Burnett – Queensland 2012

LNP 11.1%

Incumbent MP
Rob Messenger (IND), since 2004.

Geography
Central Queensland. The seat covers coastal areas surrounding the city of Bundaberg, although not including the urban centre of Bundaberg. It covers Childers, Booyal, Elliott Heads, Bargara, Rosedale, Lowmead and Miriam Vale.

History
The seat of Burnett has existed continuously since 1960. In that time, the seat has been won by the National Party (in its various forms) at all but one election.

Doug Slack won the seat for the National Party in 1986. Slack served as a minister from 1996 to 1998, and held the seat until 2001.

In 2001, Slack was defeated by the ALP’s Trevor Strong.

In 2004, Strong was defeated by National Party candidate Rob Messenger.

Messenger won re-election in 2006 as a National and in 2009 for the Liberal National Party.

In 2010, Messenger, along with fellow MP Aidan McLindon, resigned from the Liberal National Party after a failed coup against the party’s deputy leader, Lawrence Springborg.

Candidates
Sitting independent MP Rob Messenger is running for re-election. The LNP is running Stephen Bennett is running for re-election. The ALP is running Stuart Tomlinson. Katter’s Australian Party is running Kevin Pauling.

Political situation
Burnett will be a contest between Messenger and the LNP.

2009 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Rob Messenger LNP 15,055 56.6 -0.8
Chris Pianta ALP 9,206 34.6 -7.9
Bernie Williams GRN 1,324 5.0 +5.0
Peter Wyatt IND 760 2.9 +2.9
Robert Bromwich IND 232 0.9 +0.9

2009 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Rob Messenger LNP 15,432 61.1 +3.7
Chris Pianta ALP 9,824 38.9 -3.7

Booth breakdown
Booths in Burnett have been divided into four areas. Booths on the outskirts of Bundaberg have been grouped as ‘Bundaberg Surrounds’. Booths in Gladstone LGA have been grouped as ‘north’. The remainder of booths have been divided into ‘central’ and ‘south’.

The LNP won between 56% and 58% in the centre, south and around Bundaberg, and won 52% in the north.

Polling booths in Burnett at the 2009 state election. North in orange, Central in green, South in blue, Bundaberg Surrounds in yellow.

 

Voter group LNP % ALP % GRN % Total votes % of votes
Central 56.1 35.4 5.4 8,755 32.9
Bundaberg Surrounds 57.9 35.6 3.7 5,974 22.5
South 56.5 34.9 4.3 3,338 12.6
North 52.2 35.5 5.4 2,325 8.7
Other votes 58.0 32.2 5.9 6,185 23.3
Liberal National primary votes in Burnett at the 2009 state election.
Labor primary votes in Burnett at the 2009 state election.
Liberal National primary votes in the Bundaberg part of Burnett at the 2009 state election.
Labor primary votes in the Bundaberg part of Burnett at the 2009 state election.

11 COMMENTS

  3. The Tally Room says that Burnett will be a contest between Messenger and the LNP, so obviously it has written off the other Candidates.
    This does not worry me,because as a Candidate I will be giving this State Election my best shot and campaigning in it with a positive attitude.
    Currently working in Aged care, as a Personal Car Worker (PCW) I have also worked in Home and Community and Care Work, Disability Care Work and Australia Post as A Postal delivery Officer.
    I fully intend to be out there in the Burnett Electorate, listening and taking onboard the concerns and issues of the people in the Burnett Electorate,and when elected as their reprentative for Burnett will be addressing and taking their issues and corncerns back to the State Parliament.

    Stuart Tomlinson
    ALP CAndidate for Burnett
    Stuart.Tomlinson@queenslandlabor.org

  4. Stuart, you sound like a decent guy, and a good Labor candidate. This is not the election for you though my friend, Labor is badly on the nose, and in an electorate like Burnett (conservative), you’d have to agree the favourites would be Messenger and Bennett. I expect Messenger’s high name recognition will get him re-elected here.

  5. Phil I really do respect your opinion but I think you’re expectation of Messenger getting re-elected is wrong. He is being touted as a big-mouthed egoist who is on par with Anna Bligh in the “do and say and promise” everything just to get elected. One thing different though is if Anna does get back in she can get things done even although they are not in the best interest of the Burnett people whereas Messenger iis not in a position to deliver on any of his promises or commitments. I’m not closing the books on Stuart Tomlinson as Labor has a proven record of winning the impossible. My advice to those in doubt is to vote for either the Labor or the Labor candidate as they are the only ones who will have a say if their party wins. Messenger should be a no-no if you want non self-centred representation

  9. I live there Prediction: Messenger to win by a landslide no one else will even get close. Rob is a local hero vs a bunch of no bodies.

  10. I wasn’t surprised at Messenger’s defeat. I thought that the LNP would repeat its non-Labor counterparts’ tactics in scaring voters away from Independents by pointing to the Oakeshott-Windsor-Gillard alliance as a backhanded endorsement of Labor. Messenger had nothing to do with QLD Labor (or with Gillard for that matter), yet he copped it. And a story that I read in the OZ this week confirmed my suspicious – the LNP put it out that a vote for Messenger would benefit Labor.
    My dislike of the non-Labor grubs keeping growing by the day…

  11. That’s right because everyone non-Labor are grubs. That’s why there’s only 7 Labor members left in the parliament, right?

Comments are closed.