Around 11am this morning, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh drove the short distance from George Street in Brisbane's CBD to Government House in Bardon to ask Governor Penelope Wensley to dissolve parliament for an election to be held on the 21st of March. Bligh might have considered as she drove through Paddington that, as she passed from funky inner citydom to leafy upmarket suburbia, she never left Labor territory. If some such thought passed through the Premier's mind, it might serve as a metaphor for the stakes of the coming battle.
In fact, Bligh could have driven almost anywhere in Brisbane without hitting a Liberal held seat, and done that at any time since the first Peter Beattie landslide in 2001. It's not that upper middle class as well as swinging voters have necessarily become enamoured of state Labor, though Beattie's pizzazz certainly didn't hurt while the romance lasted. It's rather that the Liberals and Nationals have presented an unelectable face over the past three elections.
If Lawrence Springborg had gone for a drive around town this morning, he might have been thinking about the traffic jams and the shiny new hospitals, which still generate a drumbeat of horror stories in the media day by day. Springborg and the LNP will be hoping voters focus on infrastructure, education and health, and decide that eleven years is long enough. Bligh, by contrast, will be running against the Nationals and painting the Borg and his crew as both inexperienced and having been round the block too many times without much of a record of achievement. But, above all, Bligh will be arguing that tough economic times require proven leadership -- that's why the election follows on so closely from the state's budget review on Friday.
The stakes in this contest are high -- and at federal level as well. A loss in Kevin Rudd's own heartland would be unthinkable for the Prime Minister. But -- equally -- the newly amalgamated LNP would lie in tattered ruins if the Borg can't surmount the forbidding electoral mountain in his way. And whatever is left -- after even a narrow defeat -- won't look pretty. Labor has to be favoured to win this election, but past experience shows that campaigns -- which in true Queensland style can be quite mad and surprising despite all the best efforts of the apparatchiks to script them minutely -- do matter. It'll be a fascinating ride.
See Anna Bligh's poll announcement, made this morning via YouTube.
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The regions of Queensland, Australia.
The Premier of the Australian state of Queensland has announced that the state will have its election on Saturday, March 21. In an address on YouTube, Anna Bligh of the Australian Labor Party said that she called the election due to the state of the economy and to stabilise the government.

"It's time for Queensland to settle this election. It's time to settle the speculation. So that government, business and the community can get on with the task at hand and not be distracted and destabilised by looming elections," Ms Bligh said in the statement.

Ms Bligh has recently denied that she would call an early election.

"I have always said that I want my government to run the full term and I have not changed my view on this lightly," she said.

"After 11 years in office, Ms Bligh only cares about one job: her own," said Lawrence Springborg head of the Liberal National Party (LNP) and the Leader of the Opposition. "Queensland deserves better. Over the next 27 days, the LNP will build on our vision for the Queensland we all deserve."
Anna Bligh in 2007.
The Opposition need to pick up at least twenty seats from the government to overcome the significant Labor majority and a number of independents.

"It is a sad legacy of economic management and mismanagement of the Labor Government that after 11 years of the rivers of gold, our state is broke," Mr Springborg said. "It's a little bit like lighting a fire and then running around and wanting credit for putting it out." 

A March 21 election gives candidates twenty six day to campaign. This is just within the legal requirements. The Queensland Electoral Act (1992) requires the election campaign to last between 26 and 56 days.

The Queensland Greens nominated an environmental lawyer to run against treasurer Andrew Fraser.

"We can tackle climate change and create long-term jobs, but Labor can't see that because they are blinded by the interests of their big donors - the urban development and coal industries," says Larrisa Waters, the Greens candidate for Mt-Cootha.

"The Greens want to give the community and the environment a voice back in State Parliament."

"The current stance taken by both major parties, in relation to Daylight Saving in Queensland, is outdated, out of touch and inflexible. South East Queenslanders are frustrated that neither major party is currently prepared to explore options on the issue of Daylight Saving", DS4SEQ party leader Jason Furze told ''Wikinews'' on January 30. DS4SEQ is a single-issue party, focused on the debate on daylight saving time.

Indigenous activist Sam Watson will be contesting the South Brisbane electorate which is currently held by the premier. He will represent the Socialist Alliance. Watson campaigned heavly for indigenous rights since the 1970s and was a community spokesperson following the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee in 2004.