Luke Woolmer

Luke Woolmer is an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1995 to 1998, representing the electorate of Springwood.

Prior to 1995 Springwood was held by Molly Robson of the Australian Labor Party, who held the seat in the 1993 election with a majority of 10%.[1] Woolmer, who worked in the Information Technology sector prior to running for parliament,[2] entered the election on the tail of the so-called "koala tollway" controversy, in which the Labor government had planned to build a tollway through a koala sanctuary. Woolmer won the election by 18.5%, having received a swing of 19.4% on the back of the preferences from the minor parties.[1]

While in parliament Woolmer served as an undersecretary with a focus on IT issues.[3] He helped to establish the government's Ministerial Council for IT & T, and he had hoped to become the state's first IT minister after the 1998 election.[2] This, however, was not to be, as a swing back to Labor saw Woolmer lose his seat to Labor's Grant Musgrove by a narrow margin.[4]

After his 1998 loss, Woolmer ran unsuccessfully for pre-selection in the Federal seat of McPherson,[5] before returning to work in the IT sector.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Green, Anthony. "Springwood (Key Seat)". ABC Elections: 2009 Queensland Election (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). http://www.abc.net.au/elections/qld/2009/guide/spri.htm. Retrieved 6 February 2010. 
  2. ^ a b Pennington, Sylvia (30 June 1998). "IT ministry eludes ambitious advocate". The Australian: p. 58. 
  3. ^ Hellaby, David (13 February 2001). "Beattie ahead in high-tech poll race". The Australian: p. 55. 
  4. ^ Layton, Rachael (24 November 2000). "Turmoil deepens". Albert & Logan News (Brisbane, Australia): p. 1. 
  5. ^ Atkins, D. (30 June 1998). "A fading star". The Courier Mail (Brisbane, Australia): p. 14. 
  6. ^ "Luke Leaves". Albert & Logan News (Brisbane, Australia): p. B3. 9 June 1999.