A by-election was held in the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

seat of Redlands on 2 November 1985. It was triggered by the death of sitting National Party member

John Goleby John Philip Goleby (22 March 1935 – 10 September 1985) was an Australian politician and farmer. A member of the National Party, he served in the Queensland Legislative Assembly for the electoral district of Redlands from 1974 until his death ...

. The seat was retained by the National Party with the election of candidate

Paul Clauson Paul John Clauson (born 16 September 1949) is a former Australian politician. Early life and family Clauson was born in Brisbane to Alan George Malcolm Clauson and Ethel Marjory, ''née'' Montgomery. He attended Wellington Point Primary Sch ...

Background

was elected to state parliament at the 1974 state election when he won the seat of Redlands for the National Party as part of what was a landslide win for the then National-Liberal coalition. He held the seat continuously thereafter, becoming Minister for Water Resources and Maritime Services in 1982. Goleby died in a tractor accident on his farm on 10 September 1985.

Candidates

To defend the seat the National Party chose "little known" solicitor

, who had joined the party only four days before he was preselected. The

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

—no longer in coalition with the Nationals—chose nurseryman and landscape gardener Max Bolte as their candidate, cousin of former

Victorian Premier The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly ...

Henry Bolte Sir Henry Edward Bolte GCMG (20 May 1908 – 4 January 1990) was an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Victoria. To date he is the longest-serving Victorian premier, having been in office for over 17 consecutive years. E ...

. But the chief opponent for the National Party was the Labor Party, who had last held the seat in 1974. They chose local solicitor

Con Sciacca Concetto Antonio Sciacca (13 June 1947 – 21 June 2017) was an Australian politician of the Australian Labor Party and member of the Australian House of Representatives from July 1987 to March 1996 and again from October 1998 to October 2004 ...

, who had been twice defeated by Goleby as the Labor candidate for Redlands at the 1977 state election and 1980 state election. Sciacca defeated two other candidates vying for Labor preselection, one of whom was state party secretary

Peter Beattie Peter Douglas Beattie (born 18 November 1952) is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007. Beattie was born in Sy ...

. Beattie would later enter parliament as the member for Brisbane Central at the 1989 state election as serve as

Premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is ap ...

from 1998 to 2007. It was said that the preselection drama did Labor no favours at the start of the campaign.

Campaign

The campaign was dominated by several issues. Firstly, the National government promised or proposed a nursing home, a $3 million 40-bed hospital, extra police and a $12.1 million rail link to

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

during the campaign. The Labor and Liberal parties, meanwhile, focused on the various issues which had dogged the government over preceding months. Other factors were the Liberals' determination, after their relegation to minor party status at the 1983 election, to revive their own fortunes, and several industrial relations disputes which had taken place during the year.

Results

National Party candidate Paul Clauson prevailed narrowly over the Labor Party's Con Sciacca. Clauson trailed significantly on the primary vote but overcame that deficit in large part due to preferences from Liberal Party voters.

Aftermath

Clauson was re-elected to a full term at the 1986 state election, after which he became Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. He was defeated at the 1989 state election. Labor candidate

won election to the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

at the 1987 federal election for the overlapping federal seat of Bowman. Sciacca served as

Minister for Veterans' Affairs The Minister for Veterans' Affairs is an Australian Government position. In the Government of Australia, the minister oversees income support, compensation, care and commemoration programs for more than 400,000 veterans and their widows, widower ...

in the government of

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...

References