Ipswich West – Queensland 2015

LNP 7.16%

Incumbent MP
Sean Choat, since 2012.

Geography
South-East Queensland. Ipswich West covers the western Ipswich suburbs of North Ipswich, Brassall, Leichhardt and Karalee, as well as rural areas to the west of Ipswich including Pine Mountain, Fernvale, Lowood, Marburg and Rosewood.

History
Ipswich West has existed since 1960. In that time it has been won by the Labor Party at all but two elections.

The ALP held the seat from 1960 to 1974, when it was lost to the National Party at a landslide election. Labor recovered the seat in 1977.

David Underwood held the seat from 1977 until 1989, when he was replaced by Don Livingstone.

Livingstone held the seat from 1989 until 1998, when he lost to One Nation’s Jack Paff. Paff helped form the new City Country Alliance in 1999, and lost to Livingstone in 2001. Livingstone served two more terms, retiring in 2006.

The ALP’s Wayne Wendt was elected in Ipswich West in 2006 and he won a second term in 2009.

In 2012, Wendt was defeated by LNP candidate Sean Choat.

Candidates

Assessment
Ipswich West is normally a Labor-leaning seat, and Labor will be hoping to regain the seat.

2012 election result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Sean Choat Liberal National 12,424 43.54 +6.18
Wayne Wendt Labor 9,083 31.83 -22.16
Justin Bowman Katter’s Australian 5,225 18.31 +18.31
Ursula Monsiegneur Greens 1,804 6.32 -2.33

2012 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Sean Choat Liberal National 14,146 57.16 +16.71
Wayne Wendt Labor 10,600 42.84 -16.71
Polling places in Ipswich West at the 2012 Queensland state election. East in green, North in orange, West in blue. Click to enlarge.
Polling places in Ipswich West at the 2012 Queensland state election. East in green, North in orange, West in blue. Click to enlarge.

Booth breakdown
Booths in Ipswich West have been divided into three parts: east, north and west. The “north” area covers all those polling places in the Somerset council area, with the remainder of booths in Ipswich council area.

The LNP topped the primary vote in all four areas, with a vote ranging from 43.3% in the east to 45.5% in the north.

The ALP came second, with a vote ranging from 26.2% in the west to 33.5% in the east, with Katter’s Australian Party third with a vote ranging from 16% to 25%.

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

Voter group LNP prim % ALP prim % KAP prim % LNP 2PP % Total % of votes
East 43.29 33.48 16.37 55.87 13,992 49.03
North 45.53 28.43 21.50 60.64 4,404 15.43
West 44.18 26.24 24.55 61.52 3,959 13.87
Other votes 42.27 34.09 16.44 54.95 6,181 21.66
Estimated two-party-preferred votes in Ipswich West at the 2012 Queensland state election.
Estimated two-party-preferred votes in Ipswich West at the 2012 Queensland state election.
Katter's Australian Party primary votes in Ipswich West at the 2012 Queensland state election.
Katter’s Australian Party primary votes in Ipswich West at the 2012 Queensland state election.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Would expect this seat to easily fall back to Labor – Cr Jim Madden is popular and the LNP is not doing well in the greater Ipswich area. I’d expect both this seat and Ipswich to swing back to Labor.

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