Council margin – LNP 4.5%
Mayoral margin – LNP 7.1%
Incumbent councillor
Steve Toomey, since 2015.
Geography
North-western Brisbane. The Gap covers the suburbs of Ashgrove, Keperra, Ferny Grove and the Gap.
Redistribution
The Gap contracted on its southern edge, losing territory to Paddington and Pullenvale, specifically losing the remainder of Bardon to Paddington. The Gap gained Keperra from Enoggera. These changes cut the LNP margin from 5.7% to 4.5%.
History
The Liberal Party’s Geraldine Knapp was first elected to represent the Gap in 1997. She was re-elected in 2000, and in 2004 with a 17% margin. She was re-elected with an increased 18.7% margin in 2008 despite an unfavourable redistribution, and again in 2012 with a 21.5% margin.
Knapp resigned in May 2015, and was replaced shortly after by the LNP’s Steven Toomey as a casual vacancy. No by-election was needed due to the impending 2016 election.
Toomey was re-elected in 2016 despite a massive 16% swing to Labor.
Candidates
- Allen Hassall (Independent)
- Daniel Bevis (Labor)
- Rebecca Haley (Greens)
- Steven Toomey (Liberal National)
Assessment
The Gap is a marginal ward and Labor would be hoping to make a gain here. There was a big swing against the LNP in 2016 following the retirement of their long-sitting councillor, so Toomey will be hoping his new personal vote will help him regain some of that swing.
2016 council result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Steve Toomey | Liberal National | 12,903 | 50.6 | -12.0 | 49.6 |
| Shane Bevis | Labor | 8,670 | 34.0 | +13.7 | 35.3 |
| Reece Walters | Greens | 3,920 | 15.4 | -1.0 | 15.2 |
| Informal | 521 | 2.0 |
2016 council two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Steve Toomey | Liberal National | 13,356 | 55.7 | -15.8 | 54.5 |
| Shane Bevis | Labor | 10,639 | 44.3 | +15.8 | 45.5 |
| Exhausted | 1,498 | 5.9 |
2016 mayoral result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Graham Quirk | Liberal National | 13,673 | 53.4 | -10.1 | 52.0 |
| Rod Harding | Labor | 8,290 | 32.4 | +12.8 | 33.6 |
| Ben Pennings | Greens | 2,923 | 11.4 | -3.8 | 11.3 |
| Jeffrey Hodges | Independent | 347 | 1.4 | +1.4 | 1.6 |
| Karel Boele | People Decide | 166 | 0.7 | +0.7 | 0.7 |
| Jim Eldridge | Independent | 117 | 0.5 | +0.5 | 0.5 |
| Jarrod Wirth | Independent | 89 | 0.4 | +0.4 | 0.4 |
| Informal | 494 | 1.9 |
2016 mayoral two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Graham Quirk | Liberal National | 14,094 | 58.4 | -13.8 | 57.1 |
| Rod Harding | Labor | 10,023 | 41.6 | +13.8 | 42.9 |
| Exhausted | 1,488 | 5.8 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in The Gap have been divided into three parts: central, east and north.
The LNP won a majority in all three but did significantly better in the east, with 58% of the two-party-preferred vote, compared to 51-53% in the other two areas.
The Greens also did a lot better in the east, with 18% compared to 12.6% in the north.
| Voter group | GRN council prim | LNP council 2PP | LNP mayoral 2PP | Total votes | % of votes |
| Central | 15.2 | 52.6 | 56.2 | 7,124 | 27.3 |
| North | 12.6 | 51.5 | 54.4 | 6,169 | 23.6 |
| East | 18.4 | 58.3 | 58.7 | 4,732 | 18.1 |
| Other votes | 17.0 | 57.4 | 60.2 | 5,070 | 19.4 |
| Pre-poll | 12.1 | 54.4 | 57.3 | 3,030 | 11.6 |
Election results in The Gap at the 2016 Brisbane City Council election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes for council and lord mayor, and Greens primary votes for council.
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