Division of Groom

Groom
Australian House of Representatives Division

Division of Groom (green) within Queensland
Created 1984
MP Ian Macfarlane
Party Liberal National
Namesake Littleton Groom
Electors 96,916 (2013)
Area 5,594 km2 (2,159.9 sq mi)
Demographic Provincial

The Division of Groom is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was created in 1984 as essentially a reconfigured version of the old Division of Darling Downs. It is named in honour of Sir Littleton Groom, who represented Darling Downs with only one short break from 1901 to 1936 and served as Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives.

It is located in the rural areas west of Brisbane and is centred on the city of Toowoomba, Australia's second largest inland city. Other centres include Oakey and Pittsworth.

The seat has never elected a Labor member in either of its incarnations. While Toowoomba itself occasionally votes for Labor, it is nowhere near enough to overcome the conservative bent of the rural areas. It is currently a safe seat for the Liberal National Party, with a 16-point swing required for Labor to win it as of the 2013 election.

Members

MemberPartyTerm
  Tom McVeigh National 1984–1988
  Bill Taylor Liberal 1988–1998
  Ian Macfarlane Liberal 1998–2010
  Liberal National 2010–present

Election results

Australian federal election, 2013: Groom
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal National Ian Macfarlane 48,966 55.64 −5.61
Labor Troy Murray 19,451 22.10 −0.57
Palmer United Ewen Mathieson 8,225 9.35 +9.35
Greens Trevor Smith 3,823 4.34 −2.96
Katter's Australian Chris Whitty 3,243 3.69 +3.69
Family First Alex Todd 2,342 2.66 −2.90
Rise Up Australia Rick Armitage 1,210 1.37 +1.37
CEC Robert Thies 743 0.84 +0.84
Total formal votes 88,003 96.01 +0.16
Informal votes 3,656 3.99 −0.16
Turnout 91,659 94.58 +0.16
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal National Ian Macfarlane 58,493 66.47 −2.06
Labor Troy Murray 29,510 33.53 +2.06
Liberal National hold Swing −2.06

References

    External links

    Coordinates: 27°29′02″S 151°39′11″E / 27.484°S 151.653°E / -27.484; 151.653

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