I suppose the Labor Party will have the unmitigated gall to stand a candidate in the seat of South Brisbane. Regardless of any other consideration a person stands first and foremost with the expressed purpose of agreeing, baring accident or sickness, if elected to represent the good folk who put their trust in them, and those who didn't, for the life of the next parliament. Bligh has thumbed her nose at those who voted personally for her and is now doing a runner with a nice payout and some juicily lurks and perks.
If I was a voter in the up coming by-election I would put Labor last.

Lexi,

With the liberals and nationals in a coalition, and a voluntary preference system, it made no sense to run against each other. Vote counting wise, it would also help Labor and the greens if they formed a coalition, but politically it would alienate the middle base that labor needs to govern.

BM,

"Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Queensland voters had nominated trust in the government and the rising cost of living as their main concerns.

'Cost of living and the carbon tax are flip sides of the same coin,' Mr Abbott said, reiterating his promise to make the repeal of the carbon scheme his first priority, should he win government."

Q.E.D.

Spruiking rhetorical fear mongering spin, again, Shadow Minister?

Just because Tony Abbott says 1 + 1 = 3 does not make it so.

QED back at ya.

I think that my son has raised a valid point.

I looked up the election results - and they were
given as - LNP 55.4 percent and ALP as 44.6 percent.
While in Ashgrove Kate Jones received - 9,406 votes
while Campbell Newman received 13,144. And as my son
pointed out if the LNP had not amalgamated - the results
would have been different. As he pointed out Anna Bligh
did retain her seat.

BM,

Read the opinion pieces, just about every commentator is saying something along the same lines, including ex labor power broker Graham Richardson. The polls show that just over 1/4 of voters want Labor.

To quote Peter Van Onselen,

"Today's Newspoll should end debate about whether Queensland Labor's problems extend to the federal party'

And from others:

"A DEEP and collective depression has taken hold of federal Labor, with the latest Newspoll suggesting the Gillard government faces a Queensland-style election rout with the loss of up to 37 seats."

If anyone thinks that things can change in 18 months, remember they were saying the same thing 12 months ago, and they haven't. Federal labor is following an almost identical trajectory in the polls that Queensland did. The old maxim, that madness is expecting things to change while continuing to do exactly the same.

We all know that polls are not exactly accurate and
don't tell the full story. They can be orchestrated
to achieve whatever results are necessary - depending
on the questions that are asked, and what sector of
the population is being asked those questions, and how
truthfully those questions are answered. We've had
the perfect example of this with the Republic Referendum.
No one should count their chickens before they hatch.