The first major electoral test for a state premier championing a crackdown on youth crime will be held in his own backyard.
However, Queensland leader David Crisafulli is not claiming home advantage in Saturday’s Hinchinbrook by-election.
The north Queensland electorate, spanning about 6500 square kilometres, includes Mr Crisafulli’s hometown of Ingham.
The premier still has close ties with the community where his family has a cane farm.
He even has one of his old mates – Wayde Chiesa – running as the local Liberal National Party candidate.
But Mr Crisafulli reckons the LNP will be the underdog in an electorate synonymous with another family – the Katters.
Katter’s Australian Party, led in the state parliament by Robbie Katter, son of firebrand and longtime federal MP Bob Katter, has held Hinchinbrook since Nick Dametto swept to power in 2017.
The weekend by-election was triggered when Mr Dametto resigned and ran for Townsville Mayor, emerging triumphant earlier this month.
Mr Crisafulli led the LNP to a drought breaking election win in 2024, campaigning hard on youth crime reforms to snap Labor’s nine-year reign.
He quickly implemented controversial “adult crime, adult time” laws that were pilloried by social justice campaigners and human rights activists.
However the government has claimed a significant decrease in crime rates under the divisive reforms that have caught the eye of other states.
Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan has proposed her own “adult time for violent crime” campaign in a bid to curb a spike in juvenile offending.
The premier acknowledged the by-election result would be seen as a political report card for his government who have also pushed a CFMEU crackdown and new infrastructure.
“Elections are about choice – it’s a choice between stronger laws or opening the door to weakening those laws that we saw under the Labor Party,” he said.
“It’s a choice between investing in road infrastructure and opening the door to the CFMEU to return … to maraud and bully on job sites.”
Katter’s Australian Party is hoping to retain Hinchinbrook — which it holds with a margin of more than 13 per cent — through candidate and former Townsville Deputy Mayor Mark Molachino.
Former Townsville councillor Maurie Soars is standing for Labor, with Saturday’s polling date coinciding with the launch of the party’s state conference in Brisbane.
More than a quarter of the seat’s 39,000 voters have already cast their ballot, the Electoral Commission of Queensland said.
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