Gold Coast: Currumbin by-election 2020

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Currumbin by-election 2020: LNP and Labor Candidates reluctant to outline position on light rail

The battle for Currumbin is heating up as both the Labor and LNP candidates reveal the answer to one critical question: Where do they stand on Light rail going to Gold Coast Airport?

THE two prime candidates looking to snare the crucial state seat of Currumbin were happy to talk family, their close ties to the community and how their policies trumped their rival party this morning.

But don't ask them for a definitive position on one of the area's most polarising issues – light rail.

Both Labor candidate Kaylee Campradt and the LNP's Laura Gerber sidestepped questions about whether they wanted the trams to run through their division en route to the Gold Coast Airport.

The project has been a hotbed issue for residents in the Palm Beach-Currumbin area, causing friction with Mayor Tom Tate.

In December, a defiant Councillor Tate threatened to take the trams south to the border without stops at Palm Beach if residents did not want them.

Ms Campradt said it was too early to support or oppose the project. Ms Gerber said only that the community was concerned.

At a boisterous Labor launch at Currumbin RSL, Ms Campradt said: "I think the people of Palm Beach have legitimate concerns about what it means already.

"I think people have used light rail in Palm Beach as an excuse for some of the ugly things that have happened there. I'm not sure that all of that can be pegged on the light rail, because it's happening anyway (overdevelopment).

"I do understand that the airport particularly wants to see infrastructure linked ... I agree, we need to sort that out.

"I think that the heavy rail to the airport is something I want to see happen. As far as light rail goes, I'm not sure. I'm not sure whether it's something everybody wants but I'm prepared to listen and learn ... but it's very early at this point."

Ms Campradt was joined at the launch party by senior Queensland Labor figures such as Minister for Tourism Kate Jones, Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath and Minister for Roads Mark Bailey.

Less than a kilometre up the road at Winders Park half an hour later, Ms Gerber held a more sedate media event.

She brought along two-year-old son Tom for a photo opportunity alongside Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington.

"My personal view on the light rail? Look, I think Currumbin doesn't want to go the same way as Palm Beach. We want to be able to park on the beaches, we want to be able to have the accessibility that we have now and I think the concern is when the light rail goes through in that way that might all fall away. I think that's the concern," she said.

Both parties are expected to go to the polls next month for a by-election to fill the seat left vacant by long-serving MP Jann Stuckey.

Ms Stuckey has officially resigned from the job after going public about her battle with depression and bullying in politics.

A date for a by-election is expected this week. It is expected to be held on council polling on March 28.

Ms Stuckey retained Currumbin with a 3.3 per cent margin against Labor in 2017, following a 2.4 per cent swing to Labor.

The electorate includes Currumbin, Coolangatta, Elanora and Tugun as well as Currumbin Valley and Tallebudgera Valley.

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Will light rail determine the Currumbin by-election and next Queensland poll

The Currumbin by-election is the ultimate guide to who governs next in Queensland. The LNP is hoping its brand "Deb Frecklington 2020" ends Annastacia Palaszczuk's political run. What will happen at the poll?

THE Currumbin by-election is the ultimate guide to who governs next in Queensland. The LNP is hoping its brand "Deb Frecklington 2020" ends Annastacia Palaszczuk's political run.

The LNP campaign in Currumbin so far is being portrayed as a train wreck. However Labor sees itself as very much behind in this race and strategists are searching for votes.

The margin held by retiring LNP Currumbin MP Jann Stuckey is 3.3 per cent. The Green vote is steady at around 10 per cent, those preferences helping Labor.

"About 1000 votes have to be shifted (for us to win)," a Labor insider said.

The Premier is attempting to reduce voter backlash by staging the poll on the council election day on March 28.

Most by-elections see a swing against the government and anything less than four or five per cent drop in the Labor vote puts pressure on Ms Frecklington's leadership.

But Currumbin, if a recent City Plan council forum at the Currumbin RSL is any guide, is complex.

It is impossible at this point to determine how key issues like light rail and high rise development will hurt Labor and the LNP.

An elderly Currumbin bloke at the council forum suggested "we should move the airport", which he said would solve everyone's problems. The debate began about "where to".

You get the picture? Many in the south just don't want any progress on their patch at all.

Labor is "looking for places between the blue and the green" – away from the luxury beach high rise owners who vote conservative and the rusted-on environmentalists out west.

"There are some places that are red, plenty of red out there," the Labor strategist says.

Labor's candidate Kaylee Campradt has family ties going back generations in the Currumbin Valley and built a successful P&C team with the local school.

She is smart enough to calm expectations. Her supporters will have been told: "We are the underdog here. It's been a Liberal/LNP seat for 19 years."

LNP insiders rate their candidate, Laura Gerber, saying she is young and smart, and if the media focus can move beyond her having once been on the reality show Australia's Worst Driver, peoplewill discover a great candidate.

So will the light rail – and opposition to it – determine the result?

Look at the electorate map. The epicentre of protest, at Palm Beach, is not in Currumbin.

Labor will be quick to say no decision has been made on a route south of Burleigh. The LNP will say a solution needs to be found that suits residents, maybe out to Varsity.

The Jann Stuckey factor after her stormy exit? If anyone should pick up votes on this it is Ms Campradt for not speaking out, after the MP's personal outburst against her in Parliament.

The LNP's campaign will be instantly recognisable, about crime – and there is a real youth gang problem.

When they talk up traffic congestion, it will resonate with drivers stalled on the M1.

Who is going to win? It may come down to a handful of votes.

Just a thought: has the LNP or Labor thought about moving Gold Coast Airport to Jacobs Well?

[ozbob]

The Australian --> LNP preference One Nation over Labor in Currumbin, Bundamba by-elections

The Queensland Liberal National Party will preference One Nation ahead of Labor at the two upcoming state by-elections in Currumbin and Bundamba, but the LNP has denied doing a deal with Pauline Hanson's party.

In a statement from LNP president David Hutchinson on Friday afternoon, the party confirmed it would ask its voters to put Labor last in both by-elections, to be held on March 28. ....

[ozbob]

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-government/palaszczuk-government-on-brink-of-winning-currumbin-byelection/news-story/753bdac5dee808e153f4af8c829d0852

[ozbob]

Results

>> https://prodresults.elections.qld.gov.au/currumbin2020

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/DebFrecklington/status/1244869967645822976

[Gazza]

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-government/palaszczuk-government-on-brink-of-winning-currumbin-byelection/news-story/753bdac5dee808e153f4af8c829d0852

Who the hell proof read that Currumbin by election graph?