Southport – QLD 2017

LNP 7.8%

Incumbent MP
Rob Molhoek, since 2012.

Geography
Northern Gold Coast. Southport includes the suburbs of Arundel, Parkwood, Ernest, Molendinar, Southport and parts of Ashmore.

Redistribution
Southport shifted south, gaining Benowa and the remainder of Ashmore from Surfers Paradise, and losing Arundel and the remainder of Labrador to Bonney. These changes increased the LNP margin from 3.2% to 7.8%.


History

Southport has existed in its current form since the 1977 election. For most of that time the seat was held by the National Party, and then by Labor from 2001 to 2012, when it was won by the LNP.

The seat was first won in 1977 by Liberal candidate Peter White. He held the seat until resigning in 1980 to run for the 1981 by-election for the federal seat of McPherson. He held McPherson until his retirement in 1990.

Doug Jennings won Southport for the National Country Party in 1980. He had previously been the Liberal MP for the Victorian state seat of Westernport from 1976 to 1979, when he was expelled from his party and then lost his seat at the election. He held Southport until his death in 1987.

Mick Veivers won Southport for the National Party in 1987 after Jennings’ death. He served as a minister in the Borbidge coalition government from 1996 to 1998 and continued to hold his seat until his defeat in the landslide election of 2001.

The ALP’s Peter Lawlor won Southport in 2001 with a swing of almost 14% off the National Party. The former Gold Coast City alderman held the seat for four terms, and served as a minister from 2009 to 2011.

In 2012, Lawlor was defeated by LNP candidate Rob Molhoek. Molhoek was re-elected in 2015.

Candidates

Assessment
Southport is a safe LNP seat.

2015 election result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Rob Molhoek Liberal National 13,287 45.9 -9.9 51.9
Rowan Holzberger Labor 10,153 35.1 +6.7 30.1
Petrina Maizey Greens 2,446 8.5 +1.8 7.9
Nicole Stanton Palmer United Party 2,402 8.3 +8.3 7.4
Matthew Mackechnie Independent 646 2.2 +0.6 1.2
Family First 1.3
Others 0.1
Informal 836 2.8

2015 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Rob Molhoek Liberal National 14,133 53.2 -11.5 57.8
Rowan Holzberger Labor 12,415 46.8 +11.5 42.2
Exhausted 2,386 8.2

Booth breakdown

Booths in Southport have been divided into three areas: north, south and west.

The LNP won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in two out of three areas, polling 58% in the west and 66.7% in the south. Labor polled 54.7% in the north.

The Palmer United Party primary vote ranged from 7.3% in the south to 8.4% in the west, while the Greens primary vote ranged from 7.3% in the south to 9.2% in the north.

Voter group PUP prim % GRN prim % LNP 2PP % Total votes % of votes
West 8.4 8.0 57.9 5,863 26.8
South 7.3 7.3 66.7 3,597 14.6
North 8.0 9.2 45.3 2,699 11.0
Other votes 6.9 7.8 62.1 12,399 50.5

Two-party-preferred votes in Southport at the 2015 QLD state election

7 COMMENTS

  1. Yeah, I’m shocked Labor haven’t got someone in Southport yet! Same with Mudgeeraba!

    Mermaid Beach and Broadwater are different as they’re safe as houses for the LNP.

  2. Remember that these new boundaries are much safer for the LNP than the old Southport. Barring some 2001 type implosion, it is a reasonably safe LNP seat now.

    I assume the ALP would be directing most of their effort into Bonney, which contains many of the better Labor areas in this part of the Gold Coast.

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