[Queensland]: 2004 Queensland State Election

[Owen]

​

​

​

30 October 2004​

All 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 45 Assembly seats needed for a majority​

Logo:	​
Image:	​	​
Leader:	Anna Bligh	Lawrence Springborg (WON)
Party:	Australian Labor Party (Queensland Branch)	Coalition: National Party of Australia - Queensland Liberal Party of Australia (Queensland Division)
Policies:	Social Democracy Democratic Socialism Social Liberalism	National Party of Australia: Conservatism Agrarianism Economic Liberalism Liberal Party of Australia: Liberalism Conservative Liberalism Liberal Conservatism
Leader since:	13 September 2003	2 March 2001
Leader's seat:	South Brisbane	None (contesting Southern Downs)
Last election (seats):	60 seats	6 seats
Last election (primary vote percentage):	50.0%	12.5%
Seats won:	27 seats	58 seats
Seat change:	-33	+52
TPP popular vote:	964,275	1,283,452
TPP vote percentage:	42.9%	57.1%
TPP vote swing:	N/A	N/A

Pre-Election Pendulum (Labor)​

Seat:	Member:	Party:	Percentage
Gaven	Robert Poole	Australian Labor Party	0.1%
Kallangur	Ken Hayward	Australian Labor Party	0.2% vs. ONP
Caloundra	Christine Anthony	Australian Labor Party	0.4%
Noosa	Cate Molloy	Australian Labor Party	1.2%
Broadwater	Peta-Kaye Croft	Australian Labor Party	1.3%
Murrumba	Dean Wells	Australian Labor Party	1.3% vs. ONP
Waterford	Tom Barton	Australian Labor Party	1.5% vs. ONP
Moggill	Laurie Lumsden	Australian Labor Party	2.2%
Bundamba	Bob Gibbs	Australian Labor Party	2.5% vs. ONP
Burleigh	Christine Smith	Australian Labor Party	2.6%
Mackay	Tim Mulherin	Australian Labor Party	2.8% vs. ONP
Toowoomba North	Kerry Shine	Australian Labor Party	2.9%
Clayfield	Liddy Clark	Australian Labor Party	4.6%
Logan	John Mickel	Australian Labor Party	4.7% vs. ONP
Rockhampton	Robert Schwarten	Australian Labor Party	5.9% vs. ONP
Glass House	Carolyn Male	Australian Labor Party	5.9% vs. ONP
Albert	Margaret Keech	Australian Labor Party	6.3%
Beaudesert	Pam Stephenson	Australian Labor Party	7.0%
Fitzroy	Jim Pearce	Australian Labor Party	7.0% vs. ONP
Robina	Bruce Simmonds	Australian Labor Party	7.1%
Southport	Peter Lawlor	Australian Labor Party	7.3%
Charters Towers	Christine Scott	Australian Labor Party	7.4%
Keppel	Paul Hoolihan	Australian Labor Party	7.5%
Mirani	Richard Staker	Australian Labor Party	8.4%
Aspley	Bonny Barry	Australian Labor Party	9.3%
Gladstone	Jennifer Ellingsen	Australian Labor Party	9.7% vs. IND
Woodridge	Desley Scott	Australian Labor Party	9.8% vs. ONP
Redlands	John English	Australian Labor Party	10.1%
Indooroopilly	Ronan Lee	Australian Labor Party	10.4%
Mansfield	Phil Reeves	Australian Labor Party	11.3%
Barron River	Lesley Clark	Australian Labor Party	11.7%
Springwood	Barbara Stone	Australian Labor Party	11.7%
Cook	Steve Bredhauer	Australian Labor Party	11.8% vs. ONP
Mount Isa	Tony McGrady	Australian Labor Party	11.9% vs. ONP
Mount Ommaney	Julie Attwood	Australian Labor Party	13.0%
Redcliffe	Ray Hollis	Australian Labor Party	13.4%
Currumbin	Merri Rose	Australian Labor Party	13.9%
Mundingburra	Lindy Nelson-Carr	Australian Labor Party	14.9%
Greenslopes	Gary Fenlon	Australian Labor Party	16.3%
Everton	Rod Welford	Australian Labor Party	17.1%
Ashgrove	Jim Fouras	Australian Labor Party	17.2%
Cleveland	Darryl Briskey	Australian Labor Party	17.5%
Mount Gravatt	Judy Spence	Australian Labor Party	18.3%
Townsville	Mike Reynolds	Australian Labor Party	18.8%
Stretton	Stephen Robertson	Australian Labor Party	19.3%
Ferny Grove	Geoff Wilson	Australian Labor Party	19.7%
Chatsworth	Terry Mackenroth	Australian Labor Party	19.8%
Stafford	Terry Sullivan	Australian Labor Party	20.1%
Mount Coot-tha	Wendy Edmond	Australian Labor Party	21.6%
Algester	Karen Struthers	Australian Labor Party	22.8%
Yeerongpilly	Matt Foley	Australian Labor Party	23.6%
Kurwongbah	Linda Lavarch	Australian Labor Party	24.3%
Capalaba	Michael Choi	Australian Labor Party	24.8%
Brisbane Central	Peter Beattie	Australian Labor Party	26.2%
Sandgate	Gordon Nuttall	Australian Labor Party	27.1%
South Brisbane	Anna Bligh	Australian Labor Party	27.4%
Lytton	Paul Lucas	Australian Labor Party	28.5%
Nudgee	Neil Roberts	Australian Labor Party	28.5%
Bulimba	Pat Purcell	Australian Labor Party	30.6%
Inala	Henry Palaszczuk	Australian Labor Party	38.5%

