Division of Maranoa

Maranoa Australian House of Representatives Division
Interactive map of boundaries
Created	1901
MP	David Littleproud
Party	Liberal National
Namesake	Maranoa River
Electors	117,284 (2022)
Area	729,897 km2 (281,814.8 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural
Electorates around Maranoa: Kennedy Kennedy Capricornia, Flynn Lingiari (NT) Maranoa Wide Bay, Blair, Groom Grey (SA) New England (NSW), Page (NSW) Wright

The Division of Maranoa is an Australian electoral division in Queensland.

Maranoa extends across the Southern Outback and is socially conservative. In the 2016 and 2019 federal elections, Pauline Hanson's One Nation finished ahead of Labor on preference count, reaching a peak in 2016 with 17.82% of the primary vote.

Maranoa is a stronghold for the Liberal National Party of Queensland. The current MP is David Littleproud, former Minister of Agriculture and current leader of the National 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.

History

The Maranoa River, the division's namesake

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 the Maranoa River, which runs through the division. Located in the mostly rural southwestern portion of the state, towns located in Maranoa include Charleville, Cunnamulla, Dalby, Roma, Kingaroy, Stanthorpe, Winton and Warwick.

Maranoa is a comfortably safe seat for The Nationals; it was the first Queensland seat won by that party. Originally a safe Labor seat, it has been in National hands for all but three years since a 1921 by-election, and without interruption since 1943. Maranoa was taken by the then-Country Party in 1943 despite a landslide Labor victory nationally—one of only seven seats won by the Country Party. At the 2016 and 2019 federal elections, One Nation overtook Labor for second place after preferences were distributed.

Presently, Maranoa is the Coalition's safest seat; Littleproud sits on a majority of 22 percent against One Nation and 25 percent against Labor. As of 2022 this is the only Federal seat won by the government from Labor in a by-election in over 100 years.

The seat was nicknamed the 'Kingdom of Maranoa' by John Howard after it returned the highest 'No' vote in the 1999 referendum on Australia becoming a republic. The seat's then MP, Bruce Scott, put the result down to the electorate being "well informed". 24 years later, in the Indigenous Voice referendum, the seat would again return the highest 'No' vote against the proposition; earning it the new nickname 'The No Capital of Australia'.

Members

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Jim Page (1861–1921)	Labor	30 March 1901 – 3 June 1921	Served as Chief Government Whip in the House under Fisher and Hughes. Died in office
		James Hunter (1882–1968)	Country	30 July 1921 – 27 August 1940	Served as minister under Lyons. Retired
		Frank Baker (1873–1959)	Labor	21 September 1940 – 21 August 1943	Lost seat
		Charles Adermann (1896–1979)	Country	21 August 1943 – 10 December 1949	Transferred to the Division of Fisher
		Charles Russell (1907–1977)	Country	10 December 1949 – 7 October 1950	Previously held the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of Dalby. Lost seat
			Independent	7 October 1950 – 28 April 1951
		Wilfred Brimblecombe (1898–1973)	Country	28 April 1951 – 31 October 1966	Retired
		James Corbett (1908–2005)	Country	26 November 1966 – 2 May 1975	Retired
			National Country	2 May 1975 – 19 September 1980
		Ian Cameron (1938–)	National Country	18 October 1980 – 16 October 1982	Retired
			Nationals	16 October 1982 – 19 February 1990
		Bruce Scott (1943–)	Nationals	24 March 1990 – 19 July 2010	Served as minister under Howard. Served as Deputy Speaker under Gillard, Rudd, Abbott and Turnbull. Retired
			Liberal Nationals	19 July 2010 – 9 May 2016
		David Littleproud (1976–)	Liberal Nationals	2 July 2016 – present	Served as minister under Turnbull and Morrison. Incumbent. Currently the leader of the National Party

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Maranoa

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in Queensland § Maranoa.[edit]

2022 Australian federal election: Maranoa

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	David Littleproud	52,382	56.26	+0.26
	Labor	Dave Kerrigan	14,236	15.29	−0.26
	One Nation	Mike Kelly	11,070	11.89	−2.73
	United Australia	Nathan McDonald	6,202	6.66	+3.03
	Greens	Ellisa Parker	4,533	4.87	+1.45
	Shooters, Fishers, Farmers	Malcolm Richardson	3,695	3.97	+3.97
	Australian Federation	Brett Tunbridge	997	1.07	+1.07
Total formal votes			93,115	96.64	+0.59
Informal votes			3,234	3.36	−0.59
Turnout			96,349	88.39	−3.54
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal National	David Littleproud	67,153	72.12	−3.30
	Labor	Dave Kerrigan	25,962	27.88	+3.30
	Liberal National hold		Swing	−3.30

External links

• Division of Maranoa (Qld) — Australian Electoral Commission