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Division of Swan

Coordinates: 31°59′10″S 115°55′16″E / 31.986°S 115.921°E / -31.986; 115.921
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Swan
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Swan in Western Australia, as of the 2021 redistribution.
Created1901
MPZaneta Mascarenhas
PartyLabor
NamesakeSwan River
Electors121,335 (2022)
Area134 km2 (51.7 sq mi)
DemographicInner metropolitan

The Division of Swan is an Australian electoral division located in Western Australia.

Swan is a marginal electorate that has swung between both major political parties in the past two decades. It extends across the Swan River from central Perth, and covers most of the area between the Swan and Canning Rivers.[1]

The seat includes a mix of incomes and housing types, from low-price flats to affluent suburbs with Swan River views.[1] The electorate includes the campus of Curtin University, the Welshpool and Kewdale industrial areas, and Perth Airport.[1] Swan covers 151 sq. kilometres.[1]

The current MP is Zaneta Mascarenhas, a member of the Australian Labor Party. She was elected in the 2022 election.

History

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Swan River, the division's namesake

The division was one of the original 65 divisions contested at the first federal election in 1901. It was one of five electorates created by the Federal House of Representatives Western Australian Electorates Act 1900, an act of the parliament of Western Australia.[2] The original bill introduced by Premier John Forrest provided for the seat to be named "Occidental" rather than Swan.[3]

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.[citation needed]

For several decades, Swan 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. 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 percent of the two-party-preferred vote in 2004. 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.[citation needed]

At the 2007 election, Liberal candidate Steve Irons won the seat with a swing of 0.19 percent.[4] Irons was the only Coalition challenger to unseat a Labor incumbent at 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 re-elected with a slightly increased majority in 2010, making it a fairly safe Liberal seat. Following the 2016 election Labor candidate Tammy Solonec managed to return Swan to marginal status.

Steve Irons retained the seat in the 2019 election.[5] Hannah Beazley contested the seat for Labor but ultimately conceded defeat.[5] After Steve Iron's retirement at the 2022 Australian federal election, the seat was contested by Kristy McSweeney from the Liberal Party. She was defeated by Zaneta Mascarenhas from the Labor Party.[6]

Geography

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Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.[7]

In August 2021, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) announced that Swan would lose the suburb of Wilson to the seat of Tangney and gain the suburbs of Maida Vale and Wattle Grove and the remainder of Forrestfield and High Wycombe from the seat of Hasluck. These boundary changes took place as of the 2022 election.[8]

Swan is bordered by the Swan River in the north and west, the Canning River and the City of Canning in the south, and Roe Highway, Great Eastern Highway and Perth Airport in the east. Suburbs include:[9]

Members

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Image Member Party Term Notes
  Sir John Forrest
(1847–1918)
Protectionist 29 March 1901
26 May 1909
Previously held the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Bunbury. Served as minister under Barton, Deakin, Cook and Hughes. Died in office
  Liberal 26 May 1909 –
17 February 1917
  Nationalist 17 February 1917 –
2 September 1918
  Edwin Corboy
(1896–1950)
Labor 26 October 1918
13 December 1919
Lost seat. Later elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Yilgarn in 1921
  John Prowse
(1871–1944)
Farmers and Settlers' Association 13 December 1919
24 February 1920
Transferred to the Division of Forrest
  Country 24 February 1920 –
16 December 1922
  Henry Gregory
(1860–1940)
16 December 1922
15 November 1940
Previously held the Division of Dampier. Died in office
  Thomas Marwick
(1895–1960)
21 December 1940
21 August 1943
Previously a member of the Senate. Lost seat
  Don Mountjoy
(1906–1988)
Labor 21 August 1943
28 September 1946
Lost seat
  Len Hamilton
(1899–1987)
Country 28 September 1946
10 December 1949
Transferred to the Division of Canning
  Bill Grayden
(1920–)
Liberal 10 December 1949
29 May 1954
Previously held the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Middle Swan. Lost seat. Later elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of South Perth in 1956. Currently the oldest living former member of the House of Representatives
  Harry Webb
(1908–2000)
Labor 29 May 1954
10 December 1955
Transferred to the Division of Stirling
  Richard Cleaver
(1917–2006)
Liberal 10 December 1955
25 October 1969
Lost seat
  Adrian Bennett
(1933–2006)
Labor 25 October 1969
13 December 1975
Lost seat
  John Martyr
(1932–2021)
Liberal 13 December 1975
18 October 1980
Lost seat. Later appointed to the Senate in 1981
  Kim Beazley
(1948–)
Labor 18 October 1980
2 March 1996
Served as minister under Hawke and Keating. Served as Deputy Prime Minister under Keating. Transferred to the Division of Brand
  Don Randall
(1953–2015)
Liberal 2 March 1996
3 October 1998
Lost seat. Later elected to the Division of Canning in 2001
  Kim Wilkie
(1959–)
Labor 3 October 1998
24 November 2007
Lost seat
  Steve Irons
(1958–)
Liberal 24 November 2007
11 April 2022
Retired
  Zaneta Mascarenhas
(1980–)
Labor 21 May 2022
present
Incumbent

Election results

[edit]
2022 Australian federal election: Swan[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Zaneta Mascarenhas 39,082 39.07 +6.17
Liberal Kristy McSweeney 32,096 32.08 −12.65
Greens Clint Uink 14,861 14.86 +2.86
United Australia Paul Hilton 2,637 2.64 +0.81
One Nation Peter Hallifax 2,544 2.54 −0.33
Animal Justice Timothy Green 2,214 2.21 +0.89
Western Australia Rod Bradley 2,059 2.06 +0.70
Christians Dena Gower 1,930 1.93 +0.20
Liberal Democrats Matthew Thompson 1,821 1.82 +1.82
Australian Federation Carl Pallier 792 0.79 +0.79
Total formal votes 100,036 94.75 +0.59
Informal votes 5,545 5.25 −0.59
Turnout 105,581 87.12 −1.73
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Zaneta Mascarenhas 58,796 58.77 +11.99
Liberal Kristy McSweeney 41,240 41.23 −11.99
Labor gain from Liberal Swing +11.99

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Swan (Key Seat) - Federal Electorate, Candidates, Results". abc.net.au. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  2. ^ "Federal House of Representatives Western Australian Electorates Act 1900". Western Australian Legislation. Government of Western Australia. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  3. ^ Black, David (2010). "Changing boundaries". The Federal Electorate of Fremantle: A History Since 1901. John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  4. ^ 2007 Federal Election results (Declared 12/12/07)
  5. ^ a b "Federal election 2019 Swan result". Community News Group. 19 May 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  6. ^ Green, Antony. "Swan (Key Seat) - Federal Election 2022". ABC News. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  7. ^ Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  8. ^ https://www.aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/2021/wa/files/redistribution-of-western-australia-into-electoral-divisions-august-2021.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  9. ^ "Profile of the electoral division of Swan (WA)". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  10. ^ Swan, WA, 2022 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.
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31°59′10″S 115°55′16″E / 31.986°S 115.921°E / -31.986; 115.921