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| Teal numbers indicate booths with two-party majorities for the Liberal National Party. Red numbers would indicate booths with two-party majorities for Labor, if there were any. Click for larger image. Map boundaries courtesy of Ben Raue at The Tally Room. |
McPherson is the southernmost coastal electorate in Queensland, covering the Gold Coast from Coolangatta at the New South Wales border north through Tugun and Palm Beach to Burleigh Heads, and extending inland to Robina and Merrimac in the north and the semi-rural Tallebudgera and Currumbin river valleys further south. An area of intensive and ongoing population growth, the most recent redistribution before the 2010 election saw it lose 5600 voters at the inland end of the electorate to the newly created seat of Wright without it needing to receive any new territory in return. The regional is demographically unremarkable on most measures, excepting a lack of ethnic diversity and a slightly above-average median age.
The electorate was created with the expansion of parliament in 1949, prior to which the Gold Coast had been accommodated by Moreton, which was pushed over time into its present position in southern Brisbane. McPherson has since been anchored in the state’s south-eastern corner, at first extending much further inland to include Beaudesert and Warwick. Its inaugural member was Arthur Fadden, a leader of the Country Party who briefly served as Prime Minister after Robert Menzies’ resignation in August 1941. After six weeks in the role he was defeated in parliament when he lost the support of two key independents, although the beleagured United Australia Party continued to support him as Opposition Leader until the 1943 election defeat. Fadden moved to the newly created seat in 1949 after previously serving as member for Darling Downs, which has since been re-named as Groom. He held the seat until his retirement in 1958, at which point he was succeeded by another Country Party member, Charles Barnes.
The rapid development of the Gold Coast changed the electorate’s complexion in the decades following the war, drawing it away from its rural base and towards the coast and weakening its identity as a Country Party stronghold. When Charles Barnes retired in 1972, Liberal candidate Eric Robinson won the seat after narrowly edging out the Country Party candidate in the preference count. The electorate was at the centre of a political controversy in 1978 when it was alleged that Robinson, then a minister in Malcolm Fraser’s government, had sought to influence the electoral redistribution commissioners after they determined to change the electorate’s name to Gold Coast, which under the terms of the coalition agreement would have entitled the National Country Party to contest the “new” seat. A royal commission into the matter cleared Robinson of wrongdoing but found another minister, Reg Withers (who had won fame as the Opposition’s Senate leader during the 1975 crisis), to have acted improperly. This resulted in Withers’ dismissal by Fraser, to the chagrin of many in the Liberal Party. Robinson went on to resign from the ministry the following year over an unrelated falling-out with Fraser.
Robinson died in January 1981 and was succeeded at the ensuing by-election by Liberal candidate Peter White. White won an easy victory with help from Labor preferences over National Country Party candidate Glenister Sheil, who had resigned from the Senate to run at the by-election and would later return to it in 1984. Sheil had won a position in the ministry in 1977 only to lose it before being sworn in for expressing support for South Africa’s apartheid system. Peter White held the seat until his retirement at the 1990 election, by which time the National Party was no longer competitive in the area at the federal level. He was succeeded by John Bradford, who went on to quit the Liberal Party in 1998 to join Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party, standing unsuccessfully as its Queensland Senate candidate at the election later that year. The seat then passed on to Margaret May, who won Liberal preselection from a field that included former Brisbane lord mayor Sallyanne Atkinson.
When May announced her retirement ahead of the 2010 election, Liberal front-bencher Peter Dutton sought to move to the seat in preference to his ultra-marginal existing seat of Dickson in Brisbane’s outer north. However, it quickly became apparent that local party operatives who had been jockeying for the succession were not going to be deterred, despite Dutton’s move having the backing of John Howard and then-Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull. The result was a rebuff for Dutton, who was said to have come within a handful of votes of victory on the first round of the local preselection ballot but was ultimately defeated by Karen Andrews, a Gold Coast businesswoman and chair of the party’s local federal electorate council. The prospect of the party’s state executive intervening by refusing to ratify the result was promptly ruled out amid talk of a potential rebellion in the local party. Dutton was accordingly compelled to remain in Dickson, which he had no trouble retaining amid the much-changed political circumstances which prevailed by the time the election was held. Andrews meanwhile picked up successive swings of 1.6% and 2.7% to hold the seat by a margin of 13.0% after the 2013 election.
I might end up on the Cross-Rail project. Might not, too.
43
The UK is not in the Euro. Scotland uses the Pound Sterling and would continue to do so after independence under current plans.
