Labor women have swept the Sunshine State in the federal election, taking ground in several seats that the party faithful had targetted. Photo: Di Farmer MP/Facebook.
After its resounding federal election victory on Saturday, the Labor Party has welcomed a swath of new MPs, many of whom are Queensland women.
Labor has had trouble winning seats in Queensland in recent elections but has overcome that historic hurdle with an emphatic victory that has brought several new faces to the backbench.
The biggest story of the election was the seat of Dickson, which was held by Opposition leader Peter Dutton.
Candidate Ali France took three attempts at seizing the seat but her hard work eventually paid off, and Labor can now thank her for ”decapitating” the Liberal leadership, leaving the Opposition scrambling for a new leader. Sussan Ley is currently the acting head of the Liberal Party.
As the new Member for Dickson, Ms France was congratulated by Mr Dutton on her win. He wished her all the best in representing a community he had led since 2001.
The seats of former prime ministers are always points of pride for political parties and it hurts on a personal/tribal level when they are lost. Perhaps the greatest sting for the Liberals in the 2007 election was prime minister John Howard losing his own seat after more than 30 years of service.
With that in mind, the Labor Party can once again count the seat of Griffith, Kevin Rudd’s former seat, as red territory, thanks to Renee Coffey.
The inner-Brisbane seat was lost to the Greens in 2022, with the young firebrand Max Chandler-Mather having seized it from Mr Rudd’s successor, Terri Butler.
Just across the Brisbane River, the seat of Brisbane itself has also been taken back from the Greens, by Madonna Jarrett. The Greens were hoping for an expansion in the Lower House but that hope now lies in ruin, with Greens leader Adam Bandt desperately holding on to his own seat.
In addition to these seats, Bonner and Petrie have also been won by Labor women in Queensland.
Another Labor heartland seat, Werriwa in Sydney’s south-west, has been an electorate of interest, as many commentators and pundits were looking to the working-class, migrant-heavy suburb for its reaction to Mr Albanese’s first term.
Werriwa was won, and its Member Anne Maree Stanley goes back to the Lower House with a modest swing in her favour.
Brisbane, Griffith and Dickson have been won by Labor women, something that Treasurer Jim Chalmers was keen to point out in an interview with David Speers on ABC TV’s Insiders.
“I’m really grateful for what you said before, David [Speers], about Queensland and about these really quite remarkable women that Queensland is sending to the national Parliament,” Mr Chalmers said.
“Very, very proud of the contribution that Queensland is making to this second-term Albanese Labor Government.
“I always think you can never have enough Queenslanders.”
Queensland seats Bonner and Forde have also been won by female Labor candidates.
