2012 Queensland state election

2012 Queensland state election

← 2009 24 March 2012 (2012-03-24) 2015 →
All 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 45 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	91.00% ( 0.07 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Campbell Newman Anna Bligh Aidan McLindon Party Liberal National Labor Katter's Australian Leader since 22 March 2011 (2011-03-22) 13 September 2007 (2007-09-13) 9 August 2011 (2011-08-09) Leader's seat Ashgrove (won seat) South Brisbane Beaudesert (lost seat) Last election 34 seats, 41.60% 51 seats, 42.25% Did not contest Seats before 33 seats 51 seats 1 seat Seats won 78 7 2 Seat change 45 44 1 Popular vote 1,214,553 652,092 282,098 Percentage 49.7% 26.7% 11.5% Swing 8.1 15.6 11.5 TPP 62.8% 37.2% TPP swing 13.7 13.7
Winning margin by electorate.
Premier before election Anna Bligh Labor Elected Premier Campbell Newman Liberal National

The 2012 Queensland state election was held on 24 March 2012 to elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly, a unicameral parliament.^[1]

The Labor Party (ALP), led by Premier Anna Bligh, was defeated by the opposition Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Campbell Newman in a landslide victory. It is only the sixth time that Queenslanders have ousted a sitting government since 1915. The ALP was attempting to win a ninth consecutive election victory, having won every general election since 1989, despite being out of office between 1996 and 1998. Katter's Australian Party contested its first election. Before the election, it held two seats whose members had been elected as LNP candidates.

Labor suffered one of the worst defeats of a state government since Federation, and the worst defeat of a sitting government in Queensland history. From 51 seats in 2009, it was reduced to only seven seats, suffering a swing of 15.6 percentage points. The LNP won a majority for the first time in its history, jumping from 34 to 78 seats to win the largest majority government in Queensland history. It was the first outright non-Labor majority since the Queensland Nationals won their last victory in 1986. Katter's Australian Party won two seats, though leader Aidan McLindon lost his own seat. The remaining two seats were taken by independents. Newman took office two days after the election.

Historically, Queenslanders have given their governments long tenures in office. The 2012 election marked only the sixth change of government in the state since 1915.