So, who do you trust the most to get election results right on the night?

Especially late in the piece after counting has supposedly stopped around 11pm?

That’s the question the bitter, washed-up, old hacks who compile this column asked of themselves after toggling between the extensive coverage on the Queensland state election from 6pm by the ABC and Channel 9 Brisbane.

And particularly so as each broadcast ended at around 11.30pm. On Aunty around 11.25pm, Antony Green’s tally board made it fairly clear that the LNP had reached 48 seats and majority government, with Labor languishing around 30 seats with some 11 seats undecided.

And over on Nine, hosted by newsreaders Andrew Lofthouse and Melissa Downes? They were wrapping it up some minutes later, (at top), with Labor on 32 and the LNP still only on 44, three seats short of a majority, with Lofthouse signing off after declaring a hung parliament was still very much a possibility.

Our MGH compilers asked, again of themselves, a simple question: if the ABC and Channel 9 both get the feeds at the same time from the Queensland Electoral Commission as count numbers – and presumably preference flows – are released, who should we trust more?

Was Nine overly cautious, or was Antony Green too ready to declare seat outcomes on the formula he uses to slot seats into and out of the too-close-to-call basket. Green admittedly had Labor in the mid 30s earlier in the night, and almost a handful slipped back onto the doubtful or lost categories as postal and absentee votes favouring the LNP started to flow through.

The compilers of this column have a soft spot for Green. He’s a loveable legend as he fumbles and bumbles his way through election nights, pressing this button and that on his computer screen. But was he closer to the mark at the end there? Does he somehow get QEC data not available to mere mortals? Or is he simply cleverer at interpreting the data that does flow his way?

Does Channel 9 – whose panel last night was chockablock with journo and political talking heads – need to find their own psephologist/number-crunching maestro? An Annie Brown or an Andrew White who over time they can transform into a master poll reader to match Antony Green’s must-watch bumbling and fumbling brilliance?

Want to be alerted immediately a new blog hits Australia’s longest running and most offensive satire site? Simply click on the Follow sign or the link below to be emailed new yarns the moment they are uploaded! The very second we go far too far – and trust us we will – you can then quickly unfollow via the three dots!

Follow The Bug Online on WordPress.com