Gold Coast City councillor Cameron Caldwell and emergency doctor and disability advocate Dinesh Palipana have joined the race for the seat of Fadden, the Gold Coast’s northern federal seat.
Key points:
- A date for the Fadden by-election is yet to be set
- Two high profile candidates have already nominated for Liberal preselection
- Fadden is considered a safe Liberal seat
It comes after incumbent Stuart Robert’s resignation announcement earlier this month.
Party policy prevents both candidates from speaking publicly until the preselection vote for the safe Liberal seat is finalised.
Fadden Liberal branch chair Fran Ward has also been touted as another potential candidate, with nominations closing this week.
A date for the by-election has not been set, because the process begins once Mr Robert submits a formal letter of resignation, which he is yet to do.
Mr Robert was first elected to the seat in 2007 and holds it with a safe 10 per cent margin, despite a 3.5 per cent swing to the Labor party in year’s federal election.
Political analyst and Griffith University lecturer, Paul Williams, said it meant competition to be chosen as the Liberal Party’s candidate would be closely fought.
“It’s a secure position, potentially for life,” Dr Williams said.
He said it appeared Mr Caldwell was considered a frontrunner for the highly sought-after pre-selection.
“If only because, I think [power] brokers would look at him as more of a practised, professional politician and also because he has closer links to the Fadden electorate,” Dr Williams said.
But Dr Williams said Dr Palipana, who was 2021 Queenslander of the Year, was also a strong candidate.
“He would be an attractive candidate for any political party,” Dr Williams said.
“I think a lot of Gold Coasters waking up this morning would not realise Dr Dinesh had a political thread or participation background.
“I think it adds a really interesting dimension to what was probably going to be a mundane by-election race.”
Dr Williams said it would be extremely difficult for the government to win the seat of Fadden, despite Labor’s stunning win in the Aston by-election in February.
It was the first time in more than a century that a government had won a seat from the opposition at a by-election.
Gold Coast-based Moncrieff MP Angie Bell last week praised each of the touted candidates equally.
She noted that the party would like to see more women in federal parliament.
“Fran Ward is a small businesswoman who is heavily involved in Rotary up in that region of the coast, and she is a terrific candidate,” Ms Bell said.