Sunday 22 March 2009

Barron River final election night results

Barron River

RICHARDSON, Wendy (LNP) 9,800 - 44.09%
WETTENHALL, Steve (ALP) 9,640 - 43.37%
ISAACS, Sarah (Greens) 2,788 - 12.54%

Two party preferred

RICHARDSON, Wendy (LNP) 10,159 - 48.01%
WETTENHALL, Steve (ALP) 10,999 - 51.99%

LNP won on primary votes, however preferences weighted in ALP favour.
LNP won Brinsmead, Cairns, Caravonica, Clifton Beach, Edgehill, Machans Beach and Whitfield

2006 Results
WALLS, Denis (Greens) 3,162 - 13.27%
WETTENHALL, Steve (ALP) 9,901 - 41.56%
WELSH, Stephen (LIB) 8,244 - 34.60%


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wendy took it out on Primary votes, and it is only preferences that got Steve over the line. I find the poll booth results interesting, it shows where the dissatisfaction lies. Wendy won Clifton Beach and not surprisingly Jason didn't win Port Douglas.

Anonymous said...

Clifton Beach residents will always have dissatisfaction thanks to Glencorp not the ALP.

Anonymous said...

Joe, Glencorp has been allowed to get away with this because of the Integrated Planning Act and Govt Departments who fail to enforce the Legislation. The current Govt both Fed and State are ALP.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jude,

Just wondering if in looking at the poll booth results you noticed the results in Kuranda?

In particular the exhausting of Green preferences - fully 71.8% of Green voters at Kuranda chose not to follow the party line and preference Labor. Any ideas on why this was the case? The next highest major booth (ie over 200 votes) was Holloways at 39.13% exhaustion. So the Kuranda exhaustion really is an unexpected statistical anomoly.

Anonymous said...

Face it John, LNP lost the seat. They picked up the primary votes that went to the Fishing Party in 2006 - hardly unexpected - but they made no inroad into Wettenhall's primaries (which went up) and could not capture any significant Green votes. Despite the relentless campaigning by Moore and Law, people in the Cairns region made a pretty clear choice - the swing to the LNP was lower here than the State average.
Also says something about the impact of this blog wouldn't you say?
Lee Stuart, Cairns

Anonymous said...

John - I wondered about Kuranda and the anomoly. No ideas, can only speculate that Green Voters weren't prepared to be dictated to by the Party, and decided to think for themselves, ie Green or nobody.

Lee, Maybe the boundary changes
had something to do with Steve's increase in primary votes, and the fact that there was 1 fewer candidate. Whether or not this Blog had any impact or not is immaterial. This Blog allows you and me to express our opinions. Democracy at work.

Anonymous said...

Yes Jude, this blog does allow people to express their views which is a good thing. As a casual observer however I have noticed that the lead stories (on which we can comment) are written primarily by Moore and Law who have over the last six months run an anti-labour, pro-LNP dictated campaign. In fact the last few weeks the blogs by Moore have consisted mainly of LNP favourable press clippings from newspapers. This detracts from the usefulness of a blog that I thought was providing an alternative space from the mainstream.
Lee Stuart

Michael P Moore said...

Lee, you can post comments on any story on my Blog, not just "the lead stories".

It was rather obvious which side of politics I - and some of my contributors - were supporting, and the reasons for that were presented. Blogs by their very nature, push a certain viewpoint. So does other media. Have you ever seen the Cairns Post say something nice out our Mayor?

Welcome to free speech. You will get this on any Blog around town, but not in NewsLtd newspapers.

Anonymous said...

Given Labor’s history on economic management [not just in Queensland] and the never ending problems and issues in the Far North under this state government, the re-election of Labor astounds me.

The FNQ Regional Plan 2009 – 2031 (yes it has recently been extended to 2031) might partly explain the Kuranda outcome. Kuranda will remain for the most part untouched by development. As the plan states, Myola is not considered necessary for urban development in the life of this regional plan. There is sufficient land elsewhere and the upgrade of the Kuranda Range Road is unaffordable in the short to medium term in a regional, statewide context. Another possibility is that many voters did not realise that Green preferences in Barron were directed to Labor. Wettenhall did not get the primary vote but won through on preferences.

As Jude specifically commented, the ALP failed to capture Clifton Beach or Port Douglas. It wasn’t just the amalgamation issue or the Glencorp development issue per se. It was also community experience over many years dealing with the State Government. Their platitudes and inaction and their failure to address known problems with state legislation and to enforce legislation. Val’s recent backflip [one of many] on high density development is no doubt Labor tinged. The implied threat - that if you want to preserve the hillslopes you have no alternative but to accept high density development elsewhere. No consideration or acknowledgment of course that what you do in Brisbane and southern states and the population that goes with it does not necessarily translate to a tropical region. When one considers that the Glencorp development in Clifton Beach is medium density and the FNQ plan specifies higher density particularly through infill development in existing urban areas as well as high density in new areas and reduction of lower density rural development, what lies ahead is pretty clear. The CairnsPlan will be amended to reflect the intent of the regional plan and Cairns will continue on its path towards becoming just another over developed, over populated city completely devoid of its tropical character and with all the associated problems so prevalent in other parts of Queensland and southern states. Existing problems will only worsen and sooner or later will impact on everyone.

Obviously many people didn’t see regional and local issues and problems as having any relevance or future impact on their lives. Perhaps they simply don’t care or think the “devil you know” is better than the “devil you don’t.” However, as they say, you get what you vote for and the proof is in the pudding. Down the track I suspect many will find the pudding unpalatable.

KitchenSlut said...

Dear Lee,

Your assessment that there was no trend change in primary vote based on your inumerate judgement,and somehow appallingly ignorant and arrogant assessment that anyone who voted fishing party last time must automatically be counted as an LNP voter?

Please explain?

There is no justification for this and in fact the reverse? Some of us with long and mature memories will recall that the biggest swings against Howard for his gun laws initiative was in fact in the most rednecked Labor electorates?

I cite Cessnock, which was lost as a Labor stronghold, somewhere I am familiar with coming form a mining background and where dominance in the mine CFMEU is an excuse to just be a disgusting person and get away with it .....

Anonymous said...

We can go round in circles for ever more wondering why the result turned out as it did; dissappointment from the LNP, relief from the ALP.

I guess the result thankfully shows that Queenslanders can make up their own minds, and in doing so, voted in ways that whilst piquing our curiousity, demonstrated that we have a robust democracy.

And for that I am grateful.

Anonymous said...

I think you point out an interesting anomaly John. Kuranda booth is anomalous. A very high exhaustion rate for Green votes. I didn't vote there myself and didn't visit on the day - but can only surmise there are a lot of Greens voters in Kuranda who are really fed up with both major parties. Incidentally, there are probably many hundreds of would-be Green voters in Kuranda who aren't on the rolls. Shame on them, IMO.

Anonymous said...

KitchenSlut,
My point was merely this. Wettenhalls primary vote increased by 2% (and some of this could well have come from fishing party voters). However the fishing party in 2006 campaigned against the ALP and their fishing policy. They were a conservative party and made this quite clear preferencing the Liberal candidate. In this election there was no alternative conservative candidate standing in Barron River (as there was in Cairns). Had there been a conservative candidate such as Family First in Barron River, they would have taken primaries from the LNP - in Cairns FF took over 700 primaries.
It is hardly rocket science.
Lee Stuart