| Herbert AustralianHouse of RepresentativesDivision | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  Interactive map of boundaries since the2019 federal election | |||||||||||||||
| Created | 1901 | ||||||||||||||
| MP | Phillip Thompson | ||||||||||||||
| Party | Liberal[a] | ||||||||||||||
| Namesake | Sir Robert Herbert | ||||||||||||||
| Electors | 114,257 (2022) | ||||||||||||||
| Area | 946 km2 (365.3 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Demographic | Provincial | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
TheDivision of Herbert is anAustralian electoral division in thestate ofQueensland. Eligible voters within the Division elect a single representative, known as the member for Herbert, to theAustralian House of Representatives. It covers the city ofTownsville. The current MP isPhillip Thompson of theLiberal Party.
Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by theAustralian 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]
The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of theoriginal 65 divisions at thefirst federal election. It is located in northern Queensland, and is named afterSir Robert Herbert, the firstPremier of Queensland (1859–1866). It has always been based around the city ofTownsville.
On its original boundaries, it covered most of north-eastern Queensland, stretching fromMackay to theTorres Strait. Much of its northern portion, includingCairns and theCape York Peninsula, transferred toKennedy in 1934 (these areas are now part ofLeichhardt. Its south-eastern portion, including Mackay, becameDawson 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 noteworthybellwether seats. It was won by the party of government for all but two terms from the1966 election until the2007 election, where it was hotly contested with local identity and businessman George Colbran pre-selected byLabor to contest Herbert, howeverLiberal incumbentPeter 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 mergedLiberal 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 the2016 federal election. Following a recount, theAustralian Electoral Commission confirmed on 31 July thatLabor'sCathy O'Toole defeated the LNP incumbent by 37 votes, becoming the first Labor member to win the seat since1996.[2][3] The LNP considered a legal challenge to the result.[3][4] The LNP regained the seat with a big swing to them in2019, part of a large swing to the LNP in Queensland, and in2022 the seat again swung to the Coalition, bucking the national and statewide swing to Labor.
| 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 Nationalhold | Swing | +3.41 | |||
Y indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.19°12′29″S146°36′58″E / 19.208°S 146.616°E /-19.208; 146.616
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