Woodridge – Queensland 2015

ALP 5.80%

Incumbent MP
Desley Scott, since 2001.

Geography
South-East Queensland. Woodridge covers northern parts of the City of Logan, including the suburbs of Underwood, Woodridge, Logan Central, Marsden and parts of Slacks Creek, Kingston and Crestmead.

History
The seat of Woodridge has existed since 1977. It has been won by the ALP at every election.

Bill D’Arcy won the seat in 1977. D’Arcy had first been elected at the 1972 Albert by-election, serving until the 1974 election. He served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1982.

D’Arcy resigned in early 2000 and was later convicted of a number of child sex offences, and served a number of years in prison.

Mike Kaiser won the seat at the 2000 by-election. Kaiser was a former state secretary of the ALP. In 2001 he was forced to resign from the ALP after evidence emerged that he had falsified electoral enrolment forms to help in internal ALP preselections.

Kaiser retired from Woodridge in 2001. He later returned to the ALP and served as Assistant National Secretary for the 2004 election, and then as Chief of Staff to NSW Premier Morris Iemma and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

Desley Scott won Woodridge in 2001. She has held the seat for the ALP ever since.

Candidates
Sitting Labor MP Desley Scott is not running for re-election.

Assessment
Woodridge is a safe Labor seat.

2012 election result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Desley Scott Labor 11,730 46.75 -22.09
Simon Dorries Liberal National 9,012 35.92 +14.35
Justin Geange Family First 2,199 8.76 +8.76
John Reddington Greens 2,150 8.57 -1.01

2012 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Desley Scott Labor 12,787 55.80 -19.57
Simon Dorries Liberal National 10,130 44.20 +19.57
Polling places in Woodridge at the 2012 Queensland state election. North in blue, South in green. Click to enlarge.
Polling places in Woodridge at the 2012 Queensland state election. North in blue, South in green. Click to enlarge.

Booth breakdown
Booths in Woodridge have been split into two parts: north and south. The ALP won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote, and topped the primary vote, in both areas. Labor was stronger in the north and the LNP was stronger in the south.

In the north, Labor won 44% to the LNP’s 39%, with a 2PP of 53% for Labor.

In the south, Labor won 48% to the LNP’s 35%, with a 2PP of 57% for Labor.

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 ALP prim % LNP prim % ALP 2PP % Total % of votes
South 47.77 34.62 56.95 10,065 40.11
North 44.31 38.91 52.97 8,108 32.31
Other votes 48.12 34.29 57.45 6,918 27.57
Estimated two-party-preferred votes in Woodridge at the 2012 Queensland state election.
Estimated two-party-preferred votes in Woodridge at the 2012 Queensland state election.