Jump to content

Division of Herbert

Coordinates: 19°12′29″S 146°36′58″E / 19.208°S 146.616°E / -19.208; 146.616
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Herbert
Australian House of Representatives Division
Map
Map
Interactive map of boundaries
Created1901
MPPhillip Thompson
PartyLiberal National
NamesakeSir Robert Herbert
Electors114,257 (2022)
Area946 km2 (365.3 sq mi)
DemographicProvincial
Electorates around Herbert:
Kennedy Pacific Ocean Pacific Ocean
Kennedy Herbert Pacific Ocean
Kennedy Kennedy Dawson

The Division of Herbert is an Australian electoral division in the state of Queensland. Eligible voters within the Division elect a single representative, known as the member for Herbert, to the Australian House of Representatives. It covers the city of Townsville.

Geography

[edit]

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.[1]

History

[edit]
Sir Robert Herbert, the division's namesake

The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions at the first federal election. It is located in northern Queensland, and is named after Sir Robert Herbert, the first Premier of Queensland (1859–1866). It has always been based around the city of Townsville.

On its original boundaries, it covered most of north-eastern Queensland, stretching from Mackay to the Torres Strait. Much of its northern portion, including Cairns and the Cape York Peninsula, transferred to Kennedy in 1934 (these areas are now part of Leichhardt. Its south-eastern portion, including Mackay, became Dawson in 1949. By 1984, successive redistributions cut back the seat to little more than Townsville and its inner suburbs.

The seat had long been one of Australia's noteworthy bellwether seats. It was won by the party of government for all but two terms from the 1966 election until the 2007 election, where it was hotly contested with local identity and businessman George Colbran pre-selected by Labor to contest Herbert, however Liberal incumbent Peter Lindsay managed to retain the seat with a wafer-thin 50.2 percent two-party vote from a 6 percent two-party swing while his party lost government. Ewen Jones of the merged Liberal National Party succeeded Lindsay and retained the seat at the following two elections with increased margins.

Herbert featured the closest result of any division at the 2016 federal election. Following a recount, the Australian Electoral Commission confirmed on 31 July that Labor's Cathy O'Toole defeated the LNP incumbent by 37 votes, becoming the first Labor member to win the seat since 1996.[2][3] The LNP considered a legal challenge to the result.[3][4] The LNP regained the seat with a big swing to them in 2019, part of a large swing to the LNP in Queensland, and in 2022 the seat again swung to the Coalition, bucking the national and statewide swing to Labor.

Members

[edit]
Image Member Party Term Notes
  Fred Bamford
(1849–1934)
Labor 30 March 1901
14 November 1916
Served as minister under Hughes. Retired
  National Labor 14 November 1916
17 February 1917
  Nationalist 17 February 1917 –
3 October 1925
  Lewis Nott
(1886–1951)
14 November 1925
17 November 1928
Lost seat. Later elected to the Division of Australian Capital Territory in 1949
  George Martens
(1874–1949)
Labor 17 November 1928
16 August 1946
Retired
  Bill Edmonds
(1903–1968)
28 September 1946
22 November 1958
Lost seat
  John Murray
(1915–2009)
Liberal 22 November 1958
9 December 1961
Lost seat. Later elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of Clayfield in 1963
  Ted Harding
(1921–2004)
Labor 9 December 1961
26 November 1966
Lost seat
  Duke Bonnett
(1916–1994)
Liberal 26 November 1966
10 November 1977
Retired
  Gordon Dean
(1943–2023)
10 December 1977
5 March 1983
Lost seat
  Ted Lindsay
(1942–)
Labor 5 March 1983
2 March 1996
Lost seat
  Peter Lindsay
(1944–)
Liberal 2 March 1996
19 July 2010
Retired
  Ewen Jones
(1960–2023)
Liberal National 21 August 2010
2 July 2016
Lost seat
  Cathy O'Toole
(1956–)
Labor 2 July 2016
18 May 2019
Lost seat
  Phillip Thompson
(1988–)
Liberal National 18 May 2019
present
Incumbent

Election results

[edit]
2022 Australian federal election: Herbert[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal National Phillip Thompson 43,453 47.01 +9.90
Labor John Ring 19,971 21.60 −3.85
Greens Scott Humphreys 7,596 8.22 +0.91
Katter's Australian Clynton Hawks 6,472 7.00 −2.80
One Nation Diane Pepe 4,874 5.27 −5.82
Independent Angela Egan 2,983 3.23 +3.23
United Australia Greg Dowling 2,383 2.58 −3.12
Informed Medical Options Toni McMahon 1,658 1.79 +1.79
Animal Justice Toni McCormack 1,359 1.47 −0.25
Independent Steven Clare 942 1.02 +1.02
Great Australian Larna Ballard 749 0.81 +0.81
Total formal votes 92,440 94.23 +0.13
Informal votes 5,658 5.77 −0.13
Turnout 98,098 85.93 −4.13
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal National Phillip Thompson 57,103 61.77 +3.41
Labor John Ring 35,337 38.23 −3.41
Liberal National hold Swing +3.41

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  2. ^ Labor takes seat of Herbert, leaving Malcolm Turnbull with majority of just one seat: SMH 31 July 2016
  3. ^ a b Labor wins seat of Herbert after recount: ABC 31 July 2016
  4. ^ Killoran, Matthew (29 July 2016). "LNP to consider legal action if it loses Herbert recount". Courier Mail.
  5. ^ Herbert, QLD, 2022 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.
[edit]

19°12′29″S 146°36′58″E / 19.208°S 146.616°E / -19.208; 146.616