Labor’s loss at the Queensland election has forced a rethink for the federal government on its strategy for the next national poll, while the coalition is optimistic its success can be replicated.
, with leader David Crisafulli sworn in as the state’s next premier on Monday.
With counting still under way the LNP is confident it has won 53 seats in the state’s parliament, with 47 needed for a majority.
The opposition had been forecast to record a landslide victory but Labor .
Peter Dutton issues warning for Anthony Albanese
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the result was an indictment on the federal government.
“The lessons are that if you treat people with contempt, if you run up huge debt, you mismanage the economy, you create a cost-of-living crisis, you can expect the electorate to punish you,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“That’s exactly what happened in Queensland, I think it’s what’s going to happen in a federal level as well, because the prime minister has promised a lot for Australians and he’s delivered nothing.”
Labor to ‘go through the lessons’
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Labor would heed the results ahead of the federal election.
“The outcome on Saturday night was decisive, but it wasn’t unexpected, and there are lessons for us,” he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
“Queenslanders are pragmatic and practical people, and the Albanese government is a pragmatic and practical government, but we will go through the lessons from Saturday night.”
The next federal election is due to be held by May, with the cost of living and housing likely to dominate the campaign.
Labor will be looking to regain ground in Queensland, holding just five of the state’s 30 federal electorates.
Chalmers said it was not surprising there had been a change of government given Labor’s long reign and the cost-of-living pressures.
“We understand that people are doing it tough, and they express that at the ballot box, which is their right,” he said.
“We’ve tried to take a series of well-informed economic decisions, take the right economic decisions for the right reasons, because I believe if you do that, the politics will take care of themselves.”
Greens blame Labor for poor showing
Greens leader Adam Bandt claimed Labor targeting the minor party had hindered the former government’s chances at the election.
“We’ve got an opportunity in the remaining few months of this federal parliament to work together to get results on the housing crisis and on the cost-of-living crisis,” he told reporters in Brisbane.
“Labor is going to need to drop this my way or the highway approach to the legislation.”
The Greens went backwards at the election, claiming just a single seat in the state’s parliament.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the Greens’ result stemmed from perceptions about the party federally.
“They were shocked by (Greens MP) Max Chandler-Mather standing up, defending the criminal elements off the CFMEU on the back of the truck with a megaphone instead of voting for housing,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.
“People look at that and go ‘these people aren’t serious about making progress. They are only about opposition. They’re only about making a point’.”
