Police issue warning as hundreds of election signs disappear in marginal far north Queensland electorate

Hundreds of election signs have gone missing across the far north Queensland electorate of Leichhardt. (ABC Far North: Kristy Sexton-McGrath)

Queensland Police are urging anyone with information about the theft of more than a 1,000 plastic election signs to come forward. 

Candidates from both major parties in the far north Queensland seat of Leichhardt – one of the most marginal in the country – say they have each lost hundreds of the roadside signs since the  election campaign began.

Coalition sitting member Warren Entsch said he was missing more than 400 corflutes, each worth about $8.

LNP incumbent Warren Entsch believes conservative parties are being targeted. (ABC Far North: Kristy Sexton-McGrath)

And while he said the disappearance of signage and creative additions to the ones left standing were par for the course, he had never seen theft and defacement at this level.

"We ordered 850 corflutes and more than half have gone, we can't keep them in some areas," Mr Entsch said.

"I suspect they'll be a shed somewhere that's chock-a-block full of them, what they're going to do with them after the election, I don't know."

Mr Entsch said he believed conservative parties were being targeted more than others.

But Labor's candidate for Leichhardt Elida Faith said she had also been hit hard.

An election corflute belonging to Labor's candidate for Leichhardt with a hole torn in the middle. (Supplied)

"I have hundreds of corflutes that have been removed and where they are, I do not know," Ms Faith said.

"When we head into an election, we put our corflutes out there on the side of the road so people can see what candidates there are in the region."

Katter's Australian Party candidate for Leichhardt Rod Jensen said one third of his 300 corflutes had mysteriously disappeared.

In a statement, Queensland Police said the offence of stealing corflutes was "fairly common" across the state around election time.

However, they said they took "all matters relating to the theft or damage of election signs and corflutes seriously" and encouraged anyone with information to contact them.

Could disappearing corflutes be a sign of voter anger?

Maxine Newlands is a political scientist and lecturer at James Cook University and said the use of corflutes was not likely to be phased out anytime soon.

"It's a really low-cost approach, it's an easy way to reach the masses, the pictures, the names, become part of the subconscious," Dr Newlands said.

Corflutes are often found ditched during election campaigns. (ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale)

"The tricky thing with using Facebook and other social media to reach voters is the algorithms. 

"You can put up an advertisement but if you are not someone who looking at political sites they may not receive any videos."

Dr Newlands said the disappearance of corflutes could also be a sign of voter sentiment.

"There is probably some frustration in there," she said.

"You've got the corflutes, you've got social media, you've got some text messages from parties, you've got lots of shouting billboards.

"Maybe some people have just had enough."