Division of Forde

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For the Canberra suburb, see Forde, Australian Capital Territory.

Forde Australian House of Representatives Division
State or territory:	Queensland
Created:	1984
MP:	Brett Raguse
Party:	Labor
Namesake:	Frank Forde
Electors:	87,810
Area:	3,166 km² (1,222.4 sq mi)
Demographic:	Rural

The Division of Forde is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was created in 1984 and is named for Frank Forde, who was briefly Prime Minister of Australia in 1945. 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 semi-rural areas south of the city, including Beenleigh, Beaudesert, Boonah and Loganlea. It was a fairly safe seat for the Liberal Party after the 2004 election.

The popular Kay Elson announced that she would not re-contest her seat in the 2007 Australian Federal election. Wendy Creighton, a Boonah resident and editor of the local newspaper, the Fassifern Guardian, contested Forde as the Liberal candidate instead. However, Creighton was defeated at the Federal election by Brett Raguse, the opposing Labor Party candidate. As a result, Forde became the most safe Liberal Party seat to be claimed by the Labor Party at the 2007 election.

[edit] Members

	Party	Term
David Watson	Liberal	1984—1987
Mary Crawford	Labor	1987—1996
Kay Elson	Liberal	1996—2007
Brett Raguse	Labor	2007—present

[edit] Election results

Australian federal election, 2007: Forde
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Brett Raguse	34,721	44.35	+12.15
	Liberal	Wendy Creighton	26,576	33.95	-19.14
	National	Hajnal Ban	9,550	12.20	+12.12
	Greens	Andy Grodecki	3,756	4.80	+0.73
	Family First	Iona Abrahamson	1,756	2.24	-1.84
	One Nation	Rod Evans	671	0.86	-2.87
	Independent	Chris Coyle	623	0.80	+0.80
	Democrats	Maaz Syed	419	0.54	-0.79
	Citizens Electoral Council	Daniel Hope	216	0.28	+0.05
Total formal votes			78,288	95.39	+1.95
Informal votes			3,782	4.61	-1.95
Turnout			82,070	94.14	-0.34
Two Candidate Preferred Result
	Labor	Brett Raguse	41,419	52.91	+14.43
	Liberal	Wendy Creighton	36,869	47.09	-14.43
	Labor gain from Liberal		Swing	+14.43

Australian federal election, 2004: Forde
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Kay Elson	41,335	54.81	+5.60
	Labor	Sean Leader	23,382	31.00	-2.35
	Greens	Daniel Lloyd	3,076	4.08	+1.07
	Family First	Shereen Hinds	2,986	3.96	+3.96
	One Nation	Aaron Heaps	2,935	3.89	-5.87
	Democrats	Anita Martin	1,018	1.35	-3.29
		David Gordon Howse	515	0.68	+0.68
	Citizens Electoral Council	Daniel Hope	171	0.23	+0.23
Total formal votes			75,418	93.62	-0.59
Informal votes			5,143	6.38	+0.59
Turnout			80,561	93.30	+0.50
Two Candidate Preferred Result
	Liberal	Kay Elson	47,502	62.98	+6.00
	Labor	Sean Leader	27,916	37.02	-6.00
	Liberal hold		Swing	+6.00

[edit] External link

Forde Divisional Profile on the Australian Electoral Commission website.

v • d • e Electoral Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives in Queensland

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