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