The district of Thuringowa is an electorate

Electorates in Australia

Electorates in Australia are geographically defined areas represented by a single elected Member of Parliament. Known officially as divisions at the federal level and electoral districts at the state and territory level, "electorates" are also commonly referred to as seats or constituencies.-See...

 in the Legislative Assembly

Queensland Legislative Assembly

The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...

 of the state of Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

The division encompasses suburbs of the former City of Thuringowa on the western edge of Townsville

Townsville, Queensland

Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census...

 in North Queensland, stretching from Deeragun

Deeragun, Queensland

-Details:Deeragun is located along the Bruce Highway to the North-West of Townsville CBD. It is at Deeragun, where the Bruce Highway becomes Dual-Carriageway for the rest of its length into Townsville. The population is 2,626 residents...

 in the north to Kelso

Kelso, Queensland

Kelso is a suburb in the City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia, the last of three suburbs along Riverway Drive. Kelso is the only suburb on Riverway Drive that has homes backing onto the Ross River.-History:...

 in the south. It includes the suburbs of Bushland Beach

Bushland Beach, Queensland

Bushland Beach is part of the Northern Beaches area of City of Townsville, Queensland, alongside the Bruce Highway. This beachside suburb is one of the fastest-growing suburbs in Townsville....

, Shaw, Thuringowa Central

Thuringowa, Queensland

The City of Thuringowa was a City/Local Government Area in North Queensland, Australia covering the northern and western parts of what is now Townsville...

, Rasmussen

Rasmussen, Queensland

Rasmussen is a suburb in the City of Townsville in Queensland, Australia. It is the second suburb on Riverway Drive and is between the suburbs of Condon and Kelso; like all the suburbs in the Upper Ross and Riverway area it is named after early settlers....

, Condon

Condon, Queensland

Condon is a suburb in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Condon is part of the Upper Ross District and is the first of three suburbs along Riverway Drive. Condon's first residential development was in 1968; it was named after the Condon family who had settled on the Ross River and had a dairy...

 and Kirwan

Kirwan, Queensland

Kirwan is a suburb of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Kirwan includes parks, shopping, Kirwan State High School and private schools as well as the Riverway complex which has a great deal of entertainment from swimming, BBQ's and family outings to cultural events including an art gallery and...

.

The Electorate is bordered by the Hinchinbrook

Electoral district of Hinchinbrook

The district of Hinchinbrook is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.The district in its present form is a narrow coastal strip running from just south of Innisfail to just north of Townsville; though neither town is part of the electorate....

 (North and West), Burdekin

Electoral district of Burdekin

Burdekin is an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly in the state of Queensland, Australia. Centred on the Ayr–Home Hill region, the electorate also includes some of Townsville's southern suburbs as well as the coal-mining town of Collinsville...

 (South), Mundingburra

Electoral district of Mundingburra

The district of Mundingburra is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.- Overview :The seat is one of four within the Townsville urban area in North Queensland. Significant utilities within the Mundingburra electorate are the Townsville Hospital,...

 and Townsville

Electoral district of Townsville

The district of Townsville is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. The seat is one of four within the Townsville urban area in North Queensland, and covers the Eastern and Northern suburbs of the City of Townsville as well as Magnetic Island and...

 (both East) Electorates. The Electorate has become increasingly urbanised and with 31,985 voters, the Electorate has a population 13.13% larger than the average in Queensland and therefore will probably be reduced significantly in the upcoming redistribution.

Thuringowa is currently a safe Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 seat, held by Hon Craig Wallace MP

Craig Wallace

Craig Andrew Wallace is an Australian politician. He is the member for Thuringowa in the Queensland State Parliament, to which he was elected to on 7 February 2004....

, a former City Council advisor to former Mayor of Townsville Tony Mooney

Tony Mooney

Anthony John "Tony" Mooney AM is an Australian politician and was a City Councillor of the City of Townsville, Queensland from 1977 to 2008, and the Mayor from 1989 to 2008.-Overview:...