Pre-Election Pendulum (One Nation/City Country Alliance/Independent ONP)​

Seat:	Member:	Party:	Percentage:
Ipswich	Rita Magnussen	One Nation Party	0.3% vs. ALP
Cairns	Peter Gargan	One Nation Party	1.4% vs. ALP
Bundaberg	Bernard Barry	One Nation Party	1.7% vs. ALP
Whitsunday	David Haselgrove	City Country Alliance	5.4% vs. ALP
Ipswich West	Bob Dutton	City Country Alliance	5.6% vs. ALP
Pumicestone	Wayne Whitney	City Country Alliance	6.4% vs. ALP
Maroochydore	Rowena Wellard	One Nation Party	7.4% vs. NAT
Mulgrave	Dominic Frisone	One Nation Party	7.8% vs. ALP
Hervey Bay	David Dalgleish	City Country Alliance	9.0% vs. ALP
Thuringowa	Ken Turner	Independent	10.3% vs. ALP
Southern Downs	John Coyle	One Nation Party	10.6% vs. NAT
Maryborough	John Kingston	Independent	12.0% vs. ALP
Burdekin	Merle Poletto	City Country Alliance	13.1% vs. ALP
Darling Downs	Peter McLaren	Independent	13.1% vs. NAT
Cunningham	David Drinan	One Nation Party	13.6% vs. NAT
Hinchinbrook	Robert Ralph	One Nation Party	13.9% vs. NAT
Burnett	Glen Onoprienko	One Nation Party	20.2% vs. NAT
Callide	Jim Dwyer	One Nation Party	20.2% vs. NAT
Gympie	Elisa Roberts	One Nation Party	20.8% vs. NAT
Tablelands	Rosa Lee Long	One Nation Party	22.8% vs. NAT
Lockyer	Bill Flynn	One Nation Party	26.2% vs. NAT
Nanango	Dorothy Pratt	Independent	28.4% vs. NAT

Pre-Election Pendulum (Coalition)​

Seat:	Member:	Party:	Percentage:
Gregory	Vaughan Johnson	National Party of Australia	2.0%
Toowoomba South	Mike Horan	National Party of Australia	2.3%
Mudgeeraba	Ray Connor	Liberal Party of Australia	3.6%
Warrego	Howard Hobbs	National Party of Australia	4.2%
Kawana	Bruce Laming	Liberal Party of Australia	4.8%
Surfers Paradise	Rob Borbidge	National Party of Australia	11.2%

