Brisbane in focus: The state of play across the city’s key electorates

Labor’s victory came through winning several key electorates in the Greater Brisbane area – from the Coalition and from the Greens. Here’s the state of play in some of the most tightly contested seats.

Brisbane

The seat of Brisbane takes in inner-city suburbs including riverside New Farm and Newstead, the well-heeled Clayfield and Hamilton, as well as Albion, Lutwyche, Bowen Hills, Kelvin Grove, Newmarket, Enoggera, Windsor, Wilston and Wooloowin, plus the CBD and parts of Stafford and Bardon.

In 2022, Greens MP Stephen Bates took the seat from the LNP’s Trevor Evans in the progressive party’s historic Brisbane sweep, prompting leader Adam Bandt to declare a “Greenslide”.

Corflutes outside New Farm State School in the electorate of Brisbane.Credit: Rosanna Ryan

This time, Labor’s Madonna Jarrett – who also ran at the last election –appears to have triumphed in the rematch, with help from a well-resourced campaign.

Griffith

Griffith was held by Labor for almost a quarter of a century – with former PM Kevin Rudd serving 15 years – before Max Chandler-Mather won the seat from Terri Butler in 2022.

The renter- and apartment-dominated suburbs of West End, Kangaroo Point, South Brisbane and Woolloongabba fall within the boundaries, as does a mortgage-heavy belt spanning Bulimba, Norman Park, Carina, Camp Hill, Holland Park and Coorparoo.

Griffith election corflutes outside Brisbane State High School in South Brisbane.Credit: Thom Ryan

Chandler-Mather made an impression as a Greens firebrand and the party’s spokesperson for housing. His Labor challenger, Renee Coffey, most recently served as chief executive of a national youth mental health charity.

Ryan

Established as an electorate in 1949, Ryan was a blue seat – that is, held by the conservative Liberal Party or its Queensland successor, the LNP – for all but 11 months in 2001, until Elizabeth Watson-Brown won in 2022.

The electorate covers two dozen suburbs, from urban riverside areas near the University of Queensland campus to more affluent suburbs where at least 80 per cent of residents are home owners.

A corflute for Ryan MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown near the University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt

Former architect Watson-Brown faced off against the LNP’s candidate, barrister Maggie Forrest, and former school principal Rebecca Hack who ran for Labor.

Dickson

Rumours he was losing his home base dogged Peter Dutton, the federal opposition leader, since the election was announced in late March.

With a margin of 1.7 per cent, it shaped up as one of the tightest races in the south-east.

Polling booths in Peter Dutton’s electorate of Dickson were quiet on election day.

Starting a half-hour drive north of Brisbane’s CBD, Dickson includes the City of Moreton Bay suburbs of Albany Creek, Everton Hills, Ferny Hills, Kurwongbah, Murrumba Downs, Petrie, Strathpine and parts of Kallangur.

Labor’s Ali France has been creeping up on Dutton since her first try in 2019.

Dickson was also contested by a handful of independent and minor party candidates, including Climate 200-backed independent Ellie Smith.

Bonner

Ross Vasta from the LNP is Bonner’s longest serving MP. He won the seat when it was first created in 2004, lost it at the next election, but regained it in 2010 and had held it since, most recently on a 3.4 per cent margin.

The seat on Brisbane’s eastern fringe covers the bayside suburbs of Wynnum, Manly and Lota, along with Tingalpa, Belmont, Carindale, Mansfield, Mount Gravatt, Wishart and Rochedale.

Anthony Albanese cuddles a child next to Labor candidate for Bonner in Brisbane, Kara Cook.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Vasta appears set to be replaced by Kara Cook, a lawyer who served as a Brisbane city councillor for the ward of Morningside until early 2023.

Moreton

Moreton was already considered a safe Labor seat, and the party looks to have consolidated its hold with Julie-Ann Campbell elected following the retirement of long-serving MP Graham Perrett.

It includes inner-city suburbs like Yeronga, Fairfield and Annerley and stretches south-west to Corinda and Oxley and south to Sunnybank and Kuraby, with the South-East Freeway as its eastern border.

Anthony Albanese and fiancée Jodie Haydon visit Sunnybank Market Square with Moreton candidate Julie-Ann Campbell and Treasurer Jim Chalmers.Credit: Getty Images

While the Greens had hopes of picking Moreton up as a fourth Brisbane seat, candidate Remah Naji – a social worker and Justice for Palestine organiser – has been unsuccessful.

More than a third of Moreton residents are renters, 4.7 per cent identify as Muslim, like Naji, and more than 15 per cent have Chinese background, like Campbell.

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