Elections > Federal Election 2007 > Seats

Blair

CHORLEY, Dale - IND
LUXTON, Peter - GRN
NEUMANN, Shayne - ALP     WINNER
SMITH, Bevan - FFP
SWANBOROUGH, Doug - LDP
THIES, Robert - CEC
* THOMPSON, Cameron - LP
WHITE, David - DEM

* incumbent

Current Results
Past Results

About Blair

Blair covers an area of 5 305 sq km extending west and south from Ipswich. Including most of Ipswich, Blair also extends west along the Warrego Highway to include Rosewood, Laidley and Gatton and south west to the limits of Gatton and Boonah Shires which include the towns of Fassifern, Boonah and Maroon.

Following the 2006 redistribution, Blair shifted south and now includes Boonah (from Forde) and most of the centre and eastern suburbs of Ipswich (from Oxley). The shires of Esk and Kilcoy that formerly constituted the northern region of the seat have been apportioned to Dickson and Fisher.

It is a very diverse electorate including dormitory suburbs of Brisbane and rural areas. Industries include manufacturing, small cropping and grazing. A campus of the University of Queensland is situated near Gatton.

Seat Background

First proclaimed in 1997, Blair is named after Harold Blair, a noted Australian tenor and Aboriginal activist in the mid 20th century.It was won by Cameron Thompson for the Liberals in 1998, defeating Pauline Hanson who contested the seat after her own seat of Oxley was redistributed and made difficult for her to win.

Demographics

Rural.

Commentary and Analysis

The 2006 redistribution has seen this seat move from being Safe Liberal (11.6%) to Marginal Liberal (5.7%).

Seat map copyright © 2007 Australian Electoral Commission