Division of Flinders

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Flinders
Australian House of Representatives Division
State or territory: Victoria
Created: 1901
MP: Greg Hunt
Party: Liberal
Namesake: Matthew Flinders
Electors: 95,608
Area: 1,955 km² (754.8 sq mi)
Demographic: Rural

The Division of Flinders is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for Matthew Flinders, the first man to circumnavigate Australia, and the person credited with giving Australia her name.

Originally a country seat south and east of Melbourne, Flinders has been gradually cut back to the outer southern suburbs on the Mornington Peninsula, including Dromana, Hastings and Portsea.

It has usually been a fairly safe seat for the Liberal Party and its predecessors, but has occasionally been won by the Australian Labor Party, most famously in 1929 when Prime Minister Stanley Bruce was defeated. This was the first time an Australian Prime Minister has lost his own seat at a general election. (The only other such instance was the defeat of Liberal Prime Minister John Howard in his seat of Bennelong, also by Labor, in the Federal Election of November 24, 2007.)

Other prominent members include Sir Phillip Lynch, a Cabinet minister in the Fraser government, and Peter Reith, a senior minister in the Howard government. As well as holding Flinders, both Lynch and Reith had served a stint as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party.

[edit] Members

Member Party Term
  Arthur Groom Free Trade 1901—1903
  James Gibb Free Trade, Anti-Socialist 1903—1906
  William Irvine Anti-Socialist 1906—1909
  Commonwealth Liberal 1909—1916
  Nationalist 1916—1918
  Stanley Bruce Nationalist 1918—1929
  Ted Holloway Labor 1929—1931
  Stanley Bruce United Australia 1931—1933
  James Fairbairn United Australia 1933—1940
  Rupert Ryan United Australia 1940—1944
  Liberal 1944—1952
  Keith Ewert Labor 1952—1954
  Robert Lindsay Liberal 1954—1966
  Phillip Lynch Liberal 1966—1982
  Peter Reith Liberal 1982—1983
  Robert Chynoweth Labor 1983—1984
  Peter Reith Liberal 1984—2001
  Greg Hunt Liberal 2001—present

[edit] Election results

Australian federal election, 2007: Flinders
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Greg Hunt 48,343 54.47 -3.70
Labor Gary March 30,073 33.88 +2.99
Greens Bob Brown 7,529 8.48 +2.21
Family First Cameron Eastman 1,988 2.24 +0.51
Democrats David Batten 822 0.93 +0.07
Total formal votes 88,755 97.22 +1.56
Informal votes 2,538 2.78 -1.56
Turnout 91,293 95.49 +0.19
Two Candidate Preferred Result
Liberal Greg Hunt 51,697 58.25 -2.86
Labor Gary March 37,058 41.75 +2.86
Liberal hold Swing -2.86
Australian federal election, 2004: Flinders
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Greg Hunt 48,249 58.17 +6.65
Labor Simon Napthine 25,621 30.89 -2.05
Greens Stuart Kingsford 5,204 6.27 +0.39
Family First Dean Johnstone 1,435 1.73 +1.73
Independent Paul Madigan 1,043 1.26 +1.26
Democrats Bruce Errol 715 0.86 -4.74
Independent Neale Adams 503 0.61 +0.61
Citizens Electoral Council Henry Broadbent 174 0.21 +0.21
Total formal votes 82,944 95.66 -0.56
Informal votes 3,765 4.34 +0.56
Turnout 86,709 95.30 -0.32
Two Candidate Preferred Result
Liberal Greg Hunt 50,689 61.11 +3.67
Labor Simon Napthine 32,255 38.89 -3.67
Liberal hold Swing +3.67
v • d • e
Electoral Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives in Victoria

Aston · Ballarat · Batman · Bendigo · Bruce · Calwell · Casey · Chisholm · Corangamite · Corio · Deakin · Dunkley · Flinders · Gellibrand · Gippsland · Goldstein · Gorton · Higgins · Holt · Hotham · Indi · Isaacs · Jagajaga · Kooyong · Lalor · La Trobe · McEwen · McMillan · Mallee · Maribyrnong · Melbourne · Melbourne Ports · Menzies · Murray · Scullin · Wannon · Wills

Abolished: Balaclava · Bourke · Burke (1949-55) · Burke (1969-2004) · Corinella (1901-06) · Corinella (1990-96) · Darebin · Diamond Valley · Echuca · Fawkner · Grampians · Henty · Higinbotham · Hoddle · Isaacs (1949-69) · Laanecoorie · Mernda · Moira · Northern Melbourne · Scullin (1955-69) · Southern Melbourne · Streeton · Wimmera · Yarra
Divisions in: New South Wales · Victoria · Queensland · Western Australia · South Australia · Tasmania · Australian Capital and Northern Territories