Electoral district of Gaven

Gaven Queensland—Legislative Assembly
Gaven (2008—)
State or territory:	Queensland
Dates current:	2001–present
MP:	Alex Douglas
Party:	Liberal National
Namesake:	Gaven Way (a section of the Pacific Motorway)

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 is based around the northern growth corridor of the Gold Coast. The current Member of Parliament is Alex Douglas.

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
	Alex Douglas	National	2006–2006
	Phil Gray	Labor	2006–2009
	Alex Douglas	Liberal National	2009–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Gaven

Queensland state election, 2009: Gaven
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Alex Douglas	11,184	41.9	-0.1
	Labor	Phil Gray	10,617	39.8	-7.3
	Greens	Sally Spain	1,870	7.0	-1.5
	Independent	David Montgomery	1,656	6.2	+6.2
	Family First	Derek Radke	700	2.6	+0.3
	Independent	Ramiah Selwood	646	2.4	+2.4
Total formal votes			26,673	96.8
Informal votes			754	3.2
Turnout			27,427	90.2
Two-candidate preferred result
	Liberal National	Alex Douglas	12,003	50.7	+3.9
	Labor	Phil Gray	11,661	49.3	-3.9
	Liberal National gain from Labor		Swing	+3.9

See also

• Queensland Legislative Assembly electoral districts

External links

• Electorate Profile (Antony Green, ABC)
  • 7 March Beattie announces Gaven by-election
  • 9 March ALP candidate confident of Gaven win
  • 1 April Labor hasn't given up by-election
  • 1 April By-election unwinnable: Beattie