Beaudesert – Queensland 2015

LNP 10.56% vs KAP

Incumbent MP
Jon Krause, since 2012.

Geography
South-East Queensland. Beaudesert covers rural areas to the west of the Gold Coast and to the south of Brisbane. The seat covers most of Scenic Rim Region and southern rural parts of Logan City, including Jimboomba, Rathdowney, Beechmont, Mount Tamborine, Boonah and Aratula.

History
The seat of Beaudesert has existed since 1992. At every election the seat has been won by the National Party or its successor the LNP.

Kev Lingard won Beaudesert for the National Party in 1992. Lingard had held the seat of Fassifern since 1983. Lingard had served as Speaker for two short periods, and as a minister for the period of one work, during the final three years of the National government between 1987 and 1989.

Lingard served as Deputy Leader of the National Party from 1992 to 1998, and served as a minister in the Borbidge coalition government from 1996 to 1998.

Lingard retired in 2009. He was succeeded by Aidan McLindon, who ran for the Liberal National Party.

Amongst McLindon’s opponents in 2009 was former One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who came third with 21% of the vote.

In 2010, McLindon had a falling out with his party when he unsuccessfully challenged Lawrence Springborg for the deputy leadership of the LNP.

In June 2010 McLindon resigned from the LNP. He later founded the Queensland Party. Over the next year, McLindon recruited candidates and built the Queensland Party up to contest the next election.

In August 2011 McLindon proposed a merger of the Queensland Party with Bob Katter’s newly-founded Australian Party. Some members of the Queensland Party rejected the merger, and McLindon switched to Katter’s Australian Party, and he ran for that party in 2012.

McLindon was defeated by LNP candidate Jon Krause.

Candidates

• Kay Hohenhaus (Labor)
• Adele Ishaac (Palmer United)
• Pietro Agnoletto (Greens)
• Jon Krause (Liberal National)
• Jeremy Fredericks (Family First)
• Robert Bowyer (One Nation)

Assessment
In normal circumstances, Beaudesert is a reasonably solid LNP seat. The seat has only come under threat in the past when One Nation was strong in the area. In 2012, Katter’s Australian Party benefited from running the incumbent MP, Aidan McLindon. The party will have none of the same benefits in 2015, so the LNP should hold on easily.

2012 election result

2012 two-candidate-preferred result

Booth breakdown
Booths in Beaudesert have been divided into three parts: east, south and west. The ‘east’ area has the largest part of the seat’s population, and lies closest to the Logan area.

The LNP topped the primary vote in all three areas, ranging from 43.8% in the east to 53.1% in the west.

The vote for Katter’s Australian Party was highest in the south, while the Labor vote was highest in the east.

The Electoral Commission does not publish two-candidate-preferred figures by polling place, so two-candidate-preferred figures in the following map are estimates.