Division of Fisher

Fisher Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Fisher in Queensland, as of the 2019 federal election.
Created	1949
MP	Andrew Wallace
Party	Liberal National
Namesake	Andrew Fisher
Electors	113,134 (2019)
Area	1,198 km2 (462.6 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural

The Division of Fisher is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland.

History[]

Andrew Fisher, the division's namesake

The division was created in 1949 and is named after Andrew Fisher, Prime Minister of Australia on three non-consecutive occasions within the first two decades following Federation. It is located in the Sunshine Coast area north of Brisbane and includes the towns of Caloundra, Mooloolaba, Beerwah, Maleny, Woodford and Kilcoy.

As originally created, it extended as far inland as Kingaroy, but gradually moved eastward from the 1960s onward to become an entirely Sunshine Coast-based seat. It was a safe seat for the National Party until the 1980s. However, some of its more conservative territory was shifted to the new seat of Fairfax in 1984, replaced by some more marginal territory in the outer northern suburbs of Brisbane. On these boundaries, Labor took the seat in 1987.

The Brisbane portion was removed in 1993 (mostly going to the new seat of Dickson), erasing Labor's majority and making Fisher notionally Liberal. The Liberals took the seat in 1993, and have held it for all but two years since then without much difficulty. To date, it is the last time Labor has held a Sunshine Coast seat.

Its most prominent members have been Sir Charles Adermann, who was Deputy Leader of the Country Party 1964–66, and Peter Slipper, who served as Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 2011 to 2012. Following the resignation of Harry Jenkins as Speaker in the 43rd Parliament, Peter Slipper was nominated unopposed and installed as Speaker on 24 November 2011.^[1][2] Slipper resigned from the Liberal National Party on taking the Speaker's seat and continued in parliament as an independent member and resigned as speaker and went to the cross bench on 9 October 2012.^[2] On 11 May 2013, he joined businessman Clive Palmer's recently formed Palmer United Party, becoming its first member in federal parliament. However, a matter of hours later his membership of the party was revoked and Slipper returned to being an independent.^[3]

Members[]

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		(Sir) Charles Adermann (1896–1979)	Country	10 December 1949 – 2 November 1972	Previously held the Division of Maranoa. Served as minister under Menzies and Holt. Retired. Son was Evan Adermann
		Evan Adermann (1927–2001)	Country	2 December 1972 – 2 May 1975	Served as minister under Fraser. Transferred to the Division of Fairfax. Father was Sir Charles Adermann
			National Country	2 May 1975 – 16 October 1982
			Nationals	16 October 1982 – 1 December 1984
		Peter Slipper (1950–)	Nationals	1 December 1984 – 11 July 1987	Lost seat
		Michael Lavarch (1961–)	Labor	11 July 1987 – 13 March 1993	Transferred to the Division of Dickson
		Peter Slipper (1950–)	Liberal	13 March 1993 – 19 July 2010	Served as Speaker during the Gillard Government. Lost seat
			Liberal Nationals	19 July 2010 – 24 November 2011
			Independent	24 November 2011 – 11 May 2013
			Palmer United	11 May 2013 – 11 May 2013
			Independent	11 May 2013 – 7 September 2013
		Mal Brough (1961–)	Liberal Nationals	7 September 2013 – 9 May 2016	Previously held the Division of Longman. Served as minister under Turnbull. Retired
		Andrew Wallace (1968–)	Liberal Nationals	2 July 2016 – present	Incumbent. Currently the Speaker of the House

Election results[]

References[]

External links[]

• Division of Fisher (Qld) — Australian Electoral Commission

Coordinates: 26°47′20″S 152°53′56″E / 26.789°S 152.899°E / -26.789; 152.899