2015 Queensland State Election - 31 January live cover links

Queensland Electoral Commission 2015 State General Election - Election Summary – polling results should begin to display after 6pm QLD time.

ABC Radio 612 ABC Brisbane – live cover on election night from 6pm to 10pm QLD time.

Televised Election Night Coverage: Queensland Votes - 6:00pm QLD time (on ABC in QLD only) and 7:00pm AEDT on ABC News 24.

ABC digital platform News & Analysis here on election night.

The Courier Mail Queensland Votes - newspaper cover today.

The riotous history of Lismore, New South Wales

Papers Past:

Quotes of the Month

In fact, the speeds promised by Malcolm Turnbull’s current NBN plans of 25 megabits per second will soon be defined by the US FCC as the bare minimum requirement of a broadband connection. [News.com.au 16 January 2015]

How times change for Tony Abbott, once the Jay Z of the party, he has been relegated to dad band status: everyone says they love it but don’t seem to want be anywhere near it. [The Guardian 18 January 2015]

“I’m a Liberal Voter through and through…and I’ll always vote Liberal. But I have to be honest and truthful with you Mr. Prime Minister, you’re on the nose with Liberal voters and that’s a real concern to me, because I don’t want to see you give the keys to Bill Shorten at The Lodge….and the way you’re going it’s going to happen…. "You're the world's worst salesman, Prime Minister….It’s the way you do things like the Medicare thing…education…all the backflips."
[“Andrew” a Liberal Party voter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott during a recorded 3AW radio Mornings segment]

[@FightnIgnorance 21 January 2014]

Only serious illness could explain this statement by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott

The stress of this country’s top political position appears to be seriously affecting Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s health.

An inability to cope under sustained pressure is the only reason I can conceive for this badly-timed and impolitic statement made earlier in the day and quoted in the Brisbane Times on 30 January 2015:

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he will "absolutely" lead the government to the next election and has described the strong performances of potential leadership rivals Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull as the result of their "good captain".

Visiting Colac in Victoria on Friday, Mr Abbott was peppered with questions about his leadership, the future of his chief of staff Peta Credlin - and whether he would stand aside for Ms Bishop or Mr Turnbull.

Mr Abbott responded by praising his "strong colleagues" and "strong team" but said they benefited from his leadership.

"One of the reasons why so many members of the team are able to perform so well is because they have got a very good captain," he told reporters.

"It takes a good captain to help all the players of a team to excel," he said.