Electoral district of Gaven

Gaven Queensland—Legislative Assembly
300px Gaven (2008—)
State	Queensland
Dates current	2001–present
MP	Sid Cramp
Party	Liberal National Party
Namesake	Gaven Way (a section of the Pacific Motorway)
Electors	35,345 (2015)
Area	141 km2 (54.4 sq mi)
Coordinates

Gaven is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. It was created out of the former district of Nerang and the southern segment of Albert in the 2001 redistribution, and encompasses the northern growth corridor of the Gold Coast. The current Member of Parliament is Sid Cramp.

History

Gaven was created as a notionally conservative seat, part of the old South Coast seat held for 14 years by Russ Hinze (commonly known as Sir Joh's "Minister for Everything"), and was contested for the conservative National Party of Australia by the incumbent member for Albert, Bill Baumann, at the 2001 election. However, amidst a statewide landslide victory for the Australian Labor Party, the seat fell to union organiser Robert Poole with a 14.6% swing. The National Party agreed to let their coalition partner, the more urban Liberal Party of Australia contest the seat at the 2004 election, and though they nominated former Gold Coast mayor Ray Stevens, Poole was returned with only a slight swing against him.

Poole became the subject of increasing controversy during his second term, as he spent most of his term out of the state, living with his family in Thailand. This reached its peak in 2006, when Poole revealed that he intended to spend the first half the year in Thailand while he recovered from surgery. A furious Premier Peter Beattie demanded that Poole return or face having his seat formally declared vacant, and Poole reluctantly stepped down in late February.

Facing a highly winnable by-election, the Coalition made the decision to allow the National Party to contest the seat, which bemused some observers, who noted that the party had only polled 2% for the Senate in Gaven's federal booths at the 2004 federal election.

The 2006 state election saw Alex Douglas and Phil Gray once again running against each other, with the Queensland Greens being represented by Glen Ryman. Phil Gray won the seat by an 8% swing, with an absolute majority of primary votes.

The 2009 state election saw Douglas and Gray pitted against each other for the third consecutive time. On this occasion, Douglas, running under the banner of the newly formed Liberal National Party, narrowly emerged as the victor.

Members for Gaven

Member		Party	Term
	Robert Poole	Labor	2001–2006
	Alexander Douglas	National	2006–2006
	Phil Gray	Labor	2006–2009
	Alexander Douglas	Liberal National	2009–2012
		Independent	2012–2013
		Palmer United	2013–2014
		Independent	2014–2015
	Sid Cramp	Liberal National	2015–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Gaven

Queensland state election, 2015: Gaven

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Sid Cramp	11,786	38.95	−16.21
	Labor	Michael Riordan	8,700	28.75	+5.89
	Independent	Alex Douglas	3,779	12.49	+12.49
	Palmer United	Adam Marcinkowski	2,740	9.05	+9.05
	Greens	Toni McPherson	1,852	6.12	+0.54
	Family First	Ben O'Brien	1,083	3.58	−1.14
	Independent	Chris Ivory	321	1.06	+1.06
Total formal votes			30,261	96.86	−0.14
Informal votes			980	3.14	+0.14
Turnout			31,241	88.39	−1.15
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal National	Sid Cramp	13,362	52.24	−16.86
	Labor	Michael Riordan	12,214	47.76	+16.86
	Liberal National gain from Independent		Swing	−16.86

See also

• Queensland Legislative Assembly electoral districts

External links

• Electorate Profile (Antony Green, ABC)