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| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Calwell, Victoria
Northern Melbourne: Broadmeadows, Keilor, Roxburgh Park, Taylors Lakes
Sitting member: Maria Vamvakinou (Labor), elected 2001
Enrolment at close of rolls: 109,370
2013 Labor majority over Liberal: 13.9%
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Candidates in ballot-paper order:
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1. John Hsu
Liberal Party |
2. Maria Vamvakinou
Australian Labor Party |
3. Natalie Abboud
Australian Greens |
4. Megan Searls
Animal Justice Party |
5. Michael Lakkis
Independent |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Calwell was created at the 1984 redistribution, in Melbourne's heavily "ethnic" working-class north-western suburbs. Since 1990 it has included the Labor stronghold of Broadmeadows. On those 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. Now it has been cut back to a belt of suburbs running from Broadmeadows to Keilor, and out to new housing areas such as Roxburgh Park, and is again a fairly reliable Labor seat.
Labor's strength is based on the 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.
The first member for Calwell was 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. In 2002 he was convicted and jailed.
Maria Vamvakinou, Labor MP for Calwell since 2001, was born in Greece and was a high-school teacher and a member of Northcote City Council before entering politics. She was also a staffer for Joan Kirner, Andrew McCutcheon and Senator Kim Carr.
Two days after nominations closed, the Liberal candidate, John Hsu, was stripped of his endorsement when it was revealed that he owns a brothel in Frankston, which he had not declared to the Liberal Party.
There will thus be no Liberal candidate in Calwell, but Hsu will still appear as a Liberal on the ballot paper.
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Prospective pendulum, showing all candidates
State and territory maps, showing new boundaries
The thirty seats that will decide the election
Other seats of interest
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