# Division of Herbert

The Division of Herbert is an Australian electoral division in the state of Queensland. Eligible voters within the Division elect a single representative, known as the member for Herbert, to the Australian House of Representatives. It covers the city of Townsville. The current MP is Phillip Thompson of the Liberal Party.

## Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian 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.

## History

The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions at the first federal 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 north-eastern 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 south-eastern 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. The LNP considered a legal challenge to the result. The LNP regained the seat with a big swing to them in 2019, part of a large swing to the LNP in Queensland, and in 2022 the seat again swung to the Coalition, bucking the national and statewide swing to Labor.

## Members

| Member | Party | Term | Notes |
| Fred Bamford (1849–1934) | Labor | 30 March 1901 – 14 November 1916 | Served as minister under Hughes. Retired |
| Fred Bamford (1849–1934) | National Labor | 14 November 1916 – 17 February 1917 | Served as minister under Hughes. Retired |
| Fred Bamford (1849–1934) | Nationalist | 17 February 1917 – 3 October 1925 | Served as minister under Hughes. Retired |
| Lewis Nott (1886–1951) | Nationalist | 14 November 1925 – 17 November 1928 | Lost seat. Later elected to the Division of Australian Capital Territory in 1949 |
| George Martens (1874–1949) | Labor | 17 November 1928 – 16 August 1946 | Retired |
| Bill Edmonds (1903–1968) | Labor | 28 September 1946 – 22 November 1958 | Lost seat |
| John Murray (1915–2009) | Liberal | 22 November 1958 – 9 December 1961 | Lost seat. Later elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of Clayfield in 1963 |
| 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) | Liberal | 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 | 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 | 18 May 2019 – present | Incumbent |

## Election results

2022 Australian federal election: Herbert :
| Party | 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 | Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 92,440 | 94.23 | +0.13 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 5,658 | 5.77 | −0.13 |
| Turnout | Turnout | 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 National hold | Liberal National hold | Swing | +3.41 | |