Leichhardt electorate guide: Federal election 2025 candidates, results and margin

    Oliver Lane
    The Nightly
    Leichardt electorate guide
    Leichardt electorate guide Credit: The Nightly

    Labor has high hopes for flipping the far-north Queensland seat of Leichhardt following the retirement of veteran MP Warren Enstsch.

    The seat covers the city of Cairns and extends northwards, covering most of Queensland’s most northern land as well as the Torres Strait Islands. The vast majority of the electorate lives in or around Cairns.

    Labor has named former Cairns Taipans basketballer Matt Smith — who stands at a towering 2.1m tall — to try to win a seat Labor have only won once since the turn of the century.

    Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.

    Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.

    Email Us
    By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.

    The seat is currently held by long standing Mr Entsch who won the seat in 1996 through to 2007 when he retired before returning to the seat in 2010 after the Liberals immediately lost the seat.

    This election he is retiring once again, and Labor are hoping they can have a repeat of 18 years ago, capitalising on the lack of name recognition of the Liberals intended successor.

    2025 Federal Election

    The seat is currently held by the LNP with a margin of 3.4 per cent, its lowest point since 2007.

    Jeremy Neal is looking to succeed Mr Entsch for the LNP party but has had far from a smooth campaign after tweets dating back to 2020 resurfaced where he shared posts around the Covid pandemic response and feminists.

    In the week of polling day he also shared he had received an unsettling voicemail which was a five minute clip of what sounded like gunshots.

    Comments

    Latest Edition

    The Nightly cover for 01-05-2025

    Latest Edition

    Edition Edition 1 May 20251 May 2025

    “Desperate” and “stressed”. Nine’s star reporter, “anxious to prove Ben Roberts-Smith was a war criminal”, says “I try to act within the law” to get a story but sometimes to do so means breaking it.