Candidates gain ground with promise to axe second M1 in safe ALP seat of Macalister
A promise to stop the second M1 from ploughing through significant wetlands could hold the key to stealing a seat from the Palaszczuk government at next month’s election.
Logan
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A promise to stop the second M1 from ploughing through significant wetlands could hold the key to stealing a seat from the Palaszczuk government at next month’s election.
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Labor has 10 seats with margins of under 4 per cent and the LNP has 11 with six crossbenchers including Katter’s Australian Party, One Nation, the Greens and an Independent.
To hold government, the ALP will need to consolidate its safe seats including four which cover Logan suburbs.
Donations, how-to-vote cards, advertising, compulsory preferential voting and Clive Palmer, will be some of the issues that will force the outcome of the October 31 poll, which will herald in the first fixed four-year term.
But pundits are not guaranteeing a Labor win with the government on shaky ground in north Queensland.
Last night, residents of one of the safer seats, Macalister, in Logan’s east, met to hear from two non-government candidates about plans to change the route of the Coomera Connector, known as the second M1.
Four known candidates are running for the Labor-held seat which covers a mishmash of suburbs including the trade centre of Beenleigh, Eagleby, the emerging residential area of Bahrs Scrub and the well-heeled Cornubia.
A federal MP’s wife, a rugby league-loving ex-police officer, a former state MP and a legal mediator have pulled on the gloves and are ready to thrash it out for the seat.
Former police officer and rugby player Melissa McMahon won Macalister’s inaugural election in 2017 and holds it with a 7.4 per cent margin.
Ms McMahon has called for a review of the current route but has been unable to guarantee it would change.
Residents of Eagleby, which has a population of about 13,000, last night heard from LNP candidate Judi van Manen, wife of federal LNP MP Bert van Manen.
Mrs van Manen, who grew up in Beenleigh, promised residents she would rip up the government’s gazetted route which carves through the eastern side of the Eagleby community.
Her tough-line stance on juvenile justice and cracking down on hoons, helped her win 26 per cent of the primary votes in the 2017 election.
Her pledge to axe the northern section of the Coomera Connector gained traction with last night’s crowd of about 40, passionate about saving the wetlands and their community from being surrounded by the highway.
Former ALP MP for the now defunct seat of Albert Margaret Keech also promised to “degazette” the northern section of the six-lane highway from Stapylton.
Mrs Keech, who severed ties with the Labor Party in June, said most congestion on the M1 was south of Eagleby and, if elected, she would look for moving the proposed highway further east.
She has also told voters she would push to relocate the Beenleigh methadone clinic from its City Rd address.
“I believe the community is at a crossroads and it has some really significant issues that people are facing and a drug rehab clinic in the main street is one of those,” she said.
“We need a lot more community consultation on the Coomera Connector and unfortunately the current route was drawn up without any community consultation.”
Greens candidate Kirsty Petersen, a legal mediator who unsuccessfully ran in this year’s Logan City Council election, said it would be a tough seat to win.
“At the last state election, my fellow Greens branch member Gaby Nehring ran a great campaign in Macalister resulting in 6.65 per cent of the vote ahead of two independent candidates and one conservative and reformist candidate,” she said.
“It is my personal goal to provide residents a strong alternative to a Labor or Liberal National candidates.”
Eagleby Community and Wetlands Group chair Marilyn Goodwin said 600 voters at the Palm Lakes Resort would be adversely affected if the highway went through Eagleby.
Mrs Goodwin said the election would help finalise the road’s route.
“While the road remains gazetted and the government considers six alternative routes, people whose properties are affected are unable to make decisions about their lives,” she said.
“They cannot sell their land, they cannot build on it, and their lives are placed on hold.
“Hopefully the election will bring a definitive solution.”
The government will go into caretaker mode on October 6.