ALP 25.4%
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 running for re-election. The LNP is running Simon Dorries.
- Justin Geage (Family First)
- John Reddington (Greens)
- Simon Dorries (Liberal National)
- Desley Scott (Labor)
Political situation
Woodridge is the ALP’s safest seat in Queensland and should remain safe at the next election.
2009 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Desley Scott | ALP | 17,300 | 68.8 | +1.1 |
| Sarina Patane | LNP | 5,421 | 21.6 | +3.5 |
| John Reddington | GRN | 2,408 | 9.6 | +2.5 |
2009 two-candidate-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Desley Scott | ALP | 18,047 | 75.4 | -1.8 |
| Sarina Patane | LNP | 5,896 | 24.6 | +1.8 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in Woodridge have been divided into two areas: north and south.
The ALP polled 71% in the south and 67.7% in the north.
| Voter group | ALP % | LNP % | GRN % | Total votes | % of votes |
| South | 71.0 | 19.4 | 9.6 | 10,427 | 41.5 |
| North | 67.7 | 22.6 | 9.7 | 9,057 | 36.0 |
| Other votes | 66.7 | 23.9 | 9.4 | 5,645 | 22.5 |
Labor will hold this with a margin of 10% or greater, BUT,
Katter’s party should do well, given One Nation polled around 29% here in 1998, and finished second here in both 1998 and 2001.
Simon Dorries is the LNP candidate in this seat
Desley Scott is expected to announce her retirement in the new year, so a new labor candidate can win her ultra safe seat.
If Desley is going then this seat could be open for the taking. There is no such thing as a SAFE seat.
My prediction: Labor retain, the only seat they will hold with a margin above 10%.
Interestingly, Katter’s Australia Party is not contesting this election. I thought this is the type of area that they would do quite well in. Labor should retain this seat comfortably.
Justin Geange and John Reddington are running here for the Family First Party and the Greens respectively.
Source:
http://www.abc.net.au/elections/qld/2012/guide/wood.htm
No seat is exclusively the property of any political party. None!! Of course, that is why we have elections..even if it may be perceived a party has been dominant by some blind voters of yesteryears….
One thing we all know though; that every Goliath sneers at an insignificant shepherd boy…
History is repeated in many forms…come Sunday 25/03/12…Woodridge will be a former Labour seat..
Safe Labor retain after a large but meaningless swing.
Thanks for all those MDMConnell, I plan to write up a predictions post tonight and people can then post their predictions there, in one convenient comment.
How’s that former Labor seat looking semi? 🙂