Seat of the week: Bowman

Covering Brisbane’s coastal outer south, Andrew Laming’s seat of Bowman came within 64 votes of falling to Labor under Kevin Rudd in 2007, before going dramatically the other way as part of the statewide backlash three years later.

Bowman covers Brisbane’s coastal outer south from Thorneside through Capalaba and Sheldon to Redland Bay, and extends across the southern part of Moreton Bay to North Stradbroke Island. It has existed in name since 1949, but did not include any of its current territory until 1969, instead being based in Brisbane’s inner south-east. The 1969 redistribution caused the redrawn electorate to extend from the mouths of the Brisbane River in the north to the Logan River in the south, the latter also marking the Bowman’s southern extremity today. The area now covered by Bowman began to acquire its suburban character at around this time. With the redistribution of 1977, the southern part of the electorate came to be accommodated by the newly created electorate of Fadden. Bowman’s present dimensions were established when its northern neighbour Bonner was created to accommodate the Wynnum-Manly area at the 2004 election, setting Thorneside as the northern extremity of Bowman.

Bowman in its various permutations has been a marginal seat for most of its history, having been held by the Liberals throughout the Menzies and Holt years outside of a win by Labor as part of its near-victory at the 1961 election. It next changed hands with the big swing to Labor under Gough Whitlam’s leadership in 1969, and would henceforth go with the government of the day until 1998. Leonard Keogh held the seat for Labor from 1969 to 1975 and again after 1983, and also contested unsuccessfully in 1977 and 1980. Keogh was defeated for preselection in 1987 by Con Sciacca, who lost the seat to Liberal candidate Andrea West in 1996 before winning it back again in 1998. The Liberal member during the Fraser years was David Jull, who re-emerged as member for Fadden in 1984.

The reorganisation caused by the creation of Bonner in 2004 boosted the Liberal margin in Bowman by 4.4%, prompting Sciacca to unsuccessfully try his hand in Bonner. Bowman meanwhile was won by Liberal candidate Andrew Laming, an ophthalmologist and World Bank health consultant who added a solid 5.9% to the notional Liberal margin of 3.0%. Laming spent much of 2007 under the shadow of the “printgate” affair, in which he was investigated for allegedly claiming $67,000 to print campaign material for state election candidates, before being cleared two months before the election. After rumblings that the affair might cost him his preselection, Laming survived an 8.9% swing to Labor at the 2007 election to hold on by 64 votes. He had a much easier time of it in 2010, his 10.4% swing being strong even by the standards of Queensland at that election. There was a correction in Labor’s favour of 1.5% at the 2013 election, going slightly against the trend of a 1.3% statewide swing to the Liberal National Party.

Laming was promoted to the position of shadow parliamentary secretary for regional health services and indigenous health after the 2010 election, but was dropped after the Abbott government came to power.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

1,053 comments on “Seat of the week: Bowman”

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  2. @Sean/850

    Turnbull never got a chance, so how can you explain he was a failure when it was Coalition Faceless man fired him?

    Yeah I am sure you would like to accept Turnbull was a failure so you can attack Rudd all you like.

  3. Rudd should have been handled very differently

    Indeed. He should never have been made leader in the first place, following up on a string of leader selection failures in Crean and Latham.

  6. Turnbull was dumped because he put principle above the wishes of his party. Australia has been in some turmoil ever since. If the Libs were currently a SmallLib party Turnbull would make a good PM.

  7. [Indeed. He should never have been made leader in the first place, following up on a string of leader selection failures in Crean and Latham.
    ]

    Completely agree.

  8. Another one of those ethical drug companies caught out at last.

    [Pharmaceutical pitchmen may weigh their words more carefully from now on after Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) agreed on Monday to pay $2.2 billion to settle charges that it was overly broad in its marketing.]

    They should have asked Tony, he would have let them sponsor his arse for twenty bucks.

  9. “@tim_chr: .@MRowlandMP rightly condemns the cuts to foreign aid, says educated children leads to fewer threats to Australia’s security. #capitalhill”

  10. GhostWhoVotes ‏@GhostWhoVotes 2m

    #Essential Poll 2 Party Preferred: L/NP 53 (0) ALP 47 (0) #auspol

    GhostWhoVotes ‏@GhostWhoVotes 2m

    #Essential Poll Primary Votes: L/NP 45 (0) ALP 36 (+1) GRN 8 (-2) #auspol

  14. [Turnbull never got a chance, so how can you explain he was a failure when it was Coalition Faceless man fired him?]

    Utter crap… he was given a chance, he failed to improve the Coalition in the polls… he was rolled in favour of Labor Slayer Tony

  18. Shellbell

    Are you in Qld?

    Is there anything in Qld legislatn or Practice that prevents or allows him directin all cases of one genre to hisself.

    It’s a peverse reverse “judge picking” move.

  20. I find it depressing that the popularity of a leader is seen as more important than the policies they are selling. How do you get people to realise that the leader is their to drive the government, it isn’t about popularity.

