Division of Wills

Wills Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Wills (green) in Victoria
Created	1949
MP	Kelvin Thomson
Party	Labor
Namesake	William Wills
Electors	105,501 (2013)
Area	57 km² (22.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner Metropolitan

The Division of Wills is an Australian electoral division of Victoria. It is currently represented by Kelvin Thomson of the Australian Labor Party.

The electorate encompasses many of the suburbs in the City of Moreland in Melbourne's north, including Brunswick, Coburg, Pascoe Vale, Fawkner, Glenroy and Essendon Airport. It was named after William John Wills of Burke and Wills fame.

Wills has historically been one of the safest Labor seats in the country, with Labor usually polling over 65 percent of the two-party preferred vote versus the Liberals. In the 2013 federal election, the Greens overtook the Liberals after preferences. Wills has been in Labor hands for its entire existence except between the 1992 by-election and 1996, when it was held by independent Phil Cleary. Its highest-profile member was former Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

The 1992 by-election is remarkable for a number of reasons: It was caused by Bob Hawke's retirement from parliament; it had a record twenty-two candidates standing; it was won by an independent; the results were thrown out as the winner, Phil Cleary, was on unpaid leave from the state education system (the Australian Constitution forbids people employed by the Crown from standing for election). No replacement by-election was held as the court decision which threw out the results was made shortly before a general election was due.

Members

	Party	Term
Bill Bryson	Labor	1949–1955
Bill Bryson	Labor (Anti-Communist)	1955–1955
Gordon Bryant	Labor	1955–1980
Bob Hawke	Labor	1980–1992
Phil Cleary	Independent	1992–1996
Kelvin Thomson	Labor	1996–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Wills

Australian federal election, 2013: Wills
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Kelvin Thomson	40,931	45.14	−6.07
	Liberal	Shilpa Hegde	20,710	22.84	+0.04
	Greens	Tim Read	20,157	22.23	+0.12
	Sex Party	Adrian Trajstman	2,363	2.61	+2.51
	Palmer United	Anne Murray-Dufoulon	2,158	2.38	+2.38
	Independent	Dean O'Callaghan	2,040	2.25	+2.25
	Family First	Concetta Giglia	1,285	1.42	−0.15
	Socialist Alliance	Margarita Windisch	1,024	1.13	+0.30
Total formal votes			90,668	94.47	+0.45
Informal votes			5,304	5.53	−0.45
Turnout			95,972	90.97	−0.16
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Kelvin Thomson	64,161	70.76	−2.77
	Liberal	Shilpa Hegde	26,507	29.24	+2.77
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Labor	Kelvin Thomson	59,118	65.20	−7.44
	Greens	Tim Read	31,550	34.80	+34.80
	Labor hold		Swing	N/A

References

External links

Division of Wills - Australian Electoral Commission

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 Mallee Maribyrnong McEwen McMillan 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

Coordinates: 37°43′44″S 144°56′35″E / 37.729°S 144.943°E / -37.729; 144.943

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