Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2022
Division of Bowman, Queensland

Named for: Hon David Bowman (1860-1916), Qld MP 1889-1902, 1904-16. Leader of the Queensland ALP 1907-12.


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Southside Brisbane: Birkdale, Capalaba, Cleveland, Victoria Point, Wellington Point
State seats: All of Capalaba, Oodgeroo and Redlands, parts of Springwood
Local government areas: All of Redland
Borders with: Bonner, Fadden, Forde and Rankin
Enrolment at 2019 election: 109,454
Enrolment at 2022 election: 115,764 (+05.8%)
1999 republic referendum: No 61.0
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 62.1


Sitting member: Dr Andrew Laming (Liberal): Elected 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019. Retiring 2022

2007 Liberal majority over Labor: 0.0%
2010 Liberal majority over Labor: 10.4%
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 8.9%
2016 Liberal majority over Labor: 7.1%
2019 Liberal majority over Labor: 10.2%

Liberal two-party vote 1983-2019

Status: Fairly safe Liberal

Best Liberal booths, two-party vote: Cleveland PPVC (65.7), Wellington Point West (62.7), Cleveland Central (62.6), Victoria Point PPVC (62.6), Ormiston (61.8)
Best Labor booths, two-party vote: Coochiemudlo Island (55.8), Dunwich (53.1), Russell Island (52.7), Macleay Island (52.4), Alexandra Park (49.7)


  • 2019 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Candidates in ballot-paper order:

    1. Walter Todd
    Pauline Hanson's One Nation
    2. Mary-Jane Stevens
    United Australia Party
    3. Ian Mazlin
    Australian Greens
    4. Henry Pike
    Liberal Party
    5. Phil Johnson
    The New Liberals
    6. Donisha Duff
    Australian Labor Party

    Candidate websites:

    Donisha Duff
    Phil Johnson
    Ian Mazlin
    Henry Pike
    Mary-Jane Stevens
    Walter Todd

    Division of Bowman

    Bowman was created in 1949 and has always occupied territory in Brisbane's south-eastern beachside suburbs. It has always been a marginal seat (every member who has held the seat has been defeated), but recent redistributions have pushed it further to the south-east, making it a better seat for the Liberals. It has a high level of families with dependent children and of dwellings being purchased, the indicators of a mortgage- belt seat. Strikingly, it has the second-lowest proportion (after Kingston) of non English speaking households of any urban seat in Australia.

    Labor's strength is in Capalaba and Alexandra Hills, and also in the Indigenous communities on North Stradbroke Island, particularly Dunwich. But these are now outvoted by strong Liberal areas such as Cleveland, Redland Bay and Victoria Point.

    Con Sciacca served two stints as Labor member for Bowman and was a minister in the Keating Government. The 2004 redistribution created a new seat of Bonner, including most of Bowman's better Labor areas, and Sciacca (unsuccessfully) contested Bonner in 2004. Bowman passed to the Liberals.

    Dr Andrew Laming, Liberal MP for Bowman since 2004, was an ophthalmologist and World Bank health consultant with an impressive CV before his election. He very narrowly held the seat in 2007, but has not been troubled since. He did not live up to his early promise and remained on the backbench. In early 2021, Laming announced that he would not recontest the seat. (He will thus become the first member for Bowman not to be defeated.)

    Anticipating a possible by-election Bowman should Laming be forced to resign before the election, in April 2021 Labor quickly endorsed a candidate for the seat: Donisha Duff, a Torres Strait Island woman who is Chief Operations Officer at the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Edith Cowan University. In July the Liberals chose Henry Pike, media and communications director for the Queensland Property Council, as their new candidate. The Greens candidate is Ian Mazlin, a haematology scientist in a public hospital.

    Demographics:

    Median weekly household income: $1,521 (Australia $1,438)
    People over 65: 17.9% (Australia 15.8%)
    Indigenous: 2.3% (Australia 2.8%)
    Australian born: 72.5% (Australia 66.7%)
    Non-English-speaking households: 9.4% (Australia 22.2%)
    Catholics 21.1% (Australia 22.6%)
    No religion 29.8% (Australia 29.6%)
    University graduates: 15.5% (Australia 22.0%)
    Professional and managerial employment: 29.6% (Australia 35.2%)
    Employed in manufacturing and construction: 30.3% (Australia 22.9%)
    Paying a mortgage: 39.7% (Australia 34.5%)
    Renting: 24.5% (Australia 30.9%)
    Traditional families: 34.8% (Australia 32.8%)



    Gallery of Members for Bowman



    Boundaries following most recent redistribution:



    See full-size map of this Division



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