David Crisafulli electorate: What voters in Broadwater think of the Opposition Leader

He may have uprooted his family and moved to Brisbane, but it’s hard to find a David Crisafulli hater in his Gold Coast electorate.

Robert and Yvonne Groth from Hope Island are confident their not-so-local member will be Queensland’s next premier. Picture: Nigel Hallett

It’s hard to find a David Crisafulli hater in Broadwater.

Even those The Courier-Mail spoke to during a few hours in his northern Gold Coast electorate this week, who have never met the man, say they like him and plan to vote for him on October 26.

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That’s despite controversy over Mr Crisafulli and his family upping stumps in Broadwater and moving to Brisbane, where he spends much of his time as opposition leader.

“Everybody loves him here,” said Alex McRae, chairman of the Paradise Point Bowls Club where Mr Crisafulli is a regular.

“He was in a couple of weeks ago having lunch and he talked to every single person that stopped him. He’s a community person and a big supporter of the club. And he’s passionate, very passionate. What he says, he does, which is what I like about him.”

Mr Crisafulli has held Broadwater – a seat stretching from the southern Moreton Bay islands in the north to Runaway Bay in the south and taking in areas including Hope Island, Helensvale, Paradise Point and Sanctuary Cove – since 2017.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli. pic: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

With a margin of 16.6 per cent and now gunning for premier, he’s highly unlikely to be troubled by Labor opponent Tamika Hicks, an early childhood educator, lawyer and former soldier, on election day.

Mr Crisafulli, a former journalist and Townsville deputy mayor, easily won preselection for Broadwater after ousting trouble-prone incumbent LNP MP Verity Barton. Long considered a future premier, he was parachuted into electorate by the conservatives after losing the North Queensland seat of Mundingburra in Labor’s 2015 election rout.

Mr Crisafulli, wife Tegan and daughters Georgia and Nicola settled at Sanctuary Cove but the opposition leader has been targeted by Labor attacks after selling the waterfront home for $2.35m in April 2021 and relocating to Brisbane.

Mrs Crisafulli paid $745,000 for a unit in Brisbane’s CBD before selling it in January last year for a $110,000 profit. In August last year, she paid $1.035m for a family home in upscale Bulimba.

Paradise Point Bowls Club Chairman Alex McRae. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Mr Crisafulli, whose electorate office is at Hope Island, has retained his Broadwater voting address, at a downstairs flat he is understood to rent from a staffer.

Premier Steven Miles and Treasurer Cameron Dick have led the attacks on Mr Crisafulli’s living arrangements, with Mr Dick accusing him of “living a lie” and Mr Miles saying his $10,000 claim for Brisbane travel in 2023-24 while “secretly” living in the capital “doesn’t pass the pub test”.

Labor also launched a TikTok video mocking Mr Crisafulli holding a set of keys and saying – “Good morning Queensland, we’ve got a big announcement” – with the subtitle: “Big announcement: I’m ditching the Gold Coast for my new inner-city mansion.”

Mr Crisafulli told The Australian this week he was “living out of a suitcase”, while also slamming the Labor attacks as “desperate” and defending his “deeply personal” decision to live in Brisbane so he could “spend more time with my kids”.

“I am very proud of the area I represent, I maintain a presence on the Gold Coast. That’s important. But equally is spending some time with the kids,” he said.

Staff and punters at the Paradise Point Bowls Club – whose 10,000 members make it one of the biggest in the state – said they didn’t care that Mr Crisafulli lived in Brisbane, as he often called in for a steak, a beer and a chat.

“He’ll drop in unannounced and talk to anyone and everyone, whether they like him or not,” general manager Kat Vidal said.

“And there’s not too many here who don’t like him.”

Bowlers Yvonne and Robert Groth said they were confident their not-so-local member would be Queensland’s next premier.

“Definitely – I think he’s going to win,” Mrs Groth said. “It’s time for a change.”

Her husband added: “I just think he’s a real people person. He seems very genuine.”

Their sentiments were shared by locals including Natalia Dereko, who runs a beauty clinic in the same complex where Mr Crisafulli has his office.

“He’s for the people, for the community, for families and has a great understanding of what we need,” she said. “I think he will be a better leader for business and the economy too.”

Supervising her two-year-old son Fletcher on the slippery dip in the Paradise Point parklands beside the Southport Broadwater, flight attendant Penny Wilson said her police officer husband was “a huge Lib (LNP)” supporter but she grew up in a Labor family and was more of a swinging voter.

Penny Wilson with her 2-year old son Fletcher from Hollywell. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“But we’ve discussed the election as a family and we think it’s time for a bit of a change,” she said.

“He (Crisafulli) seems very active in the community and well-spoken.”

Across the road at his office, Choice Homes boss Troy Knight said he lived at Main Beach, in former LNP leader John-Paul Langbroek’s Surfers Paradise electorate, but would be voting for Team Crisafulli.

“The other one’s (Steven Miles) hopeless,” he said.

“We definitely need a new government.”

Originally published as David Crisafulli electorate: What voters in Broadwater think of the Opposition Leader