Queensland general election, 2006

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Legislative Assembly election, 2006
Party	Vote %		Seats
Labor	46.9	↓0.1	59	↓1
Nationals	17.8	↑0.9	17	↑1
Liberals	20.1	↑1.6	8	↑1
One Nation	0.6	↓4.3	1	0
Independents			4	↓1
Labor win

An election was held in the Australian state of Queensland on 9 September 2006 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly, after being announced by Premier Peter Beattie on 15 August 2006.

The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Peter Beattie defeat the National-Liberal Coalition lead by Lawrence Springborg and Bruce Flegg respectively, and gain a fourth consecutive term in office. Beattie thus became the first Labor Premier of Queensland to win four consecutive elections since William Forgan Smith did so in the 1930s. If Beattie serves out his fourth term, he will become the second-longest serving Queensland Premier, after Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Springborg has since resigned as Opposition Leader, being replaced by Jeff Seeney.

Contents 1 Post-election Pendulum 2 State of the parties before the election 2.1 Members who did not recontest their seats 3 Campaign 4 Results summary 4.1 Seats changing hands 4.2 Seats won by the ALP 4.3 Seats won by the Nationals 4.4 Seats won by the Liberal Party 4.5 Seats won by the One Nation Party 4.6 Seats won by Independents 4.7 Queensland Greens call for proportional representation 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Post-election Pendulum

Following the distribution of preferences in the election, a Mackerras Pendulum can be drawn for the two main parties as follows:

LABOR SEATS (59)
Marginal
Cleveland	Phil Weightman	ALP	0.5%
Chatsworth	Chris Bombolas	ALP	0.8%
Hervey Bay	Andrew McNamara	ALP	1.8%
Indooroopilly	Ronan Lee	ALP	2.4%
Mudgeeraba	Dianne Reilly	ALP	2.9%
Gaven	Phil Gray	ALP	3.1%
Whitsunday	Jan Jarratt	ALP	4.4%
Aspley	Bonny Barry	ALP	4.6%
Fairly safe
Barron River	Steve Wettenhall	ALP	5.1%
Springwood	Barbara Stone	ALP	5.2%
Broadwater	Peta-Kaye Croft	ALP	5.2%
Pumicestone	Carryn Sullivan	ALP	5.4%
Redcliffe	Lillian van Litsenburg	ALP	5.5%
Redlands	John English	ALP	6.9%
Keppel	Paul Hoolhan	ALP	7.2%
Glass House	Carolyn Male	ALP	7.7%
Mansfield	Phil Reeves	ALP	7.7%
Cairns	Desley Boyle	ALP	8.1%
Ashgrove	Kate Jones	ALP	8.1%
Burleigh	Christine Smith	ALP	8.3%
Townsville	Mike Reynolds	ALP	9.1%
Southport	Peter Lawlor	ALP	9.1%
Mulgrave	Warren Pitt	ALP	9.9%
Safe
Greenslopes	Gary Fenlon	ALP	10.1%
Everton	Rod Welford	ALP	10.2%
Mount Ommaney	Julie Attwood	ALP	10.2%
Kallangur	Ken Hayward	ALP	10.3%
Toowoomba North	Kerry Shine	ALP	10.4%
Mount Coot-tha	Andrew Fraser	ALP	10.5%
Mundingburra	Lindy Nelson-Carr	ALP	10.5%
Murrumba	Dean Wells	ALP	11.6%
Ferny Grove	Geoff Wilson	ALP	12.1%
Mount Isa	Betty Kiernan	ALP	12.3%
Kurwongbah	Linda Lavarch	ALP	12.4%
Mount Gravatt	Judy Spence	ALP	12.9%
Ipswich West	Wayne Wendt	ALP	13.1%
Yeerongpilly	Simon Finn	ALP	13.8%
Stretton	Stephen Robertson	ALP	14.2%
Brisbane Central	Peter Beattie	ALP	14.8%
Stafford	Stirling Hinchliffe	ALP	14.9%
Cook	Jason O'Brien	ALP	15.1%
Sandgate	Vicky Darling	ALP	15.2%
Waterford	Evan Moorhead	ALP	15.9%
Capalaba	Michael Choi	ALP	16.2%
Bulimba	Pat Purcell	ALP	16.2%
Fitzroy	Jim Pearce	ALP	16.4%
Lytton	Paul Lucas	ALP	16.9%
Albert	Margaret Keech	ALP	17.0%
Thuringowa	Craig Wallace	ALP	17.0%
Mackay	Tim Mulherin	ALP	17.6%
Algester	Karen Struthers	ALP	17.8%
Nudgee	Neil Roberts	ALP	18.3%
South Brisbane	Anna Bligh	ALP	18.4%
Very safe
Rockhampton	Robert Schwarten	ALP	20.5%
Ipswich	Rachel Nolan	ALP	21.6%
Logan	John Mickel	ALP	23.9%
Bundamba	Jo-Ann Miller	ALP	24.8%
Inala	Annastacia Palaszczuk	ALP	26.3%
Woodridge	Desley Scott	ALP	29.0%

