Queensland State Election- January 31, 2015

[Sol]

Why does everyone think that the ALP is going to gain so much? Is the LNP really unpopular in Queensland? I thought it was a more right-wing state.

 

Well - that 51-49 was overly positive for the ALP - but there is a massive caveat on pretty much all polling during this race. There are a LOT of people on holiday still and there's a reason why polling stops in Australia in mid-December and doesn't start up until late January. Yes, there's not much usually going on, but at the same time there aren't enough people at home and you can't easily adjust the data adequately.

I've just been wondering how "summer school break" works down under ? Here in Europe, school stops for approximately two months, July and August. Do your schools close January and February ? And for businesses ?

Schools close from mid-December through to around Australia Day (26th of Jan). Most businesses only really close for the public holidays (though I think some close from Christmas through to New Years Day), but many workers tend to take their leave around this time, so everything slows down.

Do you all get a break in the winter at all?

[Sol]

@Sol, the Newman government and the Abbott government is toxic leaving a very bad condition for the LNP. Also a lot of LNP seats - after the wipeout of 2011 - they really have no business holding, and would probably be lose even if the government was reasonably popular.

Australia has its "right-wing" and "left-wing" states, but unlike the US all of them are competitive at state level.

Ahh, okay. What has the Newman government done so wrong?