Currumbin count on a knife’s edge
LABOR is still in the fight for the Gold Coast seat of Currumbin with only 93 votes separating the ALP’s Kaylee Campradt and LNP MP Laura Gerber in the state poll.
Ms Gerber has gone to ground declining to comment until a result is known in the Coast’s most southern electorate.
A winner is unlikely to be announced until late next week after preferences are counted.
A win for Labor would see the party gain its second seat after Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon improved her lead.
Ms Campradt told the Bulletin: “We have improved our situation since Saturday night (after voting stopped). I am excited to be still right in the contest.
“We won’t have a result until probably the end of next week. I think that is a reflection of a hard-fought campaign.”
The latest unofficial preference count had Ms Gerber on 50.2 per cent and Ms Campradt on 49.8 per cent.
Ms Gerber won the March by-election on a margin of 3.3 per cent. The current swing to Labor is 3.1 per cent.
The Bulletin understands Electoral Commission of Queensland staffers are unlikely to start a preference count until Wednesday next week, after they have counted all the primary votes.
The ECQ has put up counts for all the electorate booths in Currumbin and it shows the gains and losses for the two major parties.
Ms Campradt has been strong in Currumbin Waters where her vote is 39.33 per cent, above Ms Gerber on 33.80 per cent.
In the suburb of Currumbin, the ALP received 41.75 per cent compared to 35.79 per cent for the LNP.
But Ms Gerber has done well in rural acreage areas, picking up 40.68 per cent of the vote in the Tallebudgera Valley compared to 26.06 per cent for Ms Campradt.
Labor has been hurt by the Premier’s tough border stand on COVID-19 in Coolangatta where many of its voters have lodged a protest vote.
Ms Campradt polled 31.32 per cent in the most southern booth compared to 38.95 per cent for Ms Campradt.
Labor scrutineers are no longer confident of their candidate Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew beating LNP MP Michael Hart in Burleigh, and the LNP’s Michael Crandon in Coomera and Mark Boothman in Theodore remain comfortably ahead of opponents.