Thursday, 2nd March, 2006

Voters in Queensland will soon get another chance to let Premier Peter Beattie know how unpopular his Government has become with a by-election to be held in the Gold Coast seat of Gaven following the resignation of backbencher Robert Poole to live in Thailand. It will be the third by-election in seven months after Labor lost the seats of Redcliffe and Chatsworth in August last year.

At the election in 2004 Labor won Gaven with a two party preferred vote of 55% to the Liberal Party's 45%. In Redcliffe the swing was 8.3% and in Chatsworth nearly 14%. With those results as a guide it is hard to see Labor holding the seat.