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 one of the original 75 divisions contested at the 1901 election. It is located in northern Queensland, and is named after Sir Robert Herbert, the first Premier of Queensland (1859–1866). It has always been based on the city of Townsville, though on its original boundaries it extended from Mackay to the Torres Strait, covering from what are now the seats of Dawson through to Leichhardt. Successive redistributions have cut back the seat to little more than Townsville and its inner suburbs.

The seat had been a bellwether for all but two terms from the 1966 election until the 2007 election, where it was hotly contested with local identity and businessman George Colbran pre-selected by Labor to contest Herbert, however Liberal National Party (LNP) incumbent Peter Lindsay managed to retain the seat with a wafer-thin 50.2 percent two-party vote from a 6 percent two-party swing while his party lost government. LNP candidate Ewen Jones succeeded Lindsay and retained the seat at the following two elections with increased margins.

Last won by Labor at the 1993 federal election, Herbert featured the closest result of any division at the 2016 federal election. Following a recount, the Australian Electoral Commission confirmed on 31 July that Labor's Cathy O'Toole defeated the LNP incumbent by 37 votes. The LNP considered a legal challenge to the result.