Hamilton – Brisbane 2024

Council margin – LNP 20.5%
Mayoral margin – LNP 20.9%

Incumbent councillor
Julia Dixon, since 2023. Dixon replaced David McLachlan as councillor for Hamilton in August 2023.

Geography
North-eastern Brisbane. Hamilton covers suburbs immediately to the north of the Brisbane river and to the north-east of the Brisbane CBD, as well as Brisbane Airport. Suburbs include Clayfield, Hendra, Albion, Ascot, Bowen Hills, Newstead and Kedron.

History
Liberal councillor Tim Nicholls won Hamilton in 2000, and was re-elected in 2004. He resigned in 2006 to run for the state seat of Clayfield, which covers a similar area, and won that seat. Nicholls still holds his state seat, and served as Treasurer in the LNP government from 2012 to 2015.

The 2006 by-election was won by Liberal candidate David McLachlan. McLachlan was re-elected four times, and retired in 2023. His vacancy was filled by the LNP’s Julia Dixon.

Candidates

Assessment
Hamilton is the safest LNP ward in Brisbane.

2020 council result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
David Mclachlan Liberal National 14,101 63.7 +0.2
Leah Malzard Labor 4,389 19.8 -3.6
Miranda Bertram Greens 3,632 16.4 +3.4
Informal 519 2.3

2020 council two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
David Mclachlan Liberal National 14,471 70.5 +2.8
Leah Malzard Labor 6,066 29.5 -2.8
Exhausted 1,585 7.2

2020 mayoral result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Adrian Schrinner Liberal National 13,390 61.2 -4.2
Pat Condren Labor 4,732 21.6 -1.2
Kath Angus Greens 2,715 12.4 +3.8
Karagh-Mae Kelly Animal Justice 582 2.7 +2.7
Jeff Hodges Motorists Party 150 0.7 +0.7
John Dobinson Independent 114 0.5 +0.5
Frank Jordan Independent 85 0.4 +0.4
Ben Gorringe Independent 73 0.3 +0.3
Jarrod Wirth Independent 50 0.2 -0.1
Informal 552 2.5

2020 mayoral two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Adrian Schrinner Liberal National 13,633 71.0 -0.5
Pat Condren Labor 5,582 29.1 +0.5
Exhausted 2,676 12.2

Booth breakdown

Booths in Hamilton was split into three groups: north-east, north-west and south.

The LNP won a large majority in all three areas on both ballots, ranging from 62.9% in the north-west to 72% in the south on the council ballot.

Voter group GRN prim council LNP 2PP council LNP 2PP mayoral Total votes % of votes
South 16.6 72.0 72.6 2,963 13.4
North-West 19.9 62.9 63.7 1,981 9.0
North-East 19.7 66.5 65.9 918 4.1
Pre-poll 12.5 74.3 70.9 7,483 33.8
Postal 15.9 73.2 74.3 5,473 24.7
Other votes 23.0 61.0 63.6 3,304 14.9

Council election results in Hamilton at the 2020 Brisbane City Council election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Liberal National Party, Labor and the Greens.

Mayoral election results in Hamilton at the 2020 Brisbane City Council election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Liberal National Party, Labor and the Greens.

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10 COMMENTS

  1. Although this is a very safe ward for the LNP currently, I think there is the potential for a large swing (at least 5-10%) here.

    Federal polling place results in many suburbs (Clayfield and Hamilton) recorded primary vote swings almost 10% against the LNP, and with a low profile incumbent (Julia Dixon, who has served only a year or less on Council), this is probably a seat that could see a surprise result on election night.

  2. @ Yoh An
    I am interested to see if the Greens outpoll Labor here and longer term in the state seat of Clayfield. In the absence of Teals i believe the Greens will be the main challenger to Libs in the very affluent areas.

  3. That would all make sense if the Greens had bothered to get their act together, especially considering the prominence they were initially giving to their eagle farm racecourse plan. But they don’t even have a candidate selected.

  4. Fair point Furtive, if the Greens haven’t preselected a candidate for this ward yet.

    I wonder if the Greens are keeping their powder dry by running a low profile campaign for the Council election, saving their efforts (both time and money) for the state election later in the year.

  5. Agreed that there will be a strong swing here—primarily because of the substantial growth in Newstead and its Greens friendly demographics. It is a bit of a tell that the now most densely populated area of Hamilton lacks a polling booth.

  6. Greens are unlikely to outpoll Labor given they’re running a paper candidate with zero social media presence. A missed opportunity given the Green friendly areas and the need to do well enough here to retain Brisbane. Doesn’t bode well for a serious shot at Clayfield either.

  7. The Greens were only 4% behind Labor here on primary vote at the last election, so they could easily get ahead of Labor even though they haven’t put resources into campaigning this ward given how obviously unwinnable it is.

    I also see no reason to expect a serious shot at Clayfield – it just isn’t a good area for the Greens overall. The western most part of the seat is good for the Greens but the rest of the seat is very right-wing and a swing to the LNP is expected at the state election.

  8. Agree Babaluma, for Clayfield district it is really only the suburbs west of the rail line (Windsor, Lutwyche and Gordon Park) that are strong for Labor or Greens. Other suburbs, particularly those on or near the riverside including Hamilton and Ascot are like some parts of the Inner West of Sydney on the Parramatta River waterfront (places such as Cabarita, Abbotsford and Drummoyne which are still strong for the Liberals and backed them even at weak elections such as Federal 2022 and NSW 2023).

  9. The Greens out polled Labor here. While this ward is not winnable for Greens/Labor it may show that in the absence of a Teal the Greens are better positioned to win “Doctors Wives”.

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