Division of Denison

The Division of Denison is an Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania. The division was created in 1903 and is named for Sir William Denison, who was Lt-Governor of Van Diemens Land 1847-55. It is located in central Hobart, today including the suburbs of Glenorchy, New Town and Taroona.

Denison has been a consistently marginal seat, but was held by the Australian Labor Party between 1987 and 2010 with little difficulty. Its most prominent members have been Sir Philip Fysh, a member of the first federal Cabinet, and Athol Townley, Defence Minister in the Robert Menzies government. Townley resigned in 1964 when he was named Ambassador to the United States, but he died before taking up the appointment. Another prominent member is the incumbent independent MP Andrew Wilkie, elected at the 2010 election. In 2003 Wilkie resigned from his position in the Office of National Assessments (ONA), an Australian intelligence agency, over concerns that intelligence was being misrepresented for political purposes in making the case for Australia's contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq under the Howard government. Denison has had 16 different members, the most of any federal electorate.

Members

Election results

References

• Division of Denison, Australian Electoral Commission