Karen Andrews's retirement opens up competition in Gold Coast seat of McPherson

Australia Broadcast Center

02-05-2025

The Gold Coast seat of McPherson has always been conservative.
But among the city's three long-held beachfront Liberal seats, it may have the greatest appetite for an alternative.
"Of all the seats on the Gold Coast, McPherson is the one where the Greens do particularly well," said former Queensland Labor politician John Mickel.
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The Greens achieved 15.4 per cent of the vote in McPherson in the 2022 federal election, when the so-called teal independents had a national impact.
Karen Andrews served as home affairs minister in the Morrison government.
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ABC News: Andrew Kennedy
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But this election has come with the retirement of former home affairs minister Karen Andrews after 15 years representing the seat for the LNP.
Mr Mickel said independents could take advantage of her departure amid a broader swing
"I can understand why an independent is having a red hot go at it," said the political commentator and Queensland University of Technology adjunct associate professor.
Away from major parties
McPherson constituent Matilda Morgan said she usually voted for the Liberal Party.
But the 34-year-old artist said both major parties seemed "pretty much the same" ahead of this year's election.
Matilda Morgan paints at Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast.
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ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale
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"They're saying the same things [but] in different words," she said.
Ms Morgan, who lives in her van, said she had not seen any radical change from the major parties.
"It's really hard to be a young person in this day and age when it comes to cost of living, inflation and finding work," she said.
Currumbin Beach is in the federal seat of McPherson.
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ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale
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Mr Mickel said Ms Morgan's age group had demonstrated
Photo shows
A young woman wears her blond hair tied up and a brown jumper as she smiles at the camera
While younger Australians are tuning out of politics, researchers say people aged in their 30s to early 40s are the most disengaged group.
With about 38 per cent of the McPherson electorate aged 15-44, he said it was a significant demographic.
"It is currently a death zone for the major parties," Mr Mickel said.
"This is a group, the younger groups, who are no longer attached to the major parties and look for alternatives.
"In McPherson this time, they've got plenty of them."
Housing in focus
Ms Morgan is the type of voter the LNP's Leon Robello and Climate 200 independent Erchana Murray-Bartlett are aiming to attract.
The two are among the highest-profile candidates in a busy field.
They both said housing was a key concern.
Leon Robello (left) takes a photo with volunteers at Palm Beach.
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Supplied: Instagram
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Mr Rebello, 29, said he recently bought his first home.
"In the last five years I've rented, I've bought my first home, I've gone through that and seen it from different perspectives and I understand the challenges," he said.
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Ms Murray-Bartlett said she did not own a home in the electorate she wanted to represent.
"We need more affordable homes on the Gold Coast," said the ultra-marathon runner, who has leveraged her 39,000 Instagram followers during the campaign.
"I'm a renter on the Gold Coast, I don't own a home, and so making sure renters are just as looked after is just as important."
Erchana Murray-Bartlett is the Climate 200 independent candidate for McPherson.
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Supplied: Instagram
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Long list of candidates
They are among 12 candidates for McPherson, up from eight in the 2022 election.
Alongside independent Michelle Faye, the minor parties include One Nation, the Greens, Trumpet of Patriots, Legalise Cannabis, Animal Justice, the Libertarians, People First and Family First.
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Griffith University associate professor of politics, Paul Williams, said the LNP should retain the seat easily but "might go backwards a couple of percentage points".
"There are four or five, what you'd call hard right, even far right candidates in that field," he said.
"They'll get a very small percentage of the vote but those preferences will filter up to the LNP."
Associate Professor Williams said many voters felt the major parties were not solving problems and that independents contesting safe seats such as McPherson had become the new norm.
"It's about flying the flag, it's about building support," he said.
Matilda Morgan paints at Currumbin Beach.
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ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale
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"You've got to start somewhere, you've got to take losses, you've got to build credibility."
Ms Morgan was skeptical of whether the shift away from major parties would make a difference.
"They'll do the election thing, but then does it actually make waves when they're elected?" she said.
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