LNP 9.3%
Incumbent MP
Karen Andrews, since 2010.
Geography
Southern end of the Gold Coast. McPherson covers the Gold Coast’s border with New South Wales and stretches up the coast to Burleigh Heads and covers inland Gold Coast as far north as Clear Island Waters and Merrimac.
History
McPherson was created as part of the expansion of the House of Representatives in 1949, and it has always been held by Coalition parties: by the Country Party until 1972 and by the Liberal Party from 1972 until the Liberal National Party merger in recent years.
The seat was first won in 1949 by Country Party leader Arthur Fadden, who became Treasurer in the post-war Menzies government. Fadden had briefly served as Prime Minister during the Second World War and had previously held Darling Downs since 1936.
Fadden held the seat until his retirement in 1958, when he was replaced by the Country Party’s Charles Barnes. Barnes served as a minister from 1963 until just before the 1972 election, and retired at that election.
At the 1972 election the seat of McPherson was lost by the Country Party to Liberal candidate Eric Robinson. Robinson served as a junior minister in the first term of the Fraser government and was appointed Finance Minister in 1977. He briefly stood down in 1979 due to a dispute with Malcolm Fraser, and was dropped from the ministry after the 1980 election. He died suddenly in January 1981.
The 1981 by-election was won by state Liberal MP Peter White, who defeated National Country Party senator Glen Sheil. White held McPherson at the 1983, 1984 and 1987 elections, and retired in 1990.
McPherson was won in 1990 by the Liberal Party’s John Bradford. Bradford held the seat until 1998. In April 1998 he resigned from the Liberal Party and joined the Christian Democratic Party. He contested the Senate in Queensland in 1998 for the CDP but was not elected.
McPherson was won in 1998 by Margaret May, who held the seat for the next four terms. May briefly served as a shadow minister under Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull but then returned to the backbench and retired in 2010.
At the 2010 election, the LNP’s Karen Andrews won the seat, and she has held the seat ever since.
Candidates
Sitting Liberal National MP Karen Andrews is not running for re-election.
Assessment
McPherson is a reasonably safe LNP seat.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Karen Andrews | Liberal National | 42,288 | 43.6 | -4.7 |
| Carl Ungerer | Labor | 21,354 | 22.0 | -0.9 |
| Scott Turner | Greens | 14,971 | 15.4 | +4.4 |
| Kevin Hargraves | One Nation | 7,013 | 7.2 | +1.4 |
| Joshua Berrigan | United Australia | 6,490 | 6.7 | +3.4 |
| Andy Cullen | Values Party | 2,310 | 2.4 | +2.4 |
| Glenn Pyne | Liberal Democrats | 2,063 | 2.1 | -1.4 |
| Gary Pead | Federation Party | 594 | 0.6 | +0.6 |
| Informal | 5,565 | 5.4 | -0.9 |
2022 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Karen Andrews | Liberal National | 57,605 | 59.3 | -2.9 |
| Carl Ungerer | Labor | 39,478 | 40.7 | +2.9 |
Booths have been divided into three areas:
- North-East – Burleigh, Varsity Lakes.
- North-West – Mudgeeraba, Reedy Creek, Robina.
- South – Coolangatta, Currumbin, Elanora, Palm Beach, Tallebudgera.
The LNP won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 54.8% in the south and north-east to 60.9% in the north-west.
The Greens primary vote ranged from 14.9% in the north-west to 19.5% in the south.
| Voter group | GRN prim | LNP 2PP | Total votes | % of votes |
| South | 19.5 | 54.8 | 15,990 | 16.5 |
| North-West | 14.9 | 60.9 | 10,525 | 10.8 |
| North-East | 19.0 | 54.8 | 9,324 | 9.6 |
| Pre-poll | 14.1 | 60.3 | 42,572 | 43.9 |
| Other votes | 13.5 | 62.5 | 18,672 | 19.2 |
Election results in McPherson at the 2022 federal election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Liberal National Party, Labor and One Nation.
For such an educated and pretty affluent city the Gold Coast had quite a high informal vote. 8.5% in McPherson, 6.8% in Moncrieff and 5.8% in Fadden. And as a Gold Coast resident (Fadden) I have no explanation at all besides the growing ethnic community.
I should note that 8.5% is the highest informal rate in Queensland.
Ben showed a correlation between informal voting and number of candidates. There were 12 candidates in McPherson. Riverina also had a high informal rate and long ballot.
@Votante good point, 12 candidates is a lot to number.
First time voters from NZ? Which has a different voting method.
McPherson, Bonner, Forde and Petrie are Kiwi heavy seats. Those seats, amongst others, had signifant increases in enrolment.