Caloundra’s first state Labor MP in more than a century has revealed what drove him to fight three elections to eventually flip an “LNP fortress”.
Jason Hunt, a corrections officer, was elected the member for Caloundra in this year’s Queensland election on his third attempt.
When he first stood in 2015, the Caloundra seat was a safe LNP held by longtime MP Mark McArdle (who retired this year).
Three elections later, after plugging away in the community for years, Mr Hunt snatched the seat with a 5.9 per cent swing.
Mr Hunt is one of two Labor candidates who this year smashed the wall-to-wall reign of LNP state members on the Sunshine Coast.
Former firefighter Rob Skelton ousted Marty Hunt in the seat of Nicklin which encompasses hinterland regions including Nambour, Kenilworth and Cooroy.
Mr Hunt said he always believed it would be possible for Labor to oust the conservatives in Caloundra however he knew it would take a long time.
When the seat was called for Labor on election night in October, the father-of-one admits even he was surprised.
“You always have to have a fair bit of self belief but you temper that with a certain degree of realism,” he said.
“In 2015 Caloundra was a fortress for the other side that had not been held by Labor in more than a century.
“We knew it was not going to be a blitzkrieg campaign. We had a very long view.”
A prison guard at the Woodford Correction Centre, Mr Hunt said he was motivated to enter politics during Campbell Newman’s “reign of terror”.
“I joined the Labor party in 2012 for two reasons: my son was born and it was the election that Campbell Newman won,” he said.
“Those two events drove me to seek something better because when you become a parent, you start living for someone else.
“Liam was born in February and in March Campbell Newman was elected and to me the future looked bleak,” he said.
“All the LNP members on the Coast were beating the same drum and falling into line and Newman’s vision was a catastrophe for the future.
“There were mass sackings and so many people knew someone who had been dismissed.”
Mr Hunt credits his upset win to the “incredible efforts” of volunteers, including a new generation of young people who worked tirelessly in the year leading up to election day.
He said voters had put the Sunshine Coast’s LNP members on notice that “people will not accept inaction anymore”.
As well as securing a range of electoral promises from the Palaszczuk government (see the list below) Mr Hunt said one his long-term objectives would be creating more jobs for young people on the Coast.
“I would really like a legacy that said kids growing up on this seat can live and work and educate themselves in this area so our children will not have to do as I did and had to leave for education opportunities and to get employment,” he said.
Mr Hunt said he was only just scratching the surface of the problems that needed tackling locally, including transport and housing.
“There is a mountain of work that has not been addressed and no-one has looked at it,” he said.
“There is a backlog of things I am going to have to deal with.”
