Surfers Paradise is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.

[citation needed] This tradition was broken after Borbidge resigned in the wake of the Coalition's massive defeat in the 2001 state election.

Due to voter anger at having to go back to the polls for the second time in three months, the Nationals' primary vote plummeted to eight percent, allowing the former mayor of the Gold Coast, Lex Bell, to win as an independent.

The seat reverted to form at the 2004 state election, in which Bell was defeated by Liberal John-Paul Langbroek on a large swing.

Langbroek served as opposition leader from 3 April 2009 - 22 March 2011[2] — the first member from the Liberal side of the merger to hold the post.