  23. In the US the cut off point for being in the “1%” is earning $200,000.

    [ Are You A Member Of The “1%” – In 2012 A Record 166 Americans Made Over $50 Million

    Never in US history have so many individuals earned over $50 million per year.

    Never before has the divide between the wealthy and the poor been so wide (never).

    The source of this catalyst for unrest in society, as Mark Spitznagel warned, is not runaway entrepreneurial capitalism, which rewards those who best serve the consumer in product and price. (Would we really want it any other way?)

    There is another force that has turned a natural divide into a chasm: the Federal Reserve. The relentless expansion of credit by the Fed creates artificial disparities based on political privilege and economic power.

    “The Fed is transferring immense wealth from the middle class to the most affluent, from the least privileged to the most privileged.

    …Pitting economic classes against each other is a divisive tactic that benefits no one.

    ….Before we start down the path of arguing about the merits of redistributing wealth to benefit the many, why not first stop redistributing it to the most privileged?”]

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-04/meet-00001-166-americans-made-over-50-million-2012

  25. [Al Jazeera English ‏@AJEnglish 1m
    UN estimates 40 percent of Syrians need aid]

    Don’t ask our Government, they don’t care about anything. Except themselves.

  26. Pascoe –

    [ RBA points the fiscal finger

    Tony Abbott might fancy being called “the infrastructure Prime Minister”, but the Reserve Bank can’t see that happening any time soon.

    With a central banker’s careful phrasing, governor Glenn Stevens used one of the precious sentences in today’s brief post-board statement to point out that public spending is forecast to be “quite weak”.

    Along with observing that global financial markets are less volatile than a month ago, the comment on fiscal policy is about the only difference between today’s statement and that of the last meeting.
    Advertisement

    The RBA doesn’t say anything accidentally in these brief statements, so highlighting weak public sector spending is interesting indeed – especially when public sector investment as a percentage of the economy is running at its lowest level ever.

    If you said a month ago that the cash rate of 2.5 per cent was about right and most indicators have improved bit since then, the only thing you could reasonably be expected to say again is that the cash rate of 2.5 per cent is about right.

    But Stevens went a step further by hosing down any suggestions the improvements so far mean we’re definitely out of the woods. And he wasn’t taken in by the fall in the September “headline” seasonally adjusted unemployment rate.
    ]

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/rba-points-the-fiscal-finger-20131105-2wyzw.html#ixzz2jkem7knv

  27. rua

    It is not our Government that is causing 40 per cent of Syrians to need aid. By far the most money going into the fighting in Syria is coming from arab countries (including a key client of the US – Saudi Arabia. And then, of course, there is Iran.

    Let those pricks pay for some aid for a change.

  28. There is a good article by Steven Bartos in today’s Crikey. The essence is that Abbott, running a conservative government, is doing less as a government because that is what true conservative governments do.

  29. dave

    The Qld Govt has committed to zero infrastructure spending since they were elected, except for Newman’s new office block in Brisbane.

    Civil Engineering Contract companies are going broke left right and centre with no light or even a tunnel.

  30. Hmmm… Xi and Ji may well introduce a carbon tax. That would put the carbon tax amongst the trade agreement pigeons.

    Might AGW come home to roost for Abbott?

    He has certainly earned it.

  31. It was pleasant seeing Natalegawa sinking the diplomatic slipper into the Australian Government.

    Abbott’s abusive ways coming home to roost.

  32. [Let those pricks pay for some aid for a change.]

    My comment was in regard of the Abbott Govt’s cuts to Foreign Aid. Including AusAid now disappearing up DFATs arse.

  34. Oooo it wont go away Tony.

    [Kudos to SMH reader Vince O’Grady who did the groundwork and tipped us off on the expenses scoop in tomorrow’s Fairfax papers.]

  37. [868
    psyclaw
    Posted Tuesday, November 5, 2013 at 5:29 pm | PERMALINK
    Shellbell

    Are you in Qld?

    Is there anything in Qld legislatn or Practice that prevents or allows him directin all cases of one genre to hisself.

    It’s a peverse reverse “judge picking” move.]

    I am in NSW.

    I doubt there is a rule one way or the other. It sounds like an administrative decision which would be within the power of a Chief Magistrate.

  39. Anyone else notice the constant repetition from Lib pollies: careful, measured, thoughtful.

    Peta’s been searching the thesaurus again.

  40. [oops sorry @855 referring to spy tensions]

    It is election season in Indonesia. National Security runs as a political issue there just as it does here. Shame our Govt is too dumb to respond appropriately.

  44. “@MsRonnyB: #thedrum Oh sure Christine #LNP will keep everything behind closed doors. Rupert would never let ALP get away with that. #auspol #murdoch”

  47. Yeah, how come Abbott’s sister gets on the Drum, does Shorten have any siblings, or maybe they can get the GG on seeming she’s his mother-in-law.

  48. [Yeah, how come Abbott’s sister gets on the Drum]

    Due to selective Telly viewing, I have never seen Abbott’s sister on the telly, is she as thick as her brother?

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