Division of Fairfax

Fairfax Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Fairfax in Queensland, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created	1984
MP	Ted O'Brien
Party	Liberal National Party
Namesake	Ruth Fairfax
Electors	108,276 (2016)
Area	1,036 km^2 (400.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural

The Division of Fairfax is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. 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, Maroochydore, Buderim, Nambour, Montville, Kenilworth and Eumundi.

The Sunshine Coast is traditionally a conservative area, and as such Fairfax 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. Palmer did not run for reelection, and it was widely expected that it would revert to the merged Liberal National Party; the Coalition has never won less than 57 percent of the two-party vote in a "traditional" two-party matchup with Labor. As expected, Palmer's 2013 opponent, Ted O'Brien, won it resoundingly.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Evan Adermann	National	1984–1990
	Alex Somlyay	Liberal	1990–2010
		Liberal National	2010–2013
	Clive Palmer	Palmer United	2013–2016
	Ted O'Brien	Liberal National	2016–present

Election results

Australian federal election, 2016: Fairfax^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Ted O'Brien	44,787	48.44	+7.12
	Labor	Scott Anderson	19,054	20.61	+2.37
	Greens	Susan Etheridge	11,672	12.62	+4.29
	One Nation	Robert Pasquali	9,006	9.74	+8.90
	Independent	Keith Campbell	2,886	3.12	+3.12
	Family First	David Rees	2,449	2.65	+0.98
	Independent	Robert Dickson	1,985	2.15	+2.15
	Online Direct Democracy	Kris Bullen	624	0.67	+0.67
Total formal votes			92,463	93.77	−1.11
Informal votes			6,146	6.23	+1.11
Turnout			98,609	91.07	−2.32
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal National	Ted O'Brien	56,299	60.89	−0.79
	Labor	Scott Anderson	36,164	39.11	+0.79
	Liberal National gain from Palmer United		Swing	−0.79

References

1. Fairfax, QLD, Virtual Tally Room 2016, Australian Electoral Commission.

External links

• Division of Fairfax (Qld) — Australian Electoral Commission

Coordinates: 26°35′10″S 152°53′17″E / 26.586°S 152.888°E