Seat of the week: Groom

Located in the Darling Downs and dominated by Toowoomba, the seat of Groom has provided a secure electoral base for Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane through a parliamentary career going back to 1998.

Located in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Groom is dominated by the city of Toowoomba about 100 kilometres west of Brisbane, which accounts for slightly less than 80% of its population. Toowoomba is near the electorate’s eastern boundary, from which it extends westwards to Jondaryan and Pittsworth and northwards to Goombungee, along with sparsely populared rural areas further afield. The electorate was created with the expansion of parliament in 1984 as the successor to Darling Downs, which had existed since federation. Neither Darling Downs nor Groom has ever been held by Labor.

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.

Darling Downs was held by the major conservative movement of the time from 1901 until 1936, when Arthur Fadden gained it for the Country Party at a by-election held after the death of United Australia Party member Sir Littleton Groom, who gives the modern electorate its name. When parliament expanded in 1949, Fadden moved to the new seat of McPherson, and an agreement between the coalition parties reserved Darling Downs for the Liberals. It was accordingly won with little difficulty by Liberal candidate Reginald Swartz, who retained it until his retirement in 1972. A three-cornered contest ensued at the 1972 election, in which Country Party candidate Tom McVeigh secured a comfortable victory after outpolling the Liberal candidate by 32.3% to 22.5%. McVeigh carried on as member for Groom after 1984 and retired in February 1988, leading to another three-cornered contest at the ensuing by-election. This time the seat fell to the Liberals, whose candidate Bill Taylor outpolled the Nationals candidate by 33.3% to 28.8%. With Taylor’s retirement in 1998 the seat was bequeathed to its current member, Ian Macfarlane, who polled 33.1% on debut against 18.0% for One Nation and 15.2% for the Nationals. The Nationals again fielded a candidate against Macfarlane in 2001, but gave him little trouble.

Recognisable for a distinctive voice resulting from damage sustained to his larynx following a cancer operation in 2004, Macfarlane served as a minister in the Howard government from January 2001, first in the junior portfolio of small business, then attaining cabinet rank as Industry, Tourism and Resources Minister after the October 2001 election. He attained further seniority in opposition, holding the trade portfolio under Brendan Nelson and energy and resources under Malcolm Turnbull. When Tony Abbott became leader in December 2009 he was moved to infrastructure to make way for Nick Minchin, but he recovered energy and resources when Minchin retired from the front-bench the following March. With the election of the Abbott government he was allocated to an expanded industry portfolio that incorporated responsibility for mining and science, the lack of a dedicated portfolio for the latter inspiring some controversy.

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.

1,381 comments on “Seat of the week: Groom”

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  4. But Puff…Aussie Rules does dominate in pLaces where it Counts like Melbourne and Geelong(AND PERTH AND ADELAIDE TOO)”’and Thugby is just a local sport(English Public schools)…and soccer is seen here as just Wogball…as we used to call it as Kids

  5. With Tony Abbott blaming Labor, Newman and Baird no where to be seen.

    With the wind/rain damages hitting multiple states.

  6. Henry
    Yest, it looks like he’d had a shampoo and blowdry. And it had washed out the dark colour so prominently recently displayed.

  8. For the record, I like all 4 of our footy codes. AFL, League, Union and Soccer.

    If the Panthers win tonight, Rugby League back to number 1 😎

  10. deblonay@1004

    But Puff…Aussie Rules does dominate in pLaces where it Counts like Melbourne and Geelong(AND PERTH AND ADELAIDE TOO)”’and Thugby is just a local sport(English Public schools)…and soccer is seen here as just Wogball…as we used to call it as Kids

    Nonsense!

    It is an insignificant little game confined largely to the more backward parts of Australia.

    How many players have represented their country in any significant international competition?

    Q.E.D. 😀

  11. So what colour was the Lying Friars hair today. I noted he had the European Black on his recent World Crusade – not as dark as Mr Andrews mind you.

    Then the other day I noticed a more rustic rural aussie type of colouring.

    Anyhow so what is it now… weather effected.

  12. Henry

    Rugby League has the higher TV ratings and more people prefer to go to an AFL game.

    I’ll tell you where the real interest lies?

    Back to check on the data 😎

  13. bemused

    If Aussie Football was invented at by the indigenous people here as can be argued that makes it possibly the first code otherwise its the second.

  15. guytaur@1013

    bemused

    If Aussie Football was invented at by the indigenous people here as can be argued that makes it possibly the first code otherwise its the second.

    Possibly. But definitely the lest significant. 😀

  18. [
    It is an insignificant little game confined largely to the more backward parts of Australia.
    ]

    What, like Victoria, Sth Australia and Tasmania. Are these not States that are generally regarded as ALP heartland? Are you saying Labor supporting States are backward?

