Bundaberg is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in central Queensland, Australia. It covers the city of Bundaberg, as well as the immediate surrounding area.
History The electoral district of Bundaberg was created by the Electoral Districts Act of 1887 which abolished the electoral district of Mulgrave that had included the Bundaberg area. The first election held in the seat of Bundaberg was the 1888 election.
The city's urban population has long made the seat a Labor stronghold; it was in Labor hands for all but a few years from 1892 to 2006, even during the height of Joh Bjelke-Petersen's popularity. This changed in 2005 when the practices of rogue surgeon Jayant Patel at the Bundaberg Base Hospital were uncovered. The Beattie government was seriously embarrassed by the subsequent Commissions of Inquiry into the matter, and as a result the seat fell to the Nationals. It became a Liberal National seat with the conservative parties' merger in 2008, and stayed in LNP hands for all but one term until 2020.
In 2020, the Labor Party won the seat by nine votes. It is currently an extremely marginal seat. Labor retained the seat in 2024 (although it lost government) and picked up a small swing in its favour.
Members for Bundaberg MemberPartyTerm Walter Adams Conservative 1888–1890 Ministerial 1890–1892 George Hall Labour 1892–1893 Michael Duffy Ministerial 1893–1896 Thomas Glassey Labour 1896–1901 George Barber Labor 1901–1935 Bernard McLean Labor 1935–1941 Frank Barnes Andrew Fisher Labor 1941–1944 Frank Barnes Labor 1944–1950 Ted Walsh Labor 1950–1957 Queensland Labor 1957–1963 Independent 1963–1969 Lou Jensen Labor 1969–1976 Independent 1976–1977 Jim Blake Labor 1977–1983 Clem Campbell Labor 1983–1998 Nita Cunningham Labor 1998–2006 Jack Dempsey National 2006–2008 Liberal National 2008–2015 Leanne Donaldson Labor 2015–2017 David Batt Liberal National 2017–2020 Tom Smith Labor 2020–present
Election results
References
External links Electorate profile (Antony Green, ABC)