# 2009 Queensland state election

The 2009 Queensland state election was held on 21 March 2009 to elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly, a unicameral parliament.
The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National Party of Queensland led by Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, and gain a fifth consecutive term in office for her party. Bligh thus became the first female Premier of any Australian State elected in her own right.
This was the first election contested by the LNP following its creation with the merger of the National and Liberal parties.
The 2009 election marked the eighth consecutive victory of Labor in a general election since 1989, although it was out of office between 1996 and 1998 as a direct result of the 1996 Mundingburra by-election.

## Background

The Labor Party, led by Premier Anna Bligh, and the LNP, led by Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, were the two main parties in Queensland at the election. It was the first election contested by the LNP following its creation with the merger of the National and Liberal parties. At the previous election, Labor won 59 seats, the Nationals won 17 seats, the Liberals won eight seats, One Nation won one seat, and independents won four seats. Former Labor MP Ronan Lee joined the Greens in 2008, thus becoming their parliamentary leader. Lee lost his seat at the election.
A redistribution saw Labor notionally pick up three seats. Therefore, the LNP notionally needed to pick up 22 seats rather than 20 seats to form a majority government, which equated to an unchanged uniform 8.3 percent two party preferred swing.
Former Premier Peter Beattie resigned in September 2007, which triggered the October 2007 Brisbane Central by-election.

## Key dates

| Date | Event |
| 23 February 2009 | Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election. |
| 28 February 2009 | Close of electoral rolls |
| 3 March 2009 | Close of nominations |
| 21 March 2009 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm |
| 26 March 2009 | The Bligh Ministry was reconstituted |
| 7 April 2009 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared |
| 12 April 2009 | 53rd Parliament convened |

## Electoral redistribution

A redistribution of electoral boundaries occurred in 2008.
The electorates of Charters Towers, Cunningham, Darling Downs, Fitzroy, Kurwongbah, Mount Gravatt, Robina, and Tablelands were abolished.
The electorates of Buderim, Condamine, Coomera, Dalrymple, Mermaid Beach, Morayfield, Pine Rivers, and Sunnybank were created.
The redistribution merged Charters Towers with Tablelands to create the notionally National-held Dalrymple, Fitzroy into Mirani, and Cunningham with Darling Downs to create the notionally National-held Condamine, all in regional Queensland. Notionally Liberal-held Buderim was created on the Sunshine Coast, notionally Labor-held Morayfield in the corridor north of Brisbane, and notionally Labor-held Coomera was created on the Gold Coast. Kurwongbah was renamed Pine Rivers, Mount Gravatt was renamed Sunnybank, and Robina was renamed Mermaid Beach. Burdekin, Clayfield, and Mirani became notionally Labor-held, while Glass House became notionally National-held.
The changes resulted in 62 notionally Labor-held seats, 8 notionally Liberal-held seats, 15 notionally National-held seats, and 4 notionally Independent-held seats. All Liberal-held and National-held seats became Liberal National-held seats.

## Retiring members
### Labor

* Chris Bombolas MP (Chatsworth) - Announced 19 February 2009
* Gary Fenlon MP (Greenslopes) - Announced 15 February 2009
* Ken Hayward MP (Kallangur)
* Linda Lavarch MP (Kurwongbah)
* Jim Pearce MP (Fitzroy)
* Warren Pitt MP (Mulgrave) - Announced 17 February 2009
* Pat Purcell MP (Bulimba)
* Mike Reynolds MP (Townsville) - Announced 15 February 2009
* Rod Welford MP (Everton)

### Liberal National

* Kev Lingard MP (Beaudesert)

## Results

| | Labor | 1,002,415 | 42.25 | 4.67 | 51 | 8 |
| | Liberal National | 987,018 | 41.60 | 3.68 | 34 | 9 |
| | Greens | 198,475 | 8.37 | 0.38 | 0 | 0 |
| | Independents | 134,156 | 5.65 | 0.97 | 4 | 0 |
| | DS4SEQ | 22,170 | 0.93 | New | 0 | New |
| | Family First | 19,379 | 0.82 | 1.07 | 0 | 0 |
| | One Nation | 9,038 | 0.38 | 0.22 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | Total | 2,372,651 | 100.00 | – | 89 | – |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 2,372,651 | 98.06 | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 46,908 | 1.94 | 0.14 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 2,419,559 | 100.00 | – | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 2,660,940 | 90.93 | 0.46 | | |
| Source: |||||||
| Two-party-preferred |||||
| | Labor | | 50.9 | 4.1 |
| | Liberal National | | 49.1 | 4.1 |
| Total | Total | | |
Popular vote
Labor
42.45%
LNP
41.60%
Greens
8.37%
DS4SEQ
0.93%
Family First
0.82%
One Nation
0.38%
Independents
5.65% :
Two-party preferred vote
Labor
50.9%
LNP
49.1% :
Seats
Labor
57.30%
LNP
38.20%
Independents
4.49% :

## Seats changing hands

| Seat | 2008 Redistribution | 2008 Redistribution | 2008 Redistribution | 2008 Redistribution | Swing | 2009 Election | 2009 Election | 2009 Election | 2009 Election |
| Seat | Party | Party | Member | Margin | Swing | Margin | Member | Party | Party |
| Aspley | | Labor | Bonny Barry | 3.0 | -7.46 | 4.46 | Tracy Davis | Liberal National | |
| Burdekin | | Labor | notional | 0.9 | -4.05 | 3.15 | Rosemary Menkens | Liberal National | |
| Clayfield | | Labor | notional | 0.3 | -6.14 | 5.84 | Tim Nicholls | Liberal National | |
| Cleveland | | Labor | Phil Weightman | 1.2 | -1.48 | 0.28 | Mark Robinson | Liberal National | |
| Coomera | | Labor | notional | 8.3 | -10.21 | 1.91 | Michael Crandon | Liberal National | |
| Gaven | | Labor | Phil Gray | 3.2 | -3.92 | 0.72 | Alex Douglas | Liberal National | |
| Hervey Bay | | Labor | Andrew McNamara | 2.1 | -8.60 | 6.50 | Ted Sorensen | Liberal National | |
| Indooroopilly | | Labor | Ronan Lee¹ | 2.7 | -8.57 | 5.87 | Scott Emerson | Liberal National | |
| Mirani | | Labor | Jim Pearce | 1.2 | -1.79 | 0.59 | Ted Malone | Liberal National | |
| Mudgeeraba | | Labor | Dianne Reilly | 2.7 | -6.62 | 3.92 | Ros Bates | Liberal National | |
| Redlands | | Labor | John English | 6.7 | -6.77 | 0.07 | Peter Dowling | Liberal National | |
* Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
* ¹ Ronan Lee was elected as a member of the Labor Party, but resigned and joined the Greens.
* The Liberal National Party retained the seat of Glass House which had a notional Liberal National margin.

## Subsequent changes

* On 5 May 2010, Aidan McLindon (Beaudesert) and Rob Messenger (Burnett) resigned from the Liberal National Party. On 11 October 2011, Aidan McLindon joined Katter's Australian Party.
* On 31 October 2011, Shane Knuth (Dalrymple) resigned from the Liberal National Party and joined the Katter's Australian Party.

## Polling

Newspoll polling was conducted via random telephone number selection in city and country areas. Sampling sizes usually consist of around 1000 electors, with the declared margin of error at around ±3 percent.