The weekend markets are buzzing in the beachside suburb of Tannum Sands in central Queensland.
With the federal election looming, local politicians make their way through the sea of stall owners and casual shoppers.
Residents in this key battleground seat know how to make their voices heard — they did so at the last election in a way that makes the seat of Flynn hard to ignore.
Several at the market said the big issues for them included access to work, the age pension, the cost of living and rent prices, childcare, and funding for regional areas and roads.
"You hear a lot of pensioners complain they can't afford to live," one woman said.
"More funding [is needed for] regional towns, basically," a man said.
"I think maybe more affordable childcare," a young mum said.
Coal front and centre
Gladstone Regional Council Mayor Matt Burnett says he knows exactly where Labor went wrong last time and is determined not to let history repeat.
"[Labor] wouldn't say coal — that was the issue," he said at the market.
"I will say it and I'll say it every day.
"We don't just need it to export it, to make metal and steel — we need it to burn at the moment in our coal-fired power stations in Callide, Gladstone and Stanwell."
Mr Burnett is running in the seat for the Labor Party, which is up for grabs after the retirement of incumbent LNP MP Ken O'Dowd.
But his LNP opponent, Colin Boyce, the state MP for Callide who resigned from Queensland Parliament last week, questioned his words.
"The reality is the Labor Party doesn't support coal — we've seen that with the Adani coal mine, we've seen that with New Acland in Oakey," he said.
"We've seen Richard Marles, the Deputy Opposition Leader, come out and say on the record the demise of the coal industry would be a good thing.
"We are the people that generate the income for Australia."
Mr Boyce said it would be a tight contest.
"I think the cost of living is a big issue for everybody, job security and future security," he said.
The seat of Flynn was created at the 2007 election and centres around Gladstone, but takes in regional areas to the north including Blackwater and Emerald, inland to areas like Springsure, and Gin Gin and Wondai to the south.
The seat was initially held by Labor but swung to the LNP in 2010, with incumbent Ken O'Dowd retaining the seat at every subsequent election.
In the 2019 election the LNP recorded two-party majorities at 61 of the 73 polling places.
The party received a 7.6 per cent swing towards it in the two-party-preferred results, securing 58.7 per cent of the vote.
One Nation received 19.6 per cent of the first preference vote.
'Classic marginal seat'
Associate professor John Mickel, a Queensland University of Technology political commentator and former Legislative Assembly speaker, said Flynn was the most interesting of all the central Queensland seats.
"It's an electorate in two parts, so in that sense it is a classic marginal seat," he said.
"You've got the very, very solid LNP parts of the electorate in the rural areas and you've got a very, very solid Labor component in Gladstone.
"For the LNP, to win, they've got to retain what they've got and eat into that Gladstone margin.
"For Labor to win, they've got to get a very, very good vote in Gladstone, but they've also got to look for supporters in some of those bigger regional centres."
Mr Mickel said the neighbouring seat of Capricornia, based around Rockhampton and held by the LNP's Michelle Landry, would also be one to watch.
"Simply because its history, more often than not, has been with the Labor Party," he said.
"But Michelle Landry's two-party preferred vote is 62 per cent, which is very, very good indeed for the LNP in Capricornia.
Labor is running coal miner Russell Robertson as its candidate for the seat.
One Nation's Kylee Stanton will also run in Capricornia, while Clive Palmer's United Australia Party has preselected Tanya Wieden as its candidate.
Greens focus for Senate
The major parties are not the only ones with a focus on central Queensland.
The Greens lead Senate candidate for Queensland, Penny Allman-Payne, hails from Gladstone and works as a teacher in the region.
"The things that matter to Queenslanders are the same whether they live in the city or in the region," she said.
"People are telling us they're concerned about the cost of housing.
"They're concerned about whether they can live on JobSeeker."
She conversations about the transition to a renewable economy had started in Gladstone, despite its historic links to fossil fuels.
"Workers know that it's coming," Ms Allman-Payne said.
"They're concerned about losing their jobs and they want to plan for that transition.
"I just think, what an incredible opportunity to have a progressive voice in this part of the state, to be able to elevate the voices of people in the community who want to see that transition happen in an orderly way."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is yet to call the election, but it is expected to be held on either May 14 or May 21.
