Division of Forde

The Division of Forde is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland.

For the Canberra suburb, see Forde, Australian Capital Territory.

Forde
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Forde in Queensland, as of the 2019 federal election.
Created1984
MPBert van Manen
PartyLiberal National
NamesakeFrank Forde
Electors107,272 (2019)
Area418 km2 (161.4 sq mi)
DemographicOuter Metropolitan

History
Frank Forde, the division's namesake

The division was created in 1984 and is named after Frank Forde, who was Prime Minister of Australia for seven days in 1945 following the death of John Curtin. When it was created it was a marginal seat in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, but it now has no territory in common with the original seat and is located in exurban and semi-rural areas south of the city, including Beenleigh and Loganlea.

It was a fairly safe seat for the Liberal Party after the 2004 election. Kay Elson announced that she would not re-contest her seat in the 2007 election. Wendy Creighton, a Boonah resident and editor of the local newspaper, the Fassifern Guardian, contested Forde as the Liberal candidate instead. She was defeated at the Federal election by Brett Raguse, the opposing Labor Party candidate, making Forde the safest Liberal Party seat to be claimed by the Labor Party at the 2007 election. The seat returned to the LNP Coalition with Bert van Manen holding the seat throughout 2010, 2013, and 2016 elections.

Ahead of the 2016 federal election, ABC psephologist Antony Green listed the seat in his election guide as one of eleven which he classed as "bellwether" electorates.[1] Roy Morgan Research found the Division of Forde to be the least politically involved electorate in Australia, with only 7% of voters interested in political analysis as a type of media content.[2]

Members
Image Member Party Term Notes
  David Watson
(1945–)		 Liberal 1 December 1984 –
11 July 1987		 Lost seat. Later elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of Moggill in 1989
  Mary Crawford
(1947–)		 Labor 11 July 1987 –
2 March 1996		 Lost seat
  Kay Elson
(1947–)		 Liberal 2 March 1996 –
17 October 2007		 Retired
  Brett Raguse
(1960–)		 Labor 24 November 2007 –
21 August 2010		 Lost seat
  Bert van Manen
(1965)		 Liberal Nationals 21 August 2010 –
present		 Incumbent. Currently Chief Government Whip in the House under Morrison.

Election results
Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Forde
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2019 Australian federal election in Queensland § Forde[edit]
2019 Australian federal election: Forde[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal National Bert van Manen 39,819 43.50 +2.87
Labor Des Hardman 27,008 29.51 −8.13
One Nation Ian Bowron 10,807 11.81 +11.81
Greens Kirsty Petersen 7,987 8.73 +2.30
United Australia Paul Creighton 3,696 4.04 +4.04
Conservative National Les Innes 2,217 2.42 +2.42
Total formal votes 91,534 95.36 +0.43
Informal votes 4,449 4.64 −0.43
Turnout 95,983 89.49 +0.31
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal National Bert van Manen 53,635 58.60 +7.97
Labor Des Hardman 37,899 41.40 −7.97
Liberal National hold Swing+7.97

References
  1. The Bellwether Contests: Antony Green ABC
  2. "The 10 most (and least) politically engaged electorates". Roy Morgan. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  3. Forde, QLD, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.

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