ALP 6.7%
Incumbent MP
Jonty Bush, since 2020.
Geography
North-Western Brisbane. Cooper covers the Brisbane suburbs of The Gap, Ashgrove, Milton, Paddington, Red Hill and parts of Bardon and Kelvin Grove.
History
The seat of Ashgrove was created in 1960. The seat was held by the Liberal Party continuously from 1960 to 1983 and has been held by the ALP continuously from 1989 until 2012. The seat was renamed Cooper in 2017.
The seat was first won in 1960 by Douglas Tooth. He had previously won the seat of Kelvin Grove for the Liberal Party in 1957. He held Ashgrove until his retirement in 1974. He was replaced by John Greenwood, also of the Liberal Party.
In 1983, Greenwood lost his seat to the ALP’s Tom Veivers. Veivers held the seat for one term, losing to Liberal candidate Alan Sherlock in 1986. Sherlock again only held the seat for one term, losing in 1989 to Labor candidate Jim Fouras. Fouras had previously held South Brisbane for one term from 1983 to 1986.
Fouras was elected as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in 1990, and held the position until 1996. He retired from Parliament in 2006.
Kate Jones won Ashgrove in 2006. After winning a second term in 2009 she was appointed as Minister for the Environment, Resource Management and Climate Change. She stepped down from the ministry in June 2011 to focus on her campaign against LNP leader Campbell Newman.
At the 2012 election, Jones was defeated by her LNP opponent Newman. Newman had served as Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 2004 to 2011, and resigned in April 2011 after being elected as leader of the LNP despite not holding a seat in the state Parliament. Newman became premier of Queensland following the 2012 election, serving until the 2015 election.
Newman lost the seat of Ashgrove to his predecessor Kate Jones in 2015, while his party also lost power. Jones was re-elected as member for Cooper in 2017.
Jones retired in 2020, and Labor’s Jonty Bush won the seat.
- Raewyn Bailey (Liberal National)
- Susan Ventnor (One Nation)
- Donna Gallehawk (Family First)
- Jonty Bush (Labor)
- Katinka Winston-Allom (Greens)
Assessment
Cooper is a reasonably safe Labor seat in a Labor vs LNP contest, although the Greens are not that far away from breaking in to the top two.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Jonty Bush | Labor | 11,509 | 34.1 | -6.7 |
| Trent Wiseman | Liberal National | 11,285 | 33.4 | -2.2 |
| Katinka Winston-Allom | Greens | 10,000 | 29.6 | +9.0 |
| Susan Ventnor | One Nation | 587 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| Robert Wiltshire | Independent | 366 | 1.1 | -1.9 |
| Informal | 443 | 1.3 |
2020 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Jonty Bush | Labor | 20,414 | 60.5 | -0.2 |
| Trent Wiseman | Liberal National | 13,333 | 39.5 | +0.2 |
Booths in Cooper have been divided into three areas: east, south and west.
Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 60.2% in the centre to 64.1% in the west.
The Greens came third, with just over 31% in the centre and west, and 38% in the east.
| Voter group | GRN prim % | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| East | 38.0 | 63.6 | 3,741 | 11.1 |
| Central | 31.3 | 60.2 | 3,350 | 9.9 |
| West | 31.5 | 64.1 | 3,331 | 9.9 |
| Pre-poll | 29.3 | 61.0 | 13,461 | 39.9 |
| Other votes | 25.7 | 57.6 | 9,864 | 29.2 |
Election results in Cooper at the 2020 Queensland state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal National Party and the Greens.
Based on the qld state results I’d say lnp gain Ryan Labor gain Brisbane and greens hold griffith. Although the Brisbane result could be construed as a result of the abortion issue which won’t play into the federal sphere. If the qld govt can’ hit the ground running they may just give the lnp hope in other federal seats too
I don’t think the Greens are going to take away the right lessons from this, lesson number one being ban MCM from all media appearances and have him stick to community events in West End.
Lesson number 2, the leafy green wealthy tealish professional suburbs they need to win need a differentiated targeted message than what is popular among students and youth.
@Votante Steven Miles certainly has a very strong appeal amongst younger voters. As a young person, I’ve seen so many young people get interested in politics for the first time, because of Steven Miles’ content on TikTok and instagram. People know him for 50c fares, as well as abortion protection. That’s probably what gave Grace Grace a small swing towards her, as McConnel is demographically a very young electorate. It probably made up some of the swing towards Jonty Bush in Cooper, as there are a lot of young professionals in areas of Paddington and Milton. But I think most of the swing in Cooper is Jonty Bush’s personal vote, especially in areas like Ashgrove and The Gap where its mostly families and older people.
@Votante Steven Miles certainly has a very strong appeal amongst younger voters. As a young person, I’ve seen so many young people get interested in politics for the first time, because of Steven Miles’ content on TikTok and instagram. People know him for 50c fares, as well as abortion protection. That’s probably what gave Grace Grace a small swing towards her, as McConnel is demographically a very young electorate. It probably made up some of the swing towards Jonty Bush in Cooper, as there are a lot of young professionals in areas of Red Hill, Paddington and Milton. But I think most of the swing in Cooper is Jonty Bush’s personal vote, especially in Bardon, parts of Paddington, Ashgrove and The Gap where it’s mostly families and older people.
Hearing Jonty Bush threatening to Quit the Labor leads me speculating could she hold the seat on her own or could this benefit the greens
@Caleb she’s only quitting because of the rule that Labor Party MPs can’t cross the floor of the party has a position on something. Labor voted to back the “adult crime, adult time” laws introduced by the LNP, and rightfully so, but Jonty Bush was against the policy. She will lose if she runs as an independent.
@NP that’s downside of party politics, you can’t afford to be a n individual
@ Caleb i agree with you. The Liberals have more flexibility to cross the floor which is why Libs do it all the time especially Bridget Archer.