ALP 3.1%
Incumbent MP
Craig Crawford, since 2015.
Geography
Far North Queensland. Barron River covers the northern suburbs of Cairns, including Smithfield, Redlynch and Kuranda. Most of the electorate lies in the Cairns local government area, with small parts contained in Douglas Shire.
History
The electorate of Barron River was first created for the 1972 election. At most elections this seat has been won by one of the parties who won the election.
Bill Wood won the seat for the ALP in 1972. He had previously sat as Member for Cook since 1969. He lost Barron River in 1974. He later served as a member of the ACT Legislative Assembly from 1989 to 2004.
Martin Tenni won Barron River for the National Party in 1974. He held the seat until 1989, when the seat was won by Lesley Clark of the ALP, as part of the Labor Party’s return to government after decades of conservative rule.
Clark lost to Lyn Warwick of the Liberal Party in 1995 before returning to the seat in 1998. She retired in 2006.
Steve Wettenhall was elected for the ALP in 2006. He was re-elected in 2009, and served as a parliamentary secretary from 2009 to 2012.
In 2012, LNP candidate Michael Trout defeated Wettenhall. Trout was felled in 2015 by Labor candidate Craig Crawford. Crawford was re-elected in 2017 and 2020.
Assessment
Barron River is a marginal Labor seat.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Craig Crawford | Labor | 12,385 | 39.5 | +6.0 |
| Linda Cooper | Liberal National | 12,092 | 38.5 | +7.9 |
| Aaron Mcdonald | Greens | 4,134 | 13.2 | +0.7 |
| Susan Andrews | One Nation | 1,852 | 5.9 | -10.9 |
| Adam Rowe | Informed Medical Options | 575 | 1.8 | +1.8 |
| Jenny Brown | United Australia | 345 | 1.1 | +1.1 |
| Informal | 1,059 | 3.3 |
2020 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Craig Crawford | Labor | 16,653 | 53.1 | +1.2 |
| Linda Cooper | Liberal National | 14,730 | 46.9 | -1.2 |
Booths in Barron River have been divided into three areas: centre, north and south.
Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in two out of three areas, with 58.8% in the centre and 59% in the north. The LNP polled 52.1% in the south.
The Greens came third, with a primary vote ranging from 12.3% in the south to 17.6% in the north.
| Voter group | GRN prim % | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| North | 17.6 | 59.0 | 5,866 | 18.7 |
| South | 12.3 | 47.9 | 2,641 | 8.4 |
| Central | 17.0 | 58.8 | 1,851 | 5.9 |
| Pre-poll | 11.1 | 50.2 | 13,668 | 43.6 |
| Other votes | 12.8 | 54.1 | 7,357 | 23.4 |
Election results in Barron River at the 2020 Queensland state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal National Party and the Greens.
This has voted for a government MP since 1974 (if you count 1995 as a Coalition victory), I can’t see this changing in 2024.
Whoever wins here should be sitting on the government benches, as to which party, ask me in a year.
Crawford should have built up a good profile now as a minister, and (since Pitt’s absence of leave) the most senior ALP figure in Far North Queensland. Having said that, Barron River is historically a bellweather and if the LNP can find the right candidate, this will be one to watch.
Founder of a family lifestyle magazine and local businesswoman Bree James announced as LNP Candidate:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/bree-james-chosen-as-lnps-baron-river-candidate/news-story/587d163393c4e14abf1440d0b13dd982%3famp