Queensland general election, 2006
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| Legislative Assembly election, 2006 | ||||
| Party | Vote % | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | 46.9 | ↓0.1 | 59 | ↓1 |
| Nationals | 17.8 | ↑0.9 | 17 | ↑1 |
| Liberals | 20.1 | ↑1.6 | 8 | ↑1 |
| One Nation | 0.6 | ↓4.3 | 1 | 0 |
| Independents | 4 | ↓1 | ||
| Labor win | ||||
An election was held in the Australian state of Queensland on 9 September 2006 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly, after being announced by Premier Peter Beattie on 15 August 2006.
The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Peter Beattie defeat the National-Liberal Coalition lead by Lawrence Springborg and Bruce Flegg respectively, and gain a fourth consecutive term in office. Beattie thus became the first Labor Premier of Queensland to win four consecutive elections since William Forgan Smith did so in the 1930s. Had Beattie served out his fourth term, he would have become the second-longest serving Queensland Premier, after Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. After the election, Springborg resigned as Opposition Leader, being replaced by Jeff Seeney, however he has since returned to the position.
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[edit] Post-election Pendulum
Following the distribution of preferences in the election, a Mackerras Pendulum can be drawn for the two main parties as follows:
[edit] State of the parties before the election
Since April 2006, the ALP held 60 of the 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly, the Coalition 23 seats (16 National and seven Liberal), along with five Independents and one member of the One Nation Party. Thus in order to win an outright majority (45 seats), the Coalition would have needed to win an additional 22 seats from the ALP, the Independents or One Nation, assuming that they retained all of their own seats. This would have required a uniform swing against Labor of approximately 8% (such swings are very rare).
Sitting Labor member for Noosa, Cate Molloy, had resigned from the Labor Party following her disendorsement as a Labor candidate, which in turn followed her repudiation of the state government's plans to build a dam on the Mary River at Traveston. Molloy recontested the seat as an Independent.
[edit] Members who did not recontest their seats
A number of members of parliament retired at this election:
- Tom Barton: Waterford, ALP
- Darryl Briskey: Cleveland, ALP
- Dr Lesley Clark: Barron River, ALP
- Nita Cunningham: Bundaberg, ALP
- Jim Fouras: Ashgrove, ALP
- Don Livingstone: Ipswich West, ALP
- Tony McGrady: Mount Isa, ALP
- Gordon Nuttall: Sandgate, ALP
- Henry Palaszcuk: Inala, ALP
- Bob Quinn: Robina, Liberal
- Terry Sullivan: Stafford, ALP
- Marc Rowell: Hinchinbrook, Nationals
[edit] Campaign
From mid-2005, after the revelation of the Jayant Patel scandal, the issue of health has become a focus of controversy, damaging to the Beattie government. After several inquiries and industrial disputes, a restructure of Queensland Health took place, and the state government is currently lobbying the federal government for more doctor training places in universities for Queensland.
Other issues of importance to the electorate include environmental management and land clearing, asbestos in state schools, the provision of transportation and infrastructure to rural and regional areas, and the management of South East Queensland's population growth.
[edit] Results summary
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Legislative Assembly |
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| Registered Voters | 2,484,479 | ||||||
| Votes Cast | 2,247,728 | Turnout | 90.47% | ||||
| Informal Votes | 46,848 | Informal % | 2.08% | ||||
| Party | Primary Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Approx. % Seats | Change | |
| Australian Labor Party | 1,032,617 | 46.92 | -0.09 | 59 | 66.3 | -1 | |
| Liberal Party of Australia | 442,453 | 20.10 | +1.60 | 8 | 9.0 | +1 | |
| The Nationals | 392,124 | 17.82 | +0.86 | 17 | 19.1 | +1 | |
| The Greens | 175,798 | 7.99 | +1.23 | 0 | 0.0 | none | |
| Family First Party | 41,659 | 1.89 | +1.89 | 0 | 0.0 | none | |
| One Nation Party | 13,207 | 0.60 | -4.28 | 1 | 1.1 | none | |
| Other | 103,022 | 4.68 | -1.15 | 4 | 4.5 | -1 | |
| Total | 2,200,880 | 89 | 100.0 | ||||
[edit] Result
The election result was disappointing for the Coalition. It failed to make significant gains from Labor, despite the fact that the Government had been in office for eight years and had been mired in a series of scandals in its third term. It also failed to make headway against the Independents which still held many safe rural conservative seats, winning back only Gympie. Recent instability in the Coalition, combined with a poor media performance by inexperienced Liberal leader Bruce Flegg was seen as being responsible for the result. In addition, Premier Peter Beattie remained personally popular. With Labor’s huge majority largely intact, it was seen as being unlikely that the Coalition would be able to win the next election.
