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| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Groom, Queensland
South-east Queensland: Blue Mountain Heights, Middle Ridge, Oakey, Toowoomba
Sitting member: Hon Ian Macfarlane (Liberal), elected 1998. Retiring 2016
Enrolment at close of rolls: 101,600
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 16.5%
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Candidates in ballot-paper order:
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1. John Sands
Family First |
2. Bronwyn Herbertson
Australian Labor Party |
3. Josie Townsend
Nick Xenophon Team |
4. Dr John McVeigh
Liberal Party |
5. Antonia van Geuns
Australian Greens |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Groom was created in 1984, when the old seat of Darling Downs, which had existed since Federation, was renamed. The seat has always been based on the provincial centre of Toowoomba, and successive redistributions have cut the seat back so that now it consists of little more than the city and a few rural areas to the west. Toowoomba is a fairly prosperous town that serves as the administrative and economic centre of the Downs region, and is one of the most conservative large centres in Australia. The seat has never come close to electing a Labor member in its history, although Toowoomba has occasionally elected Labor state members.
The Toowoomba area's conservatism is partly explained by its fairly low level of median family income and its very low level of people born in non English speaking countries, although as an administrative centre it has more people in professional occupations than most rural cities.
The most eminent member for Darling Downs was Sir Arthur Fadden, Country Party leader and briefly Prime Minister in 1941, who held the seat from 1936 to 1949 before shifting to McPherson. Three subsequent members, Sir Reginald Swartz, Tom McVeigh and Ian Macfarlane, have been Cabinet ministers. In the past the seat has been held by the Country Party and its successors the Nationals, but the Liberals won it at the 1988 by-election have held it ever since.
Ian Macfarlane, Liberal MP for Groom since 1998, was a farmer and president of the Grains Council of Australia before his election. He was Industry Minister for six years in the Howard Government and held the same position in the Abbott Government before being dropped by Malcolm Turnbull in 2015. He considered switching from the Liberals to the Nationals in order to re-enter the ministry, but eventually decided to retire at this election.
The Liberal candidate in Groom will be Dr John McVeigh, the son of the former Nationals MP Tom McVeigh, and MLA for Toowoomba South since 2012. McVeigh has a PhD in agribusiness management and was state Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry from 2012 to 2015. He can therefore expect rapid promotion in future Coalition governments. His Labor opponent will be Bronwyn Herbertson, a Toowoomba solicitor.
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Prospective pendulum, showing all candidates
State and territory maps, showing new boundaries
The thirty seats that will decide the election
Other seats of interest
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