  19. So no show from Joe Today after his 2GB grovel on Friday? Only 4 days to get a Newspoll bounce, what will they tweak to try to fudge the Budget story?

    Or will Abbott go back to Holland?

  20. When you do the data on the most popular codes, don’t forget to include the womens football competitions.

    Game, set and match (to mix metaphors) to Association Football. 🙂

  21. wrong centre – AFL outrates rugby league.
    AFL GF biggest sporting event of the year, every year.
    League average crowds = 13,000, AFL 32,000
    QED.
    do some research and get back to me, :-!

  23. Sir Mad Cyril@1018

    It is an insignificant little game confined largely to the more backward parts of Australia.


    What, like Victoria, Sth Australia and Tasmania. Are these not States that are generally regarded as ALP heartland? Are you saying Labor supporting States are backward?

    Certainly backward in the sense of their ‘sporting’ taste. 😀

  27. [AustralianPolitics.com is no longer being updated or maintained.

    Unemployment and penury have finally beaten me. I’m done.

    When the server arrangements expire, so too will the site.

    Malcolm Farnsworth
    August 14, 2014]

    He seemed to lose interest when Rudd announced his resignation. Certainly hasn’t tweeted since that day in Nov last year.

    A shame to see the site go. He had an awesome collection of videos from years prior.

  28. Puff, the Magic Dragon.@1020

    When you do the data on the most popular codes, don’t forget to include the womens football competitions.

    Game, set and match (to mix metaphors) to Association Football.

    Yes, the Womens Soccer and Rugby are at quite a good standard.

  30. Henry

    More money is bet on Rugby League. More single bets are placed on Rugby League.

    What does that tell you?

    In case you can’t work it out – more people are interested in Rugby League 😎

    Oh and the State Of Origin out rates your GF.

    The silly Mexicans should play it at night so more people could watch it 😆

  32. [
    In case you can’t work it out – more people are interested in Rugby League 😎
    ]

    In Australia perhaps, as for the rest of the world, it hardly rates a mention. Soccer is king.

  33. madcyril:

    Surely someone else will take over the domain name. Would be good if it were someone with the same interest in and memory of politics.

  37. Sir Mad Cyril@1034

    confessions,

    Yes, even just to keep is alive as an archive. There is so much stuff on there.

    I wonder what his server costs per annum and if he could solicit donations to keep it there until he or someone else chooses to start updating again?

  38. Sir Mad Cyril@1034

    confessions,

    Yes, even just to keep is alive as an archive. There is so much stuff on there.

    I wonder what his server costs per annum and if he could solicit donations to keep it there until he or someone else chooses to start updating again?

  39. Centre,
    No,that indicates more people who bet on football prefer RL.
    Actually no, that indicates people who bet on football put more money on RL.

    Whether more people bet or just the same number of people put more money on that code we do not know on that data.

    This is a psephy site after all. 😎

  40. No centre AFL GR out rates origin. Not even close.
    You twit!

    And yes ruawake you are correct. Soccer has the highest participation rate (maybe even netball too for that matter).
    It’s safer for the kiddies.
    Problem is they give it away at about 12 or 13!

  41. You’re going good like normal, Henry.

    200,000 more people nationally watched the NRL GF than the AFL GF last year.

    *catch later

  42. [
    I wonder what his server costs per annum and if he could solicit donations to keep it there until he or someone else chooses to start updating again?
    ]

    bemused

    Yes I would have thought that was an option, but I gather from his post on the site that he has given up on trying to save it.

  43. Puffy, I should have added about the women’s Soccer and Rugby that I found it every bit as entertaining as the mens. Some of those girls really go in hard.

    My sons played Junior Rugby and they had mixed teams up to a certain age but the rule wasn’t rigorously enforced. Some of the older girls were every bit as tough as the boys.

  44. Henry
    Most sports and kids organisations experience a fall off of teenage participants. It is all part of the teenage individualist thing.

  45. kj

    [ I follow sports but not with the keeness of my youth.}

    Common experience.

    Of bugger all importance in the long run. So much other stuff over takes.

  46. Sir Mad Cyril@1042

    I wonder what his server costs per annum and if he could solicit donations to keep it there until he or someone else chooses to start updating again?


    bemused

    Yes I would have thought that was an option, but I gather from his post on the site that he has given up on trying to save it.

    I might send him an email to see what his thoughts are.

  47. Assange has a great point. Apparently the UK Parliament is moving to fix the problem. No more extradition without charges.

  48. “@abcnews: #BREAKING: Julian Assange has announced he will leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London.”

    Its official now

  49. The AustralianPolitics site is available via various internet archives, buying the domain name gives you the rights to the domain name, not any content from a prior owner.

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