Voters head to polling booths across Gympie, Maryborough, Noosa electorate

Wide Bay’s incumbent MP has held onto his seat with only a minor swing against him, although his next term in office is expected to have an entirely different vibe. ROLLING COVERAGE.

Member for Wide Bay Llew O’Brien remains set for a clear-cut win in his electorate.

On Sunday morning, Labor candidate Geoff Williams took to social media to thank those who had supported him in his campaign.

“I‘d like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in this campaign,” he said.

“Thank you for you dedication, hard work and help and thank you to everyone that worked at pre-poll and on election day, standing in the rain and handing out how to vote cards.”

Mr Williams said he was satisfied with the national result.

“We may not have got the local result we wanted, but we did get the one we wanted nationally,” he said.

Official tally room numbers on Sunday morning are as follows:

• Llew O‘Brien (LNP) - 42.38 per cent.
• Geoff Williams (ALP) - 21.44 per cent.
• Nathan Buckley (PHON) - 10.37 per cent.
• Craig Armstrong (Greens) - 9.23 per cent.
• Tracy Bennett (UAP) - 4.89 per cent.
• Kelli Jacobi (Ind) - 4.49 per cent.
• Tim Jerome (Ind) - 2.9 per cent.
• Andrea Newland (Informed Medical Options Party) - 2.29 per cent.
• Daniel Williams (Australian Values Party) - 1.44 per cent.
• John Woodward (Australian Federation Party) - 0.56 per cent.

Polling day

Incumbent LNP member Llew O’Brien has reclaimed his Wide Bay seat despite what is expected to be a minor swing against him.

Mr O’Brien has held a steady 38 per cent of the primary vote with 50 of the electorate’s 61 seats returned.

His support was almost double that of his Labor rival Geoff Williams, who has hovered at 20 per cent throughout the night.

The next closest candidates are One Nation’s Nathan Buckley at 11 per cent and The Greens’ Craig Armstrong at 10 per cent.

Mr O’Brien and his team have been approached for comment.

Mr Williams was not yet giving up the fight.

“It’s a long way to go,” Mr Williams said.

“I didn’t expect to come out on top straight out of the gate, not against a sitting member.”

Labor’s Geoff Williams said he did not expect to beat Llew O’Brien outright, and was not giving up yet with postal and pre-poll votes still to be counted. Photo: Stuart Fast

The Labor candidate, whose election night party consisted of a night at home with his wife of 28 years Shelley Regan, said he was happy with the gains made.

“We’re sneaking up slowly,” he said, noting he had eaten into an early lead Mr O’Brien had taken when the count started.

Then there was the national result which made Mr Williams “very happy”.

He was not concerned about the possibility of a hung parliament, either.

Mr Williams said Julia Gillard had managed to pass about 500 pieces of legislation despite working within a minority government.

Earlier in the day, an extended downpour reduced Gympie’s voting booth turnout to a trickle as the final hours of election day wind down.

Crowds at several of the cities booths were few and far between with volunteers, armed with umbrellas and rain coats, left to wait until the close of business as voter numbers dried up.

United Australia Party supporter Peter Hardy said Saturday’s turnout at the Monkland State School booth, located at the southern end of the city, had been relatively quiet throughout the day.

Peter Hardy and Hayden Pratt endure continual rain in the name of democracy at the Monkland State School election booth in Gympie on Saturday.

Mr Hardy said it was significantly different to the last election he worked – “but that day had been sunny too.”

He said pre-polling had undoubtedly had an effect on Saturday’s turnout with lines outside the Tozer St booth Friday, the last day of early voting, extending down the street almost all day.

In comparison the Monkland booth had never had a line, Mr Hardy said, and voters had mostly turned out in small groups across the day.

Voters were sparse at the Gympie Senior Citizens Centre booth in the centre of Gympie 4pm as rain continued to fall.

All up more than a third of the Wide Bay’s voters had their say at early voting booths, the highest turnout on record.

This was despite pre-poll booth being dramatically slashed on May 13 and 14 after Gympie was cut off by floodwaters.

Saturday’s drenching of the region did not dampen the spirits of the candidates themselves though, who spent the better part of the day blitzing booths across the electorate.

Some had support from influential corners, too.

For Labor, the city’s state member Bruce Saunders was on hand to give out how-to-vote cards on behalf of Federal candidate Geoff Williams.

Then, the man himself arrived at the booth just before 9am.

Mr Williams, who lives at Bauple, had already voted, not taking a chance on Covid, the wet weather and possible flooding, telling the Chronicle it “wouldn’t be a good look” if the candidate didn’t vote.

Greens candidate for Wide Bay Craig Armstrong was also at the polling booth.

He felt the country was in the mood for a change.

“I'm feeling good,” he said.

MORE COVERAGE: Wide Bay votes: Your complete guide to voting in the federal election

“Everyone is excited and relieved to get to the actual polling day after a fairly busy pre-poll.

“It will be good to see the results come in.

“It’s been a challenging three years of the Morrison Government.

“I'm not sure which way he’s actually taking the country, there’s no clear vision or plan laid out.”

Mr Armstrong said the government had offered a “series of funding announcements” and little else in the lead up to the election.

He said the Federal Government hadn’t really focused on every day Australians.

“They’re definitely looking for a change.

“How they personally vote, that’s entirely a matter for them, but it’s change no matter what form that takes.”

Meanwhile, Wide Bay incumbent and LNP candidate Llew O’Brien signalled his intention to get around as many polling booths as possible on Saturday.

After voting in the southern part of the electorate, Mr O’Brien has visited Tewantin State School, a polling booth at Cooroy, the Mary Valley, Monkland, Gympie and surrounds, Curra, Glenwood and Tiaro.

Mr O’Brien said he was making his way towards Maryborough in the north of his electorate.

Mr O’Brien is fighting to keep his seat against nine other candidates for Wide Bay.

He had support at Tinana State School where Brian and Marolyn Briggs said they had just voted for him.

They believed he was reliable and had strong personal values and ideas.

Brian and Marolyn Briggs said they had just voted for LNP candidate Llew O’Brien at Tinana State School.

The couple was also impressed by his willingness to cross the floor on matters he felt strongly about.

“What you see is what you get,” Mrs Briggs said.

Mr O’Brien did share some bad news on social media on Saturday morning, telling how election signs had been stolen and vandalised at Cooroy, but “they haven’t dented our spirit,” he said.