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	121,315 (2025)
Area	946 km2 (365.3 sq mi)
Demographic	Provincial
Electorates around Herbert: Kennedy Pacific Ocean Pacific Ocean Kennedy Herbert Pacific Ocean Kennedy Kennedy Dawson

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 (those areas are now part ofLeichhardt). Its south-eastern portion, including Mackay, becameDawson in 1949. By 1984, successive redistributions cut back the area of the seat to little more than Townsville and its inner suburbs.

The electorate had long been noteworthy as one of Australia'sbellwether seats. It was won by the party of government for all but two terms from the1966 election until the2007 election, at which it was hotly contested, with local identity and businessman George Colbran pre-selected byLabor. However,Liberal incumbentPeter Lindsay managed to retain the seat with a wafer-thin 50.2 percenttwo-party-preferred vote after a 6 percent two-party swing against him, although 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 electorate at the2016 federal election. Following a recount, theAustralian Electoral Commission confirmed thatLabor'sCathy O'Toole had 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 it at2019, 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.

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Fred Bamford (1849–1934)	Labor	30 March 1901 – 14 November 1916	Served as minister underHughes. 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 ofAustralian Capital Territory in1949
		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 theLegislative Assembly of Queensland seat ofClayfield in1963
		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[a]	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[a]	18 May 2019 – present	Incumbent

• Division of Herbert (Qld) —Australian Electoral Commission

19°12′29″S146°36′58″E / 19.208°S 146.616°E /-19.208; 146.616

• Electoral divisions of Australia
• Electoral divisions of Australia in Queensland
• Constituencies established in 1901
• 1901 establishments in Australia
• Federal politics in Queensland
• Townsville

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