Nominations now open for ex-premier’s seat

Fraser Barton |

The Palaszczuk name will be missing from the Inala ballot for the first time in 32 years.
The Palaszczuk name will be missing from the Inala ballot for the first time in 32 years.

Nominations for ex-Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s former seat are now officially open, with a political dynasty set to end.

For the first time in 32 years, the elected member for Inala in Brisbane’s southwest will not have the surname Palaszczuk,  after the premier resigned in December.

Residents will head to the polls for a by-election in mid-March to decide who will step up, after the Palaszczuk family held the seat for decades.

Ms Palaszczuk’s father Henry held Inala since its inception from 1992-2006 before being succeeded by his daughter Annastacia who won it with more than a 30-point margin.

The writs have been issued for not only Inala but also the Ipswich West by-elections.

Jim Madden won the Ipswich West seat back in 2015 but announced last weekend he would resign.

He is set to run for the Ipswich City Council at the local government elections that will run concurrently with the two by-elections on March 16.

For the 39,000 people across both the Inala and Ipswich West electorates it means residents will be voting for a state MP, mayor and local councillor.

“We’ll be supporting electors in Inala and Ipswich West to make sure they’re aware of this requirement and will be communicating important information to the community over the coming weeks,” Electoral Commissioner Pat Vidgen said.

Nominations for candidacy close on February 13 with early voting set to commence on March 4.

Meanwhile, former Liberal National MP Andrew Laming is running for mayor of the Redland City Council in the March election.

Mr Laming was the member for the southeast Queensland seat of Bowman and was fined by the Federal Court in 2023 over social media posts he published in the lead-up to the 2019 federal election.

AAP