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| Adam Carr's Election Archive
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Australian federal election, 2025
Division of Leichhardt, Queensland
Named for: Ludwig Leichhardt (1813-48), explorer of Queensland
North Queensland: Bayview Heights, Cairns, Cooktown, Mossman, Trinity Beach
Enrolment at 2019 election: 109,455
Enrolment at 2022 election: 117,214 (+07.1)
1999 republic referendum: No 59.0
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 63.4
2023 Voice referendum: No 65.5
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Sitting member: Hon Warren Entsch (Liberal): Elected 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004. Retired 2007. Elected 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022. Retiring 2025
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2007 Labor majority over Liberal: 4.0%
2010 Liberal majority over Labor: 4.5%
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 5.7%
2016 Liberal majority over Labor: 4.0%
2019 Liberal majority over Labor: 4.2%
2022 Liberal majority over Labor: 3.4%
Status: Very marginal Liberal
Liberal two-party vote 1983-2022
2022 results
Statistics and history
Announced candidates:
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Jeremy Neal
Liberal Party |
Matt Smith
Australian Labor Party |
Division of Leichhardt
Leichhardt was created in 1949 and its boundaries have changed very little since - it consists of the fast-
growing tourist centre of Cairns and the remote communities of Cape York as far north as Torres Strait.
The tourist boom has given the seat a higher level of median family income than most regional seats,
though it still has a low level of people non English speaking households and people in professional
and managerial occupations. It has the second-highest level of people working in tourism of any seat, and also the
third-highest proportion of people of Indigenous origin.
For most of its history Leichhardt was a fairly safe Labor seat, dominated by the pastoral workforce and
the Australian Workers Union, but the decline of the rural working class and the growth of Cairns as a
service centre have changed the seat's demography and politics, and the Liberals have held it with
one interruption since 1996. Labor retains some strength in Cairns, but its strongest support now comes
from the Indigenous communities of Cape York. The Liberals dominate the coastal areas around Cairns,
although Labor has won all the state seats in this area at the last three state elections.
Warren Entsch, Liberal MP for Leichhardt from 1996 to 2007 and again
since 2010, is a colourful and unpredictable character who has built up a large personal vote. Before entering politics he was a crocodile
farmer and property developer. He was a Parliamentary Secretary in the Howard Government. When he retired in
2007, the seat went to Labor's
Jim Turnour, but in 2010 Entsch made a comeback and has easily retained the seat since. He was Chief Opposition Whip from 2010 to 2013. After the 2019 election, Entsch said that he would retire in 2022, but he
changed his mind and was re-elected. He has now said he will retire in 2025, when he will be 75. The new Liberal candidate will
be Jeremy Neal, a paramedic and member of Cairns City Council.
Despite Entsch's long tenure, Leichhardt is still a marginal seat, and is now Labor's best prospect of a gain in
regional Queensland, given its decline in seats like Capricornia and Herbert. The Labor candidate in 2025 will be Matt Smith, an organiser
with Together, the Queensland branch of the Australian Services Union.
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