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<\/iframe><br \/>\n<small><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-align: left;\" href=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com.au\/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=https:%2F%2Fdl.dropboxusercontent.com%2Fs%2Fxk9fk6bjtb87od1%2Fnofibs.%2520v2.0.kml&aq=&sll=-33.797409,148.798828&sspn=60.664997,135.263672&t=h&ie=UTF8&ll=-27.548459,153.312836&spn=0.487034,0.822601&z=10\">View Larger Map<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tallyroom.com.au\/aus2013\/bowman2013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bowman Seat Profile<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At the 2010 federal election, the Queensland division of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Division_of_Bowman\">Bowman<\/a> was retained by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.andrewlaming.com.au\/\">Andrew Laming MP<\/a> for the Liberal National Party with a whopping swing of 10.4 per cent, making a notionally safe Liberal seat out of a highly marginal one.<\/p>\n<p>Many in the electorate remember the 2007 election, when Laming took the seat by a mere 64 votes, a percentage which made Bowman, for a time, the most marginal division in the nation.<\/p>\n<p>Such memories may have contributed to the early fielding of 2013 candidates – former ALP State Member <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alp.org.au\/darryl_briskey\">Darryl Briskey<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/qld.greens.org.au\/people\/pjpayne70\">Penny Allman-Payne<\/a> for The Greens, 21st Century Australia Party\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Fernando-Alba-Candidate-for-Bowman\/267850113356015?ref=stream\">Fernando Alba<\/a>, and Palmer United Party\u2019s (PUP) <a href=\"http:\/\/palmerunited.com\/staff\/john-wayne\/\">John Wayne<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I am a newcomer to this region, in fact I am what\u2019s known as a \u2018cockroach\u2019, having scuttled across the border to live at the geographical heart of Bowman, the beautiful Coochiemudlo Island.<\/p>\n<p>In 2011 I volunteered on a campaign for an independent candidate in the NSW seat of Blue Mountains. The experience led me to believe that the only way to vote is to get out and meet the candidates who stake their futures, and ours, on the ticket.<\/p>\n<p>So I interviewed the Bowman candidates and will share their answers. First, a little about this region.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6873\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6873\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6873\" alt=\"MORETON-BAY-JETTY\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MORETON-BAY-JETTY.jpg?resize=600%2C330\" width=\"600\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MORETON-BAY-JETTY.jpg?w=600&ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MORETON-BAY-JETTY.jpg?resize=300%2C165&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6873\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moreton Bay Jetty<\/p><\/div>\n<p>An outer metropolitan Brisbane community situated on south Moreton Bay, Bowman occupies what is more commonly known as <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Redland_City\">the Redlands<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>With its semi-rural cluster of mainland urban towns, including Cleveland and Capalaba, and an archipelago sitting just off the seaboard, the sheltered waters of the bay are a lesser-known portion of Queensland\u2019s subtropical coast.<\/p>\n<p>Every July on Coochiemudlo Island there\u2019s a reenactment (pictured) of the first European arrival in the Redlands for Matthew Flinders Day.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6862\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6862\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6862\" alt=\"Matthew Flinders\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MATTHEW-FLINDERS-DAY1.jpeg?resize=600%2C230\" width=\"600\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MATTHEW-FLINDERS-DAY1.jpeg?w=600&ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MATTHEW-FLINDERS-DAY1.jpeg?resize=300%2C115&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6862\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matthew Flinders Day<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s a heartfelt, community-spirited event which gets the locals out in force, and attracts a smattering of tourism to the island. In the lead-up I read how mainland parking, tides, and access impact on participation in island events such as this.<\/p>\n<p>This led me to ask PUP candidate John Wayne whether there is much of a divide between land and sea in Bowman?<\/p>\n<p>This former Gold Coast Councillor is a corporate communication consultant who\u2019s been a working rock oyster grower on North Stradbroke Island since 2007.<\/p>\n<p>Living a third of every year on \u2018Straddie\u2019, John (pictured) has an acute understanding of island life.