RICHARDS ROMPS IN REDLANDS; ROBINSON CAKE WALK IN OODGEROO
In a situation of ironies, the Redlands has a new ALP political direction and the newly named Queensland parliamentary seat of Oodgeroo was a ‘cake walk’ for the LNP incumbent.
The Queensland State elections were staged just days prior to the Friendly Bay Islander went to press with still some undecided seats in the new 2017 Parliament, and the ALP was certain to hold onto Government.
What was clear from the overall position was that a vote for One Nation and the Greens flowed to the ALP, and that was certainly the case in Redlands
The LNP’s Mark Robinson had it relatively ‘easy’ in Ooodgeroo (formerly the State seat of Cleveland).
With only two opponents in the ALP’s Tony Austin and the Green’s Brad Scott, Robinson held his seat easily.
He was saved from the bath that awaited the LNP’s Matt McEachan in nearby Redlands when One Nation decided not to stand a candidate against him.
Mark Robison garnered 52.94% of the primary votes with Austin on 33.80% and Scott with 13.26%.
Voting at the three booths on North Stradbroke Island were similar to the overall figures, with the exception of Point Lookout where the Greens obtained a high 29.37 of the vote compared to 40.48 for the LNP and 30.16% for the ALP.
On primary votes in the seat of Redlands, the ALP’s Kim Richards finished ahead of the LNP’s Matt McEachan by just over two percentage points, 33.18% to 31.10%. This was being extended as preferences came into play.
One Nation’s Jason Quick obtained 17.79% of the vote, directing their preferences to the ALP; this, apparently, varied from seat to seat.
Peter Dowling and his Re-Elect campaign saw him obtain 9.32 of the vote, just ahead of the Greens David Keogh on 8.61%
Matt McEachan’s chances of holding onto his seat was crushed by weight of numbers. All other candidates listed the LNP either last or second last in Redlands.
On the Bay Islands, the voting varied considerably from the overall average.
Kim Richards obtained her highest percentages here with 39.82% on Lamb Island, 35.75% on Russell Island; and 33.84% on Macleay Island.
Matt McEachan received his lowest figures on the islands. On Lamb it was 24.78%, Russell 22.27% and Macleay 24.48%.
One Nation hit it out of the ball park on Russell Island obtaining a stunning 26.50% of the vote, even outpolling the LNP’s McEachan on 22.27%
The Greens earned their best results on Lamb island with 19.03%, 9.34% on Russell and 11.35% on Macleay.
The island were not kind to Peter Dowling.
On Lamb Island he received just 3.54% of the vote and on Russell it was 6.15% and on Macleay 5.72%
• Kim Richards with the Premier