Electoral district of Cairns

Cairns is an electoral district in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in the state of Queensland, Australia.^[1]

Cairns Queensland—Legislative Assembly
Map of the electoral district of Cairns, 2017
State	Queensland
MP	Michael Healy
Party	Labor Party
Namesake	Cairns
Electors	36,789 (2020)
Area	60 km2 (23.2 sq mi)
Demographic	Provincial
Coordinates	16°56′S 145°45′E
Electorates around Cairns: Barron River Barron River Coral Sea Barron River Cairns Mulgrave Barron River Mulgrave Mulgrave

2008 map

The division encompasses the central business district and inner-suburbs of Cairns, in Far North Queensland. Major locations include Bungalow, Manoora, Kanimbla, Earlville and Woree.

History

Created in 1888, Cairns has historically tended to be a safe Labor seat with a blue-collar economy based on sugar, mining and railways. However, in recent decades such industry has been surpassed in importance by tourism and service industries for wealthier retirees and has grown increasingly marginal.

This trend culminated in 2012, when Gavin King took the seat for the LNP on a massive swing of over 13 percent, becoming the first conservative to hold the seat since 1904. The seat reverted to its Labor ways in 2015, when Rob Pyne defeated King on a swing slightly larger than the one King picked up three years earlier. Pyne quit the party to become an independent in 2016. He was defeated by Labor's Michael Healy in 2017.

Members for Cairns

Member		Party	Term
	Frederick Wimble	Liberal	1888–1890
		Opposition	1890–1893
	Thomas Joseph Byrnes	Ministerial	1893–1896
	Isidor Lissner	Ministerial	1896–1899
	Thomas Givens	Labour	1899–1902
	James Lyons	Conservative	1902–1904
	John Mann	Labour	1904–1907
		Kidstonites	1907–1909
		Independent Opposition	1909–1912
	William McCormack	Labor	1912–1930
	John O'Keefe	Labor	1930–1942
	Lou Barnes	Independent Labor	1942–1947
	Thomas Crowley	Labor	1947–1956
	Watty Wallace	Labor	1956–1964
	Ray Jones	Labor	1965–1983
	Keith De Lacy	Labor	1983–1998
	Desley Boyle	Labor	1998–2012
	Gavin King	Liberal National	2012–2015
	Rob Pyne	Labor	2015–2016
		Independent	2016–2017
	Michael Healy	Labor	2017–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Cairns

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2024 Queensland state election § Cairns.[edit]

2024 Queensland state election: Cairns^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Michael Healy	10,900	36.07	−8.13
	Liberal National	Yolonde Entsch	9,796	32.41	−4.07
	One Nation	Geena Court	5,099	16.87	+10.94
	Greens	Josh Holt	3,390	11.22	+1.40
	Independent	Shane Cuthbert	1,037	3.43	+3.43
Total formal votes			30,222	95.97	−0.49
Informal votes			1,268	4.03	+0.49
Turnout			31,490	79.74	−1.40
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Michael Healy	15,860	52.48	−3.11
	Liberal National	Yolonde Entsch	14,362	47.52	+3.11
	Labor hold		Swing	−3.11