Fadden by-election: Residents warn they fear being homeless in rental crisis
Labor has put the blowtorch on the LNP and their candidate Councillor Cameron Caldwell, saying anything less than a 3.5 per cent swing back to the Liberals would be failure in Fadden.
Gold Coast
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Labor has put the blowtorch on the LNP and their candidate Councillor Cameron Caldwell, saying anything less than a 3.5 per cent swing back to the Liberals would be failure in Fadden.
Gold Coast-based Senator Murray Watt, in shock prediction, expect the LNP’s vote in the safe northern Coast federal seat will return to similar safe margins recorded before the 2022 poll.
He said Fadden was different to the recent Aston by election in Victoria where Labor gained a 6.4 per cent swing in the marginal Liberal seat — the first government win at a by election since 1920.
Senator Watt said several dramas involving the retiring MP Stuart Robert including the Robodebt saga had suppressed the conservative vote in the seat of Fadden.
“I think given that Stuart was a scandal-prone and inactive federal member means that their vote last time at the election may have fallen back a bit,” Senator Watt said.
“If you take him out of the picture, they should be expecting to get a swing – that’s the fundamental point.
“Absolutely, we have no chance of winning. But more than that, they really should be expecting a swing on the back of Stuart moving on and especially with a well known long term council member running as their candidate.”
In the 2022 poll, on first party preferences, Labor recorded a 0.2 per cent swing against it. Mr Robert sustained a 4.1 per cent swing in one of the nation’s safest conservative seats.
Independent Stewart Brooker received 4.2 per cent of the primary vote.On a two-party preferred result, the swing against the LNP was 3.55 per cent.
In the by election on July 15, the LNP is facing the same candidates. One Nation has preselected Sandy Roach again and Labor will be represented by Letitia Del Fabbro.
“I had another look (at the figures from 2022),” Senator Watt said.
“With Stuart being out of the picture and the tradition that Oppositions get swings to them in a by election, they should really be expecting a swing of 3.5 per cent to them to regain that ground,” Senator Watt said.
“Everyone seems to think that because of Aston we should be expecting a good swing, some people think we should be thinking of winning.
“But that was a total aberration. I think it was the first time a government had won a by election in decades.
“That was not the norm. Ordinarily Oppositions get swings towards them.”
Despite Labor being pessimistic about its chances, it is determined to compete at the poll.
In 16 polls Labor has only won once in Fadden. The ALP’s David Beddall was the city’s northern-based Federal MP between March 1983 and December 1984.
“But that doesn’t mean we should vacate the field – we’ve got a lot of passionate branch members on the Gold Coast, it is an area that we want to keep building our presence, so we’re standing for those reasons but we don’t really expect to win,” Senator Watt said.
EARLIER
Housing affordability is emerging as the critical issue in the Fadden by-election with party candidates already door knocking voters in the Gold Coast’s north.
Both Labor and One Nation are campaigning on the ground as the LNP on the weekend announced Gold Coast City Councillor Cameron Caldwell had won a preselection battle for the seat.
Cr Caldwell after Saturday’s marathon ballot where he defeated four other candidates spent Sunday with his family.
One Nation secretary Damian Huxham said their candidate, accountant Sandy Roach, has met with residents and recruited volunteers, some of them disaffected former Liberal members
“On her visits to residents, Sandy says two critical issues are standing out – the housing and rental crisis, and the rising cost of living,” Mr Huxham said.
“These are national crises affecting all Australian communities and they are being acutely felt in Fadden.
“Gold Coast families are facing the loss of their homes because they can’t meet increased mortgage payments. More families are facing homelessness because of an acute shortage
of rentals and huge increases in rents.
“More families are going without essentials as they struggle with rising energy bills, fuel costs and grocery bills.”
Mr Huxham maintains Labor’s cost-of-living relief in the federal budget would not go far enough to help families, given a 25 per cent hike will occur in household energy bills from July.
“Labor won’t address the real cause of rising energy bills – their appalling climate change policies – and won’t address the factor driving unprecedented demand in the housing and rental market, Labor’s record immigration,” Mr Huxham said.
“The Coalition has offered nothing to fix these problems either, they’re in lock-step with Labor on immigration. While they ignore community sentiment on immigration, homelessness in Queensland has risen 22 per cent in the past five years.”
Labor is putting forward its candidate from last year’s federal poll to contest the northern Gold Coast by-election but it concedes the party’s prospects of victory are slim.
Letitia Del Fabbro recorded a 3.5 per cent swing towards the ALP in Fadden at the 2022 election.
Gold Coast-based Federal Minister Murray Watt applauded the nursing educator for trimming the margin at last year’s poll.
But Senator Watt added “we need to recognise that Fadden is a rolled gold LNP seat”.
“Pimpama, which is obviously in the centre of it, has over 50 per cent of renters. For renters, housing affordability is a big issue,” he said.
“Rental assistance was increased in the recent budget. We are ploughing a lot of money into social and community housing, more than the former government did.”
Senator Watt said the LNP was not supporting Labor’s election commitment of investing $10 billion a year in Housing Australia Future Fund, which would see $500 million spent on building 30,000 new affordable homes.
“Some of it would be for veterans, for women fleeing domestic violence, for essential workers, the teachers and nurses struggling to afford housing. The Greens and the LNP are basically ganging up in the Senate to block it.
“We will be reminding voters that the LNP are standing in the way of 30,000 new social and affordable housing.”
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