Qld election 2020: Fiona Gaske to contest Pumicestone for LNP

The LNP has endorsed a Stuartholme old girl and former regional deputy mayor to contest a critical seat near Brisbane at the October state election.

Former Balonne Deputy Mayor Fiona Gaske is running for Pumicestone.

THE LNP has endorsed another impressive female candidate who straddles city and country and who is deeply embedded in the arts.

Stuartholme old girl Fiona Gaske, the former deputy mayor of Balonne Shire Council, will contest the seat of Pumicestone based on Bribie Island.

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Gaske and her husband Andrew, a stock agent, and their two children moved to Bribie Island earlier this year.

Gaske will run against Labor’s Ali King, who unsuccessfully contested the Brisbane seat of Maiwar at the last election.

Gaske is a polymath with degrees in speech pathology and music, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

She trained as an opera singer and classical dancer and founded the Maranoa Performing Arts. She also served on the Queensland Local Government Association’s economic committee, a hospital board and the Great Artesian Basin advisory board.

Pumicestone was won by Simone Wilson for the LNP by 495 votes at the last election.

She’s nor recontesting the seat.

King, who worked for Deputy Premier Stephen Miles, is a lawyer and will be heavily backed by Labor, which sees Pumicestone as a must-win seat for the Government to retain power.