Springwood – Queensland 2015

LNP 15.39%

Incumbent MP
John Grant, since 2012.

Geography
South-Eastern Queensland. Springwood covers northern parts of the City of Logan, on the southern fringe of Brisbane. Springwood covers the suburbs of Rochedale South, Springwood, Daisy Hill, Shailer Park, Logandale and parts of Cornubia.

History
Springwood repeatedly changed hands throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but has remained in Labor hands for the last decade.

The seat was first won in 1986 by the National Party’s Huan Fraser. He briefly served as a minister in 1989 before losing his seat at the 1989 election.

Molly Robson won the seat for the ALP in 1989, and held it for two seats before losing to the Liberal Party’s Luke Woolmer in 1995. The ALP was hit in Springwood in 1995 due to a controversial tollway planned to be built through a local koala sanctuary. The Democrats polled over 18% and the Liberals won in a huge swing with preferences from other candidates.

Grant Musgrove won the seat back for the ALP in 1998. He resigned from the ALP in 2000 after being embroiled in a scandal involving fraudulent electoral enrolments, and he was replaced at the 2001 election by Labor candidate Barbara Stone.

Barbara Stone held Springwood for four terms, from 2001 to 2012. In 2012, Stone lost to LNP candidate John Grant with a 19.5% swing.

Candidates

Assessment
Springwood has been won by the party of government at every election since it was created in 1986, possibly excepting the 1995 election, when the seat was won by the Liberal Party. Labor initially won in 1995 but the Coalition formed government in 1996.

While Springwood is not strictly needed for Labor to win, the seat could be won by Labor if there is a statewide swing that is enough to change the government.

2012 election result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
John Grant Liberal National 15,939 55.67 +15.46
Barbara Stone Labor 8,016 28.00 -18.95
Julian Tocaciu Katter’s Australian 1,923 6.72 +6.72
Neil Cotter Greens 1,910 6.67 -0.57
Chris Lawrie Family First 845 2.95 +2.95

2012 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
John Grant Liberal National 17,256 65.39 +19.47
Barbara Stone Labor 9,132 34.61 -19.47

Booth breakdown
Booths in Springwood have been divided into two halves: north and south.

The LNP won a majority of the primary vote in both areas, and a larger majority of the two-party-preferred vote. The LNP vote was slightly higher in the south, and Labor’s vote was slightly higher in the north.

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 % LNP 2PP % Total % of votes
North 54.82 28.35 64.81 11,870 41.46
South 57.70 26.82 66.99 10,151 35.45
Other votes 54.07 29.17 63.95 6,612 23.09
Estimated two-party-preferred votes in Springwood at the 2012 Queensland state election.
Estimated two-party-preferred votes in Springwood at the 2012 Queensland state election.

5 COMMENTS

  1. Labor has a very strong candidate in Mick de Brenni in Springwood. He is campaigning exceptionally hard. John Grant has strong name recognition having been a former Deputy Mayor. I think the 15% buffer for the LNP will be enough for them to hold on, but the swing will be above average here I’d imagine. Should revert to being a marginal LNP seat post the election.

  2. OK, so there was a minor crossed wire for me, here. John Theron was planning to run as an Independent… if he got enough support over the last few days. Based on what I’m seeing, that support wasn’t shown, so I’m guessing he didn’t actually nominate.

  3. It will be interesting to see how much John Grant and the LNP make of the Gateway / Pac Motorway interchange upgrade that is to be announced today, as a means to push through the desired plan to sell OOPS, I mean “LEASE” assets. I note that Emerson has already said that the South East Busway would be “extended” to Underwood Road (a mere few hundred metres) as part of the upgrade. Odd, given that at the last Gateway / Pac Motorway upgrade the busway was only extended to the intersection of Priestdale and School Roads, Rochedale, when survey works were done to extend the busway to Rochedale Rd, ahead of a final extension through to the Springwood Busway Station. My question – why not just FINISH it and capitalise on the savings involved with a “do it once” project, instead of this pathetic piecemeal garbage.

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