Division of Fairfax


The Division of Fairfax is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland.

History

The division was created in 1984 and is named after Ruth Fairfax, founder of the Country Women's Association. It is located in the Sunshine Coast region north of Brisbane and includes the towns of Coolum, Yaroomba, Marcoola, Mudjimba, Maroochydore, Buderim, Woombye, Bli Bli, Yandina, Nambour, Mapleton, Kenilworth and Eumundi.
While the Sunshine Coast is traditionally a conservative area, Fairfax is located in a particularly conservative portion of the Sunshine Coast, and as such has always been held by a centre-right party. Originally a safe seat for the National Party, demographic change has made it equally safe for the Liberal Party.
It came to national attention in the 2013 federal election, when Clive Palmer, the founder of the Palmer United Party, narrowly won it by 53 votes. Before then, the Coalition's hold on the seat had only been seriously threatened twice, in 1998 and 2007. At all other times before 2013, it was a fairly safe to safe Coalition seat.
Palmer did not run for reelection, and it was widely expected that it would revert to the merged Liberal National Party; the LNP would have easily retained it in a "traditional" two-party matchup with Labor. As expected, Palmer's 2013 opponent, Ted O'Brien, won it resoundingly.

Members

Election results