THE Tablelands seat has officially been scrapped but sitting member Rosa Lee Long is confident the new seat of Dalrymple will be won by a Tablelander.

An angry Ms Lee Long yesterday urged Tablelands voters to make the Bligh Government pay at the upcoming polls for its "contempt" of regional Queensland.

The tough talk follows the State Government’s decision to cut three regional seats in an electoral redistribution and increase the number in the southeast corner, despite it already holding two-thirds of the seats.

"We had a last-ditch hope the Government would see common sense but that didn’t happen," Ms Lee Long said.

"Tablelanders are really angry at how they have been treated recently.

"First it was the amalgamation and now this. It has just been a kick in the guts."

Ms Lee Long said the majority of the population in the new seat, which stretches from south of Mareeba to Moranbah,
southwest of Mackay, lived on the Tableland.

While she has not decided if she will run for Dalrymple or Cook, Ms Lee Long said a population weighting in favour of the Tableland would bode well for a local win.

"We have a good chance of winning the seat in the area but if we don’t there is going to be a serious problem with representation for the region," she said.

"The Tablelands will be hanging on the end of Dalrymple and Mareeba will be on the edge of Cook."

Tablelands Mayor Tom Gilmore, who held the seat from 1986-98, was confident representation would not be a problem if the seat was not held by a local.

"Bob Katter’s seat is larger and he manages to represent all the electorate," Cr Gilmore said.

"We are not happy the seat has been lost but boundaries change and depending on the quality of the person who represents us, I’m confident it’s going to be all right."

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