Littleproud wins for Warwick and Maranoa
WARWICK's first ever Federal Member for Maranoa now his sights firmly set on being the best voice he can for the electorate in Canberra.
The Maranoa electorate stretches from Birdsville in the west, Winton in the north to Warwick and Kingaroy in the east and right along the New South Wales border in the south, taking up 42% of the state of Queensland and over 102,000 voters.
After 27% of the vote had been counted last night, Mr Littleproud called victory in Maranoa with 47% of the vote and a commanding lead over Labor's Dave Kerrigan with 19.3% and One Nation's Lynette Keehn with 18.75%.
Mr Littleproud said he was humbled by the result.
"I'm pretty excited and proud the people of Maranoa have entrusted me with the job after 26 years of having Bruce Scott represent them," Mr Littleproud said.
"My job now is to engage with every part of the electorate and I'm going to do my best to get around to all of it.
"The realisation is still sinking in.
"I'll be doing my best to represent the people of Maranoa in Canberra, putting their concerns before the parliament and I'll hopefully I'll be a part of a government that can make some changes for the people in this electorate."
For the Littleproud family this win completes a rare trifecta.
Mr Littleproud's grandfather was a local council representative, his father was a state government member and now Mr Littleproud is a federal member.
Mr Littleproud was born and raised in Chinchilla but now calls Warwick home with wife Sarah and three boys Tom, Hugh and Harry.
Mr Littleproud said Warwick will remain their home.
"My eldest boy is at Scots now and while the other two are a bit young, they'll head there as well," he said.
"I'm also hoping to get in a few games a year for Inglewood in the Warwick Cricket Association.
"But now it's time to hit the ground running, I've been on an unpaid career break for 12 weeks, so now I'll resign my job and sink my teeth into this new role as best I possibly can.
"I'm excited and I can't wait to get into it."
Mr Littleproud's priorities for Maranoa include:
- Improving mobile phone and internet access
- Better roads across Maranoa
- Building agricultural and small business resilience and sustainability
- Improving educational opportunities for regional young people
- Supporting better aged care facilities and access in regional areas