Division of Leichhardt

Leichhardt Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Leichhardt in Queensland, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created	1949
MP	Warren Entsch
Party	Liberal National
Namesake	Ludwig Leichhardt
Electors	109,096 (2016)
Area	148,988 km^2 (57,524.6 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural

The Division of Leichhardt is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was first contested in 1949 after the expansion of seats in the Parliament of Australia. It is one of Australia's largest electorates, covering an area stretching from Cairns to Cape York and the Torres Strait, including the Torres Strait Islands.

The division is named after Ludwig Leichhardt, an explorer and scientist. The area was first covered by the seat of Herbert from 1901 to 1934 and then by the seat of Kennedy until 1949.

Most of the electorate is almost uninhabited except for small Aboriginal communities, but the extreme southeast, consisting of the northern half of the Wet Tropics, with rich volcanic soils instead of the extraordinarily infertile lateritic sands and gravels of Cape York proper, is quite densely populated and includes urban Cairns. There are small, intensive sugar cane, banana and mango farms in this region, though they are prone to damage from droughts and cyclones.

The seat of Leichhardt was a bellwether seat from the 1972 election until the 2010 election. Additionally, 2010 represented the first time that Labor was in government without the seat of Leichhardt.

Ahead of the 2016 federal election, ABC psephologist Antony Green listed the seat in his election guide as one of eleven which he classed as "bellwether" electorates.^[1]

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Tom Gilmore	Country	1949–1951
	Harry Bruce	Labor	1951–1958
	Bill Fulton	Labor	1958–1975
	David Thomson	National	1975–1983
	John Gayler	Labor	1983–1993
	Peter Dodd	Labor	1993–1996
	Warren Entsch	Liberal	1996–2007
	Jim Turnour	Labor	2007–2010
	Warren Entsch	Liberal National	2010–present

Election results

Australian federal election, 2016: Leichhardt^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal National	Warren Entsch	35,066	39.49	−5.77
	Labor	Sharryn Howes	24,939	28.08	−4.49
	Greens	Kurt Pudniks	7,702	8.67	+2.08
	One Nation	Peter Rogers	6,775	7.63	+7.63
	Independent	Daniel McCarthy	6,096	6.86	+6.86
	Katter's Australian	Brad Tassell	3,840	4.32	+0.03
	Family First	Ned Kelly Gebadi	2,257	2.54	+0.35
	Rise Up Australia	John Kelly	1,439	1.62	+1.06
	Independent	Michael Newie	694	0.78	+0.78
Total formal votes			88,808	92.68	−1.87
Informal votes			7,012	7.32	+1.87
Turnout			95,820	87.83	−3.45
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal National	Warren Entsch	47,915	53.95	−1.73
	Labor	Sharryn Howes	40,893	46.05	+1.73
	Liberal National hold		Swing	−1.73

References

1. The Bellwether Contests: Antony Green ABC
2. Leichhardt, QLD, Virtual Tally Room 2016, Australian Electoral Commission.

External links

• Division of Leichhardt (Qld) — Australian Electoral Commission

Coordinates: 14°21′25″S 143°07′16″E / 14.357°S 143.121°E