QUEENSLAND ELECTION 2009

KAWANA Liberal 2.6%
Region: Sunshine Coast Federal divisions: Fisher/Fairfax Outgoing Member: Steve Dickson (Liberal)
	JARROD BLEIJIE Liberal National (top) JENNY GOODWIN Labor (bottom) LINDSAY HOLT Greens

The Sunshine Coast electorate of Kawana has been dramatically affected by the creation of its new northern neighbour Buderim, which in fact takes more voters from the existing Kawana than the seat that continues the name. Buderim and Mountain Creek to the north of the Sunshine Motorway have gone to the new electorate, accounting for 21,000 voters, while the remaining 16,200 along the coast from Minyama south through Warana to Kawana Waters have been supplemented by 12,800 voters in the northern and western of suburbs of Caloundra. The changes have cut the Liberal margin from 5.7 per cent to 2.6 per cent, mostly due to the Liberals' strength around Buderim.

Kawana was created in 2001 in place of abolished Mooloolah, after the town of that name was transferred to Nicklin. Of the many disasters suffered by the Liberal Party at the 2001 election, sitting member Bruce Laming's defeat from a notional margin of 16.1 per cent was possibly the worst. Equally depressing for the Liberals was their failure to recover it in 2004, when Labor was able to limit the two-party correction to 1.1 per cent. Labor's unlikely winner, Chris Cummins, was promoted to Emergency Services Minister after the 2004 election at the insistence of Peter Beattie, whose demand that the Sunshine Coast be represented in cabinet reportedly made Cummins “the most hated man in caucus”. This didn't save him from the Sunshine Coast backlash over water issues in 2006, when he was tipped out by a 7.2 per cent swing. The Liberal victor was Maroochy Shire councillor Steve Dickson, who is now taking his business to Buderim.

The Liberal National Party has nominated Jarrod Bleijie, a 27-year-old solicitor who once held the title of Caloundra Young Citizen of the Year.

Wurtulla Beach in Kawana has been affected by the Pacific Adventurer oil and chemical spill which hit late in the second last week of the campaign, along with Marcoola, Mudjimba and Twin Waters in Maroochydore to the north. Shadow Transport Minister and Maroochydore MP Fiona Simpson announced a week out from polling day that $785 million would be spent building a rail line from Caloundra to Maroochydore by 2015, but Lawrence Springborg was subsequently forced to admit this was merely an an “aspiration”. The proposal as announced would not connect the line to the larger rail network.

PREDICTION: Liberal National retain