General News
4 November, 2024
Pat’s back, in power
Member for Condamine Pat Weir belongs to the governing party for the first time following his comfortable victory in the electorate and the Liberal National Party’s win in Queensland.
Mr Weir first became the local member in 2015, the year the Campbell Newman-led government lost to Labor.
After nine years in Opposition, Mr Weir extended his already comfortable margin with a very strong showing at the polls.
Pat Weir will be part of an LNP majority government under new Premier David Crisafulli, Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie and presumptive Treasurer and Toowoomba South MP David Janetzki.
The newly elected MP said he looked forward to working for Condamine in Government rather than Opposition.
“This is the first time we’ll be in Government, so I am looking forward to working with Ministers from our team,” he said.
“It’s clear that voters were looking for change, and across Queensland the minor parties weren’t doing too well so people weren’t playing with their votes.”
Mr Weir said his local policy priorities would be making sure police stations were fully-staffed as well as delivering road infrastructure projects.
“I’ll be advocating for road projects that have been neglected for far too long...”
Mr Weir thanked his volunteers, friends and relations during the campaign and on election day for their support.
Although not all votes are yet counted, at this stage there has been a 6.1 per cent swing towards the LNP in Condamine in the first preference count.
Mr Weir has nearly 61 per cent of first preferences, followed by Labor candidate Ben Whibley-Faulkner with 17 per cent, One Nation’s Clay Harland with 11 per cent, Family First’s Alan Hughes with 6 per cent and the Greens’ Ellisa Parker with 5 per cent.
This was Labor’s worst result in Condamine since the 2012 wipeout and a was poor showing for One Nation as well.
In the two party preferred measure, there has been a 5.5 per cent swing towards the LNP and against Labor, giving Mr Weir close to 75 per cent.
Greens candidate Ellisa Parker congratulated Mr Weir on his victory and acknowledged all the candidates who had the courage to represent their communities as a candidate.
Ms Parker said she hopes over the next four years Condamine will get more social and affordable housing, better funding for education, more land rights for farming and environmental purposes and more upgrades and investments in community infrastructure.
