It was a comfortable return to the division of Wide Bay for incumbent MP Llew O’Brien for the Liberal National Party, winning almost 39.36 per cent or 35,281 first preference votes and 58.43 per cent or 52,132 votes in the two party preferred preferential vote count in the 2025 Federal Election.
First elected to Wide Bay in 2016 Mr O’Brien this year experienced a 3.91 per cent swing away from him in the primary vote according to the Australian Electoral Commission with 99.54 per cent of the vote counted.
In Noosa Shire LNP gained the majority of votes in all polling places apart from Kin Kin and Cooran where the vote majority went to the Labor Party candidate Elliott Chalmers.
This election ALP gained an upswing of 5.1 per cent of the first preference vote, winning 26.36 per cent or 24,148 primary votes and 37,753 votes or 41.4 per cent of the two party preferred count. The two party preferred vote presented a 2.74 per cent swing away from LNP and a 2.74 per cent swing to Labor.
The AEC polling results showed after the two major parties the next candidate to gain most votes was Pauline Hanson One Nation Party candidate Chad Burgess with 11.79 per cent or 10,803 votes which was a 1.59 per cent increase on the previous election.
The Greens’ Emma Buhse experienced a 1.32 per cent swing away from last election, gaining 8.18 per cent or 7,498 votes.
Family First gained a 5.2 upswing with candidate Kirsti Kenningale obtaining 5.2 per cent of the vote or 4,766 votes.
First time Independent candidate Casey Iddon received 4.73 per cent or 4,335 votes.
And the final candidate on the ballot, Gabrial Pennecott for the Trumpet of Patriots party, gained 4.17 per cent or 3,820 votes which was an upswing of 4.6 per cent from the former candidate running for the Palmer United Australia Party.
Wide Bay’s re-elected MP Llew O’Brien told Noosa Today “it was a huge honour to be returned”.
“It’s something I take very seriously,” he said while acknowledging there would be far less of his LNP colleagues joining him as members of the 48th Parliament.
Vote counting in the landslide Labor victory looks set to deliver Labor 87 seats in the House of Representatives, an upswing from 77 seats last election and 42 to LNP, down from 58, with a couple still too close to call.
Mr O’Brien said he had felt the discontent in the community during the election campaign.
“If you’re connected to your community you can feel these things,” he said.
“I could tell people were not happy. Whether it was going through the cost of living crisis – people are struggling to pay their bills – or disillusioned with the party generally.
“There’s an attitude out there that everyone elected to office doesn’t tell the truth and there’s not generally a lot of trust there.”
Mr O’Brien believes the political distrust spanned the nation, all parties and all parliaments and it was up to all politicians to work to address the situation.
“There’s a lot of work ahead,” he said.
Mr O’Brien said rebuilding the LNP party would be the first priority for his colleagues and he had a few ideas of things that needed to change that he would be putting forward to party discussions.
He said he would not be considering any positions, if offered, in Cabinet. His focus was on doing what he thought was right for the people of Wide Bay in progresses their lives and making them happy, he said.
