“The first casualty is truth in an election campaign.” Mr Newman was confronted by men purporting to be firefighters, who claimed stations were closing. When Mr Newman challenged them to name a station facing closure, however, no answer was given. And for almost his entire visit, a woman yelling abuse shadowed the Premier and accusing him of, among many things, allowing paedophiles walk free. While Mr Newman defended the right to protest outside the booth, he described the confrontations as “over the top and quite inappropriate”.

“That’s their right, that’s their democratic right,” he said. “I don’t believe that’s how we should carry on and I don’t believe that’s the way civilised, decent human beings should treat each other, even if they don’t agree with their political views. “But I would be most against any moves to try to stop people expressing their views at any polling booth on election day.” Before Mr Newman’s arrival, Ms Dooley accompanied her parents, Eunice and Keith Powell, as they went to vote. Ms Dooley herself was ineligible to vote in the byelection, being enrolled in the neighbouring Murrumba electorate.

Electoral Commission of Queensland officials would not allow Ms Dooley all the way in to the voting booths with her parents. Afterwards, Ms Dooley said she had received some advice from her celebrity brother, Biggest Loser trainer Steve “The Commando” Willis. “He said stay strong, be determined and just be calm and Kerri on, that’s what he said, no excuses” she said. “It’s up to the people of Redcliffe today and I just plead with the people of Redcliffe to vote for the future, not for the past.” It was a much more sedate affair at Clontarf Beach State School, where Labor candidate Yvette D’Ath cast her vote.

With the Premier’s wife, Lisa Newman, handing out how-to-vote cards at the gate, Ms D’Ath voted as Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk looked on from the sidelines. As she has throughout the campaign, Ms Palaszczuk was keen to frame the byelection as a judgement on both disgraced former MP Scott Driscoll and the Newman government. Mr Driscoll resigned from the LNP and Parliament before he could be expelled for contempt and misleading the House in November last year. “Scott Driscoll was not good enough, he let this community down,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “Redcliffe residents today have the opportunity to put in place a strong voice for this area and I believe that Yvette D’Ath will be that fresh voice.”