George Colbran

George Colbran AOM is an Australian businessman, and was the Australian Labor Party endorsed candidate for the seat of Herbert in the 2007 Australian General Election, held on November 24.

The election result in this division was very close, and one week after the election, it was still unknown whether Colbran would unseat the incumbent Peter Lindsay. Whilst still only the endorsed opposition candidate at this stage his support of Public Works projects including the construction improvements for the Townsville Lavarack Barracks have been included in the House of Representative Official Hansard reports.

Politics

Mr Colbran has been a member of the Australian Labor Party since 1980.

Through their early association as TAB Agents Mr Colbran became friends with John Newman who later went on to become the Labor Party State Member for Cabramatta and was the first politician to be assassinated in Australia. Cabramatta was a seat Mr Colbran was approached to run for himself by the Labor Party in the 1980s.

On 6 May 2006 the Labor Party membership held a preselection for the seat of Herbert between union official Margie Dale and George Colbran, the Townsville Bulletin reported the result to be 211 votes for Mr Colbran to Ms Dale's 75.

As a demonstration of the importance of Herbert to the Labor Party campaign, parliamentary leader Kevin Rudd toured the city of Townsville with Mr Colbran just over a week after he became the leader of the Party in December 2006.

A survey of 616 voters living in the Division of Herbert on 3-5 March 2007 by Transpac Consulting and commissioned by the Labor Party showed that Colbran was polling at 63% two party preferred (a swing of about 18%), the poll also found that industrial relations and Iraq were of major concern to those voters. A further poll conducted in early September 2007 by the AEC Group and commissioned by the Townsville Bulletin, serveying 402 respondents in Townsville and Thuringowa over three days revealed the following results: Primary or first preference share of Peter Lindsay 40.6%, George Colbran 45.4%, Jenny Stirling (Greens) 3.5%, other 1.2%, unsure 5.8% and not specified 3.5%. The two party preferred result was 52.8% Labor to 47.2% Liberals.

Business and honours

Colbran is a business entrepreneur and owns several McDonald's restaurants across North Queensland. He is also a major sponsor and director of the Townsville Crocodiles.

At the age of seven, Colbran became a street corner newspaper boy in Sydney, he also delivered newspapers and sold the them to commuters on busses. which has grown to a current nine across Townsville/Thuringowa and Ingham.

In November 2006 the Townsville Bulletin declared Mr Colbran to be 23rd most powerful Townsville person (excluding parliamentarians and media personalities). Organisations included Ronald McDonald House, the Salvation Army, Townsville Enterprise, Rotary, the Northern Regional Health Authority, the Area Consultative Committee, Scouts, the Blue Nurses, and the Life Education Centre.

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