[edit] Seats changing hands
The Labor government regained three seats that it had lost in by-elections during 2005 and 2006, taking Chatsworth and Redcliffe from the Liberals and Gaven from the Nationals. The Liberals gained Clayfield, Kawana and Noosa from Labor, while the Nationals gained Bundaberg from Labor and Gympie from Independent Elisa Roberts.
The Coalition parties and the Australian Greens saw their primary vote rise following the demise of the Australian Democrats and One Nation, while Labor suffered a very slight swing against it.
[edit] Seats won by the ALP
- Albert (retain)
- Algester (retain)
- Ashgrove (retain)
- Aspley (retain)
- Barron River (retain)
- Brisbane Central (retain)
- Broadwater (retain)
- Bulimba (retain)
- Bundamba (retain)
- Burleigh (retain)
- Cairns (retain)
- Capalaba (retain)
- Chatsworth (gain from Libs)
- Cleveland (retain)
- Cook (retain)
- Everton (retain)
- Ferny Grove (retain)
- Fitzroy (retain)
- Gaven (gain from Nats)
- Glass House (retain)
- Greenslopes (retain)
- Hervey Bay (retain)
- Inala (retain)
- Indooroopilly (retain)
- Ipswich (retain)
- Ipswich West (retain)
- Kallangur (retain)
- Keppel (retain)
- Kurwongbah (retain)
- Logan (retain)
- Lytton (retain)
- Mackay (retain)
- Mansfield (retain)
- Mount Coot-tha (retain)
- Mount Gravatt (retain)
- Mount Isa (retain)
- Mount Ommaney (retain)
- Mudgeeraba (retain)
- Mulgrave (retain)
- Mundingburra (retain)
- Murrumba (retain)
- Nudgee (retain)
- Pumicestone (retain)
- Redcliffe (gain from Libs)
- Redlands (retain)
- Rockhampton (retain)
- Sandgate (retain)
- South Brisbane (retain)
- Southport (retain)
- Springwood (retain)
- Stafford (retain)
- Stretton (retain)
- Thuringowa (retain)
- Toowoomba North (retain)
- Townsville (retain)
- Waterford (retain)
- Whitsunday (retain)
- Woodridge (retain)
- Yeerongpilly (retain)
[edit] Seats won by the Nationals
- Beaudesert (retain)
- Bundaberg (gain from ALP)
- Burdekin (retain)
- Burnett (retain)
- Callide (retain)
- Charters Towers (retain)
- Cunningham (retain)
- Darling Downs (retain)
- Gregory (retain)
- Gympie (gain from Elisa Roberts)
- Hinchinbrook (retain)
- Lockyer (retain)
- Maroochydore (retain)
- Mirani (retain)
- Southern Downs (retain)
- Toowoomba South (retain)
- Warrego (retain)
[edit] Seats won by the Liberal Party
- Caloundra (retain)
- Clayfield (gain from ALP)
- Currumbin (retain)
- Kawana (gain from ALP)
- Moggill (retain)
- Noosa (gain from ALP)
- Robina (retain)
- Surfers Paradise (retain)
[edit] Seats won by the One Nation Party
- Tablelands (retain)
[edit] Seats won by Independents
- Gladstone (retain)
- Maryborough (retain)
- Nanango (retain)
- Nicklin (retain)
[edit] Queensland Greens call for proportional representation
Following the release of election results that saw the Labor Party gain 66.3% of the available seats with 46.9% of the vote, the Liberal Party get 9% of the seats with 20% of the vote, One Nation with one seat and less than 1% of the vote and the Greens unrepresented with nearly 8% of the vote, the Queensland Greens issued a press release on their website calling for Proportional Representation in Queensland [1]. The press release is part of an ongoing effort by the Australian and Queensland Greens to see Proportional Representation implemented on both state and national levels. The Greens have never won representation in Queensland's state parliament.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Election analysis by Antony Green of the ABC
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