Currumbin MP Laura Gerber spotted setting up prepoll marquees with former MP Jann Stuckey’s name
Arguably the most embarrassing moment of the campaign so far - Currumbin MP Laura Gerber has been spotted setting up marquees with former MP Jann Stuckey’s name written right across the top.
Gold Coast
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IT’s arguably most embarrassing moment of the Gold Coast campaign so far in the State election.
LNP Currumbin MP Laura Gerber has been photographed at the electorate’s major pre-polling centre putting up a marquee which belonged to former MP and now political enemy Jann Stuckey.
Ms Stuckey’s husband, Dr Richard Stuckey, is running against Ms Gerber as an independent and sharing his preferences with Labor candidate Kaylee Campradt.
Ms Stuckey who held the seat for almost two decades retired from Parliament sparking a by-election in March this year.
After her preferred candidate was not pre-selected she has taken aim at her party and Ms Gerber through several social media posts and media comments.
Ms Stuckey and her husband are no longer LNP members.
In a Facebook post, she wrote: “Well doesn’t this take the cake? Laura is happily erecting a marquee with my name on it at pre-polling centre at Tugun this morning. I’ve seen a lot happen during election campaigns but this is priceless?”
Comments from “friends” on Ms Stuckey’s page included “they are good marquees” and “well, it’s a well trusted brand”. Another wrote “it’s called recycling” while one supporter just added: “This is hilarious.”
Mr Gerber told the Bulletin: “We haven’t wasted money on replacing marquees. A volunteer put it up in haste when it rained to protect other volunteers.”
The LNP hold the seat with a 3.3 per cent margin.
EARLIER:
INDEPENDENT Currumbin candidate Richard Stuckey has revealed who he will preference in the Gold Coast’s most marginal seat.
The husband of former Currumbin MP Jann Stuckey could prove the deciding factor in the electorate, shocking many when he announced his candidacy just days before nominations closed.
In an interview earlier this month Dr Stuckey said he had not been contacted about preferences by any of the major parties.
A how-to-vote card provided to the Bulletin instructs voters to vote 1 for Dr Stuckey and put Labor candidate Kaylee Campradt in second spot.
Ms Campradt is followed by One Nation’s Glen Wadsworth, Independent Ian Logan and the United Australia Party’s Anna Palmer.
LNP MP Laura Gerber has been numbered 6th on the ballot, with Greens candidate Peter Burgoyne and Australia One-backed independent Tracy Takacs-Thorne last.
Dr Stuckey said he had still not been contacted, but had chosen preferences based on which parties he believed would support voluntary-assisted dying.
“We made it quite clear right at the start we would preference the party more likely to bring voluntary-assisted dying forward,” he said.
“No one’s rung me. Prepoll starts Monday and it’s very obvious one party would support it and one won’t, hence putting Labor as 2.
“The only one that counts is the number 2 preference. It’s really only about Labor and the LNP.”
Both Dr Stuckey and his wife Jann Stuckey, who held the seat for almost two decades, quit the LNP in March.
It’s believed at least 27 party members left with them, making the preference decision more likely to influence the result.
Current LNP MP Laura Gerber won the seat with 51.48 per cent of the vote and now holds it with a 3.3 per cent margin.
EARLIER:
INDEPENDENT Currumbin candidate Richard Stuckey says he is still yet to receive a call from either major party, even though his preferences could be the deciding factor for the marginal seat.
Introducing himself as the “man behind the woman”, the husband of former Currumbin MP Jann Stuckey shocked many when he announced he would be running in the state election.
The decision comes months after the couple’s long and high-profile split from the LNP over differences with the party’s decision to nominate Laura Gerber as Mrs Stuckey’s replacement.
In a statement at the time, Mrs Stuckey said neither could “forgive the LNP for cutting us and our loyal long-serving branch members out of any talks about a suitable candidate for Currumbin, or for parachuting in a total stranger”.
It was understood at least 27 branch members also quit the party at the time.
Dr Stuckey said he hoped to use the election to raise important conversations for the people of Currumbin — and wider Queensland — on a predominantly health-focused platform.
These issues include voluntary-assisted dying, palliative care funding and mental health support. He also wants heavy rail to the airport and red tape reduction for small businesses.
“The reason for me doing this is to get a clear stance from either major party about whether they are for or against things that matter for Currumbin,” he said.
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A self-described liberal moderate likely to appeal to swing voters and disgruntled LNP members, Dr Stuckey said he was astonished he still hadn’t heard from either party on preferences.
Eight candidates will contest the Currumbin seat at the October 31 state election.
“We haven’t printed out how-to-votes yet, but I want to know how the parties stand on issues like voluntary assisted dying first,” he said.
Dr Stuckey said, while he did have the support of some former members of the LNP branch, he wasn’t prepared to predict how things would play out.
“Numerically, there are 30,000 voters in the seat of Currumbin, 27 out to them are former LNP branch members — so it’s a drop in the ocean. I won’t even assume what they will do,” he said.
“But I have been surprised by the positive response to my decision to stand.
“Clearly I am the outsider of this whole field, but I am not a one-issue candidate, so my push here is to make clear where candidates stand on these issues.”
Dr Stuckey said his passion on the issue of voluntary-assisted dying comes from 40 years in the medical field and aged care. “I have worked in aged care and have seen many people have horrible deaths,” he said. “The concept that people just die is not right, it is a much longer and protracted process.”
In Queensland, one person with terminal illness commits suicide every four days.
“It is amazingly prevalent but the politicians are too scared to talk about it.”
Dr Stuckey said he had previously considered a run for the electorate of McPherson in 2009 after Margaret May resigned.
“My interest in politics is no secret, though I was mainly behind the scenes,” he said.
“I did sit down and weigh up the pros and cons but I think the bottom line is a federal member and a state member in one household would have been ludicrous.
“And I think I have the best job in the world as a doctor.”
When asked whether he was concerned about entering politics given the previous claims of abuse levelled by his wife against her former party, Dr Stuckey said no.
“The bad treatment was the LNP not from the people of Currumbin, so when we walk through the Pine Shopping Centre or community there are still lots of the ex-members,” he said.
“I am no longer part of the party machine, I am outside of that. What motivated me most to do this was neither major party has taken a stance on voluntary-assisted dying or other important issues. That is what I am here for.”
Mrs Stuckey said she did not want to take part in the interview because it was about her husband.
Originally published as Currumbin MP Laura Gerber spotted setting up prepoll marquees with former MP Jann Stuckey’s name