Townsville
Queensland—Legislative Assembly
Electoral map of Townsville, 2024
StateQueensland
Dates current1878–present
MPScott Stewart
PartyLabor Party
NamesakeTownsville
Electors35,337 (2020)
Area251 km2 (96.9 sq mi)
DemographicProvincial
Coordinates18°55′S 146°41′E / 18.917°S 146.683°E / -18.917; 146.683
Electorates around Townsville:
Hinchinbrook Coral Sea Coral Sea
Hinchinbrook Townsville Coral Sea
Thuringowa Mundingburra Mundingburra
Electoral map of Townsville 2008

Townsville is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. The seat is one of four within the Townsville urban area in North Queensland, and covers the Eastern and Northern suburbs of the City of Townsville as well as Magnetic Island and Palm Island.[1]

Significant features in Townsville within the electorate are; The Strand, the Port of Townsville, Townsville Airport, RAAF Garbutt, Castle Hill, Museum of Tropical Queensland, Reef HQ, various administrative centres for Local, State and federal Governments. Suburbs of Townsville within the Electorate include; Townsville, North Ward, Castle Hill, Belgian Gardens, West End, Hyde Park, Garbutt, Mount Louisa, Currajong, Railway Estate, South Townsville, Rowes Bay, Bohle and Pallarenda.[2] Two populated islands fall within the electorate; Magnetic Island and Palm Island, each have about 2500 residents,[3][4] 93% of Palm Island's inhabitants are Indigenous.[5]

This State electorate falls completely within the eastern portion of the Federal Division of Herbert. It encompasses the local government areas of Palm Island and parts of Townsville.

Townsville Electorate is bordered by the Hinchinbrook (North), Burdekin (South), Mundingburra (South and West) and Thuringowa (West) Electorates.[6]

History

The Electoral district of Townsville was created in 1878, then the Additional Members Act of 1885 (which took effect late 1885 / early 1886) was divided in two, one retaining the name of Townsville, the other becoming Musgrave which existed until 1923. From late 1885 it was determined that the Townsville Electorate would elect two representatives to the Legislative Assembly.[7]

Premier Robert Philp (Premier 1899-1903 and 1907–08) was elected as one of the two Townsville members when his previous Electorate of Musgrave absorbed. His parliamentary activity was mainly in support of North Queensland and his own business interests - extending railway links to North Queensland, and the abolition of import tariffs. When the import of Pacific Islanders was temporarily halted in 1892 Philp was instrumental in securing its resumption.

In 1912 the Electoral district of Mundingburra was created to accommodate for the return to universal single member electorates. 1923 saw the further reduction in size of the Electorate with the northern part of the city ceded to Kennedy and the southern part to Mundingburra, and in 1959 it was abolished and divided into the two electorates of South Townsville and North Townsville. The 1971 redistribution recreated the Electorate with new neighbours, Townsville West and Townsville South, Townsville included most of the Northern part of the City and some rural areas which were formerly in Hinchinbrook. The Electorate was reduced in size again in 1986 redistribution with a new neighbour of Townsville East. When Townsville East was abolished in 1991 Townsville Electorate gained land but lost land in the South-West corner to the newly re-created seat of Mundingburra.[7]

In 1998 Mike Reyolds was elected as the new Member for the Townsville Electorate taking over from retiring Labor Member Ken Geoff Smith and was immediately appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier in North Queensland. After increasing the Townsville margin in 2001 Reynolds was promoted to Cabinet as Minister for Emergency Services and Minister Assisting the Premier in North Queensland. In 2004, Reynolds was moved to the new Child Safety Ministry with Ministerial responsibilities for adoptions, child protection services, foster/kinship carers etc.

After the 2006 election, Reynolds was elected as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland by the 52nd Parliament on 10 October 2006.

Members for Townsville

First incarnation (1878–1885, 1 member)
Member Party Term
  John Deane Unaligned 1878–1879
  John Murtagh Macrossan Unaligned 1879–1885
Second incarnation (1885–1912, 2 members)
Member Party Term
  John Murtagh Macrossan Unaligned 1885–1891
  William Villiers Brown Unaligned 1885–1888
  Robert Philp Opposition/Ministerialist 1888–1912
  William Villiers Brown Unaligned 1891–1893
  George Burns Ministerialist 1893
  Anthony Ogden Labour 1894–1896
  William Castling Ministerialist 1896–1899
  Patrick Hanran Ministerialist 1899–1909
  Thomas Foley Labour 1909–1912
Third incarnation (1912–1960, 1 member)
Member Party Term
  Robert Philp Opposition/Ministerialist 1912–1915
  Daniel Ryan Labor 1915–1920
  William Green Northern Country 1920–1923
  Maurice Hynes Labor 1923–1939
  George Keyatta Labor 1939–1960
Fourth incarnation (1972–present, 1 member)
Member Party Term
  Norman Scott-Young Liberal 1972–1983
  Ken McElligott Labor 1983–1986
  Tony Burreket National 1986–1989
  Ken Davies Labor 1989–1992
  Geoff Smith Labor 1992–1998
  Mike Reynolds Labor 1998–2009
  Mandy Johnstone Labor 2009–2012
  John Hathaway Liberal National 2012–2015
  Scott Stewart Labor 2015–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Townsville
2020 Queensland state election: Townsville[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Scott Stewart 10,289 36.20 +2.62
Liberal National John Hathaway 9,508 33.45 +2.53
Katter's Australian Joshua Schwarz 3,204 11.27 +11.27
Greens Tom O'Grady 2,366 8.32 −2.53
One Nation Clive Clarkson 1,293 4.55 −15.37
Animal Justice Samara Grumberg 554 1.95 +1.95
Informed Medical Options Toni McMahon 534 1.88 +1.88
United Australia Greg Dowling 520 1.83 +1.83
NQ First Clynton Hawks 157 0.55 +0.55
Total formal votes 28,425 95.04 −1.03
Informal votes 1,484 4.96 +1.03
Turnout 29,909 84.64 +0.70
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Scott Stewart 15,099 53.12 +2.74
Liberal National John Hathaway 13,326 46.88 −2.74
Labor hold Swing +2.74
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Primary vote results in Townsville (Fourth Incarnation) (Parties that did not get 5% of the vote are omitted)
  Labor
  Liberal National
  Liberal
  Country/National
  Greens
  One Nation
  Katter's Australian
  Palmer United/United Australia Party
  Queensland Labor
  Independent
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Two-candidate-preferred vote results in Townsville (Fourth Incarnation)

References

  1. ^ "ABC Electorate guide". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 21 December 2006.
  2. ^ "Team Beattie Electorate guide". Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2006.
  3. ^ "Magnetic Island". Archived from the original on 10 December 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2006.
  4. ^ "Brisbane Institute - Lessons from Palm Island". Archived from the original on 7 October 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2006.
  5. ^ "Dept of Communities - Community Renewal". Archived from the original on 20 August 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2006.
  6. ^ "Electoral Commission of Queensland map of Electorate" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 September 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2006.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 2020 State General Election – Townsville – District Summary, ECQ.

External links

Electoral districts of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
Categories