LNP 8.5%
Incumbent MP
Tony Perrett, since 2015.
Geography
Central Queensland. Gympie covers the Gympie urban area, other eastern parts of Gympie LGA and some northwestern parts of the Noosa council area. Apart from Gympie itself, the seat’s major centres are Tin Can Bay, Rainbow Beach, Cooran and Pomona.
History
The seat of Gympie was first created in 1873. The seat was abolished in 1950, and restored in 1960. Barring two terms in the early 2000s, the seat has always been won by the Country/National party since its restoration in 1960.
Max Hodges won the seat for the Country Party in 1960. He held the seat until 1979.
Len Stephan won the seat for the National Country Party in 1979. He held the seat until his retirement in 2001.
Upon Stephan’s retirement in 2001, his seat was lost to One Nation’s Elisa Roberts.
Roberts left One Nation in early 2002. She won a second term in 2004, but lost the seat in 2006 to the National Party’s David Gibson. Gibson won a second term in 2009, and a third term in 2012.
Gibson retired in 2015, and was succeeded by the Liberal National Party’s Tony Perrett.
Assessment
Gympie is a reasonably safe LNP seat.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Tony Perrett | Liberal National | 14,071 | 42.4 | +5.2 |
| Geoff Williams | Labor | 9,501 | 28.6 | +6.3 |
| Michael Blaxland | One Nation | 4,172 | 12.6 | -17.2 |
| Lauren Granger-Brown | Greens | 2,060 | 6.2 | +0.5 |
| Tim Jerome | Independent | 1,709 | 5.2 | +5.2 |
| Donna Reardon | Independent | 636 | 1.9 | -3.0 |
| Nicholas Fairbairn | Informed Medical Options | 566 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| Roland Maertens | Independent | 457 | 1.4 | +1.4 |
| Informal | 1,676 | 4.8 |
2020 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Tony Perrett | Liberal National | 19,402 | 58.5 | |
| Geoff Williams | Labor | 13,770 | 41.5 |
Booths in Gympie have been divided into three areas. Polling places in the Gympie urban area were grouped together, with the remaining booths split into north and south.
The LNP won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 55.7% in the north to 61% in the south.
One Nation came third, with a primary vote ranging from 13% in the south to 15% in the north.
| Voter group | ON prim % | LNP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| North | 15.0 | 55.7 | 5,145 | 15.5 |
| Gympie | 13.6 | 57.5 | 4,049 | 12.2 |
| South | 13.0 | 61.0 | 2,955 | 8.9 |
| Pre-poll | 12.4 | 57.7 | 11,511 | 34.7 |
| Other votes | 10.9 | 60.6 | 9,512 | 28.7 |
Election results in Gympie at the 2020 Queensland state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Liberal National Party, Labor and One Nation.
This was formally the safest seat conservative seat in the state, what happened? Why is it only around 8% as “Reasonably safe”? Is it because the strong performance from Labor in neighbouring Marybourough has had an effect here?
On a uniform swing, If Labor was going for a landslide of 61-39 statewide, this would be very close, the fact that this is less safe than Bonney says something, uninspiring MP?
@ Daniel T This seat had me confused on election night. This sort of margin is what you would expect to see if it were an LNP v ONP race, and I waited for the 2CP to be confirmed, but it just never was.
I imagine the COVID response had something to do with it. Gympie has also in recent decades found itself increasingly tied to SEQ, and whilst that hasn’t necessarily been reflected politically yet, I’m sure it’s a factor in some aspects.
All that aside though, if the LNP wins a slim majority or at very least largely recovers its position statewide, I expect this seat to swing maybe ~7% back in their favor.
Quite a low primary vote for the LNP here last time of 42.4% – however I suspect the vote was lower than normal, due to the COVID pandemic impacting lower socio-economic electorates with an elderly population (similar to the results in Maryborough and Hervey Bay).
I expect an above average swing to the LNP, directly from Labor to LNP this time in the greater Fraser Coast area.
Labor has announced Lachlan Anderson as their candidate for Gympie. Fourth generation resident of Gympie with an indigenous background. Looking at his social media, he’s probably Labor’s best candidate for the seat in a very long time.
Interesting that he’s running in an election where Labor will suffer big swings in the regions.
If I were him, I would have wanted some level of guarantee that I would get the candidacy next time around too were I unsuccessful this time.
I agree @Wilson, he seems like a strong candidate. I hope he gets to run again for this seat.
Whilst Gympie did not exist. The seat of Nash included Gympie. More often than not up till the 1957 split this was alp held