Seat of the week: Wide Bay

Warren Truss’s seat of Wide Bay encompasses Noosa, Gympie and Maryborough, and has been in National/Country Party hands for most of an existence that dates back to federation.

Wide Bay has covered a variable area around Maryborough about 300 kilometres north of Brisbane since its creation at federation. Maryborough is currently at the northern end of an electorate that extends south along the coast to Noosa, which was gained at the redistribution before the 2007 election as its southern neighbour Fairfax was drawn southwards by population growth on the Sunshine Coast (which Wide Bay accommodated in its entirety for most of the period prior to 1949). The electorate also extends inland through Gympie to Murgon and Cherbourg.

Now a secure seat for the Liberal National Party, Wide Bay was one of 15 seats across the country won by Labor at the first election in 1901. Its member from then until 1915 was Andrew Fisher, who served three terms as prime minister and won the party’s first parliamentary majority at the election of 1910. Labor was narrowly defeated at a by-election held after Fisher retired due to ill health, and for the next 13 years the seat was held by Edward Corser, first as a Liberal and then in the Nationalist Party that succeeded it in 1917. The seat passed to the Country Party upon Corser’s death in 1928, when his son Bernard Corser was elected as the party’s candidate without opposition.

Teal and red numbers respectively indicate size of two-party majorities for the LNP and Labor. Click for larger image. Map boundaries courtesy of Ben Raue at The Tally Room.

Brendan Hansen’s election in 1961 gave Labor its first win in Wide Bay in nearly half a century, and he retained the seat until defeated amid a statewide swing against the Whitlam government in 1974. The seat has has since had two National/Country Party members, the present incumbent Warren Truss succeeding Clarrie Millar in 1990. The general trend over this time has been for increasing Nationals margins, with Truss retaining the seat by 8.5% amid Labor’s strong statewide result in 2007 and boosting his margin to 15.6% in 2010, before a narrowing to 13.2% at the 2013 election.

Warren Truss emerged through local Nationals ranks as a councillor for the Shire of Kingaroy from 1976 to 1990, before winning the party’s endorsement to succeed Joh Bjelke-Petersen as member for Barambah at the by-election which followed his retirement in 1988. However, Truss suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Trevor Perrett, a candidate of the eccentric Citizens Electoral Council who joined the Nationals a year later. He was amply compensated with endorsement for Wide Bay at the federal election two years later, and was elected without incident despite a 3.9% swing to Labor.

Truss served as a junior shadow minister in the consumer affairs portfolio after November 1994, but was cut from the front bench when the Nationals’ reduced share of seats within the Coalition reduced its share of the spoils of the 1996 election victory. His opportunity came in October the following year when the travel rorts affair garnered three ministerial scalps including Nationals MP John Sharp, resulting in Truss’s return to the consumer affairs portfolio together with customs. After the 1998 election he was reassigned to community services, and he then attained cabinet rank in July 1999 with his promotion to Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister. In July 2005 he secured his party’s deputy leadership and traded his portfolios for transport and regional services, and was again reassigned to trade in September 2006.

Truss was elevated to the leadership of the National Party when Mark Vaile resigned in the wake of the 2007 election defeat, although it has often been noted that his profile is a good deal lower than that of Barnaby Joyce, who moved from a Queensland Senate seat to the New South Wales lower house seat of New England at the 2013 election. As well as being Deputy Prime Minister, Truss has served as Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development since the election of the Abbott government.

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.

1,168 comments on “Seat of the week: Wide Bay”

Comments Page 16 of 24
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  1. [rossmcg
    Posted Monday, August 4, 2014 at 7:02 pm | PERMALINK
    I was a nobody till I was slagged by Kezza]

    Manno, manno!!

    I now anoint you St Rossmcg of the Slagged. By the order of the Violin.

    Sweet paranoia and many cruel tears for generations to come will be yours, by order of the Crack.

    Gimme a break

  4. The Gaza tragedy has taken the wind out of Abbott and Brandis’ sails.

    They tried the any Aussie who joined a foreign army was not welcome in their country of nationality

    But lowered the volume when they realised Aussies may be batting for the goodies as well as the baddies.

  5. [confessions
    Posted Monday, August 4, 2014 at 7:13 pm | PERMALINK
    PO:

    I’m half expecting Abbott to don his high vis again and start touring the country on another stunt.]

    Your wish has come true.

    Pollie Pedal’s next week, apparently.

    Can you imagine the security detail!

  6. This is so sad and all for the fins!
    [A Chinese fisherman has caught a protected whale shark weighing more than two tonnes in his net.

    The massive fish was caught off the coast of the Fujian province and was photographed being wheeled down the street draped across the top of a cart.

