General News
18 October, 2024
Weir launches re-election campaign
Ahead of the state election on 26 October, the campaign for incumbent Member for Condamine Pat Weir was officially launched at Toowoomba Showgrounds last week.
With various polls indicating the Liberal National Party (LNP) headed by David Crisafulli has all but won the election, Mr Weir remains cautiously optimistic about the outcome.
“People need to come out and vote for the party that can change the government,” he told attendees in the Rod & Helen Stirling Committee Room of the RASQ Clive Berghofer Events Centre.
Mr Weir said the LNP’s four key pillars of crime, health, housing and cost of living are essential issues in Condamine as well as the rest of the state.
With a nod to the host venue of the campaign launch, Mr Weir backed the establishment of the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland’s Equine Centre of Excellence.
Mr Weir said he hoped the venue will be part of the 2032 Olympics, although that should not be a requirement for it to be built.
He pointed to a recent Queensland equestrian championships that were held hundreds of kilometres over the border in Tamworth due to a lack of a facility in Queensland, and the abundance of horse owners in the Toowoomba area.
Presiding over the occasion was the President of Liberal National Party of Queensland Lawrence Springborg.
Mr Springborg is a former leader of the party when serving as Southern Downs MP and briefly worked alongside Mr Weir following the latter’s election to parliament in 2015.
He had high praise for the local member.
“He’s the true reflection of a servant leader,” Mr Springborg said.
As well as the LNP President, Mr Springborg is also the Mayor of the Goondiwindi Region, having served in the role since 2020.
Mr Springborg’s presence was special as he said it was the first time he has had the honour of presiding over a campaign launch at any level of government.
There were many LNP heavyweights also in attendance, including former President Cynthia Hardy, former Groom and Toowoomba South MP John McVeigh and another former Toowoomba South MP and Opposition Leader Mike Horan.
Former Toowoomba Region councillor Nancy Sommerfield also attended, alongside many local party members.
Mr Weir has now been the local member for nine years.
He won the seat at the 2015 election with a primary vote of 51 per cent, which dropped to 42 per cent in 2017 following a large swing to One Nation.
In the last election, 2020, the vote swung back to the LNP with Mr Weir recording 55 per cent of the primary vote and close to 70 per cent of the two-party referred vote over Labor.
This time around, the LNP will be up against Oakey residents Alan Hughes from the Family First Party and Elissa Parker from the Greens, Wyreema resident Ben Faulkner-Whibley representing Labor and late-comer Clay Harland representing One Nation.
