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| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Dawson, Queensland
North Queensland Coast: Annandale, Bowen, Mackay, Proserpine
Sitting member: George Christensen (Nationals), elected 2010
Enrolment at close of rolls: 103,654
2013 Nationals majority over Labor 7.6%
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Candidates in ballot-paper order:
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1. Michael Hall
Glenn Lazarus Team |
2. George Christensen
The Nationals |
3. Steven Large
Independent |
4. Ash Dodd
Katter's Australian Party |
5. Amanda Nickson
Family First |
6. Frank Gilbert
Australian Labor Party |
7. Jonathon Dykyj
Australian Greens |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Dawson was created in 1949, based on the sugar and beef ports of Bowen and Mackay, and its boundaries have not changed much since, although
the seat has been cut back to the coastal strip by recent redistributions. It is a still a seat in which agriculture plays a prominent role,
and like all such seats has a low level of median family income, a low proportion of people in professional occupations and low proportion of
people born in non English speaking countries. It has usually been a safe seat for the Country/National Party, although Labor has managed to
win it occasionally. Labor's strength is in the cities of Mackay and (to a lesser extent) Bowen, while the Nationals dominate the rural areas,
and also the outer suburbs of Townsville which were added to the seat in 2013.
Labor's Dr Rex Patterson won a famous upset in Dawson in the 1966 by- election, and held the seat largely on his personal standing. After his
defeat in 1975 the Nationals were fairly secure until the Rudd sweep of Queensland in 2007. De-Anne Kelly, the first National Party woman elected
to the House, had a brief and unhappy ministerial career in the Howard Government, and was defeated by Labor's James Bidgood in 2007. Bidgood
did not recontest the seat in 2013 and it returned to the Nationals.
George Christensen, Nationals MP for Dawson since 2010, was a newspaper editor and member of the Mackay City Council. He is a very conservative
member with a history of extreme statements which he has had to retract. This does not seem to have affected his local standing, and he
increased his majority in 2013. His Labor opponent in 2016 is Frank Gilbert, area manager for Uniting Care, and a Mackay Regional Councillor.
These maps are the property of Adam Carr and may not be reproduced without his permission.
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Prospective pendulum, showing all candidates
State and territory maps, showing new boundaries
The thirty seats that will decide the election
Other seats of interest
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