Key events
Some federal politics for you coming up: we’re expecting to hear the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, speaking on ABC’s Insiders shortly – we’ll bring you that when it happens.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is in Melbourne today and doing a press conference at about the same time as his treasurer is speaking on the telly. We’ll let you know what comes out of that presser too.
LNP concedes Stafford byelection
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, has conceded the inner-northern Brisbane seat of Stafford to Labor after a tight byelection race.
While the final result was not declared on Saturday night and the outcome could come down to postal votes, Crisafulli acknowledged the Liberal National party candidate, Fiona Hammond, was unlikely to win, but claimed his party had received a substantial swing towards it:
I do think we’re going to fall agonisingly short, guys. I think we’re going to fall agonisingly short, but boy, oh boy, what an incredible campaign from an incredible, incredible candidate.
With almost 80% of ballots counted on Saturday evening, Labor’s Luke Richmond was ahead by 768 votes on late Saturday night. Labor was likely to retain the seat despite a 4.1% swing against them, chief ABC analyst Casey Briggs said on X:
Labor is likely to retain Stafford. There has been a 4.1 per cent swing against Labor with additional postal votes still to be counted. But for the LNP to win from here, those postal votes would need to break very strongly in its favour. That is very unlikely to happen.
Polls closed at 6pm, with more than 14,000 people casting ballots on the day. Almost 42% of people chose to vote early, 13,530 in person and 3,860 by post.
The byelection in the marginal electorate was called after the sudden death of former independent MP Jimmy Sullivan on 9 April. Sullivan was expelled from Labor in May 2025 over legal and medical concerns.
The opposition leader, Steven Miles, told Labor’s packed election night party last night:
I am so thrilled to tell you that Luke Richmond is the new member for Stafford.
The byelection was widely seen as a test of former premier Miles’ leadership. He has led the party since taking over from Annastacia Palaszczuk in December 2023.
Asked if Labor would do better if it were led by someone else, Miles said on Saturday night that would be “a decision for the caucus, but I have the support of the caucus right now to be leader”.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our Sunday live news blog. I’m Stephanie Convery and I’ll be bringing you all the top stories today.
First up, Labor has likely won a Queensland byelection despite a 4.1% swing against them. The party was ahead with almost 80% of ballots counted for the inner northern Brisbane seat of Stafford late on Saturday evening, but the final determination could come down to postal votes. More on that shortly.
And five men have now been charged by the Australian federal police as part of an investigation into the alleged access and distribution of extremist material online.
Grab yourself a coffee, and I’ll bring you more on all these events shortly.