QUEENSLAND Premier Anna Bligh has announced Queenslanders will go to the polls on March 24.
The Queensland council elections, originally scheduled for March 31, will now be deferred until a date to be decided - probably late April or early May.
She said she will visit the governor on February 19 to dissolve the parliament, putting her government into caretaker mode.
Ms Bligh said she had originally intended to call the poll for March 3.
But the flood commission's request for an extension of time to hear new claims that Wivenhoe dam was mismanaged during last year's disaster had forced her to change her mind.
She insisted all Queenslanders must see the inquiry's final report before voting in both state and local elections.
Ms Bligh said she was happy to grant the flood inquiry more time, and the probe must get to the truth of any factors that may have exacerbated last year's flood disaster.
She said voters needed to know before they voted in state and local government elections what was in the inquiry's final report, initially due to be handed down on February 24.
That has been pushed back to March 16.
She said voters should not be asked to vote before the final report, because it could contain adverse findings that could alter the way people cast their ballots.
She said her decision was in the best interests of democracy, fairness and the truth.
"What I hope out of the flood inquiry is that we get to the truth, that Queenslanders understand what happened in those flooding days," she said.
She said she rejected the idea of trying to extend her government's life beyond the third anniversary of the 2009 poll in March, possibly into June.
She said the flood inquiry developments were unusual but did not warrant that.
Ms Bligh said she was happy to grant the extension, requested by Commissioner Cate Holmes, in the interests of every Queenslander affected by the floods who deserved the truth.
She said Commissioner Holmes had advised her that additional hearings would be needed.
They have been scheduled from February 2 or 10.
She said the commissioner had also advised it would then take some time to finalise the inquiry's final report.
Ms Bligh denied the decision was made in the political interests of her Labor government.
"I am acting here in the interests of Queensland, not in the interests of myself or the government," she said.
"We will be governing as we always do up until the time we go into caretaker mode."
Ms Bligh said parliament would sit, as usual, on February 14, 15 and 16.
"This is the best decision we could make in light of the circumstances we are facing," she said.
She said the 2012 election would be the political fight of her life.
"I understand I'm in for the fight of my life and I intend to give it that."
She said Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman was not the right person to lead the state, and she would do everything she could to prove that to Queenslanders.
"I don't believe he is a fit person to lead Queenslanders," she said.
But she said Queenslanders would not go to the ballot box in the dark because of the decision she had taken about the election date.
They would have everything they needed to know about the handling of the floods before they cast their votes, Ms Bligh said.
She said it was her mission to show how "bereft of policy and vision" the LNP was.
She said that constitutionally, she could have extended the term of her government to June 16.
Even given the very unusual circumstances around the flood inquiry, she did not believe that was warranted.
"These are certainly unusual circumstances, however, I don't believe they justify an extension of the term of my government," she said.
"I don't believe that would be an appropriate exercise of my powers and I don't intend to do so."
She said the March 24 poll date was the closest possible Saturday to the third anniversary of her 2009 election win.
"That, in my view, is the most appropriate way to deal with the circumstances we are faced with," she said.
