Electoral district of Geelong

Geelong Victoria—Legislative Assembly
Location of Geelong (dark green) in Victoria
State	Victoria
Dates current	1856–1859, 1877–1976, 1985–present
MP	Christine Couzens
Party	Labor
Electors	45,026 (2014)
Area	45 km^2 (17.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Urban

Coordinates: 38°09′S 144°21′E / 38.150°S 144.350°E

The Electoral district of Geelong is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It centres on inner metropolitan Geelong and following the June 2013 redistribution of electoral boundaries includes the suburbs of Belmont, Breakwater, East Geelong, Geelong, Geelong West, Newtown and South Geelong, Herne Hill, Manifold Heights, Newcomb, Newtown, St Albans Park, Thomson, Whittington and part of Fyansford.^[1] Incomes vary strongly across the seat, and it is often aligned with the governing Party, due to similar demographics to the state at large.

It was won in 1999 by Ian Trezise for the ALP by 16 votes after recounts. The Victorian Parliament was hung at that election, and the results for the seat of Geelong, which took several days to arrive at, had a significant impact on the events which brought the Bracks government to power. At the 2002 election, the seat's margin grew to 8.1%, however, neither major party considered it safe, as it was won by the governing party for every election between 1985 and 2006, and was narrowly held by Labor in the 2010 election. The 2014 Victorian state election saw boundary changes and the retirement of Trezise, and Christine Couzens retained the seat for the ALP.^[2]

Members for Geelong

First incarnation (1856–1859, 4 members)
Member 1	Term	Member 2	Term	Member 3	Term	Member 4	Term
Sir Charles Sladen	1856–1857	Alexander Fyfe	1856–1857	Charles Read	1856–1858	John Brooke	1856–1859
Alexander Thomson	1857–1859	George Board	1858–1859	James Harrison	1858–1859

Split into Geelong East and Geelong West in 1859.

Second incarnation (1877–1976), 3 members initially, two from 1889, 1 from 1904
Member 1	Term	Member 2	Term	Member 3	Term
Charles Kernot	1877–1880	Robert de Bruce Johnstone	1877–1881	Sir Graham Berry	1877–1886
Charles Andrews Sr.	1880
Charles Kernot	1880–1882	George Cunningham	1881–1886
Joseph Connor	1882–1886
Charles Andrews Sr.	1886–1894	James Munro	1886–1892	John Donaghy	1886–1889
		John Rout Hopkins	1892–1894
H. B. Higgins	1894–1900	William Gurr	1894–1902
Charles Andrews Jr.	1900–1904	George Martin	1902–1904

Member		Party	Term
	William Colechin	Labor	1904–1907
	William Gurr	Ministerialist	1907–1908
	William Plain	Labor	1908–1916
		Nationalist	1916–1917
	Robert Purnell	Nationalist	1917–1920
	William Brownbill	Labor	1920–1932
	Edward Austin	United Australia	1932–1935
	William Brownbill	Labor	1935–1938
	Fanny Brownbill	Labor	1938–1948
	Edward Montgomery	Liberal/Liberal and Country	1948–1950
	James Dunn	Labor	1950–1955
	Sir Thomas Maltby	Liberal and Country	1955–1961
	Hayden Birrell	Liberal and Country/Liberal	1961–1976

Third incarnation (1985–present, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
	Hayden Shell	Labor	1985–1992
	Ann Henderson	Liberal	1992–1999
	Ian Trezise	Labor	1999–2014
	Christine Couzens	Labor	2014–present

Election results

Victorian state election, 2014: Geelong
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Christine Couzens	16,516	41.0	−1.3
	Liberal	Paula Kontelj	15,232	37.8	−2.3
	Greens	Bruce Lindsay	4,833	12.0	+1.2
	Shooters and Fishers	Pedro Pegan	1,021	2.5	+2.5
	Family First	Ruth Clark	962	2.4	+0.3
	Independent	Douglas Mann	659	1.6	+1.6
	Country Alliance	Tony Leen	564	1.4	+0.0
	Socialist Alliance	Sarah Hathway	468	1.2	+0.9
Total formal votes			40,255	95.2	−0.2
Informal votes			2,020	4.8	+0.2
Turnout			42,275	93.9	−3.1
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Christine Couzens	22,556	56.0	+2.1
	Liberal	Paula Kontelj	17,699	44.0	−2.1
	Labor hold		Swing	+2.1

Historical maps

• 

  Map of the district of Geelong in 1856

External links

• Electorate profile: Geelong District, Victorian Electoral Commission

References

1. "Final Electoral Boundaries" (PDF). Electoral Boundaries Commission. Electoral Boundaries Commission. 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
2. "Geelong results". Victoria Election 2014. ABC. 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2015.