The Queensland Election of 17 February 2001: Reforging the Electoral Landscape?

Abstract

The 2001 general election for the Queensland Legislative Assembly's fiftieth Parliament will stand as a watershed in Queensland electoral politics. The Beattie Labor government, elected with minority status in 1998, subsequently elevated to a majority of one later that year, and once again reduced to a technical minority at the end of 2000 amid the controversy generated by the Shepherdson Inquiry into allegations of vote rorting, managed not only to survive but to increase its vote in a record primary swing of 10.0% that reduced the non-labor parties to a rump (ECQ 2001). In taking 66 of the Assembly's 89 seats, the ALP achieved its greatest share of electorates since Forgan-Smith's 1935 landslide (Campbell 1996). This election was remarkable for several other reasons. First, it was the first poll since 1992 to return a majority government in Queensland; second, it second, it seemed eminently possible on election night that both the National Party leader, Rob Borbidge, and Liberal Party leader, David Watson, would lose their respective seats; third, a record number of women members (33, or 37%) now sit in the Legislative Assembly; and, fourth, the election saw a dramatic reduction in the hitherto-strong One Nation vote.