Boundary Change Aim 'to Unseat Hanson'


Pauline Hanson believed proposed boundary changes to her federal seat of Oxley were part of an agenda to benefit her opponents, a spokesman said yesterday.

The spokesman said Ms Hanson had not lodged an objection to the proposed changes because she felt nothing could be done about them.

"Everyone benefited from it except Pauline Hanson," The spokesman said of the boundary review. "It was fairly clear there was an agenda in the first place." He said the agenda was to make it harder (for Ms Hanson) to win Oxley and create a conservative seat in Blair".

"By bringing in Inala (into Oxley) they have a labor seat that was notionally more Labor than before. (Labor preselection candidate Wayne Goss) has finished with a local involvement and the Liberals have finished with a conservative seat," he said.

He said Ms Hanson had not lodged an objection with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) as history showed that voters were struck with changes regardless. Ms Hanson had gone public to let people know of her concerns.

The spokesman said Ms Hanson's main concern was that the AEC proposal split the center of Ipswich into two seats, Oxley and the new seat of Blair. Oxley has been expanded eastwards to take in Inala and Darra, while Blair stretches from Ipswich to Kingaroy.

Objections to the boundary changes closed on Monday, with preliminary AEC information on objections available this morning.

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