Division of O'Connor

O'Connor Australian House of Representatives Division
300px Division of O'Connor (green) in Western Australia
Created	1980
MP	Rick Wilson
Party	Liberal
Namesake	Charles Yelverton O'Connor
Electors	95,069 (2013)
Area	908,954 km2 (350,949.1 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural

The Division of O'Connor is an Australian electoral division in the state of Western Australia. It is one of Western Australia's three rural seats, and one of the largest electoral constituencies in the world.

The Division was named after C. Y. O'Connor, the Engineer-in-Chief of Western Australia who designed Fremantle Harbour and the Goldfields Pipeline. The Division was proclaimed at the redistribution of 28 February 1980, and was first contested at the 1980 federal election.

It has always been a rural seat, and was historically based in the Mid West, Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions of Western Australia with major population centres in Geraldton and Albany. The Division was significantly altered by a redistribution in 2008, taking effect at the 2010 election. The other large country seat in Western Australia, Kalgoorlie, needed to expand in size, but it proved all but impossible to reconfigure Kalgoorlie in a way that would have left O'Connor with any rational basis. Ultimately, it was decided to abolish Kalgoorlie and push O'Connor well to the east to take in most of Kalgoorlie's former southern portion. The northern portion of the old O'Connor was shifted to the new seat of Durack.

It is now centred on the Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of the state (while incorporating the southern Wheatbelt), with major population centres in Albany, Kalgoorlie and Esperance. Local government areas within the electorate include Albany, Boyup Brook, Bridgetown-Greenbushes, Brookton, Broomehill, Bruce Rock, Coolgardie, Corrigin, Cranbrook, Cuballing, Denmark, Dumbleyung, Dundas, Esperance, Gnowangerup, Jerramungup, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Katanning, Kent, Kojonup, Kondinin, Kulin, Lake Grace, Laverton, Leonora, Manjimup, Menzies, Narembeen, Narrogin, Ngaanyatjarraku, Pingelly, Plantagenet, Quairading, Ravensthorpe, Tambellup, Wagin, Wandering, West Arthur, Westonia, Wickepin, Williams, Woodanilling, and Yilgarn.

The seat has always been held by a conservative party. When it was created, its demographics suggested that it should have been held by the National Country Party, despite its large notional Liberal majority. However, severe infighting between the national and state Country parties allowed Liberal Wilson Tuckey to take the seat on Labor preferences. Tuckey held it without serious difficulty until his defeat at the 2010 election by Nationals WA candidate Tony Crook with a large swing. However, the Liberals regained the seat at the 2013 election.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Wilson Tuckey	Liberal	1980–2010
	Tony Crook	National	2010–2013
	Rick Wilson	Liberal	2013–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of O'Connor

Australian federal election, 2013: O'Connor

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rick Wilson	32,284	39.13	+0.77
	National	Chub Witham	20,914	25.35	−3.50
	Labor	Michael Salt	14,234	17.25	+0.14
	Greens	Diane Evers	5,627	6.82	−2.04
	Palmer United	Michael Lucas	3,581	4.34	+4.34
	Christians	Mike Walsh	2,079	2.52	+2.52
	Independent	Jane Mouritz	1,431	1.73	+1.73
	Family First	Steven Fuhrmann	698	0.85	−0.58
	Katter's Australian	Phillip Bouwman	660	0.80	+0.80
	Rise Up Australia	Vanessa Korber	595	0.72	+0.72
	CEC	Jean Robinson	407	0.49	+0.03
Total formal votes			82,510	94.01	−0.62
Informal votes			5,256	5.99	+0.62
Turnout			87,766	92.43	−0.37
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Rick Wilson	55,486	67.25	−5.75
	Labor	Michael Salt	27,024	32.75	+5.75
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Liberal	Rick Wilson	42,040	50.95	+4.51
	National	Chub Witham	40,470	49.05	−4.51
	Liberal gain from National		Swing	+4.51

External links

• Division of O'Connor - Australian Electoral Commission