A by-election was held for the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

district of Chatsworth on 20 August 2005. It was triggered by the resignation of sitting

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member and Deputy Premier

Terry Mackenroth Terence Michael Mackenroth (16 July 1949 – 30 April 2018) was an Australian politician from Queensland, who was a member of the Labor Party. He served almost 28 years with a notable parliamentary service history and a number of ministerial r ...

. The by-election was held to coincide with the Redcliffe by-election on the same day. Both contests resulted in the Labor Party losing the seat to the rival

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. Michael Caltabiano was elected as the new member for Chatsworth.

Background

Terry Mackenroth first entered parliament at the 1977 state election and held the seat of Chatsworth at every election thereafter. When Labor came to power in 1989, Mackenroth became a minister under the premiership of

Wayne Goss Wayne Keith Goss (26 February 1951 – 10 November 2014) was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996, becoming the first Labor Premier of the state in over 32 years. Prior to entering politics, Goss was a solicitor, an ...

and remained so until the downfall of the Goss government in 1996. When Labor returned to power under the leadership of

Peter Beattie Peter Douglas Beattie (born 18 November 1952) is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007. Beattie was born in Syd ...

in 1998, Mackenroth was once again made a minister. From 2000 onwards he served as Deputy Premier under Beattie, and from 2001 he was Treasurer. On 25 July 2005, Mackenroth announced his retirement from politics. He had been planning to wait until the following month, but the retirement of fellow Labor MP Ray Hollis and the resulting cabinet reshuffle caused him to bring forward his own resignation.

Candidates

Labor chose school teacher Chris Forrester to defend the seat they'd held for the previous 28 years. The Liberal Party chose Brisbane City Councillor—and so-called "factional warrior"— Michael Caltabiano as their candidate. Caltabiano held the council ward of Chandler, which overlapped with the state seat of Chatsworth.

Results

Aftermath

The by-election win of Michael Caltabiano, along with that of Terry Rogers in Redcliffe, was a flip for the Liberal Party, who increased their numbers in the Legislative Assembly from five to seven. However, the Liberal Party's hold on these two seats did not last long; both returned to the Labor fold at the 2006 state election. Labor's unsuccessful candidate for the Chatsworth by-election, Chris Forrester, had initially been chosen to contest Chatsworth again at the 2006 state election. However, he was dumped in favour of media personality

Chris Bombolas Chris Bombolas (born 12 May 1960) (often known as ''Bomber'') is a communications and media specialist, and a television and radio presenter. A former sports reporter for 21 years with the Nine Network in Brisbane. A former Australian politicia ...

closer to the election. It was believed that Forrester would be chosen as Labor's candidate for the seat of

Bonner Bonner may refer to: People * Bonner (name) Places ;United States * Bonner Springs, Kansas * Bonner County, Idaho * Bonners Ferry, Idaho * Bonner-West Riverside, Montana * Bonner, Nebraska ;Australia * Bonner, Australian Capital Territory, suburb ...

at the 2007 federal election instead. However, he lost party preselection to local councillor Kerry Rea. Both Bombolas and Rea went on to win their respective election contests.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2005 Chatsworth State By-Election 2005 elections in Australia Queensland state by-elections 2000s in Queensland

Background

Candidates

Results

Aftermath

See also

References