Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Capricornia, Queensland
Central Queensland coast: Clermont, Rockhampton, Sarina, Yeppoon
Sitting member: Michelle Landry (Nationals), elected 2013
Enrolment at close of rolls: 98,233
2013 Nationals majority over Labor: 0.8%

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Candidates in ballot-paper order:

1. Kate Giamarglos
Australian Greens
2. Laurel Carter
Katter's Australian Party
3. Lindsay Temple
Family First
4. Michelle Landry
The Nationals
5. Ken Murray
Independent
6. Leisa Neaton
Australian Labor Party



  • 2013 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Capricornia has existed since Federation, and has always been based on the provincial port of Rockhampton, although its boundaries have
    fluctuated greatly at successive redistributions. It has usually been a Labor seat. The seat has rather higher median income levels than
    most rural seats, but has the usual rural characteristics of low levels of people in professional occupations and of people born in non
    English speaking countries.

    While many provincial cities have turned against Labor in recent years, Rockhampton is still solidly Labor: even in 2013 Labor won most of
    the Rockhampton booths, some with more than 60% of the two-party vote. Labor also retains support in mining towns such as Collinsville,
    Dysart and Moranbah. The Nationals poll best in the small rural booths and the coastal towns of Sarina and Yeppoon.

    Capricornia's most distinguished member has been Frank Forde, Labor's Deputy Leader 1935-46 and briefly Prime Minister in 1945. After his
    defeat in 1946, Labor did not regain the seat until 1961. Since then the Nationals have won it only three times: in 1975 and 1996, in each
    case for only one term, and again in 2013. Labor will be hoping this pattern is repeated in 2016.

    Labor's Kirsten Livermore won Capricornia in 1998, and held it as a backbencher until her retirement in 2013, when it fell to the Nationals
    on a 4.5% swing.

    Michelle Landry, Nationals MP for Capricornia since 2013, was a bank officer for over 20 years before establishing her own book-keeping
    business. She contested Capricornia in 2010 before winning it in 2013.

    Labor must win Capricornia if it is to win the 2016 election. Given the seat's history, the modest Nationals majority, and Labor's strong
    performance in this area at the 2015 state election, Labor must be given a good chance of doing so. Labor's candidate will be Leisa Neaton,
    principal of Frenchville primary school in Rockhampton.






    These maps are the property of Adam Carr and may not be reproduced without his permission.

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