Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2025
Division of McPherson, Queensland

Named for: McPherson Range, which was in the Division on its original boundaries (from Major Duncan McPherson, a friend of the explorer Cunningham)


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Gold Coast: Burleigh Waters, Coolangatta, Currumbin, Palm Beach, Robina

Enrolment at 2019 election: 109,233
Enrolment at 2022 election: 117,232 (+07.4)
1999 republic referendum: No 59.3
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 65.5
2023 Voice referendum: No 64.9

Sitting member: Hon Karen Andrews (Liberal): Elected 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022. Retiring 2025


2007 Liberal majority over Labor: 8.8%
2010 Liberal majority over Labor: 10.3%
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 13.0%
2016 Liberal majority over Labor: 11.6%
2019 Liberal majority over Labor: 12.2%
2022 Liberal majority over Labor: 9.3%

Status: Fairly safe Liberal
Liberal two-party vote 1983-2022


  • 2022 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Announced candidates:

    Leon Rebello
    Liberal Party

    Division of McPherson

    McPherson was created in 1949, as a rural seat running from Southport to Warwick. Its first member was the Country Party leader Sir Arthur Fadden, who had been member for Darling Downs since 1936. The Gold Coast, at the eastern end of the seat, began to grow explosively in the 1960s, and the seat has been cut back by successive redistributions until it now occupies only the southern third of the Coast, based on Coolangatta and Currumbin.

    Despite its superficial glamour, the Gold Coast is not a wealthy area, with its large number of retirees and a growing population of low-income service workers in new suburban developments. McPherson has a below-average median family income level and of people in professional and managerial occupations. Nevertheless McPherson has always been a safe non-Labor seat, first for the Country Party and since 1972 for the Liberals. It was held by Eric Robinson, a minister in the Fraser government. After his death it was held For 29 years by three inconspicuous backbenchers, Peter White, John Bradford and Margaret May, the last of whom retired in 2010.

    Karen Andrews, Liberal MP for McPherson since 2010, was an engineer and industrial relations and human resources consultant before her election. She became a parliamentary secretary in 2014 and was Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills in the Turnbull ministry. In August 2018 she was promoted to Cabinet as Minister for Industry, Science and Technology in Scott Morrison's ministry. In March 2021 she was moved to the sensitive Home Affairs portfolio. She will retire at the 2025 election. The new Liberal candidate is Leon Rebello, son of Indian immigrants, a solicitor and former staffer to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

    Boundaries following most recent redistribution:



    See full-size map of this Division


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