| Benalla Victoria—Legislative Assembly |
|
|---|---|
| State or territory: | Victoria |
| Created: | 1904 |
| MP: | Bill Sykes |
| Party: | National Party of Australia |
| Electors: | 36,987 (2010) |
| Area: | 17,120 km² (6,610 sq mi) |
| Demographic: | Rural |
Benalla is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. The electorate covers a rural area of 17,120 km², and includes the towns of Benalla, Bright, Eildon, Euroa, Mansfield, Mount Beauty, Murchison, Myrtleford, Nagambie and Violet Town. The electorate had a population of 47,675 as of the 2006 census, with 36,987 enrolled electors in the 2010 state election.
The seat was created in 1904, and as it was based around a staunchly conservative rural district, has traditionally been held by conservative members for most of its history. It was held by various early conservative parties throughout the early 20th century, but became safe for the rural conservative Country Party and its successor, the National Party from the 1940s.
This trend was briefly and unexpectedly broken in 2000, when it fell to Labor candidate Denise Allen in a by-election caused by the resignation of long-time National Party leader and former Deputy Premier Pat McNamara. The strength of the conservative vote in the seat was again illustrated, however, when it returned to the National Party at the 2002 election despite a landslide Labor victory which devastated the conservative parties across the state.
The current member is Bill Sykes, who holds the seat with a very safe 23.06% margin.
| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Carlisle | Comm Liberal | 1904–1917 | |
| Economy | 1917–1918 | ||
| Nationalist | 1918–1920 | ||
| Farmers Union | 1920–1920 | ||
| Country | 1920-1926 | ||
| Independent | 1926–1927 | ||
| Edward Cleary | Country | 1927–1930 | |
| Country Progressive | 1930–1936 | ||
| Frederick Cook | Independent | 1936–1939 | |
| Liberal-Country | 1939–1943 | ||
| Country | 1943–1961 | ||
| Tom Trewin | Country | 1961–1975 | |
| National Country | 1975–1982 | ||
| Pat McNamara | National | 1982–2000 | |
| Denise Allen | Labor | 2000–2002 | |
| Bill Sykes | National | 2002–present | |
| Victorian state election, 2010: Benalla | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| National | Bill Sykes | 21,072 | 63.28 | +21.15 | |
| Labor | Rowena Allen | 6,124 | 18.39 | -6.81 | |
| Greens | Kammy Cordner Hunt | 2,756 | 8.28 | +1.18 | |
| Country Alliance | Rochelle Hunt | 2,546 | 7.65 | +7.65 | |
| Independent | Nicholas Williams | 804 | 2.41 | +2.41 | |
| Total formal votes | 33,302 | 95.97 | -0.50 | ||
| Informal votes | 1,398 | 4.03 | +0.50 | ||
| Turnout | 34,700 | 93.82 | +0.67 | ||
| Two-candidate preferred result | |||||
| National | Bill Sykes | 24,354 | 73.06 | +5.55 | |
| Labor | Rowena Allen | 8,978 | 26.94 | -5.55 | |
| National hold | Swing | +5.55 | |||