The Division of Kennedy is an
Australian electoral division in the
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
.
History
The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the
original 65 divisions to be contested at the
first federal election. It is named after
Edmund Kennedy, an explorer in the area where the division is located in Queensland.
The member since 1993 is
Bob Katter Jr., the leader of
Katter's Australian Party
Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian political party in Australia. It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former Nationals MP for the seat of Kennedy, with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral ...
. He was previously elected as a member of the
National Party, but became an independent in 2001 before forming his own party in 2011.
Geographically, the electorate is rural. It takes in the Pacific coast of Queensland between
Cairns
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
and
Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
, including a small portion of Cairns itself, before sweeping westward to take in most of Queensland's northern
outback
The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a ...
—a large, increasingly sparsely populated area stretching west to the border with the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
. The largest population centre in the electorate is the city of
Mount Isa, in its far west. Until 1949, the electorate was even larger, encompassing most of the state north of Townsville, becoming still larger when it absorbed Cairns in 1934. However, much of its northern portion, including the Cairns area, became the
Division of Leichhardt
The Division of Leichhardt is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland.
Geography
Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Aust ...
in 1949.
Kennedy was held by the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...
for most of the first half of the 20th century, and was one of the few country seats where Labor consistently did well. From Federation until
1966
Events January
* January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.
* January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...
, Labor held it for all but two terms. However, since 1966 it has been held by the conservative Katter family—
Bob Sr. and his son, Bob Jr.—for all but one term. It has long since shaken off its Labor past, and is now considered one of the most conservative electorates in Australia. A few Labor pockets still exist in Mount Isa, which was represented by Labor at the state level as late as 2012, as well as around Cairns and Townsville. However, they are no match for the heavily conservative bent of the rest of the seat.
Besides the Katters, other prominent members include
Charles McDonald Charles McDonald may refer to:
* Charles James McDonald (1793–1860), politician and jurist from the U.S. state of Georgia
* Charles McDonald (Australian politician) (1860–1925), Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
* Charles McDon ...
, the first Labor
Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, and
Bill Riordan
William James Frederick Riordan CBE (8 February 1908 – 15 January 1973) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served in the House of Representatives from 1936 to 1966, representing the Division ...
, a minister in the
Chifley government.
Darby Riordan
David "Darby" Riordan (23 July 1886 – 15 October 1936) was an Australian politician.
Riordan was the Australian Labor Party member for Burke in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, winning the seat in 1918. He held Burke till 1929 at which ...
held the seat from
1929 until his death in 1936. His nephew,
Bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Pla ...
, won the seat at the ensuing
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...
and held it until his retirement in 1966. Bob Katter Sr. won it in the
1966 Coalition landslide, holding it until 1990. His son and current member, Bob Jr. defeated his father's successor,
Rob Hulls
Rob Justin Hulls (born 23 January 1957) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 2012, representing the electorate of Niddrie. As well as serving as the Deputy Premier of Victoria, ...
, in
1993. Hulls would later become Deputy Premier of Victoria.
Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the
Australian Electoral Commission
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums.
Responsibilities
The AEC's main responsibility is to ...
. 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.
At the
2013 election, sitting member Bob Jr. faced his first serious contest in two decades. He'd gone into the election holding Kennedy with a margin of 18 per cent, making Kennedy the second-safest seat in Australia. However,
Liberal National candidate Noeline Ikin was well ahead on the primary vote by 10,000 votes. Katter narrowly pulled through and won another term on Labor preferences. However, he suffered a swing of 17 per cent, reducing his majority to only 2.19 per cent.
Katter did not however face a rematch against Ikin at the
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
election due to her having a brain tumour which forced her out of the election. (The tumour ultimately claimed Ikin's life in 2017.)
At that election, Katter picked up a swing of almost nine per cent, making it a safe seat once again.
Kennedy was one of the 17 (out of 150) electorates that voted ‘no’ in the
Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey
The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the postal service between 12 September and 7 November 2017. Unlike voting in ...
.
Members
Election results
References
External links
Division of Kennedy (Qld)—
Australian Electoral Commission
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums.
Responsibilities
The AEC's main responsibility is to ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Division of
Electoral divisions of Australia
Constituencies established in 1901
1901 establishments in Australia
Federal politics in Queensland
Far North Queensland
North West Queensland