I thought the fact that Lawrence Springborg had to fly down to Brisbane meant that he was taken by surprise, but today I was told that the Nationals were actually running ads on TV in the morning, so maybe not. At least one Liberal Candidate, Dr Bruce Flegg advised his campaign supporters on Monday that the election could be announced the next day (I have a date stamped copy of the email, so I know this to be true).
However, it doesn’t look as though Liberal Party HQ knew. Not only was Leader Bob Quinn holidaying in Sydney on Tuesday, but the Liberal Party was today advertising for candidates in the seats of Bulimba, Chatsworth, Greenslopes and Lytton, with nominations closing at an unspecified time on Tuesday, 20th January. The advert says that “These preselections will be held in accordance with the Liberal Party State Constitution and the Model Rules and Procedures for Preselection ballots, Queensland Electoral Act 1992.” Fat chance. Nominations close with the electoral commissioner on the same day at 12:00 noon, so anyone nominating in accordance with the ad is likely to face an emergency State Council preselection.
To further confuse the issue Liberal Party President Michael Caltabiano claims that there are only four preselections for the Liberals to complete – Inala, Ipswich, Murrumba and Woodridge, and that these will be done by Friday. For the record, the Liberal Party doesn’t appear to have a candidate for any of the combined list of eight seats, and if you want to run for the advertised ones, good idea to get your nomination in by Friday.