LNP 10.3%
Incumbent MP
Ray Stevens, since 2009. Previously Member for Robina 2006-2009.
Geography
Gold Coast. Mermaid Beach covers the Gold Coast suburbs of Merrimac, Mermaid Waters, Miami, Miami Keys, Florida Keys, Mermaid Beach and parts of Robina.
Redistribution
Mermaid Beach shifted south, gaining Miami from Burleigh and losing Clear Island Waters and Broadbeach Waters to Surfers Paradise. These changes cut the LNP margin from 12.9% to 10.3%.
History
Mermaid Beach was created in 2009, replacing the former seat of Robina. Robina had existed from 2001 to 2009, and had always been won by the Liberal Party.
Bob Quinn was first elected as Liberal Party member for the new seat of Merrimac in 1992. Quinn served as Minister for Education in the Borbidge coalition government from 1996 to 1998.
At the 2001 election, the Liberal Party only retained three seats: those of former leader Joan Sheldon, party leader David Watson, and deputy leader Quinn, whose seat of Merrimac was renamed Robina. Quinn took over as Liberal leader, and served until 2006.
Quinn retired at the 2006 election, and was succeeded by Ray Stevens, also of the Liberal Party.
In 2009, Robina was renamed to Mermaid Beach, and Stevens was re-elected for the newly merged Liberal National Party. Stevens was re-elected in 2012 and 2015.
Candidates
- Joshua Blundell-Thornton (Labor)
- Mona Hecke (Independent)
- Helen Wainwright (Greens)
- Ric Allport (Independent)
- Saraya Beric (Independent)
- Gary Pead (Independent)
- Ray Stevens (Liberal National)
Assessment
Mermaid Beach is a safe LNP seat.
2015 election result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Ray Stevens | Liberal National | 15,287 | 52.4 | -12.8 | 50.7 |
| Gary Pead | Labor | 7,333 | 25.1 | +6.6 | 26.7 |
| Helen Wainwright | Greens | 2,577 | 8.8 | +1.4 | 9.5 |
| Alex Caraco | Palmer United Party | 2,286 | 7.8 | +7.8 | 7.7 |
| Simon Green | Family First | 1,718 | 5.9 | +3.0 | 5.4 |
| Informal | 852 | 2.8 |
2015 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Ray Stevens | Liberal National | 16,374 | 62.9 | -13.1 | 60.3 |
| Gary Pead | Labor | 9,647 | 37.1 | +13.1 | 39.7 |
| Exhausted | 3,180 | 10.9 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in Mermaid Beach have been divided into three areas: central, north and south.
The LNP won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 57% in the centre to 62% in the north.
The Greens came third, with a vote ranging from 8% in the south to 11% in the centre.
| Voter group | GRN prim % | LNP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| South | 8.2 | 61.0 | 5,160 | 20.3 |
| Central | 11.4 | 57.1 | 4,985 | 19.6 |
| North | 9.7 | 62.3 | 3,952 | 15.5 |
| Other votes | 9.2 | 62.3 | 11,347 | 44.6 |
Election results in Mermaid Beach at the 2015 QLD state election
Click on the ‘visible layers’ box to toggle between two-party-preferred votes and Greens primary votes.
Mermaid Ray made an absolute bellend out of himself before the last election, but was still safely returned. I see no reason to expect anything different this time around.
LNP retain, the chicken dancer will be comfortably returned.