brisbane that urged voters to save the
Royal Children's Hospital by voting for LNP candidates.
The LNP said police attended an incident involving an LNP worker who was allegedly
pushed to the ground by two men at a polling booth at Redcliffe this morning.
The ALP claims it had a booth worker assaulted at Coomera on the Gold Coast.
Police say all matters were dealt with at the scene and no formal complaints were made.