Rusted-on Rankin ALP voters to stick with Labor despite dismay with two major parties

Fickle voters are not a large part of the mix in the Labor-held seat of Rankin, south of Brisbane, where the ALP rules.

Rankin, held by ALP’s Jim Chalmers, includes the working-class suburb of Woodridge, where the majority of voters are rusted-on Labor supporters.

Rusted-on voters are thinning out in seats in southeast Queensland as more turn away from the two major parties and look to the Greens and alternatives such as Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party.

However, one seat where there are large numbers of dedicated Labor voters is Rankin, the seat held by Opposition Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

Rusted-on voters are thinning out in seats in southeast Queensland as more turn away from the two major parties and look to the Greens and alternatives such as Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party. However, one seat where there are large numbers of dedicated Labor voters is Rankin, the seat held by Opposition Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

It covers the working class suburbs of Kingston, Woodridge and Berrinba.

Mr Chalmers, who has had a merry-go-round of media appointments on commercial radio, TV and newspapers in the lead up to the election being called, holds the seat with a 6.4 per cent margin.

Kingston resident Missy Knox, a well-known local artist, said she had always voted Labor but was starting to get disoriented with the major parties.

Missy Knox, a rusted-on Labor voter, says she has considered voting independent but will still vote for the Rankin incumbent, Jim Chalmers.

“My family has always voted Labor because we are working class and indigenous and the ALP is a friend,” she said.

“I take my vote very seriously because women suffragettes had to fight hard to get the vote but the last few elections, I have been disheartened by the two majors, and I have thought hard about voting for an independent.

“I will vote for Jim in May as I know him and trust him but I am sick of the Opposition just opposing policies because they are in opposition.

“I think Labor will win again in this electorate.”

Labor has held the seat since it was established in 1984, even after boundary redistributions in 1993, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2007, 2010 and in 2019.

Enrolments started off at 58,979 in 1984 and rose to a massive 107,700 in 2016, triggering a major redistribution when the electorate numbers were reduced to 103,551.

The seat of Rankin, south of Brisbane is held by ALP’s Jim Chalmers.

That may have had some effect on the Labor vote in 2019, when there was a 6.4 per cent two-party preferred Labor majority, well down on the 2016 figure of 11.3 per cent.

The best Labor booths at the last election were in Woodridge North, where there was a 74.6 per cent ALP vote; Woodridge also registered 72.3 per cent; Woodridge East 71.7, nearby Kingston 71.6 per cent and 71.4 per cent of the voters at the Berrinba East booth voted Labor.

The best Liberal booths, counting only LNP and ALP votes, were in Rocklea where 59.1 per cent of voters opted for the LNP candidate, Clinton Pattison, who lives in that area.

Pre-polling voting centres at Springwood and Loganholme scored higher for the LNP candidate.

Originally published as Rusted-on Rankin ALP voters to stick with Labor despite dismay with two major parties