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.
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| 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.
GG:
Don’t always agree with you either, but often piss myself laughing at your humour and wit. Even more so when it’s unexpected yet innocently delivered.
How about we start a campaign for Australia to be allowed to rejoin the Land Of Hope and Glory – I’m feeling very nervous about independence and want to run back under nanny’s skirts.
We could negoiate for our PM to hold an appropriate high office. Perhaps honorary head of the Church of England to restore a bit of order there as well.
We could also bolster Team Britain in case the Scots get uppity.
British law?
British law also allows for Assange to hunker down in the Ecuadorian embassy without having to fear arrest.
mh
Plus, Nat voters are extremely socially conservative and they are getting their socially conservative needs and wants met by Team Australia.
tielec@1247
The one about the young Lib?
An unusual Q&A tonight, I’ve seen Heather or Penny only briefly
It seems like the wider political debate has moved on to issues that they no longer seem to be identified with
Mr Squiggle
They have not had to say much about it. Mr Palmer and Mr Falzone have had the ground covered well.
BW,
Seems Julian may have had “hunka hunka burning love” before he got to the UK if the Swedish complaint is to be believed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpAiUDbyBJo
Truss throws Newman under the bus
Warren Truss bulldozes on regardless. He said an awful not of words to avoid the words he wouldn’t use.
Bemused – Rape is sex without consent. So if you don’t pay there is no consent.
Is Palmer admitting he’s changed his mind on Climate Change?
If so, good for him.
GG
I don’t know enough of the ins and outs of Assange’s lurrv behaviour to have a view on that.
But, IMHO, there has been sufficient effin about by the Swedish authorities to give rise to concern about whether Assange would ever get anything like justice there.
And as for the US, Assange has damaged what the elites perceive as their national interest (which they conveniently conflate with their interests) and if the US doesn’t actually organise some wet work, they will certainly take any and every opportunity to chuck him in solitary and throw away the keys.
KEVIN-ONE-SEVEN@1261
If I get my car serviced, pay by cheque and the cheque bounces, then the mechanic has a civil claim against me for the debt.
Same thing.
Actually by entering the Ecuadorian Embassy Assange broke the conditions of his bail. The English legal system may need to deal with this before sending him to Sweden.
I think his guarantors have done their dough.
Palmers ETS is Labors apparently
I think that Heather Ridout is wrong when she says that there is bipartisan agreement that the Earth is warming. About half the Coalition front bench and Party Room don’t believe it and the remainder don’t think it’s enough of a problem that anything actually needs to be done about it.
Oakeshott Country@1265
I think you are right on that.
His guarantors should sue him.
Watching QANDA. WTF is Warren Truss doing on here?? He is a coming across as a complete moron.
Palmer is fast losing his entertainment value for me. He’s simply doing movement and spin and look at me. Would not trust him as far as i could spit him.
Ridout speaking well, but i suspect she is way marginalized under The Abbott Govt. She actually does talk evidence based sense from time to time.
And Truss?? Should be put out to pasture or the knackers. Well past it.
BW,
“But, IMHO, there has been sufficient effin about by the Swedish authorities to give rise to concern about whether Assange would ever get anything like justice there”.
I call bullshit!
Personally I don’t think anyone is coming out of the Assange thing too well, except maybe the British legal system.
[My view is he’s engineering for a Turnbull PM.]
I think Clive is simple out for attention and revenge in equal measure. It is quite amazing to see someone with a ‘you can’t take it with you’ attitude to wealth and deciding he’s going to use it do over the LNP. whatever his initial falling out with e queensland party was, it is now personal and after the murdoch-LNP duopoly/conspiracy declared war on him, he’s decided to bring abbott and his clowns down. He knows a DD is his best chance of more seats and he knows his natural constituency is LNP voters.
it is fun to watch, even though I fear he’ll give an income labor government at least as much pain.
he gets some points from me because his refugee policy is to the left of labor.
Truss is not talking to you IMACCA.
The people to whom he is talking reckon he is talking common sense.
PTMD:
[One has to have a certain, um, level of critical thinking to follow Association Football.]
These fellows certainly appear to be engaging in some robust critical thinking:
😉
GG
The Swedish legal players shifted ground shiftily.
For the people who think the ABC is a waste of public resources. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-18/verrender-its-not-you-mr-hockey-its-the-budget/5677184
Hmmm… is Truss thining of a Trusspuppy Party?
To quote De Gaulle,
“After Truss, the Barnaby deluge”.
BW,
More speculative bullshit!
I am disappointed with Penny Wong. Her opposition to an ICAC at Commonwealth level.
GG
No worries. The ball is in your vehement court to explain the various players various shifts of positions, procedure, etc, etc, etc.
BW,
Acyually, it’s you making the accusations. So, it’s up to you to produce the evidence.
GG
It is you calling bullshit. Go ahead and explain. It is certainly not my while to do so.
The usual penalty for breach of bail is loss of bail.
The English won’t be granting bail for would be extraditees from now on.
Penny sitting between Clive and Jones looking like she is happy to just let them go at it. 🙂
The Fat One picking a fight with ‘those Chinese bastards.’ 😮
Clive goes the Chinese mongrels sitting next to Wong, class!
It’s you saying the Swedes are being shifty without evidence.
“IMHO” doesn’t really cut it as an authoritative source, comrade.
I’m sure you’ll run away from what you have said, as usual.
Warren Truss putting the case to vote Labor..
To be fair I don’t think Palmer is being racist. Just personal
mikehilliard@1287
Why should Penny be particularly upset? She is an Australian.
bemused
I think he said the wrong thing, I didn’t think it was right and I’m Australian and not of Chinese origin. So what’s your point?
Falzon is soooooooooooooooo impressive: the sort of person that the Roman Catholic Church can generate when it gets things right.
mikehilliard
And yes Clive did immediately qualify the poor choice of words by saying Chinese Government… give that Tony mindless goose was winding him up while adjusting his wig & robe… totally understandable
Sell ABC now! open the way for social media to do good journalism
mikehilliard
And yes Clive did immediately qualify the poor choice of words by saying Chinese Government… give that Tony mindless goose was winding him up while adjusting his wig & robe… totally understandable
Sell ABC now! open the way for social media to do good journalism
BW
Yes agree with you on Falzon. A credit to the Catholic Church.
mikehilliard@1292
His attack was on the Chinese Govt and business arms, not on people of Chinese ethnicity.
Penny is an Australian national, not a Chinese national. Penny appeared to be, dare I say it, ‘bemused’.
Well, Tony was winding Palmer up and Palmer took the bait. So who’s the goose.
BW,
Are you the detritus when they get it wrong?
Palmer used the term ‘the Chinese’.
Grammatically, that means ‘all Chinese’.
He may have intended to mean ‘The Chinese Government’ or ‘Chinese Businessmen he has had dealings with’. But we don’t know.
What he did say on national TV was clearly and unequivocally racist and derogatory.
I found it offensive.