Division of Brand

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Brand
Australian House of Representatives Division
State or territory: Western Australia
Created: 1984
MP: Gary Gray
Party: Labor
Namesake: David Brand
Electors: 91,961
Area: 430 km² (166.0 sq mi)
Demographic: Provincial

The Division of Brand is an Australian electoral division in the state of Western Australia. Eligible voters within the Division elect a single representative, known as the member for Brand, to the Australian House of Representatives. The Division was named after Sir David Brand, the Premier of Western Australia from 1959 to 1971, and is a safe Labor seat held by former ALP National Secretary Gary Gray since the 2007 federal election. Prior to this, former Leader of the Opposition Kim Beazley held the seat from 1996 until his retirement from politics.

Contents

[edit] History

The seat was created in 1984 out of parts of Fremantle and Canning to cater for substantial population growth in the Rockingham–Mandurah coastal area south of the state capital, Perth, and was first contested at the 1984 federal election. Initially it included country areas to the south and southeast, such as agricultural regions in the Shires of Murray, Waroona and Harvey and the mining town of Collie, and was significantly more marginal for Labor—made abundantly clear by Labor's near-defeat in the seat in the 1996 federal election. A redistribution before the 1998 election saw the electorate of Brand become an entirely urban electorate, retreating north of the Peel Estuary to roughly its present borders, and the seat has been safe Labor ever since.

Brand has had only three members - two of whom had previously been sitting members in other seats. Wendy Fatin had been the member for Canning for a single term prior to the creation of Brand, and went on to win in four successive elections, becoming Minister for the Arts in the early 1990s. Upon her retirement from politics, Kim Beazley, who had been a minister for defence in the Hawke government until 1990 and had several portfolios before becoming Deputy Prime Minister in 1995, was preselected for the seat following 16 years as member for the marginal seat of Swan which polling suggested the party was certain to lose. At the 1996 election, Beazley won by just 387 votes against Liberal hopeful Penny Hearne, who was later to quit the party and run as an independent against Court minister Doug Shave in the 1996 state election for the seat of Alfred Cove.

[edit] Geography

The seat presently contains the Town of Kwinana, City of Rockingham and the northern section of the City of Mandurah including the city centre and areas north of the Peel Estuary. Suburbs presently included are:

Kwinana
Rockingham


Mandurah

[edit] Members

Member Party Term
  Wendy Fatin Labor 1984—1996
  Kim Beazley Labor 1996—2007
  Gary Gray Labor 2007—present

[edit] Election results

Australian federal election, 2007: Brand
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Gary Gray 38,131 46.15 -0.94
Liberal Phil Edman 31,882 38.58 -1.31
Greens Jean Jenkins 7,110 8.60 +3.77
Christian Democrats Brent Tremain 2,061 2.49 +0.36
Family First Andrew Newhouse 1,482 1.79 +1.79
One Nation Robin Scott 1,321 1.60 -1.16
Liberty and Democracy Huw Grossmith 350 0.42 +0.42
Citizens Electoral Council Rob Totten 295 0.36 -0.64
Total formal votes 82,632 96.10 +1.90
Informal votes 3,354 3.90 -1.90
Turnout 85,986 93.50 +0.09
Two Candidate Preferred Result
Labor Gary Gray 45,959 55.62 +0.97
Liberal Phil Edman 36,673 44.38 -0.97
Labor hold Swing +0.97
Australian federal election, 2004: Brand
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Kim Beazley 34,892 47.09 -4.62
Liberal Phil Edman 29,463 39.89 +15.92
Greens Jean Jenkins 3,578 4.83 +1.35
One Nation Garth Stockden 2,045 2.76 -3.38
Christian Democrats Rajesh Vettoor 1,581 2.13 +1.26
Independent Gerard Kettle 1,084 1.46 +1.46
Citizens Electoral Council Rob Totten 742 1.00 +0.77
Democrats John Partridge 619 0.84 -1.55
Total formal votes 74,104 94.20 -1.49
Informal votes 4,566 5.80 +1.49
Turnout 78,670 93.41 -1.79
Two Candidate Preferred Result
Labor Kim Beazley 40,499 54.65 -5.40
Liberal Phil Edman 33,605 45.35 +5.40
Labor hold Swing -5.40
v • d • e
Electoral Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives in Western Australia

Brand · Canning · Cowan · Curtin · Forrest · Fremantle · Hasluck · Kalgoorlie · Moore · O'Connor · Pearce · Perth · Stirling · Swan · Tangney

Abolished: Coolgardie · Dampier
Divisions in: New South Wales · Victoria · Queensland · Western Australia · South Australia · Tasmania · Australian Capital and Northern Territories