Electoral district of Mount Isa

Mount Isa was an electoral district in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in the state of Queensland, Australia from 1972 to 2017.[1]

Mount Isa Queensland—Legislative Assembly
Mount Isa (2008–2017)
State	Queensland
Dates current	1972–2017
Namesake	Mount Isa
Electors	19,119 (2015)
Area	570,502 km2 (220,272.1 sq mi)
Coordinates	21°7′S 141°51′E

It was located in the outback of the far west of the state and covered an area of 570,502 sq kilometres.[2] As of the 2015 state election, it had 19,119 registered electors a decrease from 19,170 in 2009.[3]

The district took its name from the mining city of Mount Isa, which held the great majority of the electorate's population. Most of the electorate was virtually unpopulated. Following the implementation of one vote one value reforms in 1989, Mount Isa was one of five remote electorates that were allowed a greater variance from the average seat's population.

The seat was held by the conservative parties for all but two terms in the first two decades of its existence, mostly coinciding with the height of National dominance. Labor took the seat in its 1989 landslide and held it for almost a quarter-century, usually without serious difficulty. It was one of the few areas of regional Queensland where Labor did well.

In 2012, however, Robbie Katter took the seat for Katter's Australian Party on a massive swing, pushing Labor into third place. Katter's father is Bob Katter, the federal member for Kennedy and the founder/leader of the Australian Party. The elder Katter had represented much of what had been Mount Isa for almost three decades; much of the eastern portion had been part of the elder Katter's state seat of Flinders, and Mount Isa was virtually coextensive with the western portion of Kennedy. The younger Katter was reelected almost as easily in 2015 even as Labor took back government.

The district was abolished in the 2017 redistribution. Most of its northern portion, including Mount Isa, became part of the new seat of Traeger.