LNP 1.7%
Incumbent MP
Peter Dutton, since 2001.
Geography
Dickson covers the north-western suburbs of Brisbane and adjoining rural areas. It covers most of the former Pine Rivers Shire, now included in the Moreton Bay Council. Suburbs include Ferny Hills, Albany Creek, Strathpine, Petrie and Kallangur. Further west it includes areas such as Dayboro, Mount Samson and Samford Village.
History
Dickson was created for the 1993 election, though it was not filled until a supplementary election a month after the general election following the death of an independent candidate during the campaign. It was won for the ALP by Michael Lavarch, who transferred to the seat from Fisher, which he had represented since 1987, defeating the Liberal candidate, future Queensland state Liberal Party leader Dr Bruce Flegg.
Lavarch served as Attorney-General in the Keating government, but was defeated in the 1996 landslide by Liberal Tony Smith.
Smith lost the Liberal endorsement for the 1998 election and recontested the seat as an Independent. A leakage of preferences from his 9% primary vote presumably assisted the narrow, 176-vote victory by ALP star recruit, former Democrats leader Cheryl Kernot.
Kernot was defeated in 2001 by the Liberals’ Peter Dutton, who has held the seat ever since.
Peter Dutton has held his seat ever since. He served as a junior minister in the final term of the Howard government and as a senior minister in the Coalition government from 2013 until 2022. After the Coalition’s defeat at the 2022 election, he was elected as leader of the opposition.
Assessment
Dickson is quite a marginal seat and it is worth watching. Labor did quite poorly in Queensland in 2022 compared to other states. If they benefit from incumbency they could pick up a substantial amount of ground in Queensland.
It’s also worth noting that Dutton has increased his profile now as leader of his party, which will probably improve his position in his local seat.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Peter Dutton | Liberal National | 41,657 | 42.1 | -3.9 |
| Ali France | Labor | 31,396 | 31.7 | +0.4 |
| Vinnie Batten | Greens | 12,871 | 13.0 | +3.0 |
| Tamera Gibson | One Nation | 5,312 | 5.4 | +0.2 |
| Alina Karen Ward | United Australia | 2,717 | 2.7 | +0.5 |
| Alan Buchbach | Independent | 2,222 | 2.2 | +2.2 |
| Thor Prohaska | Independent | 1,618 | 1.6 | -0.7 |
| Lloyd Russell | Liberal Democrats | 1,236 | 1.2 | +1.3 |
| Informal | 3,996 | 3.9 | -0.5 |
2022 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Peter Dutton | Liberal National | 51,196 | 51.7 | -2.9 |
| Ali France | Labor | 47,833 | 48.3 | +2.9 |
Booths have been divided into three areas. Most of the population lies on the urban fringe along the eastern edge of the seat. These booths have been split between north-east and south-east. The remaining booths have been grouped as ‘west’.
The Liberal National Party won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in the south-east (51.1%) and the west (54.7%), as well as on the pre-poll and other votes. Labor won 52.5% in the north-east.
The Greens came third, with a primary vote ranging from 13.2% in the north-east to 18% in the west, but just 11.7% on the pre-poll.
| Voter group | GRN prim | LNP 2PP | Total votes | % of votes |
| North-East | 13.2 | 47.5 | 16,958 | 17.1 |
| South-East | 15.8 | 51.1 | 14,310 | 14.5 |
| West | 18.0 | 54.7 | 4,621 | 4.7 |
| Pre-poll | 11.7 | 52.3 | 38,111 | 38.5 |
| Other votes | 12.4 | 53.4 | 25,029 | 25.3 |
Election results in Dickson at the 2022 federal election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Liberal National Party, Labor and the Greens.
@LNP Insider, I think you are onto something for both major parties. They are both products of an earlier time, and it shows. Neither side seems capable of doing more than a very basic managing, with zero idea of anything that’s arrived in the past 15 years.
And the public is increasingly walking away from both. I suspect that the Liberals would do better if they positioned themselves where the Democrats used to be (and where some of the Teals are now) – economically centrist and socially liberal, without being beholden to either corporations or trade unions. For that to happen, though, there needs to be a split between the conservative and moderate wings of the party. They are no longer a broad church, and it shows.
On the ALP side, if they cannot show that don’t stand for anything beyond the pursuit for its own sake, and actually legislate progressive and reformist policies, then they will continue to bleed votes to the Greens and others. They don’t seem to understand that the public is not remotely interested in factions, but in results.
@Ryoma but it ain’t going to happen. In every aspect of human activity in Australia where the state once either played a role or monopolised that role – telecommunications, health, education, housing, transport, and so on and so forth – there is now a corporate replacement or competitor. The state and it’s actors have largely been eclipsed by corporations. No government can tell Coles and Woolworths what to do, let alone Google, Meta or Tesla. MyHealth is owned by Medibank. Your once family owned bus service is probably now run by an overseas multinational. You pay your ever increasing road tolls to a multinational momopoly, Transurban. And who controls the banks? Even welfare services are delivered through corporate payment cards and job agencies. Public Housing fills the gap that was once played by psychiatric institutions while private agencies supply a trickle of affordable dwellings using corporate models. Even the sports you watch are sponsored by multinational corporations and broadcast by multinational media companies. Corporations have largely taken over your life. You are dependent upon their phones, their financial services, their employment contracts, the products their prepared to sell you. They have the ear of government, not you. And there’s not a damned thing the ALP or the Coalition are going to do about it. They rely on corporate donations to exist.
And it’s not going to change anytime soon.
But in the meantime we have this little beauty contest for ugly people we misname democracy. Go on. Enjoy it. It makes wonderful theater.