=http://www.theage.com.au/national/today-everyone-feels-like-a-monarchist-abbott-welcomes-prince-harry-20131005-2v0qb.html==================================================
well I don’t feel like monarchist and abbott does not speak for me
Prince Harry received a warm welcome from the prime ministerial family, including daughters Bridget and Frances, as he stepped off a hired cruiser at Admiralty House wharf in Kirribilli just before 4pm on Saturday.
“They’re both very excited to see you,” said Prime Minister Tony Abbott as he introduced his daughters as well as his wife Margie and escorted the fourth in line to the British throne up the sandstone steps to Kirribilli House for a reception.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/today-everyone-feels-like-a-monarchist-abbott-welcomes-prince-harry-20131005-2v0qb.html#ixzz2gpj8Lfk8
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a father doesn’t say stuff like they that can speak for themselves
Tom @52 – Yes – I didn’t make myself completely clear, sorry, I meant for the Sterling as what happened to the Eurozone and the risk to the Euro.
Psephos
Dr John Wroughton.
[Dr John Wroughton was educated at Oxford University and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. An authority on the English Civil War, he is now a part-time lecturer for the University of Bath’s Department of Continuing Education. His publications include The Stuart Age, 1603-1714; and Cromwell and the Roundheads. His latest book, An Unhappy Civil War, describes the experiences of ordinary people in Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire during the Civil War, 1642-46.]
[Scotland uses the Pound Sterling and would continue to do so after independence under current plans.]
That’s up to the UK government. They might say, “Up yours, Jock, you’re on your own now.”
CC
[I might end up on the Cross-Rail project. Might not, too.]
Careful on the Barbican part. I’m not very keen on having 20 stories of basement.
Stage 2 (north – south) looks like a goer now.
Oh no, Abbott’s not being a Dad to my say’s standards.
How can he be a good PM if he can’t be a Dad to the “my say” standard?
Psephos @57 – it appears it’s not going to come to that unless voter sentiment changes markedly in the next 12 months.
Crank
I think we know that if Rudd had said Jess Rudd was excited My Say would be cheering and wouldn’t object.
Not sure what sort of FIFO roster I could get out of London. A family transfer would be awesome.
not us
we walked past buch palace
we caught the ferry and went down to kew gardens,
then next day caught the train to Paris and then to Amsterdam
then on to Germany etc
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how much do royal visits cost any one know
From what I read today Ms Rudd might be up for a seat in Parliament – would make a good change from Union time servers winning preselection.
Lots – if it was you or I paying.
Bugger all in a Trillion dollar economy sense.
WTF?
John Robertson was offered a $3,000,000 bribe from Michael McGurk and he only reports it now?
Surely his sacking/resignation can not be far off.
CC
[Not sure what sort of FIFO roster I could get out of London. A family transfer would be awesome.]
The FIFO bit is doubtful but with Stage 2 of Cross-Rail looking solid and HS2 likely some jobs up for grabs.
Jess Rudd comes across as being intelligence and could make a good replacement in Griffith.
https://twitter.com/DrDaniS/status/386028941124722688/photo/1
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on twitter, great to see some young aust, putting this on twitter
To be fair to Tone, i seriously dealt the Italian president ever comments on any boat sinking of Christmas Island
Imagine how spectacular that Fleet Review would be halfway up the Brisbane River, where only one boat can enter and leave at a time.
Thank goodness Rudd’s thought bubbles had a similar life span to that of a Labor leader.
OC
What part of.
[Asked what Mr McGurk offered him if he sold it to him, Mr Robertson said: “From memory I think it was 10 per cent of whatever it was.
“I think that’s what it was, it was a percentage and my response was ‘mate, whatever you’ve got to offer, put it in the formal bid’.”]
Don’t you understand?
OC @66 – can’t see that happening. He’s doing such a good job.
[Thank goodness Rudd’s thought bubbles had a similar life span to that of a Labor leader.]
Funny how it was revived last week by the LNP.
CTar1 @67 – my employer is one of the leads on the Project and they do expat FIFO for my level all over the globe. But I’ve got at least another 3 years here if I want it (which I do at the moment).
Psephos,
I don’t mean to be rude, but are you certain that the intersection of Burwood Hwy and Mountain Hwy is the most distinctive part of the electorate (Aston)?
For those posts I made having not read William’s “new thread” post – doh!
Sean Tisme – the Queen is still on the Canadian coins
CTar1 – as someone else pointed out – it was Andrew, not Edward, in the Falklands.
