The Division of Fairfax is an Australian Electoral Division in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.

History

The division was created in 1984 and is named after

Ruth Fairfax Ruth Beatrice Fairfax (8 October 1878 – 1 February 1948) was a founding member of the Australian Country Women's Association and the first President of the Queensland Country Women's Association. The federal electorate of Fairfax is named in ...

, founder of the

Country Women's Association The Country Women's Association (CWA) is the largest regional and rural advocacy group in Australia. It comprises seven independent State and Territory Associations, who are passionate advocates for country women and their families, working ...

. It is located in the Sunshine Coast region north of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and includes the towns of

Coolum Coolum Beach is a beachside town and coastal Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Coolum Beach had a population of 8,497 people. Geography Coolum Beach has the ...

, Yaroomba,

Marcoola Marcoola is a coastal town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Marcoola had a population of 3,173 people. Geography Marcoola includes part of the pristine Mount Coolum National Park, border ...

Mudjimba Mudjimba is a coastal suburb in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia, and forms part of the Maroochydore urban centre. In the , Mudjimba had a population of 2,540 people. Geography The suburb is bounded by Mudjimba Beach on the ...

Maroochydore Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. The town was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Connor in 1903. The land was acquired from William Pettigrew who had a timber de ...

Buderim Buderim ( ) is an urban centre on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. It sits on a mountain which overlooks the southern Sunshine Coast communities. In the , the urban area of Buderim had a population of 54,483. The name "Buderim" i ...

Woombye Woombye is a town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Woombye had a population of 3,246 people. Geography Woombye is located on the Sunshine Coast hinterland in Queensland, Australia, approximately no ...

Bli Bli Bli Bli () is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Bli Bli had a population of 7,801 people. Geography A few kilometres inland from the Maroochydore urban area, Bli Bli rises above the wetland ...

, Yandina,

Nambour Nambour is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nambour had a population of 11,187 people. Geography Nambour is north of the state capital, Brisbane. The town lies in the sub ...

Mapleton Mapleton may refer to: Places Australia * Mapleton, Queensland, a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region Canada * Mapleton, New Brunswick, a rural community in Kings County * Mapleton, Moncton, New Brunswick, a neighborhood * Maple ...

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a ...

and

Eumundi Eumundi is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Eumundi had a population of 2,221 people. Eumundi is very popular on the coast for its bi-weekly farmers' markets. The marketpla ...

.Australian Electoral Commission
Map of the federal division Fairfax, accessed:07 May 2019 While the Sunshine Coast is traditionally a conservative area, Fairfax is located in a particularly conservative portion of the Sunshine Coast, and so 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 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 ...

. The electorate came to national attention at the 2013 federal election, when

Clive Palmer Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, the Palmer C ...

, the founder of the

Palmer United Party The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is a currently deregistered Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party ...

, narrowly won it by 53 votes. Before then, the

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

's hold on the seat had only been seriously threatened twice, in 1998 and 2007. At all other times, it was a safe, or fairly safe, Coalition seat. Palmer did not run for re-election, and it was widely expected that the seat would revert to the merged Liberal National Party because, in 2013, LNP would have retained it easily in a "traditional"

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP ...

contest with

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

. As expected, Palmer's 2013 opponent, Ted O'Brien, won the seat resoundingly at the 2016 federal election and has held it without serious difficulty since.

Members

Election results

References

External links

Division of Fairfax (Qld)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairfax, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Constituencies established in 1984 1984 establishments in Australia Federal politics in Queensland Sunshine Coast, Queensland