Division of Kennedy

Kennedy Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Kennedy in Queensland, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created	1901
MP	Bob Katter
Party	Australian
Namesake	Edmund Kennedy
Electors	99,965 (2016)
Area	568,993 km2 (219,689.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural

The Division of Kennedy is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. The division is named after Edmund Kennedy, an explorer in the area where the division is located in Queensland.

The member since 1993 is Bob Katter, Jr., the leader of Katter's Australian Party. He was previously elected as a member of the National Party, but became an independent in 2001 before forming his own party in 2011.

Geographically, the electorate is rural. It takes in the Pacific coast of Queensland between Cairns and Townsville, including a small portion of Cairns itself, before sweeping westward to take in most of Queensland's northern outback—a large, increasingly sparsely populated area stretching west to the border with the Northern Territory. The largest population centre in the electorate is the city of Mount Isa, in its far west. Until 1949, it was even larger, encompassing most of the state north of Townsville. However, much of its northern portion, including the Cairns area, became the Division of Leichhardt in 1949.

Kennedy was held by the Australian Labor Party for most of the first half of the 20th century. From Federation until 1966, Labor held it for all but two terms. However, since 1966 it has been held by the conservative Katter family—Bob Sr. and his son, Bob, Jr.—for all but one term. It has long since shaken off its Labor past, and is now considered one of the most conservative electorates in Australia.