Currumbin2Cook

Bad week benefits Ray Stevens

The Liberal Party this morning pre-selected former Gold Coast Mayor Ray Stevens to replace Bob Quinn in Robina. If the first week of the campaign hadn't been so bad for the Party it may have opted for former Liberal Party staffer, Mark Powell.

Powell was the candidate of the Caltabiano/Santoro faction, but faced with an election that is suddenly more difficult than they imagined they weren't prepared to take the risk of shoe-horning him into a seat that might now be more difficult to win than it looks on paper.

Polling in this morning's Sunday Mail looks bad for Caltabiano, and resources will be being diverted to shore his position up. That wouldn't leave much spare to get an acolyte up in a seat where he has no natural base.

Still, they must be keen on Powell. Imagine having him third on the Queensland senate ticket when he apparently lives and works in Sydney. I'm not sure whether senators are required to meet a residential requirement, but if they aren't perhaps Queensland can look forward to representatives who get a close up view of their problems from as far away as Tasmania, or maybe even Perth. [Apparently Powell only commutes to work in Sydney. He lives next door to a commenter below whose email address bounces.]

No wonder the Liberals had a shocker of a first week with this sort of commitment to the electors.