Electoral district of Gaven

Gaven /ˈɡeɪvən/ 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 Meaghan Scanlon of the Labor Party.[1] It is currently the only Labor-held seat on the Gold Coast.

Gaven
Queensland—Legislative Assembly
Map of the electoral district of Gaven, 2017
StateQueensland
Dates current2001–present
MPMeaghan Scanlon
PartyLabor
NamesakeGaven Way (a section
of the Pacific Motorway)
Electors33,051 (2020)
Area77 km2 (29.7 sq mi)
DemographicOuter-metropolitan
Coordinates27°58′S 153°17′E
Electorates around Gaven:
Theodore Theodore Bonney
Mudgeeraba Gaven Southport
Mudgeeraba Mudgeeraba Surfers Paradise
2008 map.

History

Gaven was created in 1999, named after the Gaven Way (a section of the Pacific Motorway).[2] When it was created, it was a notionally conservative seat, part of the old South Coast electorate held for 14 years by Russ Hinze (commonly known as Sir Joh's "Minister for Everything"), and was contested for the conservative National Party by the incumbent member for Albert, Bill Baumann, at the 2001 election. However, amid a statewide landslide victory for the 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 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 much 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 subsequently resigned from the seat in late February.

The Liberal-National Coalition made the decision for the National Party, not the Liberals, to contest the seat at the by-election, which was won by around 1,500 votes by Alex Douglas, the National Party candidate, over Labor’s Phil Gray.

The 2006 state election saw Alex Douglas and Phil Gray once again running against each other. Phil Gray won the seat for Labor by a little under 2,000 votes.

The 2009 state election saw Douglas and Gray pitted against each other for a third consecutive time. On this occasion, Douglas, running under the banner of the newly formed Liberal National Party, narrowly emerged as the victor.[3]

Meaghan Scanlon became the first woman to represent the seat, winning the seat for Labor in 2017 and holding it with a swing in her favour at the 2020 Queensland election.

Members for Gaven
MemberPartyTerm
  Robert Poole Labor 2001–2006
  Alex Douglas National 2006–2006
  Phil Gray Labor 2006–2009
  Alex Douglas Liberal National 2009–2012
Independent 2012–2013
Palmer United 2013–2014
Independent 2014–2015
  Sid Cramp Liberal National 2015–2017
  Meaghan Scanlon Labor 2017–present

Election results
Main article: Electoral results for the district of Gaven
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2020 Queensland state election § Gaven.[edit]
2020 Queensland state election: Gaven[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Meaghan Scanlon 12,932 47.47 +4.40
Liberal National Kirsten Jackson 9,021 33.11 −12.99
One Nation Sharon Sewell 2,239 8.22 +8.22
Greens Sally Spain 1,503 5.52 −5.31
Legalise Cannabis Suzette Luyken 1,065 3.91 +3.91
United Australia Garry Beck 292 1.07 +1.07
Civil Liberties & Motorists Reyna Drake 192 0.70 +0.70
Total formal votes 27,244 95.05 +1.57
Informal votes 1,419 4.95 −1.57
Turnout 28,663 86.72 +0.31
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Meaghan Scanlon 15,734 57.75 +7.04
Liberal National Kirsten Jackson 11,510 42.25 −7.04
Labor hold Swing+7.04
Primary vote results in Gaven (Parties that have never gotten 5% of the vote are omitted)
  Labor
  Liberal National
  Liberal
  National
  Greens
  One Nation
  Palmer United/United Australia Party
  Katter's Australian
  Independent
Two-candidate-preferred vote results in Gaven

See also

References
  1. "Representatives of Queensland State Electorates 1860-2017" (PDF). Queensland Parliamentary Record 2012-2017: The 55th Parliament. Queensland Parliament. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 April 2020.
  2. "History of Queensland electorate names" (PDF). Electoral Commission of Queensland. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  3. "Labor's Gray concedes defeat in Gaven". ABC. 26 March 2009. Archived from the original on 28 March 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  4. 2020 State General Election – Gaven – District Summary, ECQ.
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