Brisbane election shows us there’s not much joy chasing inner-city voters

Two political parties won out of this weekend's Queensland elections, and one party, the (Australian Labor Party) ALP suffered devastating defeats.

Those losses were worst in the state by-election of Inala, where the two-party preferred swing was around 19 percent, but they held the seat, and Ipswich West where they lost around 18 percent two-party preferred, and the seat.

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Their result in the Brisbane City Council elections was status quo bad.

The by-elections were held to replace two retiring state MPs-former Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in Inala, and Jim Madden in Ipswich West.

These results look not so much like a warning shot across the bow of the good ship Labor, but the first barrage in the next state election.

In the last four years, there have been three state by-elections in Queensland.

In Callide, when the state Liberal-National Party (LNP) member resigned to pursue a federal seat, there was a swing to the LNP of 5.9 percent; in Stretton, when Duncan Pegg the Labor member died, there was a swing against the ALP of 0.9 percent; and in Currumbin, when the LNP member resigned for health reasons, there was a swing against the LNP of 2.1 percent.

Remember when the end of the Whitlam Labor government was heralded by the Bass by-election in Tasmania?

It was won by Kevin Newman, the father of former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, with a swing of 17.5 percent against the Labor Party and a two-party swing to the Liberals of 14.3 percent.

These recent by-election swings are in the Bass category.

The Greens eating Labor's lunch

While most council elections are not contested by the major parties, the Brisbane City Council is the major exception with a Liberal Lord Mayor and administration.