Council margin – LNP 17.3%
Mayoral margin – LNP 23.5%
Incumbent councillor
Kim Marx, councillor for Karawatha since 2012.
Geography
Outer south of Brisbane. Runcorn covers the suburbs of Kuraby, Runcorn, Sunnybank and Sunnybank Hills.
Redistribution
Runcorn is considered to be a successor to Karawatha ward, which shifted north, losing Calamvale, Drewvale and parts of Stretton. Runcorn gained areas north of Beenleigh Road, from MacGregor ward. These changes increased the LNP council margin from 16.3% to 17.3, and increased the LNP mayoral margin from 22.7% to 23.5%.
History
Labor candidate Gail MacPherson won Runcorn ward in 1994. She was re-elected in Runcorn in 1997, 2000 and 2004. Her margin at the 2004 election was a very slim 2.2%.
The 2008 redistribution split the Runcorn ward between the new wards of Karawatha and Macgregor. MacPherson ran for Karawatha, which had a 2.9% margin, and she was re-elected despite a 1.4% swing.
In 2012, MacPherson retired, and Liberal National candidate Kim Marx defeated Labor candidate Adrienne Cremin with a 17.8% swing.
Candidates
- Kim Marx (Liberal National)
- Edward Starr (Greens)
- Stanley Hsu (Labor)
Assessment
Runcorn is one of a number of wards which was considered highly marginal prior to the 2012 election, when the LNP won the seat with a massive swing. Labor will be hoping to claw back that swing in 2016, but it’ll be hard to get enough of a swing to win the ward.
2012 council result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Kim Marx | Liberal National | 13,718 | 66.3 | +17.8 | 64.7 |
| Adrienne Cremin | Labor | 6,979 | 33.7 | -17.8 | 30.7 |
| Others | 2.3 | ||||
| Greens | 2.3 | ||||
| Informal | 730 | 3.4 |
2012 council two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Kim Marx | Liberal National | 13,718 | 66.3 | +17.8 | 67.3 |
| Adrienne Cremin | Labor | 6,979 | 33.7 | -17.8 | 32.7 |
2012 mayoral result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Graham Quirk | Liberal National | 13,938 | 67.6 | +8.5 | 68.0 |
| Ray Smith | Labor | 4,845 | 23.5 | -10.1 | 22.4 |
| Andrew Bartlett | Greens | 1,214 | 5.9 | +1.8 | 6.5 |
| Rory Killen | Independent | 407 | 2.0 | +2.0 | 1.9 |
| Chris Carson | Independent | 230 | 1.1 | +1.1 | 1.2 |
| Informal | 657 | 3.1 |
2012 mayoral two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Graham Quirk | Liberal National | 14,112 | 72.7 | +9.4 | 73.5 |
| Ray Smith | Labor | 5,293 | 27.3 | -9.4 | 26.5 |
| Exhausted | 1,229 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in Runcorn have been split into two halves: east and west.
The LNP’s majority is slightly larger in the west – 68% in the council election and 74% in the mayoral election, compared to 64.5% and 72.3% in the east.
| Voter group | LNP council 2PP | LNP mayoral 2PP | Total votes | % of votes |
| West | 68.0 | 73.6 | 8,161 | 38.8 |
| East | 64.5 | 72.3 | 6,974 | 33.1 |
| Other votes | 69.7 | 74.8 | 5,904 | 28.1 |
