24th February 2017

The seats of Labor government ministers Steven Miles (in particular) and Kate Jones, to a lesser extent, have been shaken up considerably by the changes to Queensland's electorate boundaries, QUT politics expert Professor Clive Bean says.

 

 "Steven Miles will effectively have to find a new seat to run in," Professor Bean said.

"And while Katter Party MP Shane Knuth will face an uphill battle with his seat having been abolished, I do not think this was done as part of a push to eliminate minor parties, as has been claimed.

"It is merely an example of the extent of the changes required to fit four new electorates in the state.

"Organisations like the Queensland Redistribution Commission are uncompromisingly unbiased in how they go about their work and this is reflected in the apparent lack of advantage or disadvantage overall to either of the major parties in the redistribution.

"Perhaps the one thing the Commission could have done differently would have been to not change the name of as many seats, although I suspect they have done this to signal the extent of the changes to existing seats."

Media contact: Niki Widdowson, QUT Media, 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au

After hours: Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au.

 

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