QUEENSLAND ELECTION 2009

CURRUMBIN Liberal 2.2%
Region: Gold Coast Federal division: McPherson
	INGE LIGHT Greens JANN STUCKEY Liberal National (top) MICHAEL RIORDAN Labor (bottom) JASON HOCKINGS DS4SEQ

Currumbin covers the Gold Coast for five kilometres north of the New South Wales border, from Palm Beach south to Coolangatta, and extends about 20 kilometres inland through the Currumbin Valley. It has not been significantly changed by the redistribution. The electorate came into existence in 1986 when it was won for the Nationals by Leo Gately, who was defeated in 1989 by Liberal candidate Trevor Coomber. Coomber abandoned Currumbin in 1992 to challenge future Premier Rob Borbidge in Surfers Paradise, for what Antony Green describes as “some strange reason”. As well as failing to defeat Borbidge, Coomber also had to watch his existing seat buck the trend of an otherwise static election result by swinging heavily to Labor, whose candidate Merri Rose won by 5.8 per cent on two-party preferred.

Rose survived the 1995 backlash against the Goss government and looked to be sitting pretty when the 2001 landslide left her with a margin of 14.5 per cent. However, her career went sharply downhill immediately thereafter due to controversies over her electorate car and ongoing allegations of bullying against staff members and drivers, which came to a head when an adverse finding compelled her to resign as Racing, Gaming and Fair Trading Minister during the 2004 election campaign. Her primary vote subsequently fell from 56.4 to 39.6 per cent, which translated into a decisive 17.7 per cent swing to Liberal candidate Jann Stuckey. Rose was imprisoned in May 2007 after being convicted of “demanding a benefit with threats” – the benefit being a position with Tourism Queensland, the victim being Peter Beattie.

Jann Stuckey operated a communications consultancy before entering parliament, and was described by former state party vice-president Graham Young as “definitely non-aligned” in the bipolar Queensland Liberal factional divide. She was promoted to the front bench when the Coalition agreement was finalised in September 2005, and has held the child safety and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community development portfolios since the Liberal National Party merger in August 2008. Perhaps deprived of the Merri Rose dividend from 2004, her margin at the 2006 election was reduced from 3.2 per cent to 2.2 per cent.

Lawrence Springborg promised a temporary shutdown to sand pumping near Kirra Beach on the Gold Coast on the first weekend of the campaign, which is widely blamed for a deterioration in the quality of the beach's waves. An item on The 7.30 Report two years ago explained that the sand pumping is a joint project by the New South Wales and Queensland governments and local councils to keep the Tweed River open to commercial and recreational boating, and to protect local beaches against erosion. Springborg's promise was over and above the $1.5 million Anna Bligh promised earlier in the week to excavate sand from the Kirra reef.

PREDICTION: Liberal National retain