State Queensland MP Glenn Butcher Founded 1992 Elector 35,381 (2015) Party Australian Labor Party | Created 1992 Electors 35,381 (2015) Member of parliament Glenn Butcher Namesake Gladstone | |
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Area 6,718 km (2,593.8 sq mi) | ||
Gladstone is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.
The current member is Labor MP Glenn Butcher. Butcher won the seat following the retirement of long-serving independent Liz Cunningham, who won the seat on National Party preferences after defeating then Labor MP Neil Bennett at the 1995 election. Cunningham was a well-known local figure, having previously been Mayor of the Shire of Calliope prior to entering State politics.
Even though Cunningham had held the seat without much difficulty, Gladstone had always been a safe Labor seat in calculations of "traditional" two-party matchups (i.e., Labor vs. National/LNP). The city of Gladstone has been a Labor stronghold for the better part of a century. Proving this, Labor would have held the seat on a margin of 11 percent during its meltdown of 2012. Thus, it was not considered an upset when Butcher, who had been Cunningham's Labor opponent in 2012, easily reclaimed the seat for Labor at the 2015 election.
The seat of Gladstone consists of the city of Gladstone and the towns of the former Shire of Calliope. This includes the town of Calliope, and the localities of Ambrose, Benaraby, Boyne Island, Builyan Mount Larcom, Tannum Sands and Ubobo.
The seat was created as a reconfigured version of Port Curtis for the 1992 election.