From Rob Skelton, former Nicklin MP

The ECQ have declared the seat of Nicklin in favour of the LNP.

This was a hard-fought campaign which all the pundits and polls said we would lose comprehensively. 

Yes we lost, but by such a small margin, the smallest of any changing seat, Nicklin is now a marginal seat, having narrowed opposite party representation over three terms. 

I would like to thank the good people of Nicklin for putting their trust in me for four years. 

In that short time, I worked tirelessly to improve our neglected schools, and upgrade our sporting opportunities for our kids. 

I have lobbied every day for more and better facilities and services for Nicklin and have had success in a number of areas, including bringing the Borumba Pumped Hydro offices to Nambour and promoting opportunities for local business to reap the benefits of this major infrastructure project.

It has been an honour to work with the dedicated fine citizens that strive so hard in community groups and service areas to care for the disadvantaged and aid their communities; their work is the backbone of our villages and towns. 

The sporting and community clubs and groups that give our children and teenagers such fine direction towards good citizenship and a sense of belonging have been an inspiration to me and my team.

I would like to personally thank my office team; Daniel Wilson and Morrison Lakey for their single-minded focus on constituent help and service; Emma Comer and Avalon MacKellar for their insights and more recently Kane Playford and Lily Teubler who provided a younger perspective to our work and direction. 

I also need to thank my amazing campaign volunteers - Agnes, Angel, Freddy, Delia, Hughey, Col, Darin, David, Geoff, Gerry, Greg, both Ians, Jan, Jessika, Jim, Lachie, Chris, Eric, Jacinto, Naomi, Kevvie, Charmaine, Kyle, Nick, Paul, All the Peters, Robyn, Robert, Troy, John, Genevieve, Mary-ann, Michael, Tamara, Piper, Sascha, Eva & Zai, and of course my campaign manager Tony.

Thank you all. I’ll now take some time to spend with my family and see where the future lies. 

Over the next four years the Labor party here in Nicklin will continue to hold the LNP to account, both State-wide, but more importantly locally. 

Good people of Nicklin, you will still have a socially progressive voice defending the poor and the disadvantaged and promoting the socially cohesive policies that make our region so great.

Thank you all for allowing me to serve, it has been the honour of my life.