Pre-Election Pendulum (Crossbench)​

Seat:	Member:	Party:	Percentage:
Nicklin	Peter Wellington	Independent	14.5% vs. NAT

​

 

[Owen]

The lead up to the 2004 Queensland State Election was fraught in political drama. The One Nation Party was facing turmoil. After a landslide win in 2000, almost wiping out the Coalition from the political landscape and becoming the official opposition, the party has faced a series of infighting. This led to the establishment of the City Country Alliance with some members defecting from One Nation to the new party, including leader David Dalgleish, after One Nation attempted to centralise party affairs in Sydney even though their heartland was in Queensland. Some other One Nation MPs had left the party to sit as Independents. The hopes of One Nation retaining any political power after this election had evaporated and the Coalition was eyeing off regaining their lost ground to One Nation as well as banking on hopes of Queenslanders becoming tired after 15 years of Labor government.

Rosa Lee Long was now the leader of the One Nation Party in Queensland, along with Anna Bligh successfully ousting Peter Beattie from the leadership of the Labor Party in 2003 and Lawrence Springborg taking over from Rob Borbidge in a uncontested vote for the National Party leadership after Rob Borbidge's resignation from the role following the 2000 election. The leaders of all the major parties in this election are now different from the previous election, something which has not occurred in Australia in a long time. Anna Bligh is hoping to secure Labor's sixth term in office since winning the 1989 election which ended the National's nearly 32 year reign over Queensland under the Frank Nicklin and Joh Bjelke-Petersen era.

 

[Owen]

From mid-2003, after the revelation of the Jayant Patel scandal, the issue of health has become a focus of controversy, damaging to the Bligh 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 at the election included 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.

At a press conference on 16 September, Liberal leader Bruce Laming stated that in the event that the Coalition won government, and the Liberal Party won more seats than the Nationals, Lawrence Springborg would still become Premier. Other Liberal Party MPs such as Ray Connor disagreed, as this ran contrary to the coalition agreement signed between the two parties, which stated that whichever party won the most seats would form government. The ALP used this to attack Coalition stability in media and advertising.

Laming was subsequently asked to leave a shopping centre in the Redcliffe suburb of Kippa-Ring for failing to obtain permission to do a campaign walkthrough. Laming later denied that he had in fact been evicted.

On 22 September, Laming took part in a media conference with Julie Bishop, federal Shadow Minister for Education, where he endorsed a federal Liberal Party plan for the mandatory teaching of Australian history in schools. Responding to questions from journalists, he failed to identify the date of arrival of the Second Fleet (1790), or the person after whom Brisbane was named (noted astronomer and Governor of New South Wales Sir Thomas Brisbane).

Two sad twists of fate impacted the campaign - on 30 September, opposition leader Lawrence Springborg took temporary leave from the campaign after the sudden death of his father-in-law, and National Party deputy leader Jeff Seeney and Liberal leader Bruce Laming continued the campaign in his absence.

Current Treasurer Andrew Fraser has stated the coalition's major election promises of wiping out stamp duty within five years, increasing the first home buyers grant by $3,000 and introducing a 10% per litre subsidy on ethanol-blended petrol will cost $2.4 billion and has blown the budget. Lawrence Springborg says all his election promises are costed and affordable, with costings to be released two days before the election. So far these costings have not been released.

On the 15th of October, Premier Beattie and Opposition Leader Springborg participated in a "great debate" at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, moderated by ABC journalist Chris O'Brien.

Premier Anna Bligh and fellow Queenslander and Deputy Prime Minister Kevin Rudd campaigning and operating a "sausage sizzle" in Kevin Rudd's seat of Griffith in the inner southern suburbs of Brisbane.​

 

[Owen]

