Electoral district of South Barwon

South Barwon is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria.[1] Located in a mixed urban and rural area south of the Barwon River, it covers an area of 621 km², including the Geelong suburbs of Belmont and Grovedale, Waurn Ponds and part of Highton, the coastal centre of Torquay and the rural towns of Barrabool, Bellbrae, Connewarre, Gnarwarre, Modewarre, Moriac and Mount Moriac. The electorate had a population of 52,241 at the 2001 census.

South Barwon Victoria—Legislative Assembly
Location of South Barwon (dark green) in Victoria
State	Victoria
Created	1976
MP	Darren Cheeseman
Party	Labor Party
Electors	54,245 (2018)
Area	519 km^2 (200.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Urbanised rural

South Barwon was created in 1976 as a predominantly rural seat which was considered safe for the conservative Liberal Party. It was won by Liberal Aurel Smith, formerly the member for Bellarine, upon its inception, and retained for the party by Harley Dickinson upon Smith's retirement in 1982. Dickinson held the seat until 1992, when he quit the party and attempted to retain the seat as an independent, but lost to endorsed Liberal candidate and former television newsreader Alister Paterson. The seat underwent significant demographic change during Paterson's tenure as successive redistributions pushed it further into Geelong. Major population growth in the traditionally Labor-voting areas of Torquay, Barwon Heads and southern Geelong, caused the seat to become progressively less safe for the Liberal Party. These changes came to a head at the 2002 election, when the Labor Party nominated former Geelong mayor Michael Crutchfield as its candidate, and amidst a statewide landslide victory, he succeeded in taking South Barwon for the first time. Crutchfield was re-elected in 2006, but lost in 2010 to local councillor and Liberal candidate Andrew Katos. Katos was re-elected in 2014 but was defeated by former federal MP Darren Cheeseman in 2018.

Members for South Barwon

Member		Party	Term
	Aurel Smith	Liberal	1976–1982
	Harley Dickinson	Liberal	1982–1992
		Independent	1992–1992
	Alister Paterson	Liberal	1992–2002
	Michael Crutchfield	Labor	2002–2010
	Andrew Katos	Liberal	2010–2018
	Darren Cheeseman	Labor	2018–present

Election results

2018 Victorian state election: South Barwon[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Andrew Katos	18,180	37.61	−8.64
	Labor	Darren Cheeseman	18,003	37.25	+3.86
	Greens	Marian Smedley	4,164	8.62	−3.70
	Independent	Damien Cole	3,699	7.65	+7.65
	Animal Justice	Peter Oseckas	1,474	3.05	+1.14
	Democratic Labour	Stephen Campbell	1,461	3.02	+1.87
	Shooters, Fishers, Farmers	Robert Ripa	998	2.06	+2.06
	Victorian Socialists	David Ball	355	0.73	+0.73
Total formal votes			48,334	95.50	−0.59
Informal votes			2,275	4.50	+0.59
Turnout			50,609	93.30	−1.60
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Darren Cheeseman	26,389	54.60	+7.46
	Liberal	Andrew Katos	21,945	45.40	−7.46
	Labor gain from Liberal		Swing	+7.46

References

• District profile from the Victorian Electoral Commission

1. "Re-Member (Former Members)". State Government of Victoria. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
2. State Election 2018: South Barwon District, VEC.