NON-LABOR SEATS (30)
Marginal
Bundaberg	Jack Dempsey	NAT	1.0%
Clayfield	Tim Nicholls	LIB	1.7%
Lockyer	Ian Rickuss	NAT	1.7%
Currumbin	Jann Stuckey	LIB	2.2%
Burdekin	Rosemary Menkens	NAT	2.4%
Robina	Ray Stevens	LIB	2.5%
Hinchinbrook	Andrew Cripps	NAT	3.7%
Caloundra	Mark McArdle	LIB	4.5%
Beaudesert	Kev Lingard	NAT	4.5%
Fairly safe
Kawana	Steve Dickson	LIB	5.7%
Noosa	Glen Elmes	LIB	6.3%
Mirani	Ted Malone	NAT	6.5%
Burnett	Rob Messenger	NAT	7.6%
Moggill	Bruce Flegg	LIB	8.0%
Toowoomba South	Mike Horan	NAT	9.8%
Safe
Maroochydore	Fiona Simpson	NAT	10.7%
Charters Towers	Shane Knuth	NAT	11.1%
Surfers Paradise	John-Paul Langbroek	LIB	12.0%
Cunningham	Stuart Copeland	NAT	16.4%
Gympie	David Gibson	NAT	18.2%
Darling Downs	Ray Hopper	NAT	19.1%
Very safe
Southern Downs	Lawrence Springborg	NAT	20.3%
Callide	Jeff Seeney	NAT	22.3%
Warrego	Howard Hobbs	NAT	23.3%
One Nation
Tablelands	Rosa Lee Long	ONP	19.8%
Independents
Gladstone	Liz Cunningham	IND	2.0%
Nanango	Dorothy Pratt	IND	4.2%
Nicklin	Peter Wellington	IND	25.1%
Maryborough	Chris Foley	IND	32.7%

• Figures obtained from ECQ Website.

[edit] State of the parties before the election

Since April 2006, the ALP held 60 of the 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly, the Coalition 23 seats (16 National and seven Liberal), along with five Independents and one member of the One Nation Party. Thus in order to win an outright majority (45 seats), the Coalition would have needed to win an additional 22 seats from the ALP, the Independents or One Nation, assuming that they retained all of their own seats. This would have required a uniform swing against Labor of approximately 8% (such swings are very rare).

Sitting Labor member for Noosa, Cate Molloy, had resigned from the Labor Party following her disendorsement as a Labor candidate, which in turn followed her repudiation of the state government's plans to build a dam on the Mary River at Traveston. Molloy recontested the seat as an Independent.

[edit] Members who did not recontest their seats

A number of members of parliament retired at this election:

• Tom Barton: Waterford, ALP
• Darryl Briskey: Cleveland, ALP
• Dr Lesley Clark: Barron River, ALP
• Nita Cunningham: Bundaberg, ALP
• Jim Fouras: Ashgrove, ALP
• Don Livingstone: Ipswich West, ALP
• Tony McGrady: Mount Isa, ALP
• Gordon Nuttall: Sandgate, ALP
• Henry Palaszcuk: Inala, ALP
• Bob Quinn: Robina, Liberal
• Terry Sullivan: Stafford, ALP
• Marc Rowell: Hinchinbrook, Nationals

[edit] Campaign

Main article: Queensland general election campaign, 2006

From mid-2005, after the revelation of the Jayant Patel scandal, the issue of health has become a focus of controversy, damaging to the Beattie government. After several inquiries and industrial disputes, a restructure of Queensland Health took place, and the state government is currently lobbying the federal government for more doctor training places in universities for Queensland.

Other issues of importance to the electorate include environmental management and land clearing, asbestos in state schools, the provision of transportation and infrastructure to rural and regional areas, and the management of South East Queensland's population growth.

