page_title: Electoral district of Southern Downs
hierarchical_section_title: Electoral district of Southern Downs
caption_attribution_description: Electoral district of Southern Downs (Queensland, Australia)
context_page_description: Southern Downs is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. It was created in 2001 as a replacement for Warwick.
  The district takes in the southern parts of the Darling Downs region along the New South Wales border. It includes the major towns of Warwick, Stanthorpe and Goondiwindi and extends westward almost to St George. It includes a number of smaller communities such as:
  Allora
  Cecil Plains
  Inglewood
  Killarney
  Leyburn
  Millmerran
  Texas
  Wallangarra
  Yelarbon
  Darling Downs has traditionally been a conservative area, and Southern Downs is no exception. It has been a comfortably safe seat for the Liberal National Party and its predecessor, the National Party for its entire existence. Predecessor seat Warwick had been in the hands of a non-Labor party since 1947.
  The seat's first member, Lawrence Springborg, transferred from Warwick in 2001. He served as the last leader of the Queensland branch of the National Party for a few months in 2008, having previously served in that post from 2003 to 2006. He served as the first leader of the LNP from 2008 to 2009, and served as leader again from 2015 to 2016.
context_section_description: Southern Downs is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. It was created in 2001 as a replacement for Warwick.
  The district takes in the southern parts of the Darling Downs region along the New South Wales border. It includes the major towns of Warwick, Stanthorpe and Goondiwindi and extends westward almost to St George. It includes a number of smaller communities such as:
  Allora
  Cecil Plains
  Inglewood
  Killarney
  Leyburn
  Millmerran
  Texas
  Wallangarra
  Yelarbon
  Darling Downs has traditionally been a conservative area, and Southern Downs is no exception. It has been a comfortably safe seat for the Liberal National Party and its predecessor, the National Party for its entire existence. Predecessor seat Warwick had been in the hands of a non-Labor party since 1947.
  The seat's first member, Lawrence Springborg, transferred from Warwick in 2001. He served as the last leader of the Queensland branch of the National Party for a few months in 2008, having previously served in that post from 2003 to 2006. He served as the first leader of the LNP from 2008 to 2009, and served as leader again from 2015 to 2016. He also served as a minister in the Newman government.
caption: Electoral map of Southern Downs 2008
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