    According to local media reports the whale shark was five metres long and weighed over two tonnes.]
    https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/24627517/fisherman-catches-two-tonne-whale-shark/

  7. [I was a nobody till I was slagged by Kezza

    Now I feel honoured.]

    I, too, have been slagged by Kezza… except I could ban her, Over The Road, which I did. We never looked back.

    One does get tired of the endless stories of her soap-opera childhood. And the constant hatred, plus of course the misandry.

  11. [I’m half expecting Abbott to don his high vis again and start touring the country on another stunt.]

    There is fish to gut, shirts to iron, and trucks to sit in all across this great southern land, and Hard Yakka Tony is a’gonna go right on setting the rest of us a fine example of how to do it for the cameras.

  17. rossmcg

    Well, there you go.

    Poor old BB, with his endless tales of his homelife, and hobbies, and his sexism, and his tales of woe about his in-law and out-laws, and his power to enforce, and his propensity to listen to 2GB, and how many times have we heard the story of the bloke in the gutter, and the countless terrible emails from journos who’ve told him to piss off (that he’d never publish) has endorsed your complaint.

    That’s not to say he’s not a good story-teller.

    You must feel so much better now.

  18. [confessions
    Posted Monday, August 4, 2014 at 7:25 pm | PERMALINK
    Pollie Pedal’s next week, apparently.

    *Groans*]

    I have it on good authority Australia has been granted hand-held capability licences for the US Iron (Rotten Eggs Defence) Dome.

    Adaptable to the cycling security fleet.

  19. [Pollie Pedal is a worthy cause]

    For who? Amgen, Glencore (never paid tax), Pfizer, Medibank (sponsoring the Govt while being prepared for sale), Johnson & Johnson, Visy (remember the cardboard box cartel), Macquarie Bank (how to make your investment shrink), Servcorp.

    Note the majority of Pharmaceutical Companies who have been onboard since Abbott was Health Minister. It is a disgusting display of buying influence.

  22. I don’t think Abbott will be taking part in this year’s Pollie Pedal. There has been hardly a mention of it, there has been no official launch by Abbott, whatever publicity there has been has not mentioned him.

  23. AN Amgen update.I doubt the PBS will follow suit.

    [Aug 1 (Reuters) – Express Scripts Holding Co, the largest U.S. pharmacy benefit manager, said on Friday it will remove an additional 25 products from its list of preferred drugs in 2015, including anemia drugs Epogen and Aranesp, sold by Amgen Inc.]

    Removed because they were not as good as cheaper alternatives. Watch this space for crickets.

  25. [Carers Australia will again be the chief beneficiary of the Pollie Pedal charity bike ride in 2014. Dates of the event are to be confirmed.]

    Time running out.

  27. Looking at the sitting dates for the HoR Abbott may be able to squeeze in PP in early November. Is he brave enough to let his mice play while he is away.

  30. [756
    Dee

    This is so sad and all for the fins!]

    It is indeed sad to see such a splendid animal come to so sorry an end, but it is not likely this shark was killed for its fins, which, because of the characteristics of the species, would have a very low value. It’s more probable it was caught for its meat value, which could be several thousand dollars – doubtless quite a lot of money to a small scale fisher.

    The shark fin trade has been contracting for at least a decade and will continue to decline, as both prices and volumes react to rapidly shrinking consumer demand. There are now many prominent restaurants and hotels in East Asia, including in China, that refuse to offer shark fin dishes in their menus. This really is a reflection of consumer-directed eco-messaging, which has radically shifted consumption patterns, especially among younger Chinese.

    From my observations, younger Chinese want to buy and consume foods that are healthy – the more organic the better – that are reliably safe and sustainably produced. These things are all wrapped up in the idea of “food security”, meaning food should not only be abundant and nutritious, but must be safe in all respects.

    Doubtless, there are still some exotic native products that come from endangered sources, but this is changing very quickly.

  31. leone

    Good find. Abbott will need a rest, he was too tired to attend the Pacific Forum, but can ride 1,000 km 9 days later?

  32. briefly:

    Feels like ages since you’ve been around! I hope you’ve been well.

    Unseasonal weather we’re having. I know this is indicative of the future, and none of it fills me with joy, despite the days being beautiful. Those cold fronts have been few and far between this year.

  33. [Poor old BB, with his endless tales of his homelife, and hobbies, and his sexism, and his tales of woe about his in-law and out-laws, and his power to enforce, and his propensity to listen to 2GB, and how many times have we heard the story of the bloke in the gutter, and the countless terrible emails from journos who’ve told him to piss off (that he’d never publish) has endorsed your complaint.

    That’s not to say he’s not a good story-teller.]

    A story well told, that leaves punters a bit uplifted, is a whole lot more preferable to turgid tales of woe, financial misery and having-to-bring-up-10-siblings-or-else-they’d-starve-to-death-(-or-get-get-raped-).

