Capricornia

Rockhampton and Central Queensland

Marginal Labor 3.7%

MP

The retiring Labor MP is Kirsten Livermore, who has held this seat since 1998.

Profile

Capricornia is a Central Queensland seat that stretches along the coast from Rockhampton and Yeppoon in the south to Sarina and the southern suburbs of Mackay in the north, also extending inland to include major mining centres such as Collinsville, Moranbah, Dysart and Clermont. The electorate still includes significant agricultural and pastoral districts, but the regions economy and workforce is increasingly dominated by the mining industry and associated transport and export facilities. The electorate is named after the Tropic of Capricorn which the electorate straddles. Covers 91,049 square kilometres. (Map)

Background

Capricornia has existed since Federation and for most of its history has been a Labor seat. In the last 110 years it has been held by the non-Labor parties for only 23 years, 15 of those years being between 1946 and 1961. It has left the Labor fold on only three occasions since 1961, and was last won by the National Party for single terms with the defeat of Federal Labor governments in 1975 and 1996.



Capricornia was represented by Frank Forde 1922-46, who served as Labor Prime Minister for 8 days in 1945 between the death of John Curtin and election of Ben Chifley. Another former Labor MP was former state Labor Leader Keith Wright, who was elected in 1984 and represented the seat until denied endorsement for the 1993 election over pending criminal charges for which he was later convicted.

Capricornia has generally been safe for Labor since being won back in 1998, but there was an above average swing of 8.4% against Labor at the 2010 election, putting it back into the marginal category.

2011 Census Profile

At 12.9% Capricornia has the nation's third highest proportion of the workforce employed in mining.

Past Voting Patterns

As the graph below of Labor 2-party preferred votes over the last three decades shows, Labor's vote in Capricornia has always been stronger than in Queensland as a whole. However, the vote has correlated strongly with the state vote, Labor losing the seat at elections such as 1996 when Labor's vote in Queensland was weakest. There has been some narrowing of the gap between electorate and state results at the last two elections.



2013 Ballot Paper (8 Candidates) Party Australian Labor Party Rise Up Australia Party Palmer United Party The Greens - Family First Liberal National Party of Queensland Katter's Australian Party

Peter Freeleagus Australian Labor Party Freeleagus works in the mining sector and has lived and raised his family in the mining town of Moranbah for 28 years. He has spent 12 years serving in local government, including five years as Mayor of Belyando Shire. In 2008 he contested the Mayoralty of the new Isaac Regional Council, but after leading the first preference count, was defeated by just three votes after the distribution of preferences from a third candidate. In 2012 he was easily elected to represent Division 4 on the Council. Website

Paul Lewis Rise Up Australia Party Website

Derek James Ison Palmer United Party Website

Paul Bambrick The Greens Bambrick grew up in North Rockhampton and in his youth worked as a fencer, railway ganger, fruit picker and factory worker as well as a tour guide and musician. He later studied Architecture at Queensland Institute of Technology and practised in Australia and overseas. He has lived in Yeppoon for 15 years and contested this seat 2010 Federal election, and the local seat of Keppel at the 2009 and 2012 state elections. Website

Hazel Alley Family First Alley was born in Rockhampton, married at 19, and became a Salvation Army officer, graduating Dux of the Sydney college. She spent many years in community and pastoral work around Australia and Papua New Guinea, and has travelled extensively in many parts of the world. She returned to Rockhampton in 1986, and has lived there with her family for the last 27 years. Her husband is a local Senior Minister of Peace Australia and they have eight children and 11 grandchildren. Website

Michelle Landry Liberal National Party of Queensland Landry was born in Rockhampton in 1962 and attended the Hall State School and Rockhampton Girls Grammar. After starting her work career in a Pathology Laboratory, Landry spent two decades with the National Australia Bank before establishing her own book-keeping business servicing clients in the Rockhampton and Capricorn Coast region. Landry was the LNP candidate in this seat at the 2010 election. Website

Robbie Williams Katter's Australian Party williams owns and operates an Electrical Contracting business with two of his sons working with him after taking up the same trade. His third son currently plays Rugby League with the North Queensland Cowboys under 20s. He has been for 27 yrs and lived in Clermont for 42 yrs. For the past 6 years he has held the role as Chairperson for Clermonts Preferred Futures Committee, an initiative of Rio-Tinto and Council, as well as being on numerous committees and club executives. Website