LNP 14.4%
Incumbent MP
Stuart Robert, since 2007.
Geography
Fadden covers northern parts of the Gold Coast. The seat stretches as far south as Ernest, Labrador and Biggera Waters, and extends north to the Logan River.
History
Fadden was created for the 1977 election as a seat straddling the southern fringe of Brisbane and the northern Gold Coast as a marginal Liberal seat. It has been won by the Liberal Party at every election bar one, and has become much safer through the 1990s as it contracted into the Gold Coast.
Fadden was first won in 1977 by Liberal MP Donald Cameron. Cameron had previously won the marginal seat of Griffith in 1966, and held it until Fadden’s creation in 1977. Cameron held Fadden for two terms, losing it in 1983 to Labor candidate David Beddall. Cameron won the neighbouring seat of Moreton at a by-election eight months later and held it until his defeat in 1990.
Beddall moved to the new seat of Rankin in 1984, which he held until his retirement in 1998. Fadden returned to the Liberal Party, electing David Jull, who had previously held Bowman from 1975 to 1983. Jull was appointed to John Howard’s first ministry in 1996, but was forced to resign as a minister in 1997 due to his failure to prevent travel rorts by other MPs. He remained on the backbenches for the remainder of the Howard government, and retired in 2007.
The seat of Fadden was won in 2007 by Liberal candidate Stuart Robert, and he was re-elected as the LNP candidate in 2010 and 2013.
Candidates
- Daniel Kwon (Greens)
- Lyn Rees (Family First)
- Stuart Robert (Liberal National)
- Sean Macnamara (Veterans Party)
- Brenden Ball (One Nation)
- Meaghan Scanlon (Labor)
Assessment
Fadden is a safe LNP seat.
2013 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Stuart Robert | Liberal National | 42,962 | 53.6 | -4.7 |
| Nicole Lessio | Labor | 17,804 | 22.2 | -5.1 |
| James Patrick Macanally | Palmer United Party | 11,759 | 14.7 | +14.7 |
| Petrina Maizey | Greens | 3,995 | 5.0 | -4.3 |
| Jeremy John Fredericks | Family First | 1,305 | 1.6 | -1.8 |
| Billy Lawrence | Katter’s Australian Party | 1,088 | 1.4 | +1.4 |
| Maurie Carroll | Independent | 712 | 0.9 | +0.9 |
| Stewart Boyd | One Nation | 510 | 0.6 | -1.0 |
| Informal | 4,925 | 6.2 |
2013 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Stuart Robert | Liberal National | 51,572 | 64.4 | +0.2 |
| Nicole Lessio | Labor | 28,563 | 35.6 | -0.2 |
Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into four areas: central, north, south and west.
The Liberal National Party won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all four areas, ranging from 56.5% in the south to 65.9% in the centre.
The Palmer United Party came third, with a vote ranging from 15.4% in the centre to 16.5% in the south.
| Voter group | PUP % | LNP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| West | 16.1 | 63.1 | 16,515 | 20.6 |
| South | 16.5 | 56.5 | 13,382 | 16.7 |
| Central | 15.4 | 65.9 | 10,839 | 13.5 |
| North | 15.5 | 62.9 | 4,141 | 5.2 |
| Other votes | 13.0 | 67.6 | 35,258 | 44.0 |
Election results in Fadden at the 2013 federal election
Click on the ‘visible layers’ box to toggle between two-party-preferred votes and Palmer United Party primary votes.
I’ll be interested to see how this vote shifts.
There has been some big new housing developments in this electorate, and I believe it’s mostly populated by new families, so I could see this influencing the vote in the area in favour of Labor.
To be clear, I don’t see Labor winning, not by a long shot. But this was a seat that saw little swing in 2013, and I could see a noticeable swing towards Labor – maybe 5-6%. And I could see Greens breaking the 10% mark.
My prediction: Easy LNP hold.