en Division of Forde

Forde
Australian House of Representatives Division
Forde; Australian House of Representatives Division
	Map Interactive map of boundaries
Created	1984
MP	Bert van Manen
Party	Liberal
Namesake	Frank Forde
Electors	119,198 (2022)
Area	418 km2 (161.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Provincial

The Division of Forde is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The current MP is Bert van Manen 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.^[1]

History

The division was created in 1984 and is named after Frank Forde, who was Prime Minister of Australia for seven days in 1945 following the death of John Curtin. When it was created it was a marginal seat in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, but it now has no territory in common with the original seat and is located in exurban and semi-rural areas south of the city, including Beenleigh and Loganlea.

It was a fairly safe seat for the Liberal Party after the 2004 election. Kay Elson announced that she would not re-contest her seat in the 2007 election. Wendy Creighton, a Boonah resident and editor of the local newspaper, the Fassifern Guardian, contested Forde as the Liberal candidate instead. She was defeated at the Federal election by Brett Raguse, the opposing Labor Party candidate, making Forde the safest Liberal Party seat to be claimed by the Labor Party at the 2007 election. The seat returned to the LNP with Bert van Manen in 2010. Incumbent van Manen then held on to the seat during the 2013, 2016 & 2019 elections.

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.^[2] Roy Morgan Research found the Division of Forde to be the least politically involved electorate in Australia, with only 7% of voters interested in political analysis as a type of media content.^[3]

Members

Member	Party	Term	Notes
David Watson (1945–)	Liberal	1 December 1984 – 11 July 1987	Lost seat. Later elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of Moggill in 1989
Mary Crawford (1947–)	Labor	11 July 1987 – 2 March 1996	Lost seat
Kay Elson (1947–)	Liberal	2 March 1996 – 17 October 2007	Retired
Brett Raguse (1960–)	Labor	24 November 2007 – 21 August 2010	Lost seat
Bert van Manen (1965–)	Liberal^[a]	21 August 2010 – present	Served as Chief Government Whip in the House under Morrison. Incumbent. Currently serving as the Chief Opposition Whip in the House

Election results

2022 Australian federal election: Forde^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Bert van Manen	34,920	36.91	−6.59
	Labor	Rowan Holzberger	26,497	28.01	−1.50
	Greens	Jordan Hall	9,319	9.85	+1.12
	One Nation	Seschelle Matterson	7,578	8.01	−3.80
	United Australia	Roxanne O'Halloran	7,485	7.91	+3.87
	Independent	Christopher Greaves	2,973	3.14	+3.14
	Liberal Democrats	Tobby Sutherland	2,668	2.82	+2.82
	Animal Justice	Linda McCarthy	2,444	2.58	+2.58
	TNL	Samuel Holland	728	0.77	+0.77
Total formal votes			94,612	93.22	−2.14
Informal votes			6,884	6.78	+2.14
Turnout			101,496	85.23	−4.26
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal National	Bert van Manen	51,311	54.23	−4.37
	Labor	Rowan Holzberger	43,301	45.77	+4.37
	Liberal National hold		Swing	−4.37