Division of Herbert

Herbert
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Herbert in Queensland, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created 1901
MP Cathy O'Toole
Party Labor
Namesake Robert Herbert
Electors 104,815 (2016)
Area 946 km2 (365.3 sq mi)
Demographic Provincial

The Division of Herbert is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Eligible voters within the Division elect a single representative, known as the member for Herbert, to the Australian House of Representatives. The division was one of the original 65 divisions contested at the 1901 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 northeastern 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 northeastern 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.[1][2] The LNP considered a legal challenge to the result.[2][3]

Members

MemberPartyTerm
  Fred Bamford Labour 1901–1916
  National Labor 1917–1917
  Nationalist 1916–1925
  Lewis Nott Nationalist 1925–1928
  George Martens Labor 1928–1946
  Bill Edmonds Labor 1946–1958
  John Murray Liberal 1958–1961
  Ted Harding Labor 1961–1966
  Robert Bonnett Liberal 1966–1977
  Gordon Dean Liberal 1977–1983
  Ted Lindsay Labor 1983–1996
  Peter Lindsay Liberal 1996–2010
  Ewen Jones Liberal National 2010–2016
  Cathy O'Toole Labor 2016–present

Election results

Australian federal election, 2016: Herbert[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal National Ewen Jones 31,361 35.50 −7.84
Labor Cathy O'Toole 26,900 30.45 +1.07
One Nation Geoff Virgo 11,950 13.53 +12.70
Katter's Australian Colin Dwyer 6,070 6.87 −1.21
Greens Wendy Tubman 5,533 6.26 +1.02
Family First Michael Punshon 3,175 3.59 +2.29
Glenn Lazarus Team Aaron Raffin 1,937 2.19 +2.19
Liberal Democrats David Harris 1,096 1.24 +1.24
Palmer United Martin Brewster 315 0.36 −8.52
Total formal votes 88,337 93.12 −0.95
Informal votes 6,525 6.88 +0.95
Turnout 94,862 90.50 −2.86
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Cathy O'Toole 44,187 50.02 +6.19
Liberal National Ewen Jones 44,150 49.98 −6.19
Labor gain from Liberal National Swing +6.19

References

  1. ↑ Labor takes seat of Herbert, leaving Malcolm Turnbull with majority of just one seat: SMH 31 July 2016
  2. 1 2 Labor wins seat of Herbert after recount: ABC 31 July 2016
  3. ↑ "LNP to consider legal action if it loses Herbert recount". Courier Mail. 29 July 2016.
  4. ↑ Herbert, QLD, Virtual Tally Room, AEC.

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

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