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6874\" style=\"width: 460px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6874\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-6874 \" alt=\"John Wayne\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/JOHN-WAYNE.jpg?resize=450%2C400\" width=\"450\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/JOHN-WAYNE.jpg?w=500&ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/JOHN-WAYNE.jpg?resize=300%2C266&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6874\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Wayne<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWhen you want to go over there and work the oysters, in the week that suits and with the tides and moon that suits, and then it\u2019s howling a gale, you just get destroyed going across the bay,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we had infrastructure that went, say, across from Rocky Point to the bottom of Russell Island, that\u2019s going to open up Russell, and then there\u2019s a nice connection to North Straddie,\u201d John explains. \u201cNow if the sand mines continue with their operation on North Straddie, there\u2019s good reasons for them to be looking at investing in infrastructure, to go in with the Government and the island population to deliver connection\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of the regular chatter in the community\u00a0is from new people moving to the islands. They\u2019ve heard the promise of bridges, now they want to see the promise fulfilled because property values go up. The old-timers on the island often\u00a0say, \u2018We like the exclusivity, we don\u2019t have the crime and the drive-through population\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think really the fact is that the bay is just ripe for the picking, for development and an extension of\u00a0tourism\u00a0investment in the area. I think the whole region needs a master plan, similar to the 2020 Harbour Vision, which the Gold Coast did with the former State government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When John got the call from the PUP, he was faced with a dilemma.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEstuary health, river health, and marine health have always been at the top of my priorities. The first thing I said was, \u2018I think I might be a little bit too green for Clive (Clive Palmer, businessman and founder of PUP), isn\u2019t he in the mining industry, and isn\u2019t that going to be a conflict?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut if he wants to surround himself with different people, I get the opportunity to go in there and voice my environmental concerns at a level which I wasn\u2019t able to do before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So how does John envisage he will connect with the voters of Bowman?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got such a good split in the demographic between working families, a strong retiree population as well, a really strong Liberal-Labor feeling pulling in two directions. You can almost cut it into suburbs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not really going out into areas and looking at how they voted last time, because at the moment the feedback I\u2019m getting is that people are saying, \u2018We\u2019ve finally\u00a0got a choice, we\u2019ve got an opportunity to send a signal to the government and the opposition to say we don\u2019t like what\u2019s been happening for the last two decades, good to hear you\u2019re running, where\u2019s your signs?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, they\u2019re coming, you can put one on your front fence if you like.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe party has a critical path, working backwards, from election day, but we don\u2019t know when that is. The executive is\u00a0saying, \u2018Don\u2019t go yet\u2019, but when you\u2019re an independent thinker and you\u2019ve done a certain amount of marketing and advertising, you know you want to book ads and get out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Revealing that there have been ‘soft discussions’ on preferences, John adds, \u201cAs soon as I can get Clive into the area, we can open it up\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI haven\u2019t been approached by any of the other candidates to discuss preferences. Hopefully they won\u2019t take me too seriously right now and we can just get on with our campaigning and meeting people, because it starts to get messy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is more than likely it will be an across-the-board preferences deal, not a seat-by-seat arrangement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinding Federal issues in this area is a little bit tougher,\u201d John adds. \u201cThere is some potential for a second rail coming into Cleveland. Most ideas need State support, and Palmer United Party will be running for State in every seat, so this isn\u2019t a \u2018one hit wonder\u2019 thing. Clive\u2019s pretty determined. This is just the tip of the iceberg.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Next up: Briskey\u2019s back! Former ALP State Member <a title=\"Briskey\u2019s back in Bowman: ex state MP riled by Qld sackings says locals are for turning\" href=\"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/2013\/08\/02\/briskeys-back-in-bowman\/\">Darryl Briskey<\/a> takes democracy on the road.<\/i><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>View Larger Map Bowman Seat Profile At the 2010 federal election, the Queensland division of Bowman was retained by Andrew Laming MP for the Liberal National Party with a whopping swing of 10.4 per cent, making a notionally safe Liberal seat out of a highly marginal one. Many in the electorate remember the 2007 election, […]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":6872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3434,963,675,3546,66,585,854],"tags":[964,2642,966,968,969,965,970,967,971],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/SOUTH-MORETON-BAY.jpg?fit=600%2C345&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3t0mw-1ME","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56534,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6860\/revisions\/56534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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