To keep a Gold Coast seat that Labour has never won, the federal opposition reportedly spent $600,000 on a by-election.
As a result of Stuart Robert’s resignation, there is a by-election in Fadden. Polls are open and people are casting ballots.
Peter Dutton’s leadership may be doomed if he loses the Queensland seat, but given the expensive campaign, an upset seems even less likely.
After the Coalition lost the seat of Aston earlier this year, a significant amount of money was spent on what is thought to be a safe LNP seat.
However, not even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese believes Fadden will do the same.
In a by-election, “there are typically swings away from a government of around about 4% to 5%,” he remarked on Friday.
But our candidate is a terrific candidate; she’s out there. I was really glad to launch her campaign, and the Labour Party is running so that people have that choice. “Fadden, and that northern section of the Gold Coast have only ever returned LNP members.
“However, I don’t anticipate a result like that of the Aston by-election.
“That was an extraordinary result, the first time the government has taken a seat away from the opposition in 100 years.”
Cameron Caldwell, a councillor for Gold Coast City, has been nominated by the Liberals as their candidate, while Letitia Del Fabbro, who helped Labour earn 3.6% more votes in the district at the most recent federal election, is running again.
Fadden remains a stronghold for the Liberals because Labour has never won it, and even with the flip in 2022, the Coalition kept it with a solid 10.6% advantage.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he isn’t concerned about Fadden’s margin – just as long as it stays in Liberal hands. Some Labour leaders think cutting into the LNP’s margin would be a kind of win.
I’ll be pleased if Cameron Caldwell is chosen to serve as Fadden’s next representative. “I want someone who has the track record to deliver for neighbourhood residents, and Cameron does just that,” he said on Thursday.
“He has been a local hero for 12 years, someone who has rolled up his sleeves, worked hard with families, helped them through trying times, helped community groups, and helped people with important issues,” said one observer.
Robodebt, on the other hand, might make things more difficult for the LNP.
In the recent royal commission investigation examining the debt-collection plan, which called the programme “crude and cruel” and maintained via “venality, incompetence, and cowardice,” Robert was one of several ministers who received harsh condemnation.
When announcing the by-election on the Gold Coast last month, Albanese remarked, “Let’s remember why we’re holding this by-election.
Having presided over one of the greatest and cruellest failures in Australian political history, robodebt, Stuart Robert is resigned from the legislature.
“That’s the kind of candidate the LNP thought was good enough for your community, and that’s the kind of person Peter Dutton thought was good enough for his shadow ministry.”
Dutton, for his part, has asserted that his party accepts responsibility for the errors it made in introducing the plan.
He told 2GB on Thursday that the Royal Commission has focused on the system’s design since there are undoubtedly lessons to be learned from it.
We ought to take note of those lessons, and the programme has undoubtedly been improved since then.
Voting began this morning at 8am and will end at 6pm.