Post-Election Pendulum (National/Liberal)​

Seat:	Member:	Party:	Percentage:
Ferny Grove	Jamie Patterson	Liberal Party of Australia	0.03%
Mundingburra	Mick Reilly	Liberal Party of Australia	0.3%
Murrumba	Reg Gulley	Liberal Party of Australia	0.5%
Mount Coot-tha	James Mackay	Liberal Party of Australia	1.6%
Toowoomba North	Lyle Shelton	Liberal Party of Australia	1.7%
Kallangur	Fiona Brydon	National Party of Australia	1.8%
Mount Ommaney	Bob Harper	Liberal Party of Australia	1.9%
Everton	Ken King	Liberal Party of Australia	2.0%
Greenslopes	Melina Morgan	Liberal Party of Australia	2.0%
Mulgrave	Krista Dunford	National Party of Australia	2.2%
Southport	Bob Bennett	National Party of Australia	3.0%
Townsville	Jessica Weber	Liberal Party of Australia	3.0%
Burleigh	Michael Hart	Liberal Party of Australia	3.8%
Ashgrove	Glenn Kiddle	Liberal Party of Australia	4.0%
Cairns	Wendy Richardson	Liberal Party of Australia	4.0%
Mansfield	Glen Ryan	Liberal Party of Australia	4.4%
Glass House	Ken Piva	National Party of Australia	4.4%
Keppel	Mary Carroll	National Party of Australia	4.9%
Redlands	Russell Biddle	Liberal Party of Australia	5.2%
Redcliffe	Terry Rogers	Liberal Party of Australia	6.7%
Pumicestone	Shane Moon	Liberal Party of Australia	6.7%
Broadwater	John Caris	Liberal Party of Australia	6.9%
Springwood	Peter Collins	Liberal Party of Australia	6.9%
Barron River	Stephen Walsh	Liberal Party of Australia	7.0%
Aspley	Tracy Davis	Liberal Party of Australia	7.5%
Whitsunday	Paul Joice	National Party of Australia	7.7%
Nanango	John Bjelke-Petersen	National Party of Australia	7.9% vs. IND
Gaven	Alex Douglas	National Party of Australia	9.0%
Mudgeeraba	Ros Bates	Liberal Party of Australia	9.2%
Indooroopilly	Peter Turner	Liberal Party of Australia	9.7%
Hervey Bay	Jan Rohozinski	National Party of Australia	10.3%
Chatsworth	Michael Caltabiano	Liberal Party of Australia	11.3%
Cleveland	Andrew Trim	Liberal Party of Australia	11.6%
Bundaberg	Jack Dempsey	National Party of Australia	13.1%
Clayfield	Tim Nicholls	Liberal Party of Australia	13.8%
Lockyer	Ian Rickuss	National Party of Australia	13.8%
Currumbin	Jann Stuckey	Liberal Party of Australia	14.3%
Burdekin	Rosemary Menkens	National Party of Australia	14.5%
Robina	Ray Stevens	Liberal Party of Australia	14.6%
Hinchinbrook	Andrew Cripps	National Party of Australia	15.8%
Caloundra	Mark McArdle	Liberal Party of Australia	16.6%
Beaudesert	Kev Lingard	National Party of Australia	16.6%
Kawana	Steve Dickson	Liberal Party of Australia	17.8%
Noosa	Glen Elmes	Liberal Party of Australia	18.4% vs. IND
Mirani	Ted Malone	National Party of Australia	18.6%
Burnett	Rob Messenger	National Party of Australia	19.7%
Moggill	Bruce Flegg	Liberal Party of Australia	20.1%
Toowoomba South	Mike Horan	National Party of Australia	21.9%
Maroochydore	Fiona Simpson	National Party of Australia	22.8%
Charters Towers	Shane Knuth	National Party of Australia	23.2%
Surfers Paradise	John-Paul Langbroek	Liberal Party of Australia	24.1%
Cunningham	Stuart Copeland	National Party of Australia	28.5%
Gregory	Vaughan Johnson	National Party of Australia	30.1%
Gympie	David Gibson	National Party of Australia	30.3% vs. IND
Darling Downs	Ray Hopper	National Party of Australia	31.2%
Southern Downs	Lawrence Springborg	National Party of Australia	32.4%
Callide	Jeff Seeney	National Party of Australia	34.4%
Warrego	Howard Hobbs	National Party of Australia	35.4%

