Queensland election: Outsiders have inside running in race for critical marginal seat of Pumicestone

Pumicestone, on the northern outskirts of Brisbane, is full of people who’ve come from somewhere else.

Labor candidate for Pumicestone, Ali King. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Pumicestone, on the northern outskirts of Brisbane, is full of people who’ve come from somewhere else, and in this election they have been given a choice by the two major parties of candidates who have also recently arrived from somewhere else.

Being a blow-in is often a dis­advantage for a candidate, but Pumicestone, based on Caboolture and incorporating Bribie Island, is on the northern outskirts of Brisbane and what was farming land a few years ago has been subdivided for suburbia for young families plus a brace of aged-care facilities for those at the other end of the age spectrum.

The ALP candidate for the seat, Ali King, at the last election was the party’s candidate in the seat of Maiwar, in Brisbane’s western suburbs, while LNP candidate Fiona Gaske was until earlier this year the deputy mayor of Balonne Shire Council based in St George in western Queensland.

She is still listed as being on the board of the South West Hospital and Health Service, the state government-appointed body that runs health services in southwest Queensland, as well as being the founder and principal of the Maranoa Performing Arts Group and numerous other groups in western Queensland.

In a debate on Monday, Ms King and Ms Gaske traded barbs over their backgrounds, with the latter saying “I don’t know what small businesses you’re talking about, Ali, maybe small business in Maiwar”, while Ms King talked about “earlier in the year, before Fiona moved to the electorate”.

Pumicestone is the oldest electorate in the state, with a median age of 48, as opposed to the Queensland median of 37. It is also one of the poorest, with an average weekly income of $493; the Queensland average is $660.

The seat is held by the LNP’s Simone Wilson with a margin of 0.8 per cent, and if the ALP is to hang on to office, it will need to win seats in southeast Queensland such as Pumicestone to offset likely losses in North Queensland.

Yet the 0.8 margin is misleading, as the last election result was distorted by former ALP seat member Ric Williams standing as an independent after he was dis­endorsed by the ALP.

He picked up 4.6 per cent of the vote but his preferences did not all flow back to the ALP candidate, allowing Ms Wilson to win on preferences, largely from One Nation.

One Nation has always had a strong profile in the area, with a higher than normal proportion of people who could be called ­“battlers” — they don’t like politics and are cynical about it.

The previous electorate of Caboolture, which contained large parts of what is now Pumicestone, had a One Nation representative in parliament from 1998 to 2001 in Bill Feldman.

In the last election, One Nation polled 23.3 per cent, well within range of the LNP’s primary vote of 29.9 per cent and the ALP’s primary vote of 35.6 per cent. The Greens do not have a big presence, polling 5 per cent in 2017; their preferences were not enough to get the ALP over the line.