Probably many Qld voters realised that their state was on the way to becoming another LNP banana republic, they haven't forgotten the appalling Bjelke-Petersen regime.

.....it was merely because of the mess the Labour Party were in at the time.

Well said Suze, so what's changed?

If we're talking QLD, labor themselves have been caught off guard, and if we're talking federal, what does labor have to offer.

While I agree Abbott is a goose, at least the libs have Morrison, Bishop and Turnbul, who do labor have as alternative leaders because Shortens rise to fame is not due to his performance, it's due to Abbotts self destruction.

Now while on the subject of lies, which has been the focus for some time now, how does labor form government, or libs for that matter without the support of the minors and independent/s. They either break a promise, or we go back to the polls, which wouldn't be a bad idea because the result would be very different I suspect, esspecially given labors apparent un preparedness to govern.

The stench surrounding Abbott is overpowering and Turnbull the most likely character to be reinstated as PM. A position he should never have been challenged for. A good middle of the road man, but that quality goes against Liberal values.

The worst of taking over a PM position is if you don’t turn things around ,because of what you have left behind, you could ruin your career as well.

Abbott has already lost the next election, so something will happen. People will not forget the extent of lies and promises that failed to eventuate. Abbott’s only fame according to him is backing out the carbon tax which cost 6 billion $ In revenue.

Abbott the champion of two failed first term governments and another pending. Is on the nose. So who could be happy with that, certainly not his fellow workers who are clambering for Abbott’s head, either quietly or forcibly. The Abbott clock is one minute to midnight.

GrahamY, I am impressed that you asked voters whether they were voting against the government because they wanted to change the government, or doing so because they wanted to scare the government.

But it does not seem to accord with the other data around http://www.whatthepeoplewant.net/polls-blog/april-2005/queensland-election-2015the-quants.html A suggestion that 52% of people polled felt that the government did not deserve to be re-elected. And indeed your claim that there was a smaller swing in marginal seats than in safe seats also doesn't seen to be borne out by the data http://www.abc.net.au/news/qld-election-2015/results/electorates/ There is an old political adage that goes "oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them" that would seem to be apt in this case. Possibly tipped over the edge by Tony Abbott's 'captain's pick' of Sir Prince Philip.

What does surprise me is the rest of your post. I made no comment on any of those issues and indeed many other posters had not either, but somehow a questioning of a premise of your argument led to this knee-jerk rant against the left.

That is just so wrong Mac. Where do you live, Tasmania or the moon? Where ever it is it can't be Queensland.

In the day, I could not wait to get rid of old Bjelke-Petersen. I reckoned he was way past his use by date, & by any reasonable understanding he was.

However, every single premier & government to follow him has been worse by a couple of orders of magnitude. God how I wish we had cloned the old bugger, so we could reintroduce his parochial pro Queensland ways, & get out of this mess we are now living in.

Beattie/Bligh were probably the worst in living memory, but I think we are now about to find out, just how bad government can be.

Well you would have to think labor will reinstate some of the fat trimmed from the public service. They will no doubt look at ways of getting more taxes, especially from the top end and it has been suggested they will tighten land clearing laws again.

All this suggests more borrowings and higher unemployment on the horizon. What other options do they have?

I think we might see a fresh election in the not too distant future, even if labor do break their promise and do deals with the minors.

While some of us are divided on what's best, labor or liberal, I think one thing we can all agree on is that we can il afford another term like the last couple labor break us.