Council margin – ALP 5.7%
Mayoral margin – LNP 5.9%
Incumbent councillor
Kara Cook, since 2018. Kara Cook replaced Shayne Sutton as councillor for Morningside at a by-election in January 2018.
Geography
Eastern Brisbane. Morningside covers the suburbs of Balmoral, Bulimba, Camp Hills, Cannon Hill and Norman Park, all suburbs south of the Brisbane river to the east of the city centre.
Redistribution
Morningside contracted, losing the remainder of Cannon Hill to Doboy. This change reduced the Labor margin from 6.6% to 5.7%.
History
Labor’s Sharon Humphreys held Morningside from 1994 to 2004.
Shayne Sutton won Morningside in 2004 despite a 23% swing away from Labor on primary votes. She held the seat with a 4.2% margin.
Sutton increased her margin to 11.6% in 2008, but this was cut to 6% in 2012. She was re-elected with a slight swing towards her in 2016.
Sutton retired in early 2018, and the subsequent Morningside by-election was won by Labor candidate Kara Cook.
Candidates
- Kara Cook (Labor)
- Rolf Kuelsen (Greens)
- Toby Moore (Liberal National)
Assessment
Morningside is a reasonably safe Labor ward and shouldn’t change hands in 2020.
2016 council result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Shayne Sutton | Labor | 11,748 | 48.8 | -7.2 | 48.0 |
| Nicole Hansson | Liberal National | 9,740 | 40.5 | -3.5 | 41.3 |
| Peter Melrose | Greens | 2,570 | 10.7 | +10.7 | 10.7 |
| Informal | 490 | 2.0 |
2016 council two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Shayne Sutton | Labor | 13,006 | 56.6 | +0.6 | 55.7 |
| Nicole Hansson | Liberal National | 9,993 | 43.5 | -0.6 | 44.3 |
| Exhausted | 1,059 | 4.4 |
2016 mayoral result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Graham Quirk | Liberal National | 12,197 | 50.5 | -5.0 | 51.1 |
| Rod Harding | Labor | 8,927 | 36.9 | +4.3 | 36.2 |
| Ben Pennings | Greens | 2,308 | 9.6 | -0.7 | 9.7 |
| Jeffrey Hodges | Independent | 362 | 1.5 | +1.5 | 1.3 |
| Karel Boele | People Decide | 157 | 0.7 | +0.7 | 0.7 |
| Jim Eldridge | Independent | 128 | 0.5 | +0.5 | 0.5 |
| Jarrod Wirth | Independent | 91 | 0.4 | +0.4 | 0.3 |
| Informal | 522 | 2.1 |
2016 mayoral two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Graham Quirk | Liberal National | 12,556 | 55.2 | -5.5 | 55.9 |
| Rod Harding | Labor | 10,178 | 44.8 | +5.5 | 44.1 |
| Exhausted | 1,436 | 5.9 |
2018 by-election result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Kara Cook | Labor | 10,241 | 50.0 | +1.2 |
| Melina Morgan | Liberal National | 7,561 | 36.9 | -3.6 |
| Rolf Kuelsen | Greens | 2,331 | 11.4 | +0.7 |
| Angus Jell | Independent | 331 | 1.6 | +1.6 |
| Informal | 312 | 1.5 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in Morningside have been divided into three parts: central, north and south.
Labor won a majority of the council two-party-preferred vote in all three areas at the 2016 election, ranging from 56.5% in the north to 58.5% in the centre.
The LNP won the mayoral two-party-preferred vote, ranging from 51.9% in the centre to 55.9% in the north.
The Greens primary vote was under 9% in the north and over 11% in the centre and south.
We don’t have a breakdown of the two-party-preferred vote from the 2018 by-election, but Labor’s vote ranged from 47% in the south to 52.6% in the centre.
The LNP did best in the north, while the Greens primary vote was highest in the south.
2016 breakdown
| Voter group | GRN council prim | ALP council 2PP | LNP mayoral 2PP | Total votes | % of votes |
| South | 11.4 | 56.7 | 54.7 | 5,229 | 23.6 |
| North | 8.6 | 56.5 | 55.9 | 5,112 | 23.0 |
| Central | 11.6 | 58.5 | 51.9 | 3,788 | 17.1 |
| Other votes | 12.8 | 52.7 | 60.1 | 4,817 | 21.7 |
| Pre-poll | 8.9 | 53.5 | 57.0 | 3,250 | 14.6 |
2018 by-election breakdown
| Voter group | ALP prim | LNP prim | GRN prim | Total votes | % of votes |
| Central | 52.6 | 32.3 | 13.1 | 4,746 | 23.2 |
| South | 47.2 | 37.3 | 13.8 | 4,674 | 22.8 |
| North | 49.1 | 38.9 | 10.8 | 4,461 | 21.8 |
| Other votes | 49.6 | 39.8 | 8.7 | 4,021 | 19.6 |
| Pre-poll | 52.9 | 36.9 | 9.2 | 2,562 | 12.5 |
Election results in Morningside at the 2016 Brisbane City Council election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes for council and lord mayor, and Greens primary votes for council.
Labor primary votes at the 2018 Morningside ward by-election
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