At face value, Nerang is a world away from the glitz and glamour the Gold Coast is known for.
The suburb is landlocked, split in half by the Pacific Motorway and has a distinct blue-collar feel.
It’s also in the heart of Gaven — Labor’s lone seat in the city’s LNP stronghold — which is shaping up as one of the most hotly contested electorates in Queensland’s state election.
A corflute in Meaghan Scanlon’s electorate of Gaven. (ABC News: Mackenzie Colahan.)
It was won for Labor when Meaghan Scanlon wore out a few pairs of shoes door-knocking in 2017. At age 24, she became the youngest woman elected to Queensland’s parliament.
Ms Scanlon remains the only Labor representative at any level across the city. Now aged 31, she is the country’s youngest housing minister.
At press conferences, she will regularly remind reporters of her local credentials.
“I grew up in Nerang, I learned to swim in the local pool I went to kindy in the area … I did dancing in Nerang as well when I was little. I’m a born and bred local,” Ms Scanlon says.
Gaven’s east-west divide
While the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggests the region is home to more tradespeople than the state and national average, Gaven is not entirely made up of Labor’s traditional working-class voters.
Large canal-front homes and ritzy golf courses, like Royal Pines and Emerald Lakes, emerge as you head east across the electorate.
The coastal side of the M1 is where Ms Scanlon recorded her only voting booth loss at the last election.
That was at Carrara’s Emmanuel College, where primary school fees start at $10,000 per year.
Polling suggests Ms Scanlon could lose more ground in the October 26 ballot.
She is facing stiff competition from the LNP’s candidate — former television reporter Bianca Stone.
The LNP’s Gaven candidate Bianca Stone is married to Gold Coast police officer Detective Inspector Mark Mooney. (ABC Gold Coast: Mackenzie Colahan)
Ms Stone is listed at the top of the ballot paper and is also rumoured to have exhausted a few pairs of trainers doorknocking the electorate.
“It’s the hardest thing I have ever done. I will say that without a doubt,” she says.
Ms Stone says law and order is a key issue.
“Whether it’s crime getting worse, or perceived crime, I think it is a real fear for people,” she says.
In announcing her candidacy in June, she said reporting on the deaths of Katherine Leadbetter, who was 24 weeks’ pregnant, and her partner Matthew Field prompted her to enter politics.
“That was a real switch for me … I knew at some point in my career I would switch to politics, but for me, that was the trigger,” Ms Stone said at the time.
The seat is in play
Griffith University political analyst Paul Williams says her pre-selection was a smart move and set up an interesting contest
“They both present as very credible, very strong candidates … I think Bianca Stone is a very clever choice and a very wise choice,” Dr Williams says.
“She is relatively new to politics, she hasn’t been a part of any previous government, she can’t be blamed for any previous LNP failures.”
Ms Stone campaigning alongside LNP Opposition Leader David Crisafulli. (ABC News: Stephen Cavenagh)
Since she was first elected, Ms Scanlon has managed to bolster her hold on the seat with a 7.8 per cent margin.
The improvement also came off the back of support for the Palaszczuk Government’s management of COVID-19 in the 2020 election.
However, Dr Williams believes it won’t be enough.
“That’s getting into the territory where people would expect the swing,” he says.
“I think she is a major threat to Meaghan Scanlon and I think that Bianca Stone will win the seat of Gaven.”
While the loss of a young and energetic leader would be disappointing for Labor, Dr Williams says the party has recovered in the past.
He drew parallels with one of Ms Scanlon’s mentors, Kate Jones, who was ousted by Campell Newman in the seat of Ashgrove in 2012. Ms Jones won the seat back in 2015.
“It may well be the case for Meaghan Scanlon that people will come up to her and say, ‘ You have been a really good local member, but we have got to have a change of government and for that to happen you need to go,'” Dr Williams says.
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