[edit] Results summary

Legislative Assembly
Registered Voters		2,484,479
Votes Cast		2,247,728		Turnout	90.47%
Informal Votes		46,848		Informal %	2.08%
Party		Primary Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Approx. % Seats	Change
	Australian Labor Party	1,032,617	46.92	-0.09	59	66.3	-1
	Liberal Party of Australia	442,453	20.10	+1.60	8	9.0	+1
	The Nationals	392,124	17.82	+0.86	17	19.1	+1
	The Greens	175,798	7.99	+1.23	0	0.0	none
	Family First Party	41,659	1.89	+1.89	0	0.0	none
	One Nation Party	13,207	0.60	-4.28	1	1.1	none
	Other	103,022	4.68	-1.15	4	4.5	-1
Total		2,200,880			89	100.0

• Figures obtained from ECQ Website

[edit] Seats changing hands

The Labor government regained three seats that it had lost in by-elections during 2005 and 2006, taking Chatsworth and Redcliffe from the Liberals and Gaven from the Nationals. The Liberals gained Clayfield, Kawana and Noosa from Labor, while the Nationals gained Bundaberg from Labor and Gympie from Independent Elisa Roberts.

The Coalition parties and the Australian Greens saw their primary vote rise following the demise of the Australian Democrats and One Nation, while Labor suffered a very slight swing against it.

[edit] Seats won by the ALP

• Albert (retain)
• Algester (retain)
• Ashgrove (retain)
• Aspley (retain)
• Barron River (retain)
• Brisbane Central (retain)
• Broadwater (retain)
• Bulimba (retain)
• Bundamba (retain)
• Burleigh (retain)
• Cairns (retain)
• Capalaba (retain)
• Chatsworth (gain from Libs)
• Cleveland (retain)
• Cook (retain)
• Everton (retain)
• Ferny Grove (retain)
• Fitzroy (retain)
• Gaven (gain from Nats)
• Glass House (retain)
• Greenslopes (retain)
• Hervey Bay (retain)
• Inala (retain)
• Indooroopilly (retain)
• Ipswich (retain)
• Ipswich West (retain)
• Kallangur (retain)
• Keppel (retain)
• Kurwongbah (retain)
• Logan (retain)
• Lytton (retain)
• Mackay (retain)
• Mansfield (retain)
• Mount Coot-tha (retain)
• Mount Gravatt (retain)
• Mount Isa (retain)
• Mount Omaney (retain)
• Mudgeeraba (retain)
• Mulgrave (retain)
• Mundingburra (retain)
• Murrumba (retain)
• Nudgee (retain)
• Pumicestone (retain)
• Redcliffe (gain from Libs)
• Redlands (retain)
• Rockhampton (retain)
• Sandgate (retain)
• South Brisbane (retain)
• Southport (retain)
• Springwood (retain)
• Stafford (retain)
• Stretton (retain)
• Thuringowa (retain)
• Toowoomba North (retain)
• Townsville (retain)
• Waterford (retain)
• Whitsunday (retain)
• Woodridge (retain)
• Yeerongpilly (retain)

[edit] Seats won by the Nationals

• Beaudesert (retain)
• Bundaberg (gain from ALP)
• Burdekin (retain)
• Burnett (retain)
• Callide (retain)
• Charters Towers (retain)
• Cunningham (retain)
• Darling Downs (retain)
• Gregory (retain)
• Gympie (gain from Elisa Roberts)
• Hinchinbrook (retain)
• Lockyer (retain)
• Maroochydore (retain)
• Mirani (retain)
• Southern Downs (retain)
• Toowoomba South (retain)
• Warrego (retain)

[edit] Seats won by the Liberal Party

• Caloundra (retain)
• Clayfield (gain from ALP)
• Currumbin (retain)
• Kawana (gain from ALP)
• Moggill (retain)
• Noosa (gain from ALP)
• Robina (retain)
• Surfers Paradise (retain)

[edit] Seats won by the One Nation Party

• Tablelands (retain)

[edit] Seats won by Independents

• Gladstone (retain)
• Maryborough (retain)
• Nanango (retain)
• Nicklin (retain)

[edit] Queensland Greens call for proportional representation

Following the release of election results that saw the Labor Party gain 66.3% of the available seats with 46.9% of the vote, the Liberal Party get 9% of the seats with 20% of the vote, One Nation with one seat and less than 1% of the vote and the Greens unrepresented with nearly 8% of the vote, the Queensland Greens issued a press release on their website calling for Proportional Representation in Queensland [1]. The press release is part of an ongoing effort by the Australian and Queensland Greens to see Proportional Representation implemented on both state and national levels. The Greens have never won representation in Queensland's state parliament.

[edit] See also

• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2006-2009

[edit] References

• Election analysis by Antony Green of the ABC

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