| McMillan |
Division of McPherson | Macquarie |
 Margaret May (Lib) Her electorate website |  |
Location: South-east Qld: Burleigh Heads, Coolangatta, Currumbin, Merrimac Division named for: The McPherson Range, which was named by the explorer Allan Cunningham after a friend, Major Donald McPherson Median weekly family income: $786 (122nd highest) Persons born in non English speaking countries: 7.8% (84th highest) Persons in professional occupations: 21.2% (118th highest) Persons employed in tourism: 9.0% (4th highest) Persons aged 65 and over: 17.6% (9th highest) Couple families with dependent children: 32.9% (132nd highest) Dwellings being purchased: 22.1% (105th highest) Sitting member: Margaret May (Liberal), elected 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007 Born: 30 June 1950, Fiji Islands. Career: Personal assistant, financial administrator NSW Department of Education, electorate secretary Member, Opposition Shadow Ministry from 6 December 2007. Shadow Minister for Ageing from 6 December 2007 1996 two-party majority: Liberal 17.0 Effect of 1998 redistribution: 00.1 shift to Liberal 1998 two-party majority: Liberal 08.3 2001 two-party majority: Liberal 12.5 Effect of 2004 redistribution: 00.3 shift to Labor 2004 two-party majority: Liberal 13.9 Effect of 2006 redistribution: no change 2007 notional two-party majority: Liberal 13.9 2007 two-party majority: Liberal 08.8 
2004 enrolment: 82,887 2007 enrolment: 92,324 (+11.4%) (new boundaries) McPherson was created in 1949, as a rural seat running from Southport to Warwick. Its first member was the Country Party leader Sir Arthur Fadden, who had been member for Darling Downs since 1936. The Gold Coast, at the eastern end of the seat, began to grow explosively in the 1960s, and the seat has been cut back by successive redistributions until it now occupies only the southern third of the Coast, based on Coolangatta and Currumbin. Despite its superficial glamour, the Gold Coast is not a wealthy area, with its large number of retirees and a growing population of low-income service workers in new suburban developments. McPherson has a low median family income level and a low proportion of people in professional occupations. Nevertheless McPherson has always been a safe non-Labor seat, first for the Country Party and since 1972 for the Liberals. Margaret May won the seat for the Liberals in 1998 and has held it without much trouble since. In 2007, after nine years on the back bench, she was appointed to the Coalition shadow ministry. In 2007 the Liberals polled 70% of the two-party vote at Robina North and also topped 65% at Bonogin and Merrimac High. Labor polled 57% at Springbrook but only carried one other booth. | | 
Two-party vote by booth, 2007
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