Division of Groom

Groom Australian House of Representatives Division
300px Division of Groom (green) within Queensland
Created	1984
MP	Ian Macfarlane
Party	Liberal National
Namesake	Littleton Groom
Electors	96,916 (2013)
Area	5,594 km2 (2,159.9 sq mi)
Demographic	Provincial

The Division of Groom is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was created in 1984 as essentially a reconfigured version of the old Division of Darling Downs. It is named in honour of Sir Littleton Groom, who represented Darling Downs with only one short break from 1901 to 1936 and served as Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives.

It is located in the rural areas west of Brisbane and is centred on the city of Toowoomba, Australia's second largest inland city. Other centres include Oakey and Pittsworth.

The seat has never elected a Labor member in either of its incarnations. While Toowoomba itself occasionally votes for Labor, it is nowhere near enough to overcome the conservative bent of the rural areas. It is currently a safe seat for the Liberal National Party, with a 16-point swing required for Labor to win it as of the 2013 election.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Tom McVeigh	National	1984–1988
	Bill Taylor	Liberal	1988–1998
	Ian Macfarlane	Liberal	1998–2010
		Liberal National	2010–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Groom

Australian federal election, 2013: Groom

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Ian Macfarlane	48,966	55.64	−5.61
	Labor	Troy Murray	19,451	22.10	−0.57
	Palmer United	Ewen Mathieson	8,225	9.35	+9.35
	Greens	Trevor Smith	3,823	4.34	−2.96
	Katter's Australian	Chris Whitty	3,243	3.69	+3.69
	Family First	Alex Todd	2,342	2.66	−2.90
	Rise Up Australia	Rick Armitage	1,210	1.37	+1.37
	CEC	Robert Thies	743	0.84	+0.84
Total formal votes			88,003	96.01	+0.16
Informal votes			3,656	3.99	−0.16
Turnout			91,659	94.58	+0.16
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal National	Ian Macfarlane	58,493	66.47	−2.06
	Labor	Troy Murray	29,510	33.53	+2.06
	Liberal National hold		Swing	−2.06

External links

• Division of Groom (Qld) — Australian Electoral Commission