    Is there anyone in Kezza’s life who got a fair deal, a good run, half a chance, survived with their spirit intact, or did they all turn out bitter, twisted and boring like her?

  34. HB

    You don’t think I wouldn’t have been aware of those entries? I expressly responded to those etymologies. Etymonline is a great resource, but it’s a collection of ideas, a little like wiki rather than the last word on everything.

  35. Briefly

    From the article!
    [In 2012, a study by Murdoch University and Shandong University found whale sharks were increasingly being targeted by Chinese fishermen due to a high demand for shark fins.

    Talking about the study, Murdoch Centre for Fish, Fisheries and Aquatic Ecosystems Research scientist Brad Norman said there was no targeted whale shark fishery in China but high prices for shark fins could change that.

    “While whale sharks are covered by law in China as a second-class national protected animal, catches are generally unmonitored and trade is uncontrolled, similar to other shark species.”]

  36. So, Fran is right and Wiki-Whatsy is wrong.

    Of course. That was Honest Bastard;s first mistake. Fran has endless time for pedantry. More than anyone else.

  37. I see we are all in a nice, positive mood, with open, constructive political discussion again tonight … ducks 🙂

  39. 785
    Dee
    Posted Monday, August 4, 2014 at 8:08 pm | Permalink

    Dee, the article is wrong with respect to the market for shark fins. Really, it is wrong. The market in, say, HK, is down to less than 10% of its peak values and volumes, reached at the end of the 20th century.

    I don’t deal in fins, but it is very obvious that in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and in Singapore (the three main trading points) that the market is now comparatively small and getting even smaller. I have business with the largest fin importers and distributors in both HK and Singapore (in other kinds of sea-foods). In each case they are very clear: their traditional business has almost completely disappeared.

    In any case, there is almost no commercial value in the fins from whale sharks, simply because of their composition.

  41. Ctar/Rua

    I wish them well, they need all the help they can get 😯

    Very clinical performance by the Storm tonight, far too experienced for the young Tigers who played enthusiastically and tried hard.

  42. So, back onto politics..

    In response to questions from The Australian Financial Review, Ms Whitehouse said: “My daughter, Billie, studied at Whitehouse. She was not awarded a scholarship but studied here free of charge.

    “The school is wholly owned by myself and it is not unusual nor surprising that, when my daughter showed a strong interest in a career in design, she pursued this interest at Whitehouse.

    I have no truck with Ms Whitehouse providing free tuition to her daughter – seems quite reasonable actually. But, my understanding was that Ms Abbott’s scholarship was partly justified (not sure by whom) as being the second one issued by the school, the first being to Billie Whitehouse. It appears this is now, not correct.

    It is the assumption of privilege above others that pisses me off.

  43. Poroti

    [So where do you really stand re JG and KR and what do you think of Assange ? 😉 ]

    If you’re going to troll you may as well hit the ground hard!

    😀

  44. [having-to-bring-up-10-siblings-or-else-they’d-starve-to-death-(-or-get-get-raped-).]

    Not fair.

    Kezza can be crude and abrasive, and sometimes needs to be disciplined accordingly, but her frank stories of an abusive childhood shouldn’t be used against her, in my view.

  45. BB

    Got long arms ‘av ya?

    [A story well told, that leaves punters a bit uplifted, is a whole lot more preferable to turgid tales of woe, financial misery and having-to-bring-up-10-siblings-or-else-they’d-starve-to-death-(-or-get-get-raped-).

    Is there anyone in Kezza’s life who got a fair deal, a good run, half a chance, survived with their spirit intact, or did they all turn out bitter, twisted and boring like her?]

    What a shame you weren’t raped. Then you would have had a different story to tell. Bet it wouldn’t be so funny, or so name-droppingly tedious. But there you go.

    Thems the breaks.

    I actually told people on here not long ago that I was sorry for boring them to tears about my story, but getting some sordid shit off my chest actually did help to vent somewhere, anywhere.

    And I appreciated it. I also copped flak. But I accept that I dished out more than I got.

    I notice those ‘Over The Road’ drop in every now and then to set us straight.

    It must be difficult being so precious. So full of hubris to have your own special club to preside over that you can’t help keeping it to your exclusiveness, but have to dispense your supercilious pearls of wisdom where you once were so grand.

  46. [with open, constructive political discussion again tonight ]

    Aside from a couple of commenters, what do you mean? It’s been discussion of the day’s politics all the way.

  49. Briefly
    [In each case they are very clear: their traditional business has almost completely disappeared.

    In any case, there is almost no commercial value in the fins from whale sharks, simply because of their composition.]

    Awful to say but happy if true. 🙂

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