Division of Bowman

The Division of Bowman is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland.

Bowman
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Bowman in Queensland, as of the 2019 federal election.
Created1949
MPAndrew Laming
PartyLiberal National
NamesakeDavid Bowman
Electors109,454 (2019)
Area536 km2 (207.0 sq mi)
DemographicOuter Metropolitan

History
David Bowman, the division's namesake

The division was created in 1949 and is named for David Bowman, an early leader of the Australian Labor Party, in Queensland. The seat consists of the entirety of Redland City, located in the eastern suburbs of Brisbane, and includes the suburbs of Capalaba, Cleveland, Redland Bay, Birkdale, Thorneside, Alexandra Hills, Thornlands, Mount Cotton, Ormiston, Wellington Point and Victoria Point. The division also incorporates various islands of Moreton Bay including Coochiemudlo Island, the inhabited southern Bay Islands (Russell, Karragarra, Macleay and Lamb) and the big tourist destination of North Stradbroke Island.

It is generally a residential electorate with some crops, poultry, various light industries and tourism.

Bowman has traditionally been a highly marginal seat, regularly changing hands between the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party. Notably, the electorate has been won by the party with the largest national two party preferred vote at every election from 1954 to 2001 (except 1990). However, in the 2004 election, an energetic campaign by Dr Andrew Laming, and an electoral redistribution (due to the creation of the new Division of Bonner, leading veteran Bowman MP Con Sciacca to contest this new seat), saw Bowman returned to the Liberal Party by a significant margin (59.12% 2PP). The division was then considered by pollsters such as Antony Green to be a fairly safe Liberal seat.

In the 2007 election, the electorate experienced a strong swing of 8.86% towards the Australian Labor Party; the incumbent Laming held the seat by 0.04%, or 64 votes. This made it second only to McEwen as the most marginal seat in the country, although the 2009 electoral redistribution in Queensland saw the margin notionally reduced further, to effectively 0.005%, making Bowman Australia's most marginal seat at the time.[1] Laming went on to retain the seat comfortably for the Liberal National Party of Queensland in: 2010, regaining ground with a 9.51% swing towards him; 2013, despite a 6.35% swing against him; and 2016, when all parties saw a positive swing in Bowman (for the first time since 1955), due to the absence of a Palmer United Party candidate.

Members
Image Member Party Term Notes
  Malcolm McColm
(1914–1966)		 Liberal 10 December 1949 –
9 December 1961		 Lost seat
  Jack Comber
(1919–1992)		 Labor 9 December 1961 –
30 November 1963		 Lost seat
  Dr Wylie Gibbs
(1922–)		 Liberal 30 November 1963 –
25 October 1969		 Lost seat
  Len Keogh
(1931–2007)		 Labor 25 October 1969 –
13 December 1975		 Lost seat
  David Jull
(1944–2011)		 Liberal 13 December 1975 –
5 March 1983		 Lost seat. Later elected to the Division of Fadden in 1984
  Len Keogh
(1931–2007)		 Labor 5 March 1983 –
5 June 1987		 Lost preselection and retired
  Con Sciacca
(1947–2017)		 Labor 11 July 1987 –
2 March 1996		 Served as minister under Keating. Lost seat
  Andrea West
(1952–2010)		 Liberal 2 March 1996 –
3 October 1998		 Lost seat
  Con Sciacca
(1947–2017)		 Labor 3 October 1998 –
31 August 2004		 Did not contest in 2004. Failed to win the Division of Bonner
  Andrew Laming
(1966–)		 Liberal 9 October 2004 –
19 July 2010		 Incumbent
  Liberal Nationals 19 July 2010 –
present

Election results
Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Bowman
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2019 Australian federal election in Queensland § Bowman[edit]
2019 Australian federal election: Bowman[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal National Andrew Laming 47,866 48.67 −1.10
Labor Tom Baster 26,147 26.59 −5.46
Greens Emerald Moon 11,795 11.99 +2.23
One Nation Glen Wadsworth 7,175 7.30 +7.30
United Australia Shane Clarke 3,540 3.60 +3.60
Conservative National David Anderson 1,816 1.85 +1.85
Total formal votes 98,339 96.60 +0.41
Informal votes 3,465 3.40 −0.41
Turnout 101,804 93.04 +0.38
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal National Andrew Laming 59,237 60.24 +3.17
Labor Tom Baster 39,102 39.76 −3.17
Liberal National hold Swing+3.17
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References
  1. Hurst, Brian: Time is running out in ALP in Bowman Archived 15 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Bayside Bulletin, 1 February 2010.
  2. Bowman, QLD, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.

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