Division of Bowman

Bowman Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Bowman (green) within Queensland
Created	1949
MP	Andrew Laming
Party	Liberal National
Namesake	David Bowman
Electors	95,874 (2013)
Area	537 km^2 (207.3 sq mi)
Demographic	Outer Metropolitan

The Division of Bowman is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. 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), saw Bowman returned to the Liberal Party by a significant margin (59.12% two party preferred) and 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. Incumbent Liberal MP Andrew Laming held the seat by 0.04%, or 64 votes. Following the 2007 election, it was second only to McEwen as the most marginal seat in the country, although the 2009 electoral redistribution in Queensland saw the margin notionally reduced even further to effectively 0.005%, making Bowman the most marginal seat in the country.^[1]

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Malcolm McColm	Liberal	1949–1961
	Jack Comber	Labor	1961–1963
	Wylie Gibbs	Liberal	1963–1969
	Len Keogh	Labor	1969–1975
	David Jull	Liberal	1975–1983
	Len Keogh	Labor	1983–1987
	Con Sciacca	Labor	1987–1996
	Andrea West	Liberal	1996–1998
	Con Sciacca	Labor	1998–2004
	Andrew Laming	Liberal	2004–2010
		Liberal National	2010–present

Election results

Australian federal election, 2013: Bowman
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Andrew Laming	42,828	49.28	−6.35
	Labor	Darryl Briskey	25,967	29.88	−0.29
	Palmer United	John Wayne	11,049	12.71	+12.71
	Greens	Penny Allman-Payne	5,198	5.98	−3.99
	Family First	Andrew O'Shea	1,868	2.15	−0.09
Total formal votes			86,910	95.49	+0.88
Informal votes			4,102	4.51	−0.88
Turnout			91,012	94.93	+0.63
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal National	Andrew Laming	51,155	58.86	−1.53
	Labor	Darryl Briskey	35,755	41.14	+1.53
	Liberal National hold		Swing	−1.53

References

1. Hurst, Brian: Time is running out in ALP in Bowman, Bayside Bulletin, 1 February 2010.

External links

• - Division of Bowman (Qld) — Australian Electoral Commission

Coordinates: 27°34′48″S 153°14′31″E / 27.580°S 153.242°E