Algester

Margin: Liberal National 9.1%
Region: Southern Brisbane
Federal: Forde/Oxley/Rankin/Wright

Candidates in ballot paper order

	ANTHONY SHORTEN Liberal National (top) SUSAN WOLF Greens KEVIN FORSHAW Independent LEEANNE ENOCH Labor (bottom)

The collapse in Labor’s vote at the 2012 election hit particularly hard in southern Brisbane, which in the seat of Algester turned a Labor’s 9.2% margin into a Liberal National margin of 9.1%. The electorate is located about 12 kilometres south of the city centre and intersected by the Logan Motorway, covering Forest Lake, Larapinta and Algester to its north, and Forestdale and Boronia Heights to its south.

The electorate was created in 2001 as the successor to abolished Archerfield, and the two between them were held by Labor without interruption from the creation of Archerfield in 1972 until the 2012 debacle. Labor’s member from 1998 was Karen Struthers, who served as Community Services and Housing Minister in the Bligh government after the 2009 election. The winner in 2012 was Anthony Shorten, a former Brisbane City Council administration officer who also ran in 2009.

Labor’s new candidate is Leeanne Enoch, a campaign officer at the Queensland Council of Unions who ran unsuccessfully for the northern Gold Coast seat of Coomera in 2009. Enoch is notable for being one of nine parties to the successful racial discrimination action against Andrew Bolt over his comments concerning fair-skinned Aborigines. She initially emerged as a Left-backed candidate for the federal seat of Rankin when the Right split between Jim Chalmers, backed by the AWU and Wayne Swan, and Brett Raguse, backed by the SDA and Kevin Rudd, but withdrew from the contest citing personal reasons.

Corrections, complaints and feedback to William Bowe at pollbludger-at-bigpond-dot-com. Read William’s blog, The Poll Bludger.

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