Queensland Election 2020 : Electorate Profile Pumicestone
Pumicestone is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.
The district was first created for the 2001 state election. Located in the corridor between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, it includes the urbanised areas of Bribie Island, as well as parts of Caboolture. It is named after the Pumicestone Channel, the strait which divides Bribie Island from the mainland.
An electorate at the southern end of the Sunshine Coast, Pumicestone has two distinct ends. In the east it includes the retirement haven of Bribie Island, which is separated from the mainland by the Pumicestone Channel after which the electorate is named. In the west the electorate takes in those parts of Caboolture that lie between the Caboolture River and D’Aguilar Highway. Covers 294 square kilometres.
Background
Pumicestone was created by the redistribution ahead of the 2001 election and replaced the abolished electorate of Caboolture. Labor held since 1989, Caboolture had fallen to One Nation’s Bill Feldman at the 1998 election. Like all One Nation MPs, Feldman split from the party during his first term and went to the 2001 election as Leader of the City-Country Alliance. The redistribution split his old seat between semi-rural Glass House and urban Pumicestone. Feldman chose to contest Pumicestone, but finished fourth with 15.5% of the vote, behind both the Liberal and One Nation candidates. More than 60% of preferences exhausted, inflating the Labor Party majority and electing Labor’s MP Carryn Sullivan.
Sullivan was the wife of former MP for Caboolture Jon Sullivan, and Jon Sullivan was to serve as federal MP for the local seat of Longman 2007-10 while his wife was state MP.
In 2004 there was a swing against Labor caused by the return of the breakaway conservative vote to the Liberal Party, but Labor retained its margin at both the 2006 and 2009 elections. None of that mattered in 2012 when a 17.1% swing delivered Pumicestone to the LNP’s Lisa France.
In 2015 the Queensland State election saw political fortunes switch again with a 14.2% swing to Labor and the election of Rick Williams who holds the seat with a 2.1% margin on the pendulum.
In 2017 a small swing to LNP under Simone Wilson Who is retiring.by a margin 0.84% LNP 50.84% vs Labor 49.16%. the LNP recorded majorities in six polling places, all at the eastern Bribie Island end of the electorate, where Labor recorded majorities 10 polling places, most at the western Caboolture end of the electorate. The LNP results ranged from 36.9% at Tullawong State High in Caboolture to 56.6% at Toorbul Community Hall overlooking Pumicestone Channel.
Retiring Member : Simone Wilson and her husband moved to the local area 15 years ago to raise their family, and five boys later she thinks she knows every sports field, emergency medical facility, and takeaway place in the region. In the past she has worked as a Teacher Aide at Bribie Island State High School and with the Australian Red Cross Employment Service, specialising in supporting local people who have extra difficultly getting a job. After further study she has been working as a client manager for Star Finance. First elected in 2017, Wilson has chosen to retire after a single term citing family reasons.
This electorate has a median weekly wage of $961.00, Percentage of people aged 60 Plus 35.40%, percentage of people born in Australia 58.70%, Home owners with mortgages 61.20%, renters account for 34.50%, Kids attending private school 11.20%, while 5.10% use public transport and 73.40% drive a vehicle to work, finally 11.10% are unemployed
Below all candidates in order of the Ballot paper
