# 2012 South Brisbane state by-election

A by-election was held for the seat of South Brisbane in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland on 28 April 2012, the same day as local government elections, following the decision of former premier Anna Bligh to retire from politics. Jackie Trad retained the seat for the Labor Party.

## 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.
| Date | Event |
| 3 April 2012 | Writ of election issued by the governor |
| 7 April 2012 | Close of electoral rolls |
| 11 April 2012 | Close of nominations |
| 28 April 2012 | Polling day, between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm |
| 28 May 2012 | Last day for writ to be returned and results formally declared |

## Candidates

The declared candidates, in ballot paper order, were as follows:
Candidate nominations :
| Independent | Jason McKenzie | Employed with an accounting and consulting firm. Former employee with News Limited. |
| Daylight Saving for South East Queensland | Penny Panorea | Owns a design studio and art house cafe. |
| Family First Party | Penny McCreery | Business and law student. |
| Queensland Greens | Jo-Anne Bragg$^*$ | Environmental and resources non-profit legal centre Director. Contested 2008 Brisbane Lord Mayoralty. |
| Liberal National Party of Queensland | Clem Grehan$^*$ | Infrastructure project manager. |
| Independent | Liam Flenady$^*$ | Endorsed candidate of the unregistered Socialist Alliance. Musician and political activist. |
| Labor Party | Jackie Trad | Former adviser to the Beattie and Bligh governments and Queensland Labor's Assistant State Secretary. |
| Katter's Australian Party | Robert Wardrop$^*$ | Owns a concrete formworks manufacturing company. |
$^*$ 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:
South Brisbane state by-election, 28 April 2012 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal National | Clem Grehan | 7,761 | 38.0 | –0.1 |
| | Labor | Jackie Trad | 6,720 | 32.9 | –5.7 |
| | Greens | Jo-Anne Bragg | 3,960 | 19.4 | +1.3 |
| | DS4SEQ | Penny Panorea | 751 | 3.7 | +3.7 |
| | Katter's Australian | Robert Wardrop | 435 | 2.1 | –1.3 |
| | Independent | Jason McKenzie | 349 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| | Family First | Penny McCreery | 261 | 1.3 | +1.3 |
| | Independent Socialist Alliance | Liam Flenady | 189 | 0.9 | –1.0 |
| Total formal votes | Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 20,426 | 98.2 | +0.2 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 383 | 1.8 | –0.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 20,809 | 67.5 | –19.6 |
| Two-party-preferred result ||||||
| | Labor | Jackie Trad | 8,963 | 51.7 | –3.0 |
| | Liberal National | Clem Grehan | 8,388 | 48.3 | +3.0 |
| | Labor hold | Labor hold | Swing | –3.0 | |