, the division's namesake The division was one of the five established when the former
Division of Tasmania was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named for the explorer
George Bass. It has always been based on the city of
Launceston and surrounding rural areas, and its boundaries have changed very little in the century since its creation and first use in
1909. For most of its history it has been a marginal seat, changing hands between the
Australian Labor Party and the conservative parties—since 1949 the
Liberal Party. Its most notable member has been
Lance Barnard, who was
Deputy Prime Minister in the
Whitlam government. His resignation in 1975 was followed by Labor's heavy defeat in the
Bass by-election, which is seen as the beginning of the end of the Whitlam government. The Liberals won the seat at the
2019 election, retaining it for two terms before losing it to
Jess Teesdale of the Labor Party in the
2025 election. Bass has had the most different members of any federal electorate at nineteen. ==Members==