LNP choose Hathaway
This once great region has been dogged by Labor’s anti-resources, anti-regions and anti-jobs agenda
JOHN HATHAWAY
FORMER Campbell Newman-era MP John Hathaway will attempt to win back the seat of Townsville from Scott Stewart for the LNP after being officially endorsed by the party last night.
Mr Hathaway was preselected by the majority of a 40-person strong LNP branch at the Townsville RSL, successfully beating out party newcomer Melissa Coulter.
Unlike the preselection vote in Mundingburra a week ago, when Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton was in attendance, the highest ranking LNP MP in the room was Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander.
The seat of Townsville, which covers CBD suburbs such as North Ward and stretches out to Palm Island, a notionally Labor area, and Magnetic Island, was held by Mr Hathaway from 2012 until 2015, when Mr Stewart romped home for Labor with a 10 per cent swing.
But the 2017 election, in a campaign between the LNP’S Casie Scott and Mr Stewart, cut Labor’s margin to just 0.38 per cent, making it the most marginal in Queensland.
Mr Hathaway is a former military man who reached the rank of colonel in the Australian Army after serving for almost three decades.
“Like so many others in Townsville, I’ve witnessed Annastacia Palaszczuk turn her back on North Queensland for the past five years,” he said.
“This once great region has been dogged by Labor’s anti-resources, anti-regions and anti-jobs agenda.”
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said Mr Hathaway had “experience” and that Townsville was “desperate for leadership after years of neglect”.
LNP president David Hutchinson described Mr Hathaway as another high-quality candidate for the LNP. “Townsville desperately needs someone like John as their local MP because he is absolutely driven to make the electorate a better place to live and raise a family,” Mr Hutchinson said.
“Instead of focusing on jobs and the cost of living, Labor has been embroiled in integrity scandals while running the economy into the ground.”
Ms Coulter, born and raised in Townsville, was Master Builders North Queensland regional manager until she resigned last year in pursuit of a political career.