Why Glenwood, Curra booths are pivotal for Wide Bay this election 2022

Rural residents living near two of the Wide Bay’s most volatile voting booths, where the preferred party changes each election, have revealed the biggest issues which will sway their vote this year.

Glenwood’sJason Vervoort was one of several residents who to list roads as a key issue for the volatile voting booth ahead of the Federal election. The Glenwood booth was won by the LNP in 2019, and Labor in 2016.

Covid and climate change may be the hot, controversial topics among political ranks but for voters in regional Wide Bay this year’s federal election will largely hinge on some familiar topics.

When the Gympie Times headed to Curra and Glenwood, two rural townships between Gympie and the Fraser Coast, roads and health once again dominate the discussion.

These booths are known to be volatile, with statistics showing voters flip their party preferences regularly.

In 2019, the Liberal National Party was the top choice for each; 55 per cent of Glenwood voters backed the party on two-party preferred, while at Curra the level of support was even higher at 64 per cent.

Three years earlier though, at the 2016 election, Glenwood voters made Labor their top pick while at Curra, Labor and the LNP were deadlocked at 50 per cent.

In 2013 the two booths were claimed by the LNP.

A chat with locals in these areas this week showed there was no clear cut favourite to take the booths in 2022 yet either, even with the election just two months away.

Lynda Moss had health at the top of her list, after her husband suffered a heart attack but had to wait 45 minutes for an ambulance.

Glenwood resident Lynda Moss, an LNP voter in 2019, flagged health as the biggest issue for the town’s residents.

“Health is the main issue for us oldies,” Mrs Moss said.

She had her own experience with the severe lack of services in rural areas: her husband had suffered a heart attack and had to wait 45 minutes for an ambulance.

Her vote was not going to change though; Mrs Moss planned to vote LNP once again.

“I think ScoMo (Prime Minister Scott Morrison) is doing all right,” she said.

“Poor fella, he cops a lot of flack.”

Fellow Glenwood resident Glenn Silk put health at the top of the list too.

Curra resident Stephen Hornsby had roads atop his list of big federal election issues too. Curra is another Wide Bay booth at which the winning party changes often.

“Because we’re in the middle, it’s beneficial for us to have an ambulance station,” Mr Silk said, adding there was a community push to have a helicopter pad installed near the town too.

Glenwood is 40km north of Gympie and 54km south of Maryborough.

Unlike Mrs Moss, the 70-year-old had not yet made up his mind about who would top his ballot.

“I don’t have faith in either of them (the LNP and Labor),” Mr Silk said.

“They’re as bad as each other.”

“All our country roads are dangerous … the Federal Government are making excuses and don’t want to spend the money,” John Vervoort said.

Mr Vervoort said it was time the government “put life before money instead of money before life”.

He would be voting for Labor at this election, on the back of the state success with Covid.

“(Premier) Annastacia (Palaszczuk) kept us safe (during Covid),” he said.

Catherine Thorne, a Glenwood voter, had not yet decided on which party would get her vote this year.

Catherine Thorne, 59, singled out the struggles facing people who had ended up in the unemployment line through no fault of their own.

“I’m having trouble getting on the pension because the stupid government wants me to go out and get a job,” Ms Thorne said.

“I’ve worked my whole life and now my savings are gone.

“It sucks.

“To ask for a handout is very embarrassing.”

She was likewise undecided about where her vote would go.

At Curra, 28km south, the condition of rural roads was again top of mind.

“I ride a motorbike, and when you hit a pothole it’s not a good thing,” Stephen Hornsby said.

A Labor voter in 2019, he intended to make the same choice on this year’s ballot.