Electoral district of Victoria Park

Victoria Park Western Australia—Legislative Assembly
State	Western Australia
Dates current	1930–present
MP	Ben Wyatt
Party	Labor
Namesake	Victoria Park
Area	31 km2 (12.0 sq mi)
Demographic	South Metropolitan

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

History

Victoria Park was created at the 1929 redistribution, at which five new metropolitan electorates were created to replace former Goldfields seats in Parliament. The seat is considered a safe Australian Labor Party seat, and has been held by the party between 1930 and 1945, and since the 1953 state election, with independent William Read holding the seat in the interim. From 1961 until 1986 it was held by Ron Davies who served as Opposition Leader from 1978 until 1981 when he was replaced by Brian Burke, who mounted a successful campaign for the 1983 election. Ron Davies left Parliament in 1986 after his appointment as Agent-General of Western Australia in London, and at the resulting by-election on 7 June 1986, Dr Geoff Gallop, a lecturer at Murdoch University, was elected. In 1996, he followed his predecessor into the role of Opposition Leader, and just over four years later, became Premier after Labor's victory at the 2001 election. He retired from politics and as Premier on 16 January 2006 in order to aid his recovery from depression, and that "in the interests of my health and my family, I've decided to rethink my career." Labor's Ben Wyatt won the resulting by-election, with a 5% swing to the opposition Liberal candidate.

Of the five times the seat has changed members, four of them have occurred at by-elections (all except Hugh Andrew's win at the 1953 election), two of which have been caused by the death of the incumbent in office (Howard Raphael and Hugh Andrew). No incumbent member has ever been defeated.

Geography

Victoria Park is bounded by the Swan River to the north, Orrong Road to the northeast, Mills and Burton Streets to the southeast, Manning Road to the south, and Kent Street, Banksia Terrace and Hurlingham Road to the west. It includes the suburbs of Bentley, Burswood, Carlisle, East Victoria Park, Lathlain, St James, Victoria Park and parts of Kensington and Welshpool.

In the 2007 redistribution, the seat lost Cannington, Queens Park, Wilson and parts of Welshpool, while gaining parts of Kensington and all sections of East Victoria Park west of Berwick Street and Hill View Terrace which had been allocated to South Perth in the previous redistribution.

Members for Victoria Park

Member		Party	Term
	Howard Raphael	Labor	1930–1944
	William Read	Independent	1945–1953
	Hugh Andrew	Labor	1953–1961
	Ron Davies	Labor	1961–1986
	Dr Geoff Gallop	Labor	1986–2006
	Ben Wyatt	Labor	2006–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Victoria Park

Western Australian state election, 2013: Victoria Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Ben Wyatt	8,978	44.7	–2.1
	Liberal	Haider Zaman	8,591	42.7	+8.3
	Greens	Sarah Newbold	2,528	12.6	–1.4
Total formal votes			20,097	93.5	-1.8
Informal votes			1,402	6.5	+1.8
Turnout			21,499	85.6
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Ben Wyatt	10,865	54.1	–4.9
	Liberal	Haider Zaman	9,226	45.9	+4.9
	Labor hold		Swing	–4.9

External links

• Electorate Profile (Antony Green, ABC)