, he is now Minister for Natural Resources and Water and Minister Assisting the Premier

Peter Beattie

Peter Douglas Beattie , Australian politician, was the 36th Premier of the Australian state of Queensland for nine years and leader of the Australian Labor Party in that state for eleven and a half years...

 in North Queensland in the Beattie

Peter Beattie

Peter Douglas Beattie , Australian politician, was the 36th Premier of the Australian state of Queensland for nine years and leader of the Australian Labor Party in that state for eleven and a half years...

 Government.

History

The Electoral district of Thuringowa was created relatively recently in 1986, mostly from the western section of the Townsville Electorate

Electoral district of Townsville

The district of Townsville is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. The seat is one of four within the Townsville urban area in North Queensland, and covers the Eastern and Northern suburbs of the City of Townsville as well as Magnetic Island and...

.

Thuringowa Electorate was one of eleven State seats held by Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party from 1998, until it was returned to Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 in the 2001 landslide.

In 2004 the one term sitting member, Anita Phillips did not recontest, instead choosing to challenge Peter Lindsay

Peter Lindsay

Peter John Lindsay , Australian politician, was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 to July 2010, representing the Division of Herbert, Queensland. In January 2007 he was appointed to the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister...

 (unsuccessfully) for the Federal Division of Herbert

Division of Herbert

The Division of Herbert is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Eligible voters within the Division elect a single representative, known as the member for Herbert, to the Australian House of Representatives. The division was first contested at the 1901 election...

.

Labor's Craig Wallace

Craig Wallace

Craig Andrew Wallace is an Australian politician. He is the member for Thuringowa in the Queensland State Parliament, to which he was elected to on 7 February 2004....

 has held the seat since 2004. In the 2006 election Thuringowa went against the state-wide trend of a slight swing against Labor, Mr. Wallace achieved a swing towards Labor of 16.2% primary vote and 9.5% two party preferred. Immediately after the election he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for North Queensland

North Queensland

North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the state of Queensland in Australia. Queensland is a massive state, larger than most countries, and the tropical northern part of it has been historically remote and undeveloped, resulting in a distinctive regional character and...

, and two months later was promoted to Cabinet as the new Minister for Natural Resources and Water

Department of Natural Resources and Water

The Department of Natural Resources and Water is a defunct Queensland Government department. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander matters, Climate Change Policy and Science, Commercial Forestry, Commercial Water Services, Land , Native Title, Natural Resource Management , Catchment Management,...

 and Minister Assisting the Premier

Peter Beattie

Peter Douglas Beattie , Australian politician, was the 36th Premier of the Australian state of Queensland for nine years and leader of the Australian Labor Party in that state for eleven and a half years...

 in North Queensland when a Cabinet vacancy was created by the resignation of then Attorney-General Linda Lavarch

Linda Lavarch

Linda Denise Lavarch is an Australian politician and solicitor. She was a Labor Party member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1997 to 2009, representing the district of Kurwongbah....

 in late October 2006.

Members for Thuringowa

Member		Party	Term
	Ken McElligott	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	1986-1998
	Ken Turner Ken Turner (politician) Kenneth "Ken" Turner is a former Australian politician. He was born in Brisbane. Before his involvement in politics he was a commercial fisherman, and served in the Citizens Military Force 1961–1965. In 1998 he was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly as a member of Pauline...	One Nation One Nation Party One Nation is a far-right and nationalist political party in Australia. It gained 22% of the vote translating to 11 of 89 seats in Queensland's unicameral legislative assembly at the 1998 state election and made major inroads into the vote of the existing parties...	1998-1999
		Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	1999-2001
	Anita Phillips Anita Phillips Anita Frances Phillips is a former Australian politician. She studied at the University of Melbourne, receiving a Diploma of Social Studies in 1968 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1976. In 1969, she moved to Townsville in Queensland and became a social worker...	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	2001-2004
	Craig Wallace Craig Wallace Craig Andrew Wallace is an Australian politician. He is the member for Thuringowa in the Queensland State Parliament, to which he was elected to on 7 February 2004....	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	2004-present

Election results

External links

• Electorate Profile (Antony Green, ABC)