MP defeated but not disheartened
Rob Skelton was visited by Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk and Treasurer, Cameron Dick in Woombye following his 2020 win.
Former MP reflects on narrow loss, community achievements, what’s next
- By Cameron Outridge
Former Nicklin MP Rob Skelton may have lost his seat in the recent state election, but he remains optimistic about the future—for himself and the community he served. Mr Skelton opened up about his election defeat to the LNP’s Marty Hunt, his accomplishments during his term, and his plans moving forward.
“I’m okay,” Mr Skelton said when asked how he was handling the loss. “It’s great to be able to get to sleep for a change without worrying about the typical things that you deal with fairly frequently, like trying to find housing for somone that has been abused.
“It’s hard to sleep when you’ve got that sort of serious issue going on in your head. People don’t always realise what pressures you’re under on that sort of personal level.”
The shift out of public office has been an adjustment. “It’s kind of a strange process losing an election,” he said. “I would say it’s similar, in a way, to a divorce. Because absolutely everything changes, even right down to your bank accounts, everything changes. But it’s about picking yourself up and dusting yourself off. But it is a very difficult transition.”
Despite the challenges, Mr Skelton remained positive. “Once it all dies down a bit, you’ll see (wife) Aggie and I active in the community again,” he said.
He also reflected on the nature of political life. “You’ve got to have a pretty thick hide in politics because people will, for whatever reason, unleash on you because ultimately you can blame the government for a lot of things that affect our lives.”
A proud legacy in education
One of Mr Skelton’s proudest achievements during his term was the significant upgrades to Yandina State School.
“Obviously I’m very proud of our achievements around education, particularly what we accomplished at Yandina State School, because that wasn’t even on the cards,” he said. “That was a lot of arguing from me in order to get that through. So that’s probably my favourite achievement—that was all brand new admin, classrooms and a hall.”
Understanding the election outcome
Despite a statewide swing against the Australian Labor Party (ALP) of 7%, the swing in Nicklin was just 2.8%. The LNP gained 18 seats on the back of that statewide shift, but Mr Skelton’s relatively strong performance suggests his personal approach resonated with voters.
“I think the swing against us was a statewide thing,” he said. “ I think people just wanted change. It’s hard to be in government for so long and not have that yearning for change.”
He attributed his performance to his focus on community engagement.
“I sort of modelled myself more on (former Nicklin MP) Peter Wellington during his time, and I spent all my time in the community,” he said. “Without that sort of involvement, I would’ve swung like everyone else.”
Looking ahead
As for his future plans, Mr Skelton is exploring opportunities that leverage his experience in advocacy and communications. “At the moment, I’m just chilling out. I’ve got a few irons in the fire, as it were,” he said. “It’ll be probably a similar sort of role around advocacy and communications—things that are relevant to what I’ve learned in politics.”
He remains open to the possibility of running again in the future. “People have already said that I’ll be the one pre-selected for Nicklin in 2028.”
Challenges and reflections
Looking back, Mr Skelton acknowledged the challenges of balancing development and infrastructure needs.
“I think the biggest issue we have here is our roads not keeping up with development. I think there’s a partnership that has to happen across all levels of government. “When they’re doing housing estates, for safety reasons, they should have more entry and exit points instead of just having one way in and one way out. It’s a big risk in emergency situations and an issue at peak times.”
Final thoughts
While he may no longer hold office, Mr Skelton remained committed to Nicklin.
“I’m so interested in Nicklin’s future,” he said. “I think we’ve improved over time, and I think we need to keep doing that by doing what we do best.
“We are a very, very generous community by comparison to others. People here genuinely have concerns about people that are less well off than them.”
He praised local residents’ eagerness to contribute. “They’re willing to give what they can, whether it’s volunteering or time or money or anything like that. It’s a community that I was really proud to represent.
“Always, every day something happens where you think, ‘gee, that’s wonderful’. I think we’ve seen a lot of confidence come back to Nambour and our region in the last four years, both from public and private investment. And I think that’s being led by the community.”
Every year in office, Mr Skelton visited Nicklin’s seven cenotaphs and attended its three ANZAC Day services.