Division of Swan

Swan
Australian House of Representatives Division

Division of Swan (green) in Western Australia as it was in 2010
Created 1901
MP Steve Irons
Party Liberal
Namesake Swan River
Electors 93,811 (1 December 2014)[1]
Area 134 km2 (51.7 sq mi)
Demographic Inner Metropolitan

The Division of Swan is an Australian electoral division located in Western Australia. The division is named after the Swan River.

For several decades, it has been a marginal seat, extending along the Swan and Canning Rivers from the affluent suburbs in the City of South Perth to the west, which typically vote for the Liberal Party, to the City of Belmont to the east and parts of the City of Canning to the south-east, which are more working-class in orientation and typically vote for the Labor Party. A redistribution ahead of the 2010 election added the strongly Labor-voting suburb of Langford, which was previously within Tangney, which made it a notionally Labor seat. Langford was redistributed to Burt in 2016.

The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. Historically, the electorate was a country seat extending north to Dongara, east to Merredin and south to the coast. It contracted to an area east of the Darling Range and became a safe Country Party seat. Prior to the 1949 election, its old area became the new seat of Moore, while Swan moved into approximately its present position, although initially extending as far north-east as Midland.

From 2004 to 2007 it was the third most marginal electorate in Australia, after Hindmarsh and Kingston, with the ALP incumbent Kim Wilkie winning 50.08% of the two-party-preferred vote in 2004.

In the 2007 election, Liberal candidate Steve Irons won the seat with a swing of 0.19%.[2] Irons was the only Coalition challenger to unseat a Labor incumbent in the 2007 election. However, the election came at a very bad time for the state Labor government, which was only polling at 49 percent support at the time the writs were dropped. Irons was reelected with a slightly increased majority in 2010.

Geography

Swan is bordered by Swan River in the north and west, Canning River and City of Canning in the south, and Roe Highway, Great Eastern Highway and Perth Airport in the east. Suburbs include:[3]

Members

MemberPartyTerm
  Sir John Forrest Protectionist 1901–1906
  Western Australian 1906–1909
  Commonwealth Liberal 1909–1917
  Nationalist 1917–1918
  Edwin Corboy Labor 1918–1919
  John Prowse Country 1919–1922
  Henry Gregory Country 1922–1940
  Thomas Marwick Country 1940–1943
  Independent Country 1943–1943
  Don Mountjoy Labor 1943–1946
  Len Hamilton Country 1946–1949
  Bill Grayden Liberal 1949–1954
  Harry Webb Labor 1954–1955
  Richard Cleaver Liberal 1955–1969
  Adrian Bennett Labor 1969–1975
  John Martyr Liberal 1975–1980
  Kim Beazley Labor 1980–1996
  Don Randall Liberal 1996–1998
  Kim Wilkie Labor 1998–2007
  Steve Irons Liberal 2007–present

Election results

Australian federal election, 2013: Swan
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Steve Irons 39,972 48.86 +2.35
Labor John Bissett 25,037 30.60 −4.68
Greens Gerard Siero 9,446 11.55 −0.26
Palmer United Ken Duncan 3,463 4.23 +4.23
Christians Steve Klomp 1,465 1.79 +1.79
Family First Moyna Rapp 797 0.97 −0.26
Protectionist Troy Ellis 718 0.88 +0.88
Rise Up Australia Paul Davies 488 0.60 +0.60
Katter's Australian Noel Avery 421 0.51 +0.51
Total formal votes 81,807 94.37 −0.73
Informal votes 4,879 5.63 +0.73
Turnout 86,686 90.97 −1.00
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Steve Irons 46,246 56.53 +4.00
Labor John Bissett 35,561 43.47 −4.00
Liberal hold Swing +4.00

References

  1. ↑ Redistribution Committee for Western Australia (August 2015). Proposed redistribution of Western Australia into electoral divisions (PDF). p. 17. ISBN 978-1-921427-32-9. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  2. ↑ 2007 Federal Election results (Declared 12/12/07)
  3. ↑ "Profile of the electoral division of Swan (WA)". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 April 2016.

External links

Coordinates: 31°59′10″S 115°55′16″E / 31.986°S 115.921°E / -31.986; 115.921

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