After the longest Federal Election anyone can remember, the status quo seems to have been maintained in the three electorates that criss-cross the South Burnett.
LNP candidates David Littleproud (Maranoa), Llew O’Brien (Wide Bay) and Ken O’Dowd (Flynn) were all ahead on the projected two-party preferred vote at 8:00pm on Saturday after two hours of counting.
Mr Littleproud, the successor to Bruce Scott in the safest Coalition seat in Queensland, had a strong lead and looks to have been elected as expected.
However, the swing against the LNP was more than 8 per cent.
The big winner was Pauline Hanson’s One Nation candidate Lynette Keehn who was ahead of Labor candidate Dave Kerrigan on first preferences.
Former Kilkivan police officer Llew O’Brien was also leading in Wide Bay – formerly held by ex-Deputy PM Warren Truss – more than 4000 votes ahead of Labor’s Lucy Stanton.
In Flynn, sitting member Ken O’Dowd was in a much tighter race, leading on first preferences by less than 1000 votes from Labor candidate Zac Beers.
Pre-poll votes will be counted after 9:00pm on Saturday.