Electoral region of Agricultural

The electoral region of Agricultural is a multi-member electoral region of the Western Australian Legislative Council, located in the South West, Peel and part of the Great Southern regions of the state. It was created by the Acts Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 1987, and became effective on 22 May 1989 with five members who had been elected at the 1989 state election three months earlier. At the 2008 election, it was increased to six members.

Geography

The Region is made up of several complete Legislative Assembly districts, which change at each distribution.

Redistribution	Period	Electoral districts	Electors	% of State	Area
29 April 1988[1]	22 May 1989 – 22 May 1997	Avon, Geraldton, Greenough, Merredin, Moore, Roe, Wagin (7)	80,626	8.89%	267,448 km^2 (103,262 sq mi)
28 November 1994[2]	22 May 1997 – 22 May 2005	As per 1988	87,137	8.27%	267,448 km^2 (103,262 sq mi)
4 August 2003[3]	22 May 2005 – 22 May 2009	As per 1988	94,877	7.81%	261,282 km^2 (100,882 sq mi)
29 October 2007[4]	22 May 2009 – 22 May 2017	Central Wheatbelt, Geraldton, Moore, Wagin (4)	82,479	6.56%	200,091 km^2 (77,256 sq mi)

Representation

Distribution of seats

As 5-member seat: Election Seats won 1989–1993           1993–1997           1997–2001           2001–2005           2005–2009           As 6-member seat: Election Seats won 2009–2013             2013–2017

Legend:   Labor   Liberal   National   Greens WA   One Nation   Shooters and Fishers

Members

Since its creation, the electorate has had 25 members, only seven of whom were or are not from either the Liberal or National parties. All five of the members elected in 1989 had previously been members of the Legislative Council.

		Five member seat					Six member seat
Member	Party	1989–93	1993–97	1997–01	2001–05	2005–09	2009–13^[a]	2013–17^[b]
James Brown^[1]	Labor	–1992
Kim Chance^[1]	Labor	1992–
Matt Benson-Lidholm	Labor
Darren West	Labor
Dee Margetts	Greens
Margaret McAleer	Liberal
David Wordsworth	Liberal
Murray Nixon	Liberal
Bruce Donaldson	Liberal
Anthony Fels^[6]	Liberal
Margaret Rowe^[4]	Liberal					–2007
Brian Ellis^[4]	Liberal					2007–
Jim Chown	Liberal
Eric Charlton^[2]	National			–1998
Dexter Davies^[2]	National			1998–
John Caldwell	National
Murray Criddle^[5]	National					–2008
Wendy Duncan^[5]	National					2008–
Mia Davies^[8]	National						–2013
Philip Gardiner^[7]	National/Independent
Max Trenorden^[7]	National/Independent
Martin Aldridge^[8]	National						2013–
Paul Brown	National
Frank Hough	One Nation^[3]
Rick Mazza	Shooters and Fishers

Notes

^a Members serving for the 2009–2013 term were elected in 2008 but do not take their seats in Parliament until 22 May 2009.

^b Members serving for the 2013–2017 term do not take their seats in Parliament until 22 May 2013.

¹ Labor MLC James Brown resigned on 3 March 1992. Kim Chance was appointed to the resulting casual vacancy on 18 March 1992.

² National MLC Eric Charlton resigned on 28 July 1998. Dexter Davies was appointed to the resulting casual vacancy on 11 August 1998.

³ Frank Hough was elected as a One Nation member, but resigned from the party on 1 June 2004 and sat as an independent. He later co-founded the New Country Party, and represented them in the Council until the end of his term.

⁴ Liberal MLC Margaret Rowe resigned on 22 June 2007. Brian Ellis was elected in the resulting countback on 16 July 2007.

⁵ National MLC Murray Criddle resigned on 2 January 2008. Wendy Duncan was elected in the resulting countback on 29 January 2008.

⁶ Anthony Fels was elected as a Liberal member, but resigned from the party on 31 July 2008. He subsequently sat as an independent and recontested his seat unsuccessfully at the 2008 election as a WAFamilyFirst.com Party candidate.

⁷ Max Trenorden and Philip Gardiner resigned from the National Party in 2012. They subsequently sat as independents and recontested the region on an independent ticket.

⁸ National MLC Mia Davies resigned her seat on 12 February 2013 to contest the lower house seat of Central Wheatbelt. Martin Aldridge was elected in the resulting countback on 5 April 2013.

References

1. "Electoral Districts Act 1947–1985 – Order in Council". Western Australia Government Gazette. 29 April 1988. p. 1988:1339–1527.
2. "Electoral Distributions Act 1947 – Division of the State into Six Electoral Regions and 57 Electoral Districts by the Electoral Distribution Commissioners". Western Australia Government Gazette. 28 November 1994. p. 1994:6135–6327.
3. "Electoral Distributions Act 1947 – Division of the State into Electoral Regions and Districts by the Electoral Distribution Commissioners". Western Australia Government Gazette. 4 August 2003. p. 2003:3475–3566.
4. Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) (29 October 2007). "South West Region Profile". Retrieved 2008-10-22.