Division of Bass

Bass Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Denison in Tasmania, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created	1903
MP	Ross Hart
Party	Labor
Namesake	George Bass
Electors	73,591 (2016)
Area	7,378 km2 (2,848.7 sq mi)
Demographic	Provincial

The Division of Bass is an Australian electoral division in Tasmania. The division was one of the five established when the former Division of Tasmania was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named for the explorer George Bass. It has always been based on the city of Launceston and surrounding rural areas, and its boundaries have changed very little in the century since its creation. For most of its history it has been a marginal seat, changing hands between the Australian Labor Party and the conservative parties—since 1949 the Liberal Party. Its most notable member has been Lance Barnard, who was Deputy Prime Minister in the Whitlam Government. His resignation in 1975 was followed by Labor's heavy defeat in the Bass by-election, which is seen as the beginning of the end of the Whitlam government.

Labor won the seat at the 2016 election.

Together with Bendigo, Denison and Swan, Bass has had the most different members of any federal electorate at sixteen.

Coordinates: 41°07′48″S 147°36′58″E / 41.130°S 147.616°E / -41.130; 147.616