Candidate woes plague Qld Labor's campaign

22 Feb 2012, 6:07 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Labor's candidate selection troubles have overshadowed Anna Bligh's election promises for a second day.

Queensland Labor's candidates controversy has deepened, with the party telling voters there's nothing wrong with offering up uni students who don't live in their chosen electorates.

Brisbane student Jack O'Brien, 20, is contesting the rural conservative stronghold of Gregory and confessed on Wednesday he has never been to the electorate, and won't have time to before polling day.

Brisbane-based Rachel Patterson, 19, is studying, works in a fast-food outlet and is also the ALP's candidate for Mermaid Waters.

Ben Parker, 18, a union official, lives on the Gold Coast and is running for the seat of Gympie.

Premier Anna Bligh said there were no more young Labor people standing in this election than in previous polls and it was common to test young blood in opposition safe seats.

"That is not an unreasonable thing," she told reporters.

"We'd always prefer to see all candidates local ... if you don't see them putting up their hand we still want to see a Labor candidate on the ballot paper.

"This happens on both sides of politics."

The LNP ran a 19-year-old who did not live in the South Brisbane electorate in 2004, she said.

Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls said the LNP's candidates all had strong links and connections with their local communities, while Labor was treating voters with contempt.

"The last-minute decision to parachute university students from Brisbane into seats 1000 kilometres away shows just how city-centric they are," he told AAP.

Labor state secretary Anthony Chisholm says Labor and the LNP are on par, with each having about 20 candidates who don't live in the electorate they are contesting.

It is the second day Labor's candidate selection troubles have overshadowed Ms Bligh's election messages.

On Tuesday, its candidate for Southern Downs was expelled from the party for racist and anti-homosexual rants.

On Wednesday, his father Dudley Watson quit the party after 40 years, disgusted by the way his son had been treated.

"I've lost a lot of faith in them (Labor)," he told ABC radio.

"They won't even have a candidate here now (in Southern Downs) unless they put up another university candidate or someone from Brisbane who has probably never been past Ipswich."

Ms Bligh tried on Wednesday to announce another education policy, the third in three days.

A new Labor government would spend $20 million sprucing up the state's kindergartens, buying resources and giving grants to open more in disadvantaged areas.

The premier also crowned Townsville as the second so-called capital of the state, which is no doubt set to rile bitter rival Cairns.

Campaigning in the tropics is not all work though, and the phrase "gone troppo" must have sprung to the premier's mind.

A Townsville radio shock jock took off his shirt in front of her on Wednesday and conducted their interview half-naked.

The campaign bus was heading further north on Wednesday afternoon.

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