Stephen Seymour James Andrew (born 9 December 1968) is an Australian politician who served as the member for Mirani in the

Queensland Legislative Assembly 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 h ...

from 2017 to 2024 when he was defeated by

Glen Kelly Glen Kelly is a music arranger (especially of dance music) and composer. He is best known for his musical theatre arrangements for Broadway shows including ''Beauty and the Beast'', '' The Producers'', ''Young Frankenstein'', ''Spamalot'', ''The D ...

at the

2024 Queensland state election The 2024 Queensland state election was held on 26 October 2024 to elect all members to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland pursuant to the ''Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Act 2015''. As a result of the 2016 Queensland term l ...

. Andrew describes himself as a "fourth-generation

South Sea Islander South Sea Islanders, formerly referred to as Kanakas, are the Australian descendants of Pacific Islanders from more than 80 islandsincluding the Oceanian archipelagoes of the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Gilbert Islands ...

", and is the first South Sea Islander to be elected to parliament. His great-great-grandmother Lucy Querro of

Ambae Island Ambae, also known as Aoba, Omba, Oba, or Opa and formerly Lepers’ Island, is an island in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, approximately north-northwest of Vanuatu's capital city, Port Vila. It is also Vanuatu's largest activ ...

(now part of

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

) was one of the Pacific Islander workers who came to

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

to work in either the

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

fields or domestic service; Andrew claims she was " blackbirded". In July 2019 Andrew became a Vanuatu tribal chieftain, Chief Moli Duru Ambrae, following ceremonies held on Ambae Island. He was bestowed the chiefly name Moli Duru Ambae. Before entering parliament he worked as a firearms dealer and pest controller. Andrew was the sole One Nation MP in the Queensland Parliament, but was not the state leader of the party. Ousted MP

Steve Dickson Steven Lance Dickson (born 24 June 1962) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly beginning in 2006, representing the electorates of Kawana (2006–2009) and Buderim (2009–2017). First elected for t ...

held the position until his resignation. On 2 August 2024, Andrew was disendorsed by One Nation for the

after he considered joining

Katter's Australian Party Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian populist political party in Australia that advocates for agrarian socialist economic policies and conservative social policies. It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former National ...

(KAP). Following the disendorsment, Andrew resigned from One Nation and briefly sat as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

before joining the Katter's Australian Party in September 2024.

References

External links

* * 1968 births Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly One Nation members of the Parliament of Queensland Australian people of Vanuatuan descent Pauline Hanson's One Nation politicians 21st-century Australian politicians {{Australia-politician-stub