Queensland election 2015

Hervey Bay

Margin: Liberal National 21.7%
Region: Central Coast
Federal: Hinkler/Wide Bay

Candidates in ballot paper order

herveybay-lnp

herveybay-alp

TONY GUBBINS
Labor (bottom)

JANNEAN DEAN
Independent

LYNETTE PEARSALL
Palmer United Party

AXEL BEARD
Family First

KRISTEN LYONS
Greens

TED SORENSEN
Liberal National (top)

ELECTORATE MAP

2012 ELECTION RESULTS

DEMOGRAPHICS

Electorate boundary outline courtesy of
Ben Raue of The Tally Room.

Held for the Liberal National Party since 2009 by Ted Sorensen, the electorate of Hervey Bay includes the urban area of Hervey Bay and its immediate surrounds, together with uninhabited Fraser Island. Rapid development over the past three decades has transformed the area from a series of fishing villages into a tourism centre and a magnet for retirees, leading to the creation of the electorate at the 1992 election. The electorate has the state’s equal oldest median age, the lowest median family income, the fourth lowest proportion of mortgage payers, and the highest proportion of the labour force working in health care.

Hervey Bay was won narrowly for Labor upon its creation in 1992 by Bill Nunn, who had gained the predecessor seat of Isis for the party in 1989. Nunn did very well to hold on in 1995 after picking up a small swing against the overall trend, but in 1998 the seat became one of 11 to fall to One Nation, after their candidate David Dalgleish relegated the Nationals to third and coasted past Nunn on their preferences. Dalgleish ended up on the City-Country Alliance side of the ensuing One Nation split, and the two camps spoiled each other’s chances when they both fielded candidates at the 2001 election.

With the anti-Labor vote splitting evenly between Dalgleish, One Nation and the Nationals, Labor’s Andrew McNamara gained the seat in 2001 with a comfortable margin of 7.6%. The Nationals vote was almost back to normal in 2004, increasing by 17.2% to 35.9%, and McNamara’s margin progressively wore down to 4.0% in 2004 and 1.8% in 2006. He won promotion to the ministry when Anna Bligh succeeded Peter Beattie in September 2007, but this did not avail him at the 2009 election, when he was unseated by an 8.6% swing.

Ted Sorensen came to the seat after 14 years on Hervey Bay City Council, including eight as mayor. His margin blew out by 15.2% to 21.7% in the 2012 landslide, after which he assumed the position of deputy government whip.

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

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