An electoral dynasty - QLD DECIDES
05.03.2009
THE list of candidates vying for election to the Queensland parliament on March 21 includes the usual bevy of family members of former MPs trying, in most cases, to take over where Mum or Dad left off.
Most prominent is John Bjelke-Petersen, son of the former long-time National Party premier Joh.
John Bjelke-Petersen, making his third attempt at election, is the LNP candidate for Nanango, which encompasses much of Joh's old electorate of Barambah, but which has been held by popular independent Dorothy Pratt since 1998.
Ms Pratt won the seat originally as a Pauline Hanson One Nation party candidate and is recontesting.
For Labor, Sarah Warner has nominated for the metropolitan electorate of Indooroopilly. She is the daughter of former Goss government welfare services minister Anne Warner.
Another Labor nominee seeking to establish a dynasty is Curtis Pitt, who has nominated for Mulgrave, which was held by his father, Communities Minister Warren Pitt.
Pitt Jr was surprisingly plucked from his Brisbane address to nominate for the north Queensland seat and has committed to move into the electorate.
Cameron Dick, who studied international law at Cambridge and became the youngest attorney-general on Tuvalu (the sinking island) is Labor's candidate for the Brisbane-based seat of Greenslopes.
His brother Milton, the state Labor party secretary during the reign of Peter Beattie, is a Labor alderman in the Brisbane City Council.
Those who once held seats in the Queensland parliament and who are trying for a comeback (referred to by party officials as retreads) include former Labor MPs Cate Molloy and Peter Pyke.
Former LNP member Stuart Copeland, whose Darling Downs electorate of Cunningham was abolished in an electoral boundary redistribution last year, is contesting as an independent the seat of Condamine against his LNP colleague Ray Hopper.
Elisa Roberts, a former soldier who served one term in the Queensland parliament for One Nation, is trying to come back as an independent in the seat of Gympie.
And the much-publicised Ms Hanson has also nominated as an independent in the rural electorate of Beaudesert, south of Brisbane.
Brothers Andrew and Peter Jeremijenko are running for the Greens in the Brisbane seats of Clayfield and Aspley respectively.
Current MPs in the Queensland parliament who are recontesting and who are the children of former MPs include LNP frontbencher Fiona Simpson, who was elected in 1992 to her father's former Sunshine Coast seat.
Gordon Simpson was a minister for one week in the Bjelke-Petersen government in its dying days in 1988.
Labor's Annastacia Palaszczuk inherited the Brisbane seat of Inala when her father, Henry, retired in 2006.
Vicki Darling won the Brisbane bayside seat of Sandgate in 2006 for Labor and is recontesting. She is the daughter of Elaine Darling, who was a federal Labor MP from 1980 to 1993.
FOLLOWING IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS
The family members vying for election to the Queensland parliament
John Bjelke-Petersen, son of the former long-time National Party premier Sir Joh. John, making his third attempt at election, is the LNP candidate for Nanango, which encompasses much of Sir Joh's old electorate of Barambah
Sarah Warner has nominated for the metropolitan electorate of Indooroopilly. She is the daughter of former Goss government welfare services minister Anne Warner
Curtis Pitt has nominated for Mulgrave, which was held by his father, Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt. Pitt junior was plucked from his Brisbane address to nominate for the North Queensland seat and has committed to move into the electorate
Cameron Dick, who became the youngest attorney-general on Tuvelu, is Labor's candidate for the Brisbane-based seat of Greenslopes. Dick's brother, Milton, the state Labor Party secretary during the reign of former premier Peter Beattie, is a Labor alderman in the Brisbane City Council
