Division of Ryan

The Division of Ryan is an Australian electoral division in the state of Queensland. It is west of Brisbane, comprising parts of the City of Brisbane and City of Moreton Bay.

Ryan Australian House of Representatives Division
Interactive map of boundaries since the 2019 federal election
Created	1949
MP	Elizabeth Watson-Brown
Party	Greens
Namesake	T. J. Ryan
Electors	111,363 (2022)
Area	370 km2 (142.9 sq mi)
Demographic	Outer metropolitan
Electorates around Ryan: Blair Dickson Lilley Blair Ryan Brisbane Griffith Blair Oxley Moreton

Since 2022 its MP has been Elizabeth Watson-Brown of the Greens. Following the 2025 federal election, Watson-Brown remained as the sole Green MP in the Australian Parliament.

History

T. J. Ryan, the division's namesake

The division was created in 1949 and is named after T. J. Ryan, Premier of Queensland from 1915 to 1919.

In the 2001 federal election, Liberal candidate Michael Johnson was elected.^[1] He served as the member for Ryan until he was expelled from the Liberal Party. Johnson subsequently ran as an Independent in the 2010 federal election but lost.^[2]

Since 2016 there has been a growing Greens vote, gaining 20% of the first-preference vote in the 2019 election. In 2022, Greens candidate Elizabeth Watson-Brown won the seat from LNP member Julian Simmonds.^[3]

Location

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.^[4]

Ryan is located in south-east Queensland, and is generally based on the western suburbs of the City of Brisbane.

The Division of Ryan encompasses a number of whole and part suburbs and localities:^[5][6]

• Anstead
• Ashgrove (western and north-western part)
• Auchenflower
• Banks Creek (within the City of Brisbane)
• Bardon (southern part)
• Bellbowrie
• Brookfield
• Chapel Hill
• England Creek (within the City of Brisbane)
• Enoggera (western part)
• Enoggera Reservoir
• Ferny Grove
• Fig Tree Pocket
• Gaythorne
• Indooroopilly
• Kenmore
• Kenmore Hills
• Keperra
• Lake Manchester (within the City of Brisbane)
• Mitchelton
• Moggill
• Mount Coot-tha
• Paddington (southern part)
• Pinjarra Hills
• Pullenvale
• St Lucia
• Taringa
• The Gap
• Toowong
• Upper Brookfield
• Upper Kedron

Members

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Nigel Drury (1911–1984)	Liberal	10 December 1949 – 11 November 1975	Retired
		John Moore (1936–2025)		13 December 1975 – 5 February 2001	Served as minister under Fraser and Howard. Resigned to retire from politics
		Leonie Short (1956–)	Labor	17 March 2001 – 10 November 2001	Lost seat
		Michael Johnson (1970–)	Liberal	10 November 2001 – 20 May 2010	Lost preselection and then lost seat
			Independent	20 May 2010 – 21 August 2010
		Jane Prentice (1953–)	Liberal[a]	21 August 2010 – 11 April 2019	Lost preselection and retired
		Julian Simmonds (1985–)		18 May 2019 – 21 May 2022	Lost seat
		Elizabeth Watson-Brown (1956–)	Greens	21 May 2022 – present	Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Ryan

2025 Australian federal election: Ryan^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Maggie Forrest	35,806	34.61	−3.89
	Greens	Elizabeth Watson-Brown	29,986	28.98	−1.23
	Labor	Rebecca Hack	29,217	28.24	+5.94
	People First	Nicole de Lapp	2,407	2.33	+2.33
	One Nation	Robbie Elsom	2,327	2.25	+0.00
	Trumpet of Patriots	Ryan Hunt	1,372	1.33	+0.97
	Family First	Donna Gallehawk	1,340	1.30	+1.30
	Fusion	Gina Masterton	1,007	0.97	+0.97
Total formal votes			103,462	97.06	+0.12
Informal votes			3,136	2.94	−0.12
Turnout			106,598	92.81	+0.77
Notional two-party-preferred count
	Labor	Rebecca Hack	59,822	57.82	+5.40
	Liberal National	Maggie Forrest	43,640	42.18	−5.40
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Greens	Elizabeth Watson-Brown	55,112	53.27	+0.62
	Liberal National	Maggie Forrest	48,350	46.73	−0.62
	Greens hold		Swing	+0.62

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2025 Australian federal election in Queensland § Ryan.[edit]

2022 Australian federal election: Ryan^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Julian Simmonds	38,239	38.50	−10.11
	Greens	Elizabeth Watson-Brown	30,003	30.21	+9.86
	Labor	Peter Cossar	22,146	22.30	−2.13
	Liberal Democrats	Damian Coory	2,582	2.60	+2.60
	One Nation	Joel Love	2,237	2.25	+0.09
	United Australia	Kathryn Pollard	2,062	2.08	+0.55
	Animal Justice	Jina Lipman	1,088	1.10	−0.82
	Progressives	Janine Rees	606	0.61	+0.61
	Federation	Axel Dancoisne	353	0.36	+0.36
Total formal votes			99,316	96.94	−0.66
Informal votes			3,140	3.06	+0.66
Turnout			102,456	92.04	−0.94
Notional two-party-preferred count
	Labor	Peter Cossar	52,062	52.42	+8.45
	Liberal National	Julian Simmonds	47,254	47.58	−8.45
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Greens	Elizabeth Watson-Brown	52,286	52.65	+52.65
	Liberal National	Julian Simmonds	47,030	47.35	−8.67
	Greens gain from Liberal National

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

Alluvial diagram for preference flows in the seat of Ryan in the 2022 federal election. Y indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.

Notes

1. Member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland sitting with the federal parliamentary Liberal Party.