2012 South Brisbane state by-election

Background

Anna Bligh first entered the Parliament of Queensland as the Labor member for the seat of South Brisbane at the 1995 state election. She became leader of the party and Premier of Queensland following the resignation of Peter Beattie in 2007.

Bligh retained her seat at the 2012 state election with a 38.6 percent primary vote, a reduction of 9.8 points, and 55.0 percent of the two-party preferred vote, a reduction of 10.0 points. Statewide, Labor suffered a landslide defeat retaining only seven of 89 seats. Bligh immediately resigned as both premier and party leader, and on 30 March 2012 resigned from Parliament.

Dates

Bligh intended the resignation to be timed so as to allow a by-election to be held on 28 April 2012, the same day as local government elections, but said she would understand if the new government chose a different day. Later, a question emerged over whether her resignation could be effective on 30 March as she was not formally in possession of the seat. But on 2 April, she was declared the winner, and a writ was subsequently issued for the by-election.

Candidates

The declared candidates, in ballot paper order, were as follows:

• Candidate contested South Brisbane at the 2012 state election.

The LNP candidate was Clem Grehan who stood against Bligh at the general election when he substantially slashed her majority. Grehan gained further ground in the by-election but was not enough to win the seat.

Despite coming close to winning South Brisbane in this by-election he did not run again for the LNP in the seat at the 2015 election.

Results

The results of the election were:

References

References

1. link. (2 February 2017 - By Kim Lyell - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Retrieved 10 May 2012.)
2. Bridie Jabour. (2012-02-29). "Trad claims narrow victory and sends warning to Newman". Brisbanetimes.com.au.
3. (25 March 2012). "Bligh resigns after election wipe-out". ABC News.
4. "South Brisbane - Queensland Votes 2012 - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)".
5. (29 March 2012). "Former Premier Anna Bligh may have to resign for second time due to electoral commission technicality". Courier Mail.
6. "2012 State General Election: South Brisbane District Summary". Electoral Commission of Queensland.
7. (3 April 2012). "QLD2012 – Update on Close Contests – 3 April". ABC News.
8. Antony Green. "2012 South Brisbane by-election". ABC News.
9. "Results: 2012 South Brisbane by-election". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
10. "2012 South Brisbane by-election results: ECQ".