Electoral district of Bundaberg
| Bundaberg Queensland—Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Map of the electoral district of Bundaberg, 2017 | |||||||||||||||
| State | Queensland | ||||||||||||||
| MP | Tom Smith | ||||||||||||||
| Party | Labor | ||||||||||||||
| Namesake | Bundaberg | ||||||||||||||
| Electors | 35,296 (2020) | ||||||||||||||
| Area | 108 km2 (41.7 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Demographic | Provincial | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 24°52′S 153°20′E / 24.867°S 153.333°E | ||||||||||||||
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Bundaberg is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in central Queensland, Australia. It covers the city of Bundaberg, as well as the immediate surrounding area.[1]
History
[edit]The electoral district of Bundaberg was created by the Electoral Districts Act of 1887 which abolished the electoral district of Mulgrave that had included the Bundaberg area.[1] The first election held in the seat of Bundaberg was the 1888 election.
The city's urban population has long made the seat a Labor stronghold; it was in Labor hands for all but a few years from 1892 to 2006, even during the height of Joh Bjelke-Petersen's popularity. This changed in 2005 when the practices of rogue surgeon Jayant Patel at the Bundaberg Base Hospital were uncovered. The Beattie government was seriously embarrassed by the subsequent Commissions of Inquiry into the matter, and as a result the seat fell to the Nationals. It became a Liberal National seat with the conservative parties' merger in 2008, and stayed in LNP hands for all but one term until 2020.
In 2020, the Labor Party won the seat by nine votes.[2] It is currently an extremely marginal seat.
Members for Bundaberg
[edit]| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Adams | Conservative | 1888–1890 | |
| Ministerial | 1890–1892 | ||
| George Hall | Labour | 1892–1893 | |
| Michael Duffy | Ministerial | 1893–1896 | |
| Thomas Glassey | Labour | 1896–1901 | |
| George Barber | Labor | 1901–1935 | |
| Bernard McLean | Labor | 1935–1941 | |
| Frank Barnes | Andrew Fisher Labor | 1941–1944 | |
| Frank Barnes Labor | 1944–1950 | ||
| Ted Walsh | Labor | 1950–1957 | |
| Queensland Labor | 1957–1963 | ||
| Independent | 1963–1969 | ||
| Lou Jensen | Labor | 1969–1976 | |
| Independent | 1976–1977 | ||
| Jim Blake | Labor | 1977–1983 | |
| Clem Campbell | Labor | 1983–1998 | |
| Nita Cunningham | Labor | 1998–2006 | |
| Jack Dempsey | National | 2006–2008 | |
| Liberal National | 2008–2015 | ||
| Leanne Donaldson | Labor | 2015–2017 | |
| David Batt | Liberal National | 2017–2020 | |
| Tom Smith | Labor | 2020–present | |
Election results
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Tom Smith | 13,253 | 41.47 | −1.73 | |
| Liberal National | Bree Watson | 11,855 | 38.5 | −3.0 | |
| One Nation | Alberto Carvalho | 2,451 | 7.67 | +1.87 | |
| Legalise Cannabis | Ian Zunker | 1,857 | 5.81 | +0.31 | |
| Greens | Nat Baker | 1,089 | 3.41 | +0.21 | |
| Independent | Geoff Warham | 603 | 1.89 | +1.89 | |
| Independent | Alan Corbett | 442 | 1.38 | +1.38 | |
| Total formal votes | 31,957 | 95.02 | −1.46 | ||
| Informal votes | 1,676 | 4.98 | +1.46 | ||
| Turnout | 33,633 | 88.57 | |||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Tom Smith | 16,460 | 51.51 | +1.51 | |
| Liberal National | Bree Watson | 15,497 | 48.49 | −1.51 | |
| Labor hold | Swing | +1.51 | |||
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Representatives of Queensland State Electorates 1860-2017" (PDF). Queensland Parliamentary Record 2012-2017: The 55th Parliament. Queensland Parliament. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ Dennien, Matt (13 November 2020). "Labor by nine votes: Government wins historic Bundaberg, Nicklin recounts". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ {Electoral Commission of Queensland (13 November 2024). "2024 State General Election – Bundaberg – District Summary". results.elections.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
External links
[edit]- Electorate profile (Antony Green, ABC)