| Calare |
Division of Calwell | Canberra |
 Maria Vamvakinou (ALP) Her electorate website |  |
Location: Melbourne: Broadmeadows, Craigieburn, Sunbury, Tullamarine Division named for: Rt Hon Arthur Calwell, Labor leader 1960-67 Median weekly family income: $926 (71st highest) Persons born in non English speaking countries: 24.3% (26th highest) Persons professing Islamic religion: 12.0% (2nd highest) Persons in professional occupations: 16.3% (141st highest) Persons employed in manufacturing: 22.1% (6th highest) Persons aged 65 and over: 6.9% (142nd highest) Couple families with dependent children: 48.4% (4th highest) Dwellings being purchased: 37.9% (17th highest) Sitting member: Maria Vamvakinou (Labor), elected 2001, 2004, 2007 Born: 4 January 1959, Greece. Career: School teacher, electorate officer. Councillor, Northcote City Council 1990-92. 1996 two-party majority: Labor 17.2 1998 two-party majority: Labor 19.0 2001 two-party majority: Labor 17.7 Effect of 2004 redistribution: 01.6 shift to Liberal 2004 two-party majority: Labor 08.2 2007 two-party majority: Labor 19.3 
2004 enrolment: 87,843 2007 enrolment: 95,622 (+08.9%) Calwell was created at the 1984 redistribution, based on the Labor stronghold of Broadmeadows in Melbourne's heavily "ethnic" working-class north-western suburbs. On its original boundaries it was one of the safest Labor seats on Australia, but in 2004 it was extended out into semi-suburban areas around Sunbury, which reduced Labor's dominance somewhat. It is still a fairly reliable Labor seat, however, mainly because of its high proportion of people born in non English speaking countries. The seat is 12% Muslim, the second-highest proportion in any Australian electorate, reflecting the large Turkish community in Broadmeadows. Like most outer suburban seats, Calwell has a high proportion of families with dependent children, who swung against Mark Latham's Labor Party at the 2004 elections, then swung back strongly in 2007 in reaction to the Howard government's industrial relations laws. Calwell was won in 1984 by Dr Andrew Theophanous, a leading light of Labor's Socialist Left, whose career ended ingloriously in 2001 when he was charged with corruption. He resigned from the Labor Party and was defeated in Calwell as an independent candidate. He was succeeded in Calwell by Maria Vamvakinou, who sustained a large swing against her in 2004 and an even bigger swing towards her in 2007. Labor polled 86% of the two-party vote at Meadow Heights, and also toped 80% at booths in Broadmeadows, Campbellfield, Coolaroo, Roxburgh Park and Upfield. The Liberals won only one booth, at Mickleham. | | 
Two-party vote by booth, 2007
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