General News
17 March, 2026
Moving the boundaries
A DRAFT redraw of the state’s electoral boundaries has delivered one of Queensland’s longest serving members of parliament the news he was expecting – but still didn’t want to hear – that his electorate of just over eight years is proposed to be abolished.
Katter’s Australian Party MP Shane Knuth has represented Hill since the seat’s creation in 2017, and before that he held the former electorates of Charters Towers and Dalrymple since being first elected in 2004.
But under a Queensland Redistribution Commission (QRC) draft proposal, Hill is one of two seats to be abolished by the next election due in October 2028.
The other is the southern Brisbane Labor-held seat of Stretton.
Hill would be absorbed into three changed electorates: Hinchinbrook, Mulgrave and Flinders (formerly Traeger).
Hinchinbrook would be significantly changed, shifting north to encompass the entire Cassowary Coast Regional Council area – including Tully, Mission Beach and Innisfail – plus some of the southern outskirts of Cairns, to incorporate Mirriwinni and Babinda.
“The coastal portion of the district has been transferred to Hinchinbrook, which becomes a district characterised by the coastal towns situated between Townsville and Cairns, including the entirety of the Hinchinbrook Shire Council and Cassowary Coast Regional Council.”
Also currently in Hill, Atherton and Tolga are proposed to move into a significantly reshaped Mulgrave, which would climb the range to include the central Tablelands.
“The Commission received suggestions that Atherton and its surrounds share a close community of interest with the Cairns area, including a submission from the Tablelands Regional Council arguing that, should the district of Hill not be retained, the entire local government area should be transferred to Mulgrave,” the report said.
“The Commission found it was unable to accommodate these changes in their entirety, but ultimately agreed Atherton shared a greater connection with coastal communities than with the proposed Flinders district and favoured its inclusion in Mulgrave.”
Mulgrave would lose Woree, Bayview Heights and a portion of White Rock to the future Cairns electorate and gain some of the Tablelands local government area to include Atherton, Tolga, Yungaburra and surrounds from the former Hill.
Cairns would lose Brinsmead and a part of Aeroglen to Barron River.
Ravenshoe would be part of the newly named Flinders (formerly Traeger), as would Malanda, Milaa Milaa and the territory to their west, while losses in Flinders would include the bulk of Charters Towers LGA to Burdekin.
Flinders would also gain the southern portion of Mareeba LGA from Cook and Hill.
Mr Knuth said he was “extremely disappointed and deeply concerned” by the QRC proposal to abolish Hill and “carve our communities up” between other electorates.
He said the QRC had endorsed the LNP’s submission on abolishing the seat and warned that it would strip north Queensland communities of their voice in parliament.
“I have my doubts the Commission would have recommended for the abolishment of Hill without the LNP submission,” Mr Knuth said.
“The LNP have quickly forgotten they won government because of the trust and support from regional Queenslanders - this is a direct blow to that trust,” he said.
Mr Knuth said changing the entire electorate boundaries and reducing north Queensland representation could have been avoided by simply adding an additional seat to increase parliament to 94 members.
“It’s bizarre ... politics has overridden common sense.
Mr Knuth said this was not the first time he had been targeted.
“My electorates have been abolished twice before in previous redistributions. This is now the third attempt to get rid of me,” he said.
“But I will continue to fight just as hard as I always have to protect the representation of our communities.”
