General News
8 July, 2026
Knuth considers his future options
LEFT without a seat to contest in the 2028 State election due to the Queensland Redistribution Commission (QRC) decision last week, Member for Hill Shane Knuth says he is considering all his future options.
People commented on social media last week that he should consider running for the upcoming Tablelands Mayoral by-election.
But with Mr Knuth’s place of residence in Charters Towers and being a State Member of Parliament, he would not be able to contest the election, according to the Electoral Commission Queensland website.
The website states that being a Member of a State or Federal Parliament makes him ineligible to run in a local government election.
Mr Knuth told The Express last week he was keeping all options open, noting there was a Federal election in 2028, as well as a State election and a full TRC election in the same year.
Last week, he launched a blistering attack on the QRC, accusing it of ignoring overwhelming public opposition, while rewarding South-East Queensland with even greater political power.
The Hill electorate is now split between two others – Mulgrave and Flinders (formerly Traeger) – while Cook gains the areas of Kuranda, Speewah and Koah and loses some parts of the Mareeba Shire to Flinders in the redistrubution.
Mr Knuth also squarely blamed the Liberal National Party, whose submission to the QRC specifically called for the abolition of Hill, despite the objections from local councils and members of the public.
“This is an appalling outcome and no matter how the QRC tries to explain it or how the LNP spins it in the media, the bare fact is that North Queensland loses a seat, which weakens our voice in parliament,” he said.
Mr Knuth said the most galling aspect was that the LNP deliberately advocated for the abolition of Hill when there was a simple alternative.
“The LNP could have legislated to increase the number of seats in Parliament,” he said.
“That would have accommodated South-East Queensland’s population growth without robbing North Queensland of one of its valuable parliamentary voices.
“Instead, they chose the lazy option by sacrificing and betraying every North Queenslander.”
