LNP 13.2%
Incumbent MP
Warren Truss, since 1990.
Geography
Wide Bay covers parts of the Queensland coast, including the towns of Noosa, Gympie and Maryborough, at the southern end of central Queensland as well as the northern end of the Sunshine Coast.
History
Wide Bay is an original federation electorate. It has been held for most of its history by the Nationals and its predecessors, although there have been two periods where it was held by the ALP for over a decade.
The seat was first won in 1901 by Gympie colonial MP Andrew Fisher, a prominent Labor member. Fisher had served as a minister in Anderson Dawson’s brief government in 1899, the first socialist government in the world.
Fisher served as a minister in Chris Watson’s federal Labor government in 1904, and became deputy leader of the ALP in 1905. He became the ALP’s leader in 1907. In 1908, Alfred Deakin’s minority government fell, and Fisher became Prime Minister at the head of a Labor minority government. This lasted until 1909, when Deakin returned to power at the head of a new unified Liberal party.
Fisher returned to office after the 1910 election, when the ALP won an unprecedented majority in the House of Representatives. This was the first time a party won a majority in a federal election. He governed until 1913, when he lost office to the Liberal Party, but he returned to power after Joseph Cook called a double dissolution in 1914. Fisher resigned from Parliament in 1915.
The ensuing Wide Bay by-election was won by Liberal candidate Edward Corser by only 86 votes. Corser was re-elected as a Nationalist in 1917, 1919, 1922 and 1925, dying in July 1928.
The 1928 Wide Bay by-election was won by Corser’s son, Bernard Corser, who stood for the Country Party. He held the seat until his retirement in 1954.
The seat was won in 1954 by the Country Party’s William Brand, who had previously served as a senior member of the party in the Queensland state parliament. He was re-elected in 1955 before retiring in 1958.
Wide Bay was won in 1958 by Country candidate Henry Bandidt, but lost in 1961 to the ALP’s Brendan Hansen. Hansen held Wide Bay until his retirement in 1974, and was elected to the Queensland state parliament for the seat of Maryborough from 1977 until 1983.
Upon Hansen’s retirement in 1974, the Country Party’s Clarrie Millar won back Wide Bay, and he held it until his retirement in 1990.
Wide Bay was won in 1990 by the National Party’s Warren Truss. Truss was made a junior minister in the Howard government in 1997 and joined the cabinet in 1999. He was elected Deputy Leader of the Nationals in 2005, and became party leader after the defeat of the Howard government.
Truss served as Nationals leader from 2008 until 2016, including as Deputy Prime Minister from 2013 to 2016.
Candidates
Sitting Liberal National MP Warren Truss is not running for re-election.
- Jannean Dean (Glenn Lazarus Team)
- Elise Cottam (One Nation)
- Lucy Stanton (Labor)
- Llew O’Brien (Liberal National)
- Bron Marsh (Greens)
- Bruce Mayer (Family First)
- Barry Cook (Katter’s Australian Party)
Assessment
Wide Bay is a safe LNP seat.
2013 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Warren Truss | Liberal National | 41,767 | 48.9 | -10.0 |
| Lucy Stanton | Labor | 17,697 | 20.7 | -3.4 |
| Stephen Alfred Anderson | Palmer United Party | 13,574 | 15.9 | +15.9 |
| Joy Ringrose | Greens | 5,596 | 6.6 | -4.5 |
| Gordon Dale | Katter’s Australian Party | 5,022 | 5.9 | +5.9 |
| John Chapman | Family First | 1,286 | 1.5 | -2.2 |
| Grace Dickins | Rise Up Australia | 517 | 0.6 | +0.6 |
| Informal | 4,199 | 4.9 |
2013 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Warren Truss | Liberal National | 53,975 | 63.2 | -2.5 |
| Lucy Stanton | Labor | 31,484 | 36.8 | +2.5 |
Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into four areas. Polling places in Fraser Coast council area have been grouped as ‘Maryborough’ and those in the Sunshine Coast and Noosa council areas have been grouped as ‘Noosa’. Those booths in the town of Gympie have been grouped together as Gympie Urban. The remainder of the Gympie council area have been grouped together with the small number of booths in the South Burnett and Cherbourg council areas as ‘Gympie Rural’.
The Liberal National two-party-preferred vote ranged from 59.2% in Noosa to 66.8% in rural parts of the Gympie area.
The Palmer United Party came third, with a vote ranging from 15.5% in Noosa and rural Gympie to just over 20% in Maryborough and urban Gympie.
| Voter group | PUP % | LNP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Noosa | 15.4 | 59.2 | 16,988 | 19.9 |
| Maryborough | 20.1 | 60.4 | 13,651 | 16.0 |
| Gympie Rural | 15.5 | 66.8 | 11,793 | 13.8 |
| Gympie Urban | 20.6 | 62.1 | 8,869 | 10.4 |
| Other votes | 13.4 | 65.3 | 34,158 | 40.0 |
Election results in Wide Bay 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 doubt an un-charismatic, do nothing MP like Truss had that much of a personal rating. This is one of those seats a wet blanket could win for the Coalition.
And to think that Andrew Fisher once held this seat!
can hou please just advice me of the labour party candidates who will be on this years election form at the polling booths,
Thank you.
Mike Cleary.
My prediction: Easy LNP retain.
Mike Cleary .. the Labor party candidate in Wide Bay is Lucy Stanton
I wouldn’t say easy LNP retain. GLT, One Nation and Katter Party will all get decent primary votes, of which very little will flow to the LNP as per the how-to-vote cards preferencing Labor.
a sizeable TPP swing to Labor here of 6/7% I think.