Voters cast their ballots at Brisbane City Hall superbooth

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The ABC reports from the seat of Brisbane outside the Brisbane City Hall.

Transcript

00:00Yeah, good afternoon, Kath.

00:03Well, you'd be forgiven if you thought I was actually at NRL's Magic Ground,

00:07just largely due to the sheer volume of jerseys that are behind me.

00:10But we're in fact at Brisbane City Hall, where it is a super booth,

00:14and people from around those local electorates from Brisbane,

00:18as well as interstate people, have been gathering to sort of vote.

00:21But it's really interesting, speaking to a number of volunteers here on the ground,

00:24they say that the numbers are just not as much as what they've seen

00:26in past and previous federal elections.

00:30And that's largely due to the record-breaking Queenslanders

00:32that have turned out to cast their vote early.

00:35There's been more than 1.5 million people who have cast their vote and pre-polled.

00:40And that is very significant, considering the numbers back in 2022

00:44for that federal election during that similar time was about 850,000.

00:50So it's a significant jump.

00:51Now, experts are saying it's largely due to campaign fatigue,

00:54but it's also due to the fact that we're facing a triple whammy here in Queensland.

00:58Not only is it the federal election, but it's also Magic Round weekend here in Brisbane,

01:03as I mentioned.

01:04And it's also Queensland's Labor Day weekend.

01:06So ahead of that public holiday, people did get out to vote nice and early.

01:11But, of course, there's not been that many coming through here's Brisbane Superbooth as well.

01:15So we have spoken to a number of constituents,

01:17asking them what they're feeling in terms of heading into the polls today.

01:21Many say, as we've heard throughout the morning,

01:24sort of cost of living being front and centre of their minds.

01:27But particularly here in Queensland, natural disasters,

01:30as well as the environment, are also key issues.

01:34Cost of living is obviously a huge thing that's on everyone's mind at the moment.

01:38But, you know, just really those local issues that I think are important to us,

01:42even though it's a federal election.

01:43Climate activism would be on top of my list.

01:48And, yeah, housing affordability.

01:50Definitely one of them is housing crisis.

01:53I think a lot of people would be saying the same thing today.

01:57Definitely a core issue for me is Palestine.

01:59Pump for it.

02:00More pump for Magic Round.

02:02But, yeah, we're looking forward to voting.

02:05And, yeah, it should be a good day.

02:09Now, Ari, tell us what seats are going to be in focus in the state.

02:12You're probably in one of them right there, which is the seat of Brisbane.

02:15Yeah, that's exactly right, Kath.

02:18So the Battle of Brisbane is certainly brewing.

02:20And for our audience to sort of understand that,

02:23I'll take you back to the 2022 federal election,

02:25where the Greens here achieved a historic result.

02:28They were able to pick up three of those inner-city Brisbane seats,

02:32including the likes of the Division of Ryan, Griffith,

02:35as well as where I am right now, which is the Division of Brisbane.

02:38Now, two of those seats that I've mentioned, Ryan and Brisbane,

02:41are fairly marginal green seats.

02:44They're held on margins of about 2% to 3%,

02:46whereas that Division of Griffith is held on a margin of 10.5%.

02:51It's considered fairly safe,

02:53and it's held by the incumbent member, Max Chandler-Mather.

02:56However, he is facing a fairly tough contest

02:59against his Labor candidate, Renee Coffey,

03:02and it's a similar story for the Division of Ryan.

03:04We're also seeing that Liberal candidate, Maggie Forrest,

03:08who's been running a fairly tight campaign

03:10for the last five weeks as well, door-knocking included.

03:13And that's something that's going to play out

03:15very interestingly here for the Battle of Brisbane.

03:18And really, in the last five weeks or so,

03:20we've seen a number of high-profile politicians

03:22really pour their focus into Queensland,

03:25particularly the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese,

03:28as well as the opposition leader, Peter Dutton,

03:30who have really focused a lot of their energy.

03:32But speaking of Peter Dutton, his seat here in Queensland,

03:36the electorate of Dixon,

03:37is also going to be a fairly tight contest.

03:40He holds the most marginal seat in the state,

03:42on a margin of 1.7% in that electorate.

03:45And he faces a tough contest against Labor candidate there,

03:49Ailey France, who this is her third time trying to win this seat.

03:52But speaking to a number of Labor members,

03:55they say that they do feel like Ailey does stand a fairly good chance.

03:58And, of course, we've got that seat in the far north,

04:01the seat of Leichhardt.

04:02Where outgoing, retiring MP Warren Ench is leaving,

04:06so that seat is also considered to be fairly in play.

04:09We'll wait to see how exactly all this plays out throughout the afternoon.

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