Electoral district of Nedlands

Nedlands
Western Australia—Legislative Assembly
State Western Australia
Dates current 1930–present
MP Bill Marmion
Party Liberal
Namesake Nedlands
Area 26.7 km2 (10.3 sq mi)
Demographic North Metropolitan

The Electoral district of Nedlands is a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. Nedlands is named for the inner western Perth suburb of Nedlands which falls within its borders.

History

Nedlands was created at the 1929 redistribution, at which five new metropolitan electorates were created to replace former Goldfields seats in Parliament.[1] Its first member was elected at the 1930 election, and it has always been a safe seat for the Liberal Party and its predecessors.[2] Its first member, Hon. Sir Norbert Keenan, was an Attorney-General, whilst two of its members, Hon. Sir Charles Court and his son Hon. Richard Court who between them held the seat for 48 consecutive years, have been State Premiers (1974–1982 and 1993–2001 respectively), making them one of only three father-son combinations in Australia to have achieved this (including the Butlers in South Australia and the Cains in Victoria).[3]

Recent history

At the 2001 state election, the Labor Party won government and Court's own margin was cut to 4.93% by Independent candidate Liz Davenport, a prominent fashion designer and member of the Liberals for Forests party.[4] In the days after the election, Court was attempting to organise a succession whereby he and his deputy leader, Cottesloe MLA Colin Barnett, would both resign their seats. Federal Curtin MP Julie Bishop would resign her seat and hand it to Barnett, then succeed either Court in Nedlands or Barnett in Cottesloe at a state by-election and assume the Liberal leadership in Court's stead. The aim was to prevent Barnett from succeeding Court.[5] However, the plan ended up on the front page of The West Australian, Bishop decided against a switch to State politics, and Court shortly thereafter resigned both the leadership and his seat.[6] At the resulting by-election in 2001, Sue Walker, a DPP lawyer, won the seat for the Liberals against the unrelated Steve Walker, a Greens candidate, who overtook the ALP on preferences.

Walker served in the Shadow Ministry in a variety of roles, most prominently as Shadow Attorney-General. When Matt Birney attempted to remove her from the Ministry in March 2006, he lost his own leadership in a party-room ballot to Paul Omodei, who immediately reinstated her.[7][8] Walker resigned from the Liberal party on 8 February 2008 after Troy Buswell attained the leadership, sitting as an independent thereafter. She contested the 2008 state election, claiming significant local support in doing so.[9][10] However, at the 2008 Western Australian election, Bill Marmion won the seat for the Liberal Party, defeating Walker by 10,266 to 9,280 on the two-candidate-preferred vote.

Geography

Nedlands is bounded by the Swan River to the south and southeast, Thomas Street and Kings Park to the east, Loch Street and Brockway Road to the west, and Cambridge Street to the north. Its boundaries include the suburbs of Crawley, Daglish, Dalkeith, Jolimont, Nedlands, Shenton Park, Subiaco, West Leederville, along with parts of Floreat and Wembley.[11] Major features within the electorate include Subiaco Oval, Karrakatta Cemetery, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, University of Western Australia and Parliament House.

The 2007 redistribution, which took effect at the 2008 election, resulted in the seat losing most of Wembley and all of West Leederville while gaining part of Floreat and a non-residential section of Shenton Park north of the railway.[12]

Demographics

Nedlands and the neighbouring electorates of Churchlands to the north and Cottesloe to the west comprise the affluent western suburbs of Perth—the Australian Bureau of Statistics's SEIFA index (2001) ranked them as the highest three electorates by socio-economic status in Western Australia, with high scores on educational and employment opportunity. At the 2006 census, the median individual income in the Nedlands electorate, based on its 2005 boundaries, was $666 per week compared to $513 in the Perth metropolitan area, and the median weekly household income was $1,392 compared to $1,086 across Perth. 58.7% of the population were professionals or managers.[13]

All three seats are comfortably safe Liberal seats, and are located almost entirely within the blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Curtin.

Members for Nedlands

MemberPartyTerm
  Hon. Sir Norbert Keenan Nationalist 1930–1945
  Liberal 1945–1949
  Liberal Country League 1949–1950
  David Grayden Independent Liberal 1950–1953
  Hon. Sir Charles Court Liberal Country League 1953–1968
  Liberal 1968–1982
  Hon. Richard Court Liberal 1982–2001
  Sue Walker Liberal 2001–2008
  Independent 2008
  Hon. Bill Marmion Liberal 2008–present

Results

Western Australian state election, 2013: Nedlands
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Bill Marmion 12,351 58.4 +14.3
Labor Tony Walker 2,987 14.1 –1.7
Independent Max Hipkins 2,758 13.0 +13.0
Greens George Crisp 2,752 13.0 –1.1
Christians Gail Forder 316 1.5 +0.3
Total formal votes 21,164 96.2 -0.5
Informal votes 827 3.8 +0.5
Turnout 21,991 90.0
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Bill Marmion 14,622 69.1 +2.5
Labor Tony Walker 6,529 30.9 –2.5
Liberal hold Swing +2.5

References

  1. ↑ Government of Western Australia (1930). "Redistribution of Seats Act (No 1 of 1929)". Statutes of Western Australia, 1929-1930. pp. 1–56. Given assent on 15 April 1929.
  2. ↑ Black, David; Prescott, Valerie (1997). Election statistics, Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996. Perth: Parliamentary History Project and Western Australian Electoral Commission. pp. 242–246. ISBN 0-7309-8409-5.
  3. ↑ Green, Antony (5 April 2005). "Western Australia Election 2005: Nedlands". Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  4. ↑ "2001 State General Election – District of Nedlands Results". Western Australian Electoral Commission. 12 March 2001. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  5. ↑ Peter Kennedy (21 February 2001). "Schism forms after secret leadership deal". Lateline. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  6. ↑ David Weber (23 February 2001). "Court resigns as WA Liberal leader". PM. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  7. ↑ "Matt Birney's fight for the leadership". Stateline (ABC). 17 March 2006. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  8. ↑ "New leader Paul Omodei's vision for the Liberal Party". Stateline (ABC). 24 March 2006. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  9. ↑ "Walker announces she's quitting, via local paper". ABC News. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
  10. ↑ Bret Christian (9 February 2008). "Walker walks". Post Newspapers. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  11. ↑ Western Australian Electoral Commission (29 October 2007). "2007 Electoral Distribution - Final Boundaries - North Metropolitan - Nedlands". Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  12. ↑ Western Australian Electoral Commission (4 August 2003). "2003 Electoral Distribution - Final Boundaries - North Metropolitan - Nedlands". Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  13. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Community Profile Series : Nedlands (North Metropolitan) (State Electoral Division)". 2006 Census of Population and Housing. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
    * Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Community Profile Series : Perth (Statistical Division)". 2006 Census of Population and Housing. Retrieved 2008-08-05.

External links