Post-Election Pendulum (Labor)​

Seat:	Member:	Party:	Percentage
Mount Isa	Betty Kiernan	Australian Labor Party	0.2%
Kurwongbah	Linda Lavarch	Australian Labor Party	0.3%
Mount Gravatt	Judy Spence	Australian Labor Party	0.8%
Ipswich West	Wayne Wendt	Australian Labor Party	1.0%
Yeerongpilly	Simon Finn	Australian Labor Party	1.7%
Stretton	Stephen Robertson	Australian Labor Party	2.1%
Brisbane Central	Peter Beattie	Australian Labor Party	2.7%
Stafford	Stirling Hinchliffe	Australian Labor Party	2.8%
Cook	Jason O'Brien	Australian Labor Party	3.0%
Sandgate	Vicky Darling	Australian Labor Party	3.1%
Waterford	Evan Moorhead	Australian Labor Party	3.8%
Capalaba	Michael Choi	Australian Labor Party	4.1%
Bulimba	Pat Purcell	Australian Labor Party	4.1%
Fitzroy	Jim Pearce	Australian Labor Party	4.3%
Lytton	Paul Lucas	Australian Labor Party	4.8%
Albert	Margaret Keech	Australian Labor Party	4.9%
Thuringowa	Craig Wallace	Australian Labor Party	4.9%
Mackay	Tim Mulherin	Australian Labor Party	5.5%
Algester	Karen Struthers	Australian Labor Party	5.7%
Nudgee	Neil Roberts	Australian Labor Party	6.2%
South Brisbane	Anna Bligh	Australian Labor Party	6.3%
Rockhampton	Robert Schwarten	Australian Labor Party	8.4%
Ipswich	Rachel Nolan	Australian Labor Party	9.5%
Logan	John Mickel	Australian Labor Party	11.8%
Bundamba	Jo-Ann Miller	Australian Labor Party	12.7%
Inala	Annastacia Palaszczuk	Australian Labor Party	14.2%
Woodridge	Desley Scott	Australian Labor Party	16.7%

Post-Election Pendulum (Crossbench)​

Seat:	Member:	Party:	Percentage:
Nicklin	Peter Wellington	Independent	13.0% vs. NAT
Gladstone	Liz Cunningham	Independent	14.1% vs. ALP
Tablelands	Rosa Lee Long	One Nation Party	31.9% vs. ALP
Maryborough	Chris Foley	Independent	44.8% vs. ALP

​

The 2004 Queensland state election would conclude in a National/Liberal landslide. Labor would suffer heavy defeats in the northwestern and southeastern suburbs of Brisbane as well as on the Gold Coast and in major regional towns such as Cairns, Townsville and Toowoomba. One Nation would be all but wiped off the map with the exception of Rosa Lee Long in Tablelands. Lawrence Springborg would become Premier and John-Paul Langbroek would become Deputy Premier and Leader of the Liberal Party. The Nationals would win 26 seats and the Liberals would win 32 seats. This would become a point of contention as the Liberals would win more seats than the Nationals but per the Coalition agreement in Queensland, the Premier is to be from the Nationals and the Deputy Premier from the Liberals. The next 4 years would surely see major shifts in the dynamics of the Coalition in Queensland as these two parties contend for power and the Liberals remain bitter over their electoral success in Brisbane and the Gold Coast but still need to pander to the Nationals from Regional Queensland who did not gain as nearly as much seats. Anna Bligh has vowed to stay on as Leader of the Labor Party but is facing internal challenges from newly elected member for Inala, Annastacia Palaszczuk.

One surprise from the night would be the election of John Bjelke-Petersen to the seat of Nanango, the son of the longest-serving Premier and last Nationals head of government in Australia, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, winning in the seat his father held. This would be the first Nationals-led government to be elected in Australia since 1986, the last being Joh Bjelke-Petersen's and the first time that Labor has lost a Queensland state election since their win in 1989.

This would be a major blow to the federal Labor Government as it would be the first state or territory Labor Government to fall since the 2000 Northern Territory election and Queensland now joins the Northern Territory as the only non-Labor state/territory governments in the country. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Julia Gillard would send her congratulations to Lawrence Springborg and other states and territories would vow to work with the new Queensland Government on common issues.