On this new thread:
CTar1 – I fear HS2 is going to be much like the 3rd runway at LHR or a second airport in Sydney, i.e. a political football that may not happen in your working lifetime (I don’t know your age, of course) 🙂
mb @68 – no doubt she’s got the smarts – two biggest hurdles would be the ALP Party Machine and the work-family balance.
She’s much more likeable than her Dad – gets that from her Mum.
However, I won’t deny how familiar some if these are. The one for Casey is all too familiar.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/today-everyone-feels-like-a-monarchist-abbott-welcomes-prince-harry-20131005-2v0qb.html
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take a look at the picture
And Abbott gripping/holding daughter’s hand…
http://www.smh.com.au/national/today-everyone-feels-like-a-monarchist-abbott-welcomes-prince-harry-20131005-2v0qb.html#ixzz2gpj8Lfk8
[I don’t mean to be rude, but are you certain that the intersection of Burwood Hwy and Mountain Hwy is the most distinctive part of the electorate (Aston)?]
I’ve always found it very distinctive. 🙂
Most of the pictures were chosen in part to make a point – in this case about the ubiquity of freeways in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. I think all the photos say something about the nature of Australian life. With a few obvious exceptions I tried to avoid well-known scenes and landmarks.
CC
I’m all in favour as long as they don’t dunk the Lauderdale or Shakespear (both 400 ft high) into the tunnel on their way to Liverpool Street.
If you get a chance you should do it.
Bugler
Some of the photos were interesting choices.
I thought the prettiest buildings were in the Bass photo.
Scotland uses the Pound Sterling but also has the right to print its own notes, so you have those of the Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Clydesdale Bank and, at one time, the British Linen Bank until it was aqcuired by the Bank of Scotland.
If you ever get these notes when visiting Scotland, try to change them for Bank of England notes before you cross the border south as you will get funny looks and nothing but grief in England, although they are supposedly obliged to accept them.
The Abbott girls present so well.
Tourism Australia should be signing them up to market the place.
Marketing 101.
Psephos,
Last comment on the photos. Did you deliberately include a Woolworths for Kennedy?
Laocoon
Be fair he was just saying “look I know he’s a ranga but he is connected”. 😆
[The one for Casey is all too familiar.]
The mobile phone tower has rapidly become an integral part of the Australian landscape.
CTar1 – Middle East or East Africa is more likely for me next.
Allan
[(I don’t know your age, of course) ]
55 and prime for APS Super. 😀
I paid for it.
[And Abbott gripping/holding daughter’s hand…]
It’s incredibly creepy the way he holds their hands.
I hold my Mum’s hand in public and I’m over 40.
[Did you deliberately include a Woolworths for Kennedy?]
No – the connection didn’t occur to me until you mentioned it. I must have been guided by an unseen hand.
I think the Lalor Safeway (suburb of Lalor, seat of Scullin) is my favourite. Safeways carparks are the essence of Australian life.
Results from the referendum to abolish the Irish Senate are still awaited.
For an example of a perverse electoral system Seanad Eirean has no equal. Partly nominated but mostly elected by a panel of parliamentarians and county councillors from 5 vocational panels to which only a list of approved organisations can make nominations it can delay but not block legislation unless in exceptional it refers the legislation to a referendum – a power it has never used. It was initially hoped that the Taoiseach would use his nominative powers to appoint people of “powerful learnin” but apart from W B Yeats they have all been party hacks who have mostly lost seats in the Dail.
A complete waste of time but as it is the last vestige of pre WW2 corporatism it evokes memories of Mussolini, Pius XI/XII and De Valera. It deserves preservation as a museum piece
[The Abbott girls present so well.]
This may be true but… I was watching Harry going up the harbour and then there is a shot of the wharf at Admiralty House and people waiting.
Ms RU said, wow who is wearing the too short skirts for the occasion. (Not Margie by the way). So maybe they need to learn a bit?
CC – I have a ‘friend’ an ex-Telecom guy, that made a fortune doing telephone stuff in Mozambique in the 90’s.
If children of manageable age it’s a ‘big world’ out there.
rua @96 – at their age they can get away with it.
CTar1 – I realise now that it was a response of yours to CC re the HS2, I think, so it was his age I should have been wondering about.
Enjoy your APS super! – best investment I ever made and I turn the big 65 on Monday, although I actually got out of the PS years ago when the going was good! – I doubt if my health could have withstood some of the crap I hear from colleagues still there. I was in the CSS side of super so a very good deal when I left – not like the poor schmucks going into the service today – if Abbott lets them, that is.
As pointed out by Abbott, his daughters are hot