A Charles Sturt University (CSU) expert believes Bob Katter’s Australia Party is now a third force in Queensland politics with the Liberal National Party’s (LNP) landslide victory in last weekend’s election.

 

Political commentator, Dr Troy Whitford, is of the opinion that Katter’s party will fair better with an LNP government.

 

“Independents, One Nation and other more conservative parties always do better when conservative voters are rebelling against a conservative government,” Dr Whitford said.

 

“Katter’s party will probably pick up more rural based seats in the next election and most certainly the one after that. However, he needs to keep the momentum going until then.

 

“We are going through an anti-Labor cycle at present in state and federal politics. In a few elections it will change and an anti-conservative movement will emerge, which will include conservative voters looking for an alternative, just like there was in the 1998 federal election.”

 

Another CSU political expert, Dr Dominic O’Sullivan, acknowledged a huge swing from Labor was partly due to a change in strategy from the conservative side.

 

“This is the first time a leader of a Queensland conservative party has come from Brisbane, which was part of a deliberate strategy to broaden the appeal of conservative parties in the state,” Dr O’Sullivan said.

 

“The LNP was repositioned as a state-wide party rather than a rural-led bloc, which in the past dominated Queensland conservative politics.