Your State election guide to the new seat of Theodore
FIXING traffic chaos in the seat of Theodore is the main issue for residents heading to the poll today — closely followed by crime.
QLD Votes
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FIXING traffic chaos in the seat of Theodore is the main issue for residents heading to the poll today.
The second is crime.
Dr Trent Headlam of LIFE Chiropractic said he was frustrated by the M1 “car park”.
“We lose a lot of business when there’s a crash or traffic jam on the M1,” he said. “It definitely needs to be fixed.”
Karen Randolph, of Petbarn, said traffic and road works on the side streets at Oxenford had also affected local business.
“We lose so much money when there’s traffic on the main road because people just can’t get to us,” she said.
“When they were building the big stores like Bunnings and Kmart it was chaos on that road … they just don’t think about what it will do to businesses.
“Even when they close one lane it has a big impact.”
Ms Randolph said the closure of the main artery at Coomera — which connects Oxenford to the hinterland — after ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie was “terrible” for local business owners as it hurt their customer base.
“The worst was when the causeway at Coomera was down … all the locals knew that the bridge wasn’t high enough or wide enough to withstand (ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie),” she said.
“And when it did wash away, we lost so much business until the road reopened.”
Formed at the electorate restructure earlier this year, Theodore derives around half its voters from the southern end of the abolished seat of Albert and gains voters from Coomera and Gaven.
The LNP’s Mark Boothman, who previously represented parts of the electorate as Member for Albert from 2012, has a 5.3 per cent margin.
Theodore covers rapidly growing parts of the northern Gold Coast Hinterland where the Pacific Motorway crosses the Coomera River. It includes Oxenford, Maudsland and parts of Upper Coomera, Helensvale and Pacific Pines.
Political analyst Dr Paul Williams said it was “difficult to tell” who would win the seat.
“The LNP have a decent margin of around 5 per cent but Theodore takes in parts of Albert which was a seat that Labor were able to win (in 2012),” he said.
“Typically, the further north you go, the more votes Labor gets … it’s hard to call.”
Domenic Zizza, of News Xpress Oxenford, said more police officers were needed on the northern end of the Gold Coast.
He said part of the Theodore electorate was “growing fast” and crime was on the rise.
“There have been a few break-ins here at Oxenford lately … the shopping centre had to install security cameras,” he said.
“It’s such a fast-growing area and there really aren’t enough police. We have officers come in the store sometimes and they (tell us) they need more of them up this end of the Gold Coast.”
Echoing the voices of others in the area, Mr Zizza said traffic was concerning.
“We moved here from Sydney three years ago and I’ve never seen anything like the M1,” he said.
“We’re forever running into traffic issues … the exit here at Coomera is one of the worst on the Gold Coast.
“The city is growing so fast I can’t imagine what the M1 will look like in five years’ time.”
THEODORE
Seat created in 2017
LNP Margin: 5.3 per cent
Candidates: Mark Boothman (LNP), Tina Meni (Greens), Luz Stanton (ALP), Darrell Lane (One Nation)
Suburbs: Oxenford, Maudsland, Upper Coomera, Helensvale, Wongawallan, Guanaba, Clagiraba and Pacific Pines.
Electorate population: 32,865
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