Division of Swan

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

Swan
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Swan in Western Australia, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created1901
MPSteve Irons
PartyLiberal
NamesakeSwan River
Electors100,781 (2019)
Area134 km2 (51.7 sq mi)
DemographicInner Metropolitan

History
Swan River, the division's namesake

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 65 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 percent of the two-party-preferred vote in 2004.

At the 2007 election, Liberal candidate Steve Irons won the seat with a swing of 0.19 percent.[1] 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.[2] Hannah Beazley contested the seat for Labor but ultimately conceded defeat.[2]

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
Image Member Party Term Notes
  Sir John Forrest
(1847–1918)		 Protectionist 29 March 1901 –
1906		 Previously held the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Bunbury. Served as minister under Barton, Deakin, Cook and Hughes. Died in office
  Western Australian 1906 –
26 May 1909
  Commonwealth 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)		 Country 16 December 1922 –
15 November 1940		 Previously held the Division of Dampier. Died in office
  Thomas Marwick
(1895–1960)		 Country 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
  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–)		 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 –
present		 Incumbent

Election results
Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Swan
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2019 Australian federal election in Western Australia § Swan[edit]
2019 Australian federal election: Swan[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Steve Irons 37,591 44.68 −3.50
Labor Hannah Beazley 27,953 33.22 +0.21
Greens Liberty Cramer 10,372 12.33 −2.69
One Nation Tshung-Hui Chang 2,038 2.42 +2.42
United Australia Peter McLernon 1,483 1.76 +1.76
Christians Steve Klomp 1,450 1.72 −2.07
Animal Justice Virginia Thomas-Wurth 1,302 1.55 +1.55
Western Australia Sharron Hawkins Zeeb 1,102 1.31 +1.31
Conservative National Carmel Addink 601 0.71 +0.71
Australia First Michael Chehoff 251 0.30 +0.30
Total formal votes 84,143 94.19 −2.18
Informal votes 5,190 5.81 +2.18
Turnout 89,333 88.64 +1.80
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Steve Irons 44,357 52.72 −0.87
Labor Hannah Beazley 39,786 47.28 +0.87
Liberal hold Swing−0.87

References
  1. 2007 Federal Election results (Declared 12/12/07)
  2. "Federal election 2019 Swan result". Community News Group. 19 May 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  3. "Profile of the electoral division of Swan (WA)". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  4. Swan, WA, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.

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