Labor loses in Queensland polls

Queensland's Labor Government has been dealt a damaging blow in weekend byelections.

An anti-Government swing of more than 11 per cent gave former Liberal Party state president Michael Caltabiano the eastern Brisbane seat of Chatsworth and Terry Rogers won Redcliffe in Brisbane's north with a swing of more than 7 per cent.

The loss of the two seats will not unseat the Peter Beattie Government, which still has a 17-seat majority in the state Parliament.

But it does indicate a dramatic shift away from Labor for the first time in seven years.

The Liberal Party victories are also set to shake the conservative parties, with requests for a coalition between the Nationals and Liberals likely to be refused and the touting of Caltabiano as the next Liberal leader.

Premier Beattie says his Government's handling of the state's health crisis is to blame for the defeat.

Beattie said his Government has paid the political price for setting up an inquiry into the Dr Death scandal in Bundaberg.

"When the Dr Patel issues were drawn to my attention, we had two choices - we either did the coward's way out and that is we tried to hide it, which is not the Labor way, or we decided to lift the lid on it and appoint a royal commission with a fiercely independent commissioner, which is what we've done," Beattie said.

"Now that was the right thing to do, it was the moral thing to do, but I knew that we would pay a terrible political price for doing it."

India-trained Dr Jayant Patel, dubbed Dr Death by his colleagues, has been implicated in more than 80 deaths at Bundaberg Base Hospital in south-east Queensland.

Two independent inquiries set up to investigate problems in the health system have served up daily doses of damaging news for Labour.

However, Beattie says he will repair the party's reputation in time for the next state election in 18 months.

"No one should write us off yet, no one should underestimate my determination to rebuild the Government's stock," Beattie said.

Liberal leader Bob Quinn says he is very appreciative of support from both the voters and the Nationals, saying it has put his party in good stead for the next state election.

"This strange feeling I've got is called winning," he joked.

"Out of that byelection campaign came a very positive move by both the Liberal Party and the National Party ... we worked together extremely closely, the Nationals understood that we had the best candidates to stand in these two seats. We appreciate their support."

State Opposition leader Lawrence Springborg said the byelection results have provided an opportunity for the Nationals and Liberals to win the next state election.

"Yesterday the voters of Queensland took a little baseball bat to the Beattie Government," he said.

"If the Government doesn't pull its socks up and start to perform and listen and not only that - and act to make things better in Queensland - at the next state election they'll take a big baseball bat to this Government."

Springborg is still courting the Liberals to form a coalition, however, Quinn has not yet committed.

"I've always said that we will talk with our National Party colleagues in the near future about that, and we'll do that in due course."

Griffith University political analyst Dr Paul Williams believes the chance of a coalition between the Opposition Nationals and the Liberals is now more remote than ever.

The Liberals have nothing to gain and everything to lose by going into old coalition arrangements, he said.

He also said the election of Liberal Party factional heavy hitter Caltabiano as the member for Chatsworth is bad news for Quinn.

"I think there's probably a better than 50-50 chance that Caltabiano will lead them to the next state election. I think the leadership battle is on now," Williams said.

- AAP