Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Rankin, Queensland
Southside Brisbane: Browns Plains, Calamvale, Slacks Creek, Woodridge
Sitting member: Dr Jim Chalmers (Labor), elected 2013
Enrolment at close of rolls: 101,760
2013 Labor majority over Liberal: 4.8%

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Candidates in ballot-paper order:

1. Dr Jim Chalmers
Australian Labor Party
2. Ric Davies
Liberal Democratic Party
3. Neil Cotter
Australian Greens
4. Shane Holley
Katter's Australian Party
5. Jeffrey Hodges
Independent
6. Freya Ostapovitch
Liberal Party
7. Christopher Lawrie
Family First



  • 2013 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Rankin was created in 1984, and orginally extended from the south- western suburbs of Brisbane out into rural areas as far as Warwick. Subsequent redistributions have greatly reduced it in area and shifted it to the east, and it now occupies a block of suburbs in the fast-growing Logan region of southern Brisbane. It is a low-income mortgage belt seat, combining a low median family income level and a very low proportion of people in professional occupations with a high level of families with dependent children and dwellings being purchased.

    Rankin has always been held by Labor but has rarely been secure. It was one of only two seats in Queensland retained by Labor in the Liberal landslide of 1996, but the 1998 redistrubution made it nominally Liberal, so Craig Emerson's retention of the seat that year counted as a Labor gain. The subsequent two redistributions have further weakened Labor's position. The seat now consists of three parts: strongly Liberal to the east of the Pacific Highway, strongly Labor in the central part area around Woodridge, and marginal at the western end around Algester and Stretton.

    Previous members for Rankin have been David Beddall, a minister in the Keating government, and Dr Craig Emerson, elected in 1998. Emerson was on the Labor front bench from 2001, but as a prominent Latham supporter he resigned after the 2004 defeat. He returned to the front bench in 2006 and was a minister through the Rudd-Gillard Government. He resigned in 2013 rather than serve under the returned Rudd, and retired at the 2013 election.

    Dr Jim Chalmers, Labor MP for Rankin since 2013, was executive director of the Chifley Research Centre, a Labor think-tank, before his election. He had previously been an adviser to several Labor ministers including Bob Carr and Wayne Swan. He went straight on to the opposition front bench after the 2013 election and is now Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation and for Productivity. The Liberal candidate in 2016 is Freya Ostapovitch, who was state member for Stretton from 2012 to 2015.






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


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